WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 We're going to look back today at the passage that we read together from Daniel chapter 3. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:14.000 I have to say it's probably the first time since I've been here in 17 years that I actually wished the bagpipes were going. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:21.000 When I was reading this passage about the bagpipes, just to make sure you didn't bow down and do anything unclear. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:25.000 But they'll probably knock in halfway through the sermon. 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:31.000 But this is a great story, and the key to this great story is actually in the previous chapter. 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:43.000 Because the previous chapter makes clear to us that this story in chapter 3 is a story of two kingdoms, two realms, two worlds that still exist, 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:48.000 and therefore it brings it immediately into our own experiences. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:53.000 Two different worlds. One is a temporary world and one is a permanent world. 00:00:53.000 --> 00:01:03.000 So we have these two contrasted in the previous chapter in verse 36, where Daniel is interpreting the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:10.000 about this great idol of gold and then silver and then bronze and then with feet of iron and clay. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.000 And as he introduces his interpretation, Daniel says, 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:24.000 The King of kings to whom the God of heaven is given, the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:30.000 And it's speaking about this earthly kingdom that Daniel was part of and the others and also Nebuchadnezzar was king of. 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:39.000 But then he compares it with another kingdom in verse 44, where he says, when he speaks of the future that is being prophesied, 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:47.000 and in those days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:57.000 nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end and it shall last forever. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:08.000 So as an introduction to this chapter, you have this interpretation of the dream that Daniel had given to Nebuchadnezzar of two worlds. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:14.000 And in many ways, as we seek to bring this immediately into our own context, the question for us all is, 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:19.000 to which realm, to which kingdom do we belong as human beings? 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:26.000 Because there's only one king and there's only one kingdom and one world that is permanent. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:34.000 We do live in a very impermanent day and age, yet we are hardwired for permanency. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:41.000 We actually want to know and experience permanency and yet everything around us is impermanent. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:49.000 But which world do you belong to and which kingdom do you subscribe to and who is your Lord and Master? 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:53.000 Because Jesus Christ is the King who we serve and worship this morning. 00:02:53.000 --> 00:03:01.000 And it's not to be a vague or a passing acknowledgement that you're to have of the reality of this kingdom, 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:08.000 but to know His transformative power on a day-to-day basis in your life. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:15.000 Because one of the kingdoms is marked by death, the other is marked by life through death. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:22.000 And this morning what I want to do just for a few minutes is look at the difference between the two types of citizens 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:31.000 that we have in this Old Testament account that belong to the two different kingdoms as they reflect faith and unbelief. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:33.000 So can we consider that this morning? 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:43.000 First of all, looking at those who were living without faith in this account, there's two different characters. 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:46.000 Well, there's Nebuchadnezzar the king and there's also the astrologers. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:54.000 So Nebuchadnezzar, interestingly, absolutely lived for the kingdom that he was king and head of in chapter 2. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:00.000 As Daniel interpreted the dream, he spoke of the statue with the head of pure gold and the defeat of iron and clay, 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:04.000 and it represented different kingdoms. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:12.000 But Nebuchadnezzar was obsessed with finding the meaning, because dreams are very significant in the ancient Near East. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:21.000 But he stopped listening after, well, he wasn't listening at verse 37, but as it's recorded in verse 37, he stopped listening. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:27.000 All he heard from Daniel was, you, king, you're the golden head, in other words. 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:33.000 You're the one to whom God of heaven is given, this kingdom, the power and the might and the glory. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:37.000 That was tremendous. That's all he wanted to hear from then on. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:43.000 He didn't listen to anything else that was being said, because man, that was exactly what he hoped the dream would mean. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:51.000 That he would be the golden head and the God of the living God was the one who'd given him all the power and glory and significance. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:05:00.000 And that interpretation, or listening simply to that book, is what provoked him to build this great statue in the chapter that we read. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:08.000 Because it was reflecting the dream that he, the image in the dream that he'd had, except he made his one of pure gold. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.000 He didn't, he didn't, you know, mix up the elements and he didn't have silver and bronze and then iron and clay. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:18.000 His was all gold and it was hugely ostentatious. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:22.000 It was about as half the height of the Scott Monument. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:33.000 It was a huge, massive big idol and what he was doing in creating this idol of gold was he was displaying his power and his glory. 