Does anybody here, and I'm confessing here, does anybody ever watch the show on TV without a trace? Anybody ever watch that? Well, I'm a junkie, and I don't always watch it. Sometimes it's not real appropriate, but I love, Bonnie and I love Mysteries in Suspense. I just went, it hadn't been too many weeks ago, I went and bought all of Sherlock Holmes' the whole series. They got this one special. Everything that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, and I'm reading through those, and I love mysteries and suspense, and I love that. And the whole idea of that without a trace thing is that they have this, things happen. People disappear, and they've got a timeline that they build, and they try to find these people before it's too late. But the little phrase without a trace came to my mind as I was studying Daniel again this week, and I love this thought that This king, Nebuchadnezzar, when I read of this despotic, egomaniac leader who becomes enraged at innocent people, I get irritated. And it looks like in chapter 3 of Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the world, he holds all the cards, makes all the rules, and it looks like that these three Hebrew boys are going to go into the fiery furnace, and that's going to be the end of them. And it just seems like that. And when it looks like the bad guy always has the upper hand, I love to look back at chapter 2 and see there in chapter 2 of Daniel, as we read, that those world kingdoms that are going to be built up are going to disappear without a trace. Because what's going to happen is that there's a stone kingdom. There's a stone that's cut out of a mountain, cut out without human hands. It's thrown on the feet of this image that Nebuchadnezzar saw, which represents all the kingdoms of the world. And that stone kingdom, the permanent, forever kingdom, hits that statue, it falls down and disintegrates into nothing, and what happens to it? It just blows away like so much dust on some old and dusty book, and just blown away, and what is perpetual is the kingdom of God. So it's just going to be gone without a trace. However, in the book of Daniel, we are studying about things that are yet to come. And God chose in His sovereignty in chapter 2, verse 29, as we saw it already, He chose to let this king, Nebuchadnezzar, this head of gold, He chose to let him know all of the things that were going to come to pass as far as the Gentile world kingdoms up until the end of time. And it is a temptation for many of us to worry and to fret over what happens with evil people and how successful they seem to be. And we get all nervous when it seems like the righteous suffer and that the wicked prosper and we see all of these things. And so we're not supposed to do that. We're not supposed to worry about those things because the Lord has all of it in consideration, all of it under control. Listen to Psalm 37, verse 1 and 2. You can just write the reference down. The Bible says there, do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong. For like the grass, they will soon wither. Like green plants, they will soon die away. Same chapter, 37, verse 8. Come in, come in. Verse 8, and it says, refrain from anger, turn from wrath, do not fret. That's the same thing as saying, do not be afraid. The Bible says that 365 times, once for each day. Do not fret, it only leads to evil, for evil men will be cut off. But those whose hope is in the Lord will inherit the land a little while, and the wicked will be no more. Though you look for them, they will not be found, but the meek will inherit the land and will enjoy peace." And so that's the promise of the Lord. And so as we look at Nebuchadnezzar and we see what he does, we see how he seems to manhandle God's people, mistreat God's people, mistreat these three Hebrew men, And even Daniel, it seems at times, that these people are, though they seem to be so permanent and have all the cards and have the upper hand, they are not going to go on forever. You know what happens in Daniel chapter 3. We read it last week down through verse 12. We're going to pick up at verse 13 this week. We're going to read the rest of the chapter. It won't hurt us to read the Bible in church. So verses 1 to 12 told us about the initial setup, that Nebuchadnezzar got carried away with the image that he saw. Twenty years have passed. The image that he saw that told him that he was the head of gold, but there would be successive kingdoms after him. Well, after 20 years of being the head of gold, he decided, well, I don't want my kingdom to go away. In fact, I'm not going to be supplanted or replaced by some other kingdom. My kingdom is going to be a gold kingdom, and the whole statue is going to be gold. And so he built this image, he built the statue, put it on the plains of Dura, sent out messengers and invitations to all of the satraps, which is like a regional leader, a provincial leader, and all of the princes, and all of the... anybody and everybody that was anybody and anybody, they invited to come. And they were to come, and you know, in chapter 2, verse 4, a herald stood up, blew a horn, and the zither, and the lyre, and all these other instruments. When they did that, they all had to fall down and worship. And they wanted him to worship the image. Now, obviously, Daniel knew, and everyone knew, the three Hebrew children knew. Nebuchadnezzar knew that he wasn't just the image he wanted to be worshipped. Nebuchadnezzar himself wanted to be worshipped. And so, that is the setup. Well, three Hebrew children, we talked about them last week. These three young men, 20 years older now than they were last time we saw them, probably 36, 37 years old. They have come to the place and they've decided that long before this event that they're not going to bow down and they're not going to worship any image, they're not going to worship any god but their own god. In fact, very much like Daniel in chapter 1 verse 8 that said that he had made a decision, he had purposed ahead of time, predetermined that he wasn't going to defile himself with the king's meat, these guys had determined in their heart likewise they were not going to worship any other god, they were not going to bow down to any idol. Now, that's not strange for them, because if you remember, the only Bible that these guys had during this time was what? What would have been the only thing? They didn't have the New Testament, of course. They didn't even have this book of Daniel that we're reading. They didn't have the Psalms, the Proverbs. They didn't have any of the minor, major prophets. They didn't have any of that. Probably the only thing they had were the first five books of the Bible. And it had been chiseled in stone originally and had been chiseled on their hearts. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, and thou shalt not worship any god before me." Now, if they didn't know anything else, that was one thing that they knew. They were not supposed to worship any other god. Well, the story goes on. The astrologers, the wise men whose neck they had already saved once, turned on them, turned them in, trying to get them displaced because they were jealous. and they told King Nebuchadnezzar. Well, we pick up in verse 13, and let's read God's word. Follow along as I read aloud. Furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold that I have set up? Now, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, If you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand. Very key phrase in this whole passage of scripture. Nebuchadnezzar has challenged not Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Who has he challenged? He challenged God himself. Verse 16, So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter, or better translated, O Nebuchadnezzar, we don't even need to consider or take care in answering you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." Pretty bold. Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. These men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans, and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet. You get the idea that after the thing cooled down some, he threw him in and threw these guys in and sat down. and waited a little while as he pondered the situation. The King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and he asked his advisors, weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire? They replied, certainly, O King. And he said, look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound, unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods. Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here! So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. It's interesting how well God knew their name. I mean, it's 11 times in this passage He calls them by name, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He knew them. He knew that they had been renamed. He knew all about it. And he calls them by name, and he says, come out of the fire. And the satraps, the perfects, the governors, and the royal advisors crowded around them. They had to do a revision. They had to check this out for themselves. And they saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed. Their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. Now, folks, this is an absolute miracle of God. I don't know if you remember before they outlawed smoking on airliners, you could be at the front of the plane, somebody smoking on the rear of the plane, and the smell of smoke was on you when you got off that plane, whether you liked it or not. Well, in this situation, they were in a fiery furnace, and not only did they not burn up or lose their clothes or anything like that, they did not even carry the smell of smoke. Then Nebuchadnezzar said, Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants. They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own god. Therefore, I decree to the people of any nation or language who say anything against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble for no other god can save in this way." Well, this is the second great witness that Nebuchadnezzar's had. That's pretty much the same reaction he had the first time, after Daniel interpreted the dream. But he got over that. Did you ever know anybody that had just a real experience in their life, and they came real close to giving their heart to the Lord, but they didn't quite do it? And they just made all kinds of proclamations and promises and turned over leaves and made New Year's resolutions. And they just went on and on about how they were just going to be different people. And, well, time goes by. People shake themselves off and pretty much sink right back down into whatever they were before they ever got started. Renovation and regeneration are not the same thing. I want to talk about this on Sunday. You know, it is not a matter of putting a new suit on a man. It's a matter of putting a new man in the suit. And you see, that's not what happened with Nebuchadnezzar in on both occasions. This this powerful monarch, this powerful king came close to giving his heart and making changes, giving his heart to God and letting the Lord change him. He came close, but he didn't do it. And in this he did it once again. We'll find out just how far from it he was in chapter 4. But then verse 30, then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Now you have your sheet. Please write down some things as you try to follow along with me. I want to look at this story in three specific ways tonight. Look at faith in the fire in three specific ways. And I want you to write some things down. The first thing is I want to look at it in the area of practical doctrine. And the word doctrine, don't let that scare you off, it just means teaching. Just practical teaching. And so I want you to see some practical things that come out of this particular story. And the first thing I want you to see is that this world is going to try to put you in its mold. The world is going to try to force you into compliance with the way it wants you to be, the way it wants things to go. The world will try to put you in its mold. Verse 4 was the proclamation of chapter number 3. It says, the herald loudly proclaimed, this is what you're commanded to do. Not what you're expected to do, what we would like for you to do, what would help us as we all try to get along. That's not what he said. This is what you're commanded to do, people, nation, men of every language. As soon as you hear the sound of all these instruments, then we want you to fall down, worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar set up. And if you don't, and whoever doesn't fall down in worship will be immediately thrown into the blazing furnace, the fiery furnace. And so the world is going to try to put you in its mold. And most of us spend most of our time as Christians, We spend most of our time either trying to break the mold that the world has put us in and try to go a different direction. The world would like us to get on their economic rhythm. The world would like us to get on their social rhythm. The world would like us to get on their spiritual rhythm. They would like us to just get right in rhythm with them, just as if we were in the rowing boats and we're just all rowing together. But God is saying to us, do not let the world put you And it's mold. Don't let the world put a cookie cutter on you and make you just like it. But I want you to know that is exactly conformity. Being compelled to conform is the number one objective. Satan and this system or the cosmos of this world so we're not supposed to do that Romans 12 in verse 2 if you don't have it I don't believe you yeah I guess you do have it written out there for you it says you know what the first part verse 1 says to offer yourselves as a living sacrifice and then 2 says do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to test to prove what God's will is his good pleasing and and perfect will. And so, there is this consistent, continual desire that the world has, the system around us, the people of the world, they always resist when somebody's different, somebody's going a different direction. Anytime anybody goes a different direction, it causes friction. Anytime anybody does something in a different way, it's just, you're just not going along and you're causing problems, you're making people feel bad. Well, this is exactly what was going on there. There was the effort for conformity. Then, the next thing you need to write down, the second thing is, is that this world, those members of this world will become angry when you refuse to be put in its mold. Now these are real general statements from this passage of Scripture, but they're so obvious to not mention them is to miss the main part of the story. Nebuchadnezzar and all of the astrologers and stargazers and prognosticators and all of the wise men And all of the satraps and princes and everything, I mean, can't you just imagine? Here's these three Hebrew guys. They back up, step back a little bit, try to hide in the shadows. They don't want to bow down to this image. And here's all the rest of the world. They're all bowing down. They're all, you know, they blow the horn five times a day, just like over in the Middle East. They blow the horn, everybody bows down. Then you look over there and here's somebody that's just not getting with the program. They're just not going along with what's going on. And so it makes them very mad. Well, in this case, because it was considered an absolute affront and an offense to Nebuchadnezzar himself, they decide that they're going to take this issue right to the top. And so they go through their system and they take it right to Nebuchadnezzar himself, because Nebuchadnezzar, if you remember, is the one that has placed these three people in this high position in the province of Babylon. So they go straight to Nebuchadnezzar, and they say, Nebuchadnezzar, these three Hebrews that you have set up here over all the province of Babylon, these Jews, these worshippers of another god, they don't respect you, they don't worship you, they don't like you, and