The Lord will provide for us
materially, but what I love to think about and to be reminded
of is all that God requires of me, he provides for me. We're going to have a time of
fellowship after the service dinner, and there will be no
services tonight. And we're going to have the preacher's
class on September 13th, Saturday. All men are invited. October, sorry. September just
left me. I've entitled the message for
this morning, Man's Religion and God's Religion. And in Daniel
chapter three, we're provided a contrast between man's religion
and God's religion. Now you and I are in one of those
two religions. Everybody has a religion. You say, well, what about the
atheist? Well, atheism is his religion. Everybody has a religion. And right now, this morning,
You are either in man's religion or you are in God's religion. Now in Daniel chapter three,
a man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar
had made an image. We're going to look at that in
a moment. He made an image and he commanded all men to bow down
before his image and worship it when you heard the music. And if you didn't bow down and
worship this image, when you heard the music, you were to
be cast into a fiery furnace and put to death. Now, there were three men by
the name of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who refused to do
this. They heard the music and they
refused to bow down and worship. When Nebuchadnezzar was furious
over this, but he gives him another chance in verse 15. Now, if you
be ready, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet,
flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of
music, you fall down and worship the image which I've made well.
But if you worship not, you shall 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? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful
to answer thee in this manner. We don't have to pause and make
up our mind which direction we're going to go. There are no other
options. This is not a choice we're making.
We're 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.
You're not nearly as powerful as you think you are. You say,
who is that God that will deliver you out of my hand? You're gonna
find out. But if not, if he doesn't deliver us, 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 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 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. Then these men
were bound in their coats, and their hosen, and their hats,
and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the
burning, fiery furnace. Now remember, Nebuchadnezzar
was an eyewitness of this. He watched these men go in. 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. Now picture in your mind what
takes place. These men come to the furnace to throw them in
and they're killed from the flames. That's how hot this furnace was.
They could not stand before these flames. Verse 23. 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. He was blown away. He could not
grasp what he was seeing, what he was an eyewitness to. And
he rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counselors,
did not we catch three men bound into the midst of the fire? They
answered and said unto the king, true, O king. And he answered
and said, lo, I see four men, loose, not bound. walking in
the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. The fire is doing
nothing to them, and the form of the fourth is like the Son
of God. You know, if the Son of God ever
makes Himself known to you, you will know He is the Son of God. How did Nebuchadnezzar know this
was the Son of God? Same way the thief did, the Lord
made himself known unto him. And he saw that this fourth man
was the son of God. 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 out of the midst of the fire.
Can you imagine seeing that? And the princes and the governors
and the captains and the king's counselors being gathered together
saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power. Now remember
the power it had over those who cast them in? It killed them,
it slew them, but it didn't have any power at all over Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Nor was the hair of their head
singed, neither was their coats changed, nor the smell of fire
had passed on them. They didn't even smell like fire.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel and delivered
his servants that trusted in him, and have changed, have refused
the king's word, and yielded their bodies that they might
not serve nor worship any god. except their own God, therefore
I make a decree that every people, nation, and language would speak
anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall made a dunghill
because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort. Now that is Nebuchadnezzar's
conclusion after watching these men walk out of this burning,
fiery furnace without even the smell of smoke. The fire had
no power over them. And many of you, this account
was skepticism. Did that literally take place?
Yes, it did. But in this remarkable passage,
we're given a contrast between man's religion and God's religion. Now I've been thinking about
this message every day since I've been gone. I pray that the
Lord will bless this to my heart and yours. Man's religion and God's religion. Now let's look at verse one of
chapter three. Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made
an image of gold. whose height was three score
cubits, about 90 feet high, a nine-story building. You know about how
big a nine-story building is. That's how high this image was. The breadth thereof, six cubits,
and he set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Now I think it's interesting
in chapter two, you can remember that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream
that Daniel interpreted for him. Look in verse 31 of chapter two. Thou, O king, this is Daniel
speaking with the king, sawst and behold a great image. This
great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee,
and the form thereof was terrible. The image's head was a fine gold,
his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
his legs of iron, his feet part iron and part clay. And he went
on to give the interpretation that this was four kingdoms.
