Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I'm going to be speaking from
the third chapter of the book of Daniel. And if you could get
your Bibles and follow along, I believe it would be very helpful. Now, Daniel was a prophet during
the time that the children of Israel had been carried away
into the land of Babylon. In Daniel, chapter three, we
read of King Nebuchadnezzar. He was the most powerful man
in the world at this time. And we read Nebuchadnezzar, the
king, made an image of gold whose height was three-score cubits,
90 feet high, and breadth thereof six cubits. He set it up in the
plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Babylon means confusion
or mixing. It comes from the Tower of Babel.
Do you remember that story when people, the men wanted to build
a tower to heaven and God scattered them? Then Nebuchadnezzar, that
represents man's religion, confusion, mixing, mixing grace and works
and so on. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king,
sent together, together, the princes, the governors, the captains,
the judges, the treasurers, the councils, the sheriffs, all the
rulers of the provinces, all the big shots, to come to the
dedication. of the image which Nebuchadnezzar
the king had set up, a man-made God. And behind a man-made God
there is a man. But he wanted to have a religious
service, a dedication for this God which he had made. Now, who's the most powerful,
the God or the one who makes the God? Nebuchadnezzar thought
he was the one truly who was to be worshipped. Then the princes,
the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the
counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces
were gathered together unto 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's commanded, O Nations and peoples and languages
that at what time you hear the sound that he named six or seven
different instruments Whenever you hear those instruments who
so falleth not down and worship The Idol that he'd set up will
be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace now here we have
man's religion a religion made by man and with a God that is
not the God of the Bible, a religion of threats, of punishments, or
hope for reward. Now, in this religion, if you
do what you're supposed to do, you'll be rewarded. And if you
don't, you'll be punished. It's a message of salvation by
works. It makes forgiveness, salvation,
the end rather than the beginning. If you do this, this, this, and
this, you'll have the forgiveness of sins. But if you don't do
this, this, and this, you won't have the forgiveness of sins.
Now, understand this about the Gospel. The Gospel does not end
with the forgiveness of sins. It begins with the full, frank,
free forgiveness of all sin, past, present, and future, all
blotted out. And you can't possibly serve
God with these mercenary motives of threat of punishment or hope
for reward. That is all contrary to grace.
But yet that's what man's religion is made of. So he was scared
to death. You know, if we don't fall down
and worship, we'll be thrown into a burning, fiery furnace.
So, of course, they will. Verse seven. Therefore, at that
time, Daniel three, verse seven, Therefore, at that time, when
all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, all the
different music, all the people, the nations, and the language
fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar
the king had set up. Of course they would. They would
be thrown into a fiery furnace if they didn't. Wherefore, at
that time, certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews.
Now he's talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you
read about them in Daniel 1 and 2, the king had promoted them
to great honor, and so the Chaldeans were jealous of them. Somehow
they felt like they had been brought down, and these guys
were promoted, and they didn't like this, so they wanted to
get them in trouble. So let's go on reading. They spake and
said to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. Thou, O
king, hast made a decree that every man that shall hear the
sound of those different instruments They shall fall down and worship
the golden image. And whoso falls not down and
worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning,
fiery furnace. Now 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." What an accusation. Would to God that that could
be accused of me. A refusal to worship a man-made
God which is actually worshiping a man behind it. They said they
had no regard for you. They had no regard for your gods. 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? Now remember he knew these men,
and he had promoted them into a high position in Daniel chapter
2. He says, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do not
ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have
set up? If you'd be ready, I'm going to give you another chance.
If you'd be ready, when you hear the sound of the cornet, the
flute, the harp, the sackbut, the psaltery, the dulcimer, and
all kinds of music, if you fall down and worship the image which
I've made, well, you'll be in good shape. 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 Now Nebuchadnezzar demonstrates at this time he
believes he's the one running the show. What God of yours can
deliver you out of my hand? Does he have that kind of ability?
Now look at their answer. Verse 16, And 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 think about it. We don't have to think about
it. It's not even a decision that we need to make. Now, I
am sure that these men could have thought, why resist? All it's going to do is get us
killed. It's an idol. We know that. We can bow in body,
but not bow in heart. why we have a position of usefulness
at this time. We're way up there and we can
infiltrate our principles and the principles of our God into
society. We can infiltrate Judeo-Christian
principles in society and try to turn things around, but we
can't do that if we're dead. As far as all that goes, all
the other Jews are bowing down, so we might as well too. No one's
going to know the difference. They could have thought all those
things. But they say to the king, We're not careful to answer thee
in this matter. It's a no-brainer. There's no
decision to be made. Verse 17. If it be so, if it
be His will, 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. Our God is able. Now, this is
the very foundation of faith. Our God is able. Now, when you
talk about God's ability, this is I'm saving him who's able,
I'm serving him who's able to save me. Now, God's ability,
God's power is seen in these three areas. First, creation. He was able to speak the world
into existence simply by an act of his will. Now, that's power,
isn't it? Secondly, providence. He controls everything. He controls
everything. He declares the end from the
beginning and from ancient times are things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand. I will do all My pleasure. They're
saying to King Nebuchadnezzar, You're a puppet in His hands.