they just knew which buttons to push to get Nebuchadnezzar enraged. Verse 13 says he was enraged, furious with rage. Verse 19 says he was furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. Now notice that. They had had favor, if you remember, the Bible says that Daniel and his friends, that God had brought them into special favor with Ariok. and with the other commanders and the princes that were there in the palace that were preparing them to serve in his court, that God had made them stand out and be favorable. And then later than that, because of what Daniel had been able to do and because of his petition on their part, they had been promoted in the kingdom and had been shown favor. They were considered ten times smarter and wiser than all the other wise men. Nebuchadnezzar liked these guys. You know, but when it came right down to it, and maybe that's the reason he gave him a second chance. He said, now look, he said, you three, he said, now you remember how good I've been to you, how I've promoted you and how that you've been making a lot more money in here in Babylon than anybody else. You've got better positions, more cushy jobs. You've been telling people what to do. Now don't make me look bad here. He said, I put you up on the top, and now then here you are, I'm your king, you're working closely to me, and here you are, you're just making a mockery of what it is that I'm trying to give you. Now look, I'm going to give you another chance. I know that you really do like my system and my kingdom, and you've benefited greatly from it, and so here's what I want you to do. We're going to play all that music again, and when we play it, you bow down, and you worship, and look at that image, and just mumble some words or whatever you want to do. Just get down there and do it, and then everything will be okay. And what did they do? They just didn't do it. Well, it infuriated him. Now, the world will become angry when you refuse to be put in its mold. Did you ever work at a place where the books were being cooked or the things were being stolen from the company right out from under the nose of the company or counts of inventories were being falsified in order for people to be able to, under the table, just have a little system going. I worked at an office supply company one time that they just routinely took out just loads and box loads of stuff at the end of every week. They had it figured out how to do it. And I wouldn't go along with it. And oh my soul, I was just a young teenager at that time. I will never forget the threats that I got because of those kind of things. And I know that those kind of things goes on today. There's just all kinds of in job sites. I was reading not long ago that Walmart and Kmart and Sears and JCPenney estimated that they had to make another 11% profit every year just to cover employee theft. Had to make 11% more than what their regular profit would be in order to break even. Had to make that much money because of employee theft just at those retail giants. in America. And so people do not like it when you don't go along. They don't like it when you just don't bow down to their image. And, of course, in our nation, in our country, what they want you to bow down to is they want you to bow down to several things. They want you to bow down, one, to the fact that the Almighty dollar is God. That's number one. They want you to bow down to that. Number two, they want you to bow down to tolerance, that you just tolerate everything. There's absolutely no such thing as anything true, dogmatic. There's no objective truth. So you just bow down to the idol, to the image, to the thought that there is nothing necessarily right or wrong of itself, and you just bow down to that. And if you do not go along with that, and if you take a stand and say, no, there is right and wrong, it's wrong to steal, it's wrong to lie, it's wrong to cheat your employer, it's wrong to do those things, Well, then you're just not going along, and you are going to really raise the ire of individuals. Well, that's where we are. So the world will become angry when you refuse to be put in its mold. Next thing is, we have to ask ourselves the question, what should I do as a Christian when worldly pressure is applied? Now, this is a very specific case in the Bible, and we're going to see the specifics of it when we get to the second point, but in this situation, Nebuchadnezzar wanted them to do a very specific, against God, absolute, diametrically opposed thing than what God wanted them to do. He wanted them to worship an idol, and they knew that their God strictly forbid the worship in any shape, form, or fashion of an idol, an image, or any other god. So what should I do when worldly pressure is applied to me? Well, the first thing I need to do is watch out for faulty reasoning. Watch out for faulty reasoning on my part. What do I mean by that? Well, the first thing we can be tempted to do is to start making compromises when we're put in those situations. We can say things like, well, why not just join the system? You can't fight City Hall. I mean, you might as well just join in and just go along because, you know, what can one person do? You know, just join in. Watch out for faulty reasoning. Second thing is, well, we'll cooperate with old Nebuchadnezzar and we'll be able to win him to Christ. We'll cooperate with all the drunks and I'll go out with them and just have a little sip with them and I'll just be able to win them to Christ. I'm just going to cooperate with all that's going on down at that office and I'm not going You know what, I'm just not going to stick out like a sore thumb. I'm just going to go along with them and, you know, maybe I'll just be able to make a difference. Well, you're going to come a whole lot closer to making a difference taking a stand than you will to not take a stand. You see, it just, I mean, if you are exactly like the world that is around you, what do you have to offer to the world that is around you? Nothing, because we're just like them. That doesn't mean be weird. It means be different. Let me go a little further. Here's another saying, well, a living dog is better than a dead lion, and he who fights and runs away will live to fight another day. Is that what, do you think, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, their attitude should have, well, be better to be a, you know, be a living dog than a dead lion. If I'm bold, I'm going to, no, that's not what God, he said, do not do it under any circumstance. So there's a temptation to, to compromise. And the fourth thing that you might think, they might've said, Daniel is our leader. He's not here to make the right decision for us. We don't have our leader. And so what are we expected to do? You see, that's something that I have faced in Christianity just about all my life as I've been a pastor. Whenever there's a leader and you can rally people and there's a group of people, everybody just sort of with group mentality, they can stiffen themselves. Of course, it's very important to belong to a group. No man's an island. It's like the old coals of a fire. You take one of the carbons off a coal and set it by itself, pretty soon it goes out. So it's a wonderful thing to be together. When we are away from, quote-unquote, the congregation and we're out there by ourself and we're in the workplace and the temptations come, are we supposed to say, well, you know, really out here all by myself and nobody's here to support me? You know, I don't have any leader, I don't have anybody to do it with me, nobody to take a stand with me, so I'll just have to wait until I'm in a better situation. So this time, I will make the concession, I'll bow down to whatever it is that people are trying to get me to do. Well, we're not supposed to do that. And watch out for that. It's faulty reasoning. Second thing, watch out for foolish rebellion. Here's the other side of it. Foolish rebellion. The first thing I want to say is government is ordained of God. Even Nebuchadnezzar's government was ordained of God. The Assyrian government was ordained of God. The Medo-Persian government was ordained of God. The Egyptian government was ordained of God. is ordained of God. So be very careful about just being in general having a rebellious attitude toward authority. Do you know what is infecting the United States of America right now more than just about any other problem? It's just the general, I don't want anybody to tell me what to do ever mentality. I'm an entity unto myself, and I'll make all my decisions, and I don't want anybody to tell me what to do." And fathers who have that attitude toward their boss, toward the people at work, toward the government, raise young boys in their home that'll grow up and break their heart because of rebellion, too, because you just pass it down from one generation to the next. So you listen. Government is ordained of God. Romans 13.1, listen to God's Word. Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. So there's the general rule of government and civility throughout all the world. It should be that way. There should be some sort of respect of the authority that is placed there and recognized. that it's placed there by God. Let me just say another word. Second thing is government. Now what we're doing is we're watching out for foolish rebellion. And the second thing is that government can even be used of God when it is a wicked government. Well, I still think I ought to pay taxes in this country because they're going to use some of it the wrong way. Sorry, you're just not going to be able to get away with that. That's just not going to work. You know, and I doubt that it's on the basis of real rock-ribbed foundational truth in our hearts anyway. We just want to have more money so we can spend it on our own stuff instead of contributing to what the government is doing. Now listen to this. Government can be used by God even when it's wicked. Jeremiah 25.8. Is that on your scripture sheet? Yes, it is. Therefore, the Lord Almighty says this, because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the North and my servant Nebuchadnezzar. Take a gander at that Bible verse there. Do you see what that says? Who's talking here? The Lord. And he's talking, and he says, because you've not listened to my word, speaking to Israel, I will summon all the peoples of the north, and my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, says the Lord, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, against all the surrounding nations. And so we're supposed to, we're supposed to watch out for this kind of general rebellious attitude where we just rebel on the, just on the principle of we don't want anybody to tell us what to do. And of course, that's not at all what these three Hebrew boys did or what Daniel did. The next thing is, is avoid ridiculous arrogance. Write that down. Avoid ridiculous arrogance. Daniel acknowledged, and this is crucial, Daniel acknowledged the authority of Nebuchadnezzar and his commanders. Because in chapter 1 and verse 8, he asked permission not to defile himself. He didn't say, let me tell you a thing or two, Mr. Nebo. I'm not about to eat that. He didn't do that. He asked permission of Ariok, and he said, could I please offer an alternative here, because In my religion, it is a defilement for us to eat and drink these things. We just can't do it. Can I please ask permission? We have an alternative. He didn't come in with this arrogant, know-it-all, I'll-tell-you-a-thing-or-two attitude. That just doesn't work. You know, I've learned over years, even when we make an appeal to people who have rule over us, if we come to them with the right attitude, it makes all the difference in the world. And even in the place, in the workplace, when we come in and make demands to our boss and start talking about our rights and all those kinds of things, we don't get near as far as if we just go in and just say, listen, can I talk to you about something? And speak in human, just a little bit more, in a little bit more humane and honest way with them. So, we have to, we have to understand, watch out for ridiculous arrogance. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, here's, this is a very important principle. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not argue the authority of the king to put them to death. They didn't argue that point. They didn't say, who in the world do you think you are to put us to death, King? It is not going to happen. I'll tell you what, they didn't do that. They knew. I mean, he had the power. He held all the cards. He had all the power. He was the king. He was the ruling authority of the moment. And if he said, in the tank with you, in the tank, they were going to go. Because he had the authority, and so they didn't go making demands. They just came in and said, we understand that you're going to put us in there, and if that's the case, it's what it says here in the scripture, if that's the case, that if we don't bow down, you're going to put us in there, be it known unto you, O Nebuchadnezzar, that we're not going to worship your gods, nor are we going to bow down to your image, because we just can't, to be honest with you. We'd rather die. Well, now, that's a different situation altogether. Now, when do you not bow to government authority? Now, you didn't probably think that this was going to be part of this study, but let me just hit this issue right here. When is it that a Christian or an individual or a citizen is not supposed to bow down to the authority? Is there ever a moment where you do not do what they say? What's your answer to that? What do you think? What do you think? Okay. Now, there are some specific things. There's some general things that we know that are true and right. But when it's a specific command, let me give you a few things here. Does anybody else want to answer that or is it a hazard of thought on that one? When is it okay or when is it correct for a Christian not to do that? Anybody have a comment on that? Anybody else? When it's against God's word. Okay. Somebody else? When it's against God's laws. Okay. Somebody else? His word, his laws, his will. Anybody? All right. These are all correct. All right, when do you not bow down to government authority? Perfect case, Acts chapter 5, verse 28. Acts 5, 28. Just write the reference down. I'll read it to you. You can look it up later to save time. It says here, now, we gave you strict orders. If you remember, this is the story after John and, after, let's see, John and, who was it? Peter and John, I guess it was Peter and John went to the temple. When they got there, they had told the guy that was begging for money, silver and gold have I none, but in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. This guy, this cripple, got up and he walked and leapt and praised God. And that really created a ruckus there. And so, chapter 5, verse 29 says, We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, speaking about Jesus, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. Peter and the other apostles replied, We must obey God rather than men. Now, why was that a correct response in that moment? Because Jesus had said, go into all the world and do what? preach the gospel. But even at that, did they deny the authority of those temple people to do something to them? No, in fact, they did. They were beaten. And they didn't say, you don't have a right to beat us. They just said, we're going to obey God instead of you. We don't care what you do. And so that was a situation where they did it. Acts chapter 4 verse 19, same story, a little bit different. Peter and John replied to them, Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. When the witness within themselves told them to obey God and give his word out and they were told not to, they just simply disobeyed, all the while willing to suffer the consequences, and that's the key. They were willing to disobey, not denying the authority, and willing to suffer the consequences of doing that. You remember the story in Exodus chapter 1 and verse 15. You just want to write the reference