The Comfortable Cage Series

The Comfortable Cage

Book of Daniel Series

CCCAG February 2, 2025

Scripture: Daniel 3:1-7, Isaiah 9:9-10, Romans 1:28-32, Revelation 13

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Introduction: luxury cage (God’s Not Dead video- unbelieving son versus believing mother)

The video we just watched highlights the subject of today’s sermon.

Keep it in the front of your mind because it really illustrates the main point of today’s message.

Last week we looked at Daniel Chapter 2.

God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream, but Nebuchadnezzar didn’t understand or remember parts of the dream and it was driving him crazy.

As we remember, the dream was showing him a statue that had four parts.

The head of the statue was made of pure gold and represented Nebuchadnezzar and his Kingdom of Babylon.

This dream had a divine purpose.

God gave this dream to Nebuchadnezzar to make him stop and evaluate where he was spiritually heading. Nebuchadnezzar was running at full speed toward a very dangerous place, and since he is now king over God’s people Israel, he will drag them down with him.

The video we watched exposed one of the devils sneakiest tricks. Satan isn’t always trying to physically to harm a person, take away their health, life, or comforts to draw you away from God.

In fact, his sneakiest trick to give a person success, riches, and fame.

That way a person never feels like they need anything outside of what life has already given them.

That’s the trap Nebuchadnezzar is falling into here in Daniel 3.

It’s the trap that Jesus warned the church at Laodicea about. Jesus told them

Revelation 3:17- For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

That is what we will see in the mindset of Nebuchadnezzar as we read this bible passage.

Let’s read the passage this morning-

Dan 3:1-7 King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue, ninety feet high and nine feet wide. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. (2) King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces to attend the dedication of the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. (3) So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces assembled for the dedication of the statue the king had set up. Then they stood before the statue Nebuchadnezzar had set up. (4) A herald loudly proclaimed, “People of every nation and language, you are commanded: (5) When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, drum, and every kind of music, you are to fall facedown and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. (6) But whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire.”

Prayer

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One of the hardest things that I find in my job as a nurse is trying to convince a person who has an addiction to something like drugs or alcohol that their addiction is harmful and will someday kill them.

However, as pernicious as drugs and alcohol can be to a person, there is an even greater addiction. This addiction damages people spiritually, and it infests every corner of their soul.

That addiction is pride.

When I was in bible school one of the requirements was that you had to go out and street evangelize, talking to at least 50 people about the Gospel. There was an older guy in my church who did this all of the time, and he agreed to take me out with him for a few weeks.

The first place he took me was what most would call “The Hood”. The ghetto, or economically depressed area of Kenosha. It’s where the gangs were, the drugs, the street walkers. We had a great time, and almost everyone we ran into wanted to hear about Jesus.

We did that for a few weeks and then decided to go to a festival in the nice part of town.

Any guesses on how we were received?

Open, and even violent hostility. People cursing at us, spitting toward us, giving us rude gestures, and jumping up in our faces screaming all kinds of vile junk. The police came and asked us to leave as we were causing a disturbance.

Looking back on that memory, it illustrates the dangers of a comfortable cage, and the more affluent people who rejected us were just like that man in the video we watched?

While many of the people in the poor areas were anxious to hear about someone who could help them, many of these people in the wealthy area were so into their successful lifestyle and physical comforts that they couldn’t tolerate anything that would threaten that existence.