A few years ago headlines around the world reported the tragic news that 118 Russian crewmen had died when a series of explosions caused their submarine, the Kursk, to sink. Well, as the story unfolded it was discovered that twenty-three members of the crew survived for several hours after the explosions in an isolated airtight chamber before they suffocated. One of them was 27-year-old Lieutenant Captain, Dmitry Kolesnikov, and in his final hours, as he realized his death was near-he wrote a note to his wife. In fact, at his funeral service two words from his note were displayed in a black frame next to his coffin-the words: “mustn’t despair…mustn’t despair.” Well, like this young Russian lieutenant, when we know we’re about to die ALL of us have this instinctive desire to send a final message to our loved ones.
- Remember? Passengers on the hijacked airliners on 9-11 used cell phones to share parting words with their families and close friends.
- Prisoners of the Nazis in one Warsaw ghetto, after seeing everybody else shot or starved to death, took their last moments to write notes and store them in crevasses in the wall…
…hoping that someone other than the Nazis would find and read them.
Well, let me ask you-when that day dawns for you-I mean, when that moment right before your death comes-and it will come-if you were given a chance to leave a note or make a final statement of some sort, what would you say? What message would you send? What words would you write?
Sermon:
I bring this up because today we are studying a familiar text from the Bible that tells us exactly how three brave, godly young men answered this question.
In fact the Bible records word for word, what they said when their death was imminent. Their names are Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego-and we’ll hear more about them tonight as our Kids For Praise 2 and 3 choirs present the musical, It’s Cool In The Furnace. But I thought that it would be good prep for us to use our sermon time this morning to review this familiar story before we see tonight’s musical. So, in essence we’ll “read the book” BEFORE “we see the ‘movie.'”
To refresh your memory let me remind you that we first read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in chapter one of the book of Daniel. These four young men were captives of the Babylonians. Remember? Due to the fact that each of them was from noble Hebrew families they were brought to serve the King of Babylon-King Nebuchadnezzar.
Well, the first challenge they faced as captives in this foreign land had to do with food. They refused to break God’s dietary laws by defiling themselves with royal food and wine. In fact, Daniel challenged the King’s official to feed them only vegetables and water for ten days. The other young men were to eat the normal fare AND after this ten-day test they would see who was healthier. Daniel and his three sidekicks won hands down because they were obviously much healthier after this 10 day test than those who ate all the wrong things. By the way, how many of you parents have used that story to try to get your kids to eat right?
Well, in the next chapter of this Old Testament book we read about how King Nebuchadnezzar himself had a dream-a dream that only Daniel could interpret-which he of course did. This dream had to do with a huge statue, the head of which was made of gold and represented Nebuchadnezzar and his vast kingdom. The rest of the statue was made of various other metals or wood or even clay and these parts symbolized other kingdoms that were to come after Nebuchadnezzar. Well, the king was greatly impressed with Daniel’s dream interpreting abilities-so impressed that he showered him with gifts and then gave him a position of high authority in his kingdom.
Okay…twenty years pass between the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter 3 where we discover that ole Nebuchadnezzar decided to actually build this statue from his dream. When it was finished he set it up on the plain of Dura where everyone could see it and this was easy to do because the statue is huge-90 feet tall-but unlike the dream Nebuchadnezzar ordered that it be ENTIRELY covered with gold-not just the head. He probably thought:
“It’s nice that I’m the head in this dream but it would be even better if the WHOLE statue represented my kingdom. I mean, why should my reign be succeeded by others? Why shouldn’t this great Babylonian empire that I have built last forever?”
Understand-in this way he defied God and said in effect:
“I will not allow the God of Daniel to set my kingdom aside. My rule will endure for all time.”
Okay-verse 5 says that the king assembled a huge orchestra-and he ordered that whenever it played, everyone was to stop what they were doing and bow down and worship this statue. Now-if you’re like me, when I first read this story I wondered, “Where’s Daniel?” because he’s not mentioned in this incident at all. And to answer my own question, he was probably away on special assignment in some distant part of the empire. After all, remember-he has been given a lot of authority in the kingdom. In fact, knowing Daniel’s popularity, the king probably took advantage of his absence to issue this decree-so the storm that we’re about to read about broke on his three friends. They had to weather it without Daniel’s wise leadership. In any case, they refused to obey this edict from the king even without the presence and support of their friend Daniel. And some astrologers-who were no doubt jealous of the success of these four Hebrew youth-turned them in-reporting their disobedience to the king. When Nebuchadnezzar heard about their refusal to bow to his statue, he angrily summoned the three to his chambers and asked if the charges against them were true. Then, before allowing them to answer, he in essence gave them a second chance-probably because he knew they were Daniel’s friends and as we see later in this book Nebuchadnezzar genuinely liked Daniel.
