Good morning, everybody. I'm
thankful to be here with you. It's always a pleasure. I always wear my heart on my
sleeve. That movie, The Wizard of Oz,
when that guy's behind the curtain, the whole movie, I never did
like that. Just tell people what you're thinking, you know? And
sometimes whenever you get up to preach, you got the best notes
you can get, and right before you stand up, you want to throw
them away. And another anecdote I want to tell you, too. Ebenezer
Erskine was a preacher in England a long time ago, and he was preaching
up north in England. He was traveling through, and
he stopped in a town. One of his friends, there's a church
there, and his friend was a pastor. And he said, well, you're in
town, Ebenezer. Why don't you preach for me? It's Wednesday
night. And he said, OK, I'll preach for you. And so he got
up at night and showed up randomly at this congregation and preached
for them. They didn't know he was coming.
And boy, everybody was so blessed. And they said, this lady, that
was the best message I ever heard. And so he went on that weekend
to go preach at a conference up north. And that pastor said,
well, buddy, on your way back south, stop next Wednesday. Stay with me. We'll eat, just
like we would. So he stopped on his way back
south that Wednesday. He said, hey, Brother Ebenezer's
coming Wednesday. And everybody said, OK. Big crowd was there.
And he preached. And that same lady went up. She
said, I wasn't blessed by that message at all. He said, boy. That's odd. He said, well, she
said, last week was a real good message. This week, that message
wasn't no good. He said, well, why was you here
last Wednesday? And she said, well, I was there to worship
God. I said, okay. Why was you here this Wednesday?
She said, well, I came to see you. He said, that's your problem. That's your problem. Somebody
come to see me, I can tell a couple of jokes, help you change a tire
or something, you know, work on your air conditioner. You
ain't gonna get much. I pray God be with us. I pray
he'd be exalted and just, I pray we can all worship the king and
see. If you will turn to Daniel, the
book of Daniel, we're going to look at Daniel chapter three,
but I want to just skip a little bit through, look at a couple
of verses in chapter one briefly and chapter two, but I want to
get to chapter three and the Lord's proportions in scripture
are perfect. I always worry about dwelling
too long on one one subject or one theme or something, but the
Lord gave a lot of real estate in his scriptures to these characters
we're going to look at today, and it applies to us. I'll tell myself again, years
ago, a long time ago, Jonathan, me and you were in Sunday school,
and we learned about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and I
went home and I memorized those names, and I practiced saying
those names. That way I could sound like I
knew what I was talking about. And I said, well, that young fella, that
little 15-year-old boy, he reads the scriptures, and he knows
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Can you believe that? I practiced
it. In my 40s, I found out what those
names mean, and I was so shamed. I was. Now, you probably know
this story. You may know what their names
are, but you bear with me today. There was these three children.
Israel was in captivity to Babylon, a great king. He was basically
the ruler of the earth. named Nebuchadnezzar. He took
him into captivity, and he said, I want the best children that
you have. Go find the smartest ones you
can find, and the Hampstead ones, and the best ones you can get,
and I'm going to bring them into my kingdom. They're going to
stay in my house, and I'm going to feed them, and I'm going to
teach them. I'm going to get the best teachers I can get, and we're going to
train these boys up. And whenever they get about 18, they're done
with schooling, and they're good and strong, and we've made them
the best Babylonians we can make them. They're going to work for
me. They'll be my advisors. So go
find them. So they did. They went and found
four of them. Four of them. Their names were Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah, and Daniel. Hananiah means favored of God.
Mishael means the one that God knows. It's his possession. His
possession. And Azariah means the one that
God protects. That's what those names mean.
Do you know what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego mean? Nothing. It's like Kevin. What's that
mean? Nothing. Just some old pagan name. Doesn't
mean anything. And here I wasted all that time
memorizing them names. I mean, why can't I remember Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah? I got to write that down. That's
the names that God gave them. God gave them. Well, they were
given to these eunuchs. They're in Daniel 1 verse 7.
