Trinity Baptist Church

 

You will recall in the opening verses of chapter 3 that King Nebuchadnezzar has constructed a massive image of gold. He has gathered all the dignitaries of the kingdom out on the plains of Dura. He issued a command that all were to fall down and worship the image of gold. When the orchestra begins to play all of them were to bow down. Thousands of them did. Yet, there were three young Hebrew men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refused to bow down to the image of gold. Their refusal to bow down has precipitated a religious crisis and also a political crisis. Also a very personal crisis to them!

 

There are two basic ways to live life. Romans 12, verse 2, says this. "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."

 

You can live your life conformed by pressure from the outside. Or you can live your life by principle. If you live your life by principle, that means you are transformed by conviction and principle on the inside.

 

It's my prayer that every one of you will determine in your heart not to give in to the pressures of this old world. Not to go along with the crowd. Not to be just ordinary or average, but make up your mind tonight to withstand the pressures and be what God wants you to be.

 

There are two basic scenes in these verses of Scripture as the curtain for the drama rises again. The first scene is the attitude of the king. Keep in mind that King Nebuchadnezzar is a mighty king. He is the ruler of the mightiest empire on this earth. Word has been brought to King Nebuchadnezzar that these three Hebrew young people refuse to bow down to the image of gold. We see the attitude he displays when he hears this word.

 

 

He calls these three Hebrew young men in. You can almost imagine how intimidating it must have been for those young men as they walked into the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar.

 

His attitude reveals, first of all, his anger. Verse 13 says that he was in his rage and fury. We already know that Nebuchadnezzar was a man given to fits of temper.

 

Look back in chapter 2 and verse 12. "For this cause the king was angry and very furious." He has already displayed his anger.

 

Notice the second thing in this chapter, verse 19 of chapter 3. "Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury and the form of his visage was changed against them."

 

Here was a man who was given to fits of temper. In fact, he gives signs of mental imbalance. He gives signs of being a deranged individual. We are going to see that play out in his life later on.

 

He cannot believe his ears. He is absolutely astonished. He is absolutely filled with anger. To think they would dare to resist one of his commands! Here is a man who knew what it was to control a nation, but he couldn't control his own temper. He knew what it was to control multitudes of men, and yet he is not able to control his own behavior.

 

We are living in a world where it has constructed its images of gold. This old world has set up its gods to worship and images of gold to bow down to. This world has its forms and fashions and customs and habits. This world has its ways of behavior. The world wants you to go along. The world wants you to bow down and bend to the habits of the world. When you refuse to do this, the world gets very, very angry.

 

It's an amazing thing how the world gets so angry when people just dare to be different. When people refuse to yield to the pressure. But the king's attitude reveals anger.

 

Not only anger, but also amazement. He could not believe what he is hearing. Look at verse 14. He says to them, "Is it true?" He just can't believe this is true. This man is used to bending the wills of kings of the world. This man is used to people falling down before him and doing everything he tells them to do. He just cannot imagine that here are three young people who are refusing to bow down to his image of gold.

 

Of course, the world has the idea that all they have to do is just put a little pressure on you and you'll go along. This old world gets the idea that all they have to do is just tell you what they want, and you are supposed to cave in. This world has the idea that every person has his or her price. There are many who are for sale.

There are many who compromise their convictions at the altar of convenience. There are many who go along and cave in to the pressure.

 

Thank God, there are some people in this world who do not go along with the crowd. There are some folks who are not for sale. There are some people who have convictions.

 

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the great preachers of all time, preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. Thousands of people came and he drew crowds wherever he was. P. T. Barnum, the great circus man in America, heard about the notoriety and the crowd-drawing ability of the young preacher. He wired young Spurgeon a fabulous offer of money to come to America and appear in his circus. Charles Haddon Spurgeon sent him a wire with one verse of Scripture, Acts 8, verse 20. "Thy money perish with thee because thou thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money." Some people in this old world are not for sale.

 

Nebuchadnezzar cannot believe his ears. He is filled with astonishment. He is also filled with antagonism.

 

In verse 15 he becomes the skillful politician. He decides he will smooth the thing out and be very persuasive. Paraphrasing what he says to the young men is this. Listen fellows, I'm going to give you one more chance. I'm going to be magnanimous in this deal and give you one more opportunity.  I'm going to have the orchestra play again, and when you hear that orchestra play, I'm going to give you the opportunity to bow down.

