No compromise when Facing the Fiery Furnace

Q: What does the Bible say about trusting God in trials?

The Bible teaches that God is with us in trials and tribulations, providing strength and comfort. Scripture makes it clear that believers will face trials but encourages us to trust in God's sovereignty. In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego exemplify this trust as they declare that their God is able to deliver them from the fiery furnace but even if He does not, they will not bow down to false idols. This response illustrates a deep faith in God's plan and purpose, reminding us that trials can lead us closer to Jesus, who is with us in our suffering. As seen in Isaiah 43:2, God assures us that when we pass through the waters or fire, He is with us, and we need not fear.

Q: How do we know that God is with us during difficult times?

God's presence is assured in His promises and past deliverances recorded in scripture. The assurance of God's presence during difficult times is grounded in biblical promises that affirm His faithfulness. In Isaiah 41:10, God states, 'Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God.' This promise has been demonstrated throughout scripture where God has triumphantly delivered His people from their trials. The testimonies of figures like Job and the accounts of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace serve as reminders that God strengthens and helps us in our time of need. Moreover, God is not merely with us in spirit; He actively works through our trials to shape us and bring us closer to Him, as explained in the New Testament (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Q: Why is it important for Christians to stand firm in their faith?

Standing firm in faith helps maintain integrity and witness to God's sovereignty and truth. The importance of standing firm in faith, especially in a culture that may demand compromise, cannot be understated. In the account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, their refusal to bow to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image illustrates the need for unwavering faith in God. Such a stance not only reflects our commitment to God's truth but also serves as a powerful witness to those around us. In times of trial, believers can showcase the power of faith, demonstrating a trust in God's sovereignty over all life's circumstances. Furthermore, standing firm cultivates spiritual resilience, enabling us to endure and even prosper through tribulation, as highlighted in James 1:2-4, where trials produce maturity in faith.

Q: What lessons can we learn from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

Their unwavering faith demonstrates the importance of trusting God and refusing to compromise. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego teach profound lessons about faith under pressure. Their declaration in Daniel 3, where they affirm God's ability to save them but also express submission to His will, exemplifies a mature faith. They did not demand deliverance but submitted to God's sovereign plan, representing a profound understanding of true faith. Their refusal to compromise illustrates the necessity of holding fast to God's commandments regardless of external pressures. Furthermore, their story emphasizes that God sometimes allows His people to go through trials, not to punish, but to purify and strengthen them, making it clear that God's presence is most profoundly felt in our moments of deepest trial.

Well, may the Lord be pleased to answer the prayer that we have been singing. Turn with me to the book of Daniel, chapter 3, and we'll read for our text verses 16, 17, and 18. The book of Daniel, chapter 3, verses 16, 17, and 18. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

If it be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. We trust that none of us will ever be called to be thrown literally into a fiery furnace. But the people of God do know very much at times what it is to be called to walk in a very troubled fiery path. We sang that hymn of John Newton's number 154 in hymns for worship.

Though many foes beset your road and feeble is your arm, your life is hid with Christ in God beyond the reach of harm. And these three godly men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, knew what it was to be blessed with living faith, and to believe and to trust that whatever the will of God was, that they would ultimately come to no harm. And you and I, we prove, don't we, the truth of those words? In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

And so we have this with these three men. They're the victims of jealousy. And how shocking that is, as the Word of God declares, wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous, but who can stand against envy? And nothing would stop those that sought to bring these three men down, that had been promoted over their heads, that they would bring them down by fair means or foul. And so we see these godly young men, that they have faith, they're blessed with living faith in the power of God. and such that they are sweetly submissive to his heavenly mind and will. They're granted with that godly submission that the will of the Lord be done.

And so there are really, as we would look at it this morning, there are those two main themes. There is the testing. And you and I, dear friends, if we are amongst the children of God, we will often be tested. We will often be tried. And we ask sometimes, don't we, why?

Why? Why this? Why that? Why do believers, why do the people of God suffer? Why is it that so often the trial goes on for a long, long, long time? Why is it that they're not immediately delivered? Why is it that they actually have to go through And as we have already quoted of what Jesus said in the world, ye shall have tribulation.