So, the interchange may have happened like this. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were brought before him, the king asked, “Have you seen the statue I had built?” They nodded in the affirmative and then the king said, “Well, here’s how it works guys. When the music plays, everyone- INCLUDING YOU -is to bow down and worship the statue. Anyone who doesn’t- INCLUDING YOU -will be thrown into the fiery furnace.” And then he added, “At that point guys, who would be able to rescue you from my hand?”
Now Nebuchadnezzar knew about the Hebrew God-after all, Daniel had given all the praise to Jehovah for his ability to interpret the dream that led him to build this statue. So, understand-there’s a definite brag in the king’s question-sort of “My god’s bigger than your God” tone. I mean, he was saying, “Your Hebrew God may be good at dreams….but there’s no way even He can save you from my furnace.” And, at this point we read the “final words” of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego-their last statement before they faced what they were sure would be their death. These words are found in Daniel 3:16-18. Follow along with me in your Bibles as I read.
16 – Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king,”O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
17 – If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve IS able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.
18 – But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of god you have set up.”
Now, how did these guys do it? How were Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego able to utter these bold words in the face of certain death? What enabled these three teens to be so courageous?
1. First, they were men of deep CONVICTION.
They had deeply held beliefs when it came to idol worship. They knew God’s commandments from Exodus 20:
“Do not worship any other gods beside Me….Do not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything…Do not bow down and worship them, for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation and those who hate Me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:3-6)
So understand. These three young men knew the Scriptures. They knew what they believed and, more importantly they BELIEVED what they knew-so deeply that they were willing to lay their lives on the line. They held to their convictions so firmly that they would literally rather “burn than turn.” This reminds me of an incident from the life of Martin Niemoeller-a well-known German hero of the first world war. During the 2nd world war Niemoeller again displayed heroic bravery as he spent time in prisons and concentration camps because of his firm opposition to Adolph Hitler. Well, Hitler realized that if Niemoeller could be persuaded to join his cause then, due to his popularity much opposition to the Nazi movement would collapse. So he sent a former friend of Niemoeller’s to visit him-a friend who supported the Nazis. Seeing Niemoeller in his prison cell, the onetime friend asked, “Martin, Martin! Why are you hear.” And Niemoeller replied, “My friend, my friend! Why are you NOT here?” Like these three Jewish youth, Niemoeller had convictions based on his understanding of God’s Word-convictions that were dearer to him than life itself. These convictions enabled him to be BRAVE in the face of death and it did the same for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
This past Friday, I took Naomi Linn to the hospital so she could be there when Lloyd’s oncologist came in to share his diagnosis based on test results. He had warned that his news was not good. When he arrived he told us that Lloyd has an acute form of leukemia-an illness that is almost certainly going to be fatal. The best chemotherapy has to offer only gives a 10% success rate. I stood there as the doctor very clearly and compassionately explained all this. And, throughout the entire explanation Lloyd listened with a calm smile on his face-he obviously had no fear and was at peace-even with this news that death is near. In fact, he thanked the doctor for all his hard work…and assured him that he had enjoyed a long and richly-blessed life. When the doctor left Naomi understandably began to cry. I was fighting back tears myself because I dearly love that man. It will be so hard to lose him-even temporarily. And I wish you could have been there because I felt so blessed to see his response. I mean it was so moving-it was much like a worship service. Lloyd got up from his bed and embraced his wife and with a big smile on his face and said, “Don’t worry Naomi. This is just the next step in the process. God only promises us 70 years on this earth and I’ve had 85! Plus-we’ve had over 60 years of a wonderful marriage. There’s nothing to fear Naomi. I’ll be with the Lord!” Now, Lloyd was able to say this in the face of his own death because of his firm CONVICTION. Like the Apostle Paul, Lloyd Linn knows, “WHOM he has believed and is convinced that He is able to guard what he has committed to Him for that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12) He really believes in the depth of his heart that, “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son that whosoever believes in Him-including Lloyd Linn-will NOT perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) He believes that to be absent from the body is to be present face to face with the Lord. Lloyd Linn has the CONVICTION that enables him to face death with a calm peace. It’s the same sort of conviction that enabled these three young Jewish men to bravely defy a pagan king even though they knew that doing so would result in their death.
