I don't know if I've ever experienced
a more perfect song to be sung before a message. On Sunday mornings,
he texts me and asks me, you know, what's the text? What's the message? And he picks
these songs out. Every now and then, I request
one. But if I don't get said what I'm trying to get said here
in just a minute, I mean, I just had my heart blessed. This is
what I'm trying to say. The Lord is our rock, in Him
we hide. He's our shelter in this storm.
The raging storms may round us be, we'll never leave our safe
retreat. That's the point. So remember that, okay? Boy,
that was a blessing. A shelter in the time of storm.
All right, go with me to Daniel 3. Daniel 3, we just had a Bible
study. on the first seven verses where
Nebuchadnezzar made a golden image and he commanded all to
bow down and worship that image. And we're about to see that everybody
did it, but three men, three men by the mercy and grace
of God would not bow. By the mercy and grace of God.
Let me emphasize that. By the mercy and grace of God.
There's a song in this book. It's a terrible song. Dare to
be a Daniel. Daniel is not even mentioned
in this chapter. And I'll, you know. He's not
here at this moment. Based on what we're going to
see, I had a brother just ask me this. I asked the same question.
I had to read commentaries on it. Three men didn't bow. Well,
four, this book is about four men. All right, where was Daniel? He's not mentioned here. At the
end of chapter two, he was greatly promoted, a right-hand man to
the king and You know, he may have been off on the king's business.
Who knows? It just doesn't say. By God's
providence and his wisdom, Daniel was not here. But by God's grace, these three
men did not bow. By God's mercy to them, by his
grace to them, they did not bow. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
whose names were changed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They would
not bow to the command of this wicked king. And when everybody
found out, it shook things up. Look with me at verse 4, Daniel
3, verse 4. It says, and Herod cried aloud. To you it is commanded, O people,
nations, and languages, that at what time you hear the sound
of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimers, and all
kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image
that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. And whoso falleth
not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the
midst of a burning fiery furnace. Therefore, at that time, when
all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations,
and the languages fell down and worshipped the golden image that
Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Wherefore, at that time,
certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. They spake
and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. Thou, O
King, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the
sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer,
and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden
image. And whoso falleth not down and
worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning,
fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou
hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded
thee, nor served thy gods, nor worshipped the golden image which
thou hast set up. They said these certain men. And I struggled with different
things to title this message. One of the titles could have
been these certain men. These certain men. God has a
certain people. God has a certain people. They are a small minority compared
to the masses of this world. The scripture calls them a very
small remnant. A very small remnant. These three men right here represent
all of God's certain people. And this is what they were accused
of. These accusers said, Nebuchadnezzar, they do not regard you. They do not serve your gods.
And they do not worship the golden image that you have set up. By God's grace, that is the position
that all of God's people have been brought to. All of God's
people. Nebuchadnezzar, his gods, His
image, it all represents the idolatry of man. And it was all
around these three men. And it's all around us. It's
all around us. Idolatry, idolatry, idolatry. False, idolatry is false religion. False religion, it's all around. The sinful works of man. It's
all, it's all around when the true message comes. And that's
what we're going to look at this morning. When the, I could have
titled this when the true message comes. When the true message comes to
a child of God, that child turns from every bit of that. That
child sees that he or she has been immersed into idolatry and
false religion, and they turn from every bit of that and they
reject it. They reject it, all of it. Again, if anyone didn't hear
it, put a marker right here in Daniel 3, because we're going
to flip a little bit. But go with me to Philippians
chapter 3. Philippians 3 verse 1, it says,
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same
things to you. To me indeed is not grievous,
but for you it is safe. Paul said to declare these same
things over and over and over again. This is the safest thing
that there is. Verse two, he said, beware of
dogs. Beware of those who are, who
are constantly barking and biting and attacking and beware of evil
workers. Those who hold to the evil works
of man's flesh. Beware of the concision, those
who oppose the free message of God's grace, the finished work
in Christ. Verse three, for we are the circumcision. We are the certain people of
God. God has a certain people. We
are God's elect people chosen from the foundation of the world.
This is the description of God's chosen people. Verse three, we
are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit. I want to emphasize those last
three words in the spirit and rejoice. That means we regard
Christ Jesus. And we have no confidence in
the flesh. None. We do not bow to the idolatry
of this flesh. We do not bow to the false religion,
God of man's works and man's flesh and man's anything. Why
are God's people that way? They don't do that. Why? It's
because they've been made to be that way. They have been caused
to be that way by God, by God's grace to His people, by God's
work in His people, by God revealing Christ. by God revealing Christ,
the perfect spotless flesh of Christ, the perfect spotless
work of Christ. Once a soul sees the true and
living God, Jesus Christ, that soul can bow to no one and no
thing but Jesus Christ, no matter what. Come what may. There is a resolve in the people
of God that it is Christ alone, not Christ and Christ alone. It's Christ alone. You say, but
these three men had already been threatened with their lives.