down. There were two interesting ladies that were there in that story. One of them's name is Shiphrah, and the other one's name is Puah. Who remembers that story about Shiphrah and Puah? Bonnie, what was it about? They were the midwives. Do you remember the story of the midwives? What had Pharaoh commanded all of the midwives of the children of Israel to do? Does anybody remember that story right here? He told them to do what? Kill who? All of the male children. Girls, just like the opposite of China. You know, they decided, you know, just kill all of the boy babies that are coming out. Now, Shiphrah and Puah, They were honored by God. He did keep them safe. He overruled Pharaoh in that situation. However, what was Pharaoh apt to do to them because of their disobedience? If he was killing all the babies, he wouldn't have had any problem killing them either. He would have just killed them. But God honored them for not doing it. I could go on all night about these situations. They honored life. They supported taking care of those of those children there instead of obeying the command of Pharaoh. And don't forget Jesus. You say, Jesus bucked authority? Well, did he ever buck authority? Well, of course he did. Did he pay a price for it? Oh, yeah. Who put Jesus on the cross? Now, we get real spiritual, we get real technical. You did, I did. We put Jesus on the cross. But who were the physical hands that put Jesus on the cross? They were the Jews They were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin. They were the ruling council, the most religious of the most religious of the most religious. They put him on the cross because they, at that time, had the authority to take life, and they did. It's interesting. They got the Romans to go along with them. Now listen to this, Luke 13, 15. The Lord answered him, you hypocrites, doesn't each of you... This was a story where he healed on the Sabbath day. You remember, they were always after Jesus for anything he would do. It didn't matter what he did, what he said, what he preached. It didn't matter. They were after him. But one day he goes in, and here's a woman that's been bent over for 18 years. The Bible says she had a demon. And so she was demon-possessed, and it's interesting, the wording. Bonnie and I discussed this this morning before I came to work. We were reading the Bible, and we discussed this. And it's interesting that this woman was bent over, could not straighten up for 18 years. And the Lord said there was a demon that was possessing her. Then he said she's had this sickness for 18 years. And then he said Satan had had her bent over for 18 years. Jesus said that. Think about that. Just think about the implications of that. Jesus said a demon had a hold over, a sickness had a hold over, and Satan had a hold over. But on the Sabbath day, in the temple, on a day that should have been a day of rejoicing, what did Jesus do? Well, he set her free from this demon, she straightened up and praised God, and what did the religious establishment do? They went berserk. I mean, they just, how dare, there are six other days in which you can heal people, how dare you heal people on the Sabbath? Of course, they mistook, they thought that the people were for the synagogue, not the synagogue for the people. Just like a lot of people who think that the people are for this building instead of this building for the people. I mean, this is just a tool, not a treasure. And we talk about that all the time. I mean, just bring people in and have them sit down and, yes, we're going to wear out the benches and tear up the carpet and we're going to spill coffee out in the atrium. Yeah, we're going to do all that stuff because it's a tool, not a treasure. It's for the people. Well, they had it all messed up. But they hated Jesus for that because He just, well, He just didn't respect their authority. He allowed them to put him on a cross. So, when do you not bow to the government authority? It's very, very simple. When the government authority commands that you completely do the opposite of what God tells you is permissible for you to do or can do, then you have to choose God over man. Three guiding principles on this one right here that you want to be aware of. There are three guiding principles. Does it, and what I mean by that is, does the command, the practice, the whatever is the regular habits of all the people, does it involve a clear biblical command and not a personal preference? Do not ever get angry and start being disobedient to the authority over you because of a personal preference. Don't ever do that. Just because you prefer one thing over another, you have a different idea or different ideology, we're not supposed to do that. Do you recognize, we have to ask ourselves, do we recognize the authority over you to punish our disobedience? Are we recognizing that it's not a matter of can they punish us or not for our disobedience? Because that is what you call civil disobedience. To be civilly disobedient is to recognize that my disobedience is going to bring about, it's apt to bring about some kind of repercussion from the authority that's over me. So I must recognize that. And then the next one is, can you go into this fire of affliction in faith? That is, can I go into this fire, into this furnace, can I go against what they're telling me to do? Can I do it? in faith that, one, it's what God would have me do, I'm honoring Him in all ways, and that this is the right thing to do. Can I do it in faith? Those are very, very important principles. Well, let me move on. Second thing I want you to see tonight are the prophetic implications. No matter what the stories are in the book of Daniel, every one of them has something to do with the future, because that's what Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, God's telling you what's going to come in the future. Well, Nebuchadnezzar started writing his own story. He said, OK, you're going to tell me what the future is, but now I'm going to write my own story. He builds his image. Well, even what Nebuchadnezzar tried to do, God used as an example of what's going to happen at the end. And so that's what happens in chapter 3. As we stated last week, it's a prophetic book. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that he was going to be telling him the future, and the future was going to be revealed to him. And that's what we have. So in chapter 3, just to rehearse, we have a king of the world, just like in Revelation with the Antichrist. We have a king who craves worship, just like Revelation 3.14 with the Antichrist. We have a herald that speaks for the king, just like Revelation 13.11-13 in the False Prophet. We have an image set up to honor this man, Nebuchadnezzar, just like there's an image set up to honor the Antichrist in the book of Revelation, chapter 13, verse 15, verse 14. Then there's a death penalty for the nonconformist. That's exactly what it was there with Nebuchadnezzar. If you don't conform, it's a death penalty. What is it that's going to be the penalty in the time of the Antichrist? Exactly the same thing. So here's what I want you to see tonight. You've got some things, I don't know if it's already written in, but you can write them in there. Yeah, under number two, prophetic implications, the first thing is, Daniel represents, maybe you never heard it before, in a sense, he represents raptured saints. Isn't it curious that Daniel is nowhere to be found in chapter 3 in this story? I heard a preacher stand up one time and preach a long sermon on Daniel's backsliding days, on the days that Daniel was backslidden. And he tried to say that Daniel bowed down and worshipped this idol along with everybody else and that only these three Hebrew children had the courage to stand up and be thrown into the fiery furnace. But the Bible doesn't say that at all. The Bible says very clearly that Daniel was second in the kingdom. He was the prime minister. You know what? He was away on business. He was gone. He wasn't anywhere to be found. He wasn't there. And you know who's