 

Do you see what the king is doing to those young people? He has made up his mind that if they won't bow, he will bend them. He is telling them to bend! Bend! He's putting pressure on them. The same thing is true in the world tonight. If you will not bow down to the gods of this world, there are those around you who will try to bend you to the gods of this world. They will try to get you to compromise your convictions. They will try to get you to cave in with your standards. They will try to get you to go along with the crowd and be like everybody else is. Bend! Bend! "Fall down and worship the image."

 

He has tremendous antagonism and he also shows some tremendous unbelief.

 

verse 15

 

He has given them a choice. It is either bend or burn. It is either bend to the image of gold or in the fiery furnace you go.

 

This old world still has its fiery furnaces. This old world still has its ways of trying to put pressure on you. Sometimes it is ridicule and laughter. Do you know what it is to be laughed at? Do you know what it is to be made fun of and to be scorned when you won't go along with the crowd?

 

Harry Ironside was pastor of the Moody Church. He was one of the great Bible preachers of all time. When young Harry Ironside was just a boy, he was not a Christian.  His godly mother would talk to him about coming to the Lord. He would say, "Mom, I would like to be a Christian, but my friends would all laugh at me."

 

His mother would say to him, "Harry, remember this. Your friends can laugh you into hell, but your friends can never laugh you out of hell."

 

They will try to put you in that furnace of scorn and ridicule and laughter. They will try to put you in the furnace of rumor and gossip. They will make fun of you and laugh at you and tell stories about you. They will try to ruin your reputation.

 

Did you know there is a difference between reputation and character? Reputation is what people think you are. Character is what God knows you are. Reputation is what they chip on your tombstone. Character is what the angels say about you before the throne of God in heaven. Be very careful about your character.

 

"Who is this God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" Basically now he is making an attack against God. Every time this world tries to get a believer to compromise and bend to the pressures of the world, it is basically an attack against your God. If this old world can get you to go along and act the way it does, then it belittles your God. It is basically an attack against your God. "Who is that God?"

 

Nebuchadnezzar, you have changed the field of battle now. The battle is no longer between you and these young people. The battle is now between you and God. Nebuchadnezzar thinks he is almighty and his gods are the only gods in existence.

 

Just because you don't know a God like the God of these Hebrew young people doesn't mean there is not a God like that.

 

There is a God in heaven who is watching over His children, and there is a God in heaven who is waiting to see how you respond to the peer pressure which inevitably comes.

 

So as the scene begins we see the attitude of the king. Tremendous pressure he is putting on these young people.

 

 

The king is in for a big surprise. He is used to bending people like reeds in the wind. He is used to getting people to bow down and do what he tells them to do. But what he's getting ready to hear has never been heard in the halls of the Babylonian Empire. It sets the halls of heaven ringing when you listen to the answer of these three Hebrew young men.

 

The answer of these young men is an answer of courage.

 

Verse 16 says

 

Basically they are saying they don't have to think this thing over. We don't have to pray about this. These young men had already made up their minds.

 

There are going to be some situations that will hit you almost unaware. There will be some times of pressure and temptations that will come along that will seem to come out of the blue.

 

So there are some decisions you need to make ahead of time. Someone will tempt you to drink alcohol.

You had better make your decision before that pressure comes. Others will put pressure on you to be sexually active. You had better make up your mind ahead of time before that instant comes.

 

These young men had evidently decided in their hearts ahead of time that there were some things they would not do. That there were come convictions they would not compromise. That there were some standards they would not lower. They say "we are not careful to answer thee in this matter." They don't even have to think about it.

 

This is courage! Here are three Hebrew young people and they are responding to the man who has the power of life and death over them.

 

There comes a time when courage is called for. There comes a time when you need to take your stand for the Lord. There comes a time when you need to be willing to pay the cost whatever it may be.

 

These are days that call for courage. God's people need courage. You business people need courage every day to stand for Jesus Christ. Some of you precious schoolteachers, who face the pressure of the systems in which you find yourselves, need courage to stand for Jesus Christ. Some of you in the social and profession world need courage.

 

We need people like Athenasias, one of the early church heroes. Athenasias took on Arianism, the early church heresy that denied the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

The Emperor Theodosian called Athenasias in and tried to back him off. He tried to get him to compromise in the battle against heresy. He did every thing he knew. Finally he said to him, "Athenasias, don't you know that the whole world is against you?" Athenasias replied, "Then Athenasias is against the whole world."

