This body they make him. They
tried to kill Martin Luther. They wanted to kill him. He died
of old age. Daniel chapter 3. I want this
to be, like the story of Esther, more than just an interesting
story. More than just a fascinating story. I want us to be strengthened,
built up on this most holy faith. I want us to go out of this place
believing just as firmly as Hannah, and I, and Mychelle, and Azariah.
And faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. And
that's what we're doing. And may God grant us ears to
hear and a heart to believe. And the faith to Trust our God
and live for His glory and honor, and die for His glory and honor. Very old and wonderful story. Many titles could be given to
them. I don't know when the last time
we looked at it. I didn't look it up, but it's been a few years.
Could name this four in the furnace. Could name this faith's fiery
trials or trial. could name this, no other God
that can deliver, or salvation after this sort. Because God
saves all this way. But I settled on this, three
men who would not bow. Three men who would not bow.
Now the Lord commends those who honor Him, who live by faith
for His honor and His glory. This whole story Daniel and these
three men, the Lord commends them for standing up for His
honor, for living and dying for His honor. Hebrews 11, Hebrews
12, the Lord commends many people, men and women, who did not accept
deliverance like these three men and who died in the faith,
giving God great glory. And like Stephen, I love, don't
you love the story of Stephen? That ought to be your favorite
story. That when Stephen was being stoned to death, for what? For standing for the truth, for
declaring his God, Christ, the sovereign Christ. And the whole
world, like these people, were raging upon him. Stephen said,
I see the Son of God standing. The Lord Jesus Christ, who was
seated, stood up while Stephen was being stoned. And Stephen
was looking unto him. And, buddy, he fell asleep in
the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord brought him up to
glory and sat him right down beside him. And they killed his body, and
there's nothing more they can do. Don't you love that? The Lord
commends, though. He gave the faith. It's not of
ourselves, it's a gift of God. But isn't that just like a parent
who does everything for their child? Does everything, teaches
them everything they know, gives them everything they've got,
and then when they do something, he says, good job. The Lord is not unfaithful, not
unrighteous to forget any labor of love, any work of faith and
love that is done for his name. Not even a cup of water. He said he will receive a disciple's
reward. It's a good thing if you're thirsty.
Nothing better. This story begins with this evil
king. And this whole mess, sin, death,
started with an evil man in the garden. Nebuchadnezzar was the
most powerful king. This is not a fairy tale. This
is a true story. A real man named Nebuchadnezzar,
the most powerful ruler on the then known world. ruler pretty
much of all the world. His kingdom was vast. He was the ruler of the world
and he was a dark prince. He was an evil man. Evil man. And he ruled with an
iron fist. The god of this world, Satan,
is a very real person. We're not wrestling with flesh
and blood, but principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness
of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. That's what the
scripture said. And like Martin Luther's hymn
that we just sang, we're not the right man on our side. The man of God's own choosing.
We're no match for this. And his rage is against God and
God's people, Satan, as was Nebuchadnezzar. The people were given by God
into his hand. Look at chapter 1, go back there
real quick. Chapter 1, the people, verse
2, the Lord gave Jehoiakim, you remember him? He's the one that
Jeremiah, they started reading the book to him, and he got a
penknife and started cutting and throwing it in the fire.
That was the king of Israel. That was the king of religion. Israel was supposed to be God's
people. And he threw all the Bible in the fire. That's Jehoram. So what God did? He had this
evil king take them captive. Why is everything happening to
this nation, this world like it is? God has given people over
for sin, for unbelief, for idolatry, will worship, man worship, right? We know it, sir. We were in it. And God has given people over,
but God has a chosen people. But all these people were in
captivity, okay? But God had three chosen. Three chosen ones. Choice children. As much as I'd love Melanie to
go through chapter one and chapter two of their diet, all that they
ate and everything, oh my, I'd get stuck. You know I would.
Their diet was different, they ate different foods in the world.
See, these men were in Babylon, but they were not on Babylon. They weren't Babylonian. They
were forced to live there, but they were not Babylonian. You
do know, don't you, that Babylon represents this world? Back in
Genesis, the Tower of Babel, where it all started, where all
the nations of the earth got together to build this tower?
No thought of God. They weren't worshipping God.
They were worshipping man. How high a man could lift himself. And they were all of one language.
