Unshakable Faith Series

Unshakable Faith

Intro:

What makes a gymnast good, or a professional athlete?

It’s the ones that endure to the end, no matter what mountain there is to face. They rise to the challenge. Noah, Moses, Abraham, Peter, and Paul were all great men who lived ordinary lives, who became extraordinary.

Why? They didn’t live for themselves, but for the purpose and will of their Father because of the trust they placed in God. They understood the cost to follow God. Do you understand the cost?

Do you live for yourself? Where does your trust lie? There may be a day when we may have to count that cost, and see where our faith and trust really lie’s.

Like in 1920 a 15 year old Chinese girl…..

She counted the cost, she knew where her trust lied, she knew where her faith lied, and this young lady had unshakable faith even when faced with her won death. Unshakable faith is a faith that has total trust and reliance on God no matter the situation or the cost.

It’s like when an earthquake strikes in your life, no matter what the magnitude of the quake is, you are left unmoved.

Perhaps shaken, but not moved or broken. This morning we are going to take a look at 3 men in the Bible who possessed this same unshakable faith.

We will be taking a look in Daniel 3 but first I want to set the stage.

Daniel and the 3 Hebrews, Meshual who was renamed Meshach, Hananiah who was renamed Shadrach, and Azariah who was renamed Aben-Dego, are in captivity with many others.

The Babylonians came in and conquered them and tried to get them to conform to their lifestyle. The Babylonians were polytheistic, which means they served more than one God.

Gods favor has been on Daniel and the 3 Hebrews who were in about their 20’s, from the beginning of chapter 1 because they purposed in their heart not to conform to the ways of the Babylonians but to God Almighty. So God exalted them into a position of authority and gave them favor with the king.

Now we will see in Chapter 3 of Daniel that about 7 years or more has passed and Daniel is now gone most likely traveling and while he is gone the King Nebuchadnezzar, out of pride and rebellion against Daniel’s God, the one and only God, makes a decree to all the heads of state, that every one shall bow down and worship this statue he had created when the trumpets are blown.

Can you image if you were one of these 3 and you were faced with this decree, where your life was truly at stake, would you bow down?

We will see that the courage of Daniel’s three friends to face the worst that men could do, because they knew their God was a sovereign God and a God of mercy and justice, is almost without parallel.

Their humbleness before God in acknowledging his ability, without being so arrogant as to claim a knowledge of His final will for their lives, serves as a model for all believers of all generations.

We will take a look at 3 different aspects of Shadrach, Meshach, and Aben-Dego’s unshakable faith.

Let’s begin in Daniel 3: 1-6 (give time for them to get there) Read.

We see here in this scripture that an idol was set before these three men and they were commanded to bow down.

As the trumpets blew they were still standing. They were an example to those who were bowing down.

#1. They made a notable stand.

Today this same thing is going on all the time, it looks different but it is the same pull to waiver in our faith. The world sets images before us.

Whether it’s the image of GET EXAMPLES and the world wants us to bow down and when we won’t, what happens? We see what happens in verse 6 (and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.}

You see when we won’t bow down, when we stand for Christ and live a life of righteousness, we are cast aside and the heat is turned up on our lives.

So the question is, Who are you going to Bow to?

Let’s continue in verses 8-12

#2. They were tested.

Shadrach, Meshach and Aben-Dego’s unshakable faith was tested by an accusation.

The Chaldeans bring an accusation before the king saying that these men won’t follow his orders.

What I find interesting here is that in verse 12 it says that these 3 men were set over the affairs of Babylon and these 3 men weren’t Babylonian they were Jews. I think this might have provoked a sort of jealousy in the Chaldeans and so they are looking for a way to accuse these men.