The gold was him. He would be defeated by the Medes
and Persians. That's spoken of in chapter six
when the Medes and Persians took over. And that is the silver
kingdom. And then after that, there would
be Alexander the Great. who would take over the earth. That's the third kingdom. And
the fourth kingdom would be the Roman empire. And I think it's
interesting. Daniel is such an interesting
book. He gives the very year that the Lord would become incarnate,
become flesh. I mean, there's prophecy in this
book is amazing. And he's letting us know Nebuchadnezzar,
your kingdom is going to be destroyed. The Medes and Persians are going
to be taken over. They're going to be destroyed by Alexander
the Great. The Greek language will be brought in and that's
the way the gospel will be communicated. The Romans will destroy the Greeks
and all their infrastructure will make it possible for the
gospel to be spread because of all the roads that came from
Rome. But that kingdom is going to
be destroyed and there's one kingdom that's going to last.
The kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else will
be destroyed. Now, this image that he made, I guess he
thought was an improvement upon the image he saw, made of gold,
silver, iron, and clay. He thought, well, I'll make a
better one that won't be destroyed. It was pure gold, about the height
of a nine-story building, but it could be measured. It could
be comprehended. by man. And it was set up in
the land of Babylon. You will remember the Tower of
Babel, man's attempt to reach God. Salvation by works. And God confounded the languages
at that time. That's when the different languages
began. Just this week, I heard Italian, Spanish, and French
didn't understand a word of it. No matter what they said, I could
not comprehend it. Now, when we were in Ireland,
I could understand them. They spoke the right way. But one thing that is true about
man's religion, Babylon, it means confusion. God confuses the language. And man's religion is very confusing.
There's nothing definite. Verse two. Then Nebuchadnezzar,
the king, sent 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. Then the princes, the governors,
and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the
sheriffs, all the big shots, 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. It was very impressive
looking, 90 foot tall, pure gold statue. Verse four, 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,
sackbuck, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall
down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king
has set up, and whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, shall
the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. Now, the first thing that I would
notice about man's religion, it was a God that he set up,
wasn't it? It was a man-made God. He set it up. It was created
by man. That's man's religion. A man-made
God. Now, this man-made God that he
set up had an appeal to the senses. Music. Music. What is more appealing to the
senses than music? And I think it's interesting
in man's religion, the song leader is called the worship leader. Not the preaching of the gospel,
not hearing what God says from his word, but our singing. Now
I'm thankful for singing. We'll be singing in heaven. But
when that becomes the central piece, rather than who God is
and what Christ accomplished, something's wrong. The appeal
is to the senses. Music, that's such a big part
of false religion, music. Get everybody stirred up into
a frenzy. This is what speaks to us. This is what moves us.
Music, that's the central part of the supposed worship service.
And the music leader is called the worship. leader. And when they try to hire people,
it's always worship leaders for musicians and so on. There is
an appeal to the flesh. And in man's religion, the motivation
behind it is fear of loss and hope of gain. That's easy enough to see. If
you don't worship mine image, you'll be cast into a burning,
fiery furnace and burned alive. You'll go to hell. But if you
worship, you'll be saved. You will be preserved. Nothing
will happen to you. Perhaps you'll even be prospered
if you'll just worship mine image. And in man's religion, a choice
is always the deciding factor of salvation. the choice you
make. If you choose to bow, you'll
be saved. If you choose not to bow, you
will be burned up. Your ultimate faith is dependent
upon your choice. Your destiny is contingent upon
the choice you make in man's religion, man's will, is the
deciding factor in salvation. Your choice, the decision you
make, that is the determining factor. Now, let's go on reading
in verse seven. Therefore, at that time, when
all the people had heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut,
psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations,
the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar
the king had set up. Now put yourself in these people's
place. They don't have any understanding of the living God. They just
know that if they don't worship, they'll burn. Therefore they
fell down. Verse eight. Wherefore at that
time, certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews. These
were natives of this land under King Nebuchadnezzar, but they
made an accusation against the Jews. Now, we're talking about
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And if you look in chapter two,
Daniel, after he had interpreted that dream, had these men promoted,
and they were the top three men in his kingdom. And these fellows
were jealous. There was competition involved.