And it says, unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names, this
prince of the eunuch name, Daniel 1, 7. For he gave unto Daniel
the name Belshazzar, and to Hananiah of Shadrach, and to Mishael of
Meshach, and to Azariah of Bendigo. Here's these 15-year-old boys
that they was taken out of their land, and now they're given new
names. They're taken from their families.
They were told what they were going to eat. They were told
they had to get a new language. They learn a whole new language
to speak from now on. And they were told where they're
going to be working. You're going to be standing right here in
the king's palace, lowercase k king. You're working for the
boss and you're going to be wise. I mean, that's the, that's, you
talk about a socialist situation. This is what you're, here's your
name. Here's your language. Here's your food. Here's what
you're going to be doing. And you know what they did? They
didn't complain one bit. These little teenage boys, they said,
well, that's what the Lord has for us today. I wish I could
be like him 15 year old boys, I do. It says in verse 18, now
at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring
them in and the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before
Nebuchadnezzar and the king communed with them and among them and
all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah
for they stood before the king in all manners of wisdom and
understanding that the king inquired of them and he found them 10
times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in
his realm. This king sat down and ate with
these boys. And he said, they're young men,
but they're wise. These young boys, they got some
understanding. Better than anybody I've got.
And he has a dream. This king has a dream. And the
dream, he woke up the next morning, and he couldn't even remember
what the dream was. You ever had that? You dream. You're like,
man, I had a wild dream last night. What'd you dream? I don't
know. I don't remember. That's what happened to Nebuchadnezzar.
And he didn't remember. And he knew that his wise men
were frauds. He knew them. He'd been with
them his whole life. He knew they couldn't tell him nothing.
And they said, no man that he asked, whatever he asked, they
couldn't tell him. And so Nebuchadnezzar was going to kill everybody.
He's going to kill all the wise men. They said, we can't interpret.
How can we interpret a dream? We don't even know what it was.
You don't know what it was. He said, I'll kill every one of
you all. You're all frauds. And then old Daniel spoke up.
He said, hold on now, wait. Let's wait on the Lord. Let's
pray. You let me and my brothers here pray. And we'll see if God's
pleased to answer, OK? And he said, all right, well,
he respected them. And he gave them that time. And the four
of them went and prayed. And you know what happened? The Lord
gave them understanding. Have you ever had that happen?
Have you ever thought, well, I've tried everything underneath
the sun. I think I'm going to pray and
see if the Lord will do it. And then he doesn't. Why didn't
I ask him the first time? Why don't we start praying instead
of using that as a last resort? I'm guilty of that. Lord might
answer us. He might be fit to give us some
understanding in the matter. Do something for us. He's faithful,
isn't he? He's faithful to us. We've seen
it before. Well, they gave him understanding. Daniel thanks
him. Thank you, Lord. I appreciate you answering a
prayer. And he interpreted the dream. And Daniel said, King,
here's the dream. He didn't even know what it was.
He said, you dreamed about this huge statue. And as he said it,
he's like, that's right, I did. That is what I dreamed. And he
said, it was like it was carved out of a mountain. There's no,
there's no parts that's connected. It's not welded together. It's
not, not formed together. There's no bolts holding it together.
This is one piece and it's a huge statue. And he said, that's what
I dreamed. He said, and that's you. That's
you, Evacanazar. This ain't piecemeal together.
God puts you where you are. You're going to have a great
kingdom. And this big old statue of you, that's what it represents.
This is what God did for you. How does anybody have anything?
The Lord gave it. And we must remember, how does
anybody lose anything? The Lord took it away. That's
what happened to Nebuchadnezzar, wasn't it? And Daniel says, listen,
that's you. And there's going to be a real statue, and it's
going to get busted all to pieces. You're going to think that you're
something. You're going to think that you did this. And right
about that time, you forget God. You ain't got no inclination.