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:38.000 As you know, I came back, or some of you know, I came back from Rome, I've been a conference in Rome. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:42.000 And that's very much what the architecture in Rome is like. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:48.000 It was declaring power and beauty and magnificence and opulence. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:54.000 And that's exactly what Nebuchadnezzar was doing here. It was, for him, it was an act of control. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:59.000 Because having set up this great idol, he said, you know, I'm going to be a pretty reasonable guy. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:05.000 You only need to worship this idol when the music goes, the bagpipes. Who'd have thought bagpipes? 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:11.000 But anyway, these were the instruments and when these instruments went, that's when people had to get down and worship. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:16.000 He didn't say worship the idol all the time. You can have your own gods, you can worship them. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:22.000 It's kind of reasonable syncretism. But as he did so, he was encouraging a sense of a spirit of fear 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:30.000 and mistrust one for the other so that maybe someone would tell on someone else if they didn't worship. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:36.000 And a desire to bring conformity to his people by dictate. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:44.000 So he was self-absorbed and he was God-resistant. He simply didn't listen to the rest of Daniel's interpretation. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:55.000 It didn't suit him and it certainly didn't worry him. Verse 45 of that chapter says, the king, this is a great God 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:02.000 as made known to the king, what shall be after this? The dream is certain and it's interpretation sure. 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:08.000 So maybe he listened to that bit as well, which said, the rest is for the future. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:13.000 But I'm not concerned because I'm this great king who has great power and great control. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:19.000 He didn't listen to what Daniel said about the great God. For him it was all about the here and now. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:27.000 His ego was bigger than the reality of God and his own life was the center of his own existence. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:31.000 Is that familiar? That level of unbelief? 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:42.000 Now, I recognize it doesn't express itself in a similar way where none of us are similar in culture or in position to Nebuchadnezzar or extreme. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:53.000 But there are surely some shared tendencies there. In the society we live in and in our own lives, we see it today in the misuse of state law. 00:07:53.000 --> 00:08:03.000 As he misused state law, it's a power play and it's there to satisfy a specific agenda, sometimes to create fear, mistrust and conformity. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:11.000 Recently we've seen the government straying into all kinds of dangerous fields of social engineering, telling us what we should not only do 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:19.000 but how we should think, seeking to change gender identity and terminology by dictate redefining marriage. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:25.000 But it's no place to do so as a pre-political institution. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:31.000 It has not only set Christians but many others on a collision course with them. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:39.000 We need to pray about that and be alert to that and be aware of the circumstances that have often brought these realities to bear. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:51.000 But at a more personal level, we can be guilty also of being selective listeners to God's word, as Nebuchadnezzar was here, to God's interpretation. 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:56.000 If you're not a Christian, maybe it is that today you're not willing to commit. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:04.000 There's bits that you like about the Bible, there's bits that you like about church, but you're happy with your law as it is 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:10.000 and you're not willing to consider what God has said about the future and your future without Him. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:23.000 Because maybe all is just good as it is at the moment and you can choose the bits that are easier, acceptable or that are self-defining. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:28.000 Or as Christians, we have equally a temptation and a danger to do that, 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:37.000 to just focus on the bits that are easy for us to focus on, that encourage us to continue the way we are. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:47.000 But we struggle with the perfection of God's judgments, the reality of justice, the need for transformation and for rescue. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:55.000 And His great invitation to us to be non-conformists. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:05.000 And there are parallels in Nebuchadnezzar, but also at one level, I think, again at a broader level, 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:13.000 if we look at the astrologers who hear the Chaldeans, as they're called here, who are very jealous. 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:20.000 They hated the position that Daniel had managed to achieve and also Shadrachmi sheikh and Abednego. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:34.000 So they realized that these guys were filled with spiritual power and exposed their helplessness and their impotence to actually interpret the dreams that Nebuchadnezzar came with. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:38.000 And so they use very destructive language about them. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:46.000 There are certain Jews who you have appointed over the affairs of the province and they deliberately use their Jewish names, 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:55.000 rather than the Chaldean names that they'd been given, because there was an underlying subtle racism and a religious intolerance about them. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:11:00.000 They wanted to manipulate Nebuchadnezzar to say, these guys are dangerous. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:07.000 They're not really from our people and they're not willing to obey you for who you are. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:15.000 And that same mentality is something that we, I do believe, need to be aware of sometimes. 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:24.000 There's a spiritual malevolence today against the gospel and against faith and against Christians, particularly against God. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:29.000 And that can make us feel very uncomfortable in the world in which we live. 00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:35.000 There may be increasingly moves to outlaw Christian faith and Christian belief. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:46.000 And many will seek to use the law to expose their own deep-seated hatred of God and of Christian faith and what they think Christian faith stands for. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:53.000 But I hope that you're encouraged not to be paralysed by that and certainly not to be paranoid about it. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:12:01.000 We can get all kinds of weirdy, paranoid feelings about that and become very isolationist or alarmist. 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:17.000 Let's just be realistic and prayerful and loving in the world in which we live and seek to follow Christ and love and serve Him as powerfully and as gently and graciously as we can, 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:20.000 no matter what the circumstances are outside. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:27.000 Because that brings us to the people here in this story and I want to look at their faith and see what we can learn from that in ourselves. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:32.000 So Daniel, well actually Daniel is not in this story. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:42.000 So Daniel, the book of Daniel, and you know we dare to be a Daniel and it's all these kind of great stories of heroes, he's not even in this story. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:49.000 This isn't about Daniel nor even actually is about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, although their faith is a tremendous encouragement to us. 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:53.000 It's about what God has done and is doing and is rescuing power. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:13:06.000 But it does challenge us to act responsibly as Christians with the way we deal with our faith in maybe an aggressive or an antagonistic context. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:15.000 Because their faith is our faith as well and there's nothing different because it's God's gift to them as it is to us. 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:21.000 They are ordinary heroes by God's grace and we are encouraged to be the same in our Christian life. 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:29.000 So we find these lads, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they find themselves between a rock and a hard place, don't they? 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:39.000 They've risen to this place of great prominence in Babylon, they're significant, they're influential, they've been consistent to their God. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:48.000 And now it all is in danger of being just taken from them and it's a difficult place for them. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:59.000 Maybe the temptation for them in this position of political power and authority would just be to compromise, just to keep a low profile. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:07.000 When the music sounds just scurry indoors or somewhere and not be seen or not be found out, it's only when the music sounds. 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:12.000 When the rest of the time we can still worship the living God. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:19.000 He wants us here, surely He wants us here and that is more significant. 00:14:19.000 --> 00:14:23.000 That must have been a temptation for them, that is not how they responded. 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:26.000 And I think there's great lessons for us in our own Christian world. 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:38.000 For them there's a line in the sand moment for them as believers and the line in the sand moment is that they recognize that what they've been asked to do is idolatry. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:46.000 They've been asked to worship physically this great idol and they're not willing to do that in chapter 3 and verse 18. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:57.000 In fact verses 16 to 18 are absolutely wonderful verses but 18 says, you know, we will not serve your God or worship the golden image you have set up. 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:07.000 So their line in the sand moment was they recognized that it was idolatry and the reason that the people of Israel were exiled from the promised land 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:12.000 was because they engaged in idolatry and they recognized they couldn't go with it. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:22.000 It was the great sin of their people and so there could be no compromise for them even though they interacted wholeheartedly with this pagan society in which they lived. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:28.000 They weren't monastic, they didn't just stay in their own ethnic or cultural or religious groups. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.000 They were hugely involved in the society but this was the line in the sand moment. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:40.000 And they give this tremendously powerful testimony, oh Nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:48.000 If this be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fire of furnace and he will deliver us but if not be it known to you. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:51.000 Okay, we will not serve your gods. 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:55.000 That is a great testimony and we can learn great things from that. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:04.000 They had a superb understanding of their God and of His covenant keeping love and protection over them. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:11.000 He was their God and it was a personal relationship they had with Him but they knew He was. 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.000 They didn't demand of Him. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:16.000 They didn't name and claim the deliverance. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:25.000 They didn't say that God would absolutely make this tremendous act of miraculous intervention on their behalf. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.000 They didn't know, we know, but they didn't know at this point. 