Hey friend, welcome back to the Seminarian. Another
week, another episode of our Bible study series
called The Bible for Grown Ups. This is another
one of those childhood stories. Tonight we're
going to look at how we have a faith that once
it's tested, when we go through hard times in
our lives, what happens is that faith is a faith
that in the future can be trusted. Even when
we don't know the end to our own story. Tonight
we're going to look at the famous story of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. And I will see you on
the other side. Now I'm going to get started.
So we're going to continue talking about Daniel,
doing those kind of Bible stories that we talk
about. We give them the... We have a childlike
understanding. We need to look at it from an
adult perspective. This is another one of those
stories that you're going to probably be familiar
with from your childhood if you were around church
at all. We're going to be looking today at Daniel
chapter 3. And the reality is right now for many
of us, we've said this before, that many of us
are going through difficult times. And we have
talked about the truth and the saying that If
you're not going through a difficult time right
now, you unfortunately probably will before you
know it. And we acknowledge as adults that the
Bible doesn't prevent, Jesus doesn't prevent
trouble coming to us. In fact, the Gospel of
John in 1633 says in this world you in fact will
have trouble. Take heart for I have overcome
the world. And I don't know everyone's situation,
but I know a lot of people are battling one fire
or another. It could be a financial or a health
-related fire, a relational situation, job instability.
Maybe it's not unstable. Maybe you've just been
searching for a while and you haven't found it.
Maybe you start to begin to feel that things
aren't going to get any better. You feel like
you've done everything that you know how to do,
but you're still struggling. What do we do when
we're in the middle of the fire? Well, I'd like
to read a portion of Scripture that hopefully
can establish some direction for us this evening.
I pray this speaks to you the way that it speaks
to me. Then I'll introduce this story we're going
to find in Daniel 3. 1 Peter 1 and 7. It says
these trials, whatever it is we're going through,
the trials will show that your faith is genuine.
As you endure these trials, they'll show the
quality and depth of your faith. It is being
tested as fire tests and purifies gold. Though
your faith is far more precious than gold. When
your faith remains strong through many trials,
it will bring, Scripture says, much praise and
glory and honor on the day when Jesus is revealed
to the whole world. Apostle Peter says these
trials will reveal your faith. It will show that
the faith that you have is, in fact, genuine.
In fact, the key thought for us this evening
is this. A faith that has been tested is a faith
that can be trusted. And we're going to look
today at faith truly being tested in the lives
of three teenage boys, probably of the age of
14 or 15 years of age, by the name of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Now remember King Nebuchadnezzar,
he's the evil king. And at one point, you may
remember from the story, he decides to build
this gigantic... Statue of himself. Tell everybody
in the kingdom, you must bow down and worship
the golden statue of me. The statue was over
90 feet tall. So a nine story building tall,
right? 30 yards straight up in the air. And it
was nine feet wide. He says every government
leader, every advisor, every judge, every magistrate.
I want you all to come to this dedication. In
Daniel 3, verses 4 through 6, the herald shouts
out. When you hear the sound of the horn, flute,
zither, lyre, harp, and pipes, and all of the
other musical instruments, he tells us to bow
to the ground to worship King Nebuchadnezzar's
gold statue. Bow to the ground and worship the
statue. Then he says in verse 6, anyone who refuses
to obey will immediately be thrown into the blazing
furnace. Verses 12 through 15 of chapter 3, we
see, well, everybody bowing low. Except for these
three teenage boys who continue to stand firm,
even... When there was a trial they were facing,
right? And the result of that trial could be,
they could be thrown into a fire. Remember, a
faith that's tested is a faith that can be trusted.
In this story, we have three teenage boys who
are staring down a very, very difficult day.
And there's some qualities of faith that occur,
I'm sorry, there's some qualities that occur
within our faith. when we're facing these seasons
of trials, or for today's purpose, the fire that
we're looking at. And I really believe, I believe
that God could speak to us, specifically, as
to why God would allow the circumstances of some
challenges that we experience. That's one of
the big questions we so often ask God. God, why
is this happening to me? Because a faith that
is tested is a faith that can be trusted. Right?
And so I want to talk about the qualities of
faith we see in this story as we navigate our
way through the fire. The first one is this.
Faith obeys God, not mankind. Everybody's bowing
down. These three boys are standing. Scripture
says in verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
replied to him, to the king, King Nebuchadnezzar,
we do not need to defend ourselves before you
in this matter. Now, remember how I told you
that these Babylonian and Persian kings, they
thought of themselves pretty highly. They were
convinced that they themselves were gods. These
are very, very powerful, important individuals.