And it's when you pass through these fiery trials, as we shall seek to pick up in a moment, that the Lord He will be with you. And is that not our testimony this morning? That those of you that have been favoured to come into these deep waters, these fiery trials, that your testimony today is that it almost killed me. It tried me so much. and yet I can testify of the Lord's goodness. I'm not the same, perhaps, as I was before I went into it, but he's been merciful, he's been gracious, he's brought me through, and he's brought me closer to my Jesus.

And that's what it all is, wasn't it? And these dear men, these dear men, as we shall seek to look at a little more this evening, if the Lord helps us, that had they have not gone through the trial, had they have not been thrown into this desperate, desperate fiery furnace, they would have never been favoured with the presence of Jesus as he was in that fire with them. with them. And he's the same God today, isn't he?

He's the same. He brings us to Witsend Corner. He brings us to those places where it almost seems that all hope of being saved was gone. As Paul was to prove as they were being, as there was that shipwreck. But Jesus come, Jesus holds and guides the helm and safety is where he is found.

And so how this account that we have, a wonderful book, the book of Daniel, isn't it? The first six chapters, very much of history, and then those remarkable prophecies in the second half of the book. But you know there's much here, isn't there, speaking in that which we have before us in this chapter, that it's prophetic in relation to Israel. It's prophetic in relation to the Great Tribulation.

A remnant, a remnant shall be saved. A remnant shall be saved. Do you bless God that there is a remnant? Have you come up to the house of God this morning blessing the Lord and seeking to praise Him that you believe by His grace that you are amongst this remnant? Or is it your living desire that you should be found amongst this remnant? Oh, you feel so wretched and you feel that you're out of the secret. You know nothing of these things. You seek the Lord, that he'll lead you and guide you and teach you and bless you. Bless you with a living faith in a precious, bleeding Jesus.

Well, this King Nebuchadnezzar, he was the greatest man in the whole world. Babylon was so wealthy, so rich, and Nebuchadnezzar, he ruled, he conquered. There was not a battle that he fought that he didn't win. He had everything, naturally speaking, going for him. And he was full of pride. He'd been subdued as he dreamt that dream in the previous chapter and none could interpret it.

And Daniel was called and he interpreted it. How solemn it was, the interpretation, to such an extent that Nebuchadnezzar, he was humbled. He was humbled to such an extent that in the 46th verse of chapter 2 we read Then the King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face. and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. The king answered unto Daniel and said, The truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel sat in the gate of the king. Has Nebuchadnezzar been converted?

Has he been called by grace? Friends, these are things to teach us and to lead us, isn't it, in this day of easy believism. The Lord helping us will seek to try and bring out a little, perhaps this evening, of Nebuchadnezzar when he was called by grace. But you know, dear friends, often it is, isn't it? It's farther than this. Further than this, ye yet must go. Ye yet must go. Oh, it's that living desire, isn't it?

To cast our lot in with the people of God. To be able to say and to testify, they are my kindred, my friends. Oh dear friend, take no comfort, take no comfort in standing, in sitting outside, whatever it is that is hindering you. If you're amongst the children of God, you cast your lot in. You cast your lot in with them, no matter the cost. Look at the cost to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That there is certain death, humanly speaking. But they will not. They will not compromise.

Nebuchadnezzar, he'd made Daniel a great man. He'd issued this statement of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods. But where do we find him? Daniel has interpreted the dream and he speaks of Nebuchadnezzar as having a head of gold. And we don't know how long it was afterwards. It matters not. The man, he forgot it all. He forgot it all, that the humility that he had for a little while, it wasn't genuine, and he soon was lifted up with pride to such an extent that he had a golden statue made which I think from memory was 90 feet high and 9 feet wide.

It could be seen for miles as it glittered in the sun. And it was that. It was that. It was a God. It was a God that should be worshipped. And there is the repetition, isn't there? There is the repetition in the chapter of the orchestra as it repeats again and again the instruments. and friends, and that is to bring home to us, I believe, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and that it gets hold of a person. And music, music can either console or it can be used to drift us off into places where we have no business to be. And so Babylon, Babylon was awash with gold. It was an incredible, remarkable city.

And Nebuchadnezzar, he's seeking to unite the whole nation. He's seeking to unite the Jews along with the Babylonians. He's seeking to have them all united in forsaking the living gods and to worship, to worship this image that had been set up. Well, as I say, every nation that Nebuchadnezzar had gone to war with, and there were many, that he subdued, every one in his reign of over 40 years. He never lost a battle. He was supreme in victory. And so this power of music, that it manipulates, doesn't it?

