Draw a line in the sand
Daniel chapter 3
Turn in your bible to the OT Book of Daniel. Let me begin reading in chapter 3
Daniel 3:1-2, 4-6
The sermon this morning is entitled “Drawing a line in the sand”.
Where do you draw your line?
Where won’t you cross and what won’t you do?
If you have not drawn a line, you have done things that you did not intend to do.
This culture and society today will if you let them take you where you do not want to go.
Illustration—
How many of you began watching a movie and suddenly without warning, the movie takes you to a place of being uncomfortable? It was more than you wanted to see or more than you wanted to hear?
Do you now turn the movie off or wait and hope that it gets better?
Do you turn a blind eye to what you know is right?
Holy Spirit says this is not what you should be watching?
We have all been there! Just how many times have you crossed the line of being comfortable with being uncomfortable?
Let me set up this text-
Daniel was a man of God. The whole book of Daniel shows his godly character.
He had a heart for God and he was not going to let the overtaking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians change who he was.
King Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon) took as spoils some of the royal family, the smart, the elite, young good looking men and trained them to be Babylonian.
He taught them the language, taught them Babylonian culture.
They were treated well.
The catch was they had to serve the Babylonian King.
Daniel was offered a good life… if he followed the rules of the world and did as he was told.
Daniel could not eat the best of the best offered by the king because it was offered first to a foreign god and that did not set well with him.
It was okay for the world, but not by him.
He convinced the guard in charge of him that his God would keep him better without that sacrificed food.
Let me eat my food (vegetables) for 10 days and see if I am not stronger and healthier than the ones that ate the sacrificed food of idols.
Chapter 2, because of his faithfulness, he gets a chance to interrupt a dream that no one else could interpret for the king. (God’s anointing)
The king elevates Daniel to a high ruler in the province of Babylon.
The king for a moment also believes in his God. “Surely your God is the god of gods, and lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries.” (like those that receive a blessing from God and then soon forget God)
Daniel with his power elevates his friends Shadrac, Meshach, and Abednego who were also Jews selected for service to the king.
But how many know that following God is not for the faint of heart-
There will be road blocks and there will be haters that don’t like you because you don’t act like the world. You are different!
Here we go!
Are you going to bow down and worship a manmade idol or face the consequences for your actions?
That is the decision they had to make and one we make today also-
The time came for all to bow and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not bow. They had determined beforehand that no matter what the world was doing, they were not going to go against their God.
The haters showed up- 3:12 “But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon- who pay no attention to you. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up.”
King Nebuchadnezzar was furious that they would not bow down-
3:15-“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?”
He liked them- he did not want to put them in the furnace, but the king was duped by his evil leaders and now he needs to stand on his decree which said bow or die.
They were ready to give an answer for what will happen to them.
3:17-18- “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.”
THE LINE HAS BEEN DRAWN- we will serve you but we will not go against our God! There is nothing that you can do to us that would make us bow to another God and disrespect their God.
The king is furious with them and orders the furnace heated seven times hotter than
Normal.
The guards that carry them in are killed from the intense heat.
The king has lost control- to hurt them he would not of made it hotter so that they would have suffered longer.
Bound hand and foot, they were thrown in, but unbound and walking around they soon were.
There were three and now there is four!
They are unharmed and one looks like a son of a god! Says Nebuchadnezzar.
Unharmed, untouched, and did not smell like smoke.
Lesson number 1- What He won’t bring you out of, He will be in with you! (Repeat)
Isaiah 43:2-3
“When you pass through the waters, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
You cannot watch God do something supernatural until you draw the line in the sand and allow Him to be God in your life.
You will miss the blessings until you are on the same side as the Lord.
When the Hebrews boys said no matter if He saves us or not, we will not bow to this manmade god and disrespect the true God. God did the supernatural.
The only thing burned in this furnace was the ties that bound them and the Lord set them free in the fire.
The storms and trial may put us in the fire, but the storms cannot hold us there.
The same king that said- (3:15)“Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand” is the same king that had to say (3:29) “For no other God can save in this way.”
The same king that made a decree that no prayer was allowed for thirty days and worship me says that he is making a decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be killed.
Quite a change- Amen! But it takes God’s people drawing a line in the sand and not letting anyone takes us across that line!
We have to be in it to win it!
We need to know and acknowledge and live out that our God is superior to any other manmade god and that He will do what He said He would do.
He is the Alpha and the Omega- the beginning and the end.
He is author and finisher of our faith.
He says “My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
This old world- The God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand- but even if he does not, we want you to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.
Lesson number two- Don’t ever think that God is finished with you.
Daniel and these Hebrews men were now in their eighties and still serving God and making a difference.
They were in captivity because of the world views but the world did not have their allegiance- God did!
Whatever stage of life you are in, it is never too late to serve the Lord and allow him to use you.
Deal or no deal! I sound like a game show host-
In it to win it- be determined that you are in it with the Lord all the way and whatever happens- then you see his glory work in your life.
Deal or not deal! The world makes good offers, but if you lose your soul for them it is not worth it!
Lesson number three- Don’t worry about fame and fortune- worry about Eternity.
They would not let possessions, positions, robes of honor take them away from their God.
These are temporary trinkets to have compared to eternity- store up in heaven those things that you cannot bring with you!
Lesson Four- Don’t neglect God’s wrath and judgment
There are not a lot of messages from the world speaking of righteousness and self control.
Not a lot of messages about things to come- only about right now! Enjoy it now!
No revival ever started without people realizing the judgment of god coming.
Serving god is not for the faint of heart- it is for the determined and ones willing to draw a line in the sand and say this is the line that I will not cross and these are the things that I will not do.
Understanding his righteousness will bring us to love and relationship.
It takes His love and mercy in and for our life and it takes our willingness to serve him without hesitation and without compromise.
Illustration-
It’s like the story told about a grandfather who one time found his grandson, jumping up and down in his playpen, crying at the top of his lungs. When Johnnie saw his grandfather, he reached up his little chubby hands and said, “Out, Gramp, out.”
It was only natural for Grandfather to reach down to lift the little fellow out of his predicament; but as he did, the mother of the child stepped up and said, “No, Johnnie, you are being punished, so you must stay in.”
The grandfather was at a loss to know what to do. The child’s tears and chubby hands reached deep into his heart, but the mother’s firmness in correcting her son for misbehavior must not be lightly taken. Here was a problem of love versus law, but love found a way. The grandfather could not take the youngster out of the playpen, so he crawled in with him.
Someone once said, “In this life God places us in His oven. In here, it is hot and it hurts. No one likes being in the oven, but when life is over, and the bell dings, God takes us out of the oven and says, ‘Well done . . . good and faithful servant.”
Close,
May the love for God that these Hebrews showed be inspiration for believers today who desire to see God do something supernatural again- bring God’s people out of the fire and to serve Him with all their hearts.
May that be our hope and encouragement today — that the God of eternity will find us faithful in spite of the fiery furnace we experience each and every day.
They could not criticize their work, so they will attack your faith.
This world is changing! The reality is we are not living in a Christian society.
We are living in a society that is willing to worship anyone or anything but God.
Years ago, people respected a Christian even if they themselves were not, but not today-
years ago a pastor who stayed close to the bible teachings was respected in the community and made an impact in the community. Not so today-
They may take out the Ten Commandments in government.
They may take prayer out of schools and public buildings.
They put their approval on things that God would question-
They may do that but that does not mean that you have too!
Daniel, the three Hebrews in the fire, you and I today have to make up our minds that we will not defile the things of God and we need to draw a line in the sand.
America does not need an American idol- it needs Jesus Christ
Prayer-
