{"id":18385,"date":"2017-01-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/daniel-010-the-fourth-man-in-the-fire\/"},"modified":"2017-01-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T06:00:00","slug":"daniel-010-the-fourth-man-in-the-fire","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/daniel-010-the-fourth-man-in-the-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel 010: The Fourth Man in the Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[72],"series_event":[467],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18385","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-daniel","series_event-daniel","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Daniel 010: The Fourth Man in the Fire","sermon_date":"20170129","sermon_month":"1","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":4317,"sermon_slides":4318,"sermon_mp3":4320,"sermon_id":"12917941491","series_or_event":467,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":72,"chapter_and_verse":"3:13-27","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Fourth Man in the Fire\n\n1-29-17\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Daniel 3:13-27\u00a0 Lesson 10\n\nGood morning everybody.\u00a0 If we could take our Bibles and open them to the Daniel chapter 3 and verse 13.\u00a0 Happy end of January to everybody.\u00a0 Am I the only one that still signs my check with 2016?\u00a0 I haven\u2019t even got to used 2017 yet and one month is already gone.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is The Fourth man in the Fire and maybe you\u2019re here today and you\u2019re needing something from the Lord in terms of faithfulness, a study of His faithfulness, a reminder of His faithfulness.\u00a0 Well, this is where Daniel 3 informs us about this.\u00a0\u00a0 We started a couple of weeks ago a study through the book of Daniel; Daniel being a very special character in the sense that Daniel was raised up by God in Babylon to really explain prophetically a period of time that the nation of Israel had just entered into, a time period that we\u2019ve defined as the times of the Gentiles when the nation has no king reigning on David\u2019s throne and she is being trampled down by various Gentile powers.\n\n \n\nThis is something that Israel had never known before; the Shekinah glory of God is in the process,\u00a0 if it hasn\u2019t already it\u2019s about to completely depart from the temple that Solomon built; Nebuchad\u00adnezzar is about to come and destroy the temple, the nation is 350 miles to the east living in a foreign land, and no prophet had really given a lot of details about this time period unless God began to work in the lives of this very young man, still a teenager as we open up the early chapters of Daniel, this young man Daniel.\n\n \n\nAnd then how do you live on enemy territory or how do you live for God when you\u2019re outside of your surroundings and you\u2019re out of your comfort zone, and you\u2019re living amongst people that do not accept your worldview?\u00a0 In fact, the worldview that people have that are over you is different than yours.\u00a0 How do you live for God then?\u00a0 Well, Daniel and his three friends are not just describing this time period prophetically, but are describing it ethically because they function as role models, which is a study that I think we need to understand because we find ourselves as God\u2019s people living in the devil\u2019s world in much the same boat, don\u2019t we.\n\n \n\nThe book of Daniel, as you know, has two parts; chapters 1-7 is the historical section; the prophetic is coming, not today, but chapters 8-12.\u00a0 We\u2019re in that historical section, we\u2019ve made our way out of chapter 1 where the setting has been laid for us, the foundation.\u00a0 It\u2019s a description of where Israel was and what had happened to them.\n\n \n\nAnd then we moved into chapters 2-7 which, as we mentioned before it\u2019s organized in what is called a chiasm where chapter 2, the information or the themes are restated in chapter 7.\u00a0 And you move internally and what you read in chapter 3 you say wait a minute, that\u2019s also in chapter 6.\u00a0 And then moving into the middle of the chiasm, chapters 4 and 5 largely have the same themes.\u00a0 I\u2019ll make reference to this more as we go through it but it\u2019s just a handy device, a literary pattern.\u00a0 This is the section written not in Hebrew; most of your Old Testament is written in Hebrew, this is one of those rare sections that\u2019s written in Aramaic.\u00a0 So God, I believe, in this section is sending a message, not to His own people only but to the surrounding Gentile nations that you think you\u2019re in charge but you really aren\u2019t in charge.\u00a0 It\u2019s just an illusion; you know, control is just an illusion isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 We think we\u2019re in control, in reality we\u2019re not in control of hardly anything.\u00a0 And this is why we have to walk in humble dependence upon our God.\n\n \n\nChapter 2 is the giant statue that Daniel interpreted and then chapter 3, the scenario shifts from Daniel to the three friends that entered with him into Babylonian captivity; their Babylonian names as you probably know are Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego.\u00a0 \u00a0We have seen the setting, verses 1-7; we saw that last week.\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar, and there\u2019s different reasons as to why he did this (which we talked about last time) but the bottom line is he set up a giant image.\u00a0 It probably spanned about eight stories in height, and it was nine feet wide, made out of pure gold.\n\n \n\nAnd he demanded, verses 4-6, that everyone in the kingdom, the prophets of Babylon, bow down to this image.\u00a0 This, of course, creates a bit problem for people that don\u2019t share Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s world view.\u00a0 It creates a big problem for Daniel and his three friends because as devout Jews there\u2019s two commandments in the Decalogue, aren\u2019t there?\u00a0 The first two, no graven images and no other gods before Me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And yet we studied last time that the purpose of government is something that God Himself ordained. Would you rather have a corrupt government or no government?\u00a0 I\u2019ll take the corrupt government, because if there\u2019s no government there\u2019s virtually no restraint left on man\u2019s sin nature, because government bears the sword, and you would quickly have a world that existed prior to the flood where violence swept the face of the earth.\n\n \n\nSo government is something that we\u2019re to pray for; government is something, an empathy we\u2019re to respect.\u00a0 We\u2019re to pay our taxes.\u00a0 And yet what do you do when your government begins to coerce you against your own biblical conviction?\u00a0 This is the scenario that Daniel and his three friends are finding themselves in and frankly this is a scenario in which most of the Christian world today is suffering under.