As I would speak kindly to our young people here today, and how good it is to see you in the house of God once more. And you know, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we read in the first chapter of how that they would go along to a certain degree with the King's command, with the customs that there were, but there was one thing they wouldn't do, and they wouldn't eat of that meat that had been blessed by idols. You can read the chapter to see the correct wording. They wouldn't eat of it.

And the Lord blessed them in that stand that they made. They wouldn't compromise. Oh, and they were in a position where they could, couldn't they? They'd been dragged off from their homeland. They were way, way off. And now they've gone further now, having been taken into captivity. They've been chosen to be in the palace and to learn, to learn all of the Chaldee and everything else. But they won't, and so it is with each of us, isn't it? As we reached a certain age, we began to think, didn't we? Oh, the shackles now of home life, the shackles of parents, we can release them now, we're free.

But what did we prove? What did we prove? As we went that way, as we sought to go that way, whereby we would have our own way, what was the Lord pleased to do? He met us, didn't He? He met us. That's why we're sitting in this chapel today, isn't it? That's why, by God's grace, that we've made a profession of faith, that He was merciful to us. He didn't leave us in our sins. He said, arrest that man, arrest that woman, arrest that boy, arrest that girl. And he plucked us out of that narrow and out of that broad way that leads to destruction, yea, that leads to hell. And he planted us, didn't he? He set us into that highway, into the narrow way that leads to life eternal.

And so, dear friends, you youngsters, as you have the glittering lights in these places and all the funky music and what have you, and the drip, drip, drip effect, and it does, it gets hold of us, doesn't it? Oh, I know what I'm speaking about. As far as I was concerned, Friday night was music night. And so it has this effect, doesn't it? It has this effect.

But the Lord, in His mercy, in His mercy, and He uses whatever He will. And as we heard that remarkable sermon last Lord's Day evening, be sure your sin will find you out. And friend, and though it was painful, you bless God that it did, don't you? You bless God that it did that he's found you out in this life and not before the judge of the whole earth. But it's too late. All that were to be found crying for the rocks and the mountains to hide us. And so we learn, don't we? We learn that to sin, we can't sin cheaply, can we? If we're the child of God, if we're amongst the children of God. that he will, and he will have mercy, but he's often through much, much, much tribulation, much heat, such deep waters. He's a jealous God, isn't he? He's a jealous God.

Oh Jesus, if you come to that this morning, where you're blessed with living faith in a precious Christ, as you've been brought with a humble contrite heart, full of godly sorrow and repentance, and you've been blessed to look to Jesus. Oh, as those that were bitten, that were bitten by serpents in the wilderness, and every one that was bitten, that was death, they died. But make thee a brazen serpent, and look to that brazen serpent when you're bitten, and you will live. And so it is with the sinner, isn't it? The sinner, he looks to Christ. He looks to Jesus. Look to Jesus, kind and strong, pity joined with power.

And so what should be our response? What should be our response when we come up against those things? And I'm speaking now to us all. It matters not how old we are. We do continue, don't we? We do continue to compromise. And so we bless God, don't we, that he brings us again and again, as we do compromise, as we do compromise, he brings us again to understand the folly of it all and to bring us again to godly sorrow and repentance. Well, they would not compromise. Look, compromise and many, many things that you and I can compromise on, especially in this dreadful day.

You know, I suppose every day has been a dreadful day, hasn't it? Each generation is dreadful. I was brought up in what is termed now, well, it was termed then, at the swinging 60s and it really was that the war, two wars had finished and the country was getting back on its feet and it was live for today, live for today, tomorrow we may die and every restraint was removed. And so each generation, there's another thing that comes along and what you dear youngsters have to contend with now makes the swinging 60s look like a walk in the park, if I may use such an expression.

And so we would pray for you constantly. The Lord would abundantly bless you and keep you and grant you, grant you this desire not to compromise that dear Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were. They knew, they knew that they would lose their life. That was a certainty. Naturally speaking, they knew that they would lose their life.

But they say, Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. You're quite correct. What they're saying, really, as our text sets it out, they're saying, really, we know. We know we haven't bowed down to your golden image. We know that we're guilty of your decree.

