I Dare You: Stand Up! - Part B

Your life can preach more eloquently than any sermon I could ever come up with from this platform. Especially as you suffer and you trust God in the midst of your suffering, it will be impressive not only to Christians but to non-believers.

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That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Okay, we're in Daniel chapter three today as we join Skip Heitig for today's teaching. In verse seven, all people and nations and languages fell down and worship the gold image but these three did not.

They kept standing. I remember the first time I went to Israel, I was single and I went to live on a kibbutz, a farm, a working farm and I just could not wait to go to the Holy Land. I thought this is going to be the most exciting. I'm going to wake up every day and feel the presence of God.

It's going to be so holy and awesome and wonderful and I was in for a shock. It was a trial because in that day, at that time on that kibbutz, volunteers from all over the world, young kids came to work but I discovered that the Europeans that came my age all came to party. They wanted to work but at night it was all party and there was lots of things going on. It was loose living and a lot of temptation came my way to conform to that because I was young and single and of that age and I was so glad I had other believers with me on that kibbutz that I came with and we could strengthen each other. In fact, I'm convinced that's why Jesus sent his disciples out two by two and why Paul the Apostle often went with other people around him to strengthen the choices that he was making.

So these three, encouraging each other, stand up against the mass conformity of bowing down. Did you notice number 12 verse 12? There are certain Jews, I can't help but read a little cynicism into that. Anti-Semitism is nothing new and these Chaldeans have been waiting for 16 years because 16 years when that dream had been interpreted Nebuchadnezzar gave a promotion, a raise to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the other Chaldeans were waiting for an opportunity just like this to get back. There are certain Jews, they say. They're brought before the king.

Let's go on and see what happens. Verse 16 shows us the second slice of this message. Yeah, the world wants you to shut up, but your God wants you to stand up. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

Isn't that interesting? That's their way of saying we're not at a loss for words here. This is a no-brainer for us. We already know what the answer is going to be. We don't have to think about this long. If that is the case, verse 17, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us from your hand, O king.

Now notice the twist. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods nor will we serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. No explanation is offered, no long elaborate explanation to simply, no, we're not going to do it. We don't have to think about this, no.

Now pause here a minute. Couldn't these three guys have done something different? Couldn't they have come up with a different approach?

Maybe a little rationalization would be fitting at this moment. For example, they could have thought, well, you know, Nebuchadnezzar, he's treated us pretty well. He's given us a good job and a good pay scale and we should at least show our appreciation to him and just bow, get it over with. Or perhaps they could have thought, it's really not idolatry if we just get down quickly and get back up and the rest of our lives serve the Lord.

Or perhaps they could have rationalized by saying, look, we're thousands of miles away from home, nobody will see us. And besides, didn't God through the prophets predict that we would be taken captive and serve other gods in a foreign land? We'd just be fulfilling scripture if we were to bow.

Maybe this is God's will that we bow. It shows you how warped we get when we start rationalizing. We're really good at rationalizing, you know that.

We have an infinite ability to do so. Just asking anybody on a diet. We're good at rationalizing why we need that extra pastry.

I found some other rationalizations about that. Rules for dieting. If you drink diet coke with chocolate, the calories in the chocolate are canceled out by the diet coke.

That's how we think, isn't it? Foods like hot chocolate or cheesecake for medicinal purposes don't count. Comfort food, sort of like medical marijuana. Cookie pieces have no calories. The process of breaking the cookies causes calorie loss. Isn't it funny how we'll take a little break, a little piece of it, but we're going to eat the whole thing, but we'll do it in pieces. Somehow it makes us feel better. And finally, we're going to eat the whole thing, but we're going to do it in pieces. Somehow it makes us feel better. And finally, things licked off of knives and spoons have no calories if you're in the process of preparing something else. We rationalize.

These three men did not rationalize the decision that they made. We don't have to think about it. We don't have to ponder it. We don't have to make a defense for ourselves. We're not going to bow. We're not going to bow. God can deliver us.

If not, not going to do it. God's people throughout scripture often go against the flow. That's what Paul encourages us to do. Romans chapter 12, do not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind. Or as the J.B. Phillips translation puts it best, don't let the world squeeze you into its own mold.

They didn't. Verse 17, again, notice, if this is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us. But if not, verse 18, let it be known to you, O king, we do not serve your gods.

Let me retranslate that. We serve a sovereign God who can deliver us. And he will deliver us. In life or by death.