\u00a0 In the\u00a0 United States of America we\u2019ve enjoyed, for the past 200 years, sort of a bubble of abnormality.\u00a0 The freedoms that we enjoy, even the freedom today to peaceably assemble and worship as we wish, where we don\u2019t have to worry about government agents kicking down the door, that is something that\u2019s a rare gift in the history of mankind.\u00a0 Most of the world\u2019s Christian population doesn\u2019t enjoy this.\n\n \n\nAnd so Daniel (because they\u2019re outside of their homeland) and his three friends are having to think about, perhaps for the very first time, what do you do when government, a God-ordained institution, begins to coerce you against what the Bible clearly says?\u00a0 You know, some of you might be in a work environment where your boss is having you do things or say things or record things or write things that you know in your heart of hearts is not right and yet the Bible tells you to honor those that are in positions of authority over you. What do you do then?\n\n \n\nAnd what we discover is now that Daniel and his three friends are in this place called Babylon, where their worldview is not shared, the Bible starts to open and address the issue of civil disobedience.\u00a0 As we look at this chiasm, it\u2019s a theme in chapter 3 and it\u2019s a theme in chapter 6.\u00a0 Chapter 3 involves Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in this fiery furnace, as we\u2019ll see.\u00a0 Chapter 6, which we will get to at some point, is the well-know story of Daniel in the lion\u2019s den, but it\u2019s the same theme, the same very difficult subject of civil disobedience.\u00a0 People say well I\u2019m glad we\u2019re in America, we don\u2019t have to worry about stuff like this.\n\n \n\nI shared this newspaper clipping with you last time.\u00a0 Jack Phillips is a baker who declined to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple because his Christian belief is that marriage exists only between a man and woman. Now a Colorado judge has ordered him to bake cakes for same-sex marriages, and if Phillips refuses, he could go to jail.\u201d\u00a0 If I were to read newspaper clipping after newspaper clipping resounding this same theme we would be here, probably until tomorrow.\u00a0 These are literal and real stories that are breaking out all over the country. \u00a0So what do we do?\u00a0 The Bible says submit to those that are in authority over you but what do you do when the authority structure itself becomes what I would call tyrannical, it begins to coerce you against your convictions, a scenario that most of the Christian world has lived in for the last 2000 years, going all the way back to apostolic times.\n\n \n\nMany people labor under the misconception\u00a0 that the biblical position is you submit to government no matter what.\u00a0 That is not the biblical position.\u00a0 Peter, when confronted with this very issue, as he was dealing with the Sanhedrin, in Acts 5:27-29 specifically says we must obey God rather than who?\u00a0 Rather than man.\u00a0 [Acts 5:27-29, \u201cWhen they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, [28] saying, \u2018We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man\u2019s blood upon us.\u2019 [29] But Peter and the apostles answered, \u2018We must obey God rather than men.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 There starts to develop, and you see it very clearly here in Daniel 3, Daniel 6, Acts 5,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and many other passages I could quote, this issue, this reality of civil disobedience under certain parameters it becomes acceptable to disobey the government.\n\n \n\nSo the setting quickly moves into what\u2019s called an accusation.\u00a0 We studied the accusation last time, chapter 3, verses 8-12.\u00a0 Largely what\u2019s motivating the accusation, I believe, is jealousy.\u00a0 These three youths, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, had become popular, or should I say prominent in Babylon.\u00a0 Chapter 3, verse 12 seems to indicate that.\u00a0 [Daniel 3:8-12, \u201cFor this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. [9] They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: \u2018O king, live forever! [10] You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. [11] But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. [12] There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely<\/em> Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.\u201d]\n\n \n\nAnd whenever you begin to rise through the ranks what you have to start looking for is people that want to shoot you down.\u00a0 And this is always a frustrating thing because as God prospers you, you start to think I\u2019m in the will of God, what could go wrong, and all of a suddenly you find you\u2019ve got a bunch of critics that you didn\u2019t count on.\u00a0 And the reason for that is God\u2019s work in\u00a0 your life is exposing the lack of God\u2019s work in their lives.\u00a0 And so sometimes your own Christian brothers and sisters, sometimes your own family can start to become perturbed by the fact that you are progressing and growing into that vessel that God has for us.\n\n \n\nCriticism is not necessarily the sign that you\u2019re on the wrong path; it could be very much a sign that you\u2019re on the right path.\u00a0 And this\u00a0 is what Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego are experiencing.\u00a0 And they simply cannot compromise on this issue; they can\u2019t bow down to a statue because of Jewish monotheism.\u00a0 There is but one God.\u00a0 To violate that would be to violate the first two commandments in the Decalogue, going back to Exodus 20 and verses 1-6.\n\n[Exodus 20:1-6, \u201cThen God spoke all these words, saying,\u00a0 [2] \u2018I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.\u00a0 [3] \u201cYou shall have no other gods before Me.\u00a0 [4] You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. [5] You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, [6] but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.\u201d]\n\n \n\nNow we have today\u00a0 people who have almost devoted their whole lives to tearing down the Bible.\u00a0 They try to find every possible error in the Bible, every possible inconsistency.\u00a0 It reminds me of W.C. Fields, who was getting ready to die, and he was not known for his godliness and so everybody was shocked at the end of his life that he was reading the Bible.\u00a0 And people asked him, well, what are you doing with that?\u00a0 And his response was I\u2019m looking for loopholes.\u00a0 In other words, this Bible sits in judgment on me and I\u2019m trying to figure out a way to dismiss its authority.\u00a0 People are like that with the Bible.\u00a0 They\u2019re not like this with William Shakespeare; they\u2019re not like this with any other classical writer but they\u2019re always trying to tear down the Bible.\u00a0 In fact, they run entire television broadcast trying to tear down the Bible, largely because the Bible is an authority based book that claims authority over a person\u2019s life.