And you think, boy, look at all this. Look at this kingdom that
I built. Boy, look at all the good stuff I did. Christ is going
to reveal himself to you and shatter you. You're going to
fall on that stone, and you're going to be just broken a thousand
pieces. And the only thing that you're
going to have on this earth is Christ, who's everything. That's
what's going to happen. Boy, he got happy. Nebuchadnezzar said, look at
this. This fellow, he interpreted this dream. I knew they were
smart, but boy, they're real smart now. And he says, your
God is a real God. He's speaking the truth. He's
speaking the truth. It wasn't his God yet. It's going
to be. Not yet, though. God hadn't been pleased to reveal
him. When's somebody saved? Well, what is salvation? Salvation
is of the Lord. When's somebody saved? When God's
pleased to reveal Himself to them. That's what he said. Paul said that, didn't he? He
said, just like when the Lord was pleased to separate me from
my mother's womb, that's when He revealed His Son in me. Salvation's
His, and when He was good and ready, and He was pleased, He
revealed Himself to me. And all those big dreams I had
of myself, how smart I was, and how tough I was, or how whatever,
it was shattered. It was brought to nothing. And
I saw him as everything. He said in Daniel 2, verse 45,
For as much as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of a mountain
without hands, and it break into pieces of iron, the brass, the
clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God hath made known
to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. He gave you this
dream to teach you something. And the dream is certain, and
the interpretation of it sure. You can take it to the bank.
God's gonna let you get built up real good, and then Christ
is gonna just bust you into pieces, and everything you have, too.
Lord said there in Matthew 21, said, whosoever shall fall on
this stone shall be broken. Boy, would it be to land on him.
But whosoever it shall fall on, it's gonna grind him to powder.
That'd be that day of judgment. What was the king's response?
Daniel got promoted. He did. He was so happy there
in verse 46. It says, then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his
face and worshiped Daniel. Hold on now. We just ain't got no sense. Without
the Lord dealing with us, we ain't going to make it. We ain't
going to claw out of this hole. We ain't going to figure it out. As a
man years ago here in central Kentucky, back in 1800, they
said, he said, I know the gospel. And I said, how did you know
that? And he said, I locked myself in my basement for six months,
and I read every book I could read, and I come out, and I know
God. And I said, well, God said he's going to send a preacher.
Could he do that? Could the Lord save him another
way? He sure can. How did he say he's going to do it? He said,
I'm going to save somebody. They're going to know me, and
I'm going to make them go tell you what I did for them. And that's
the means I'm going to use. Well, Nebuchadnezzar worshipped
Daniel. and commanded, verse 46, that they should offer an
oblation and sweet odors unto him. And the king answered unto
Daniel and said, Of a truth it is that your God is a God of
gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets. Seeing
thou hast revealed 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 the chief of 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." Remember the names? Hananiah, favorite of God. Mishael,
owned by God. Azariah, the one God protects. Daniel's promoted up. He's the
prime minister of Babylon. And he says, I want my friends
to come over here. I want these brothers of mine
to come. They're going to be the governors of whatever hierarchy
it is. How would a king do that? The
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, isn't it? Just like
those rivers of water, he can turn it however he wants to.
And Daniel, just as he asked the Lord, said, do you mind if
they row with me? Yeah, that's a great idea. That's a great
idea. First thing Nebuchadnezzar does,
He hears that God's going to destroy his big statue and bring
everything he has to nothing. You know what he does? He builds
a statue. He said, I trust you. You're
going to run this country, Daniel. Daniel said, the Lord's going
to bring you to nothing. You bust this statue up. He said,
oh, yeah, that's fine. Let's build a statue. I don't know what I don't know.
My dad used to say that. That makes no sense. And then
the older I got, I realized there's things I don't know, and I don't
know that I don't know those things. And I'm just bumbling
through this earth. And I'm so thankful on a daily
basis, the older I get that God's faithful. That's not my word
is kept. It's him keeping his word and
him doing what he says. That's what it's who I'm trusting
in. People say, well, I leaned on
my faith. I don't want to lean on my faith. I want to lean on the
object of my faith, on him that gave it to me. Well, here's chapter
three. Verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar the king
made an image of gold whose height was threescore cubits and the
breadth thereof six cubits and he set upon the plain of Dura
in the province of Babylon. The statue was of him. And that's
what all mankind makes. People's worried to death over
the years here and there. They say, oh, that's this thing's
the mark of the beast or that thing's the mark of the beast.