Now put yourself in the sandals of these teenage
boys who have the audacity, who have the confidence
to stare down a king, almost certain death, and
say, you know what, king? We don't have to answer
to you about this. Because this, this isn't even
between us and you. This, what we're doing, is
between us and God. Faith obeys God instead of
obeying mankind. They didn't have to pray about
it. They didn't have to think about it. They
didn't have to fast on it. They didn't have to
take this dramatic circumstance of their life,
post it all in graphic detail on Facebook, ask
everybody to comment what they should do, right?
None of that. They had one predetermined plan,
and that was obedience to God no matter what.
That's it. We'll be obedient to God no matter
what. Now, remember, we talked about this last
week, about Daniel being challenged about praying
and stuff. And we can rationalize very easily
excuses by which we think we might be able to
fake it. It would have been easy for these boys
to rationalize this and compromise. Everybody
is bowing. Everybody. They could have easily,
easily said to each other, all right, look, just
bow down. Pretend that you're worshiping this
90 -foot ridiculous statue, right? But in our
hearts, we're seeing. to god in our hearts we're
praying to the one true god we'll just fake it
or they could have said hey all right we'll worship
the idol then tomorrow we'll wake up with a lot
of guilt and we'll do what we've done before
i'll just ask god to forgive me that hits home
for a lot of us Because many of us live our lives
in such a way where maybe we find that it's okay
to go out, do what we want, wake up feeling guilty
and just, oh, I'll ask for forgiveness. These
boys didn't do that. It's a predetermined outcome
that was them saying, well, honor God, obey God,
no matter what. We are not following what everybody
else is doing. And I promise. You hear me say
this ad nauseum. If you're a follower of Christ,
Satan, your spiritual enemy, will give you ample
opportunity in this world to compromise. To trick
yourself into not believing what you know to
be true. What you know God's purpose to be for
you. But we're not to listen. Because faith...
Our faith, we want our faith to focus on an audience
of one and not the approval of others. The second
thing that we see from these boys is that faith
obeys in spite of what it sees. This is the walking
by faith, not by sight bit. Faith in spite of
what it sees. Daniel 3, now verse 17. The boys
speak again to Nebuchadnezzar. They say, if we're
thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom
we serve is able to save us. And he will rescue
us from your power, your majesty. No matter what
I see, I believe my faith is convinced. That
my God is all -powerful. And my God is willing
to save me. And this is something I think we
need to really wrestle to the ground and understand
in our own spiritual walks. Because it helps
a lot of things make sense. Because there is
a big difference between a God being able to
do something in your life who wants to do something
in your life. No matter what the circumstances
look like in your world, we believe no matter
what. And you might be saying, well, what do
you mean? I mean, I'm talking about even like
maybe in the last month you may have left the
doctor and you had news that you did not expect
to hear. And it rocked your world. So what do
we do in those situations where we have to rely
on our faith and not on what we see? Well, A,
we have to trust God. The second thing is our
faith has to rise to those situations and believe
with everything in you that my God, that our
God is not only able to heal, but I believe our
God is willing to heal. Now. What God actually
does, well, that's up to God. But he's called
us to pray and believe prayers of faith. Right?
Maybe we're looking at a dangerously low checking
account. Well, one, maybe we sell the sea, dude.
Maybe, secondly, get a job. Third, believe with
everything in you that my God is willing and
able to provide for me. Maybe it's a relationship
that's falling apart. So what do we do? What
does our faith do? Our faith has to grow and
say, I believe that my God is powerful and is
willing and able to restore relationships. There's
so much doubt in our world. And I think we are
so often lured in. to the thought that the things
that we allow ourselves to think, the things
we allow ourselves to pray, the things that we
allow the circumstances around us to define in
our lives, God is not confined to those things.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly more
than you would ever even dare ask God to do.
So if we believe that, why doubt? Our faith says
that God is with us. Our faith believes no matter
what we see. Now, here's my last thought. Faithful
obedience is our responsibility. The outcome,
though, is God's. This is a big, big deal. This
is a key to successful Christian living. Understanding.
That living out what God has called us to do,
the life that God has purposed you to live, that's
your job. But that's where your job ends. What
does God do with it after His job begins? It's
up to God. Our job is to be obedient, to be faithful.
How it plays out is up to God. No promises. Right?