Either way, it's a deliverance from you, O king. It's remarkable. If you want to get a good book on suffering, get a book that was put out a few years ago by Yancey, Philip Yancey, called Where Is God When It Hurts? In that book, he writes a story about an athlete by the name of Brian Sternberg. Sternberg was a pole vaulter, and he set record after record after record. And one time he set a new world record. Three weeks after he set that record, he was pole vaulting again, cleared the pole, but this time when he landed, he landed on his neck.

He heard it snap, and then he felt nothing. And from that day forward was a quadriplegic consigned to a wheelchair. Less than a year after the accident, a major magazine in America asked him to write an article about his athletic career, the accident, and how he, as a Christian, because he claimed he was one, was dealing with the fact that he was now in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic.

He wrote that article. I'll just give you the last four short sentences of it. He writes, having faith is a necessary step toward one of two things. Being healed is one of them, but peace of mind if healing does not occur is the other. Either one will suffice. Close quote. Faith to be healed.

Faith to have peace if I don't get healed. Either one will suffice. Either one will suffice. Here's these three guys before the king. We might be delivered miraculously. We might die. Either one will suffice.

Either one. Verse 19, Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Have you ever had that happen? Have you ever been in a conversation with somebody and they're tracking with you and then suddenly you say something they don't like and it's written all over their face. They're contort and you can just see they don't like what I just said. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.

It's called overkill. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats and trousers, their turbans and other garments, and they were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame and the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, third time it's mentioned they were bound, tied up, into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar was up in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose in haste, and he spoke, saying to the counselors, did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said to the king, true, O king.

Look, he answered, I see four men, what? Loose. They went in bound, but now they're loose, but now they're loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the son of God.

I'll get back to that in just a moment when we close. They were bound, but now they're loosed. But three were thrown in, and they see four. And it says in my translation as I read it, the fourth looks like the son of God. A better translation would be the fourth looks like a son of the gods. You see, Nebuchadnezzar wasn't a Trinitarian. He did not have the benefit of New Testament theology.

He didn't understand the concept of the son of God as you and I do. He simply saw some other form, some godlike deity or angelic apparition, walking with the other three men who are now loosed in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. What's amazing to me is that these guys are not trying to get out. In fact, you'll see it in a minute, they have to be asked to get out by the king. They're just walking around, hanging out, talking, in fellowship with this fourth. Let's go down to verse 26.

We've seen two slices so far. Your world wants you to shut up, your God wants you to stand up. The best part of the story is yet to come.

Your opponents may learn to look up. Verse 26, then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out and come here. They needed that to get them out. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came from the midst of the fire, and the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power. The hair of their head was not singed, nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar stood in the midst of the fire, and the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power.

The hair of their head was not singed, nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar stood in the midst of the fire, and the satraps, administrators, governors, governors, and the fire was not on them. Nebuchadnezzar spoke saying, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and they have frustrated the king's word and yielded their bodies that they should not serve nor worship any God except their own God. Therefore I make a decree, I suppose he would at that point, that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made an ash heap because there is no other God who can deliver like this.

Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. I wonder if you realize how monumental this is. In chapter two, remember this same king 16 years prior though he had forgotten by now, until now. 16 years prior this king said your God is the God of gods, he's the Lord of kings. Now this king makes into law a crime will be committed if you say anything against this Jewish God.

Now just think how monumental this is. This is Babylon. This is ancient Iraq and Iran. You know how they feel toward Israel now, right? Think how pro-Israel or God of Israel this king is in this ancient time.

Why? Because the testimony of three men who stood up made an impact on this pagan king. Their life preached. Your life can preach more eloquently than any sermon I could ever come up with from this platform. Especially as you suffer and you trust God in the midst of your suffering, it will be impressive not only to Christians but to non-believers. They look at you while you're experiencing suffering, your fiery trial, your ordeal and they see you clinging and trusting and rejoicing in the spirit and it's an enigma to them number one but it's impressive to them number two.

Now that's the story. I'd like to close by giving you three takeaways. Three principles that emerge from what we have read. Number one, standing up for God is always better than bowing down to man but it's always harder. Nobody likes to stick out like a sore thumb.

It's always harder to swim against the current than just float with it. It's better but it's harder and because of that you should ready yourself for that so that if somebody yells at you or dits as you because you're a believer or persecute you, you won't be taken by surprise. In the fourth century, Athanasius did exactly that. He readied himself. He stood before a council and Athanasius was the patriarch of Alexandria. He believed in the deity of Christ as the scripture says, the trinity, the nature of God.