not going to be there in the end times when a lot of these things are happening and this image is set up? Guess who's not going to be there? The church is not going to be there. I'm not going to be there. You're not going to be. Those of you that know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior, you're just simply not going to be anywhere to be found. Now, Daniel represents that group of raptured saints. And let me give you a little bit of a verse on that. He's nowhere to be found. Revelation tells all about the kingdom that Satan is setting up and his little puppets, the Antichrist and the false prophet. And we already talked about that. And then 2 Thessalonians, if you just write this verse down, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 1 to 8, go and read it later. It teaches that the restraining power of the Holy Spirit will be removed and all remaining preserving salt will go heavenward before the man of sin or the lawless one, better known as the beast or the Antichrist, is revealed. Why don't you turn there in your Bible? It's worth reading, 2 Thessalonians. Chapter 2. Daniel is a picture, he's a foretype or a forecast of what will be those New Testament saints that are raptured before this man of sin is revealed. Look and see what it says in verse 1. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily upset or alarmed by some prophecy, report, or letter supposed to have come from us, Paul's writing, saying, The day of the Lord is already here, speaking of the day of the Lord's retribution or punishment. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way for that day, the day of the Lord's coming, will not come unless the rebellion and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. What will he do? Well, he's going to oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or his worship so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Look at verse 5. Don't you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things?" And now, verse 6 is key, now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who holds him back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed, and so on. So the Antichrist, the lawless one, the man of sin, the son of perdition, the beast, the Antichrist, whatever you want to call him. This figure, the little horn of Daniel chapter 7 and 8, this figure, this man, is going to be revealed after an event. The he, the one, or whoever hinders the coming of the lawless one is very powerful. And he is the Holy Spirit of God and the salt of the earth that is present in the world up until the time that he is taken out of the way. Revelation chapter 4 verse 1 is a very important verse in the Bible. When we get there, we'll talk about the fact that John, on the Isle of Patmos, writes everything that he writes, chapter 1, 2, and 3, in first person, looking at it, looking up into the heavens. as a vision. But from chapter 4 verse 1 all the way through the end, he's no longer doing that because the first verse says, John, come up here. Once again, he comes up and sees everything from a heavenly viewpoint from then on. He's in heaven, he has been resurrected, and he is watching everything as a panorama that is folded out below him so that he can see it. He is from a heavenly perspective. And so that's what we're talking about. So Daniel represents raptured saints. Very quickly, time's getting away, Nebuchadnezzar represents the world ruler or the Antichrist. Think about that for a moment. See, this is a prophetic chapter in the Bible, and he represents a world ruler. He is the king of the world. He represents the future king of the world. 2 Thessalonians 2, 1-8 again. He's going to set up a one-world rule. Now, listen to this. That includes economic control, military control, religious control. There will be, if you'll listen to my phrases, there will be a world bank, a world court, and a world council of religious affairs. Think about that. There will be a world court, a world bank, a world government, a united world government, and there will be a world council of religious affairs. I'm not telling you what's written on the newspaper this morning. I'm telling you what the Bible has predicted all these years ago. That is exactly what's going to happen. We're going to get into that in chapters 7 and 8 when we get to Revelation 16, 17, and 18. It's just going to blow you away, the prediction. of what it's going to be like. Well, I'm telling you that there is today a World Bank. There is a World Council of Churches. I'm telling you that there is a World Government. That's all that we hear. I mean, that's what we hear talked about nonstop, trying to get this world community together to quit fighting with one another. We've got to have a European president. And when that works and when that sounds good, what's next? Well, if it worked just in Europe to get those ten nations together, then you know what we need to do? We just need to get the rest of these rabble-rousers all corralled under one government Then we'll be ready to go. He said, well, is that going to happen before Jesus comes? No, it's not. So what does that mean about when Jesus is coming? He said, pastor, are you setting dates? I know better than to set dates because the Bible says so. What I'm telling you is once again, we are living in the most exciting, unbelievable, we are living in momentous world-changing times. We are living, what I believe, is on the cuspus. We are right on the border of the coming of the Lord. I believe that with all of my heart. I've been preaching for years, and I'm going to tell you, every time I read this and look at it again, it seems to me that things are more aligned than they've ever been before. And I used to see it a long time ago. Well, one thing is for sure, Jesus' coming is much more closer than it was yesterday. Nebuchadnezzar represents the world ruler. The image represents the image that's going to be set up in Revelation 13 that will be used to enforce Satan worship or Antichrist worship under the penalty of death or economic suicide. You remember in Revelation 13, everybody's going to be told to get a mark in their hand. They're going to be told to get a mark on their head, and they're going to be told, if you don't take our mark, and if you don't bow to our image, and if you don't get to be a part of our system, you can't buy, you can't sell. So even if you hide out where we can't find you and kill you, you still won't be able to buy and sell. So get those victory gardens going, folks. Not really, but that's exactly the kind of things that are going to be happening during this tribulation period. The image represents the image of Revelation 13. The three Hebrew men, who do they represent? Maybe you've never thought about this. The three Hebrew men, what nationality are they? They're Jews. Don't get that out of your head. These three Hebrew men who would not bow, would not bend, and would not burn, who are they? They represent 144,000 Jews, special Jews, chosen, hand-picked, and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God for a very, very special task. Now, we don't have time to... I don't want to spoil the study, and we don't have time to do it, but Revelation chapter 7 and Revelation chapter 14 talk about these 144,000 Jews. There's 12,000 out of every tribe, and you know what? They're not going to bow, they're not going to bend, and they're not going to burn. God is going to miraculously take care of them. Then there is a furnace in this story. And the furnace of this story represents the furnace of affliction that will be worldwide during the time of the tribulation period. In chapter 7, the witnesses are divinely protected of Revelation, I'm speaking, in such a way that they are able to convert literally thousands upon thousands of people to the Lord. So many that you cannot number will be saved, and though they will have to die for it, they know that they're going to have to die for it. Now, you listen to God's Word. Listen to this. These 144,000 Jews are going to be like the Apostle Paul. Now, follow