Alright, now open your Bibles
back with me to Daniel chapter 3. I've titled the message this
morning, Who is that God that shall deliver? Now leading up
to chapter 3, King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Israel. He carried
Israel back to Babylon to be his slaves. Daniel, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were part of that crew. But Daniel, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego had been promoted to be Nebuchadnezzar's
most trusted counselors and advisors because the Lord had enabled
Daniel to interpret a dream Nebuchadnezzar had. One night Nebuchadnezzar
had a dream, but in the morning he woke up and he forgot the
dream. We all know how that is, but it troubled him. And Daniel
told him what the dream was. And then he told him what the
dream meant. And so Nebuchadnezzar had promoted
these four Hebrews to be his most trusted advisors. Now, y'all
been in the workplace, you know how jealous that made all the
other advisors and counselors and soothsayers and magicians,
they were so jealous and they were out to get these four Hebrews. So we pick up here verse one,
chapter three. Nebuchadnezzar the king made
an image of gold whose height was three square cubits and the
breadth thereof six cubits. And he set it up in the plain
of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar made this giant
statue that was to be worshipped. Now, we don't know. I've always
kind of thought the statue was of Nebuchadnezzar, but the scripture
doesn't say that. It could be of Nebuchadnezzar.
It could be an image of his father. It could be an image of some
idol that they had. I don't know. But this statue
was 90 feet tall. And to give you a point of reference,
the heads out on Mount Rushmore are only 60 feet tall. Nebuchadnezzar's
statue was one and a half times taller than that, and it was
covered with gold. And here's why Nebuchadnezzar
built this. He built this statue to be worshipped. Nebuchadnezzar
meant for the works of his hands to be worshipped. Now isn't that
what man's religion is all about? I mean, Nebuchadnezzar's not
even trying to hide it. It's all about him. It's all about
the works of his hands. And that's man's works religion.
You know, the central figure in works religion is man. It's what can man do for God? How can man help God out? How can man bring glory to God?
You know, they say they're worshiping God, don't they? But really man's
worshiping himself because he's the one getting all the credit
for all these works, everything that he does for God. And that's
what Nebuchadnezzar did. Verse two, then Nebuchadnezzar
the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and
the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the
sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the
dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set
up. Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the
treasurers, the counselors, and sheriffs, and all the rulers
of the provinces were gathered together under the dedication
of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the King had set up. And they
stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then an herald 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,
sacred, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musics, you
fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the
King has set up. And whoso falls not down, and
worship it. The same shall that 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 languages fell down and worshiped the golden
image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Here's another
picture of man's works of religion. It uses threats to control people. The threats of the law. They
tell you, you better be doing all these, you know, religious
works that we've got set up here for you to do. Everything we
think that's important, you know, you better do them. You better
do them, or God's gonna punish you. God's gonna punish you with
death. He's gonna send some horrible
plague upon you. He's gonna cast you into hell.
He's gonna cast you into this burning, fiery furnace. That's
all man's religion is, is threats. Constant threats. You better
do this or God's gonna get you. Man's worst religion can only
produce fear. You might get some obedience
out of people, but it's out of fear. It's never, man's worst
religion, there's constant threats. They can't produce peace. They
can't produce calmness of heart, can they? And almost everybody
in Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom bowed down to that statue, and you
can understand why. They didn't want to be thrown
into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. They did what they did
out of fear. It wasn't a heart of worship,
was it? It wasn't a heart of love or gratitude, it was fear.
Now verse eight, 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 should hear the sound of the
cornet, flute, harp, sacred, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all
kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.
that 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. They serve not thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up." Now here's
something else you always find in man's works of religion. Self-appointed
judges. I mean, you just always find
somebody that's watching. They're watching people with
a critical spirit. They're judging you and trying
to just look for any reason to rat you out, tear you down to
make themselves look better. You know, if you don't live up
to their standard, boy, they're going to rat you out. They're
going to bring you in front of the church and all these things, you know.
