Stand for something, or fall for everything the devil tries
Dan 3:2-30 NKJ
1. Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits(about 90 feet tall) and its width six cubits(about 9 feet wide). He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
And what the king did next was to show off what he had made, he called anybody and everybody to come and see the image he had made.
I’m sure, it was quite a sight in those days, 9 stories tall an image of Gold!
And of course, anybody and everyone came to see the unveiling and what all the hoopla was about.
4. Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,
5. that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up;
6. and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”
And so I think you probably know what happened next.
Just like when the national weather service makes an announcement on the radio to get your attention,
And it says, this is a test and immediately it makes that awful noise,
You guessed it, the band started playing and anybody and everyone who wanted to live, did exactly what ole king Neber-crazy had ordered them to do.
They bowed like puppets, that is almost everyone bowed
8. Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews.
9. They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!
(Now you could certainly tell those guys were on the payroll, with the “oh king live forever” stuff!)
10. You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image;
11. and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
12. There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.”
13. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king.
Notice how these three Jewish boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, just like you read about in a lot of the old testament stories of faith,
had the favour of God on them and also had favour with the king
And these men that brought it to the attention of the king, didn’t like it.
I mean its not like the king didn’t notice himself, the only 3 that didn’t bow in the whole assembly,
They may as well have been, 3 white elephants in the room, you know what I mean?
He spoke to them, which leads me to believe he knew them, or had some sort of acquaintance with them, to some degree.
Vs. 14. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up?
15. Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good!
(he was willing to give them another opportunity, I’m sure he was hoping they would bow and not suffer him any further embarrassment)
Reading on;
But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”
16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
17. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.
18. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”
(Isn’t that a statement that the church needs to stand up and make a permanent fixture of its makeup!!
And not worry that it might be viewed as a Politically Incorrect statement!!)
19. Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.
20. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
21. Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
22. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.
23. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
24. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”
They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”
25. “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
(Even Nebuchadnezzar as full as he was of himself, recognized the presence of the Son of God!
What an awesome sight it must have been, no one has ever been in His presence and ever been the same!)
26. Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.”
(Its funny because Only 10 minutes earlier, king neber-craziness statue had been ordered to be worshiped, truly a miracle had truly taken place)
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire.
27. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
28. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!
(How many of you are getting the feeling, the band was getting ready to play a different song,
Something a little more appropriate for the occasion, no not hail to the chief, but something more like “to God be the Glory”)
Reading on, it shows exactly how much and how quickly things had changed,
29. Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.”
30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in the province of Babylon.
Hallelujah, Glory to God, what an amazing story, God will not only take you safely thru the fire, but He will Handsomely reward you on the other side as well!
I know some of you, might be going through the fire this morning,
And I know it’s going to sound crazy, but what you ought to be doing is praising God, that you made it to the fire,
Because, there are other people that never made it to the fire,
There are people who wanted to go to the dance, but never had the opportunity to do so, there are other people that died at the door.
Do you understand what I’m saying? The Kings 3 Most mighty men, TBS. men of valor, decorated war heroes (actually died at the door)
It’s a miracle that a lot of us made it this far, in this life were living, by all rights some of us shouldn’t be here,
and its only by the Grace of God this morning that we are! Thank You Jesus!
I know in my life, there have been close calls and I know that its only because God showed up on the scene just in time
and rescued me out of the situation that they were avoided altogether. Amen?
And I’m sure there are others here this morning that can relate as well,
And the only reason you are here, is because God was merciful to you and did the same for you!
What am I telling you is, if your facing the fire,
I’m trying to tell you that you ought to be praising God that you made it to the fire, there are others that died at the door.
They died where your miracle has already started. Praise God!
These 3 mighty men, could represent the
*three greatest athletes,
*the three most popular movie stars
*the 3 voted most likely to become presidential material,
You see, they had everything going for them, if any body should have made it, it should have been them, they were already men of prominence,
But all that didn't matter, because they died at the door.
On the other hand:
Nobody expected you to make it: but here you are alive, in your right mind, serving God filled with the Holy Ghost and power.