me, if you will, please. The Apostle Paul was a unique individual in the New Testament. His conversion experience was different than any other conversion experience. The Apostle Paul was persecuting the Church of God. The Apostle Paul was a murderer. He hated the cause of Christ. He hated Christians. He was hailing them from city to city. He was on his road to Damascus, and God Almighty, the Divine, decided in His sovereignty, for some reason, to make a special visit on the Apostle Paul. And he stopped Paul on the road to Damascus, and he said, Paul, he said, Saul, Saul, why is it that you persecute me? Isn't it hard for you to kick against the pricks? He said, I've been pricking your conscience, you've known this has been true all along, but you have been following the quote-unquote faith of your fathers, you've been faithful to the Jewish religion, you're a Pharisee of the Pharisees, you're a Jew of all Jews, you've sat at the feet of Gamaliel, you know it all, seen it all, done it all, and you're my most ready servant and you've been kicking against what I want you to do all this time. He said, and so Jesus makes a special appearance blinds him in blinding light, stops him on the road to Damascus, gives him a special call, and the apostle Paul, without a doubt, without any shadow of a doubt, was the greatest earthshaker that this world ever saw as far as preaching the gospel and the ministry that he had. Paul called himself an apostle as one chosen out of due season. The Apostle Paul is a picture of these Jews who, in Revelation chapter 1, are going to see, like, from the east to the west, the coming of the Lord. All of a sudden, when the abomination of desolation, which is an image, is going to be set up, they're going to all of a sudden realize, uh-oh, we killed our Messiah. It was all true. The Bible says that every eye shall see him. And what are they going to do, the Jews? They're going to weep. and wail that they have killed their Messiah. Do you know what's going to happen? 144,000 Apostle Pauls are going to be set loose on the world. And people are going, I've always, you know, you've heard people, well, nobody's going to get saved in the tribulation. Absolutely, unequivocally false. The greatest influx of new believers in all of history are going to happen during the tribulation period. People are going to be dying in mass. They're going to be, there's going to be a cataclysm. I mean, this tsunami is going to look like a Sunday school picnic compared to what happens during the tribulation. During all of those things, these 144,000 witnesses, these 12,000 from each tribe, just like the Apostle Paul with the spirit of Elijah, are going to preach and people are going to know and they're going to believe because they see what this world ruler is doing. Now, you listen to God's Word. Revelation 7 9 after this I looked and before me there was a great multitude that no one could count From every nation tribe people language standing before the throne and in front of the lamb They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hand There's some intervening verses but listen to this verse 14 and I answered And there's a question, who are these people, Lord? And he was answered, Sir, you know. And he said, these are they who have come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So who are these three Hebrew children? You know why they wouldn't bow, bend, or burn? Because God had to protect them in the way that he's going to protect these 144,000 chosen vessels during the tribulation period. And he took care of them. Now, folks, I don't recommend anybody start claiming that God's going to protect you from the fire and start going on these Fear Factor shows on television, start diving into the fire and stuff, claiming that God's going to protect you, because these three Jews had a very good reason that God kept them safe in the fire. Because, miraculously, God's going to keep Jews safe in the fire of affliction, in the tribulation, because they're going to preach like the world has never heard. and with power like the world has never seen. So then there are three, number three. And finally, there are some personal promises for you tonight. There were some practical, practical doctrinal issues. There are some prophetic issues, and then there are some personal promises that are just wonderful. The first one is, is that I don't know how wonderful these are to you, but you're going to understand it. The Bible promises persecution to the believers. Oh, gee, thanks, God. Thanks a lot. I really appreciate that. Promises persecution. Absolutely. Persecution's coming. The Bible promises persecution to believers. Listen to God's Word. 1 Peter 4.12. Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial that you're suffering, as though something strange were happening to you, but rather rejoice. Listen to Philippians 1.29. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his namesake. John 15, 18, the Bible says, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. And if you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, and that is why the world hates you. 2 Timothy 3, 12, one of the most powerful verses. It says there, in fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. It says, Everyone, everyone, you see that in God's Word there? Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Well, these three boys here received persecution. It was an automatic, and it's going to come to believers. Second thing is the Bible promises something else. Not only persecution. You say, woe is me. I can't listen to any more of this. I've got to leave. Well, listen to the rest of the story. The Bible promises preservation to believers. Yes, He does. God is able to deliver us, chapter 3, verse 13 of that passage of Scripture. He is able to deliver us. And in Philippians 3, 20, our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able to subdue all things to himself. Hebrews 7.25, He is able to save completely those that come to God through Him because He lives to make intercession for Him. Ephesians 3.20, Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or think according to the power that is at work within us, He is able. See, God is able. The Bible says that God is able to keep from the hour of temptation and from the hour of trial those that have come to Him. God is able to do all of these things, and so God is able to preserve us. He may not choose to preserve us in this world, he may choose to preserve us in the next. The Bible promises something else. The Bible promises Jesus' presence for all believers. So he promises persecution, he promises perseverance, and then he promises his presence. Verse 25, Nebuchadnezzar himself had to admit that the fourth man looks like a son of the gods. Well, I'm going to tell you something. That might have been his terminology, a son of the gods, but he wasn't just a son of the little g-o-d-s. He was the son of God. He was the son of God that Jacob saw going up and down on that ladder that night that he was dreaming. He was the Son of God that appeared to Abraham and came to his tent along with some other angels and said, your wife's going to have a son. He was the Son of God that came and helped Abraham save Lot. He was the Son of God that appeared all through the Old Testament in what we call Christophanes, all the way through before he was the pre-incarnate Christ. that would show up in a human form to say or do just what was needed at the time. And this right here is a Christophany, a theophany concerning Christ in which He shows up and He walks in the fire. I love this story. The three people came out of the fire, but who stayed in there in the fire? Jesus was in the fire for them, and you know what? He's in the fire for you. He's in the fire. He's always going to be there. There's just no such thing as walking away from the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's always there. I will never leave you or forsake you, Jesus has said. And I will be with you always, even to the end of the world. The fourth thing the