We'll be reading together the entirety of the chapter. Almost seems like a short chapter compared to last week, but not really. So let's give our attention to the word of God as we find it in Daniel chapter three, beginning with verse one. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent together the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of their provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and the herald proclaimed aloud, You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. You, O King, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down in worship shall be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. And Nebuchadnezzar, in furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. And Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the burning, fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning, fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning, fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste, and he declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, true, O king. He answered and said, but I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the appearance of the four is like a son of the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace. He declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. and the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree, any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins for there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. And the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. The grass withers, flower fades. The word of our God will endure forever. Let's pray together. Our blessed God, how we thank you for this declaration of your power and your majesty in an extraordinary way. And we pray that you would fill our hearts with the same confidence and commitment to you, the living and almighty God. Lord, would you bless your word to us this day and cause us to receive it and stir our hearts by it that we might serve you with all our strength in this day in which we live. We pray for Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, many of you will be aware of the fact that earlier this month we began a study of the book of Daniel on Sunday evening. And in the first two chapters, we have seen how Daniel and his three friends were taken captive, and they were brought to Babylon and made to serve in the king's court, King Nebuchadnezzar. And by various means, Nebuchadnezzar has been trying to change these young men, teenagers, but he wants to change them from worshipers of the true and living God and make them worshipers of the gods of the Chaldeans, the gods of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar has tried to change everything in these young men's lives. He's taken them out of their families, out of their homes. He's removed them far 500 miles away from their home and placed them in the court of the king in Babylon. He's given them different food to eat. He's demanded that they learn and speak a different language. He's even changed their names. so that every time someone speaks to them, they don't hear the names that they have as Jews and as followers of Jehovah, but they have Babylonian names. So Nebuchadnezzar is trying to change these men. Thus far, we have seen that God has graciously worked on their behalf in a number of ways. He's blessed them with physical health. So that in spite of the fact of a diet of only vegetables and water, they are stronger and physically fit and better in appearance. He has blessed them spiritually with wisdom and understanding that is 10 times better than all the wise men in Babylon. And God has worked and honored them and exalted them to positions of great influence and authority. But as we come to this third chapter, interestingly enough, this is the only chapter in this book that does not even mention Daniel. The focus is entirely upon these three young men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, or as Nebuchadnezzar called them, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now as I looked at this passage and read and studied and thought about how to best divide it up, how to best present the heart and the core of the lessons for us here. It was the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3 that came to my mind. You may be familiar with them where he says, there is to everything a season and there is a time for every purpose under heaven. Time to be born, time to die. Time to plant, time to pluck up what was planted. Time to speak, time to be silent. Well, for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, this situation that is presented to us in Daniel 3 was a very difficult one. However, it was a time. It was a season. for them to demonstrate by the power of the Holy Spirit within them that their faith in the God of the Bible was more than just words. This was a time for them, as it were, to stand up for Jesus. if it was gonna cost them their lives. It is an exceptional passage, and I pray that God will help us as we work through it. Now, we're gonna consider it under three headings. The first is this was a time to stand up for God. Secondly, it was a time to confess their faith and their commitment. to to God. And lastly, we will see how this was a time of turning. This was a time to turn and trust God. Let's start with our first point, a time to stand up for God. It was quite a number of years ago when I walked into a seminary class where Dr. J. Adams, the kind of guru of counseling in those days, and he was teaching and I walked in and I must have been wearing my feelings on my sleeve because he looked at me and he said, why the long face? And I promptly proceeded to delineate for him a whole series of difficult situations that I was facing at the moment. And he responded very unsympathetically. And he looked at me and he said, oh, stop your whining. He said, you ought to be thanking God for all these opportunities to serve God and minister to his people. Now, brothers and sisters, I don't know if Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were feeling it, but this situation was a tremendous opportunity for them. Now, the situation is laid out for us in the first seven verses. And what we find here is that Nebuchadnezzar has arranged for this absolutely extravagant celebration. And there is great excitement in the air. It might be something that some of you young children can identify with when you think of the best birthday party you ever had. when you've got all kinds of friends gathered together and there's a large pile of presents there in the middle of the room. And you've got that cake with those special candles that are sparkling all over and throwing sparks out. And there's great excitement about what's getting ready to happen. Well in this case, no expense has been spared. Nebuchadnezzar has called people from across his realm together, and he has hired the best orchestra in the hemisphere to provide the music for his festival and for his celebration. The guest list reads like a who's who of Babylonian society. Everybody who is anybody is there. So there's magistrates, there's governors, there's judges, there's wise men and counselors, and people from across the empire have all gathered together for this event. And the guests included three Jews. