Daniel 3 - Resolved faith

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Good morning church. Good to see you all here this morning. Welcome if you're joining us online as well. Kids, we forgot to tell you before now, but kids church is open. So you don't have to be stuck here with me. You're welcome to go in through the back doors. Kids church is open. Parents, if you haven't filled out a registration form this year, can you please go with them to make sure that they're all good. Otherwise the leaders will come out and find you. So if you've got younger children, the creche is open as well. If you're not a kid, if you're not in creche or kids church, I'm sorry, you're stuck with me this morning. If you've got your Bibles with you, can I encourage you to open up to Daniel chapter three. This morning we're going to be continuing in our series through the book of Daniel and looking at this concept, this need for resolved faith. If you haven't been here for the first two weeks, if you're not sure what resolved means, we've got the definition up there. Resolved is firm in purpose or intent. It's determined. It's an unwavering, fully committed faith. And that's what we're going to see as we unpack chapter three of Daniel this morning. But before we look at scripture, would you join me as we pray? Lord God, we thank you for your word. We thank you that we can gather together this morning, brothers and sisters in Christ. And we pray that as we turn our attention to scripture this morning, Lord, would you speak to us by your Holy Spirit? Would you reveal to us your will for our lives? Would you affirm us and convict us that we would be grown deeper in our faith in you? We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Daniel chapter three, verse one to seven. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it upon the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent together the satrips, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates and all the officials of the providences to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satrips, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates and all the officials of the providences gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. The general proclaimed aloud, you are commanded, O peoples, nations and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. If you haven't figured it out already this morning, chapter three of Daniel, we're looking at the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Bendigo, this fiery furnace situation. But I think it's really important, sometimes when we come to a scripture like this, that maybe we got taught in Sunday school, we tend to jump straight to what we remember. We think of the fire, we think of the miracle that we'll talk about later. We're still going to look at that. But I think sometimes in our eagerness of, yes, I know this one, we sometimes miss some of the most important parts of the story. Things that weren't necessarily eye-catching in Sunday school. And so it's important for us here to set the scene. And I want to frame this morning with a simple question. Why did Nebuchadnezzar build the golden image? Before we look at Shadrach, Meshach and Bendigo, why did Nebuchadnezzar build the golden image? See, if we just read chapter three in isolation, like we can sometimes do, then we fill in the blanks in our own humanity. We go, well, maybe Nebuchadnezzar was just a little bit vain. Maybe he just wanted to prove that he could. Maybe it was a show of wealth and of strength. Maybe he just really had inspiration and wanted to make this big golden image. But church, the truth is far more sinister. Scripture isn't meant to be read a chapter in isolation. We need to look back at Daniel chapter two. Because we see in Daniel chapter two that King Nebuchadnezzar, he has a dream. He doesn't understand it. He puts this call out for people to not only interpret the dream, but to tell him what his dream was before he'll even listen to them. And in verse 30 on, we see after prayer, after seeking God, Daniel is told what Nebuchadnezzar's dream was and told how to interpret it for the king. After seeking God, this is what's revealed. Verse 31 of Daniel two. These are Daniel's words to the king. You saw a king and behold a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness stood before you and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human man and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold all together were broken in pieces and became like chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. This was the dream. Not only that, Daniel goes on to interpret it and we need to catch the significance of this church. Continuing verse 36, now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory and into whose hand he has given whatever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all. You are the head of gold. Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you and yet a third kingdom of bronze which shall rule over the earth and there shall be a fourth kingdom strong as iron because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes partly of Potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom. But some of the firmness of the iron shall be in it just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with the soft clay, so too they will mix with one another in marriage, but will not hold together just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. Nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall stand forever just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human man and that it broke into pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation sure. This gives us a little bit of perspective. See, Nebuchadnezzar were told made an image entirely of gold. Very truly, this is a defiant act of rebellion against what God had told him would happen. God had told him in the dream that his kingdom was the head of gold, but there were others of different varying weaknesses that would come after him. His wasn't going to remain forever. And Nebuchadnezzar goes, well, no, I'm just going to make the whole image gold because my strength, my power, my authority is superior. See, by building this image, Nebuchadnezzar makes a declaration that God's plan revealed in a dream and interpreted by Daniel would not come to pass. It's a defiant statement that his reign and authority would be superior and would never end. And so he gathers everyone within his kingdom that has an important role, who's involved in the running of his kingdom and he tests their allegiance. He sets up this symbol that his reign will never end and he uses fear to force his people to worship the idol that he had created. And church, it's right here that our first warning comes. Nebuchadnezzar's fear tactic worked mostly. We're told that at the sound of music, all the people's nations and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Church, the reality is that there are Nebuchadnezzars living amongst us in our world today. What do I mean by that? There's people who actively reject the plan that God has revealed, the things that he promises will happen. There's people who rebel with a demonstration of perceived self-strength that set up their own kingdom that God can't touch, supposedly. They set up their own authority here on earth. There's people who demand us to worship the idol that they have set up, to put their thing before God, whether it be a workplace, whether it be a sport or a hobby, or whatever it is that makes someone feel secure, like they have control, like they don't need God, they are more superior and have more authority. There's people who will coerce us, who will attempt to make us worship their thing, to put their thing before God. And Church, we need to be aware. I need to urge you this morning, don't be like the masses who out of fear, who out of a lack of independent thinking, out of an absence of resolved faith, blindly followed the faithlessness of a fool. Verse 8 of chapter 3 continues, Therefore at that time certain caldines came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Ebuchadnezzar, O King live forever, you O King have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These men, O King, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be brought to him. We need to realize, church, as we read through this chapter, that by all that they did, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego never once drew attention to themselves. When Nebuchadnezzar made this command to fall down and worship the idol of the sound of the music, they didn't stand up and start a rebellion. They didn't ask for a spotlight or a soapbox. They simply refrained from joining the masses in their sin of idolatry. In fact, their resolved faith wasn't even noticed by Nebuchadnezzar initially. In fact, it wasn't even until the Chaldeans came to Nebuchadnezzar. And it wasn't a personal attack at them to begin with. They accused all the Jews. This nation of the Jews, they don't obey you, O King. They had something to gain. The Chaldeans had something to gain by bringing attention to the rebellion of the Jews. And they pinpoint their attack with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They call them by name. And I don't know about you, but when I read through their accusation, if I was one of these three men, I'd take that as a compliment. Honestly, it's exactly what you would expect of someone who follows God. The accusation is they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. How good. Church, today there are people in the world who will actively target Christianity. Who will actively target God's church. Who will aim to pull the church apart so that they can look more favorable. So that they can make some kind of point so that they can feel as though they have an authority that is bigger than God's. There's an attack on the church. Not only by men, there's spiritual warfare against God's church. Disciples of Jesus. And if you're actively living as a Christian, if you are actively living as a disciple of Jesus Christ, then like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, you too may become the focus of their attack. Just simply by living out your faith. This is the reality, church. You too may become the focus of accusations that are much larger than you yourself. Verse 14, Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? To his credit, Nebuchadnezzar doesn't react on the hearsay that the Chaldeans bring to him. In fact, by the time the officials have gone off, they've gathered Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego by the time, these three men arrive and are before King Nebuchadnezzar. It appears as though there's a tenderness in the way that he responds to them. Very truly, he asks, are the accusations that I have heard true? Not only that, he doesn't wait for the response. He says, are these accusations true? Regardless of that, if you're ready, when you hear the sound of all the types of music, if you bow down and worship the idol that I have created, well and good. We don't need to discuss this any further. And yet, while there's a tenderness, there's still no budge in the command. He still says, if you don't, you'll be thrown into a fiery furnace. That's the reality that my decree hasn't changed. But if you're ready, you can do it here and now. We'll move on like nothing happened. See, Nebuchadnezzar gave Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego every opportunity to comply with his decree. But what's most fascinating about these couple of verses is we see very clearly the heart of Nebuchadnezzar, his pride, his delusion that his authority, his kingdom, his power was the ultimate authority. That there was no God that would be able to save them from him. He asks them very clearly after putting this response forward, he adds, and who is the God who will deliver you from my hand? There's a pridefulness in all that he responds. Verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the King, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from your burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Here, church, we have resolved faith. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, up until this point, they have done well to live out their faith. They've not submitted, they've not worshipped an idol. They've refrained from that sin, but here the stakes are increased. Here is where the rubber truly hits the road. Here they very truly needed to determine whether they were willing to stick wholeheartedly to the stance that they had made. They are asked, point blank, is the accusation that I have heard against you true? They're given every opportunity, every pressure to turn back on their previous actions, to forego their faith, to comply with the sinful orders of a fool. Church, sadly, this is where many Christians today fumble. Sadly, this is the point that either makes or breaks whether or not we truly will follow God. There's many who love Jesus, who genuinely want to seek Him, follow Him, dig deep in relationship. But because they still love the world, because they still love their sin, because they still love themselves more than God, they remain distant. And when put on the spot, when asked whether or not truly this is how you live, when given opportunities to back out, to fit in with those around us, we step back. And Church, if we're being honest, all of us are guilty of this. There's been times in my life when I've declared with my lips that I am a Christian and then in situations when I wasn't being thrown into a furnace, maybe it was just someone might not like me. When asked if I really do this Church thing, if I really follow Jesus, I waver. Thankfully, this isn't the case with Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nigay. They model for us a resolved faith. Quite simply, they respond to Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. In other words, we have no excuses. We have no compromise. We have no defense. We are guilty of the charge that you lay against us. But, regarding which God is powerful enough to protect us from your hand? Regarding that, they say our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Church, this is resolved faith. But we need to be aware that this kind of faith, this kind of response didn't come supernaturally in the moment of increased pressure of high stakes situations. This resolved faith was developed over time. See, in their response, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nigay, they highlight a deep understanding of who God is and what he is capable of. They do not doubt God's ability to save them from this situation, but they also do not assume that God has to save them from this situation. They do not assume that God's will will align with their desire, and they're okay with that. Because regardless, they will not worship any other God except the one true God. Church, resolved faith is developed as we grow deeper in our relationship with God. When we know who he is, what he is done, what he is capable of, when we have lived experience of walking with God, of obedience with him, of seeing him at work in our lives, when we submit ourselves entirely to God and see him work in us and through us, then our faith and our conviction grows. We see God's faithfulness in the small areas of our life, and that builds a conviction, a resolved faith that stands firm when it's put under extreme pressure. I was reading some commentaries throughout the week, and I want to share this that one of the commentators highlighted. He said, these men stood firm when challenged to eat impure foods. This is chapter one. These men stood firm when challenged to eat impure foods, and they saw God bless their obedience. That gave them the courage to obey now. When the stakes were much higher, many fail in their obedience because they wait for something big to test their faith before they really start to obey God. Some fill their life with so many small compromises, yet tell themselves that they will stand firm when it really matters. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego show us that obedience to God in the small things really does matter. Church, resolved faith doesn't happen in a moment of crisis. Resolved faith, true conviction of who God is, what He has done, lived experience of the goodness of God comes each and every day as we submit to Him. Verse 19, Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated, and he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to buy in Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was so urgent the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, fell bound into the fiery burning furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, true, O king. He answered and said, but I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace and declared Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the most high god. Come out and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out from the fire. Church, here we see a miracle. Here we see God at work in the situation of a crisis. Very truly, God delivers Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego out of the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar, just