This is the second week we have
been unable to assemble together on the Lord's day due to regulations
concerning the coronavirus. And this has reminded me just
what a blessing it is to be able to assemble together, worship
together, fellowship together, and enjoy the company of the
Lord's people. We do not know exactly what God
is doing through this that has affected not only our nation,
but many nations. I'm not really so concerned with
the safety measures of our government. We'll certainly abide by them. And I'm not really so concerned
as to the progress science is making toward a cure They'll
make whatever progress the Lord enables them to make. I am concerned
with what it is God is doing in it all. Many, of course, will
say that it's Satan's doing. God has nothing to do with it.
But according to God's word, Satan cannot lift a finger except
by God's permission. God is the great power behind
it all. He's in the middle of it all.
So we come today to bring another message, trusting the Lord will
use it in your life personally. Before I begin, I'd like to say
a word of appreciation to the Grace Baptist Church of Danville,
Kentucky, and their pastor, Brother Don Fortner. They provide and
maintain this website. for the preaching of the gospel,
the gospel of God's sovereign grace. And we're honored to have
been permitted to put our messages on this website. There are some
40, 40 something preachers, all of whom are not ashamed of the
gospel of God's grace. So in light of circumstances,
here is the, uh, Here is the message for today,
and I exhort you to ask the Lord at this time, what's it all about
for me personally? Our message today is from the
Old Testament book of Daniel. In the earlier chapters of Daniel,
the great kingdom of Babylon was the monstrosity of united
politics and religion against the living God. Babylon, of course,
comes from the name Babel, back in Genesis 10 and 11, where they
said, let us build a tower unto heaven. This was after the flood. And what they were saying really
was let God send his floods. We'll rise above. We're going
to build a tower above and greater than anything God can do. We
don't fear Him. We'll be our own God. That spirit
of Babel, spirit of rebellion against the Almighty continued
in this great kingdom of Babylon. The king Nebuchadnezzar was named
for the heathen false god Nebo. So in chapter one of Daniel,
Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Jerusalem and had taken away certain one's
prisoner. In the words of chapter one,
verse four, children in whom was no blemish, but well favored
and skillful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding
science and such as had the ability to stand in the king's palace
whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
Among those choice young folks were three Israelite young men
whose Hebrew names were changed and they were given Babylonian
names. These three are named and renamed
in chapter 1 verse 7. Hananiah, which means Jehovah
favors, that he is chosen and loved of God. They changed his
name to Shadrach, meaning inspired or illumined by the sun god,
attributing to a false deity all the wisdom and blessing of
the living God. The next man, Mishael, which
means who is like God, ascribing to the living God of Israel a
superiority belonging only to him who is like God. And they
changed his name to Meshach, who is like Shach, one of the
Babylonian idols. And the third man was Azariah,
meaning Jehovah helps. A testimony that all my help
comes from the living God of Israel. They changed Azariah's
name to Abednego, servant of Nego. Your help comes from the
false gods of Babylon. So rather than Hananiah, Mishael,
and Azariah, their Hebrew names, They're called Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. In chapter three of Daniel, these
three men are put to the test as to who their God is and their
commitment to him. Is the living God of Israel God
whom Babylon has tried to make them forget? Or is their false gods really
God? They did their best to pump these
men's minds full of their idol gods. Our message is from chapter
3, and the title of the message today, Delivered in a Crisis. Delivered in a Crisis. I didn't
say delivered from a crisis, but delivered in a crisis. I didn't say delivered while
in a crisis, but already delivered before the crisis. These three men possessed a God
given faith by which first of all, they were not afraid before
the crisis. Nebuchadnezzar made an image
of gold, three score cubits high, almost 100 feet high. And he
called together all his princes and governors and judges and
government officials for a dedication ceremony. And when they all assembled,
verse 4 says in chapter 3, 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, sacrament, psaltery,
dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the
golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. And whoso
falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into
the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. So the music sounded
and everybody bowed and worshiped the image, except these three. We might ask, how did they worship
after they bowed? Well, to bow to the image was
to worship the image. Then came some of the Chaldeans
to the king and they said there's a certain there are certain Jews
that didn't bow. They've ignored your command
and no one could ignore the king's command. We might wonder weren't these
three afraid not to bow. No they were not afraid. They
had already bowed themselves to the living God. and they would
bow to no other. The king had already advanced
these three in the kingdom. The last verse of chapter two
says that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were set over the
affairs of the province of Babylon. So they were not just politicians
trying to get ahead. They were already ahead, firmly. grounded in commitment to the
living God. When the King said bow to the
image, they didn't have to think about it. They didn't have to
pray about it. Their heart was fixed to say,
we'll never do it. I have a lot of people ask me
about things contrary to the scripture. And, uh, something
they're thinking about doing and they say, I'm praying about
it. You don't have to pray about what the scripture clearly forbids. So they said, we'll never bow.