It was a one world order. And they built this tower. They
said, we're going to reach to the heaven. God said, no you're
not. You can't get to heaven by what you do, by your knowledge,
by your wisdom. No, no, no. I'm going to tear
it all down. And God came down. And this place is called the
Tower of Babel because God scattered them, tore the building down,
their works. One stone left standing on them. And he confused all their languages.
That's when all the languages of the earth became different. Right there. Babel. Where everyone,
they were talking to each other and it sounded like Babel. And
that sounds like the internet. There's nothing new under the
sun. We were going to read Ecclesiastes
1 in conjunction with Colossians 1. Nothing new under the sun.
Nothing new. There's nothing whereby it might
be said, this is new, that's new. Nothing. It goes all the
way back to Genesis. Man hasn't changed. That God
had three chosen children. Why did these three men know
the Lord? Because He revealed Himself.
Because He chose them. Because He sovereignly elected
them and chose them to reveal Himself to. Who were they? They
were sons of Jacob. All three of them, sons of Jacob.
Didn't God say, Jacob have I done? He said He made Himself known
to Jacob. He hadn't done this to any other people. You know
what? They were all three of the tribe
of Judah. They were in the line of Christ. All three of them. So are we. The king's seed. They were the
king's seed. That's what it says right there. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I wish my new glasses would come
in. But their names were not Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. That's not their names. And whoever
is listening to this, by Nixler or whatever, we need to learn
their names. Their names were Hananiah, Mashael,
and Azariah. Five times their names mentioned.
Five times. They were given this name Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego by the Chaldeans, by Babylon. And they
meant nothing. The names that the Chaldeans
gave meant nothing. But their names given to them
by God meant something. Every single, all three of these
men had God's name in their name. Hananiah, A-H, that's Jehovah. That means Jehovah favored by
the grace of God, favored. Noah found grace, so did Hananiah. Masha'el, El, Elohim, that's
God's name, meaning who's God? My God, that's who He is. If
you'd asked Him, what's Your name mean? Who is God? He'd tell
you, God's my God. Elohim's my God. Jehovah's my
God. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob's my God. My God is God. Let all tell you
that. They had God's name in their
name. Azariah. Ah, at the end of his name. I mean, Jehovah's helped me.
Hitherto by thy help have I come. Jehovah's helped me. They had
God's name in their name. That was their name, okay? So
did we. So do we. Listen. Listen to 1
John. Listen to John. Behold what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. These men were sons of God. Chosen
of God. The world knoweth us not. See, they gave these three men
these names. It meant nothing. Why? Because they said, you're
just like us. You're no different. No, they're not like you. These
are God's people. John said, the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be. But now, we bear the name of
the Son of God. Yes we do. Christian. Sons of
God. God's people. Like these three
men. Chosen of God. Loved of God. And they had the
faith of God. The faith of God. They were in
Babylon. They were not other. They were
chosen. They were blessed. They were
gifted. They were wise, it said. They were sons of God without
rebuke. Living in this dark place, Babylon. They had a different
diet. They were different. They were
not... Nebuchadnezzar said of himself,
there's none better. Remember that? None better. What
did God say of Job? None like him in all the others.
Why? Because God made him that way. Because God chose him. And
God made these men that way. None better. By God's grace,
these three were God's men in a heathen land. All right. They
had a big gathering. Nebuchadnezzar, as you read from
that, he made this image, this golden image. 90 feet high. Not unlike the Tower of Bethel.