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:32.000 They made no ultimatum. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:40.000 It was so, I did look up this and I couldn't find this word in the dictionary so it is another but they were so unmanipulative. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:45.000 They didn't manipulate the situation, they didn't manipulate God. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.000 They simply stated things as they were. 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:57.000 You know, God can deliver as we know He can but even if He doesn't, we're still not going to bow down and worship your idols. 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:09.000 It's so matter of fact their trust was in God, not in the temporal comfort or even in the hope of rescue because for them martyrdom was very much a reality here. 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:12.000 Remember the situation they were in. 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.000 So these are not cheap words that we have here. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:22.000 These are powerful and significant words and so it's a kind of polite rebellion. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.000 They didn't seek confrontation. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:27.000 They didn't go out of their way to be antagonistic. 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:30.000 It's graceful subversion. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:39.000 They're reluctant dissidents but along with that they're simple and clear headed obedience to the living God. 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:42.000 And they're united, the speakers one together. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:48.000 They didn't break ranks and in all they said there's just simplicity. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.000 You know, these are potentially their last words. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:18:01.000 They didn't know if they were going to be able ever to speak again in public or in private but there's no great drama either before or even after when they're delivered. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:03.000 No triumphalism is recorded. 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:05.000 Yeah, I showed you. 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:07.000 That's our beauty. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:09.000 And everyone wasn't like that. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.000 It wasn't that they say, yeah, brilliant. 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:14.000 It's just a simple obedience. 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.000 They walk out and the glory is given to God. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:21.000 It's understated because they have this great relationship with the living God. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:27.000 What an example of faith inspired courage they give to us. 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:40.000 And it's one that we need today, I believe, in our day to day living in the classroom, in the workplace, in our neighbourhoods, politically and culturally. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.000 We need to know what our line in the sand is as Christians. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:50.000 You need to know in your profession what the line in the sand is going to be for you. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:56.000 That you will not step over because it will involve you in compromise to your living faith. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:11.000 You need to be in that position as they were and we all need to be in that position of being willing to give all that we have attained and managed to reach culturally or academically or professionally or in our career. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:20.000 We must be willing to give it all up with a steel that comes from trusting the living God in the midst of impossible situations. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:28.000 Because there's a line in the sand that you and I as Christians cannot cross. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:36.000 Confident in our God despite the bleakness of the circumstances they didn't and we shouldn't look to dictate to God always. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:39.000 This is what you should do. This is how you should deliver me. 00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:41.000 This is what I want from you. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:51.000 I want to get out before him the desire and the faith and the belief that he can but also the recognition that he might not. 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:59.000 Would we be able to state this statement in our lives? 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:04.000 As you go to your workplace tomorrow or your place of study or whatever it might be, 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:13.000 are you a Christian who could make the same statement in an impossible situation that you may be faced with tomorrow? 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:19.000 That you know God can deliver you? He may choose not to. 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:23.000 But nonetheless we will not compromise in our living faith. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:31.000 So we see the lads but also what we see in conclusion here is the kind of God we have that we have put our faith in. 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:34.000 Because He's an intervening God. 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:41.000 Many people struggle with the idea of God because they think He's distant and far away and is interested in our lives 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:45.000 and does not meet us at the point of our need. 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:50.000 And here we have an example in the midst of the Old Testament of an intervening God 00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:04.000 because we have this divine being who finds himself associating and walking with the three guys in the midst of the furnace. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:09.000 And it's interesting because it's a worst case scenario. 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:14.000 The furnace is not just an ordinary furnace, it's been heated up greatly 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:20.000 and it's as nebulous as the most powerful man in the world is enraged by what they have said. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:31.000 And so the flames have been fuelled, they are bound, they are wearing all kinds of clothes that would quickly ignite. 00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:36.000 The soldiers who throw them in are consumed because the fire is so great. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:44.000 It's a possible situation they find themselves in and yet we recognize and see that there's a presence with them, 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:47.000 that God is present with them. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:54.000 I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:05.000 This coming king that is predicted in the previous chapter comes early to meet with his own people. 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:07.000 He's beside his citizens. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:16.000 The king of this great everlasting kingdom provides the power and the protection for everyone, 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:20.000 including all these officials to see. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:28.000 And so there's a kind of double testimony here because as they are faithful, 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:37.000 God honored them and used them both in the fire and in the miraculous rescue from the fire. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.000 It's this great, this great, kind of double testimony. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:48.000 He didn't do what he wanted, but he did do what he wanted. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:53.000 He didn't rescue them from the fire, but he did take them from the fire. 00:22:53.000 --> 00:23:01.000 And there's a really significant theological reality that is expressed in that for our lives, 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:06.000 that he often doesn't and does. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:11.000 He often doesn't do what we expect and doesn't do what we ask him to do, 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:15.000 but as we go through the fire, as we go through the trials and difficulties, 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:24.000 he miraculously transforms them into something that becomes a powerful testimony to our living faith in God, 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:31.000 sadly, even with that, Nebuchadnezzar doesn't understand. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:36.000 And that tragic reality of the human heart, even with that powerful testimony, 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:41.000 and even more gloriously, God isn't finished with him, 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:47.000 because he does become a believer before he dies, but it takes more, even in this great miracle, 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:54.000 to bring Nebuchadnezzar to a living faith. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:00.000 But that story of the divine presence with the guys in the fire 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.000 reminds us of the God who is the intervening God, 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:10.000 most powerfully, of course, that we see and understand and recognize on the cross, 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.000 that Jesus Christ comes, which we will remember in the incarnational truths 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:17.000 that we think about in these months, that he comes and he lives, 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:21.000 and then he dies, he intervenes on our behalf very powerfully, 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:27.000 displaying his presence, his power and his protection for everyone who will believe in him. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:32.000 So the fiery furnace is a glorious illustration of so many spiritual truths 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:39.000 that we can unpack from the reality of Jesus and his victory in the cross. 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:46.000 And we have that great truth that the gates of hell will not prevail against Jesus Christ 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.000 and against all who trust in Jesus Christ. 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:53.000 Satan, you know what, Nebuchadnezzar does his worst, doesn't he? 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:58.000 He fires it up, he's enraged, he does all that he can to make sure they're bound, 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:04.000 and he does his... the most powerful man in the world does the most powerful thing he can 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:07.000 to destroy these people, and it doesn't work. 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:10.000 It does the most powerful thing he can. 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.000 It sends all his forces against Christ on the cross, 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:19.000 but the gates of hell are unable to prevail from Jesus Christ, 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:25.000 and the victory that his kingdom assures Satan on the cross has done his worst, 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:28.000 and he was defeated by Jesus Christ. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:34.000 So for us, you know what, I'm not underplaying this by any stretch, 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:38.000 I hope not in any way that... no matter how bad it seems to get for us, 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:43.000 we have an advantage that Shadrachmi Sheikhnaberni would never have, 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:48.000 is that we have already seen Satan and his power has been destroyed and defeated on the cross. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:54.000 We have not just a promise of that, but with the reality of that, of God's victory. 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:59.000 We see ultimate victory in ways that they could never have seen, 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:08.000 and so we have the opportunity to recognize the power of God transforming our day-to-day situations, 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:16.000 and doing what he promises is to be with us in presence and protection. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:19.000 So this story speaks about incarnational truth in many ways, 00:26:19.000 --> 00:26:23.000 not just in Jesus coming into this world, 00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:31.000 but in the Holy Spirit coming into our own lives and hearts by faith that Jesus Christ is with us. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:41.000 So we recognize that prayer, that God will answer prayer for us in ways that we don't understand, 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:47.000 and in ways that we can't predict, and in ways that are above and beyond what we can ask or even think. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:52.000 So even from Isaiah 42, 43 verse 2, we have this great promise, you know, 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:57.000 when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. Through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:01.000 When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:06.000 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:10.000 Written about the same time, roughly as these guys were going through this, 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:18.000 we recognize and see and know and understand that God will be with us because he promises to do. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:27.000 He will transform our sufferings rather than us, generally speaking, avoiding them. 00:27:27.000 --> 00:27:31.000 And that's a tough truth because none of us look for suffering. 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:39.000 But the reality is he will transform and use and presence himself with us through them. 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:49.000 That is our hope and our reality, involves submission and trust and mystery and miracle. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:58.000 And I think there's a future, a very future reference here, I think, maybe reading into a little bit too much. 00:27:58.000 --> 00:28:03.000 But when it speaks about these guys coming through the fire unsinged, 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:11.000 it's a remarkable statement because it was a really hot furnace, they were wearing turbans and cotton clothes and everything else. 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:17.000 And if any of you have been near fire, you know that your clothes smell immediately of fire. 00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:22.000 And we're told here that there's nothing from the fire that touches them. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:26.000 Their hair is unsinged, their clothes are okay, they don't even smell of fire. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:35.000 And there's a future reference to the reality of the wholeness of God's healing and redemption for us. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:42.000 We look forward to a future of being unsinged by the effects of sin and death and the grave. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.000 And we look forward to that. 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:48.000 But until that day, he says, look, I am with you. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:53.000 You know, Sam 23, even in the valley of the shadow of death. 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:59.000 An email from Chris, a text from Chris Lamont this morning, I'm saying, we're praying for them during their time of sadness. 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:06.000 And he says, we have never felt the closeness of Jesus Christ as we have felt it through this valley of the shadow. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.000 That's so often our experience. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:14.000 That's the testimony of what God does for us as we entrust ourselves to Him. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:19.000 So as I close the challenge is just, do you know this God? 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:26.000 This God, the God who reveals Himself, not distant, not a great Santa Claus figure, 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:34.000 but who is committed to us through the sufferings that we face every day to the point that He redeems, transforms, 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:39.000 and will take us ultimately from them. 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:48.000 And we're challenged not only to know this God, but to recognize the obedience that lies behind the testimony of these three men. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:57.000 So the miracle happens in the context of no nonsense, clear, unequivocal obedience. 00:29:57.000 --> 00:29:59.000 There's a line in the sand. 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:03.000 We will not go beyond that, even if it means our death. 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:11.000 And that is the key that opens the door to testimony and to transformation in those around them. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:13.000 And we often speak about testimony. 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.000 We're often praying for our friends. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:26.000 You know, the key is our unequivocal testimony of faith, which will open up the opportunities to tell them about Jesus. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:33.000 And the crucial question is your citizenship today, to which kingdom do you belong? 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:43.000 There's no more vital question than understanding and knowing and committing yourself to the kingdom that is everlasting 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:47.000 with King Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. 00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:48.000 Amen. Let's pray. 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:53.000 Heavenly Father, we pray and ask that you would bless us today, that you would guide us, 00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:02.000 that you would help us to sense your presence, that we wouldn't be weary in doing good in Christ, 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:11.000 that we wouldn't be disinterested or discouraged in the truth, that we would be hungry and thirsty after righteousness. 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:13.000 Pray that we would know you in our lives. 00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:17.000 I pray particularly today for people who are struggling and battling, 00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:21.000 who may feel the impossibility of the situations they're in, 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:25.000 and may not sense God's closeness, 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:38.000 but we pray that they would know by faith His promises and would come to recognize and experience His presence and His closeness through what they are experiencing. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:46.000 And we pray that we would be a support and an encouragement and a help to such by our own lives and by our own testimony. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:54.000 May we acknowledge you as King Jesus today and may our lives reflect that as we go from here 00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:05.000 and as we dissipate throughout the city, may we know the presence and the power of God with us in the lives that we live. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:15.000 We pray for unity and we pray for strength and camaraderie together as we fight the battle of faith. 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:39.000 For Jesus' sake, amen.