Drawing Your Line in the Sand
Book of Daniel Series
CCCAG 2-10-2025
Scripture: Daniel 3:8-30
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Introduction:
During the Mexican American war, the citizens of the area now known as Texas wanted to be independent from Mexico, so they started a revolution to gain that independence. Mexico didn’t like that, so they sent troops north to squash this rebellion, leading to the Battle at the Alamo in which a little over 100 Texans defended the Alamo against the 1500 person Mexican Army lead by General Santa Ana.
The battle lasted 14 days.
On March 5th, the last night of the battle, the defenders of the Alamo were completely surrounded and exhausted. Their morale and willingness to fight was at an all time low.
Knowing this, their commanding officer, Colonel William Travis, asked the defenders to come to the courtyard. He knew that the cause was completely hopeless, and that any further attempt at repelling the Mexican Army would fail. Colonel Travis stood before his men, and asked them stand one more time in defense of their freedom. He then drew his saber and drew a line in the sand and asked whoever would stay and help him defend the Alamo, to cross that line and join him.
That is where we get the phrase of “Drawing a line in the sand”
This phrase also came mean that you were giving an ultimatum to an enemy- drawing a line was telling an adversary, “This far, no farther. Cross this line, and see what happens”
Having lines and standards in our lives is a good thing.
We all live under local and national laws which give us all lines we shouldn’t cross. We draw these lines so that we can our lives in ways that everyone can experience safety and freedom.
Many of us have lines, ethics, and codes that we have personally drawn and live by.
This should be true if you call yourself a Christian- you live according to lines drawn in the sand by Jesus, and uphold that standard out of love for HIM.
This morning, we will read about three men who were asked to cross a line that they had drawn in their lives. These men had lines, boundaries, and moral absolutes that they had known since early childhood that were now under attack by their culture.
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Background- Summary of verses 1-7
Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue of pure gold based on the statue he had seen in a dream. The statue he saw in his dream had a head of gold that represented him and the Babylonian Empire. As you went down that statue, different metals were seen that represented several other kingdoms that would come after Babylon fell.
Nebuchadnezzar was rebelling against the idea that his glory and the glory of Babylon would ever fade, so his pride he doubles down and builds a statue where it is all gold, indicating that Babylon will never fall despite that God showing him otherwise.
Not only does he build this statue in defiance to God, but he also forces people to bow down and worship it.
That’s where we are picking up the story in Verse 8.
Because of the length of this narrative, we are going to break it up a bit. Instead of reading the entire scripture first, I’m going to tackle it by sections this morning.
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Daniel 3:8-12
Dan 3:8 Some Chaldeans took this occasion to come forward and maliciously accuse the Jews.
Dan 3:9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “May the king live forever.
Dan 3:10 You as king have issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music must fall down and worship the gold statue.
Dan 3:11 Whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.
Dan 3:12 There are some Jews you have appointed to manage the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men have ignored you, the king; they do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
Prayer- not to bow to culture no matter the price
I hear stories and see it in social media were many people I follow are experiencing what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are going through.
We have seen this a lot in recent years- God’s people accused of being intolerant of people who are choosing to live in ways that God and HIS Word say are wrong.
What this account in Daniel shows is that this is nothing new.
Throughout history, God's people have been called to stand firm in their faith amid intense opposition. Today, we live in a world that increasingly pressures believers to compromise their convictions. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego provides a powerful example of unwavering faith and obedience to God in the face of evil.
This passage is not just a historical account; it serves as a blueprint for how we, as Christians, can stand strong when confronted with the evil around us.
This is why I titled this message- draw your line in the sand.
How do you do that?
The first way we can draw our line in the sand is to
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I. Recognizing the Pressure to Conform (Daniel 3:8-12)
A. This Fallen World Demands Allegiance
King Nebuchadnezzar had erected this golden statue that represented his pride and vanity. But it wasn’t just enough to erect the statue- he then demands that all people to bow in worship to the statue.
But this isn’t something some weird ancient people were guilty of.
In today’s world, similar pressures exist, compelling us to conform to secular ideologies, cultural trends, and moral relativism.
I’ve shared how when I started working on my Bachelor’s degree that I had to attend a Zoom class introduce us to their academic program. If you are not familiar with Zoom, it’s a computer program where we are logged in with web camera’s and sound, and can see each other on our computer screen. In this particular class, the instructor was showing us how to do things like set up our email and our email signature.
This was at the height of the gender fluid craziness we went through, and they wanted us to put our preferred pronouns in our email signature so that our professors would know how to address us.
I remember thinking- “Here we go. I’m getting kicked out of college on the first day.” I can’t support this ideology and comply just to get along.
The pressure in the class was clear—comply or be singled out.
I put in my signature- “John A. Oscar” and in the parentheses for my gender I wrote “Obvious”. When they got to me to show my signature, people read it and half were horrified while the other half were looking down trying not to laugh.
In Daniel chapter 3,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced the same kind of pressure. They lived peaceably in Babylon until suddenly, bowing to an idol was mandatory. Their faith was no longer tolerated; it was being tested.
When culture shifts, the enemy’s work is exposed. We see how he has been working behind the scenes to turn passive tolerance into active enforcement against God’s people.
This is why the lines we draw must be clear.
🔹 Application: The time to decide where you stand is before the pressure comes. If you don’t draw your line now, you’ll cave when the heat is on.
That is what we will see next- the world accuses these three men of not conforming, and bring that to the king, and we will see his reaction
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II. The Choice to Stand Firm (Daniel 3:13-18)
Dan 3:13 Then in a furious rage Nebuchadnezzar gave orders to bring in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king.
Dan 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar asked them, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is it true that you don’t serve my gods or worship the gold statue I have set up?