You can't do anything but what He lets you do. You're not in
control. Our God is able to deliver you
from us. His ability is most especially
seen in salvation, where He is able to make someone unjust,
just. He's able to make someone unholy,
holy. He's able to make someone sinful,
Perfect in his sight and that's what he did through the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Christ accomplished
That's what he meant when he said it is finished the salvation
of my people is accomplished He is able to save now unto him
that's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
That's what he's able to do. He's able to present everybody
you've died for faultless without fault not merely forgiven but
faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. He is able to deliver us out
of your hand, O King. Verse 18, But if not, if He as
an act of His sovereignty, in His own all-wise purpose, allows
us to be burn up in that burning fires, that burning fire, burning
furnace, 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, if He's pleased to let us burn,
we're still not going to bow, because that God is no God at
all. Verse 19, Then was Nebuchadnezzar
full of fury, he was mad, and the form of his visage was changed
against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There was a time when
he liked them, but no more. I tell you, when you won't battle
a false god, folks will get mad at you. He was furious. Therefore,
he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven
times more than it was wont to be heated. He was furious. And he commanded the most mighty
men that were in his army to bind Shandrak, Meshach, and Abednego. And this is what man's religion
does. It tries to bind people. It tries to tie them down. It's
afraid of freedom. It tries to tie them down with
rules and man-made regulations. He bound Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. I thought of the Gadarene that
was bound with chains, but he'd always break the chains. They
bound Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to cast them into the
burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound. in
their coats, their hosen, their hats, and their other garments,
and were cast into the midst of the burning, fiery furnace. Now, these three men who refused
to bow, they were thrown in the furnace. There they tied up,
bound, and there they are in the midst of the furnace. Verse
22, 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. The men that put them
in the furnace were burned to death. But the three children
of Israel were not. How's that? What's the difference? Go on reading 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. and rose up in haste, and spake
and said unto his counsellors, 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 hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. I want you to picture this in
your mind. These three men are thrown into that fiery furnace
all tied up, and the king from a distance looks within, and
he sees four men loose, walking. And the fourth was like the Son
of God. Now the men who threw them in
were burned up. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
are walking loose in the midst of that burning fiery furnace.
What is the difference between them and those men who were destroyed?
The Son of God. Now Nebuchadnezzar was a heathen
king. How did He know that it was the
Son of God when He said, I see four men walking, and the fourth
is likened to the Son of God? That's an easy question to answer.
If you ever see Him, you'll know He's the Son of God. And if you
don't know He's the Son of God, it's because you've never seen
Him. If you ever see Him, you'll know He's God the Son. You see,
our message is a person, the Son of God. What we believe is
determined by who we believe. He is God the Son. Therefore,
whatever He does must be successful. He's God the Son. He was astonished. And He saw that fourth man with
those three who refused to bow walking free, loose, set free
in the midst of the fiery furnace. 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 how that freaked them out seeing that? They see
these men come out of the fire unharmed. What a sight that must
have been. Verse 27, "'And the princes,
governors, and captains, and the king's counselors being gathered
together, saw these men, upon whose body The fire had no power,
nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats
changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them." Now you
look at this description of these men coming out of the furnace.
First of all, they were free. They went in bound. But they
come out unbound and free. Oh, if the Son shall make you
free, you're free indeed. A true free man. I have no debts. You know, when you're in debts,
it's a burden you owe. But in Christ, I owe nothing. In Christ, I'm doing what I want
to do. I'm set free. My want to is to
serve and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. I've heard people
say regarding the gospel of God's grace, well, if I believe that,
how that Christ is everything, doesn't have anything to do with
your works, I'd sin all I want to if I believe that. Listen,
beloved, I sin a whole lot more than I want to. I want to be
free from sin. In Christ Jesus, we are set free. Set free. I owe nothing. My debts
are paid, and I'm getting to do what I want to do. And notice
it says next that the fire had no power over them. Now you think
of how powerful this furnace was, that it was hot, it was
heated seven times hotter, and it slew the men that brought
them in, but it had no power at all over these three men,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now what I thought about when
I thought about that is I thought of that time of Elijah in 1 Kings
chapter 18, where remember he was, the prophets of Baal had
their sacrifice, Elijah had his sacrifice. And he gave the prophets
of Baal all day long, the God that answers by fire. When fire
comes out of heaven, it answers. That's God. So the prophets of
Baal, they cried to Baal, answer us, answer us. He never answered. And why didn't he answer? Because
he's no God. He can't answer. And then Elijah
took his sacrifice, the sacrifice that represents the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he doused it with water. three
times. So there was nothing. It was
hard to catch out on fire. And then he prayed. And the fire
of God came down and consumed that sacrifice from heaven. It
had power over that sacrifice. As a matter of fact, after the
fire had left, there was no animal left. There was no dust left.