There was a man at the council named Arius. He was a heretic. He denounced the deity of Christ and the trinity. And at one point in this heated meeting, Arius stood up and said, Athanasius, look how many are against you. The whole world is against you. To which Athanasius replied, if the whole world goes against the truth, then Athanasius will go against the world.

He readied himself for that. It's better to stand up for God than bow to man but it's always harder. Truth number two. God is always sovereign whether the outcome is triumph or tragedy. I take you back again to verse 17 and 18. Our God can deliver us and he will, but if not, we will not bow. It's so important that we grasp this truth. In other words, if we get delivered, he's sovereign. If we die, he's sovereign. Some of you still live under that illusion that says, if trouble is avoided or you get delivered from calamity, that God's sovereignty is upheld. But if the bottom drops out of your life, if there's pain and suffering and loss of life, there goes the sovereignty of God.

And that's why we get so fearful when somebody would ask us during a tragedy, you believe in God? What kind of a God of love would allow this? What kind of a God is this? Answer, this is a sovereign God who gives and takes away.

And listen to the words of Job who lost 10 of his children in one day and his own health and fell down and worshiped God and said, blessed is the Lord. And that's why we get so fearful that blessed be the Lord. He gives and he takes away.

He gives and he takes away. Romans 8 28 is a promise we often land on. And we know, the scripture says in that verse, that all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. Notice it does not say all things will feel good or all things will seem good to you at the moment. But all things will work together for your good. The scripture is not some fairy tale that promises you a fairy tale ending happily ever after, white picket fence, cherry on top. That's not in scripture. I remember when I was younger and I read this tract that I was given, it says, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. I've discovered that there are times that plan doesn't feel very wonderful. But it's still God's plan for my life. When God says no, he is a sovereign and loving as when God says yes.

When God takes away, he is to be worshiped as much as when God pours out and gives. These three knew it. Here's the third and final principle to close. Suffering is the doorway to freedom. Now I'm gonna bring you back to something that we noticed as we read the text. Four times in the text, the word bind or bound is used. That is they tied these guys up with ropes, throw them in the fire. Nebuchadnezzar looks down and wait a minute, didn't we throw three guys tied up? How come I see four loosed?

Here's the principle. The only thing the fire burned is what bound them. Their clothes didn't burn, their hair didn't burn, their flesh didn't burn, they didn't even smell like smoke.

The only thing that burned were those ropes that tied them. And that is why we need adversity in life. Because adversity frees us from certain bondages that we have been living under.

If I brought 10 of you up here to give your testimony of your time of suffering or grief or loss, I'm sure all of you would have some story of how God set you free from some habit, some practice, some way of thinking, because suffering is the doorway to freedom. I leave you with this. It's from A.W.

Tozer. The hammer is a useful tool, but the nail, if it had feeling and intelligence, could present another side of the story. For the nail knows the hammer only as an opponent, a brutal, merciless enemy who lives to pound it into submission, to beat it down out of sight and clinch it into place. That is the nail's view of the hammer, and it is accurate, except for one thing. The nail forgets that both it and the hammer are servants of the same workmen. Let the nail but remember that the hammer is held by the workmen, and all resentment toward it will disappear. The carpenter decides whose head will be beaten next, the carpenter decides whose head will be beaten next, and what hammer shall be used in the beating. That is his sovereign right. When the nail has surrendered to the will of the workmen, it has gotten a little glimpse of his benign plans for its future.

Then it will yield to the hammer without complaint. Our sovereign God gives and takes away, blesses and pounds, all for a purpose. Some of that purpose you may discover, you might not discover it for years. Part of it you'll never discover until he himself tells you when you're on the other side. But that's a place to rest, and we know all things.

We know all things work together for the good of those who love him. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series, I Dare You. Find the full message, as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now, we want to share about a great resource that helps you draw even closer to the Lord as you fall in love with studying scripture. Ready to upgrade your Bible study in 2023? We have a plan and a package for you. Skip Heitzig's book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet, is an ideal companion for a survey of the entire scope of scripture.

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That's connectwithskip.com slash offer. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig examines one of the strangest events in scripture to show you that God can get a hold of anyone no matter who they are. It's often said the truth is stranger than fiction. And chapter four of the book of Daniel is a good example of that. It is really one of the weirdest episodes in all of the Bible. ... Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.