Sermon Delivered….May 19, 2019

FAITH IN THE FIRE (Daniel 3:1-30)

OPENING A. ILLUSTRATION 1. That girl is on fire! Heard that? Man, that dude is on fire! Are you on Fire? Have you been on fire? Now there were 21 people who had themselves set on fire in Cleveland Ohio. They were doing this to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the most number of people who set themselves on fire at one time. They were stuntmen and used special suits with a special gel on them so they wouldn’t be hurt. There were safety crews there with fire extinguishers but its was still a dangerous stunt. 2. Show video from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKlRt-xhDHA B. SERMON IDEA 1. Man I want to be on fire! Well, not like that. I want to be on fire for the Lord! • To be “on fire” is an idiom that means to be enthusiastic, excited, or passionate for something. • Let me ask you something—are you on fire for God? Honestly? • In this dark, broken hurting world, are you a flame for the Lord that brings light and warmth and stands contrary to the decaying culture around us. 2. Kenny Qualls said, “Being on fire for God can put you in the furnace of the world.” You get on fire for God you will feel the heat of the world.” 3. Every day as Christians we are in a showdown—will we follow the culture of this world or will we follow Christ? • Will we compromise with the culture or will we stand as a loving light of God that shows a difference because we have a real relationship with Jesus? • May God help us to be a burning flame for Him C. BACKGROUND 1. In this series, we are studying Daniel—a man who faced many showdowns with the culture around him. • He and three other men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (better known by their popular names Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) are taken captive by the Babylonians • King Nebchadnezzar conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah in 6-5 BC and took the brightest teenagers back to modern day Iraq to be part of his kingdom. • The four men we are studying faced multiple showdowns in one of the most antagonistic paganistic cultures in history. • Last week, Daniel’s faithfulness to God led to him and his three friends being upgraded to some prominent positions. • Daniel revealed a dream to Neb about the Babylonian kingdom—it won’t last. The king recognized the power of God but didn’t like the predictions. • That sets us up for this chapter.

I. WHEN WE ARE ON FIRE FOR GOD WE WILL FACE THE FURY OF THIS WORLD (vv. 1-15) A. EXPLANATION 1. Neb dedicated a new image—a nine story tall, wide feet wide image layered with gold • This was probably in response to the dream he had in last chapter. • Daniel said the head of gold was Neb but that it would collapse • Neb is a megalomaniac! This dude is all caught up on himself • We don’t know this exact location but in this desert location it probably looked like a cruise missile. • This thing is to honor himself even if its an image of marduk 2. Neb wants to test the loyalty of his leaders • All the whose who’s are invited to come. A mass of humanity especially leaders. • Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are also invited. Daniel is absent (don’t knowwhy) • Then they are given the instruction and warning: when the band starts up, you bow down and worship the idol. o If you don’t we will burn you alive in a furnace (imagine one of those at Silver Dollar City where they blow the glass or something. But its massive. o The throne on the right, the furnace on the left. Baked bricks for building. o Bow or get BBQ’d, Shake or bake. o Absolute silence as the crowd waited for the music to begin. o Then all at once, the music began: music has a way with people. § The English poet William Congreave in the 1600’s wrote that “music has the charms to soothe a savage beast.” Theologian Warren Wiersbe said, “but music also has the power to release the savage in the beast.” 3. When the music started there was a major drop to the knees from the front to the back of people (like the wave at a Cardinal game) The herd mentality of culture bowed • With just three men standing looking around at everyone. • The last couple of years there was this protest by NFL players during the national anthem. When the playing would start, there would be players and a stadium full of people standing at attention. But there were a few who were on their knees. Now I’m not condoning what they did or still do—I use it to make a point that they stood out and everyone noticed they weren’t going with the crowd. That’s kind of the picture here only it’s a lot more contrast and its not their playing time or their paychecks on the line—its their lives. 4. When you stand contrary to the herd mentality of the culture, you will face criticism. • When we don’t bow to the world, we will be looked on as criminal in this world. • These other leaders, jealous of the Hebrews—went to the King—“your boys aren’t following your instructions…YOU da king! • The king calls them in, you must have misunderstood me—you don’t mean to go along. o You will do this or it will cost you! B. ILLUSTRATION 1. On September 27, 2015, the president of the spoke at a Democratic National Committee LGBT fund-raiser. Speaking on the subject of same sex marriage, the president said, “We affirm that we cherish our religious freedom, and we are profoundly respectful of religious traditions.” So far so good. “But we also have to say that our religious freedom doesn’t grant us the freedom to deny our fellow Americans their constitutional rights.” • What’s the president saying? In the end the constitution trumps God? Should we obey the constitution over Scripture? I’d argue against the twisting interpretation of those issues in connection to the Constitution anyway. C. APPLICATION 1. There is no sitting on the fence today—when the music starts, we will bow to the world or we will stand for God. 2. Here’s the issue: Shad, Mesh, and Abed obeyed government until it said they disobey God. 3. Someone has said, “The culture isn’t the problem, its when the culture gets in the church— that’s the problem” • Sexuality, transgender issues, same sex marriage, marriage roles, divorce, abortion, the exclusivity of the Gospel—Jesus the way and truth and life. • If you take a stand on those issues, you will be criticized and even criminalized. 4. You will face persecution of some kind. • Verbally, you will be bashed in person or social media, or mainstream media • Socially, you will be ostracized from the family, from the job, from the event • Physically you may be executed—not here yet but there are those are fined or jailed and around the world many are killed. 5. The peer pressure says you must bow to our wishes and if you don’t you are out! • It’s going to get worse in the next few years! • Those who truly have faith in God will stand out. Everybody has faith in something—the culture, government, them selves or God. • That dictates our actions—true Christians have faith in God and His word. • You don’t make up the rules as you go. The Bible declares what’s right and wrong. • We don’t decide in the heat of pressure, we’ve already decided we will not compromise. • One of our ancient Christian fathers took tremendous stands for Jesus. People said he was stubborn, narrow-minded. The Emperor Theodosius said to Athanasius, “Athanasius, the whole world is against you.” To which he said, “Then Athanasius is against the world.”