Fear. See how they're all operating
with fear. Remember I told you these counselors, they're jealous
of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and they've been
watching them. Now they got their chance. Something
they can wrap up in religion and try to use to destroy these
men. Well, verse 13, 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 ye not serve my gods, or worship
the golden image which I have set up? Now, if ye be ready,
that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sacbat, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall
down and worship the image which I have made well. But if ye worship
not, ye should 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. Now here's the question I want
us to look at this morning. Nebuchadnezzar says, if you don't
worship my image, who is that God that's gonna deliver you
from me? Nebuchadnezzar's pretty full of himself, isn't he? Is
there a God that can deliver you from me, he says? Well, verse
16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, 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." Now these three Hebrew
men say, King, we don't need time to talk about this amongst
ourselves and decide what we're going to do. We already know
what we're going to do. We're not going to bow down and
worship this idol. We're not going to do it. We worship God.
And they told Nebuchadnezzar, now, we don't know how this thing's
going to play out, but one way or another, God's going to deliver
us from your hand. One way or another. See, there's
no question our God's able to deliver us from the burning,
fiery furnace. He can deliver us from it if He wants. I don't
know if God will deliver us. They didn't know what God was
gonna do. But they did know God's able to deliver us. He's able.
We don't have any question about that. And whatever it is God
does with us, we're still gonna worship Him. If our God's not
pleased to deliver us from dying in that burning, fiery furnace,
then we're still gonna be delivered from your hand and you're never
gonna be able to touch us again. One way or another, God's gonna
deliver us. We know that. But no matter what
he does, we will not bow down and worship an idol. You might wonder, why are we so insistent on the
gospel of God? The gospel of Christ, the gospel
of His grace. Why are we... You know, I was
gone for three weeks. And I was very thankful to be
gone and not worry about what was going to be preached in this
pulpit. I was not worried how you all were going to be fed
and instructed. I was very careful to ask men
who I knew I knew what they would preach. I knew how they would
preach Christ. I didn't just ask somebody, you know, I didn't
know. You see what I'm saying? Why are we so insistent on that?
Because the only object of worship there is, is God. The only way
that he can be worshiped is the way he tells us in his word.
We're not gonna bow down and worship an idol either. We're
not gonna compromise with the people of this world and the
religion of this world in order to get together a bigger crowd
or something, you know. God is the only object of worship
that there is. And he's worshipped the way he
says, in spirit and in truth. God's not worshipped with all
our shows of religion. Old Nebuchadnezzar, he set up
quite an orchestra, didn't he? Boy, he used all this music to
get people in the right mood, get them swaying and all these
things, you know. Get them in the mood, you know,
to worship. God's not worshipped with our
shows of religion. God's not worshipped with the works of
men's hands. What it is we can do for God,
God is worshipped in spirit. Let me show you that in a couple
places. Look first at Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three. In verse one, Paul says, finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same things to you,
to say the same things over and over to you. To me, indeed, it's
not grievous, but for you, it's safe. You beware of these dogs. Beware of these evil workers.
These religious people, they're trying to get you to do works
to make God happy with you. They're evil workers. Beware
of the concision. Beware of the mutilators, those
who are trying to get you to mutilate your body. Do something
with your body in order to please God. For we're the circumcision,
the true circumcision, the circumcision of the heart, which worship God
in the spirit. We rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. God is worshiped in spirit. By rejoicing in Christ Jesus
and having no confidence in anything we do in the flesh, all our confidence
is in Christ. Look back at John chapter four. Our Lord taught us this very
same thing, John chapter four. This is our Lord speaking to
that Samaritan woman at the well. And she tells him, our fathers
worshiped in this mountain. You say that Jerusalem is the
place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her woman, believe
me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem worship the Father." Where is not important.
You worship, you go through the forms of religion and form of
worship, but you know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is,
when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. God is spirit. and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. See,
God's gonna be worshiped in spirit and in truth, not through all
this form and show of religion. That's why we can't compromise.
Any compromise is idolatry. Any compromise with works religion,
any compromise to try to take the edge off the gospel is no
better than bowing down to that statue covered with gold. No
different whatsoever. Well, that infuriated Nebuchadnezzar. It infuriated him. Look at verse
19 back in our text. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full
of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. He used to look at them with
honor and respect, and he would listen. Now his visage has changed.
Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace
one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he
commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning,
fiery furnace. And these men were bound in their
coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments,
and were cast into the midst of the burning, fiery furnace.
Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent, and the
furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that
took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst
of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astonished, and rose up in haste and spake, and said unto
his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst
of the fire? They answered, and said unto
the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have
no herd. And the form of the fort is like
the Son of God. Now they built a fire seven times
hotter than that furnace was built to take. They put seven
times more fuel in that furnace than it was built to take. And
that fire, now that was a real fire, wasn't it? The most mighty
men that Nebuchadnezzar could find were killed by that fire.
When they tried to throw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the
furnace, that fire was real, it killed those men. But he didn't
hurt Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego one bit. Now I hate to ever talk about
hell, but hell is a real place. Eternal punishment there is a
real thing. But no one who trusts in Christ
will ever be harmed by the fire of God's wrath in hell. Never. Won't harm you a bit if you trust
Christ. You know why? It's for the same reason Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego weren't burned up in that furnace. No
believer will ever face the fire of God's wrath against your sin
because the Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute, already bore
that wrath for his people. When he suffered and died as
a sacrifice for sin on Calvary Street, he absorbed all that
fire. Now, there's no fire of God's
wrath left for you. Now, if Christ died for you,
there's not. Did you notice this? Before Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego fell into that furnace, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, was already there. He was there first. Nebuchadnezzar looked in that
furnace and he saw four men, loose and walking around. He
said, the fourth one is like unto the Son of God. Now, have you ever wondered how
could Nebuchadnezzar know that fourth one's the Son of God?
How did he know that? Well, I believe I have the answer.
Jonathan, anybody who ever sees Christ is gonna know Him. Anybody
who ever sees Christ will know Him. If you see Christ in the
gospel by faith, you're gonna know Him. You're gonna know that
it's Him. You're gonna know this is the
Savior of sinners. You're gonna know it's Him and
you're gonna know it's not an imposter. And you'll believe
Him and you'll trust Him because you know Him. Anyone who sees
Christ in His second coming, when He comes in the clouds of
the air, all eyes shall see Him, the scripture says. And we're
gonna know it's Him. That's why people are gonna cry
for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them, to hide them
from the wrath of the Lamb. When they see Him, they're gonna
know that's Lamb. They're gonna know. Anytime anybody
sees Christ, you're gonna know Him. Nebuchadnezzar knew who
that was, he saw Him. Now, I said all that to get here. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to know
what God it is that has the power to deliver men from Nebuchadnezzar's
hand. There he is, the fourth man in
the firmament, it's him. Now this is a picture. Here's
the real question. The real question for you and
me is this. Who is that God that will deliver sinners like you
and me from God? Who is it that will deliver sinners
like you and me from the wrath of God? That's the question that's
pictured here. I want to give you a few pictures
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who he is and how it is that
he delivers his people from God's wrath. Number one is this. Christ delivers his people from
the fire of God's wrath by taking their sin into his own body on
the tree and burning in the fire of his Father's wrath It's a
substitute for his people. All throughout scripture, fire
is pictured, is used as a picture of God's wrath against sin. You
know, what fell on Sodom and Gomorrah? Fire and brimstone. As a picture of God's wrath.
When the priest of Aaron, when they offered burnt sacrifices
as a sin offering, it was a burnt sacrifice. That was a picture
of God's wrath against sin. Those burnt offerings were completely
burned up. And whatever was left over was
taken out. It was unclean. It was taken
outside the camp. Those burnt offerings were pictures.
This is how Christ is going to put away the sin of his people.
As their sin offering. He's the one that's going to
suffer all of God's fiery wrath against the sin of his elect. And you know what God called
that fire that came up from the burnt offering? A sweet smell. It's a sweet savor. You know
why? Because that smoke says the sacrifice
has been burned up. Justice has been satisfied. That's
what's sweet to the Father. His justice and His holiness
has been satisfied. Now all those burnt offerings
of the Old Testament. They were completely burned up.
The fire just always consumed the sacrifice and the fire went
out because the sacrifice was consumed. There's no more fuel
left for the fire. But God's anger against sin still
burned. That's why they had to offer
another one and another one and another one, because animal sacrifices
can't take away sin. Those animal sacrifices that
were offered as the burnt offering. They're just pictures of Christ.