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now the main event was going to be an unveiling of this magnificent statue of gold, 90 feet tall. Now if you think about that, I'm not sure what the height of this ceiling is, but probably 25, maybe 30 feet. Three times that is this statue of gold. This would have caught the eye of everyone in the room. And here is this statue that Nebuchadnezzar has presented. And when the statue was uncovered, then everyone who is present was required to fall down and worship the image. And if they refused, there would not be years and years waiting for a trial. They would immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. Now, my friends, keep in mind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not living in the United States of America. They had no personal rights whatsoever. They were forced to serve in the court of this very pagan, very egotistical dictator This man, Nebuchadnezzar, would have made Saddam Hussein look like Mr. Rogers. I mean, this man is unbelievable, but the thing about it is, is his will is law. And what he said was what was going to happen. He had absolute authority. This was not a good situation for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They weren't in their element. This was not a comfortable time for them. But it was a great opportunity to stand up for God. so that when everyone else there that night fell down and worshiped this magnificent golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up, three men, three young boys, kept standing. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now, my friends, think about this situation. Thankfully, you and I do not live in a time or place where this kind of idolatry is the law of the land. But here's a question. What if it were? What if the right people got into power or a foreign nation took over this country and the law became once a day, you had to bow down to an image. What would you do? Would you bow down? Would you rationalize? Would you say, well, I can continue to be an influence in this situation as long as, you know, I just do this little thing and God knows my heart, that I'm not really worshiping the image. Would you have courage to take a stand for Christ? We may not be in a situation where serving God will cost us our life. But, my friends, there will be opportunities. There will be times and places, either at your work or in your school or as you gather together at a friend's house with a group of those friends, in which others are going to mock your faith in God. They're going to ridicule you. They're going to make fun of you. They're going to laugh at you. Oh, let me guess, you believe that Jonah was swallowed by a whale? You believe the walls of Jericho fell down at a trumpet sound? They're going to mock you. They're going to make fun of you. They're going to challenge what you believe. And maybe even harder than that is going to be the temptation to do something that you know is wrong, that you know in your heart and in your soul it is against what God has commanded in his word. But the pressure is going to be so intense because they're going to be telling you, look everybody does it. Everybody lies now and then. It's not a problem. Everybody cheats. Everybody does this. Everybody is sexually immoral these days. It's not, that's not something for you to take a stand on. My friends, how will you respond in those situation when everyone else is doing it? I think on the basis of what we see here, we can say this, when that happens, not if, but when, it will happen one day if it's not happening right now. My friends, at that moment, you must look to Jesus. You must look to him who took a stand. for us in our place. You must look to him who was faithful to his God to do the will of his Father in heaven even though it cost him his life. But my friends, it's more than that because we are his people. We bear his image to the world that surrounds us. We as followers of Jesus Christ must take a stand. We must believe in his word, cast ourselves upon him, pray, pray earnestly that he will work in us to his glory. We are weak. But He is strong. We can call upon Him. I want you to turn back to the book of Joshua. Book of Joshua in chapter 1 and look at verse 9. Think about Joshua now. He's crossing over into the promised land in a short period of time. And he's going to face strong walled cities and giants in the land. No wonder if he's trembling inside and God comes to Joshua and he says in verse nine, have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid nor be dismayed. How can that possibly be in light of the circumstances? How can it be that God is calling you in the midst of horrific situations to be strong and of good courage and don't be afraid, don't be dismayed? You know how? Because this is God's promise. The Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Whatever your situation, whatever your particular need, my friends, God is sufficient. And we may look to Jesus with confidence and with joy and we can serve Him. This is not something that you can work up or produce in your own heart to be strong and courageous and not be afraid. This is, as Jesus put it, I am the vine, you are the branches, and you can do nothing if you're not abiding in me. Now, we don't have time to unpack that, but brothers and sisters, this abiding in Christ, out of which we draw strength to serve and be faithful to him, is not one service on a Sunday morning. It's Sunday morning and Sunday evening and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday. It's the whole time of your life abiding, drawing near to Christ, spending time with him, soaking up his word, the very ground out of which this command comes in verse nine is verse eight. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night like Psalm 1 that we sang earlier. The fruit, the blessing, the ability to serve God comes from his word and fellowship with him and the grace that he bestows. Very quickly, don't miss the big picture here. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego not worshiping the image and being cast into the fiery furnace. My friends, that's not just some cute Bible story to sing about, to tell your kids about. This is a picture. This is a picture of the ongoing struggle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. The battle that was raging in the sixth century B.C. was raging in the days of Jesus and the apostles when the Jews killed the Lord of glory. The battle was raging, but he stood firm to provide redemption for us by his death on the cross. The battle rages today, my friends. It's raging all around you. Are you aware of the opportunities to take a stand, to show this perverse and crooked generation that we serve the living and true God? Paul wrote to the Corinthians as he closes out 1 Corinthians in chapter 15 and verse 58, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. Stand for God. Well, secondly, This was a time to confess their faith and their commitment to God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not bow to the image and they would not worship it. And it did not take long for people to notice that they were the only ones standing. when everyone else was bowing down. So beginning in verse eight and following, we read that certain of the Chaldeans came forward and accused these Jews. They came to Nebuchadnezzar and they said, oh king, you're the greatest king that ever lived. But you know what? There's some Jews in our midst and they don't, they're not paying any attention to your commands. They will not worship your image. They will not fall down to that image. Nebuchadnezzar is absolutely furious that anyone would deny him what he had commanded. And so the three are brought before the king and the king says, is this true? He knows it's true. but he's giving them an opportunity, he says, I tell you what, I realize what you've done, you've defied me in front of all my people, but if you're willing, when the music starts playing, just a moment, if you're willing to fall down and worship the image, well and good, but if you're not, If you refuse, you will be cast immediately into a furnace of fire. And look at verse 15. Nebuchadnezzar says, and who is the God who is able to deliver you out of my hands? In Nebuchadnezzar's mind, no one's more powerful than he. He's the God of the whole world at this moment, the king, the ruler, the absolute Lord. Who will deliver you from me if you deny my command? Well, this was a very serious, very difficult situation. How these teenagers respond will determine whether they live or die. And unlike me, they're not whining about it. Instead, they see this as an opportunity to confess their faith in God. It's like Jesus said in Matthew 10 verses 32 and 33. If any man confess me before men, I will confess him before my father in heaven. But if you deny me, I will deny you. Brethren, this is not an insignificant detail. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego know this is about confessing their faith in the true and living God. They tell Nebuchadnezzar in verse 17, we understand, we know the cost, but we don't even need to discuss this. There can be no compromise here. We will not worship your image. And so Nebuchadnezzar, hearing this, is furious once again. But before we deal with the consequences, I want you to look closely at this confession. When they tell Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter, verse 16, we don't need to talk about it. Verse 17, if that is the case, our God, who we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace. And he will deliver us from your hand, O king. But, look closely, if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the golden image which you have set up. My friends, these three young men did not simply confess, we believe in the God of the Bible. Nor did they simply say, He is able to deliver us. It is that, and that's significant. It's like Paul in Ephesians 3 when he's praying for the Ephesian believers And he says, now to him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you can ask or think Knowing that God is able to do these things is monumental But they go beyond that I want you to see that their faith is much more than just believing in the God of the Bible or even believing that he's all-powerful Their faith includes, even if he does not deliver us We will not serve your image. We will not disobey our God. Now my friends, mark these words because they did not believe, listen, they did not believe that a lack of deliverance from this terrible situation was a failure of their God or their faith. Let me say it again, they did not believe that a lack of deliverance, Nebuchadnezzar even if he doesn't deliver us, we will not disobey his command. They did not believe that a lack of deliverance would be a failure of their God or their faith. Have you ever heard something like, well, the reason God didn't answer your prayer, the reason why you weren't healed of that particular affliction was because you didn't have enough faith? My friends, that is simply not true. If you're familiar with Hebrews 11, you know that Hebrews 11 gives us a wonderful catalog of men who believed in God, who had faith in God, and they were greatly blessed or delivered out of a number of situations. And so he mentions in verses 32 and following, he talks about Gideon, In 32, he talks about Samson and David and Samuel and all the wonderful things. They subdued kingdoms. They stopped the mouths of lions. They quenched the fire of the sword or the fire and escaped from the sword. But listen, brothers and sisters, Hebrews 11 also records Men and women of equal faith that were not delivered. They were burned alive. They were cut in pieces. They were slain with the sword. Deliverance is not the be all to end all issue. Faith does not demand deliverance. Faith only demands that God be honored. And that's what these men were doing as they confessed their faith in God. Secondly, they confessed their commitment to God because they not only believed God's word, they were committed to that word. I think it's very clear that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, young teenagers, knew the first two commandments. They knew the commandment, you shall have no other gods before me. They knew the commandment, you shall