Very high. This golden image. And he told
everyone, you read it with me, everyone to come. He sent out
his herald to announce this and tell them. And they heralded
in verse 4, the herald cried aloud, this is a command. This
is a government order. This is by command of the King
of the Lamb. You will do this. Right? This was the ordinance
of the King of the Lamb. What are these three fellows going
to do? What are they going to do? It's going against God's
ordinance. Right? All right? This king said,
everybody, and everybody did. They came, these captains, judges,
everybody. It was somebody. And then all
the people, they gathered together. And he told them all, when you
hear, this sounds like a citywide or countywide revival meeting,
doesn't it? They have them all the time, every year. Put up
a big tent somewhere and let's gather together. And look at
verse 5. It says, and they said this three
or four times, What time do you hear the cornet, the flute, the
harp, sackbutt, psalter, Del Boy is a big band. All kinds
of music. What do you like? Come on, we'll
play it for you. Whatever music you like, come,
we're going to have this worship service. That's what's going
on today in religion. Christian rock music. Now, you
know there's no such thing. That's an abomination. Oh, but
bluegrass, that bluegrass gospel, that's good, isn't it? You'd
think people are there to hear a gospel in that. No, they're
here to hear the bluegrass. Hip-hop gospel. Hip-hop gospel. And there's nothing new. All
kinds of music, all right? By the time you hear it, come
and worship. The golden image. What was this
image? Nearly everybody, nearly every
commentator, nearly every man I know, and according to Scripture. Turn to Romans 1, Romans chapter
1. Nearly every man I have any confidence
in his knowledge of the truth, they all agree it was the image
of a man. It was Nebuchadnezzar. The image of a man. Well, that's
what Romans 1 says. See, there's nothing new. Look
at Romans 1. It says in verse 19, because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them or to them,
God has showed it unto them. The invisible things of him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, be understood by
the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,
so that they, they, they are without excuse. But verse 21, because when they
knew God, these things are so clear, but they glorified him
not as God. Neither were thankful, but became
vain, foolish in their imagination. Their foolish heart was darkened,
professing themselves to be wise. They changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. And verse 25 says, They changed
the truth of God into a lie. God the Creator, God the Savior. Creation by God, by Christ. Salvation
by God from Christ. No, they say, no, God didn't
create anything. It just happened. And salvation
is not of the Lord either. It's of man. And they worship
the creature rather than the Creator. So it's the image of
man. That's free will. That's the God that all mankind
worships. Religion, Babylonian religion,
worships free will. Started with Satan, like Nebuchadnezzar.
Started with Satan, said, I will exalt my throne to the stars.
God said, you will not. Then man, so he enticed man with
that in the garden. Man, he said, you will. Man said,
yes, I will. No, you won't. Why? Because God,
it's His way. You say that every time you pray.
Good. Look at Daniel 4. Daniel 4. These are foundational scriptures. Truth. Verse 17. This matter.
What matter? The matter of God and truth,
any matter, all matter, is by the decree, the decree of God,
the decree of the watchers. What's that? His watchman, his
prophet. Read on. And by the word of the
holy ones. Who's that? God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. To the intent. All the decrees,
all the word of God is to this intent, like Romans 1 said, that
the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
of men, and giveth it to whosoever he will. He will. Look at verse 35. Don't you love this? All the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth
according to his will. in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, What doest thou? Isn't that what Paul wrote in
Romans 9? Didn't Paul say, It is not of him that willeth or
of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
Didn't Paul say, If you do well, it is God that worketh in you
both the will and do of his good pleasure. Doesn't the scripture
say if anybody receives the word of God, receives by faith, if
anybody believes and is a son of God, it's because they were
not born of blood or the will of man or the will of the flesh,
but of God. But man worships this huge image
of himself. Free will. Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed. The image
was gold. Man worships that. Nothing's
changed. back then and even now. Gold, silver, money. Oh, most
mighty dollar. Save our nation. May our economy
prosper. Gold, silver, money, science.
Technology. Oh, thank you, science. Thank you, technology. Oh, thank
you, most high internets, for all the knowledge that you've
imparted to us. If they had an image, it might
be of a great big cell phone today. Oh, thank you. Where would
we be without you? How could we live without you?
There might even be a big golden mask. Thank you, Most Mighty and Merciful
Mass, for saving our lives. Am I kidding? No, I'm not kidding.
I saw a billboard the other day. It showed a picture of a dog
and a mask. And it said, here's your man's
best friend. Here's his next best friend.
I've got a friend that's sticking closer than a brother. He was
born for adversity. His name is Jesus Christ. He's
my shield. This nation and this world is
in a mess. Bow down in fear. Nothing's changed. Nothing's changed. I don't apologize for any of
this. I apologize for our unbelief to our God. I apologize. There
was no fear of God then, there's no fear of God now. Nobody called
on God then for mercy and grace, nobody's doing it now, except
a few people. Nobody called on God, have mercy upon us, we've
sinned against you. All of this, like Daniel prayed
in Daniel 9, all of this is because we're idolatrous, because we've
sinned against you. We know why this is here. Because
God said it, because of unbelief and fear and man worship and
will worship. And I doubt we know why this
has come, Daniel said. Is there anybody like Daniel?