There was one sacrifice that ever consumed the fire. It's
the sacrifice of Christ. Christ suffered until the fire
of God's wrath against sin was extinguished. The fire went out
because all of the sin of all of God's elect that had been
placed on Christ had been paid for by the blood of his sacrifice. The fire went out. The father
made the son sin for his people And he poured out his wrath upon
his son. You know why the wrath quit?
Sin was gone. The fuel was gone. There was
no more sin left to fuel the fire. God's wrath is satisfied. God's justice is satisfied. And
Christ gave up the ghost and died. The fire didn't consume
him and make him die. He gave up the ghost because
the atonement had been made. Here's how Almighty God delivers
his people is by trading places with them, giving them his righteousness
and taking their sin. And he bore the punishment and
the debt that that sin deserves. He delivers by trading places
and suffering everything that we deserve. Now, if that's not
grace, I don't know what is. In the book of Revelation, John
said he saw Christ with feet likened to fine brass as if they
burned in a fire. Well, they did, didn't they?
John is speaking here in a picture, but that's a picture of how Christ
suffered in the furnace of God's wrath against sin. He walked
through it. He burned in that furnace so
that his people would never burn in that furnace. Christ delivered
his people from his father's wrath by taking their punishment
for it. Now that makes God's salvation
so much better than man's salvation. God's salvation is both just
and gracious. You'll never find another God
that delivers after this sort in justice and grace, justice
and mercy. Since Lord Jesus Christ has suffered,
he died, he satisfied God's justice for his people. All that's left
from God for his people mercy and grace. That's all that's
left. All that's left for God's people
is peace. Peace with God. Christ made peace
with God. There's no reason for God to
be angry anymore. Christ put your sin away. Peace in your
own heart. You have peace. You have rest
from worrying God not to get you because he already punished
your sin and your substitute. There's peace. Remember the law,
man's worst religion, all it can produce is fear. But salvation
by grace produces peace. Peace. Peace with God, peace
in the heart, and peace with one another. When there's not peace with one
another, something's bad wrong in there. Something's bad wrong. Christ made peace for us. We
ought to be at peace with one another. If Christ loved us so
that he suffered as the propitiation for our sin, we ought to be loving
one another too, shouldn't we? Salvation by grace produces peace. And it's not peace by sticking
our heads in the sand and pretending everything's all right when it's
not. Salvation by grace produces true peace because justice has
been satisfied by the death of the Savior. So there's no reason
for you to ever fear God. There's no reason for you to
fear dying and facing God in the judgment if Christ already
suffered for you as your substitute. He's given you perfect peace.
That's how Christ delivers his people from their sin. All right,
here's the second thing I see here. If the Son shall make you
free, you're free indeed. Nebuchadnezzar had these men
thrown into the burning fiery furnace and there he sees them
walking around in the furnace. They're not running, trying to
get out of it. They're not running around in circles. They're not
running around like chickens with their head cut off, not knowing what
to do or where they're going. They're walking, walking around
in the midst of that furnace. They're not bound anymore. Now
they're free. Christ had made them free. You
know there's just one thing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego lost by
being thrown into that fire of firmness. You know what it was?
The cords that bound them. That's the only thing that they
lost. They didn't suffer the loss of anything else. Once you meet Christ, once He
comes to you and sets you free, once He comes to you and gives
you faith in Him, brother, you're free. You are free, you are free
from the law. Free from the law, oh happy condition.
Jesus has died, there's your mission. You're free. The law
can't bind you anymore. In 1 Corinthians 7, verse 22,
Paul says believers are the Lord's freemen. Freemen. Now more often in scripture,
we're called the Lord's servants, He's the master, we're his servants. We do what he tells us to do.