 

We encourage you to take your stand with courage. Be men and women and young people and boys and girls of courage!

 

It is an answer of courage. It is also an answer of confidence.

 

Look at verse 17.

 

I like that verse. Isn't that a great statement? They are expressing great confidence in their God. Do you have confidence in your God tonight? Do you have confidence in the ability of God? "Our God is able." What a tremendous statement of confidence in God.

 

Over and over again the Bible tells us what God can do, that God is able. Hebrews 7, verse 25, says that God is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him.... God is able. Hebrews 3, verse 18, says that God is able to succor them (that is, come to the aid of) that are tempted. God is able. Philippians 3, verse 21, says that God is able to subdue all things unto Himself. God is able. Second Timothy 1, verse 12, says that He is able to keep that which we have committed unto Him against that day. God is able. Ephesians 3, verse 20, says that He is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think.

 

Engrave it in gold. Wrap it around the doors of your heart. Your God is able! There is nothing that God cannot do! God is able!

 

God is able to bring that wayward son or daughter back home. God is able to heal. God is able to give you that job you need. God is able to work mightily in that difficulty you have gotten yourself in this evening. God is able!

 

I like verse 17. But I like verse 18 even better.

 

 "But if not." He said in verse 17 that God is able. Now in verse 18 he says but if not. He is saying that God is able to deliver us but if he doesn't...it takes faith to believe that God is able to deliver. It takes faith to serve God when He does deliver. But it takes greater faith to serve God when He chooses not to deliver.

 

The question is not a question about the power of God. There is no question in their minds about the power of God. They have already expressed confidence in the power of God. Our God is able! It was not whether or not God could, the question was whether or not God would. Is it in the plan of God? If not!

 

Are you ready for the "if nots" of the Christian life? It's one thing to serve God when everything goes well and God answers prayer. What about those times when things seem to go well and maybe our prayers don't get the answers we would like to have?

 

Job put it this way in Job 13, verse 15: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Are you ready for the "if nots" of life?

There is no question about God's power. God is able! Sometimes the question is what is God's plan and purpose? They are basically saying that if it be so, God can deliver us out of this furnace. If not, we want you to know that we are still not going to bow down.

 

Have you made up your mind you are going to serve the Lord Jesus Christ regardless of what happens?

 

I think about Acts 12. You have the account of James, one of the apostles, and Simon Peter, one of the apostles. In that chapter we are told that they killed James. They were planning to kill Simon Peter; and yet the church prayed for Simon Peter, and he was delivered from the prison and not killed. Don't you think the church probably prayed for James as well? Of course they did. Yet, God in His plan, God in His sovereign purpose, somehow chose to deliver Simon Peter. But He didn't deliver James. It's all a matter of the plan and purpose of God.

 

This is so sweet. Look at verse 17. "If it be so, our God whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he WILL deliver us out of thine hand, O king." They were saying that God may deliver us from the fiery furnace, but either way it goes we are going to be out of your hands. We are going to be away from you. You aren't going to give us anymore trouble one way or the other.

 

They are expressing their belief in the afterlife. You may not get delivered from some of the problems and difficulties down here, but one of these days we will be up in heaven and all difficulties will be over. You will be glad you stood for Jesus.

 

Let me encourage you to make up your mind to stand up for Jesus Christ. It gets tiresome sometimes standing for the Lord. It gets tiresome sometimes not bending to pressure. Not bowing down to the image of gold. It gets tiresome sometimes fighting the liberal crowd and the alcohol crowd and the pornography crowd and all of those things. It's tiresome for young people to fight against that constant pressure to get you to go along.

 

Remember this, when you are tempted to bend to the pressure, look back and remember those commitments you made to the Lord Jesus and those people who are counting on you. When you are tempted to bend to the pressure, look ahead to those who are counting on you in the future. Look ahead to those to whom you can be a blessing if you will stay true to the Lord. When you are tempted to bend, look around and look at those who are counting on you and those who are following your example. When you are tempted to bend, look up to the Lord who is counting on you. Be true. Take your stand. Don't bend.

 

Many of you need to determine in your heart that you are going to serve the Lord regardless. That you are going to pay whatever price. These Hebrew young men made up their minds that they wouldn't bow. Now when the peer pressure comes, they have also made up their minds not to bend.

 

Let's bow our heads in prayer.