We know that the punishment is that if we do not bow down when the orchestra plays, that the fiery dungeon is our lot and it'll be the end. It'll be the end. But our God, our God can deliver us, and indeed He will. But if, if in His sovereignty, and that's it, isn't it, dear friends? You and I, we don't take deliverance just for granted, that it's a definite deliverance without any trial. If so be, if so be that our God should see to it that we must go into that fiery furnace, He will be with us. His will will be done. Whatever, whatever your command Nebuchadnezzar is, We will not compromise. We will not sin. We will not sin as you are commanding us.

Oh, today, today, doctrines, they're being compromised, aren't they, in the church? But we have to take a stand. There are those times when we have to take a stand and bless God that very much in our circle of churches there is that desire to keep to the old paths, those precious doctrines. And so we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. We will not compromise. Oh, as you think of people like dear William Tyndale, we probably wouldn't have the Bible as we know it today, had he not labored and labored against all those threats that were being made against him. And what happened? What happened? Yes, he is. He's taken to the stake. He's taken the stake, and as he's burning, what are his last words of prayer?

Lord God, open the eyes of the King of England. And within three years, the King had decreed that the Bible should be in every place of worship, and many, many rules and laws were relaxed. And so he says to you and I today, he says to you and I today who are having to pass through these deep things, these fiery things, and the Lord knows how it is with each of you and how perhaps you come up to the house of God wondering how much more you can take. But oh, as Isaiah says in that glorious chapter 43, as he begins it, but now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee.

I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Plead that, dear friend, if the enemy is telling you that you've completely sinned it all away. You know nothing of these things. Plead it. Lord Jesus, show me. Show me that I am one of thine. Not if, you see, it's when.

This is the child of God's lot. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they will not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou should not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee, for I am. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. You hold on to that friend, you plead it. Thy Saviour, my Saviour, I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

Well, these three godly men, They refuse, they refuse to bow down when the orchestra starts and it's immediately, it's immediately that they're taken up the steps and across the gantry and they're thrown into the burning fiery furnace. And the king, he'd chosen his most mighty men to take them. He knew that there could be opposition. So he chose his mighty men to take them.

And what happens to them? Even just a spark, the heat from the furnace destroys them, kills them. The king watched. The king watched. They were bound, they were bound and cast into the furnace. He knew, I believe Nebuchadnezzar knew that he was up against a mighty God. But such was his pride, such was his obstinacy that he would do everything possible to ensure that there was no way escape. They would be bound. They would be taken up by the most mighty, strongest men that there were, and it was certain that the dreadful deed would be done.

Now are you and I, are you and I, and this can apply to us all, whether we're just a few years old or a hundred years old, are you and I prepared to stand the test? Oh, as the Lord brings us. And as we get older and we haven't the stamina as we used to, our faculties are failing. And we were only talking the other day about my dear mother-in-law. And as she got older, she said, oh, we just can't stand the things like we used to, all this worry, and that, and how true it is. And what is it all to do? It's to make us sick of self, fond of Him, and to fit and prepare us for heaven. For heaven. And these godly men, they knew that if the Lord wasn't pleased to deliver them, they would go straight to heaven.

Oh, there's war raging, isn't there, as Ukraine has taken a back seat because of what is going on with America and Iran. But I read only yesterday that the other night there were over 600 drones and various missiles that were unleashed upon Ukraine. So much is going on in it, is it? And there are those threats against us.

A favoured island and we've sinned it. Why? May we be found storing up many prayers that should conflicts come onto our shores. We might be blessed with that of Daniel to stand, to stand in that evil day. Or what if we are overcome by a dictator? Would we be able to stand? Would it still be our living desire to come up to the house of God on the Lord's day?

Oh, and so the people of God, they're tried, aren't they? They're tried, and the Lord is pleased to try each one. Psalm 73, David says, doesn't he, and it's not until we're brought into these things that we then understand what it's all about, because David in Psalm 73, oh, he was so perplexed, wasn't he? It seemed as though the wicked were prospering But he says in that 73rd Psalm, and at verse 17, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end.

Oh, and again to our younger friends, as well as to all of us, bless God for the house of God. Value the house of God. Oh, it's so encouraging when we see our young friends that they're writing notes of the sermon and they're comparing notes. That is so remarkable. And we that are older, let us ever bless God and praise God that we have such in our congregation.

Oh, dear Job, how he knew, wasn't it, for God to permit those things which he was pleased to bring into his pathway. But he was to say in the sixth verse, or Satan was, the Lord was to say to Satan in the sixth verse of the second chapter, behold, he is in thine hand. but save his life, but save his life. And friends, he's still the same. Our God is still faithful today when we are brought into those things which the enemy is rejoicing over.