How could they keep that resolve that it's Christ alone? It's
because they were being kept by the power of God to that resolve. That's the case for all of God's
people. If it's going to be said that God's people only regard
Jesus Christ and only worship and serve and
give thanks for the works of His hands, the blood of His cross,
His purging of His people, if that's going to be said about
any child of God, God gets the glory for that. Look right here at Philippians
chapter 2, verse 13. Philippians 2, 13 says, for it
is God which worketh in you both to will and do of his good pleasure. If any man glory, let him glory
in the Lord. This is the Lord's doing in his
people, for his people. Look with me at John 17. John 17, our Lord said concerning
His elect people, look at verse nine, He said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all
mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world and I come to thee. Holy Father,
keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that
they may be one as we are. Keep them. That's what he prayed
to his father. Keep them. Verse 14, I have given
them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not
of the world even as I am not of the world. I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Father, keep them, sanctify them. That means set them apart. Put
a difference in them. Cause their eyes to only see
Christ. Cause their ears to only hear
Christ. Cause their hearts to only love
Christ. Cause their feet to only come
to Christ. Cause their knee to only bow
to Christ. Cause their tongue to only praise
Christ. Cause their faith, their hope,
their assurance, their confidence to only be in Jesus Christ. Father, keep them. Look with
me at John 10. John 10 verse one, it says, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into
the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a
thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the
door is the shepherd of the sheep. That's Christ. To him, the porter
openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own
sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth
his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. Why is that? Why will God's sheep
only follow Christ? It's because he said in verse
14, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep. It's because I
know my sheep and am known of mine. As the father knoweth me,
even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring and they shall hear
my voice. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. He said, it's all because of
me. It's all because of who I am and what I've done for my people.
And God's people say, amen. That's right. It's all because
of him. Verse 17. He said, therefore, doth my father
love me because I lay down my life. What would keep a child
of God, even in the threatening of his life, what would keep
that child clinging to Christ? It's hearing the Lord Jesus Christ
say, I laid down my life. I gave up my life. You have nothing
to fear in your life because I laid down mine for you. I gave
mine to you. I put away everything that could
take your eternal life from you. You are safe in me. You are secure
in me. That's what those three men knew.
They were convinced of that. They were persuaded of that.
We are safe in him. I pray the Lord will convince
some men and women of that. We are safe in him. We're secure
in him. Look right here at John 10 verse
27. He said, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, eternal life. What is this life compared to
eternal life? And they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. That's what those
three men knew. They were convinced of that.
No one can pluck us out of his hand. No one. That is the faith
and the resolve that God gives to all of his chosen people.
Now let's see that. Let's see that faith, that resolve,
that work of God to his people in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
All right, go back to Daniel three. Daniel 3 verse 8, wherefore at that time certain
Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. They spake and said
to the King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. Thou, O King, has
made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of
the cornet, flute, harp, sacrament, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all
kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.
And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be
cast into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. There are certain
Jews whom thou has set over the affairs of the province of Babylon,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O King, have not regarded
thee. They serve not thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar,
in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. Then they brought these men before
the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said
unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do not
ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have
set up? Now if you be ready, that at what time you hear the
sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer,
and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which
I have made well. But if you worship not, You shall
be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands? That's the title of this message.
Who is that God? Who is that God? Two things come into my mind
reading that. Number one, our Lord said to
his disciples in Matthew 10, 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. Man is not worthy of our fear.
God alone is to be feared. God alone is to be feared. That's
the first thing. But the second thing is, this
is a picture of judgment on all of mankind's sin. These three
men, even though they were the people of God, they still had
to face a judgment for their sin. We all do. We all do. And the amazing thing
is the same thing that delivered them from the physical hand of
Nebuchadnezzar, That's the same thing that delivered
them from the spiritual hand of the holy judgment of God.
Nebuchadnezzar asked them, what is your hope? That's what he
asked them. What is your hope? What is your
confidence? What are you looking to? The
end of verse 15, he said, who is that God that shall deliver
you out of my hands? Who is that God? What is your hope and your confidence? Well, you just said it, Nebuchadnezzar.
Who that God is. Who that God is. That is the
hope of every believer. That is the hope of every believer. Our hope is not in any decision
we made. Our hope is not in anything we've
done. Our hope is in who that God is. That's where our hope
is. My hope is not that I'm good
enough to enter into heaven. My hope is who that God is. What he is capable of doing and
who he said he would do it for. That's my hope. Who is that God that shall deliver
you out of my hands? Verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
I love that, they really didn't regard him. All of his brown
nosers said, O king, live forever. They said, O Nebuchadnezzar. As if to say, if you only knew.
Poor man, poor man. If you only knew, if you were
only given the faith to know and believe. If you only knew
who you were dealing with. I'm being very serious right
now. That's what I want to say to people. If you only knew who
you were dealing with. If you only knew who you were
going to meet. If you only knew who the baby
in the manger was. He is a consuming fire. If you only knew, Nebuchadnezzar,
who it is that is protecting us. If you only knew who it was that
loved us and gave himself for us. Nebuchadnezzar said, who
is that God? They said, well, we'd be happy
to tell you. Verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered
and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer
thee in this matter. They said, we are not full of
care. We are not anxious. We are at
rest. We are at peace. Now, let me
just kind of get honest with you for a second, okay? Physically
speaking, I believe if any soul in this room was in that position,
all of us would be full of care and worry and anxiety. Let's
get real for a minute, okay? Physically speaking, we would
be scared to death. But spiritually speaking, That's what the law has to say
to us. Do you know what I have against you for disobeying me?