not make any graven image, nor bow down to it, nor worship it. How did these boys know those commandments? Where did they get that from and be so committed to it? Well, they were Jews. And from their very earliest days, they had been taught the law of God. Now, parents, don't miss this. And never underestimate the power and the impact of reading the word to your children, of teaching your children that word, of discussing and explaining the truths of the word of God They are getting more than you think they're getting I still remember a young teenage boy that was part of our congregation. He was being raised by his grandparents. His grandparents were dedicated believers. The boy was mad that he had to be in church. He would sit there for the entire time and scowl. He was so unhappy to be there. One afternoon his parents were driving up the mountain talking about the sermon, and the wife says, well, what was it the pastor said about this? And the grandfather said, well, I think it was this and this. And the boy speaks up from the back seat, and he says, no, he said this and this and this. He heard. He might have been scowling, but the word of God was going in and taking root in his mind. and in his heart. Don't underestimate what it is, the benefit of teaching your Children. Here we see these young men knew the word of God and they were committed to live by it. They would not bow and they would not worship the image. A number of things we could think about but let me just mention a couple. Remember how Job speaks early on in his trial? Chapter 13 and verse 15 he says, though he slay me. I will trust him." Even if God doesn't deliver us, trust him. Commit yourself to his ways. Perhaps there's so many examples in church history. Luther, as he's brought before the tribunal of Catholics, and they're threatening him with everything, and he says, here I stand. I can do no other. My conscience is bound by the word of God. Perhaps polycarp is even more vivid when you think about polycarp for whoever was that got the sketches of church history the other night we gave away. You can look up polycarp. Polycarp is brought before the Roman proconsul and he says, swear by Caesar, curse Christ and I'll let you go free. And polycarp says 80 in six years, I have served my lord and savior and he has never done me wrong. How can I deny him? And the console says I have wild beast and polycarp said send for them. He said, I'll burn you with fire. He says, you threaten me with a fire that burns for a moment and is extinguished, and you know nothing of the fire that burns from everlasting to everlasting, the judgment God will bring upon the ungodly. This man knew what it was to be committed just as these three men knew what it was to be committed. And all my friends, I pray that God will give us that kind of courage, that kind of commitment that we will draw from him and his all sufficient grace and be able to stand for Christ and confess our faith, confess our commitment. Quickly, our last point, this was a time to turn towards God. The rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say, is found in verses 19 and following. Nebuchadnezzar takes these three men and in his rage he casts them into the fiery furnace. I couldn't remember where it was, but I think it was a glass blowing factory or something, and we were there watching this furnace heated to 2,500 degrees. And they said, you can't get within so far of this furnace. My friends, this was hotter than that. This is hotter than any fireplace or any wood stove that you may have experienced. This furnace was so hot that when those who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego took them to the door of the furnace and threw them in, they themselves were killed. But somehow Nebuchadnezzar is able to look into the furnace and he says, wait a minute, didn't we throw three men in there? Yes, king. I see four and they're not bound, they're loose and they're walking around and they're not hurt by the fire. Who was the fourth? Where did he come from? Was he one of the sons of the gods as Nebuchadnezzar thought or was he one of the angels that came to protect Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? My friends, who it was and how he got there is not the point. Two things that stand out here, number one, is that though God may not always deliver us from our trials, he will always draw near to us in those trials. He will come to support, to strengthen, to encourage. If he does not deliver from, he will draw near in those trials. Secondly, this was a time to turn. You realize Nebuchadnezzar had just witnessed a miraculous display of God's grace. That should have caused him to turn to God. He saw the power of God, and it should have caused him to forsake his Babylonian gods and put his faith in the true and living God, the God of the Hebrews, who obviously was far more powerful than any of his. But sadly, Nebuchadnezzar was very impressed. Wow, I make a decree, nobody can speak against your God. But he didn't believe and he didn't repent. He didn't turn to God. My friends, bigger question. Of all the ways in which God has blessed us, all the privileges that we enjoy. We have his word, we have his worship, we have the free offer of the gospel proclaimed each and every Lord's Day. We have godly parents, we have Christian families around us in our church and in our home. Has all those brought you to faith and repentance? Can you bow this day before God humbly, confess your sin, and revel in the promise that if we confess those sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us, and that He will bless us and be with us no matter where we go or what we do? In Sunday school we closed, or I think we at some point saw the verse from Romans 12, 1 and 2, where Paul says, I beseech you brothers, by the mercies of God, by all the ways God has blessed you, by the kindness he has shown to you, by his long suffering and patience and goodness and truth, by the mercies of God, Present yourselves right now as living sacrifices to the Lord. Let's pray together. Lord our God, we confess freely we are weak. We capitulate, we don't stand so many times when we have the opportunity. but you are strong and you have promised to be with us even in our greatest trials. Lord, would you give us a fresh view of your magnificence and your power and your great mercy to those who will turn from their sin and look to you in faith. Bless us this day by your grace and power. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen. We're going to stand and