You know, in man's religion, there's always competition. One
man trying to be more blessed, more godly than the other, trying
to prove how much God's blessed me. There's always competition
involved. It arises from no understanding
of the living God. So we're going to compete. Let's
see who's most blessed, who's being the most obedient, who's
being most doing the things that he needs to do. And so competition
arises. Verse nine, they spake and said
to the King Nebuchadnezzar, O King, live forever. Thou, O King, has
made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of
the cornet, flute, harp, sakhba, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all
kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image.
And whoso falleth not down in worship, that he should be cast
into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. Now there are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs
of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were
jealous of these men. These men, O king, have not regarded
thee. They serve not thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up. 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 not ye serve my gods, nor
worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, I'm going
to give you another chance. If you be ready, that at what
time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbutt,
psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, You shall fall
down and worship the image which I've made. Well, it's going to
be good for you. But if you worship God, you should
be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. And who is that God that should
deliver you out of my hands? Now, in man's religion, Man is
more powerful than God. Now somebody says, I don't believe
that. I don't believe I'm more powerful than God. Now listen
to me real carefully. If you believe in free will,
you believe you are more powerful than God. You believe your will
can trump God's will. That's what Nebuchadnezzar thought.
Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Look down in verse 19. Then was
Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and 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 was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty
men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego."
Man's religion binds. Man's religion is scared to death
of freedom. What will that produce? So man's
religion is binding with rules and regulations and laws to keep
men from doing what they really want to do. It is binding. Now, Man's religion may use words
like love and grace, but it's not really there. There's no
love in this account, only fear of what will happen. If you don't,
you'll get thrown into a fiery furnace. There's no true concept
of grace in this. Your salvation is dependent not
upon the grace of God, but what you decide, what you do. There we have man's religion. But what about God's religion?
What about God's religion? You know, we read in the book
of James of a religion that's in vain. It doesn't save. And we read
of pure religion and undefiled before God the Father. There
is such a thing as God's religion. There's man's religion. that
comes from man, he invents a God, sets him up, and this God is
always contrary to the God of the Bible. Now understand this. Any God you hear preached that
is not the God of the Bible with all of his attributes is a false
God, an idol, an image that cannot save. That is man's religion. A false God, a man-made God that
does not have the attributes of the God of the Bible. Here's
an example. Here's an example. The God of
the Bible is sovereign salvation. He has mercy on whom he will
have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Romans 9.18. That's what the
Bible says. If that's not your God, you're worshiping a false God.
a God that does not exist. This is the God of the Bible,
not a man-made God. Now, look in verse 16. The religion of God begins with
the true character of God. Verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we're not careful answer thee in this matter. It's not like
we need to scratch our head and think, what are we going to do?
If it be so, if it's his will, our God, whom we serve, what
are those next two words? He's able. He's able. Now that is the God
of the Bible. He's able. He's able to deliver
us out of your hand. He will deliver us out of your
hand. Don't be so presumptuous as to think we're in your hand. You're in God's hand. And he
is able to deliver us out of your hand. Now, what that is
a reference to is the omnipotence and the sovereignty of God. He's
able. He's all powerful. He is able, whatever He wills
is done because of His power, His ability. Paul said, I know
whom I have believed, I'm persuaded. He is able. Now, I am relying
on His ability to save me. That's all my reliance and that's
rooted in an understanding of, a God-given understanding of,
a revelation of the character of God. And that is who Shadrach
and Meshach and Abednego believe, the God who is able. Do you believe that he is able
to save you without your help? Do you believe that? Do you believe He is able? I'm not asking if you believe
you're saved, or if you believe you're one of the elect, or if
you believe Christ died for you. Do you believe He is able to
save you? Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. Now God's religion begins with
the true character of God. And you go on reading in Daniel
chapter four, you're going to find out where God taught Nebuchadnezzar
something and revealed himself. And look what Nebuchadnezzar
concluded from all this, verse 34. And at the end of the days,
I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven. Mine understanding
returned unto me." God had turned him into a beast for seven years,
or at least some kind of psychological disorder where he thought he
was a beast. They drove him out of the kingdom. He ate grass
for seven years. His hair grew. His nails turned
like bird feathers and eagle claws and so on. I mean, he was
a mess. And then God gave him back his understanding. My understanding
returned to me. I blessed the Most High, and
I praised and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion,
His rule, His authority is an everlasting dominion. He's always
been in control, and He always will be in control. And He controls
me, and He controls you. And we're in His hands, and whatever
He does is right. His kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. How many of all of them? All
of them, me, you. If a man thinks himself to be
something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. You know, God only saves nothings.
