Courage in Babylon

Well, let me join our other campus pastors and telling you mothers Happy Mother's Day for all of our moms in any capacity. For those of you who have a mom that you have a chance to be able to just to say Happy Mother's Day to I hope, especially for you guys out there, this is not an announcement news to you.

If so, then you've got some work to do right after service. But we are grateful for all of you and and my own mother, I have the privilege of having her here at as a part of our church. She's in the nine o'clock service. And so she told me that her one disappointment is that I did not wear a full suit. She's like a Mother's Day. I should get that. So I apologize to my mom for that.

But for all of you mothers just know that we love you very, very much. Daniel chapter three, if you got your Bible, I'd love for you to take it out Daniel three, Daniel three, you may not recognize the name Desmond Doss, but you might have seen the movie about his life. It was called hacksaw Ridge. Desmond Doss was drafted into the US Army in World War Two, but he was a pacifist. The way he interpreted the Bible led him to believe that he couldn't cause any violence to anybody else ever. So he couldn't bring himself to carry a gun. But he also loved his country, and he wanted to serve it. So he accepted a position as a medic in a squadron.

And as was depicted in the movie, his pacifism made him the subject of all kinds of ridicule. Then one evening, he was serving in the midst of a battle in Okinawa when the Japanese pinned his unit down on top of a cliff and cut down nearly every man. Many of the men were only wounded however, but Doss knew that if they stayed wounded overnight, that the vast majority of them would die.

So hide there in that cliff. It was a rescue operation were not was inaccessible to anybody, anybody who tried to climb up the cliff would be shot down by the Japanese. So Doss rigged up a stretcher that could be lowered by a series of ropes and pulleys to the ground. And then by himself crawling around the battlefield under withering sniper fire, he retrieved every single wounded soldier in his unit one at a time and lower them to safety below. President Truman recognized Desmond Doss as one of the bravest warriors of World War Two, claiming that more than 75 men owed their lives solely to his courage. And President Truman did something that had never been done before.

And that is he awarded Doss the Medal of Honor, a very prestigious honor to a soldier who had never picked up a gun. Courage. Courage is what causes incredible things to happen to the world. Many of us have good intentions, but it's courage that makes those intentions come to fruition. How many of you think of yourselves as naturally courageous people? Is that you put up your hand? That is not me. I am usually the Veronica. Did you hear that noise downstairs? You should go check it out guy.

Um, or even better yet, I'm the act like I'm still asleep to see if she'll just go down and do it on her own guy. Um, courage is something that most of us have to learn to, uh, to, to possess. And what we're gonna see in Daniel three is that this courage is an essential quality of any of those of us who would shine in Babylon. Daniel three contains one of the Bible's most famous stories in it. You're gonna see the soul of Christian courage, both its substance as well as the fuel that sustains it.

It's the story of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, or as I prefer, Rachshak and Benny. Here's what I'm going to show you is that courage equals confession plus conviction. Courage. Christian courage equals confession.

The right confession plus conviction. Let me show you what I mean. Daniel three verse one.

Let me walk you through the story. Nebuchadnezzar made an image of golden world whose height was 60 cubits and its breath six cubits. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather all the officials of the provinces and to come to the dedication of that image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the herald proclaimed aloud, You are commanded old peoples, nations and languages. That's a very, very important little phrase right there. You might note it there in your Bible.

I'm gonna come back to it that when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe and the lyre and the trigger and how you pronounce that the heart, the bagpipe, the key tar, the kazoo, the harmonic of the Haman B three Oregon, the hammer dulcimer and every other kind of instrument. You were to fall down and worship the golden image of King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a fiery furnace. Now, first thing we got to notice is that old Neb is a little hard headed. Do you remember the how chapter two ended? It ended with Nebuchadnezzar coming to this moment where he recognized God was the only one who could could interpret the dream. And he had this dream of this gigantic statue. And the statue, if you remember, had a head of gold that represented him and a body of silver, bronze and a mixture of iron and clay that represented the kingdoms that would come after the Babylonian kingdom and would conquer its kingdom. And that's how kind of world kingdoms would go. And then in his dream, the stone that was made without hands suddenly came down from heaven and smashed the statue into a billion pieces.

And the wind blew it away until there was not a trace left. That stone, Daniel had explained, was Jesus. And the interpretation was that Jesus would abolish all earthly kingdoms that are erected in independence of Jesus, and Jesus would establish his own. Well, chapter two ended, like I said, with Nebuchadnezzar respond the in amazement, truly, Daniel, your God is the God of gods. He's the Lord of all kings. And he's a revealer of mysteries because you've been able to tell me what my wise men have not been able to tell me. But here we are, chapter three opens, Nebuchadnezzar has got a 90-foot statue of himself gold from top to bottom, requiring that everybody bow down to it.

In other words, not only has he forgotten the lesson from the dream, he's actually made it worse. The fact that it's gold from top to bottom means that in his mind, his kingdom is going to last forever. It's not just a temporary head of gold.

It's gold through and through. I'm the whole thing. The fact that he's having everybody bow down to it means that he believes his kingdom is the most important thing on earth. So for Nebuchadnezzar, what you're about to see is kind of a round two between him and God. And please note, if you will, that little phrase that I directed your attention to in verse four, all the peoples, nations and languages. Let me tell you why that's so important.

The reason that is important is because it indicates to you that something epic is about to take place. You see, the last time that the peoples, nations and languages were all together was in Genesis 11, where the human race had united in setting up another tower, another statue, declaring their independence from God. It was called the Tower of Babel. And God had immediately in that moment in mercy scattered them into different peoples, nations and languages. And then in the next chapter, Genesis 12, God had called a man named Abram and promised to make of him a great nation that would bless all the peoples of the earth, all the peoples, languages and nations of the earth and bring them back together in unity around the throne of the Messiah. The fulfillment of that is going to happen in the book of Revelation, when John the Apostle looks and sees a vast throng of people that no man can number people from every tribe and tongue and nation on earth that are gathered around the throne of God proclaiming worthy is the lamb who was slain. That's how it's going to end. But here in Daniel three, you got Nebuchadnezzar, who is a usurper attempting to bring the nations back together united around his greatness.

And here's the irony. He is doing it on the exact same spot that the Tower of Babel had been. Remember, I pointed that out in Daniel one, it's all happened in the same spot.

The point is, this is not a little sideshow. This is the epic battle. This is the battle of the Bible. It is the history of the human race in one story. So how does it go?

How does it go? Well, verse seven, all the instruments start to play. We saw and everybody bows down. We're not exactly sure how many people were there that day.

Most scholars say it would have been somewhere around a million people. So I want you just to imagine for a moment this scene. Right? You've got a million people out there. You've seen Middle Eastern people bow, bow, faces to the ground, rear ends up in the air. You got a million people bowed down in homage, except what is that?

About 200 yards back. That's three men? No, no, no. It's three teenage boys. Are those the Hebrew boys? There they are. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego standing there.

I'm sure a little awkwardly they're 16 years old. They're standing there in front of a million people. I'm sure they're a little nervous.

But there they are a bolt upright with everybody else around them on their faces. Now, I know some of you are right now saying, well, where exactly was Daniel? That's a great question. Some have speculated maybe he had lapsed in faith and he was bowing down with everybody else. But that doesn't seem likely based on the rest of the stuff that happens in Daniel. Others have speculated that maybe Daniel was out traveling on some kind of international mission.

But I don't think that's a great answer either. I think the best answer is found in the last verse of Daniel 2. If you look back there, you've got your Bible. Daniel 2 49 says that Daniel was put on the king's court, which means that Daniel would have been exempt from participating in this display. And if he were anywhere in this scene, he would have been up on the stage with Nebuchadnezzar.

Right? So these three Hebrew guys are the only ones out there in the whole crowd of a million that are not bowing down. Daniel 3 verse 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego be brought to him. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it true? Oh, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, that you're not serving my gods or worshiping the golden image that I've set up. I'll tell you guys what, I'm gonna give you another chance.

Maybe you didn't hear. I kind of like you guys hold Daniel one thing with the, you know, the eating the vegetables. And that was pretty awesome. And your buddy Daniel, you interpreted my dream.

I'm gonna give you another chance. This time when you hear the sound of every kind of music, fall down and worship the image that I've made. If you do that, well and good. But if you do not do this in worship, you will immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God? Who's the God then that'll deliver you out of my hands? Now y'all, I love how these three teenage Hebrew boys answer old Nebuchadnezzar.

Rachshak and Benny say right back to the king, old Nebuchadnezzar. We have no need to answer you in this matter. In other words, we don't need to talk about it. We don't need to huddle. We don't need to deliberate. We don't need a few seconds to think about it.

We don't need a committee meeting. There's only one possible thing for us to do. You see the God that we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of your hands, old king.

On that, I love these next words because this is it. This is every part of courage right here, verse 18. But if not, be it known to you, old king, that we will never serve your gods.

And we will never worship the golden image that you have set up no matter what you do to us. Literally everything you need to know about Christian courage is right there in those three verses. Number one, courage's confession is that Jesus is the only Lord. Courage's confession is that Jesus is the only Lord. I have a theory as to why Nebuchadnezzar was so ticked off.

Do you remember when I showed you how chapter two ended? Chapter two ended with Nebuchadnezzar saying, hey, your God is legit. Your God is not just one of the regular gods. He's the God of gods and the Lord of kings. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged their God.

So it only seems fair that he, that they now recognize his authority. Hear this. It was not their faith in God that caused the problem. It was their refusal to also acknowledge the divine authority of Nebuchadnezzar that was the problem. Hear this.

Nothing has changed today. In our Babylon, in our Babylon, the triangle, the United States of America, the world, in our Babylon, your faith in Jesus is not the problem. It is your insistence that he is the only way of salvation and only source of authority that is the problem. You will never get in trouble for saying that Jesus is your personal savior. But you will get in trouble when you say there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. You will be in trouble when you say that there is no other Lord except for him and that that means that he alone sets the rules about what is right and what is not right about sex or morality or marriage or money or anything else he speaks about. You see, our society says, for example, hey, you know what, you Christians, you're free to get married in the traditional way that you want.

You can even reserve sex for the marriage bed, as strange as that seems, if abstinence is your thing. But how dare, how dare you label somebody else's choices a sin? How dare you not bow down to my sexual freedom? How dare you not prostrate yourself during my pride week, for example, affirming that my way is just as valid as Jesus's way. And if you don't do this, our culture will punish you. It may not be throwing you into a fiery furnace right now, but businesses will boycott you or they'll take things like the NCAA tournament or the All-Star game if you will not conform.

It's the same old spirit of Nebuchadnezzar at work in our day. You can do what you want, but you also got to bow to my authority. We all know of small companies that have been literally sued out of business for refusing to participate in ceremonies and practices they found objectionable. I'm gonna tell you, in very few of my readings about these things, did the person do it rudely or bigotedly, or did the person say like, hey, I don't think these people should be allowed to do this. We live in a free country. We understand that and they can do what they want. But this person just said, look, I respect your right as a free citizen to do what you're gonna do, but I would also ask you to respect my right to not be involved in it personally since it goes against my convictions.

But because they would not bow where they were supposed to bow, they were sued and shut down. One of President Biden's advisors has indicated that if this Equality Act is passed, which mandates societal acceptance of these things, then religious organizations and churches who don't honor it in their own practices could face substantial tax penalties, even fines. In other words, you can have your convictions, but you better keep them in the closet because the moment you fail to bow down in homage where you're supposed to, well, there's some kind of fiery furnace that awaits. And just so you don't think I'm trying to pick on the political left, let me come at it from the other side. There are a lot of people in our society who say, how dare you criticize America or say that America will be judged for its sins.

America's special. America's chosen by God. And if that means a strong man with a history of abusive and misogynistic behavior is good for America, who are you to question his integrity? If he's good for America, then God's got to be on his side. In other words, hey, you're fine bowing down to Jesus.

Just make sure that you bow down to my guy too. Our society says that we're fine to say that Jesus is our savior. But how dare we say that Jesus is the only way to heaven? I heard Oprah say a little while back, Oprah, you know, since we're America's pastor, she's like, there are way many more paths of God than Christianity. She said, I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian, but I'm a free thinking Christian who believes sincerely in my way.

But with six million people on the planet, it can't possibly be the only way. What kind of backwards person would believe that there's only one way to God? A dean a couple years ago at Stanford University forced a group of Christian students on the campus to stop his words proselytizing others, trying to convince others that they should come to faith in Jesus. And he said, you're fine to be Christians and to gather together weekly for worship, but you are not allowed to try to convince others that they can only be saved through Jesus for, and I quote, all faiths are equally valid as religions. In other words, it is fine to worship Jesus. You can have him as your personal savior, but you still need to bow to the statue of pluralism or our version of the fiery furnace awaits you.

I'm trying to say it's human society today is just like it was in Nebuchadnezzar's day. They're fine with you following any Christian teaching so long as you still bow where you're supposed to bow. They want you to have an edited Bible. Every generation wants an edited Bible in the Smithsonian. If you've been to the Smithsonian Museum up there in Washington DC, they have Thomas Jefferson's Bible. And it's very famously edited because in Thomas Jefferson's day, it was very unfashionable to believe that God actually did miracles. And so the enlightenment thinkers were like, hey, Jesus's morality is awesome. Sermon on the Mount, greatest treatise morally speaking ever written. But this whole stuff about, you know, raising from the dead and multiplying loaves and faces, that's a bunch of garbage. So Jefferson literally cut out of his New Testament all the things that were supernatural about Jesus so he could just have a nice clean edition of Jesus's moral teachings.

Interestingly, the other side of the mall on DC is a new museum called the Bible Museum, which if you have not seen it, I would highly encourage you to go. But in there, they have what they call the slave owner's Bible. The slave owner's Bible was also edited because it was the Bible that slave owners would give to their slaves to read. And in it, they had cut out I kid you not all the sections in the in the Bible Old and New Testament, that would lead a slave to think that he was of equal value with his master, or that would lead him to yearn for freedom. And so they had an edited Bible that they gave to slaves. The point is every generation has their version of an edited Bible.

If they were going to do this today, we cut out Jesus's teachings on the sanctity of sex and marriage, but we keep his miracle stories and put in some of his stuff on generosity and forgiveness. Our culture says it's fine to worship Jesus, but you have to edit him to fit your pre our preferences and you still got to bow where you're supposed to bow but y'all hear me. You know that for a follower of Jesus who understands anything about what Jesus says, that's not an option. He is Lord of all. In fact, we often say that right if he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. He didn't come as a coach a guru to give you suggestions about you know, good life coaching ways to live.

He comes as the authority on all things and if you don't recognize his authority, I don't think you understand what the word Lord means. Coming to Jesus is not like signing one of those rental car contracts where you get to leave off certain options. You know, they're always trying to get you to sign up for a bazillion things.

Do you want you know, one navigation? Do you want prepaid fuel? You want prepaid tolls? How about a ridiculously overpriced insurance package that will give you a zero deductible if the space station falls out of the sky and smashes your car, right? You know, I was in Oklahoma a few weeks ago and the person was like, Hey, um, would you like this insurance with your car? It's $18 a day, but it will cover you for anything, literally anything, even flood damage. I was like, does that happen a lot in Oklahoma?

Like a lot of flood stuff? I got to say, no, I don't really want to take that. I don't want to pay that. People think they can do that with Jesus. We can accept the parts of him that we want and postpone the others till later.

I even heard one college girl explain one time that she'd accepted Jesus as savior, but plan to accept him as Lord after college. I was like, you can't bifurcate Jesus. He's either Lord or he is not. You either fully surrendered to him or you're living in rebellion. And y'all, you understand that if God is the only God, then for us to say anything different is cruel, not just wrong.

It's cruel because you are obscuring the one way of salvation. I feel here, the sense to share with you what I call a classic story at the summit just means one I've shared about 18 times about every 14 to 16 months. But you know what? A bunch of y'all are new, so I feel like I need to do it for you.

Okay. Um, this takes place all the way back when I was in seminary. So many, many years ago, um, I was my first year of seminary. I just graduated from Campbell university and I was on my way, um, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Raleigh.

Cause I was serving as a youth pastor in Fort Lauderdale and I took one of the red eye flights where they're, you know, hardly am I on the plane and I go into the waiting area and there are only two people in the entire gate area. There's a guy over here on my left who's like 194 years old. Um, you know, I mean he's just whatever. Yeah.

One foot. Nevermind. But he, uh, uh, on the other side over here was this again, I wasn't married. Um, this just drop dead gorgeous Hispanic girl. Um, and I was like, Lord, what do you want me? Okay.

You know, ice cream, spinach. And so I, you know, go over and I sit next to this girl. It turns out she was from, um, somewhere in South America, uh, and she was on her way returning as a student to Harvard university.

Okay. So immediately I felt like we had a connection cause I just graduated from Campbell and I felt like, okay, we got a lot in common. And, um, I started to share with her, her name was Berta, not Bertha, but Berta. And so, um, I started to share my testimony with Berta and I thought it was going really well. Um, they called us to get on the plane.

We sat next to each other. I was telling her all about Jesus and how he changed my life and I was going to go into law, but God had called me into, into the ministry and was just sharing with her and she just sat there and just was soaking it up. She was nodding her head and she said, you know, I said, she got to be honest with me. She said, I'm up here at Harvard university and the smartest, most driven men on the planet.

They say go to that university, but I don't hear anybody talk with the conviction that articulates what they believe and where they're going. I don't know if I've seen anybody there that that talks as clearly as you. And she said, that's just, that's just very, very attractive. I was like, heck yeah. Like you're going to get saved. We're going to get married.

This is going to be an awesome story one day. And so I'm just keep sharing my test with, I guess somewhere probably, I don't know, you know, over Atlanta, I would suppose I, I started to share with her, um, like, you know, just walking through Bible verses about how Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And I was like, you know, but have you ever received Jesus? She's like, no, it's not me. She says, that's just not my thing. She says, I'm really glad it works for you.

I don't know. It works for a lot of people, but it's just not really my thing. And I was like, I was like, but I don't think you understand. I don't feel like it's a, my thing or your thing. I feel like it's a, you know, everybody thing because Jesus said, no one comes with father except in me. And she said, no, I'm telling you, it just doesn't work for me.

I'm glad it works for you. And I was like, but I don't think you understand. I was like, why don't you read this verse right here? And I had my Bible. I read John 14, six and, and she looks at me and she says, are you trying to tell me?

And all of a sudden, like her attitude just totally flipped. She looked at me and she said, are you trying to tell me that, that if I don't come to Jesus, the way that you're saying the Bible tells me that you're saying that there's no possibility that if there is a heaven that I will not go. And I said, I'm not telling you that. I think the Bible's telling you that. And, uh, and she said, I think you might be the most closed minded, arrogant, bigoted person I've ever talked to.

I can't believe somebody in the 21st century would actually say this. I don't want to have this conversation anymore. And she sat back and I was like, all right, wedding's off. Okay.

Let me see if I can salvage that situation. And, uh, I sat there sort of in stunned silence for, you know, like a minute or two. And then the pilot comes on to any old PA system and he's like, Hey, we're, you know, initial approach to rally Durham. And, uh, I said, um, I remember some, I think I can't remember who said it, but I remember hearing somebody say, so I leaned over to her and I was like, Hey, just right. I know, I know this conversation is done. I don't want you to, you don't want to talk to me anymore, but I just want to tell you that I'm really glad the pilot of this airplane doesn't look at the runway the same way that you do heaven. She said, what do you mean?

I was like, let's just say that he comes on and says, you know what? I am sick and tired of that arrogant little control tower telling me where and how I got to land this plane. I'm a free thinking, open-minded pilot. And I prefer to land upside down in the Walmart parking lot.

I want to try to nose tip at the, on the top of the PNC building in downtown Raleigh. I was like, no, he's just going to go on that little narrow runway because that's what the control tower says. He's got to do in order to bring this plane and you and me to safety.

And I'm glad that he looked at the runway different than you do truth. She said, that's not fair. I said, yes it is. That's Campbell one Harvard zero, by the way, if you're keeping score, the point is you maintain the confession is the only way, because if God is the only God, it would be cruel to not do it. Otherwise you understand, listen, that, that this generation depends on us telling the truth about it. Just like the generation of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they needed these three guys to stand, not just to worship God in private, but to do it in public and say, I can't bow. Because of their courage, an entire generation right there, including Nebuchadnezzar got to see that there is only one savior. And by the way, scholars say that the faith of the wise men who came to see Jesus can ultimately be traced back to this encounter.

It is because they stood in that moment and said, we can't bow. He's not just my savior. He's everybody's savior. I'm not talking about not letting people be free.

Of course not. We live in a free country. We value that. I'm just saying that our confession is there is one Lord and one savior, and there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And if I don't tell you the truth about that, if I bow along to the statue of pluralism like everybody else does, then my generation perishes because I didn't have the courage. The substance of Christian courage, the confession is that Jesus is the only Lord, the only savior, and I can only bow to him.

Here is the second thing. Courage is conviction. I believe that God can. I expect that he will, but I trust him if he doesn't. Courage is conviction.

That's a lot. We'll go through it one at a time. Courage is conviction says this. I believe that God can.

I expect that he will, but I trust him if he doesn't. Let's unpack those phrases one at a time, okay? Christian courage believes that God can. You know, the first thing I notice from the three Hebrew teenagers answer is that they were in no doubt about who the biggest daddy was in this little drama. Verse 17. Our God, whom we serve, is bigger than you. He's bigger than your fiery furnace, and so you can jab around all you want.

Ultimately, he's in charge, not you. Everybody else, all other million people out there on the plane are thinking, look how small and pathetic those three teenagers look next to Nebuchadnezzar and all his mighty soldiers. But they're standing there thinking, look how puny little old Neb looks next to God. That's where Christian courage begins.

And it's so simple that a child can get it right. God is bigger. God is bigger. He's bigger than your problems. I learned this as a kid, and so did you.

I remember one of my favorite hymns when I grew up as a kid. Help me, help me sleep safely at night and not be afraid. God is bigger than the boogeyman. He's bigger than the monsters and Godzilla and the monsters on TV.

Oh, come on, nobody else. God is bigger than the boogeyman and he's watching out for you. And it's like you learn it as a kid. And essentially I've got some version of that in every situation I go into.

It's the most basic principle of faith. God's bigger than your problem, all of them. He's bigger than cancer. He's bigger than a lost job. He's bigger than a broken marriage. He's bigger than your friends. He's bigger than your sin. He's bigger than your shame. He is bigger than the grave. And if you are his child, there's nothing that happens to you without his permission. Not even a hair falls from your head, he said, without his knowledge and express permission. So why, the hymn writer says, why should I be discouraged?

Why should the shadows come? Jesus is my portion. My constant friend is he. If his eyes on the sparrow, I know he watches me. Christian courage believes that he can.

That's all it is. I believe that he can. Our God is able and he's bigger than you. Everybody turn to your neighbor right now and say, I believe that he can. I believe that he can.

That's it. All right. Now the other two thirds of you, okay, turn your name and say, I believe that he can.

All right. Christian courage believes that he can. Number two, Christian courage expects that he will.

Doesn't just believe that he can, he expects that he will. Watch this. This is sort of subtle, but it's crazy important.

And he will deliver us out of your handle King. How did they know that? How'd they know? Little secret. They didn't.

Let me prove it to you. Look at the next phrase verse 18, but if not, they didn't know how this was going to turn out. They did not know. There had been no little, you know, huddle where God pulled him aside and was like, Hey, this is how it's going to go down.

This won't you say, then this is none of that. They just had this suspicion in their heart that God would deliver them because they understood God's goodness. They understood God's willingness to showcase the glory of his name. Can I tell you a little Bible secret?

Many of the greatest feats of faith in your Bible were not done in response to a direct command of God or with any kind of promise guarantee of how it was all going to turn out. I'll give you just one example. One of my favorite ones. I'll share this one because there are literally dozens I could share, but this is one that's less well known and it's one of the best one.

First email 14. The Philistines, the enemies of Israel, they're oppressed in Israel and they've taken away all the swords in Israel. There's only two swords in the whole country. And Jonathan, who is King Saul's son, David's best friend has one of those two swords. When he comes upon a garrison of 20 Philistines and it's just him and his armor bearer, two guys, one sword, 20 armed Philistine soldiers on the little cliff above them.

First thing before team six. And Jonathan says to his young armor bearer, come let us go over the outpost to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will act on our behalf. Perhaps. If I'm that armor bearer without a sword, I'm like, bro, if you're trying to persuade me to attack 20 men and I even got a sword, you're gonna have to do better than perhaps.

Right? Jonathan just expected. He didn't know, but he's expected that God would show up and glorify his name. He didn't. Doesn't Jonathan's words sound like what his best friend David said in Psalm 27 13.

We quoted around here at the summit a lot. I'm convinced that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. In other words, I know that one day when we get to heaven, everything's going to be awesome.

And I know that there he'll wipe away every tear. And I know I don't have a lot of direct promises about how this or that situation is going to work out, but I just expect that a good God will actually do something in this situation, and I'm going to take a chance on boldly asking him to actually do it because, yes, I'm willing to wait to heaven to see the goodness of God, but I want to see it right now in the lives of my Children. I want to see it in my marriage. I want to see it in the life of my friends.

I want to see it in our community, and I want to see it in our church. And so perhaps the Lord will respond, and I'm just gonna take a chance on it because I expect that he will or think about the miracles of Jesus. Have you ever thought about how many of the miracles of Jesus came about because somebody without a promise, without a guarantee, just took a dare on Jesus's goodness? Maybe the easiest one to think about is the woman with the blood disease who comes up behind Jesus thinking that if she could just touch his garment, then she'd be healed. You know, Luke, the writer who records this story, makes it very clear that Jesus was not planning. He was not expecting this.

He was actually on his way somewhere else, and this woman was the farthest thing from his earthly mind. And then unexpectedly, she just kind of reaches out, audaciously taking a dare on his goodness. And Jesus stops and says, scarcely have I seen faith like this anywhere.

Daughter, your boldness in taking a dare on my goodness is rewarded, and he healed her. Bold faith doesn't just believe that he can. Bold faith expects that he will because they understand the goodness of God. And of course, that is not to say, it is not to say that God's like some magic genie lamp, that if you rub him just the right way, he's going to give you what you want, or a piñata, that if you whack him hard enough with faith, he's going to let all the candy come out.

I'm not saying that. I'm just saying sometimes God in his goodness, yes, sometimes God will tell us no or tell us to wait. I'm simply saying that in this story, as you see multiple times throughout the Bible, God rewards those who take a dare on his goodness. He rewards those who expect that he will. Our God is able, and he will deliver us.

I don't know that for sure, but he will do it. So my question for you is, where do you need to take a dare on God? Where is it right now that you need to take a dare on God? Maybe it's just reaching out to share your faith at work or at school, even though it's super awkward. And even though you're like, I don't know what everybody's gonna say about me, but the Holy Spirit is put in my heart, and I'm just gonna take a dare on him that maybe he'll show up and work in this person's heart. Maybe it's in you taking a courageous stand at work, even though it looks like it's gonna cost you big in the short run.

Or maybe if you serve in politics, maybe it's just standing for what's right, even though the media and sometimes your own party is gonna throw you in a fiery furnace every time you do. Maybe it's you persevering in a prayer request and not giving up, but continuing to come back to God's throne and say, God, I believe that you're good enough to do something here, and I want to see your goodness in the land of the living. And perhaps you're gonna do this, and I'm not gonna go away until you do. Maybe it's submitting that application to be a false foster parent, even though you are scared about how it's gonna change your life. You're like, I'm just, perhaps God's gonna show up and do something in somebody and in us.

Or how about boldly choosing to keep the kid, even though you're young and pregnant and you feel all alone. Or maybe choosing to keep pressing on in the marriage, even though it's difficult. Maybe it's you calling that estranged family member today, even though you aren't sure how they're gonna respond to your offer of forgiveness.

Maybe it's just confessing that pornography habit to a trusted friend, even though you'd rather keep it concealed. You're like, I just want to put it out there, and I want to put it out there so that God can work in this. Maybe it's starting a ministry. You've been sitting here, and there's something God's put in your heart, and you're like, I don't know if it's gonna work. You're not gonna get a guarantee. But maybe you just say, God, I believe you'll be good here.

I expect that you're gonna work. You realize, I think about this. This is like the entire history of the summit church. Our goal of planting a thousand churches, that didn't come down on a little scroll from heaven with the divine.

No, it's just like, hey, perhaps God will bless us in this. We thought about it years ago when God put it on our heart to reach college students. You know, when college students started to come to our church, I mean, college students bring a lot of awesome stuff to a church.

Money ain't one of them. Am I right? 2002, when they all started to come, they all came in like August, the beginning of the school year. And during that time, our attendance tripled, and our average weekly giving went down during that same time period. In fact, we were starting to wrestle as a leadership team, like God's bringing us all these students, we gotta enlarge our facilities, but they're not bringing any money, our giving is down. I think maybe they're taking money out of the offering plate when it goes by.

I'm not sure what's happening here. But we were like, well, God, would you bless us if we were to stretch to expand? Would you bless us even though the people we're expanding to can't pay for it?

I can give you literally dozens of these. One small token that God was like, I got you. It was like the next year, a guy shows up in our services, I never actually looked him in the face, I have no idea what he looks like, I've never shaken his hand or spoken to him, but he was a guy from Nevada, so he had heard about what was going on at our church, came in, was so moved by the amount of students and young people he saw in our church, that the next week he sent me a check for $186,000. I matched it up there the next week at the church, I'm like, y'all covered. Right, because God sent somebody, he sent an angel, because he was like, perhaps, I said perhaps, and God said, I'll do it.

Maybe God's put in your heart some sacrifice, some financial gift you're supposed to make, but it scares you to death. Will you take it there? Will you take it there? You already told your neighbor that you know that he can. Why don't you turn to your neighbor right now and say, I'm not sure, but I expect that he will. I'm not sure, but I expect that he will.

Tell your neighbor. Hey, this is kind of a Pentecostal sermon, we gotta do Pentecostal things, am I right? You gotta talk to each other, that's what we do in Pentecostal services. I'm not sure, but I expect that he will. Finally, Christian courage, trust him if he doesn't. Christian courage, trust him if he doesn't. The greatest words in the story, verse 18, but if not, be it known to you, old king, that we will not serve your gods, we will not worship the golden image that you have set up. Like I said, these are some of my favorite words in the Old Testament, if he doesn't deliver us, and he might let us die in the furnace, we still want you to be clear, old Nebuchadnezzar, that we would rather die in the flames with just him than we would live in a palace with just you. They believe that God was not only big enough to protect them from Nebuchadnezzar, they believe that knowing God was better than anything they would have to give up without him.

You wanna write stuff down? Courage believes not only that God is bigger than the opposition, courage also believes that God is better than the alternatives. God is bigger than the opposition, but he's also better than the alternative. You see, listen, sometimes God is glorified when sick people get well, and God shows that he's bigger than the cancer.

But sometimes God is glorified because sick people die well, and they show that God is better than even life itself. Sometimes you take a stand and God delivers like Jonathan, like David. Sometimes you take a stand and he lets you suffer like Jesus. The question you gotta ask is, if he lets you go through the fire, is he enough for you? You see, the only way that you're gonna have the courage to suffer for what is right is if you know that Jesus is enough, if you know he's enough. Can I show you real quick from this story why he's enough? And not just for these three Hebrew teenagers, but for you. You see, in this story is a promise that is directly for you.