as these three men said that he could. Despite every effort of the king to ensure that they would burn, he threw them in their fully clothed with flammable clothes. He bound them and made sure that the fire was going to do it. He heated up the furnace seven times greater so that even those carrying these three men towards it died before they even got into the furnace. And yet Nebuchadnezzar raises astonished. There's a fourth person in there, a son of the gods. Very truly, God saved them. Jesus was in that furnace. Very truly, the only thing that burnt were Nebuchadnezzar's bounce. These authority over them burnt and God protected these three men. But even here there's no I told you so moment. Nebuchadnezzar cries out for these three men to come out of the furnace so that he can observe them. And nothing of their clothing, of their hair is burnt. There's not even a smell of fire on them. Occasionally when you have a bonfire, my hand gets too close. I've got hairy arms and a little bit burns. It stinks. It's so easy. It burns so quickly. There wasn't even the smell of fire on them. Church, our God is capable and does perform miracles. Look at that singing. Our God is capable and does perform miracles. Verse 28, Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, any people, nation or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego will be torn limb from limb in their houses laid in ruins for there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. It's kind of ironic here, right, that King Nebuchadnezzar gives us probably the best definition of resolved faith. Whereas this resolved faith is servants who trust in God and yield up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their God. Servants who yield up their bodies rather than serve their own sinful selfish desires rather than serve the idols of others who will yield up their bodies so that only the one true God will be worshiped by them. It begs the question for us this morning, church, if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, will you surrender completely body, soul and spirit to God? This is resolved faith. But sadly, Nebuchadnezzar misses the point. But so can we. See, rather than yielding himself to God, he decrees that all others must tolerate this God. He declares that this is the one true God, that no other God has any power or authority to save like this God. He makes it a crime pretty well for anyone to speak badly of this God. And yet for himself, he just adds God into a library of other little G gods and idols. He misses the point. He kind of does a, well, what can I do to redeem myself here? I'll promote Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And then he continues in his defiance and rebellion against God. Church, even here, for these three men, there's no I told you so moment. There's no look how great we are. Look how great our God is. There's nothing, no recorded words. And it's likely that even after this rollercoaster of crises, after this terrible encounter with Nebuchadnezzar, the three men took their promotions and continued to serve Nebuchadnezzar in the kingdom of Babylon. Faithfully, no rebellion, no retaliation, just resolved faith and obedience to God. And so church, how is your faith this morning? The reality is to follow Jesus Christ, to accept Him as our Lord and Savior, to acknowledge that the debt of our sin was paid by His blood in full and to surrender our lives completely to Him. That His will alone would be done in us and through us. That He would be Lord, not us, not anything else, that He would be Lord of our lives. That is resolved faith. That is faith that is firm and has conviction. In our lives, we will experience opposition as we seek to obey God. We will experience pressure to compromise our faith. We will experience temptation to love the world, to love ourselves more than we love God, to steal back control. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego model resolved faith and the lesson is clear. To have resolved faith is to surrender ourselves completely to God, regardless of the circumstances or consequences. Resolved faith is developed over time as we grow deep in our relationship with God. We must cultivate a deep knowledge of who God is, what He's capable of, what His promises are, what His commands to us as His people are. And this knowledge must be accompanied by an experience of God's faithfulness in our lives. As we surrender ourselves completely to God in the smallest of matters, as we experience His faithfulness, our conviction grows. Church, we must develop resolved faith each and every day. It's a big call. Will you do it? Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for the example that you've recorded for us of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Lord, we pray that you would grow us deeper in our relationship with you each and every day. Lord, would you grow us in obedience that when trials and temptations come, Lord, that we would remain completely surrendered, completely submitted to you, our God, that we wouldn't waver but that we would obey you. Lord, thank you for the forgiveness that is ours through the blood of Christ. Lord, thank you that you meet us where we are at. Thank you that you help us by your Holy Spirit, that you grow us in conviction, that you grow us in obedience to you. Lord, thank you that when we repent of our sin, when we seek you and your forgiveness, you give it freely and you continue to grow us. Lord, we pray wherever we're at this morning, help us to walk each day with you, to grow in our knowledge and experience of who you are, what you've done for us and what you're calling us to do with our lives. Lord, we surrender to you alone. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.