If you're something, he'll pass you by. But if you're nothing,
He'll have mercy on you. That's who he is. And he doeth
according to his will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth. You know what that means? That
means He's doing His will right now. He always has done His will. He always will do His will. Me
and you are in His hands. Our salvation is up to Him. You have no control. Your eternal destiny is in His
hand. Now what do you think of that?
Make you mad? Listen to me. If your eternal
destiny is in your hand, you'll go to hell. If my eternal destiny is in your
hand, I'll go to hell. But thank God every man is in
his hand. He doeth according to his will.
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand. Nobody can stop him from doing
his will or saying to him, what doest thou? Give an account for
yourself. He doesn't know an answer to you or me. He's God. Whatever he does is right. Now, the true character of God
is God's religion. And listen to this. In God's
religion, no choice is involved. Somebody says, I choose to believe. Well, that's just silly and foolishness. You don't choose to believe.
You may choose to believe that which is wrong, but you don't
choose to believe the truth. You believe because it's the
truth. You don't make a choice to believe. Salvation is not
according to your choice. And they demonstrate that to
us. Look once again in chapter three, verse 16. After Nebuchadnezzar said, who
is that God that will deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego answered and said unto the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
we're not careful to answer thee in this matter. We don't need
to scratch our heads to figure out which choice we're going
to make. There's no choice involved. If there's a choice involved
in your religion, it's man's religion. It's not God's religion. Verse 17, if it be so, if it
is well, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace. And I love the way they add this.
He will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. Don't think for
a second that we're in your hand. Don't even think that. He'll
deliver us out of your hand and there's not a thing you can do
to stop it. Now you only believe when you
have no choice. You only believe. Now this is
God's religion. You only believe when there are
no other options. This is it. There's nothing else
to believe. You're not given two things and
you select which one seems the best. You have no choice. And in God's religion, he is
worshiped for who he is and not the benefits we receive. Now,
if it's God will, if it's his will, he's able to deliver us. But if it's not His will, and
He lets us be thrown into the burning, fiery furnace, we're
still not gonna worship your God. He's able to deliver us if He
wills, but if He doesn't, and we end up in that fiery furnace,
we'll still not worship your image. We're at His sovereign
disposal. I love the story of the leper.
The leper came to the Lord and worshiped him. Lord hadn't done
anything for him yet. He didn't know if he would do
anything for him. He said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. But he worshiped him before any
of that was taking place. He worshiped him. Now, in God's
religion, Christ is to be worshipped for who He is, without reference
to what He does for me or you. He's the King. He's the Lord. And He is to be worshipped. And until that issue is settled,
in my heart and in your heart, there will be no mercy. He is
to be worshiped for who he is. And yet we don't make any apologies
for that, do we? We love the way he is. In God's religion, those who
worship refuse to worship that which is no God. Look in verse
12. There are certain Jews whom thou
hast said 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. Verse 17, 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 worship, we will not serve thy gods, nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up. Now, wherever there's
a love for the true, there's a hatred of the false. And if I love Christ, I will
refuse to worship in any form that's contrary to him. I refuse
to listen to it. Now, understand this. There are
a lot of folks that say, well, that's bigoted. That's being
too narrow-minded. That's being, you know, you need
to be more tolerant. You need to accept other views
and other peoples. Well, I want to respect everybody. I really do. I don't want to
disrespect anybody. I want to treat everybody with
respect. But when it comes to a false religion and a false
God and a false gospel, No respect. No respect. No regard. I will not worship that which
is not true. And that is true with regard
to all who are in God's religion. They refuse to tolerate that
which is not God. That which is not true. And if
I can tolerate that which is not true, there's one reason.