\u00a0 William Shakespeare does not do that.\n\n \n\nSo the name of the game in the minds of many people is to discredit the Bible.\u00a0 One of the things that they\u2019ll say here is this book is a forgery. Well how do we know that?\u00a0 Well, wasn\u2019t Daniel in the province of Babylon at this time?\u00a0 Yes he was.\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s no record here of Daniel resisting authority as Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego had done so obviously the book of Daniel is just a fiction; it\u2019s a set of fairy tales just like you would ready Jack and the Beanstalk<\/em> because we all know that if this decree was really issued that Daniel himself would be under pressure, and yet there\u2019s no record of that in chapter 3, only his three friends.\n\n \n\nAnd I hear a criticism like that and I always say is that the best you\u2019ve got?\u00a0 Because to me that has a very simple answer; when you go back to Daniel 2:48-49 it talks about the promotion, not just of Daniel but of Daniel\u2019s three friends, after Daniel successfully interpreted this statue in Daniel 2.\u00a0 It says, you\u2019ll recall, \u201cThen the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.\u201d\u00a0 Then it says later on, verse 49,\u00a0 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were given authority over the administration of the province of Babylon,\u201d and then at the very end of verse 49 it says Daniel remained in the king\u2019s court. [49, \u201cAnd Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon, while Daniel was at the king's court.\u201d]\n\n \n\nIt\u2019s very clear here that Daniel was elevated into a very high position.\u00a0 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were elevated into high positions as well but they had more to do with not the whole province of Babylon but administrative roles. So is it not possible that Daniel, in a different position, could have been out of the country, out of the nation as we would say doing the king\u2019s business?\u00a0 Is it at least possible?\u00a0 Of course it\u2019s possible.\u00a0 Then objection overruled.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t anything in that to discredit Daniel 3 as somehow being a factious writing, forgery and the like.\n\n \n\nAnd again, I bring this to your attention because these are the questions you\u2019re going to face from your children and your grandchildren who are on You Tube, Facebook, watching A and E, The History Channel, Mysteries of the Bible, all of those shows by and large, I know there\u2019s some good shows but by and large you run into this mindset of constantly tearing down the Scripture.\u00a0 And so many times we, as Christians, are not equipped with very simple answers to these things.\u00a0 And so part of my job, I believe, as a pastor-teacher is to equip you for these thing that you\u2019ll face regularly.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I bring up these apologetic issues when they\u2019re relevant.\n\n \n\nBut the accusation now moves into an actual test and notice if you will verses 13-15 of Daniel 3. \u201cThen Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego; then these men were brought before the king. [14] Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, \u2018Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods\u201d plural, \u201cor worship the golden image that I have set up? [15] Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the\u201d and here are all of these musical instruments that I have a difficult time pronouncing and it\u2019s frustrating because it keeps repeating them, but the \u201chorn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well.<\/em> But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire;\u201d now notice the end of verse 15, \u201cand what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?\u201d\u2019\n\n \n\nWell, Nebuchadnezzar, you\u2019re about to find out.\u00a0 What you see in this man, Nebuchadnezzar, is a challenging of the authority of God.\u00a0 I believe that this challenging over the authority of God is actually something that he did right at the beginning of the book of Daniel because you\u2019ll recall in Daniel 1:6-7 that the four youths, including Daniel, had very godly names.\u00a0 [Daniel 1:6-7, \u201cNow among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. [7] Then the commander of the officials assigned new<\/em> names to them; and to Daniel he assigned the name<\/em> Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-nego.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 Those names reveal a great deal about their heritage and the type of godly parenting that they received before the captivity even started.\n\n \n\nAnd by the way, that\u2019s the time to fortify your kids, before the captivity starts, before they\u2019re off in college or the work place where their faith is going to be challenged.\u00a0 It\u2019s so important for parents to instill, not just through verbal teaching but through role modeling what Christianity is all about because they\u2019re going off into hostility.\u00a0 The United States of America is different today than the country I grew I up in, and we have to understand that our children, our grandchildren, are facing obstacles and challenges that we never dreamed of as youths.\u00a0 And how important it is to take those few moments that God allows us to have them under our home, under our nest to fortify them in the things of God.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019re doing that.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019re doing it as preventive maintenance because that is your biblical assignment,\n\n \n\nDeuteronomy 6:6-7 talks about it. Proverbs 22:6, and many other passages.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 6:6-7, \u201cThese words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. [7] \u201cYou shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.\u201d\u00a0 Proverbs 22:6, \u201cTrain up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.\u201d]\n\n \n\nBut Nebuchadnezzar comes in, chapter 1, and he renames these youths; he gives them names that don\u2019t respect the God of the Bible but he gives them names that respect the Babylonian pantheon.\u00a0 And naming in the Bible is a big deal as I\u2019ve tried to explain back in chapter 1; it\u2019s a sign of authority.\u00a0 This is why Adam was given permission to name the animals that God brought to him in Eden because Adam was given authority over those animals.\u00a0 And so when Nebuchadnezzar comes in and he renames these individuals, right at the beginning, chapter 1, he just challenged the authority of God.\n\n \n\nAnd as you go to Daniel 3:15 he is challenging the authority of God yet again; what God is there that can help you if you don\u2019t worship my image and you\u2019re cast into this fire.\u00a0 [Daniel 3:15, \u201cNow if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?