Scared of debit cards or cell phones or who knows what. Pick
something that's coming out new and they'll be afraid of it.
You know what that is? It's 666. Oh, look out. What
happened on sixth day? That represents man, doesn't
it? Jesus Christ is the prophet, priest, and king. And mankind,
by nature, without him, we want to put ourselves, I want to be
my own prophet. I don't need somebody to teach me these things.
I can go read it. I want to be my own priest. I'll make intercession
to God. I'll sort this out, and I'm my
own king. We put ourselves in those positions,
don't we? I'm a beast. That's all I was
until God was pleased to reveal Himself to me, until He was pleased
to save me from myself. That law, I can't keep it. But
the law's not bad. Adam fell in the garden. That's
true. He put us in sin. I sinned all by myself. I did. Satan's an accuser of the brethren.
Well, that's his job, but I got plenty to be accused of. I can't
blame everything The only one ain't at fault in those things.
Those things are impossible or wrong. I'm the problem, and that's
what God saved me from. In verse two, Nebuchadnezzar
the king sent and gathered together the princes, the governors, 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. Why do you
list so many things? Why don't you just say a whole bunch of
people? Same thing's happening in this day. Nothing's changed,
nothing's new underneath the sun. We're getting together,
we're gonna have big worship service, and we're gonna have
all the people here. Today's Nebuchadnezzar's birthday,
or whatever it was, and we're gonna honor him, and get some
famous people down here. Get that quarterback from Super
Bowl today. Have him come down and get as many different sheriffs
and political people, and we'll get a whole bunch of people,
and it's really gonna be good. We're gonna have a big party. And all of
them showed up for this big reveal party, didn't they? Verse four.
And a herald cried aloud, to you it is commanded, O people,
nations and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of
the cornet, flute, and we already just repeated all those different
types of people coming. The cornet, the flute, the harp,
the sackbelt, the psaltery, the dulcimer, and all kinds of music. They have all kinds of different
orchestras and different fancy piano players and everything's
so exotic and robust. You fall down and worship the
golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the King set up. We've got a
big band. We've got a lot of activities and special people
here. Oh, this is a worship service. And on cue, we're going to sound
this stuff off. And we're all going to act out this play together.
I always struggle with titles. But I think we come to services
twice a week. I'm thankful for that. Midweek
service is important. But the rest of that week, we're
at our jobs. We're tending to things at home.
We're with our families. We're out in the world, ain't
we? They're about to be in this fiery furnace, but these men
for years have been going about their lives. But you think about
God during those times, and he reveals himself to you. We don't
just think about him when it's on Tuesdays and Sundays, right?
I don't just think about my wife on Tuesdays and Sundays. I'd
be divorced if I was. Because you're in love with somebody.
I've enjoyed this week, too, talking to believers. Because
you just kind of transition, don't you? You talk about what
kind of, well, I like this brand of truck. And they've been making
pretty good transmission here lately. And then it goes right
into, can you believe the Lord gave us engineers to learn what
a transmission was? And isn't he faithful? Isn't
he good to us? Boy, he gave us good food, didn't he? I like
tomatoes. And it kind of goes back and
forth, just fluid, isn't it? These guys had this whole life.
And they're stuck now. You've got three believers stuck
in a false False worship service. They've been working hard, and
all of a sudden, they found themselves in a false church, and now they're
being forced to participate. You ever wound up at a funeral
or a wedding or something, and you think, well, how in the world
did I come to this thing? I got to sit through this whole
service? Ugh, can I get out of here? That's where they were. Well, verse four, or I told you
that. I'm sorry. Verse six, and whosoever falleth
not down in worship, When the same hour to be cast in the midst
of a burning, fiery furnace. They had church discipline. Whoever
doesn't follow along and follow an order of what we're doing,
we're going to burn you. People heard that and they fell in the
step. Just do what everybody else is doing. Just go along
and get along. Other people sing and sing, sing what they sing.