Yes, there are. There's a few chosen. Many are
called, but few are chosen. And like Daniel, God mentioned
in Ezekiel three men. He said, though Noah, Daniel
and Job was in the land, they can't save it. Those three righteous
men that cannot save the land, people going to be saved the
same way that they were. And these three men, Hananiah,
Mashiach, and Azariah, we're not going to do this. We're not going to do this. It's
a government order. We are not going to do this. These three chosen men who would
not bow, who wouldn't fall down and worship. Look at verses 12
and 13 in Daniel 3. Verse 12 and 13. Now, certain
Jews accuse them. They accuse them to Nebuchadnezzar. Satan is called the accuser of
the brethren. And he stirs up strife and division
and skiffs among brethren. And they accused them of sedition
and all that. God's going to spare this place
because of these three men. God should have wiped the whole
place out. Why didn't He? Because He had three elect there.
He's not going to do it. Like Lot's. The only reason Sodom
stood is because Lot was there. Right? They said, they don't regard
you king. Oh, yes, they did. They worked for him. Right? Do you not think they were loyal
servants of the king? Until his command went against
the command of their God. No, we can't do that. We'll bow
to the ordinance of man as long as it doesn't conflict with the
ordinance of God. That's fact. What are you raging
about? The world is the one that's raging. Nebuchadnezzar was in a rage
and a fury against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I'm using
the name that's written there now. They brought these three
men before the king. And you know, our Lord sent his
disciples out before men and devils to stand up. for the truth, and
nothing's changed. And he asked him, is it true?
Now, he said, I'll give you another chance. When all the music starts
playing, fall down and worship, or you're going to be thrown
into the fiery furnace. And who's the God that shall deliver you
out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego,
Nebuchadnezzar, you're in my hands. And if you don't do what
I say, I will throw you in the furnace." Well, they said, we
don't have to think about this for one minute. They said, we're
not careful to answer this. Look at it, verse 16. They all said, we're not careful
to answer thee in this matter. We don't have to stop and think
about this. They knew that they weren't in
Nebuchadnezzar's hands, they were in God's hands. Everything
in, everyone in. Nebuchadnezzar was in God's hands.
His breath was in God's hands. His heart was in the hands of
God. You know what God did with Nebuchadnezzar?
You know, don't you? The king's heart's in the hands,
you know. I think God saved Nebuchadnezzar. If there ever was a more wicked
or evil man, a man beyond hell, there's no way. He's a devil.
God turned him. Changed him. He was in God's hand. But Nebuchadnezzar,
not knowing God, not knowing the truth, worshipping man, worshipping
himself, said, you're in my hand. It's truth backwards. Man's got
God in his hands. God can't do anything unless
you let Him. God has no hands but your hands. Sad. It's nauseating,
but it's sad for people. Truth's backwards. When Nebuchadnezzar
said, there's none, nobody can deliver you out of my hand. Now
look at verse 17. So the three, Hannah and I and
Moshe on Azariah said, if it be so, if you throw us in the
furnace, it's not really you, it's God. But if we go in that
furnace, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
burning firefight. He's able. And he will deliver us out of
your hand. One way or another. One way or another. If we go
in that furnace, whether we live or whether we die, we're going
to be delivered one way or another. If we're delivered from the fiery
furnace, so be it. We'll live on for another day
to testify, glorify our God. of His grace that's sufficient
to go through the fiery trials. How did they get through it?
Somebody was in there with them. Somebody was in there with them.
The same one that said to Jacob a long time ago, I'll never leave
you. I'm with you always. Well, they said, if we die in
that furnace, Hallelujah. Now we're rid of you forever.
Now there's no more that you can do. You kill our body, there's
nothing more you can do to us. You gonna send us to glory. Go
ahead. Throw us in the purse. Anybody believe like that? Not very strongly, but I do believe. Do you? Let's act like it, shall
we? Let's have this testimony. Come
what may, if we're delivered from it, fine, we'll glorify
God, His grace, His power, His honor. If we perish from that,
we leave this place and our troubles are over. We're delivered forever
from this dark world and this kingdom of darkness into the
kingdom of His dear Son. And nothing more they can do. We will not bow. Government order
or not, we're not going to change the way we worship. We're going
to worship God just like God told us to worship. We're going
to gather together. The three of us are going to
get together real close together. We're going to hug up. We're
going to drink one another with a holy kiss. We're going to live
by faith, not fear. We're not going to change a thing.
We're going to worship God the way he tells us to worship. We're
going to sing these songs. We're going to take the Lord's
table. We're going to baptize. You can't baptize by social distance.
We're going to hug up one another. We're going to help one another.
We're going to lay down our lives for one another. No, we won't
kill each other. We won't give each other anything.