\u201d]\n\n \n\nThis man, Nebuchadnezzar, maybe he sounds like a boss you worked for, hopefully no one on staff here at Sugar Land Bible Church thinks that way.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to me, and I believe there\u2019s a case to be made for this in Daniel 4, I believe Nebuchadnezzar came to (eventually) a saving knowledge of God.\u00a0 I\u2019ll make that case when we finally get to chapter 4, not today of course.\u00a0 But it is interesting to me that the people that are the most aggressive, most critical, most assertive antagonists against Christian are oftentimes the very people that are closest to conversion.\u00a0\u00a0 Why are they so antagonistic?\u00a0 Because the Spirit, through conviction\u2026 did not Jesus say when the Spirit comes He will convict the world, John 16:7-11, of sin, righteousness and judgment.\n\n \n\n[John 16:7-11, \u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. [8] And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; [10] and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; [11] and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.\u201d]\n\n \n\nIf there\u2019s something that the unsaved mind doesn\u2019t like it\u2019s coming under the conviction of God.\u00a0 And oftentimes those under conviction are the most angry at you, at me.\u00a0 And we have a tendency to look at these people and say they\u2019re so far away from God when in reality the opposite might be true.\u00a0 And I say that because many of you are in circumstances at work or family where people are just angry, you\u2019re not trying to provoke them, they\u2019re just mad at you because of your Bible and your Christian beliefs.\u00a0 The very subject of spiritual things seems to cause a schism, constantly.\u00a0 You should actually take heart in that circumstance because God is at work in these people in ways that we don\u2019t really understand.\n\n \n\nA person I worry about is not the angry person but the objective non-responsive type person, where you talk about Jesus as the only way to salvation and if they don\u2019t trust Christ they\u2019re going to hell and they say well, I\u2019m glad you found enlightenment in your guru, and they just calmly brush it off.\u00a0 That\u2019s the person I\u2019m concerned about because there\u2019s no work of God going on, there\u2019s no conviction.\u00a0 But the person that\u2019s upset and overreacting, that\u2019s a person that God is doing something in. You take Saul of Tarsus, Acts 8:1-3, \u201cSaul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death\u201d (that\u2019s Stephen), \u201cAnd on that day a great persecution began against the church of Jerusalem and they were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles.\u201d This is the first formal wave of persecution that has come against the infant church launched by Saul of Tarsus.\u00a0 [Acts 8:2<\/a>, \u201cSome<\/em> devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.]\u00a0 Acts 8:3 says, \u201cBut Saul began<\/em> ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.\u201d\n\n \n\nAnd you look at a guy like that and you think he\u2019d never get saved; look at his attitude.\u00a0 And yet what happened in chapter 9?\u00a0 What I just read is in chapter 8 of Acts; chapter 9 is his conversion.\u00a0 I believe this, that the Lord, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, was at work in Saul of Tarsus\u2019 life long before he got saved.\u00a0 And the very testimony of Christianity or the work of the church was something that made him fly into a rage.\u00a0 He seemed so far from Christ and yet in reality he was within a chapter, within a millimeter of conversion.\n\n \n\nYou\u2019ll notice the response here of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego as this edict is coming down.\u00a0 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, verse 16-18 says, \u201cShadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, \u2018O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.\u00a0 [17] If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.\u201d\u00a0 Look at this, [18] \u201cBut even if He does not,\u201d did you catch that, \u201cBut even if He does not,\u00a0 let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods\u201d plural \u201cor worship the golden image that you have set up.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 God can deliver us, we\u2019ve made a decision we\u2019re not going to worship that image; God can deliver us, verse 17, but maybe, verse 18, He won\u2019t deliver us, either way we\u2019re not going to violate the first two commandments in the Decalogue.\n\nThe book of Hebrews is really an interesting book, particularly chapter 11. It talks there about the great victories of people that walked with God.\u00a0 I mean, God is doing miracles on behalf of people related to the walls of Jericho, and a number of miracles are recorded, and verse 35 of chapter 11 says, \u201cWomen received back their dead\u201d and we say right on, \u201cby resurrection;\u201d and then all of a sudden you get right there into the first part of verse 35 of Hebrews 11 and the whole tenor changes, I kind of wish the chapter ended there, but it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 It goes on and it says, \u201cand others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;\u2019 [36] and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.\u201d\u00a0 And it goes on and it describes people that were put to death, that were tormented, that were tortured because of their stand for God.\u00a0 And there\u2019s all these victories recorded.\n\n[Hebrews 11:37, \u201cThey were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated [38] (men<\/em> of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.\u00a0 [39] And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, [40] because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.\u201d]\n\nAnd I\u2019m so happy verse 35 switches the tone because it teaches us very clearly that yes, God does deliver from a human point of view and can deliver but the bottom line is we continue to walk with God regardless of what He does.\u00a0 The victory belong to Him, whether it\u2019s deliverance or martyrdom it\u2019s up to God.\u00a0 We love the stories of people who stand up for God in their workplace and they\u2019re promoted.\u00a0 What about the people that stand up for God in their workplace and get demoted or get fired and exist months and months and years and years of no employment?\u00a0 We have a tendency to tune that latter part of it out; it doesn\u2019t fit the American definition of success, does it?\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019m so grateful that he says here we\u2019re going to stand for God and God can deliver us but even if He does not we\u2019re still going to stand for God.\n\nWhat a great role model for how to live for God in troubled times.