Sunday Morning 11.20.11
jmichaelwalls
Daniel 3:23-26
Introduction: The revelation of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel
chapter two made an arrogant person of him. It should have humbled him.
So in this chapter, he had made a great golden image on the plains of
Dura. When it is completed, he ordered all his officials to come to its
dedication. He commands that all these officials to fall down and worship
it at the sound of the music. When the music sounded, three men refused
to bow. It is possible that these men were not standing together. He felt
that the men stood in separate areas. Wherever they stood, we know that
by the authority of the Word of God that they did not bow, bend and
shortly they would not burn. Why? God honored His Word when He said that
He would never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus got into the furnace with
them. When they came out, the king issued a decree that the death
sentence should assigned to any saying anything amiss of the God of
Heaven, the Only True God.
Today as we look through this chapter, we want to regard some important
lessons that can be gathered around this miracle.
I. POSITIONS TAKEN GOING INTO THE FURNACE
A. Positions they could have taken Vs. 3-6
Nebuchadnezzar gave his decree. The failure to do it was very plain.
There was only one punishment. It was a sentence of death. Here is what
they could have said:
1. "It is perfectly useless to resist. We know that the king has the
authority and the power to enforce this decree. Let us peacefully
submit." This sounds reasonable. We do have some commands in the Bible in
regards to those who are in charge. Romans 13:1-2
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power
but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." "Whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation."
But there is no command that any congress, king or government can give us
that should ever cause us to violate God's Word. If there is one given,
Peter has given us the words that must be part of our mind set in the
Book of Acts.
Acts 5:28-29
"Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this
name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and
intend to bring this man's blood upon us." "Then Peter and the other
apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men."
2. "We are in a strange land. Its customs are not the same as in our
homeland. While in Babylon, let us do as the Babylonians do." David gives
us the answer to this. Psalm 139:7
"Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy
presence?"
No matter where we are, we are children of the KING. Let us act like it
all times.
3. "We hold responsible offices. The government is corrupt already. A
little change on our part will not matter. Paul gives us the answer to
this.
1 Corinthians 5:6
"Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth
the whole lump?"
4. "We must throw away our chances. We have great opportunities for good
in our officials capacity." How many people have I said that. The problem
is that usually nothing good is even tried in these positions. Dr. Bob
Jones, Sr. said many times in his years this saying: "It is never right
to do wrong in order to get a chance to something good. Do Right until
the stars fall. DO RIGHT!!"
5. "We owe allegiance to our government. This is an unrighteous edict but
the responsibility rests on the shoulders of others; we will submit."
Paul gives his response to this. Romans 14:12
"So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
6. "We are not told specifically to deny our God, so there will not be
much harm in doing this little act." Our Lord gave an answer to this.
Exodus 20:3, 5
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." "Thou shalt not bow down
thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me"
7. "This will take but a few moments and then it will be over. Think of
the long years of faithful testimony we can give." They would have been
right on one count and wrong on the other. It would have been just few
moments but their testimony would have been affected for the rest of
their lives.
What great lessons we have seen so far from this passage!
B. The Position that they did take Vs. 16-18
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O
Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter." "If it
be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king." "But if not,
be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up."
The word "careful" means "not anxious". They were not anxious over their
fate. One of the reasons for their complete confidence in God was in the
fact that they seen His faithfulness when they had refused to eat the
food that offered to them at their youth. They directed their faith in
God's ability to deliver them. They took this one step further.
Regardless of whether or not God saw fit to deliver them, they would not
hesitate in their allegiance toward Him. What heroes of the faith these
men are! What a testimony of faithfulness to God regardless of the cost
this is! What power would the church of the living God would be today if
men had such faith in the Lord!
C. Their position is typical of all ages.
Nebuchadnezzar ordered the furnace to be fired up seven times hotter than
usual. Can you imagine folks running around gathering up pine knots,
pitch, oil and anything inflammable to do this? Satan was using sinful
man to plotting for the suffering and death of God's true witnesses.
Nothing much has changed throughout the years. There are numerous places
throughout this world that cause suffering and even death for being one
of God's children.
What is worse at times is that some of the enemies of God's children will
not use physical furnaces to try to kill God's children. The furnaces of
persecution, oppression, slander, accusations and suggestion is used.
What does James say on the subject? James 3:6
"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among
our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the
course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."
How fast does the servants of Satan scurry these days to find fuel to add
to the furnace of affliction of God's servants? It may be an anonymous
letter or telephone calls. It is many times misquoted utterances or some
imagined innuendoes. These items are all fuel to the furnace of
affliction to stop the testimony of God's servants. Professing Christians
does part of the damage that God�s servants suffer. Part of the lessons
that we can glean from this is this. Be very careful that you are not
gather pine knots for the furnace of the devil against God's servants!!
II. POSSESSIONS FROM THE FURNACE
In other words, what did they lose? What did old king Nebuchadnezzar say?
Vs. 25-26
They had lost their bonds. They had been bound from head to toe and
thrown into the fiery furnace. Our Lord can use the furnace to purify us
more. Gold loses more of its waste when exposed to extreme heat.
One of the greatest losses that you and I can have is to lose the bonds
of the fear of man. Jesus gave us these words. Matthew 10:28
"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell." Another valuable lesson that we can learn from this account is
this. We will be tested by fire some time. Will we deny our Lord or
proclaim our allegiance?
III. PROFIT FROM THE FURNACE
Nothing could ever separate them from the love of God. Romans 8:35-39
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"
"As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter." "Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come," "Nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The garments of these three Jews men were untouched by the fire of the
furnace. Their clothes should have been burned off the moment they were
exposed to the fire. What a beautiful picture of every believer! We are
clothed in the very righteousness of Christ. The fires of persecution may
ruin our reputation in the eyes of men but they cannot touch his
righteousness before God. One day his persecutors, like Nebuchadnezzar,
will face God and answer for their treatment of God's men.
It is interesting that they were also walking. Walking in the Bible
speaks of fellowship. Enoch walked with God. Jesus was walking with the
two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Our three Hebrews heroes are walking
about in the midst of the fire. They are fellowshipping with the King of
all ages. In fact, they saw our Jesus whom we have not seen yet. But one
day, one glorious day we will.
PERSON IN THE MIDST OF THE FIERY FURNACE
Vs. 25
Nebuchadnezzar said that the fourth man was like the Son of God. Those
unclean lips spoke eternal truth. It was Jesus who was with those Hebrew
heroes of the faith. He is the same one who walked with Enoch and took
him home. He is the same who told Noah to go into the ark. He is the One
whom the Psalmist David says: "The Lord is my shepherd...Though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me."
He was waiting for them in that furnace of affliction. The reason why
some believers never go far for the Lord is that they are not willing to
walk through the furnace of affliction with Him.
Conclusion: What a blessing these lessons are for us to remember! But
before I close, I want to point out a few facts that are worth
mentioning. The image was 60 cubits in height and 6 cubits across. There
were six instruments in the band. Six is the number man. It is stamped
upon everything he does. Man was created on the sixth day. God told him
that he was to work six days before he rest for one day.
The question comes down to this: Will you be ready for that day? As
believers, you are saved from the wrath to come. But if you are not a
believer, then you will be deceived in believing this man's lies.
Pastor Mike Walls
Freedom Baptist Church Smithfield, NC
http://freedombaptistchurchnc.wordpress.com/
http://iglesiabautistalibertad.wordpress.com/
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