Dan 3:15 Now if you’re ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I made. But if you don’t worship it, you will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire?—?and who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”
Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you an answer to this question.
Dan 3:17 If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king.
Dan 3:18 But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
A. The Cost of Faithfulness
When I was developing this message, I leaned back in my chair, closed my eyes, and visualized this scene.
Picture yourself in this situation. Everyone in this scene is out in front of this statue, probably on a raise viewing area. You can see and smell the furnace they used to smelt the gold and other materials used to create this huge monstrosity. You are standing there with a few of your closest friends in front of the most powerful man in the world, surrounded by other men who intensely hate you.
You’ve just been handed an ultimatum- worship this pagan statue or be thrown into the furnace used to make it. We are talking about a furnace at least the size of this church to be able to melt enough metal and gold to make a statue 90 feet high. This furnace is fired by huge bellows, with slaves pumping them up and down to produce more and more heat.
You have a choice:
bow and live
or stand and face death.
Not only will you die, but you will die painfully, and in a furnace that was used to make a pagan idol.
Do you stand firm?
If you haven’t drawn this line before now, you will not, and that is why these lines have to be formed in your spirit so that if and when you are even called to make a stand, there is no question in your mind what is the right thing to do
What this shows us is
True faith is costly and is often tested by fiery circumstances.
In Luke 9:23, Jesus calls His followers to take up their cross daily. Faithfulness to God often requires sacrifice, whether it be relationships, careers, or even our lives.
It’s also the reason that God sometimes allows or even sends hard times into our lives- to help us draw these lines.
The book of Romans makes this clear-
Rom 5:3 And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance,
Rom 5:4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.
This was seen in these three men before they got to this point.
Keep in mind-
These young men came from the wealthiest families in Israel.
Members of the kings court.
Then Babylon comes and conquers their city
They are taken into captivity.
Probably made into eunuchs.
Forced into a culture that is completely opposite of what they have known.
That is a bit of affliction.
That’s more than many of us have ever faced.
Yet they stayed faithful to God.
That gave them endurance in the face of hardship. That produced the character needed to draw that line in the sand that they will not bow to this world system.
This affliction and hardship did it’s job and developed a hope and faith in God and not in this world.
Because they had the character to draw these lines, they had an-
B. An Unshakable Confidence in God
Their response to the king in verses 16-18 is one of the most powerful declarations of faith in Scripture. They said, If the God we serve exists, then he can rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he can rescue us from the power of you, the king. But even if he does not rescue us, we want you as king to know that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.”
Their faith was not based on worldly comforts, wealth, or fame but on the unchanging character of God. Their character mirrored God’s character and that is how they were so bold in the face of a horrific death.
Nebuchadnezzar doesn’t react well to this challenge to his authority at all. The bible says that he is enraged and orders his best men to tie up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego. He then says to heat that furnace 7 times hotter than normal. Remember, this was a furnace meant to melt and smelt Gold which melts at 1950F, so it got pretty hot.
So hot, that even the air/smoke caught fire and burned incinerated the people getting close enough to throw them into the furnace.
That does happen- it’s called a flashover. This happens when a fire gets so hot that everything that can burn will spontaneously ignite- even the smoke and the air. It is not survivable even with modern firefighting gear.
Let’s see what happened to these men-________________________________________
III. The Presence of God in the Fire (Daniel 3:24-25)
Dan 3:24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in alarm. He said to his advisers, “Didn’t we throw three men, bound, into the fire?” “Yes, of course, Your Majesty,” they replied to the king.
Dan 3:25 He exclaimed, “Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
A. God’s Deliverance in the Midst of the Fire
When the men were thrown in, a fourth figure—described as "like a son of the gods"—appeared with them. This was a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus the Christ, standing with His faithful servants.
This shows us an incredibly important point-
God does not always remove us from the fire, but He walks through it with us. Isaiah 43:2 promises, "When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze."
B. A Testimony to the World
When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerged unharmed they stood before both their accusers and before Nebuchadnezzar, and everyone there had to acknowledge their God’s power.
That’s the power God gives us when we have a clearly drawn line in our spirit.
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IV. The Reward for Standing Firm (Daniel 3:28-30)
A. God is Glorified
Dan 3:28 Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! He sent his angel and rescued his servants who trusted in him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
When we stand firm, God receives the glory. Our lives should reflect His greatness, even in the face of persecution.
A clearly drawn line in your life that says I believe God and HIS WORD, and through faith believing no matter what life throws at me, I will trust in HIM.
Nothing brings God’s presence, power, and provision faster than trusting and obeying HIS word. Faith is the currency of blessing.
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Application: How do we draw that strong line of character in our life?
1. Know God's Word – Biblical convictions must be deeply rooted in Scripture. Psalm 119:11 reminds us, "I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You."
2. Refuse to Compromise – Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, stand firm, even when the cost is high.
3. Trust in God’s Sovereignty – Whether He delivers us from trials or walks with us through them, our faith should remain unshaken.
4. Don’t buck against hard times- they are what enables your character to grow and be firm in Christ.
5. Remember God is With You – Just as Christ was in the fire, He is with us in every trial.
6. Be a Testimony to Others – Our faithfulness can draw unbelievers to God, just as Nebuchadnezzar recognized God’s power.
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All rise
Conclusion: A Call to Stand
We live in a world where evil abounds, and the pressure to conform is immense.
But God calls us to stand firm. The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is a powerful reminder that when we refuse to bow to the idols of this world, God stands with us, protects us, and ultimately glorifies His name through our faithfulness. Will you take a stand for God today? No matter the cost, remember that standing for Christ is always worth it.
Ending worship- “Trust in God”
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