Bible promises is promotion to believers. He promises promotion. What does that mean? Well, you know, these boys, their faith astonished the king. Look at chapter 3, verse 24. King Nebuchadnezzar leapt to his feet in amazement. And he asked the advisors, weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire? And he replied, certainly, O king. He said, well, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound, unharmed, and the fourth looks like the son of the gods. You know, their faith astonished the king. And then something else, their faith produced praise on the lips of the king. It produced, you know, even the heathen had to praise God in that situation. Even the ones that didn't want to put their own faith in it had to admit there's something different about these three. We threw them in there, and now they have been set free. And their faith produced a promotion from the king. Verse 30, the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Now, folks, for a very specific reason, God did a very specific miracle on behalf of some very specific people at a specific moment in time to show His power, to say, to confirm His Word, and to protect these three Hebrew boys as a type, a foresight of the 144,000 that are coming in the book of Revelation. God did that. And you know, when God does these kinds of things, even the detractors, And the doubters have to say, something has happened. In the book of Acts, in chapter 4, verse 12, when we get that great verse that says that there's not salvation in any other name but the name of Jesus. There's none other name given among men whereby we must be saved in the name of Jesus. The Bible says that. that these Galileans, these unlearned fishermen, didn't know anything, didn't know how to do anything. We couldn't expect them to speak like they speak or have the courage that they have or to talk of things so deep. We cannot expect it of them except for one thing. They took knowledge of these men that they had been with whom? Jesus. And when you've been with Jesus and when Jesus is with you, it takes somebody. It takes somebody unable and makes them able to do whatever it is that God wants you to do. So this is an absolutely wonderful, wonderful story. Now, there are some questions about your convictions that I'm going to ask you, but I want to just, I want to point out something else. Do you know the only thing that burned about these, the only thing that burned up whenever they got thrown into the fire? The bondage, whatever they were, the bondage that they experienced. One of the greatest stories in history was the story of Martin Luther. Martin Luther, who was not a perfect human. Are there any perfect humans? Anybody know anybody perfect? Martin Luther had fits of depression. Martin Luther had fits of alcoholism. Martin Luther had many problems. But you know what Martin Luther did? Martin Luther believed that the just shall live by faith. He nailed 95 themes. to the door of the church at Wittenberg saying that these are my grievances against the established religion because of the indulgences and because of the lies and the manipulations. And here are my 95 reasons that we've got to do something. And I want you to know, as he signs it, that the just shall live by faith. This is what I believe. I can believe nothing else. Sola escritura. That's what he said. You know what happened to him? He went into the fires of affliction in that established religion and the only thing that burned up about Martin Luther was the bondage of being part of it. He came out of that. All of his ties were burned and he was able to lead a reformation in Europe that you and I are still enjoying today because we know that it's not by works, but it is by grace that we're saved through faith because somebody alone stood up. Athanasius stood up one day Athanasius said that he stood up against Arianism, and Arianism was the idea that Jesus was not divine, that Jesus was an appearance, that he did not have a physical body, and that Jesus was just on earth. He was an apparition, and that he never really died on the cross, that he never really bled, that he didn't do all of those things. He never ate. He was just an apparition. It was Arianism. There are still those that even believe that today. Many Gnostics believe that. But here's the point. Athanasius stood up. And when the establishment of the world, kings included, the king stood and looked down his long nose at Athanasius and said, Athanasius, you are standing against the entire world. Athanasius stood up and said, well then it's Athanasius and the Word of God against the entire world. And Athanasius kept writing and kept studying. And that great saint of God kept studying God's Word and converted and taught and preached God's Word until it swept all across northern Italy. And the people came to understand that it was that Jesus was, is the Son of God. He's not some apparition that really didn't die on the cross for our sins. and all kinds of people down through history. Think of a man by the name of John Wesley. How many of you ever heard of John Wesley? John Wesley was bound by the church that he was a part of, and he was told that he could not preach salvation by grace through faith. He could not do these things in the established religion, and so they said, John Wesley, you'll never preach inside another one of our buildings as long as you live. And John Wesley went and stood outside, and he stood in the commons, and he stood in the public places, and he took God's Word, And he says, if they won't let me preach in there, then I'll preach on a box. I'll preach on a corner. I'll preach on a lampstand. And he stood and he preached God's word. And John Wesley preached more sermons while he was alive than any human being in history. And John Wesley started Methodism, which was the first great sweeping revival across the United States of America through Methodism. I just want to tell you that the only thing that's ever burned up in your life when you go through affliction are the things that bind you. And many times, the blessing of persecution will set you free in your life more than anything that you could have ever done on your own. God uses persecution to set us free. Let's look at these questions here. And the questions are on your list there, questions about your convictions. Do you have beliefs personally that are beyond debate and compromise? Do you have core beliefs, all of your own? Number, the letter B, do you have confidence in your God? Verse 17, if we're thrown to the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able. He will rescue. And if he doesn't let it be known that we will not bow. He will rescue us one way or another. They were going to be out of Nebuchadnezzar's hands. Either God was going to deliver them from the fiery furnace or they were going to die in there. But one thing was sure they were going to go out of Nebuchadnezzar's hands. He was not going to be in control. Do you have confidence in your God and see, are you active enough in living the Christian life that you actually can recognize persecution? That's something, isn't it? Are you active in your Christian life enough that you ever really can recognize persecution or that your life actually stirs something up? It's a powerful verse. There is a worksheet there for you to pray through, and I want you to take that home with you, and we're going to let you go. But I want you to take that home with you and look at it and look at those prayers. Let it be a way that you might do some devotions tomorrow morning from this chapter. Some good questions, some good verses to look at. But I want to say this to you. This book of Daniel is an unbelievably powerful book. Never assume that because the book is a prophetic book that it doesn't have personal application. Never assume that because something is told in story form in the Bible that it doesn't have further application, because God's Word is applicable, it's useful for correction, instruction in righteousness for every one of us, that we may be fully equipped for God's service.