We go where he tells us to go. We're his servants. But believers
are also the Lord's free men. We're both servants and free
men, free women. Now, how can that be? How can
you be a servant and yet free? Believers serve God because they
want to. They want to. God's given them
a new want to in the new birth. The Son's made us free. Free. You don't have to serve God because
you're afraid of the commandments of the law. You're free from
the condemnation of the law. You're free from the threats
of the law. You're free from following the law as even a guiding
principle. We're free from ever being forced to serve God out
of fear. Fear that He's gonna punish us
if we don't serve Him. Christ has made his people free
to serve him willingly. To serve him out of love and
gratitude. And the way we serve God that
way is by serving one another. That you watch out for one another
and you serve one another because you love one another. Because
you want to. You want to. Not because you
have to, because you want to. If God's laid something on your
heart, carry this something your dad told me years ago, I think
about it so often. If the Lord lays something on
your heart to do, to help for somebody, just for somebody else,
do it. Do it without thinking about
it. Do it without thinking, wonder what they're going to think,
or wonder what the ramifications of this are going to be. If the
Lord's laid it on your heart to do something for somebody,
do it. And then forget it. Because you want to. Because
you want to. These men, these three men, were
in the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. But they were free. They were free. Now, believers
are forced to live in this world. We're forced to live in bodies
of sin, in a world of sin. But I'm telling you, while you're
here, you're free. If you trust Christ, you're free.
If the Son has made you free, you're free indeed. Now you won't
be able to serve God and serve his people perfectly, but don't
let that stop you. Do what God has put to your hand
to do today. You're free to serve. All right, number three. When Christ delivers his people,
they're completely delivered. They're completely saved. In
verse 26, then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the
burning fiery furnace. and spake, and said, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth,
and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
came forth of the midst of the fire, and the princes, governors,
and captains, and the king's counselors, gathered together,
saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was
the hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed,
nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego walked out of a raging furnace, fire in that furnace. And all the witnesses saw when
they walked out, they weren't hurt at all. Their skin wasn't
burned and disfigured. Their hair wasn't even singed.
Their clothes didn't even smell like smoke. Now you try, just
try it, being around a fire and have your clothes not smell like
smoke. I have a friend who told me recently,
if he goes outside in the evening and smokes a cigar, when he comes
back inside, his wife makes him take a shower and put his clothes
out the door. They smelled like smoke. She's
not having that smell in her house. These men weren't just
around smoke, they were in the fire. And they didn't smell like
smoke. I'll tell you what that's a picture
of. That's a picture of salvation in Christ. When He saves His
people, He saves them to the uttermost. Nebuchadnezzar is
basically asking, is your God able to deliver you? Oh yes. Oh yes, He's able. He is able
to save to the uttermost, completely, to the fullest extent, all that
come to God by Him. We talk about the blood of Christ
removing our sin, removing the sin of His people. The blood
of Christ has so completely removed the sin of His people. There's
not even a whiff of sin on that. Is Christ able to deliver His
people completely, fully? Scripture tells us He is. Jude
said in Jude verse 24, He is able. He's able to save you. He's able
to keep you from falling. And He's able to present you
faultless, faultless, faultless, before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. When Christ presents His people
to the Father, they will be faultless. They'll be perfect. Nobody's
gonna be able to blame them for any sin, because Christ didn't
make them like they're perfect, He made them perfect. God's not
going to have to accept them while He ignores the fact of
their sin, because they don't even smell like sin. They have
no sin. They don't even smell like it.
The blood of Christ put it away. God's elect will be flawless,
wearing Christ's perfect robe of righteousness. And that righteousness,
you know, We've heard so many times, it's not just a robe that
you put on over top, you know, hiding your sin. It's not pasted
on righteousness. It's righteousness that's through
and through. And that righteousness can never
change. It can never decay. It can never
rot. It can never be not enough for you. Just like these three
men, when they were thrown into that fire, they were thrown in
their coats. When they come out of the fire,
their coats weren't changed. I don't care how long it is you
live in this life, after the Lord saves you, after He reveals
Himself to you, after He calls you by His grace, that righteousness
will never change. It's the righteousness of God.
Now that's complete salvation in Christ. Complete. There's no fear in judgment.
Because Christ has made you perfect. Now in closing, let me give you
this. Some of us must need it. It was in the lesson this morning.
I'm going to close the message with it this morning as well.
Now God's people are completely saved, aren't they? Completely
saved from all of their sin. But as we go through this life,
we're going to go through troubles and trials and they're going
to be hard. They're going to be burning, fiery trials. You
see our Savior. He saves his people from their
sin. He's also the master refiner, who puts his people through the
fire, not to hurt them, not to punish them, but so that he can
refine them as gold, to make them more precious and more valuable
and more beautiful by the trials that they've suffered. Now, not
one single person here will tell you, oh, I'm looking forward
to the next trial, Qadzi. I just, I'm so anxiously awaiting
it, because it's going to be so good for me. Nobody's looking
forward to the next trial. They wouldn't be called fiery
trials unless they're fiery. But you don't have to fear it.