If they're holding their hands in the air and waving around,
cutting a show, you cut a show too. However they pray, you pray. and just following along, you
know. You know that story, that lady, she made a roast, and every time
she cut about two inches off the end of that roast to put
it in the pan. And her daughter said, Mom, why do you always
cut the end of that roast off? She said, well, my mom always
did that. That's just how you do it. And we cook that separate.
And then she said, ask your grandma. She said, Grandma, why you do
that? Why you cut that two inches off? She said, well, my pan's
only this big. People's doing stuff they didn't know why they
do it. And they're commanding it, and there's punishment at
the end of it. All for this worship. And I thought,
man, you know what would be good? And I've kind of been in situations
where you're just about to die. You know, if somebody put a gun
to my head and said, pray to God, would I have some pre-canned
response? Well, father, we have now gathered
or something, or would I burn incense and chant or hum, or
would I cry like David? Lord, save. Lord, save. Christ be glorified. When it
comes down to it, what will be with us when that happens? Well,
let's see what happens. Verse 8. That's because these are believers
stuck in a false worship service, right? Wherefore, at that time,
certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. And they spake
and said unto King Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. They knew
how to talk to him. 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 whosoever falleth
not down and worshipeth, he shall be cast in the midst of a burning
fire. And the certain Jews whom thou hast set over our affairs,
now we're getting to the rub, of the province of Babylon, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, these men, O King, have not regarded
thee, they have not They serve not thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up. That's the rub. Hananiah,
that one favored of God. Mishael, the one owned of God.
And Azariah, the one that God protects. The Lord put them in
charge, and they didn't like it. And now they're playing church,
and they're not going to play their games. They say, everybody
bow down. I ain't bowing down. I'm just
standing right here. I ain't going to make a show of it. I'm not going to be loud.
But I'm not bowing down. God's on his throne. That's what
Israel told Samuel. They said, you know, Samuel,
you're getting old, and your son's walking out in our ways, and
give us a king to judge all the nations. We want to be like all
the other nations. Give us a king like all the other
kings. And Samuel warned them, but he prayed to the Lord, which
is a good thing to do. And the Lord said, hearken to
the voice of the people, Samuel. He said, they've not rejected
thee, but they've rejected me that I should not reign over
them. The Lord put those people, like a brother just read, I need
to be reminded to obey the Kentucky State Troopers. If they pull
me over and said, give me a license and registration, I'd give them
my license and registration, because they're bearing off the
sword in vain. I might get tased. And I had it coming, and Lord
warned me. Well, he put these men over it, and that's what
they had a problem with. God sent some men, those that
he favored, he possessed, he protects, he gets them to run
things. And they've been over backwards so far. They've changed
their language. They've changed their diet. They've
left their families and doing everything they can for them.
but they're not going to play the games of worship. They're
going to worship the way God says worship. They are. What
does natural man do whenever they get faced with everything
we've been doing our whole lives is wrong, and that's not what
God says. Here's what the Lord says, and it's plain. They get
angry. They get angry. I did. I did. When I started seeing the eyes
of the guilty one and I was the wrong one, I didn't like hearing
that at first. Look here at verse 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his
rage and fury, he was in rage and fury, commanded to bring
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they brought these men before
the king, and 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? I
like you boys, and everything's going great, but is it true that
you're not doing this? I'm going to give you a second
chance, because I'm a kind king, and we're friends. Verse 15.
Now, if ye be ready, that at what time you hear the sound
of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psalter, and dulcimer, and all
these kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which
I've made well. And I'm going to give you another
chance. Well, the sound of music, and you fall down. But if you
worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst
of the burning, fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall
deliver you out of my hands? You're in a bad, this is serious.