Did they possibly think this warning of being thrown into
the heated furnace was a bluff? No, they knew that it was for
real, but they were not afraid. consequences. To live or to die
was not the issue. And when the Lord has done a
work in your heart and all is well with Him, to be faithful
to the true and living God is the issue. To live or to die
is not the issue. So the king called these three
forth And he said to them, perhaps you three misunderstood. We'll
try this again. When you hear the music start,
you bow and worship the image. And he said, besides, who is
that God that can deliver you out of my hand? And they said
to him, okay, with no disrespect to you. Bowing to that image is something
we cannot and will not do. Our God whom we serve, not our
God whom we pretend to serve, go to church every Sunday and
sing about Him and listen to the preacher talk about Him and
then we go our way and forget about Him till next Sunday. Not
that God, but our God whom we serve. Our God who is our life,
who is why we live, and he's who we live for. Our God, O King,
is able to deliver us. He's really the one in charge
here. You think you are, but our God is. But if he don't deliver
us from the fire, It doesn't really matter. We're already
delivered from bowing to idols. We're not afraid. Be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up. That's our final word. Do what you have to do. Was not this a serious crisis? Oh, yes. but the three were not
afraid before the crisis. Their hearts were firmly anchored
in their God. And this thing we're facing at
the present time, this coronavirus has become a very serious concern. It's a great crisis for many. And there's lots of things besides
that many of us up in years now with failing health, have concerns
about what the future holds in the coming months and years. Well, there's not but one good
answer, and that's to have our hope anchored in the God and
father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into this world and
laid down his life. He endured the judgment of God.
upon the sins of his people. And it's because of who he is
and what he's done that we're not afraid before the crisis
comes. And we will not be bullied into
bowing to false gods. We're not assembling right now
together as a church family. Not just because a God hating
government and country tells us we can't assemble. That's
not it at all. We would assemble if that were
the case, but this is a safety precaution concerning this virus,
but we'll not be bullied into bowing to false gods. The living
God has been too good to us. He's revealed himself in my heart
to be worthy of all my worship and all my praise. He's worthy
of my full allegiance to him. And so we can say with the psalmist,
my heart is fixed, oh God. My heart is fixed. We won't bow. We're not afraid before the crisis
comes to our house. Secondly, not only were these
three not afraid before the crisis came, they were not alone when
it came. They heat the furnace seven times
hotter than usual. And they threw them in, bound
them and threw them in. And the men that threw them in
were burned and died in the process. They threw them in bound all
tied up and helpless. That's where I am in this life.
In many respects, all tied up and helpless. So are you. Then the king came for a look,
and having looked, he said, hey, didn't we throw three men in
the fire? And weren't they bound? Didn't
we tie them up first? And they said, true, O king,
that's exactly what we did. And he said, lo, or as we'd say
it, lo and behold, I see four and they're not bound. I see four men loose walking
in the midst of the fire and they have no hurt. They're walking
around like there was no fire. I don't understand it. They're
walking in the midst of the fire. and the form of the fourth is
like the son of God. Who told him what the son of
God looks like? They were not alone in the crisis. Neither are you, neither am I.
Isaiah 41 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." We're not alone. Isaiah 43, 2, when thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither
shall the flame kindle upon thee. You're not alone in the crisis. Our God is with us. We need not
be afraid. Psalm 23, 4, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me." We're
not alone in the crisis. Our God can send the ravens with
rations enough to the very spot He has us hidden. He can come
to the widow's house and cause the meal barrel to never run
dry. He can part the Red Sea. He can
back up the Jordan. He can give water from a rock.
He can and will do whatever is necessary for his child in a
crisis. We are not alone, even in the
fiery furnace. So not only are these three not
afraid before the crises and not alone in the crises, but they're not ashamed after
the crises. it's all over and they're taken
out of the furnace. The Bible says that not a hair
on their head is singed, their clothes are not burned, and there's
no smell of smoke about them. The faith of these three was
instrumental in the king making another decree. Verse number says, therefore
I will make a decree that every people, nation, and language
which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall
be made a dunghill, because there is no other God that can deliver
after this sort. Then the king promoted Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. They were not ashamed after the
crisis is over. They had done the right thing.
They had been true to their convictions. And God was with them. You might
say, well, now that's a wonderful story. But I haven't been so faithful.
I'm not worthy of such deliverance. These fellas weren't delivered
really because they were faithful. But because God is faithful to
them. And he gave them strength. He
gave them grace to endure. And stand. Faith gave them courage. in the crisis hour to trust God. He'll do the same for you. He'll
do the same for me in this crisis in our country. However, it all
turns out, live or die, God's children will not be ashamed
after the crisis. If we live through it, we'll
praise our God here. And if we don't live through
it, we'll praise Him in His very presence. All is well for God's
children. If He's your hope today, if your
trust is in Him, you'll not be thrown into the furnace without
Him. He'll be there with you. So let
us look up to our God Don't bother looking around. Things don't
look too good around us. But look up. Trust in the Lord,
Solomon said, with all that heart. That is, don't trust anybody
else. Trust in the Lord with all that heart and lean not under
that own understanding. Don't be so foolish as to think
you can figure this out and find a way out. Oh, no. We don't understand
very much, but our God knows it all. And thanks be to him,
we'll understand it better by and by. So trust him and thank
him that he's in control. In these days, in these times,
we should be diligent to pray one for another. We all need
God's touch in this hour. Let us not grow weary in well-doing.
These winds of adversity will cease in God's time, either in this world or in that
which is to come. We bless His holy name. And so
till next time, thank you for listening.