There was no water left. There was nothing left. The fire
had consumed everything. All that was left was nothing.
the fire had power over the sacrifice. But let me tell you of the sacrifice
when the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to that tree. He was suffering
the fire of God's wrath against sin. The sins of His elect became
His so that He became guilty and the fire of God's wrath came
down upon Him. When He cried, My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? It's because God forsakes the
wicked. Christ Jesus, the Holy Son of
God, was made to be sin. He was made to be guilty. Now,
I realize He never committed sin in and of Himself. Don't
anybody dare think such a thought. But He was made sin, and God's
wrath came down upon Him. Now, in God's wrath coming down
upon Him, all of a sudden, the sacrifice consumed the fire. The fire had no power on the
sacrifice. In this sense, the sacrifice
consumed the fire. There was no fire left. And that's why there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. You see,
He bore the wrath, and now it has no power on me. It's been
put away. It's gone. It's gone. Now, the fire had no power at
all. on these young men. That's what
substitution is. Christ bore my wrath and He gives
me His righteousness and the fire has no power. Scripture
actually says not a hair was singed. You've been close to
a fire when it singes the hair on your arms. It goes so quickly. But the fire had so much no power
over them that not even a hair was singed. And the scripture
says next in verse 27, a hair of their head was not singed,
neither were their coats changed. Now what is this? The coat's
not being changed. This coat that they had on represents
the coat that the believer has, the garment of salvation, the
righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now they went
into that fiery furnace with that coat covering them. And
they came out and that coat had not been changed. The perfect
righteousness and merits of Christ. That's my protection. I'm in
Him. I have His righteousness. His righteousness is my righteousness. Yes, He put away the sin, but
not only is the sin put away, I also have a positive righteousness. I'm perfect in Christ Jesus.
I have His very righteousness as my righteousness before God.
Isaiah 54, 17 says, their righteousness, their personal righteousness
is of Me. Their codes were not changed.
I have that same righteousness, even His perfect obedience. And next it says in verse 27,
nor the smell of fire had passed on them. They didn't even smell
like fire in any way. Have you ever been in a house
where There was smoke damage. The smell is terrible. There's
no getting away from it. But there wasn't even the smell
of smoke on them. There's not even the smell of
sin on a believer. Not even the smell of sin. We
come out of that fire perfect in Christ Jesus. Now, when I
hear a lot of preaching that goes
on in our day, I smell sin in it. What do you mean by that? Well, let me give you a couple
of examples. A lot of folks believe salvation's
by grace. True, salvation's by grace, but
you'll be rewarded in heaven according to your works here
on earth. There's higher rewards for people
who do better, and there's kind of lower places, maybe a basement
in heaven for the people who never did anything for the Lord,
but there's higher rewards for people who do something. And
you know what? I smell so much sin in that.
That means your sin's brought up. Your sin's brought up. That
smells like sin. There's nothing righteous about
that. That smells of sin. There's another belief that says,
well, on the cross, God punished Christ, but he knew he was not
guilty, but he treated him as if he was. I smell sin there. That's unjust. That's unjust
for God to punish the Lord if he's not guilty. That would be
unjust. Would you punish somebody who's
not guilty? God wouldn't do that. No, the sin of His people became
His. Under this air, I smell sin there. I smell sin there.
I smell sin in salvation being all of grace, but works. I smell
sin there. I smell sin in a believer. Well, he's treated as if he's
righteous, but he's not righteous. No, that smells like sin too.
No, in Christ, I'm actually righteous before God. There's not even
a smell of sin anywhere in the gospel. It's righteous grace. God is light and in Him is no
darkness at all. There's no smell of sin. Verse 28, Then Nebuchadnezzar
spake and said, after he witnessed all this, Bless Be the God of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered
His servants that trusted in Him." And here's how far their
trust went. They changed the King's Word
and yielded their bodies. They were willing to go into
a fiery furnace rather than bow to a false god. they yielded
their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God
except their own God. Therefore, Nebuchadnezzar says,
I 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." Once again, the ability of God
to deliver. Now, my dear friends, What I'm
saying about myself is true of every single child of God, every
believer. My God is able through the life,
the death, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ to make
it to where I have no sin, that I'll stand before God in judgment
day justified. sanctified, glorified, perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ with this glorious codon we were
talking about, with not even the smell of sin on me. Perfect
in Christ Jesus. Well, what about the sins you've
committed? What sin? There is no sin. He put it away
and I stand before God without guilt. Now, that is the heritage
of every child of God. Now, when I stand on judgment
day, accepted before God, nobody's going to look at me and say,
boy, he must have been a really good person. He must have been a good preacher. He must have been a zealous witness. He must have been somebody who
prayed a lot for him to get. No, nobody's going to say anything
like that. They're going to say, no God. can deliver like this, except
the living God, where He can take somebody like me and make
me perfect in Christ Jesus. No God can deliver after this
sort, but oh, how our God, the living God, is able to make someone
perfect in His sight. Thank God for the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now we have this message on cassette
tape, on DVD, and on CD. If you call the church or write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at codsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.