But you hear him, and I don't know what's inside of people's
hearts, but I know what comes out of their mouth. He said, who's
a God that can get you out of my hands? Oh, he doesn't know
what he's talking about, does he? These boys were patient with
him. You remember what Laban said? That's man's thoughts,
and I can resist God. I was at a funeral of my uncle
when I was about six years old, and even I, at the time, I was
like, I don't make sense. He said, I can take my bony hand
and put it in God's face and stop him where he is. I got goosebumps,
yeah. I went, who is this fellow? I
said, we need to get out of here. I was stuck in a bad place like
these guys are. I want to leave. But that's the same thing that
Laban told Jacob whenever he was leaving. He said, is it in
the power of my hand to do you hurt? Same thing that Pilate
said whenever he was speaking to God in human flesh. He said, don't you know that
I have the power to crucify thee or the power to release thee? Verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach.
If it was me, I'd want to be a brawler. I don't want to fist
fight him. Right? That ain't the truth. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we're not careful to answer thee in this matter. I don't need
time to go think about this. Poor king. We don't need to mull
this over. We don't even have to think about
this matter. You remember the context now. The Lord gave us
a couple chapters here telling us what was going on, what happened
before. They put him through all these
things, changed their language, changed their... They didn't fight on
any of those things. They didn't fight on what their job was going to be.
But now it's time. Now the gospel is at hand. And
they knew the Lord. Look here at verse 17. If it
be so, if you're going to throw me in a furnace, our God, whom
we serve, we're his property, is able to deliver us from the
burning, fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of
thine hand, O king. If the Lord's pleased, you can
throw me in that furnace. If he's able, if he wants to, he
can get me out of that furnace. He's going to deliver me from
your hand. But if not, be it known unto thee. If he wants
to, if he's able to do it, but if he's not pleased to, then
I'll die and I'll be with him in glory. I'm getting out of
your hand one way or the other. Do me a favor. But if he's not
pleased to get us out of that fire, be it known unto thee,
O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden
image which thou hast set up. I pray that in the face of a
furnace, I'd have such faith. You do too. But you know what
I've been more and more wanting? I want that faith in the face
of mild discomfort. I'm going to shut my power off
tomorrow or whatever, you know. Lights go out. I wish I could
make it through the trial of that. I wish I could make it
through the trial of a flat tire. I need that. God has to give
that faith. I want to see Him. They were looking to the Lord
this whole time. While it was working, just like you go to
a job, We did a job a long time ago. We talked about God the
whole time. Think about what Christ did. Like I said, that
conversation. I need some more concrete. I'm
thankful for concrete. Look at all the things the Lord
gave us. It goes back and forth, don't it? I want to have that
faith. I want to have that ability in
the mildest of things and in the big ones. I pray we can remember
that in a trial, whatever trial you're going through. Everybody's
in a trial, ain't they? I am, you are, and just remember The
Lord's able, if he's pleased, to deliver us. And regardless
of what happens in his providence and how it comes to pass, we'll
be out of the hand and out of our own hands and into his. Ain't
that right? And he's going to get all the
glory. Do you want it any other way? No, he's going to be honored
for it. And we'll get to be there with
him. I was going to jump to the good part. We're going to smell
like him, too. I won't be like Joe, he said,
though he slayed me. Yet, well, I trust him. And,
you know, I was talking in the office before a friend of mine
has he's losing his mind. He's got dementia and he's getting
where he don't remember me. And I talked to him and he was
worried about that. And I said, you know, I heard
a man say one time, I'll never forget the day the Lord saved
me. You just might. Lord may take your mind from you. But
me remembering the Lord isn't an important part. It's that
he remembers me. It's not the thoughts I have
towards him, his thoughts toward me. Well, how could those be
good for Christ's sake? Because of that blood that was
shed, because that payment that was paid, that sin that was atoned
for. Because of that, Lord, don't
look at me. Look to the one that covered me. When you look, my
brother prayed that at supper the other night. Don't look at
us. Don't remember me. You look to Christ. You look
to him. And that's what these men say.
You throw me in that furnace, I'd prefer not to go in the furnace.
And if the Lord's pleased, he'll get me out of there. And if he
ain't pleased, that's his business. His word will remain faithful.
He'll preserve me anyway, for Christ's sake. Some say that
these men arose to God's calling. And you know, we can't even stand
up without the Lord Ezekiel he told him that he said son of
man stand up on my feet and I'll speak to you This is equal stand
up like a man I'm gonna talk to you and Ezekiel said the Spirit
entered me when he spake unto me and set me upon my feet And
I heard what he spake to him. He gave me ears. He stood me
up gave me feet to stand on I've never rose to occasion for anything
But Lord's made me do some things before he's the one that's honored
him verse 18 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.' Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and in the form
of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace
one seven times more than it had want 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 hose, and their hats. They didn't even take their
garments off. And were cast into the midst of the burning fiery
furnace. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent
and the furnace was 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
in the midst of the burning fire. But remember, that wasn't their
names. It's repeated twice there. And I have to remember. Those
names mean nothing. What was the real names? Hanai,
favorite of God. Mishiel, God's property. Azariah,
the one God protects. That's the name he gave them.
Verse 24, and Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose
up in haste and spake and said to his counselors, did we not
cast three men into the midst of the fire? And they answered,
said unto the king, true, O king. And he answered, said, lo, I
see four men loose. walking in the midst of the fire,
and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God. Christ is with them. And 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. And Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire. And
the princes, governors, captains, and the king's counselors being
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. All three came out, no longer
bound. It didn't smell like fire. We
was talking about that too. If somebody heats their home
with wood and you work with them, you know it when you get to work.
And if you're around a campfire, I mean, just for a few minutes,
you go just cook one hot dog and leave. You're going to smell
like smoke till you shower and change clothes, ain't you? They
didn't smell like smoke. Well, this must be a miracle.
Oh, brother, this ain't just somebody not smelling like smoke.
What's with this picture? The fire that we earned. Fire represents the burning of
people. It's reserved for the Lord's
enemies. I'm sure there's been believers
dying in a house fire or something, but if I had my preferences, I don't
want to be cremated. I want to be buried. The Lord
was buried, and that's good enough for me. But fire is reserved
for his enemies. We earned it. But you know, three
came out, and one stayed in. One stayed in. How long? Well,
until the job was done. I don't know. I don't know what
I don't know in that, too. But I do know this. The fire
that I earned for eternity, the only reason I don't even smell
like it, is because Christ bore it for me. That's it. And this is sweet too, I gotta
say it. You know what they smelled like? Markers smell better than skunks,
I know. They smelled like Christ. Remember when Jacob got that
blessing, and he dressed up, because he wasn't hairy, but
Esau was, so he put on that thing, so he's hairy, and he brought
the venison that his brother always cooked and made, and his
mama cooked it up for him, and he smelled like him. That's something
I just, I'm in awe of. I got a lot of windshield time
driving this week, and I was thinking for just a hundred miles,
I want to smell like Christ. What's he smell like? I don't
know, but that's what I want to smell like to the Father. What a thought. You talk about,
that's something, a new nature that has a new scent, a new everything. And now then, boys, we see now
that's what was on their mind. That's how they taught it. You've
got to get new food. You've got to get a new name. You've got to get
a new language. You've got to get a new job. Well, the Lord's fed me.
He's given me eternal bread of life. He's gave us the language
that speaks of His glory. That's the language I could put
up with learning Spanish. That's okay. Maybe I can talk to my brethren
that's down there in Mexico about the Lord, couldn't we? He gave
me a new job. Well, it don't matter. I'm going
to get old enough to be able to do a job soon enough. My job
is going to be singing his praises for eternity with you. Whatever
happens here is all right. Who cares? Now, worship a false
god. That voice says, God's with me.