\u00a0 God can heal the cancer, God can help me survive the layoff, God can solve the conflict in my family which is being caused because of my stand for Christ, but you know what, I\u2019m going to stand for Christ even if He doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 That\u2019s how the Jews are to live during this difficult time called the times of the Gentiles.\n\nAnd people say well, doesn\u2019t the Bible teach unlimited submission to the government?\u00a0 Let me ask you a question; a wife is supposed to submit to her husband; does that mean that the husband can abuse her any way he wants to, let\u2019s say it\u2019s a physical abuse, is she supposed to just sit there like a doormat and take it because the Bible says \u201cwives submit to your husbands.\u201d\u00a0 No counselor in their right mind would give such advice.\u00a0 And yet many people with the institution of government have this view that no matter what the government does, no matter what the government says you have to always submit because government is a God-ordained institution.\n\nWhat we\u2019re seeing here is not true; the Bible never teaches unlimited submission, unlimited compliance.\u00a0 Generally submission is a good thing but there reaches a point where the government, or an abusive husband for that matter, goes too far.\u00a0 And this is clearly brought out here in chapter 3 and chapter 6, and this is where the subject of civil disobedience, you have to start thinking about it.\u00a0 You remember last time I gave you what I would consider to be the four principles of civil disobedience?\u00a0 When is it right to tell the government no?\u00a0 I have four general principles that I shared with you.\n\nNumber 1, there has to be a clear conflict between the laws of man and the laws of God.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be a matter of not liking someone\u2019s personality, not liking someone\u2019s temperament, not voting for somebody so I don\u2019t have to submit to them, some kind of minor disagreement.\u00a0 There\u2019s got to be something crystal clear here, there has to be a collision. We see that collision very clearly here because Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego are told specifically to do something that God has forbade.\n\nSecondly, there must be an exhaustion of all creative legal remedies and what I mean by that is civil disobedience is a last resort and not a first resort.\u00a0 We\u2019re living in this time period of civil disobed\u00adience and protests and\u00a0 people getting angry because they don\u2019t like this and don\u2019t like that.\u00a0 And people are sort of rabble rousers, antiauthoritarian, and that\u2019s not the biblical position. We\u2019re not that way as Christians.\u00a0 Paul says as long as it is possible be at peace with all men.\u00a0 We don\u2019t use civil disobedience as a first resort; we use it as a last resort.\u00a0 We use it when there\u2019s no other option.\u00a0 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego had no other option.\n\nNumber three, we have to be willing to pay the consequences.\u00a0\u00a0 The blood of Jesus keeps you out of hell, praise the Lord for that; it doesn\u2019t remove temporal consequences of sin necessarily.\u00a0 A person who drinks their whole life and wrecks their liver and trusts in Christ for salvation is not guaranteed a new liver (this side of eternity anyway).\u00a0\u00a0 The next time you\u2019re pulled over by the police officer try this one out: well, gee officer, Romans 8:1 says there\u2019s no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.\u00a0 It\u2019s not going to get you very far, is it?\n\nAnd then most importantly, number four, as the act of civil disobedience is taking place respect must be maintained for the authority structure.\u00a0 So let\u2019s run it through the grid here.\u00a0 How are Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego doing?\u00a0 Number 1, is there a clear conflict between man\u2019s law and God\u2019s law?\u00a0 Clearly, you see that in verse 14. [Daniel 3:14, \u201cNebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, \u2018Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?\u201d\u2019]\n\nNumber 2, has there been an exhaustion of all creative legal remedies?\u00a0 I think that\u2019s been satisfied.\u00a0 There\u2019s no other option for them here.\n\nNumber 3, are they willing to pay the consequences?\u00a0 I think they are because in verse 18 it says \u201ceven if He does not\u201d come through and deliver us.\u00a0 [Daniel 3:18, \u201cBut even<\/em> if He does<\/em> not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.\u201d]\n\nAnd finally number 4, notice this, this is often missed by commentators, as civil disobedience is taking place there is still respect for the God-given institution of government.\u00a0 You\u2019ll\u00a0 notice in verse 16 they refer to the king respectively as \u201cO Nebuchadnezzar\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [16, \u201cShadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, \u201cO Nebuchadnezzar\u2026.\u201d]\u00a0 You drop down to verse 18 there\u2019s a reverential respect for his title, \u201cO King.\u201d\u00a0 [18, \u201c\u2026and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.\u201d]\n\nYou know it\u2019s interesting when you study the crucifixion of Jesus, right to the very final hours where Jesus was before Pilate, you find Jesus doing the same thing; He\u2019s not resulting to sarcasm, derogatory statements, demeaning the person in authority.\u00a0 There\u2019s always this high level of respect even when the authority figures go too far.\n\nThis is one of the concerns I have with so-called alternative media, rightwing media, leftwing media, social media, Facebook, pictures; I\u2019ve been guilty of this probably just as bad as anybody but the fact of the matter is when we disagree sometimes our disagreement borders on disrespect.\u00a0 Sometimes we result to ridicule, sarcasm, in advocating what is a legitimate disagreement and that ought not to be the Christian\u2019s approach to this.\u00a0 Civil disobedience becomes an option, being rude, being obnoxious, being crude, being divisive unnecessarily, being derogatory, being sarcastic, that\u2019s not something that God has ever ordained or sanctioned.\n\nIn fact, what did Paul say when he was talking about the institution of human government in Romans 13:7, \u201cRender to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear;\u201d and notice the end of verse 7 of\u00a0 Romans 13, \u201cif honor to whom honor.\u201d\u00a0 Every God-ordained government in the world deserves basic respect regardless on what they do because they are an institution that God has set up.\u00a0 Can the government go too far?\u00a0 Of course it can but there should always be in the attitude of the Christian a desire to respect, to pray for, to uphold, to subsidize something that God established, as we saw last time, going all the way back to the Noahic Covenant, Genesis chapter 9.\u00a0 Important things for us to think about in our time period.\n\nWe continue on and we see the deliverance.