Recognition. Our job is obedience. Outcome is
God's. Daniel chapter 3 and 18. I think we see
this illustrated. Now remember, these are three
teenage boys staring down a powerful king saying,
I believe my God is able and I believe my God
is willing. And then at 18, he says, they say,
but even if he doesn't, I believe that my God
will save me. I believe that my God can save
me. And I believe my God wants to save me. But
even if He doesn't, we want to make clear to
you, Your Majesty, that we will never, ever serve
your gods. or worship the gold statue that you
have set up. No matter what, we will do what
is right before God, and we will simply trust
Him with the outcome. And guys, it is super,
super easy for us to listen to the story and
think, well, duh, of course they did say that.
Because we know the outcome of the story. We
know how it turns out. We think, well, that's
not such a big deal. We know already they're
going to be rescued. Because we're several thousand
years removed from this story. We've got three
young boys that are facing a very hot oven. They
are about to become crispy critters. They don't
know what God is going to do, but their faith
is unwavering because they know intimately the
goodness and the power and the heart of their
God. And so... In response to this insolence,
this rebellion, what does King Nebuchadnezzar
do? For the first time, King Nebuchadnezzar orders
that the furnace be stoked seven times hotter
than normal. He orders that the strong soldiers
would bind these boys' hands and throw them into
the furnace. They are going to die. And the furnace,
the Bible says, The Bible was so hot. The Bible
actually describes that the soldiers who were
throwing the boys into the furnace died instantly.
Not in the furnace. Outside of it. That's how
hot it was. And so seemingly, they get thrown
to their death. But God, verse 24, Then King
Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose in
haste and spoke. He spoke to his counselors and
said, Did we not cast three men bound into the
midst of the fire? And they answered and said,
True, O king. Look, he answered, we see four
men loose, walking in the midst of the fire.
They're not... and the form of the fourth is
like, Scripture says, is like the Son of God.
This isn't the New Testament. This is not Acts.
This is not Ephesians. This is Daniel from the
Old Testament. Many people, many people, I don't
know that it necessarily to me matters. whether
it is or isn't, but many people see that fourth
character in the furnace as Christ. It's something
that's called a Christophany. That's the big
word for tonight, Christophany, which means a
Christ appearance in the Old Testament. Another
one is King Melchizedek. I don't know if you
guys have ever heard of that character from Genesis.
He's another guy that a lot of people think might
be this Old Testament incarnation of the person,
the one we know as Jesus. Not the person, but
the one we know as Jesus. Now remember too, not
only were there three, now there's four, but
when they were thrown into the fire, Scripture
says that they were bound up. But now it says
that they're running around loose. As they looked
in, they saw four men in there, unbound. Now,
why is that relevant? Because, using an illustration
of fire versus troubles or whatever, if you're
facing a fire right now, some big, some small,
and maybe you're begging God to deliver you from
the suffering. You're begging God to bring an
end. to this season of challenge, a season of
hurt, a season of trial. And I appreciate that.
I've been there and will be there again, just
like you. But could I propose, perhaps, even
as we saw in this story, that the very thing
that you want God to remove from you might be
the very mechanism that God uses to set you free?
Right? I mean, the idea is that the fire would
have burned the bindings off of their wrists.
And so we conclude with verse 28. Then Nebuchadnezzar
said, Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. Here we see this foreign king again.
After seeing what Yahweh is capable of, we see
them now say, Praise their God. See, when God
shows up in our hurts, the world will look on
because the world will know what we're going
through. And when they see us with that faith
that can be tested, they see God being glorified.
They'll see you and your lack of... Sorry. Your
lack of doubt. Started with a D, word couldn't
come up. Words sometimes are hard, especially
late in the day. Right? When they see your lack
of doubt, they'll see God shining through. And
they'll say, praise be to the God of Jason, who
was set free from addiction and never went back.
Praise be to the God of Samantha, who stood by
her husband when she didn't have to. God made
their marriage better than new. Praise be to
the God of Jonathan who began to honor God with
his finances. When you stand in the midst of
a battle, people will look on and they'll see
you, but they'll honor God. Verse 28. Praise
be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
who sent his angel and rescued his servants.
They trusted in him and defied the king's commands
and were willing to give up their very lives
rather than serve or worship any god except their
god. Remember, friends, a faith that is tested
is a faith that can be trusted. Amen? Amen. Any
questions? Cool. Thanks, guys. You know what's
interesting to me about the end of this story?
In fact, the end to a lot of the stories of the
Bible, from Abraham to Joseph to Job to Jesus.
All, all of those stories exhibit a faith. to
obey God despite the fact they don't know the
end of the story. We do now, thousands of years
later, but those steps of faith that were taken
that we read about, they were taken before they
knew the end of the story. And if they can have
the power to do it, the faith to do it, so can
we. At least something to think about. Until
next week, friend, be blessed.