You do not have to fear it. You know why? Because when you
go into that next trial, you know who's already going to be
there before you get there? Christ the Savior. Just like He was
for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I said this Wednesday night.
And I thought about it carefully before I said it. And Brother
Earl Wooten told me I was right. So I feel pretty good about it. I need the presence of Christ
with me more than I need the trial to end. More than I need
the trial to end. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
they needed the presence of Christ in that burning fiery furnace,
didn't they? They needed Christ more than they needed the fire
to go out. More than they needed the furnace to cool down, they
needed Christ. Because as long as they had the
presence of Christ, the fire had no power to hurt them. And
the same thing is true about believers today. We're not looking forward to
the next trial, but you don't have to fear it. God's trials
will never cause his children any real harm. They may hurt
our bodies. They may stress our mind completely
out. They may stretch our emotions to their utter end, but our souls
will never be hurt. You know what the trial will
do? That trial for God's children now will not cause them to lose
the presence of Christ. That trial will bring the presence
of Christ to them. That's exactly right. I got scripture
to back it up. Look at Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah chapter 43. Tribes always bring the presence
of Christ to his people. Isaiah 43 verse one. For now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, And he that formed thee, O Israel, you
fear not. Why wouldn't you fear? For I
have redeemed thee. Well, if God's redeemed us, we're
redeemed. I've called thee by thy name and thou art mine. If
God has made us his, we belong to him. It's up to him to take
care of us. We belong to him. This is what
he says. When you pass through the waters,
I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou
shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee,
for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. Now, why won't the waters flow
so strongly that they sweep you away? Is it because you're gonna
be so strong and they won't sweep you away? Is it because you won't
go through the raging waters? No, you'll go through the raging
waters. The waters won't sweep you away. The fire won't kindle
upon you. The fire won't burn you up. Not
because you won't go through the fire. Not because you've
got strength to put the fire out yourself or because you've
got some armor of faith that's gonna keep the fire from burning
you up. You won't be swept away by the raging waters and you
won't be burned up by the fire of the trial because the Lord
promised, I'll be with you. I'll be with you. Now that's
His promise. This is my advice based upon
the promise of God. When the Lord puts you in the
midst of the burning, fiery furnace, that fiery trial. Now I know
you want the trial to end, don't you? I do. I mean, if the Lord's
able to deliver you, pray and ask Him to deliver you. Will
He? I don't know. I don't know. Just fairly recently, I've had
several friends Suffering a trial of health and the Lord was not
pleased to deliver him. It killed him Lord use that to
take them to be with him where the Lord delivery. I don't know
But I know he's able so call call on him ask him to do it
But here's what I do know He promised to be with you Then
call on him and ask him or be with me Give me a sense of your
presence in my heart Lord you promised that your grace is sufficient. Lord, give me grace for this
second. I'm not worried about a minute from now. I'm not worried
about 10 seconds from now. I'm worried about this very second.
Lord, give me grace that's sufficient right now. Hold me up right now. Now, that's a good prayer. You
know why? Because the Lord promised. We
want the Lord to answer our prayers. A mighty good idea is begging
to do what He already promised to do. Doesn't that make sense? Beg Him to be with you. He will. Just like He was these three
brethren of old. Alright, hope the Lord will bless them too.
Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank You
for Your Word. How we thank You that in the midst of this dark
and dreary world that's full of such a difficult journey from
here to glory, that You've given us Your Word. As a lamp to our
feet, You've given us Your Word to sheep food, to comfort and
strengthen our hearts, you've given us your word to show us
Christ, to keep us looking to him. Father, I pray that you
would cause each one of us here this morning to look to Christ,
to see him as our all and in all, and forget everything else
we think we need but him, and cause us to find our contentment,
our peace, our rest, our life, our righteousness, our acceptance
with thee in Christ and Christ alone. Father, it's in his name,
for his glory and his sake we pray, amen. All right, Sean.