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, verses 19-23, \u201cThen Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. [20] He commanded certain valiant warriors who were<\/em> in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them<\/em> into the furnace of blazing fire. [21] Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps and their other<\/em> clothes, and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. [22] For this reason, because the king\u2019s command was<\/em> urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. [23] But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still<\/em> tied up.\u201d\n\nThis business here of throwing people into fire is consistent with what we read elsewhere in the Bible concerning Nebuchadnezzar.\u00a0 In Jeremiah 29:22-23, written around the same general time period, a little earlier, it talks about two prophets whom the king of Babylon, that would be Nebuchadnezzar, roasted in the fire.\u00a0 [Jeremiah 29:22-23, \u201c\u2018Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, \u2018May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, [23] because they have acted foolishly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who knows and am a witness,\" declares the LORD.\u2019\u201d]\u00a0 Apparently this is how Nebuchadnezzar did things.\n\nJohn Walvoord in his Daniel commentary writes this, \u201cHis pride, having been severely punctured, so he gave the foolish order to overheat the furnace, as if this would increase the torment.\u00a0 Actually a slower fire would have been far more torture.\u00a0 Even Nebuchadnezzar, in his irrational anger wanted the furnace to be as hot as his rage.\u00a0 The fact that Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to be tied up by the strongest men in his army also reveals the irrationality of the king\u2019s fury as if there would have been a breaking of the ropes and escape if ordinary soldiers had tied them up.\u00a0 The king did not even take the time to have the condemned men stripped of their clothes, which actually would have been normal in the ancient world.\u201d\n\nIsn\u2019t it interesting that anger and being in a state of anger causes us to act in strange and irrational ways?\u00a0 That is something that my father always instilled in me, is anger itself is sort of a form of temporary insanity.\u00a0 I know that I say things and I do things that I wish I had never said when I\u2019m in a state of anger.\u00a0 And sadly today on social media you can say something in anger and then it\u2019s enshrined for everybody to see (in a database somewhere) where you can\u2019t escape your own words.\n\nThat\u2019s why the Scripture talks over and over again about controlling our anger.\u00a0 Proverbs 16:32 says, \u201cHe who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.\u201d\u00a0 Greater than somebody that conquers a city is someone that can control themselves in terms of their emotional impulses.\u00a0 I guess the fancy word for this today is impulse control.\u00a0 How many people have done things in anger that they wish they could take back?\u00a0 How many words have been said in anger that they wish they could take back?\u00a0 I remember in my basketball days there was a basketball player; he missed a routine layup and he was so angry that he went to the side of the court and he banged his head against the wall and sadly he spent the rest of his life paralyzed from the neck down because of one moment of anger.\u00a0 I would argue that Moses, I don\u2019t blame him actually because I can see how upset he got with these people but he had a moment of anger I believe and he was forbade from entering Canaan.\n\nEphesians 4:26 says, \u201cdo not let the sun go down on your anger,\u201d I read that the first time and I said okay, I\u2019m going to move to Alaska then.\u00a0 But the fact of the matter is we\u2019re not to dwell, we\u2019re not to stew, we\u2019re not to entertain thoughts of revenge; we\u2019re to turn people over to the Lord, forgiving them as God has forgiven who?\u00a0 Forgiven us.\n\nIf you\u2019re struggling with anger the best solution for it is the grace of God.\u00a0 We treat others, not with justice, but with grace.\u00a0 Well why should we do that?\u00a0 How has God treated us?\u00a0 Not with justice but with what?\u00a0 Grace.\u00a0 You start living that way you\u2019ll watch the level of anger and resentment in your life, because all of us have been hurt unfairly, it\u2019s part of living in a fallen world, you\u2019ll watch the level of anger disappear.\u00a0 I think your best counseling advice comes right from the Scripture.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And God doesn\u2019t want us in the state of anger because of the irrational actions that we engage in, this temporary insanity that comes over us.\n\nAnd then we get to the heart of it all, verses 24-25.\u00a0 This is the protection of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, something that was not guaranteed but look at what God does.\u00a0 \u201cThen Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, \u2018Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?\u2019 They replied to the king, \u2018Certainly, O king.\u2019\u00a0 [25] He said, \u2018Look! I see four men loosed and<\/em> walking about<\/em> in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the<\/em> gods!\u2019\u201d\n\nAs I mentioned earlier the title of this message is The Fourth Man in the Fire. Who is that fourth man?\u00a0 Well, many would argue that this is what is called a Theophany, sometimes it\u2019s called a Christophany, which is a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 There are times in the Bible where the Lord Himself appears before the incarnation.\u00a0 Jesus, the Second Member of the Trinity appears.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the Gospel of John talks about Abraham, John 8, saw my day and was glad.\u00a0 [John 8:56, \u201c\u2018Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.\u201d]\u00a0 How do I know that there are examples where, what\u2019s called \u201cthe angel of the Lord\u201d is Jesus?\u00a0 Well, I know that because in the case of John 5:13-15 where an angel of the Lord appears and people begin to worship the angel the angel receives the worship.\n\n[John 5:13-15, \u201cBut the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that<\/em> place. [14] Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, \u201cBehold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.\u201d [15] The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.\u201d]\n\nAn actual angel of God will never receive worship.\u00a0 Revelation 19:10, John says, \u201cThen I fell at his feet to worship him. But he\u201d that\u2019s the angel, \u201csaid to me, \u2018Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 The angel says knock it off.\u00a0 The same thing happens to John, he didn\u2019t learn his lesson apparently, he worshiped the angel again, Revelation 22:8-9.\n\n[Revelation 22:8-9, \u201cI, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. [9] But he said to me, \u2018Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.