I'm sure that he's rejoicing that it appears that America is turning her back upon our country and what strange days we're living in as our ungodly king will make his way over there and Oh, well, we won't. It's politics. Paul, it's not the place for politics. But how we need to be warned and aware of these desperate days in which we are living.

But oh, as Job was to say, though he slay me, though he slay me, yet, yet will I trust in him. And so dear friends, as we seek to bring our thoughts to a close this morning, you ask the question, you ask yourself the question, if you're not being chastened, if you're not being chastened, If you're being allowed to continue to go in the path, perhaps of rebellion, opposition, an ungodly pathway, you've been influenced. You've been influenced like the orchestra, influenced everyone to bow down and worship this golden image. Friend, if you're being left unchecked, You ask solemnly before God the reason why.

Well, dear Peter, he didn't go into the furnace, did he? Into the fiery furnace, literally, but he certainly did and he knew what he was talking about so that he could say to you and I this morning that are so tried by various things and the heat of the battle seems to be so much and whatever it is, whether it's family, business, health, no matter what it is. Foolish, really, to try and enumerate them, because the enemy will only go to you that it hasn't been said what your case is, and he'll say, oh, see, it wasn't for you. Dear Peter, he said, didn't he, in that seventh verse of his opening letter, that the trial of your faith being, what he says in verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness, through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Dear Job again, but he knoweth, O the dear Lord, he knows the way that I take, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Well, there's not an experience we go through, is there, friends? Sickness, bereavement, family, church, business, work, circumstances of any sort, those that have not been named this morning. that he says, he says to us, he applies it to us, or might it be so that this is the word of God to some poor troubled soul this morning in Isaiah again 41 and verse 10, Fear thou not For I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded, They shall be as nothing, nothing, all of this is nothing. And they that strive with thee shall perish. Oh, it is, it's heaven, oh, to have heaven in view. To have heaven in view, to know that this world is not our home. Sad truth for that to be so. That we have a one, a precious Jesus.

Oh, as He, as He, as the fiery, that fiery furnace that He experienced on the cross, as the wrath of God was rained down upon Him, as He took that punishment that was due to all of His dear people, and He drank that cup to the very dregs. that cup which you and I would be drinking in hell if we're not amongst the election of grace, if we're not amongst those for whom our precious Jesus suffered, bled and died. He, for all of his dear people, his bride, the Church of God, he drank that cup to the very dregs. And as we close, as we think of him, as he was abandoned, wasn't he? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Oh, he's the captain, Jesus, the captain of our salvation. He suffered, he suffered in the hottest heat of hell. He was, oh, he endured that furnace, he endured that furnace to redeem from eternity, to redeem from an eternity in hell. And so dear hymn writer of hymn 349, he says, all thy chosen, all thy chosen cost thee wounds and blood and smart.

In thy bosom, safely lodged, thine shall rest from danger free, they shall never more be judged, nor shall condemnation see. Blessed Jesus, let us thus rejoice in thee. Amen. as we close the service by singing hymn number 51 from Hymns of Worship. Jesus, the very force of thee, with sweetness fills my breath, but sweeter far thy face to see, and in thy presence rest. Hymn number 51 from Hymns of Worship, The Chief, 218.

♪ Jesus, the very thought of thee ♪ ♪ Is sweet that stills my breast ♪ ♪ Love's sweetest all my days to see ♪ ♪ And in thy present breath ♪ No voice can sing, no heart can frame. Who can a man refine? Our sweetest sound, and thy blest name, O Savior of mankind.

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Till earth do fall, how kind, how odd, how good to those who see. But what to those who find A list, nor pen, nor tongue can show? The love of Jesus, what it is, None but His loved ones know. Jesus, love of Jesus, As thou our prize wilt be, Haste us, be thou our glory now, And through eternity. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship and the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you all, now and for evermore. Amen.

No compromise when Facing the Fiery Furnace

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about trusting God in trials?

How do we know that God is with us during difficult times?

Why is it important for Christians to stand firm in their faith?

What lessons can we learn from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

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No compromise when Facing the Fiery Furnace

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about trusting God in trials?

How do we know that God is with us during difficult times?

Why is it important for Christians to stand firm in their faith?

What lessons can we learn from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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