Now would be the time to shouting Hallelujah, Glory to God! Amen?
And you want to complain because you’re going through the fire, what you ought to be doing is praising God that you made it to the fire.
As a matter of fact if you feel like you are in the middle of the fire, it is proof positive that you are coming out.
Because the miracle started at the door,
Now I’m not saying you might not feel the heat a little bit,
But your miracle is already in the making!
In Fact, Its all ready been paid for!
But you don’t know what my need is, it doesn’t matter what your need is, God is bigger than your need.
Even if your need is 7 times greater than you’ve ever experienced before,
Gods ability is and will always be Greater than your need. Amen?
And just like the boys were rewarded for their faith, so will you be rewarded for yours, Praise God! So will you!
I know right now that sounds impossible, because there is no visible, tangible, or physical evidence of anything good happening, when your going through the fire.
But TBS. in Hebrews 11:6 NKJ
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
The same faith it took to believe for your salvation, is the same faith it takes for your every need to be supplied! Amen?
TBS. to come with the faith of a child, why does it say that?
well, if we really were to admit it,
that’s exactly the amount of faith we had when we made Jesus our Lord and Savior and became born again, isn‘t?
Was it enough then, you know it was, that same amount is always enough!
Because at that very moment, we knew it was all about what He did for us, not what we could do for ourselves,
Guess what? Nothings changed, its still all about what He can do for us and not about what we can do at all!
The 3 boys S.M. and A. they made it about God, not about them and God not only took them thru the fire unharmed, He rewarded them on the other side as well,
just like the king turned up the furnace 7 times hotter, God turned up the blessing 7 times greater! And He is willing to do the same for you, Amen?
Whether you can receive it or not, doesn’t change the fact He is willing to do it, for you in your life!
Can you imagine Gods blessing 7 times greater! What do you say, lets all try and could anybody use,
7 times more joy than you have right now?
7 times more peace?
7 times more finances?
7 times more anointing?
7 times more wisdom and understanding?
7 times more health and protection?
I’m telling you right now, “You need to make a declaration on the authority of Gods word, in and over your life!”
Something good is going to come out of this for you on the other side,
you are going to make it,
you are not going to burn up in the fire, it will not consume you!
you are coming out on the other side and I don’t mean you’re going to come crawling out on your hands and your knees, beat down, no peace, no joy, with your hair all singed and clothes smelling like smoke either.
When you come out of this on the other side:
your coming out blessed!
your coming out healed, and delivered!
your coming out with some money in your bank account!
your coming out with some joy and some peace and a greater anointing than you’ve ever had in your life!
Your going to come out of this with a testimony, giving Glory to God, for bringing you thru it all!
You see though, as good as that all sounds, the devil will take all this and tell you, if all that’s true and believe me he knows its true better than anyone,
he’ll say, how’s come your not feeling all those things now, if all that’s so, then why do you still feel the way you do,
Faith is not what you feel or see, faith is what you believe, (repeat)
Hebrews 11:1,2 NKJ
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. (I’m sorry, they did what?)
Romans 8;24-28 NKJ
24. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
(Seeing is believing, we like to think, but only our faith can make it become visible)
25. But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
(that’s why we need to praise God in the midst of our need,
its when we are weak, He is made strong, that’s when He comes to our situation,
just like with S. M. and A., when the king said, I see 4 men and one of them looks like the Son of God!)
26. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
The MSG. says it like this;
the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.
that’s why we can have the assurance and trust, that God will safely see us through whatever it is before us, no matter how high the flames may get!
that’s why this next verse gives so much comfort to us, in our time of need.
28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Friends, if you still going through and facing fires, Gods not done with you yet.
And if He’s not done, then we know that He still has plans for you, Amen?
What kind of Plans? I’m so glad you asked!
Jerm. 29:11 NASB.
11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for your welfare and not for your calamity to give you a future and a hope.
Fires will come and go in your life, but thank the Lord He has given us the measure of faith, to be able to believe, that He has the ability to extinguish each and every one of them!
Amen?
Let us pray!
As a closing song, Have someone sing "Through the Fire" by the Crabb family