\u201d\u2019]\n\nWhy will a true angel never receive worship?\u00a0 Because, Matthew 4:10, \u201c\u2018YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM\u201d what? \u201cONLY.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 An angel that\u2019s an actual angel, and we know that there are myriads of angels, never receives worship; always deflects it.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet you have this peculiar occurrence in Joshua 5 where an angel of the Lord appears as the children of Israel are entering the Promised Land and the Israelites, Joshua, worshiped this angel and the angel never deflects it.\n\n[Joshua 5:13-15, \u201cNow it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, \u201cAre you for us or for our adversaries?\u201d [14] He said, \u201cNo; rather I indeed come now as<\/em> captain of the host of the LORD.\u201d And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, \u201cWhat has my lord to say to his servant?\u201d [15] The captain of the LORD\u2019S host said to Joshua, \u201cRemove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.\u201d And Joshua did so.\u201d]\n\nI think what\u2019s happening in Joshua 5 is a theophany, a Christophany, a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 I don\u2019t deny that this happens in the Bible.\u00a0 In fact if you want a very good book on it I recommend the book by Dr. Ron Rhodes, entitled Jesus Before the Manger<\/em>.\u00a0 He\u2019ll show you every time that Jesus shows up in the Old Testament, prior to the incarnation.\u00a0 And that makes for some great preaching, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 This is the Jesus, this is the fourth man in the fire.\u00a0 I don\u2019t mean to rain on anybody\u2019s parade though, I don\u2019t think this is Jesus.\u00a0 Let me give you some reasons why I don\u2019t think this is Jesus.\u00a0 If you look at Daniel 3:25 it says, Nebuchadnezzar says, \u201cthe fourth is like a son of the gods!\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t call him the son of God.\u00a0\u00a0 [\u201cHe said, \u2018Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!\u2019\u201d]\n\nRemember the chiasm, everything in Daniel 3 is repeated in Daniel 6.\u00a0 Who rescues Daniel in the lion\u2019s den in Daniel 6:22?\u00a0 It says, \u201cMy God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 [Daniel 6:22, \u201cMy God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.\u2019\u201d]\n\nIf you drop down to Daniel 3:28, \u201cNebuchadnezzar responded and said, \u2018Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants [who put their trust in Him, violating the king\u2019s command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.]\u201d\u00a0 In fact, the book of Daniel talks about this angel, doesn\u2019t it, because in Daniel 12:1 we learn that there is a special angel named Michael who exists to stand guard over the sons of\u00a0 your people.\u00a0 [Daniel 12:1, \u201cNow at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.\u201d]\n\nThis is an angel that\u2019s a sign to Israel.\u00a0 How is it that the Jewish nation and the Jewish people have survived all of these centuries and millennia in various places in spite of great persecution?\u00a0 I think Michael has a lot to do with it.\n\nThere are angels protecting you in your life.\u00a0 Did you know that?\u00a0 Hebrews 1:14, of angels says this: \u201cAre they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?\u201d\u00a0 Their job is to help you, to assist you.\u00a0 You say well, I don\u2019t like that sermon, I like it better with Jesus.\u00a0 Okay, fine, you can believe it\u2019s Jesus and I\u2019ll believe it\u2019s Michael the archangel and we\u2019ll still be friends at the end of the day.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if this is something we need to go out and start a new church over.\u00a0 But whether you think it\u2019s Jesus or whether you think it\u2019s Michael the archangel here\u2019s something we can agree on.\u00a0 You ready for this?\u00a0 God is faithful!\u00a0 I can\u2019t prove this but I have a tendency to think that this was the prophecy that was being sung or rehearsed by Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego as they were hurled into this furnace.\u00a0 It\u2019s from an earlier prophet, pre-exilic prophet named Isaiah.\u00a0 Isaiah 43:2 says, \u201cWhen you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.\u201d\n\nI know this much, I don\u2019t know everything there is to know about God but I know this much, that God is faithful.\u00a0 God is faithful to me when I\u2019m unfaithful to Him. Proverbs 18:24 says, \u201cA man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 27:10, David writes, \u201cFor my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the LORD will take me up.\u201d\u00a0 Matthew 28:20, Jesus says I am with you most of the time\u2026 it doesn\u2019t say that, does it. \u201c\u2026I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u201d\u00a0 Hebrews 13:5 says, \u201c\u2026for He Himself has said, \u2018I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU.\u2019\u201d\n\nI think this, that when Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego went into that fire they cognitively knew of the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 I bet you if they were to be given a test by their Sunday School teacher they would get the answer right that God is faithful.\u00a0 And when they came out the other side of that fire they no longer had an intellectual understanding of the faithfulness of God, now it was experi\u00adential.\u00a0 And this is why I believe God sends\u00a0 us through problems, sends us into circumstances where you have no one to count on but God, and God shows up!\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t any longer have a Sunday School doctrinal understanding of the faithfulness of God; now it\u2019s something you\u2019ve actually experienced.\u00a0 It\u2019s a different way of looking at trials, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0\u00a0 Do you praise the Lord for your trials, because now God can show up in your life.\u00a0 We don\u2019t actually do that.\n\nThere have been so many circumstances where the Lord has, shall I say, bailed me out.\u00a0 I could just go on and on describing these things.\u00a0 I remember when I was at Dallas Seminary taking my comprehensive tests; (this is an actual story that happened), they give you this written test and then they give you this oral test and it\u2019s always an intimidating time for a doctoral student because you don\u2019t know who your professors are going to be on the oral test, you don\u2019t even know what questions they\u2019re going to ask.\u00a0 And so they\u2019re in this room with you for about two hours asking you questions.\u00a0 And then\u00a0 you leave the room and then you\u2019re invited back into the room and they say you passed or you didn\u2019t pass.\n\nAnd there\u2019s such a breadth of information that you have to have your fingers on to answer these questions, and the night before the test I\u2019m saying to my wife, I don\u2019t know, tomorrow will be interesting.