I can't do that. Cut a show and let's honor all
the people. We don't give out awards, do
we? I don't want an award anyway. Can't do that. No, we're here
to worship God. Why? Well, he said so, and his
people want to. We want him honored. And then
they still help. The king said, come out. I said,
well, OK. I guarantee they looked. Lord, is that all right? Go on. I ain't ready for you yet. All
three came out no longer bound. I got to say, too, you know what
a privilege it is that we know that? This ain't just some story
about some boys fighting the government. This is a picture
of Christ laying out His life for His sheep. The Lord revealed
that to us. And Maurice always used to say
that. We got Christ in all this, too.
It's raining, that roof's keeping water off our heads, and none
of us are starving to death. And if y'all call somebody, they'll
feed you. You got brethren that love you. And we know these things. We're a blessed people. People
say, well, this is the good old days. This is the good old days.
This is wonderful, isn't it? I do pray the Lord will send
a revival. But if he saved one sinner, that's a great revival,
isn't it? How many people in Boyle County deserve to be saved?
How many has the Lord been pleased to save? Look at that. He's good
and faithful, isn't he? So we can put up with all that
other stuff. But now when it comes down to a gospel issue,
we can't bend. I'm sorry. God just wants to
do things. The God of heaven and earth don't
want nothing. He does it. God's trying to do things. I can't
speak that language. I'll learn French. I'll learn
whatever. I ain't learning that language. It ain't right. Bless
people, ain't they? Verse 28, Nebuchadnezzar spake
and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who has sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in
him, and have changed the king's words and yielded their bodies,
that they might not serve or worship any god except their
own." Just a reasonable service, but he's still saying it's your
god. We've got to wait until chapter 4 until the Lord turns.
It takes a few years of him walking on all fours before the Lord
opens his eyes. Therefore, I make a decree that
every people and nation language which speak anything amiss against
the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in
pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there
is no other God that can deliver after this sort." That's why
I don't need copilot. I don't need help. I need deliverance. And this is the only God that
can, the Lord Jesus Christ. And those that trust in him,
you ain't even gonna smell like smoke. King of Babylon promoted Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. They got
a promotion out of it. Well, believers at a job site
ought to be the hardest working people there because we're working
unto the Lord, right? And we go through trials like
everybody else. What a lesson that king is going to learn.
King, you're going to bow to the sun or burn. That's it. You've been bowing to yourself
and want everybody bowing to you. We're going to have to bow to
him or burn. and to see him high and lifted up and to be in love
with a person, our salvation, Christ. There's no condemnation. None. The Lord said, don't fear
those that can kill the body. You fear the one that can kill
the soul. Well, it's just, I have preferences. I don't like hurting.
I don't like being in pain. I don't like going to the dentist.
That's what I'm scared of. They're going to hurt me. I don't
like those things, but it's just temporary. It's just, the Lord
saved my soul eternally. And as he's faithful to make
me, I want to honor him. I do. And you do too, don't you? He's worthy. He's worthy. If you've never seen him, see
him now. If you never trust him, trust
him now. If you never believed on him, believe on him now. He's
magnificent. Oh, worship the king. He's a
mighty king. I pray that was a blessing to
you, and I pray we can remember. I pray I can. Hanai, Mishiel,
and Azariah, because the Lord's got to favor people. And that's
his property. And that's who he protects. And
if he's protecting us, we'll be fine. He'll be all right.
I love what Maurice said, too. I got to say, because you all
know him. Maurice said, go sit underneath the shade tree and
eat a ham sandwich. I remember my whole life I've thought that.
Lord's on his throne. Oh, we forget. We go through
this life and boy, I guess I get so tore up, you know, and get
upset and I get worried and I get down and depressed. The Lord
ain't been caught off guard once. He's on his throne. He's revealed
himself to us. What we got to worry about? Nothing,
huh? We can just sit around and be
happy and thank him. Thank you for who he is. Thank
you for having the Lord be with y'all. Hopefully we'll see you
again here soon. So tomorrow night, huh?