Do you know I have the power to send you to a fiery furnace? I have the power to condemn you.
Spiritually speaking, okay? In this spiritual picture that
this represents, I'm gonna ask you this question and you assess
yourself, examine yourself, okay? In Christ, and I'm gonna emphasize
in Christ, Are you full of anxiety over having to go stand before
the judgment throne of God? Knowing what kind of a sinner
you are. Now there are two types of people in the world. Those
who know what kind of a sinner they are and those who don't
know what kind of a sinner they are. All have sinned. Some know
it and some don't know it. And those who don't know it need
to fear. Those who don't know it need
to fear. But you knowing how bad you are, you all are so bad. And I am too. We're so wicked. Our minds are
so wicked. We're drawn to everything but
God. We're drawn to everything but
Christ. Aren't we? And knowing how bad we are, and
knowing how sinful we are, and knowing that we can't stop. And it's like, why? And we're
always crying, I'm so sorry again. I'm sorry again. Knowing what
kind of a sinner you are in Christ. In Christ, are you absolutely
consumed with worry over the fire of God's wrath? No. No. Christ has given us rest
from that. We are not careful over that
matter because there remains a rest for the people of God
in Christ. Christ ended the fiery judgment
of God for His people. Christ endured the fiery judgment
of God for His people. Christ bore the fiery judgment
for His people. And in doing that, in His death,
in His burial, in His resurrection through all that, He's brought
rest. We have rest. And when it comes to the law
of our disobedience and the judgment that man has to face, we say,
we are not full of care over this matter. Thank God. Just before our Lord's ascension,
He said, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. In this eternal matter of sin
and judgment from God for that sin, in Christ, in Christ, the
hearts and the minds and the souls of God's people have been
given rest. Who is that God? We'd be happy
to tell you. He's a God of rest. Romans 8 verse 1 says, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Why? He bore that condemnation. He
bore all of that condemnation. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justified. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also makes intercession for us. They said, we're not full of
care over this. God has given us rest. That's
who he is. He's the God of rest. Verse 16,
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. Who is this God? He's the God who's able. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I have committed unto him against that day. My purging from all
of my sins. Jude said, He is able to keep
you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy. Do you believe in your soul that
when Christ presents you to His Father, you will be presented
faultless? I do. He's given me rest over
that. I am so fault filled, faultful. I'll just spout off a bunch of
non-words here, but you know what I mean. I'm so full of fault, but in Christ, I'm faultless. Nebuchadnezzar is the one who
was made to say in the next chapter, those who walk in pride, he is
able to abase. Who is this God? He's the God
who's able. Philippians 3 says he is able
to subdue all things unto himself. He's able. Hebrews 7 says he
is able to save to the uttermost. This is the God who shall not
fail because he's able. This is the God who brings rest
and peace and comfort because he's able. That's the reason
why. Verse 17, they said, if it be so, if our God is willing, 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, if it pleases Him
to allow you to throw us into that furnace, 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. This is the God. Who is this
God? This is the God whose perfect
will we bow to. This is the God whose judgments
are right. Like David said in Psalm 51,
if you judge me in my sin, you are justified in doing so. Whatever
you do is right. This is the God of perfect providence. Everything he does works together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. This is the God who does all
things well. This is the perfect God, the
righteous God, the holy God. That's who this God is. That's who their God was and
that's who our God is. There is one God and he is the same today as he
was yesterday and will be forever. And I know we all want to get
to the story. I know everybody wants to get
to the part, but we're not going to get there right now. The Lord
willing, tonight, we are gonna look at the response of Nebuchadnezzar
to the message he just heard. Those three men preached a message
to him. Who is this God? We'll be glad to tell you. This
is who he is. And tonight, we're gonna look
at the response of Nebuchadnezzar to this message that he heard,
and we're gonna see that in the end, when Christ is revealed,
and that's my prayer, is that Christ will be revealed, not
religion, Not anything but Christ. When
Christ is revealed, when God opens the eyes and the ears and
the heart to see, hear, and believe on Jesus Christ, this is always
the response. Alright, look at verse 28. Daniel
3 verse 28. This is always the response when
God opens the eyes and opens the heart. It says, Then Nebuchadnezzar
spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. He saw something that made him
change his tune. Who hath sent his angel and delivered
his servants that trusted in him and have changed the king's
word and yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor
worship any God except their own God. Who is this God? Nebuchadnezzar
said, they're not gonna worship or serve any God except their
own God. And that's the last thing I'll
say this morning, yes. This God is our God. This God is our God. In verse 17, they said, if it
be so, our God. David said, the Lord is my shepherd.
Thomas said, my Lord and my God. I pray that's the answer for
every soul here. Who is this God? This God of
the Bible? This God is my God. The God of
providence and purpose. The God of ability and accomplishment. The God of comfort and peace
and rest in His certain deliverance. That God is my God. May the Lord make that to be
so.