I don't really love him. The issue is love. That's the
issue. The issue is love. If you love
him, you will not accept that which is contrary to him. Now, the religion of God saves. How much power did that image
Nebuchadnezzar had set up? How much power did it have to
save? None. Couldn't do anything for anybody.
Man's religion can't save. But look at God's religion, verse
17. 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. Then was Nebuchadnezzar your
full of fury. You know, men get mad at a sovereign
God. And 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 was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty
men, the best he had 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, and 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 fire slew those men that took
up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." They couldn't stand before the
fire. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell down,
bound into the midst of the fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar
the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said
unto his counselors, Did not we catch three men bound in 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 hurt. and the form of the fourth is
like unto the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came 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 out of the midst of the fire, and the princes, governors,
captains, and king's counselors, being gathered together, saw
these men upon whose body the fire had no power. Now remember
those fellows that threw them in? What did the fire do to them?
It consumed them. It killed them. But on these
three men, the fire had absolutely no power. Go on reading. Nor was in the hair of their
heads sins, neither was their coats chains, nor the smell of
fire had passed on them. Now, This demonstrates the power
of Christ's salvation. If he saves you, you won't even
have the smell of sin. You're perfect in Christ Jesus.
The fire of God's judgment has no power over you. Christ bore
it all. Now here's my question. What
was the difference between the men who were slain by that fire
and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What was the difference? One
difference, the Son of God. He was with them. That's the
only difference, the Son of God. The Son of God is the difference
between damnation and destruction and salvation and justification. The Son of God was the only difference. The Son of God was within. I
think of Nebuchadnezzar even being... There's the Son of God
in there with him. How'd he know? Well, if you ever
see him, you'll know. You'll know he's the Son of God.
If you don't believe he's the Son of God, it's because you've
never seen him. If you've ever seen him, you'll know. Never
can enter new. That's the Son of God and He
is the difference. And I think it's very interesting
that we only read of three men who came out of that furnace
untouched by the fire. You see, the Son of God bore
the fire in his own body on the tree. And he made it to where
these three men could come out unhurt, untouched, perfect before
God. Now, God's religion sets men
free. They went from being bound to
being loose. Now, let me let me say something
about this thing of freedom. Freedom is based on two things.
Number one, you don't have any debts. Dead free, that's free. Number two, you do what you want
to do. You know, most people's religion is so unhappy. It's
people not doing what they really want to do and doing what they
really don't want to do. But oh, I love what the Lord
said to Bartimaeus, go thy way. He followed Jesus in the way. In God's religion, men are set
free. All my debts have been paid for.
I am perfect before God's law, and I get to do what I want to
do, follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the last thing that
I would like to bring out in God's religion. Verse 28, then
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. Now let's take a these fellows
trust. They didn't know if the Lord
would deliver him from the fiery furnace or let him be thrown
in. They didn't know what that outcome
was, but they trusted him. Trust is in him. Whatever he does is right because
of who he is. They trusted in him without knowing
what their fate would be in the matter of this fiery furnace.
They still believe whatever he does is right. Our trust is in
him. His glorious person He delivered his servants that trusted in
him. They've changed the king's word. They wouldn't obey what
I said. And they yielded their bodies that they might not serve
any nor worship any God except their own God. Therefore, I make
a decree that every people, nation, and language would speak anything
amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." Now,
beloved, that's sin. Yes, it's sin to tell a lie.
Sexual sin is sin before God. But here is seen to speak anything
amiss of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Anybody that does should be cut
in pieces and their houses should be made a dunghill because there's
no other God that can deliver after this sword. No God can do this, but God. Now, Man's religion or God's religion? Which one are you in? Let's pray. Lord, we stand amazed at thy
gospel. That causes the fire of wrath
to have no power over us. Because your son consumed it
all. and that we don't even have the smell of sin through his
glorious sacrifice. Lord, deliver us from any temptation
to bow before man's religion, the God that man has set up,
but enable us to see such glory in your person that we see there's
no choice involved We look to Thee only. Bless this message
for Your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray.