So let's do some work today. If you got a copy of scripture, I want you to turn with me to Daniel chapter three. Daniel chapter three is where we're gonna land eventually today in this series that we're just calling thriving in Babylon. Thriving in Babylon. Why are we calling it that? Because what we're doing is we're taking the book of Daniel and we're walking through the text of Daniel and we're following Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, Abendigo today especially, and we're watching them in their current Babylon and how they're standing for the Lord. And what we're doing for them is we're asking ourselves, how can we thrive in our Babylon? Or let me say it like this, maybe our West Cabalonia, right? The same thing, isn't it? What we've seen so far is that their struggles are our struggles. Their temptations are our temptations. And the demons of Daniel's day are the same demons of today wanting to steal, to kill and destroy.
But if we can look at their tactics and see how they stand, then we can stand. Now listen, if you haven't been here the last couple weeks, let me give you a little bit of a review of chapter one and chapter two, because it's gonna roll right into chapter three. In Daniel chapter one, we saw that this evil king named King Nebuchadnezzar came and he overtook Jerusalem. And as a result of God's people kinda living halfway in and halfway out, God actually used Nebuchadnezzar to discipline God's people. They were taken, some of them, some of the men, the best and the brightest, were taken back to Babylon, put into the school of indoctrination of Babylon, the Babylon University, we called it, to brainwash them, to train them, to get all of the godliness out of them so that they could help rule when Nebuchadnezzar came back and brought the rest of the people out of Jerusalem.
Here's the good news and the bad news. The bad news is that many of those people did not stand for the God of gods. Many of them gave into the culture of Babylon, but Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo stood. And in chapter one, we got to see that when they stood, God blessed them. God blessed them with wisdom. God blessed them and made them 10 times better than all of the little other Babylonian people around them. And God made them smarter and more healthy. And then at the end of chapter one, we solve the same thing can happen for us. When we obey God, God blesses. But the last thing that happened in chapter one is that Daniel was also given this ability to interpret dreams. Now it seems a little bit weird until you read Daniel chapter two. Why? Because in Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar has this dream.
He can't interpret it. He doesn't know what it means. His wise men, all of the scholars of the day, nobody knows how to get to the bottom of it. But Daniel, through praying, through trust in God and the wisdom of God, Daniel is actually given what this dream is and how to interpret. He stands before the king and he says, "Hey, King, I'll tell you the dream. The dream is, is that you're the head of the gold in this statue and that all of these other kingdoms are gonna come behind you. But the bad news," Daniel says, is King, all of these other kingdoms are gonna fall and you're gonna fall. I know you think you're the king of kings and I know you think that nothing's gonna take you down just like the next kingdom of the meads in Persians, just like the next kingdom of Greece, just like the next kingdom of Rome, just like the next kingdom that comes at the end of times during the tribulation.
God tells Nebuchadnezzar all of these things are going to fall. The only kingdom that is going to last is Jesus's kingdom. That's what chapter two was. And you would think that after Nebuchadnezzar saw this, you would think that he would just fall in love with God. I mean, after all, Daniel chapter two, verse 47 and 48 says this. Listen to what it says. It says the king said to Daniel, surely your God is the God of God's. And the Lord of Kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery. Verse 48 says then the king placed Daniel in a high position and he lavished many gifts on him. And he made him ruler over the entire providence of Babylon and He placed him in the charge of all the wise men. Now listen, church, it looks like from the outside looking in, it looks like that Daniel has fallen into the arms of God, right?
To which I would say, no, he doesn't. In fact, I want you to write this principle down and I'm gonna show you. Here's the principle. He's the Nebuchadnezzar principle from these first couple of chapters. Here it is. Write it in your notes. It's easy to know that there is a God without surrendering your life to God. Does that make sense? Because that's the Nebuchadnezzar principle. I, I, I've seen a little look of confusion on your faces. Let me see if I can unders - uh, explain it to you. Here's what that means. Throughout history, there have been those that would honestly say, yes, there is a God. Or I've even seen God work in other people's lives, but they have not surrendered their heart to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Or, or we could say it like this. It's easy to be charmed by God and not changed for God.
You feel where I'm stepping in that one, right? Or, or, or it's easy to be impressed by the miracles of God, but not changed by the message of God. This is the Nebuchadnezzar principle right here. He knew that there was a God. He knew that there were all these gods he would say, but he never gave up until this point. He has never given his heart to God. Why? Because true conversion in Nebuchadnezzar's life and in our life, it is not just knowing that there is a God. Now pay attention to me, students. Somebody's gonna challenge you with this. It's not just knowing that there is a God. It's truly surrendering your heart to God and giving Him the lordship of your life. That's what it means. This is the example that Nebuchadnezzar gives us over and over. This is the example that, that actually James chapter two leans into when it says even the demons know that there's a God and they tremble at him, but they haven't given their heart to God because there's no life change.
There's no radical conversion. Nebuchadnezzar hasn't done that to which he would say, Matt, how do you know he hasn't done that? Are you judging him? Is another thing you're supposed to say these days? No. I'm just saying there's chapter three. All right? Welcome to chapter three today. Okay? Watch this. Daniel chapter three happened 16 years after Daniel chapter two. All right? 16 years, Nebuchadnezzar has been sitting on this dream that God has already told him that you are going to be toppled. You're the head of gold that's gonna be toppled. And watch what it says in Daniel chapter three starting in verse one. We're just gonna work our way through the text today and see what we can pull from it. Here it is, verse one. It says this. Then King Nebuchadnezzar, he made an image of gold, six cubits. I mean, 60 cubits high and six cubits wide.
That's 90 foot tall, just for those of you Matthew, all right? And he set it up on the plane of Dura in the providence of Babylon. And then he summoned the satraps, the prefabs, the governors, the advisors, the treasures, the judges, the magistrates. I don't know why he listed all of them, but that's all of them, right? And all of the other providential officials to come to the dedication of the image that he had set up. So here we go again. The satraps, the prefabs, the governors, the advisors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the other providential officials. What did they do? They assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up and they stood before it. Now let me pause there and set the scene because a couple things I wanna point out here. I want you to notice, first off, notice the connection of last week, the head of gold and the statue that defined who Nebuchadnezzar was, the city of gold, which all of Babylon, all throughout history is been known by.
Notice now what Nebuchadnezzar does. Nebuchadnezzar goes, "Hey, watch this God. You think that I'm just the head of gold and there's other kingdoms behind me and we're all gonna be toppled." But Nebuchadnezzar says, "No, I'm not just the head of gold. I am the whole thing of gold. In my kingdom," what he's saying right here by making the statue. He's saying that my kingdom will never fall and that all worship should be brought to me and all praise should be given to me. That's what it means by building the statue. Now, when I say statue, don't think of like a statue of Nebuchadnezzar standing out in the wilderness. Think like Washington Monument, because that's the description that's given here. It's an obulus that is out in the middle, 90 foot tall. It's not wide. It's made of gold. Most would say that the gold that he used for this would have been taken from the temple in chapter one.
But I want you to see what he does here. He creates this giant statue. Now, most of us would never create a giant statue of ourselves and put it in our yard. If you do, you're weird. All right? But hey, maybe go, you be you, right? Most of us would never do that. But what we do in our lives is we create other things to point to us. We create other things that point in our direction and not the direction of God. But I want you, what I want you to notice about this statue is, is that Nebuchadnezzar is doing what mankind has done from the beginning. In Genesis chapter one, we took the glory of God into ourselves by saying, I'm the one that makes the rules. In Noah's days, it got so bad. We took the glory away from God and put it on ourselves and Noah and his family were the only ones that made it.
In Genesis chapter 11, in Genesis chapter 12, we took the glory away from God at the Tower of Babel and they built a tower to try to make it to be God's, right? Here's the interesting thing. This plane of dura is the same location as the Tower of Babel. It is the same problem. It's the same issue. The action is man attempting to take the glory of God away from God and put it on himself. The sin is the same. It's the sin of adultery. The sin of idoltery. And here, Nebuchadnezzar puts some s - the spotlight all on his self. And Nebuchadnezzar is really and truly showing us one of the most fundamental biblical facts that there is in the Bible. I put it as a principle in your notes. You can write it down and it's this. It's that idolatry is the most basic issue that God is concerned with.
It's the most basic issue that God is concerned with, to which I can feel the digital like, why, Matt? Why is it idoltery? Here's why. Idoltery is literally putting anything else before God. That, that by definition, that is what idoltery is. It, it, now look, it could be that you're putting yourself in front of God. It could be you're putting your skills in front of God. It could be you're putting your family in front of God. Probably never heard of this one, Wes Cobb. Never, maybe you're putting your, putting your kids above God, right? Maybe it's putting your job above God. Maybe it's putting your sports team, or heaven forbid, your kids' sports team in front of God. Here's what God knows. God knows is if we can free ourselves from idolatery. If we can free ourselves from putting anything else in front of him.
Here's what God knows. He knows the rest of the stuff will just fall into place. That's what he knows. So here, Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man on earth, makes this statue, this extreme idolatry, right? And what does he do? He summons all the government, all the departments to the dedication of his glory.
Man, think of it like this. Think of it like an Olympic opening ceremony. Most scholars would say at this event, there would've been somewhere between 300 and 500,000 people. You're about to see in just a minute that all nations and all languages were there. The last time they were there was the Tower of Babylon. It didn't end well. It's not gonna end well for Nebuchadnezzar, not to spill or the story, but here as well. So now it seems like we're seeing this attempt, all right? This attempt to have some kind of like an anti-church service. See, Matt, what do you mean by that? Well, there's lots of people there, right? There's a Harold that we're about to hear from. He's the preacher, the false preacher. There's a band about the play. There's a worship about to happen. And there's a false God in the middle of all of them.
So think about it like this. God is the creator. Satan is the counterfeiter. Everything is pointing to this counterfeit worship moment to steal the glory from God and put it on someone else. Look at verse four. It says this. Then the Harold, that's the preacher, right? Loudly proclaimed. Nations and peoples of other language. This is what you are commanded to do. As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the zoo of the liar, the harp, the bagpipe, all kinds of music. There's probably a kazoo there. Well, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Verse six, whoever does not fall down in worship, immediately they will be thrown into the blazing furnace. Therefore, as soon as they heard the horn the flute the zebra of the liar, the harp, all kinds of music.
Watch this. All the nations and peoples of every language, what did they do? They fell down and they worshiped the image of God that King Nebechadnezzar has set up. Now I want you to notice here, the noise of the world, right? The noise of the world, what is it doing? It's drowning out the voice of God. Also notice how the whole event, the whole culture wants you to bow down to not the true God. Notice here, everything is pointing to the false God. Is it not? The government is in. There's a consequence if you don't do it. I mean, it's basically cremation if you really wanna see it right here. And notice everybody, everybody in the empire is doing it. Everybody, it seems like all of the event, all of the people, all of the stuff is pointing towards conformity and not standing for who Jesus is.
Not standing for who God is. It's pointing towards that. There's this super outside pressure. Super. Same thing's true today, isn't it? In fact, I just want you to write this down, Christ followers. Listen, here's the principle. Our actions are determined by either external pressure or internal convictions. And listen, this is the same in their day and our day. It has not changed. Our decisions are only based on one of two things. Either it's the outside pressure around us for us to have glory, bow to culture, be like them, or it's an internal conviction to give God what is his. So I just wanna ask you today, what, what's ruling you? I- if maybe, maybe, maybe, what if you did a decision audit from the last week of your life? Would it show that you are bowing where everybody else is bowing? Or would it show that you are standing in godly convictions no matter the consequence?
So what's happening? 300,000 plus people are bowing in this moment. They're about to bow to the statue in the moment. And what? These three guys, they don't. In fact, look at verse eight. Watch what happens. At this. Some astrologers, maybe yours says Chaldeans, the astrologers were from the Chaldeans, the same word. At this time, some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. A little antisemitism there.
And they said to king Nebuchadnezzar, may the king live forever. Your majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, the flute, the zitth of the liar, the harrup and the pipe, evidently they just like those words, right? And all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold. And that whoever, reminding the king, and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into the blazing furnace. But look at verse 12, there are some Jews whom you have said over the fairs of the providence of Babylon, Shadrach, Mishak and a bin ago, who pay no attention to you. Your majesty, they neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold that you have set up. Now don't rush this. Don't rush this right here. Why? Because I want you to notice that this was not a one and done deal for these guys, Shadrach Mushek, and a minute ago.
It wasn't a one time. They just actually didn't do what the culture told them to do. No. They would just say they do not worship your gods or bow down to the statue. That's what they said. What does that mean? That means that this decision started in chapter one. It started when they didn't eat the food. It moved into chapter two when they prayed to God to give them wisdom and discernment and who God is. It started with them standing out in culture. It wasn't just a, "Hey, when the heat gets turned up, I'll live how I want to," and then finally pour on the God language. Ever been there in your life? No. They had already been living this. And now, when they get to this moment, they stand. I love it in verse eight. Because the men who came to say that these guys are causing a problem are the same men in chapter one and chapter two that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo had been advanced in front of because of who God is.
But I wanna show you something, believer, when you stand and God moves in your life and God blesses you, there is always going to be other people who want to bring you down. Always. And the hard part about it is, is most of the time it's some people that are close to us. Why is that? You ever though about why that is? It's because Satan hates it when Jesus followers stand and God gets glory. He hates it. So the three boys, what do they do? They do not bow down. So it's the elephant in the room question is obviously, okay, Shatterak, Mushek and Abenago don't bow, but where is Daniel? Anybody think of that one? Right? Well, here's the best theological answer I can find for that. You ready for it? We don't know. All right. We don't know. All right, there it is. You like that?
We're really not sure. But there are some good educated guesses on it because we know Daniel's not gonna bow, all right? We know that. We saw in the first two chapters, we see the rest of the book. There's no way that Daniel would've given in. But I wanna, I wanna give you kind of a couple possibilities, all right? Just so you can think about it. First possibility I love this week was that Daniel was back in Babylon still because he was over the providence. And Nebuchadnezzar knew that he would not bow, knew that he was valuable, so he didn't put him in the situation to have to bow down. All right? That is one. Okay. I might could go with that one. Maybe, but not sure. Second one is this. It's that Daniel would've been out on some kind of affairs of the kingdom. Maybe he was making a deal with Amito Persians or something like that for King Nebuchadnezzar because he was his number two guy.
Okay. I might could go with that one. Maybe you've heard that one before. But number three is the most likely one that I can see. And it's this. In chapter two, verse 47, Daniel was put over the affairs of all of the kingdom of Babylon, all right? That's where they are here. And as a result of that, what most people feel is that he, along with the king and the top officials of the kingdom, would have been on some kind of stage, some kind of grandstand, and they would have been exempt from the bowing so Nebuchadnezzar could have them observe what was going on. All right. Now you say, Matt, which one is it? I don't know. All right. I don't know. But what I'm saying is this. That's not the big deal. The big deal is that these three boys did not bow. All right?
Keep reading. Watch this. Watch what happens when you don't bow though. Verse 13. It says, Furious with rage. Nebuchadnezzar, he summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo. So these men were brought before the king and Nebuchadnezzar said to them, is it true? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold I set up. Now, he says, when you hear. Here we go again. When you hear the horn, the flute, the zither of the liar, the hard the pipe, and all kinds of music. If you will, if you are ready to fall down and worship the image that I made, he says, "Very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into the blazing furnace." Now, watch this last sentence. "Then what God will be able to rescue you from my hand? "Now notice here, Emmechanezzar, it's kind of an unheard of thing for him.
He's given him a second chance, right? It's like this fatherly plea almost. He's like," Come on guys, you've proven to be worthy. You've proven to be smart. I've watched God move in you. Just worship me. Just worship me also. "Now let's pause in this for a minute because I've been looking forward to teaching this all week. And here's why. Here's why I think this is so relevant for us. Let me remind you something. It is not right here. It is not the faith in God that gets Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo in trouble. You say," Whoa, where are you going with this man? Stay with me. Stay with me. Stay with me. "It is not the faith in God that gets them in trouble. Just like us. I got news for you. West Cobalonia. All right, I got news for you. Here it is. It is not the faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior that will get you in trouble in West Cobb or Paulding County.
It's not. It's not your personal savior Jesus that will get you put into the furnace of cultures raft today. Faith in Jesus is never the problem, students, because nobody cares who you worship. Nobody cares that Jesus is your savior. The problem here in the text in Babylon. And the problem in our Babylon is, here, here it is, here it is, is the conviction, the stance, and the confession and the lifestyle that there is no name under heaven except the Lord Jesus Christ that should be worshiped. That's the problem. That's the problem then, and that's the problem now. The problem is us not standing and saying Jesus is Lord. The problem is us standing and saying there is no path to salvation except through Jesus. There is no path and no eternal authority except through Jesus. There is no other Lord that I'm ever gonna bow down to except Jesus.
Are you feeling the difference in those two? That's the problem. What gets Babylon fired up and West Cobalonia fired up is that when we will not bow and say all roads lead. All things are worthy of worship. All ideas are worthy to be praised. That's where we're called out. That's when we're called to the furnace. When we say things like marriage is defined by God. Sexuality is defined by God. Morality is defined by God. Gender is set by God. And the only way to God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what gets us. And that's what we're seeing in the story here. Nebuchadnezzar didn't care that these boys worshiped God. The problem was they wouldn't bow to him and what he thought. Therefore, church, it is only God and God alone that we worshiped. And every time we stand with godly convictions, it always invites scrutiny.
It always invites standing up and standing out. And the world cannot stand it when even one person doesn't bow down. So what do we do? I'm glad you asked because Nebuchadnezzar has put his power against God's power and that is never a good thing. All right? Look at verse 16. Here's what happens. Saturak me second a minute ago. Reply to the king. Oh, king Nebuchadnezzar. King, king, king, king, king. We don't need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we're throwing under the blazing furnace, oh, here's the verse of the week. The God we serve is able to deliver us from it. Can I get an amen? Amen. Man, that was better than last week. There, here it is. The God we serve is, is able to deliver us from it. And he will deliver us from your majesty's hands. But even if he does not, we want you to know majesty, your majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up.
Woo, come on. Listen, I, did you notice why I'm here? There's no long answer. There's no judgey judge deal going on here. The boys just simply stated, "Hey, listen, here's who we belong to. And here's who we worship. You can worship whoever you want to. You can do whatever you want to. You can go wherever you want to, but we know who our God is." And, and I love this because they know they're offending King Nebuchadnezzar, right? But I got news for you, church. We're either gonna offend the king of this world or the king of glory. And we should probably choose wisely which one it is.
And I also love the wisdom of these guys here just, just throwing down this idea. Listen, I believe God can. I expect God will. But even if He doesn't, I'm gonna trust Him. I'm gonna trust Him. Now what does that mean? It means that God is in control, that God is sovereign, that God knows what's Beth. And I, in faith, just submit to Him and I just see where this world goes. Why? Write this principle down. Because God is bigger than my problems, knows what I need more than I need and will always do what is best. It would do good for us to memorize that because sometimes we don't understand in the moment that God is always gonna do best. Sometimes we don't understand the circumstances. Sometimes we can't see the past when it gets through the disease or through the death or through the divorce.
But God always is in control. And we might not see it now, but one day it will be clear, as clear can be. God has proven it to his believers over and over. Romans 8:28 says that we know in all things that God works for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Now look, if we had our rathers, we would finish the story up with God reigning down a big old bucket of ice and putting the furnace aisle, right? But that's not what God does. Let's watch what happens. Oh, it's good. Verse 19, the nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Mishak and Abenago. His attitude changed toward them. He ordered the furnace to be heated up seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his armies to tie up Shadrach, Mishak and Abenago to throw them into the blazing furnace.
But man, I though you said God was in control. I though you said that God loves me. I though you said that God knows what's best. Keep going. Verse 21. So these men were wearing their robes, their trousers, their turbans and other clothes and they were bound and they were thrown into the furnace. And the king's command was so urgent. The furnace was so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took Shadrach, Meshach and a Bendigo. And these three men, they were firmly tied. They fell into the furnace. Now notice Nebuchadnezzar loses control. His anger gets ahead of him right here. His countenance change and he makes the furnace seven times hotter than normal. Now this furnace would have been a gold smelting furnace, right? Why? Because that's what the image they were making. They had to have a place to melt it enough to pour over the image to have the gold coating.
Gold doesn't melt till it gets to a thousand degrees. Okay? So think, it's now where it's 7,000 degrees. And the SEAL team six boys have tied up. Old Shad - old Radshack and Benny, remember that in Veggie Tales? Has already tied them up and they have thrown. I don't know where that one came from. Has tied them up, has thrown them into the fire, has thrown them there. And the boys from SEAL Team six, they die, right? They are gone. They are out. It is so hot. They're in the fire. They're tied up. And it looks like God leaves them hanging, doesn't it? Oh, but look at this principle. Write it down. It's a hard one. Sometimes God's will isn't to deliver us from the trial, but to give us the strength to endure Or through the trial. Through the trial. You ever been there in your life?
Boy, I have. I know I have. Many of you there right now. Watch what happens in verse 24. This is what you really have been waiting on all morning. Watch it. Here he goes, all right? Then King Nemuchadnezzar. He leaped to his feet. Remember the boys were in the fire. He leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors," Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire? "Do you forget how many people you throw into the fire, right? They replied," Certainly your master, "it's almost like they went to their list. They're like," Yep, we're correct. We double check. We're the government. We don't make any mistakes, right? "Yeah. All right. There it is, right? Verse 25. He said," Look. "Oh, nemachadnezzar. I love it. "Look," he said. "I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed.
"Let's look at some words right here. Unbound. What, what does that mean? What does it mean to be unbound? It means that the only thing that burned up off the boys was the bondage of bur - was the bondage of Babylon. Are you seeing what God does in the trials? You seeing how God meets us in the trials? He allows us through the trials sometimes to burn up the bondage of West Cabalonia around us so that we can give him the glory. What are they doing? You notice those little details? It's a weird one, isn't it? They're walking around in the fire. Why not get out of the fire, right? They're walking in the fire. It's kind of an odd detail. It's almost like this though. My sanctified imagination got ahead of me this week. It's almost like Shadrach was like, wait, it's a little bit warm in here, right?
Mesak's like, yeah, it's a dry heat. Don't worry about it, right? And then all of a sudden, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, Abindigo's like, wait a minute. Woo-hoo. One, two, three. Jesus. Have you seen it? Are you seeing what's up? Abendico's like, that's the savior. That's God. That's the creator of the universe. That's the one that set the stars in motion, set everything in, has created us, has given us life, and now he is delivering us. Write this principle down. We're gonna talk about it when we stand for God. We don't just get his protection, but we get his presence. Oh, it's so much sweeter, is it not? So much sweeter. What's happening? Jesus is there. Jesus has saved them. Jesus is delivering them. Now, we're not told what Jesus has got said right here. We're gonna ask him one day. But in my mind, he's like, "Hey, well done, boys.
Well done boys. I have come to give you life and to give it to you abundantly. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am the one that gives you eternity." Now, if you wanna sound really smart at lunch today, I need to tell you what this is. This in Bible terms is defined as a Christophany. All right? It's a huge fancy word for you. That literally means this is a pre-incarnate picture of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. It is God, a visible manifestation of Jesus. You realize Jesus wasn't created at Bethlehem in the first century in the Roman era. Jesus has. Jesus has been there. Jesus has always been there. He's the creator. He's the sustainer. He's the deliverer. He's the giver of life. And he will reach into whatever you're going through to give you hope. That's what we're seeing.
That's what we're seeing. I love it. So Nick King Nebuchadnezzar let's keep going with story, right? King Nebuchadnezzar. He almost gets it right. Almost. Say, man, what do you mean? Look at the rest of verse 25. Nebuchadnezzar says, "And the fourth," he's like, "Wait a minute, there's four in there." He goes, "And the fourth looks like a son of the gods. He's so close, isn't he?" "No, it's God. "Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and he shouted," Shadrach, Meshak and Abendigo, servants of the most high God. "It's almost like Nebuchadnezzar's getting it, but he's not. Come back next week.
He says," Come out. Come here. "So like a great movie scene, they're walking down the runway, they're blowing up all around. There's fire behind them. They're walking up in my mind, right? They're walking up the King Nebuchadezer, right? So Sadrak, Meshek, Nebuchadney, they came out of the fire. And the saturaps, the prefabs, the governors and the royal officials, oh, they wanted to be buddies now, right? They crowded around them. And they saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor there was the hair on their head singed. The robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. You can't walk past a campfire without smelling like it. And these jokers come out untouched. Look, I get it. I get it. I get it. Soe like, no way, Matt. Not a chance. Great story. Good morals. Not gonna happen. Here's the deal.
Here's the deal. If you believe Genesis chapter one, that God created everything from nothing. If you believe that God hung the stars and put the earth in place and created the sun, informed us from the dust, then how is it that you can't believe that God can pause the natural order of the universe that is his and under his control to give himself glory? It's what you're seeing right here happening. It's what you're seeing in life happening. This whole event is for God to look into the face of Nebechadnezzar and say, I am the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and I am the only one to be worshiped. That's what we're seeing. God supernaturally through His power alone delivered His servants. Man, it's one thing to talk about God, but it's a whole nother thing to experience Him firsthand. God didn't keep them from the furnace.
He met them in the furnace. And that's exactly where God wants to meet some of you, right? Now, church, the hotter the fire, the sweeter the presence of Jesus. I promise you, there's some attributes of Jesus you can only learn in the midst of the fire, not be delivering from the fire. And oh, listen to this. If God would have delivered them before him, maybe the stage of officials might have heard about it, but now, but now, but now God is not just gonna get glory from some officials, not just gonna get glory from Shatterak Musek and Abenigo. Watch what's about to happen because of this. Because remember, here's the last principle. When Jesus delivers us, the restoration is full. And I put this one on here this morning, sorry for you note takers, and forever. Forever means it's complete. You know that anything else that brings you restoration in this life is not gonna last.
It might be a great bandaid, but it's not gonna last. Watch what happens the rest of the chapter. Then we're done. I promise. Almost. Here it is. Ready? The Nebuchadnezzar said," Praise be to the God of Shadrag, Meshag, and Abenigo who has sent his angel and rescued his servants. They trusted in him and defined the king's command. And they were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any other God except their own God. "Now notice Nebuchadnezzar said," Not my God, because you're about to see that next week. "Therefore, he said," I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and a minute. "Now look, Nebuchadnezzar's about to go a little bit far. Okay? I'm just gonna tell you. Anybody who says anything against them will be cut into pieces in their house turned into piles of rubble for no other God can save in this way.
And then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo in the providence of Babylon. And notice, they not only escaped bowing, they not only escaped committing adult adultery and, and, and worshiping an idol, they not only were thrown out and into the fire and came out of the fire, but now they've leapfrogged over the jokers that caused the accusation against them. And God got the glory in front of who? Every nation and every language. Why? 'Cause three boys decided, I will not bow to idols no matter the cost. And when God gets involved and God delivers and God orders and God is present, all he asks you and me and Shadrach and me Shaq and Abendego to do is stand. Stan. Now, here's what I know about this. Old Testament stories sometimes are very hard to put ourselves into the story. But here's where I wanna challenge you today.
Here's where I'm gonna challenge you because I don't think this one is. Let me ask you today, where do you put yourself in this event?
If you were there, where would your life have been? Or possibly today. Possibly you are a Jesus follower. That God has saved you. God has given you his life. He has forgiven you. He is in you. But oh boy, there's some idols. Now you wouldn't call them idols because that would just be weird, right? But there are some things in your life that are taking the glory from God and putting it on that. Is that you today? If it is, can I tell you the good news? The good news is that we serve a forgiving God. We serve a God that saw you at your worst and redeemed you. And today he just wants you to walk back into his arms. He wants you to repent and say, "Hey Jesus, I'm sorry. I'm yours and I wanna bow to you." Is that you today?
Maybe. Maybe you're in a different category. Maybe. Possibly you're kinda like Nebuchadnezzar, right? I'm not, not that far, but you know what I'm saying, right? And you've never trusted in Jesus. You're like him in the fact that you know that something's out there. You know that there is a God, but you have never surrendered your heart and given your life to Jesus and allowed him to redeem you, to save you, and adopt you into his family. Do you need to do that today? I can't think of a better moment than right now. Bad news is, is Nebuchadnezzar doesn't do it in this story. The good news is, is you can right now.