But hey, build up each other up on this most holy faith. That's
what we're called to do. Not tear down. Not frightened. Build up. Come on, brother. Come
on, sister. Our God reigns. See that dragon? Hananiah and Mashiel,
see, I'm caught up in it. Hananiah, Mashiel, and Azariah
said, We will not bow. Do what you want. So they threw him in the barn. Now here's the divine irony. Here's the profound irony of
it. They said if you don't bow down to this false God, to the
God that everybody else has bowed down to, you're going to be thrown
in the fire. You know what God says in the end? If you don't
bow down to my Son, I'm going to throw you in the fire. Didn't He? That's the fire I don't want
to be thrown in. And every one of God's people will go through
fiery trials, hatred, persecution, affliction, division between
your family and this and that and the other, the world against
you. Fiery trials of loneliness and deprivation. Read Hebrews
11. A great cloud of witnesses. All
of God's people went through deep waters and fiery trials,
but they all went through it. They all passed through the Red
Sea. How? God did it. Salvations of
the Lord. Not human will or human works
or human strength or human protection or human wisdom. God. The power of God, Christ. They
threw these three fellas in there, okay? With their hoes on, their
hoes in, and their hats, and their clothes, in that fireplace.
They just heated it up hot as we can get it. Seven times. And
three, the most mighty men were burning, throwing them in it.
It was hot. Threw them in there, okay? A
little while passed by. Nebuchadnezzar went to check
on them. He said, didn't we? Didn't we throw three men in
there, bound? Weren't their hands tied behind
their backs? Weren't they our captives? Weren't they captive
to me? Didn't we throw them in there?
And they fell down. We saw them fall down. They're
standing up. They're loose. And there's four
of them in there. There's four in there. And the
fourth one. Looks like the Son of God. How's
Christ in there with her? The Son of God was with her.
And you know what? They brought those three men
out, but the fourth man stayed in. What's that? Not a person
in here doesn't know what that is. There's so few people in
the world would have a clue. But there's not a person in here,
including our children, that doesn't know what that means.
That Christ went to Calvary's tree, Christ and him crucified,
bore the fiery wrath and indignation and judgment of God against God's
people. God poured out His wrath, His
fiery wrath upon Jesus Christ on Calvary Street for the sins
of God's people. God made Him to be sin for us.
God laid on Him the iniquity of us all, made His soul a sacrifice
for sin. He's the burnt offering, isn't
He? He's the Lamb of God. What happened? We've come out. We're spared. Our sins are gone. These three men came out. Teresa,
they came out. Still had their clothes on. Their
covering wasn't burnt. It wasn't even singed. What's
our covering? Christ. It's not a doctrine. It's Him Himself. It says that
they didn't even have any smell of smoke on them. The sins and
iniquity of God's people shall be sought and it won't be found.
There won't even be a whiff of sin anywhere. It's all gone. Put away by Jesus Christ. But Christ stayed in there. Was
Christ consumed? Was he destroyed? Did he perish?
No. He went right back to glory where
he came from. After he delivered these three, he went right back
down and sat down. It was called Deliverance of
the Morning. Don't you love this? Don't you
love him? Amen. And then old Nebuchadnezzar
He said, I'll make a decree. This is where his chain started,
the fear of the Lord. He saw his most mighty man burned
up. He saw that no one is in my hands
at all. Apparently, I'm in their God's
hands. I need mercy. And he made a decree,
verse 29, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language
which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego shall be cut in pieces. I wish we had a candidate
run for president to say that. Don't you? Get my vote. Be cut
in pieces because there's no other God that can deliver after
this sort. One Lord, one God, one faith,
one salvation. Fear God. Don't fear man. Believe God. Trust the Lord.
Stand up for His truths. Stand with me. Let's pray. Our
Lord God in Heaven, thank You, thank You, thank You for Thy
truth. Oh, mercy and truth. met together, righteousness and
peace, have kissed each other. And you've kissed your people
with this blessed gospel. Part in your love, show in your
love, show in your favor, show in your sovereignty, your protection
over them, your provision that thou art our God and we are your
people. Oh Lord, give us this faith.
Give us mustard seed faith that would remove this mountain of
fear that we're faced with. Give us faith. Give us the faith
of these three Hebrew children, the faith of God's elect, delivered
to the saints. It's yours to give. Oh, Lord,
may this message increase the faith that we have. Thank you,
Lord. Thank you, thank you, thank you,
the tower of God. And we worship you in Christ's
name. Amen.