II. WHEN WE ARE ON FIRE FOR GOD WE WILL EXPERIENCE JESUS PRESENCE NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS (vv. 16-30) A. EXPLANATION 1. Think of the excuses they could have made: • Situation ethics—look we will get killed if we don’t go along. God put us here and he wouldn’t want that. They wouldn’t understand anyway and we don’t want to offend their culture and ruin our witness. o We know the ends never justify the means • God forgives—God loves us so we can go ahead with this, just this once and then ask His forgiveness afterward. o We know God forgives, but we don’t presume on God’s grace—that’s dangerous. Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; ESV • Silent protest—we will kneel on the outside, but stand on the inside. o But God hates hypocrisy! 2. These men were not disrespectful, they didn’t argue. They simply would not obey because they would not disobey God’s Word. • God said He alone is God and cannot worship idols. 3. Their response: • We don’t have to make excuses, our minds are already made up • We believe God can deliver us • Even if He doesn’t we would rather die than disobey—one of the most powerful statements in all of Scripture. • “This is a missionary declaration to the nations of absolute trust in their God and only their God. Deliverance and rescue are not the issues. Confession and obedience are, even if it cost them their lives.”—Danny Akin 4. You are so out of touch—you fundamentalist narrow minded wackos. • Your going to disobey because you read it in a book—are you crazy. • In anger Neb ordered them into the fire. • Its seven times hotter—it killed the soldiers who threw them in. 5. But Neb gets shook as he watches them! • There are four in there walking around loose • The fourth is the pre-incarnate Son of God • They are not singed; they don’t even smell like smoke. B. APPLICATION 1. Nate Saint was martyred as a missionary to the Auca Indians in Ecuador. Before he died, he said, “The way I see it, we ought to be willing to die. In the military, we are taught that to obtain our objectives we had to be willing to be expendable. Missionaries must face the same expendability.” 2. We are missionaries to this world. We stand different from it because we changed by Jesus. • But we are also missionaries to it. As missionaries we have showdowns—we face the furnace of this world. • Some of you are in a furnace right now • But if Jesus doesn’t give you a road around it, he will meet you in the middle of it! • The 11th chapter of Hebrews lists many of the believers who went before us. The first half of them were delievered in from many fires but the second half were not. • They suffered but their reward was out of this world and they left a message and a legacy that far outlived them. God used them to build His kingdom. • Its like the storms Jesus was with disciples—sometimes he calms the storm, other times he calms us. • Psalm 23—even in the valley of the shadow of death we are not alone. • Isaiah 43:2—when you walk through the floods and the fires, I will be with you. • Matthew 28:20—wherever you go as my witness I will be with you • Romans 8:39—nothing separates us from God and His love. 3. Because they obeyed God, there was a great witness for God to the culture • Whatever this world throws at us, when we obey God, God is with us and use it as a witness.

III. CONCLUSION A. ILLUSTRATION 1. After 911, in Illinois there was this massive prayer meeting of people from all walks of life and all kinds of faiths. Leaders of various religious groups were on stage including Joseph Stoll, the president of Moody Bible Institute. One of the speakers said, “Its time to lay aside our traditions, its time to lay aside all of our faiths. And all of us join together in unity and love.” The crowd went crazy, there was a standing ovation and every leader on stage stood with the crowd except President Stoll. He stayed seated because when the other leader said its time to dismiss our faiths and come together, he said its nothing but a bunch of mushy feel good stuff that wants me to reject my Jesus and the Scriptures. So he politely stayed in his seat. He stayed seated when the world stood, Shad, Mesh and Abed stood when the world went down. B. CLOSE 1. Believers who are on fire do this. They are loving and kind but they will not bow. 2. We desperately need men and women on fire for God. 3. God is a fire a raging fire. • He was a fire to Moses at burning bush • He was a fire on the altar a fire in the wilderness • Hebrews says He is a consuming fire! • God wants a church on fire! 4. God is not afraid of the fire of this world—He makes His own fire and He wants us to be consumed by Him!