\u00a0 I was diligent, I had studied, but there was that anxiety.\u00a0 And this was not an audible voice at all, it was just a conviction that I should study the book of Numbers\u2026 the book of Numbers?\u00a0 What\u2019s that all about again.\u00a0 I went back, I didn\u2019t re-read the whole book, I just refreshed myself with the outline.\u00a0 I spent maybe 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes going back over the book of Numbers, some things that I had forgotten. So I get up the next day, I go into the test and in the room comes Dr. Allen, who wrote a commentary on the book of Numbers.\u00a0 And this is what he said; he was my first questioner; he walks in and he says you know, I was driving into work today and it came to my mind that I haven\u2019t asked any students questions all week long on the book of Numbers, so if it\u2019s all right with you (and I had no choice in the matter, I just said \u201cYes Sir\u201d) I\u2019m going to spend my whole half hour with you on the book of Numbers.\u00a0 Fortunately I was able to answer not all but most of his questions.\u00a0 And he got very specific in his questions.\n\nThat\u2019s a God thing.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have any corner on God.\u00a0 The same God\u2019s that with me is the same God that\u2019s with you and these are the things that will start to show up in your life when we become sensitive to the fact that God has put me into this circumstance so His faithfulness can be demon\u00adstrated.\u00a0 God does not want us to just have a head filled with knowledge about the faithfulness of God; He wants it to be experiential.\u00a0 He wants it to be part of our walk, He wants it to be part of our life, so when you have an opportunity to testify about the faithfulness of God you\u2019re not just rolling off data from your mind.\u00a0 What power is there in a testimony like that?\u00a0 Just throwing verses at people?\u00a0 But when the verse becomes incarnational and you\u2019ve experienced the faithfulness of God that\u2019s something people will listen to.\u00a0 That\u2019s something that will get their attention.\n\nI would submit that that process is probably happening in your life right now and yet you\u2019re upset at God because what am I doing in this valley again?\u00a0 You haven\u2019t learned your lesson.\u00a0\u00a0 You can\u2019t control the trials that come into your life, by and large.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have a lot of control over that.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what you do have control over\u2014your reaction to those trials, your openness to the leading of the Spirit in the midst of those trials.\u00a0 In the valley rather than getting angry at God we should say well, there must be a teaching moment here for me.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the book of James tells us to do something counter intuitive; he says, \u201cConsider it\u201d what? \u201call joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials.\u201d\n\nWe go down to verses 26-27 and we\u2019ll most likely stop here.\u00a0 The Hebrew youths are summoned out of the fire.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThen Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, \u2018Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here!\u2019 Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego came out of the midst of the fire.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 27, \u201cThe satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.\u201d\n\nNebuchadnezzar violated protocol, I believe, by thrusting them into this fire clothed. That\u2019s not the way it normally worked in the Ancient Near East.\u00a0 And yet Nebuchadnezzar doing something out of anger, out of irrational rage, became a testimony to God because the clothes that they were in\u2026 no smoke, no fire, not even the smell of it.\u00a0 See how in control God is, where He can take the anger of a pagan king that does irrational things out of anger and turn those things around for His glory.\u00a0 What you\u2019re seeing here is complete and total deliverance.\u00a0 What you are seeing here is an answer to the question stated by Nebuchadnezzar back in verse 13, \u201cWhat God is there who can deliver you out of my hand?\u201d\u00a0 Well, you just found out, didn\u2019t you.\n\nOne other thing on trials, have you ever stopped to think about the fact that the trial you\u2019re in is not just for you?\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s for an onlooker.\u00a0 This is something that powerfully\u2026 powerfully penetrated the heart of Nebuchadnezzar and I believe ultimately led to his conversion because this was not just a Sunday School lesson on the faithfulness of God; this was actually seeing the faithfulness of God in action.\n\nAnd let me tell you something; this statement, we use it a lot, I think it\u2019s true\u2014you are perhaps the only Bible someone ever reads.\u00a0 When you go through a problem you\u2019ve got the attention of unsaved co-workers, you\u2019ve got the attention of unsaved family members, you\u2019ve got the attention of people that have heard you talk about Jesus, now they\u2019re going to see it, is this Jesus thing real or not?\u00a0 And they are looking at your reaction, not on the mountain top but in the valley.\u00a0 And they watch you go through a fire and they watch you go through it with serenity and calmness relying upon the resources of God.\u00a0 Let me tell you, that\u2019s a pulpit.\u00a0 That is a megaphone to people.\u00a0 And we don\u2019t look at it this way, we have a tendency to look at our problems as things just for us and God might be doing something evangelistic through your trials because now the rubber hits the road\u2014does Christianity work or not!\u00a0 Is this just a bunch of religious talk or is there teeth to this?\u00a0 And when God shows up in your life the unsaved world is seeing something far more powerful than they could ever witness any other way; they\u2019re seeing a tangible, actual representation of the faithfulness of God.\u00a0 And if that won\u2019t draw them to the cross I don\u2019t know what will.\n\nI hear people say man, I wish I had a pulpit, I wish I had a platform\u2014you\u2019ve got a bigger pulpit and a bigger platform than you are even aware of.\u00a0 It\u2019s called God and His faithfulness as He walks through us, trials of life, the fourth man in the fire.\u00a0 I trust this week as you walk with God you\u2019ll draw upon His strength and His resources, Him who said \u201cI shall never leave you nor forsake you.\u201d\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for this ancient sixth century book and how it speaks directly to our lives.\u00a0 Make us people, not of just doctrinal understanding of Christianity but incarnational experience and help us to shed this light by Your grace to other people.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t