It wasn't just about them, this is about me and you. Watch this, verse 19. The Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury. The expression of his face was changed.

He gets shattered, he gets shattered in a bandigo. He ordered the furnace heated seven times, more than it was usually heated. And he threw him in. It was so hot, the next verse says, that the heat coming from the furnace's mouth actually killed the soldiers who were carrying the bound teenagers up to throw them down. So Nebuchadnezzar naturally expects to see them burst into flames. Verse 24, but King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished. And he rose up in haste. And he declared to his counselors, Hey, did we cast in three men into the fire? They answered and said, Oh, yeah, true, King. He replied, but I see four men unbound, not bound, unbound, and they're all walking in the midst of the fire, and none of them are hurt.

Another thing, in other words, the only thing that burned on them were the ropes that bound them. And the appearance, he says, the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Hey, from our perspective, after the New Testament, it's pretty safe to say that was the Son of God. Verse 26, the Nebuchadnezzar came near the door of the burning fiery furnace. And he declared, Shadrach, Meshad, and Abednego, parents of the Most High God come out and come here, and they came out. And the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men, the hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, not even the smell of smoke had come upon them.

Stay with me. This whole scene prefigures Jesus going to the cross. Jesus, watch this, Jesus was thrown into the fires of judgment with us. We're the three Hebrew teenagers, Jesus gets thrown in with us. And because Jesus got thrown in there with us, we came through judgment, totally unharmed.

There is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. That means the hair on my head has not been singed by judgment, my clothes have not been burned. He took the flame so I could emerge from it in safety with not a trace or smell of judgment anywhere on my body even on my clothes, it was only the chains of my bondage that were burned away.

You see? And what that means, friend, what that means is this, listen, what that means is this is that the God who kept me in the fire, excuse me, the God who went through the fire for me is the God who can keep me in the fire. If he went into the ultimate fires of judgment for you, if he went to the cross, and he kept you totally safe and free from harm there, don't you think he'll keep you in whatever lesser fire you're gonna go into now? The God who died for you in the fire is the God who will keep you in the fire. Like a friend of mine says, don't search for a faith that'll keep you from the fire. No, no, no, search for a God that will keep you in the fire. So if you come to church looking for a God that'll keep you out of the fire, it's not gonna happen. But there is a God who will keep you in the fire, because he went into the fire of judgment for you, the presence of Jesus was with these three Hebrew teenagers in their furnace. And that means his presence will be with you in any furnace into which he puts you also. The God who died for you in the fire is the God who can keep you now in the fire.

Let me show you how this whole thing ends. Verse 28 Nebuchadnezzar answered, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree. Any people, nation, language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins for there is no other God who is able to save to rescue in this way. This story ends with Nebuchadnezzar commanding all peoples, nations and languages to gather in unified worship of God's power to save. It is a picture of the future.

It is a picture of what happens at the end of time. And I looked, the Apostle John said. And there, there before me was a great multitude that no man couldn't account. People from every tribe and people and nation and language under heaven standing before the throne and before the lamb. They were wearing white robes, which meant they were unsinged and unharmed by the fires of judgment. And they were holding palm branches of peace in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God and to the lamb. God who sits on the throne is worshiped, not Nebuchadnezzar. The world is gonna be unified not by the greatness of some earthly sovereign. Babylon or Great Britain or America or the UN or otherwise is gonna be unified by a savior who went into the flame of judgment for his people and kept them 100% safe from all harm in that flame. And you and I are gonna help move the world to that worship by determining that we're gonna bow only to Jesus' Lord and by getting up every single day believing that he can, expecting that he will, but trusting him if he doesn't.

That's courage. Why don't you bow your heads if you would and let's listen to the Holy Spirit for a minute. Right now, are you wavering in your testimony about Jesus? You feel yourself like, hey, I don't wanna give up Jesus, but I'm feeling like I gotta bow where society's telling me to bow. Might you ask him for the courage and say, Jesus, if you went into that flame for me, I know that you're gonna keep me in it. Preserve me. Will you ask him for that courage?

How about this? Where are you taking a dare on God's goodness? Right now, where's the Holy Spirit right now? Put it in your heart to take a dare on his goodness. To ask something boldly and you say, God, I believe that you can, I expect that you will. I'll trust you if you don't. Believe you've with just a moment at all of our campuses, I want you just to listen to what the Holy Spirit might be saying to you in this moment and our worship teams will come and they'll lead us.