Now, most of us will not be faced with a choice between compromise or execution. But the issue is the same regardless of the penalty.
You see, many of us FAIL in the Christian life because we are not WILLING to pay even the price of a loss of popularity or loneliness or ridicule or economic hardship. And only those who have enough conviction to be willing to pay the price-even if the price is death itself-only these people make a real difference in this world.
This week I read about Dr. Joseph Tson, the Romanian pastor who-before his exile from Romania-was called before the Communist authorities to answer for his religious convictions and preaching. He expected to be killed so he set his affairs in order and when he appeared before the interrogating officer, he said:
“I have to tell you first that I am ready to die. I have put my affairs in order. Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying, because when you kill me people all over Romania will read my books and believe on the God I preach…even more than They do now.”
The interrogator replied, “Who said anything about killing?” and they settled for exiling him from his country. But Tson was right. The Romanian people listened to him because they knew he was a man of conviction who would rather die than compromise. They believed the truth of the Gospel because he obviously did so. Well, let me ask you-how firmly do you hold to your convictions? Do you BELIEVE what you know? Does the decision-making part of your brain follow the guidance of God’s written Word such that it knows that there is a right and a wrong? Or have you programmed it such that you can never see any decision clearly? You’ll never be able to say brave words like these three young men did, like Lloyd did-and you’ll never make any real difference in this world until you be come a person of Christian conviction.
2. And then, the second thing that made it possible for these men to answer so bravely is the fact that they had CONFIDENCE in God.
Look at verse 17 where they say,”If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve IS ABLE to save us from it…” In essence they said, “Nebuchadnezzar, you ask what god will be able to rescue us from your hand-well OURS IS ABLE!” These three men could be brave and bold because they knew they served a God Who IS ABLE to do “…exceedingly, abundantly above all that they could ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20) They knew that as Jeremiah says, “Nothing is to hard for God.” (Jeremiah 32:17) In short, these three were absolutely CERTAIN that God had the ability-the power-to deliver them from this dilemma. And THEY were able to STAND there and say these words because of this unshakable TRUST in God.
This reminds me of a story Dale Bruner tells about his pet cat, who he had named, “Clement of Alexandria.” They used to have another cat named, “Archbishop Thomas Cramer” which shows that Bruner obviously spends too much time reading church history books! Anyway the “archbishop” cat recently met his end in the jaws of a local coyote. And, because of this, whenever the other cat, Clement, goes outside, he lives in terror. He looks around as though it’s a jungle, and he is terrified. But when he comes in the house, he lies on the floor right between the kitchen and the dining room-where Bruner and his walk most frequently-and Clement falls asleep in total trust. Bruner writes:
“My wife or I could squash Clement’s head but he trusts us.
Our cat lives in complete, total confidence in his human companions. In this connection, I think the best animal synonym for faith is purring. Every time I see Clement just lying there [purring], I say to myself, ‘That’s what Jesus wants me to do-trust Him.’ The kind of confident trust the cat shows in us is the kind of trust the Lord Jesus invites from us.”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego HAD complete trust IN GOD-confidence in His power that allowed them to say what they said. But there was more to it than that. You see they also had…
3. …a CALIBER of faith that manifested itself in a firm COMMITMENT to God.
Look at their reply in verses 17 and 18 again:
“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve IS able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.
BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of god you have set up.”
And in these words we see TRUE faith-MATURE faith-because faith of this caliber is seen in a COMMITMENT to do God’s will no matter what God does-even if He does not save us from harm-even if He allows us to burn in the furnaces of life-even if He doesn’t cure us from cancer. You see, as mature believers know, we have a God who CAN save-but One Who, in His sovereign wisdom, MAY KNOW IT IS BETTER NOT to save. So, REAL faith-deep faith-is seen in a COMMITMENT to God no matter what happens because as people like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego know, we can trust God’s wisdom and sovereignty; we can believe that eventually, “…He will work IN all things for our good.”
So, the actions of these three young men help us to understand that faith IN GOD is more important than faith in HIS WORKS. You see, ultimately, faith must rest in the character of God irrespective of what He does or does not do. This familiar story from the book of Daniel is an important reminder that faithfulness to God may result in problems. Refusal to conform to this world’s pattern may well involved trouble and loss. After all, the Bible promises us this will happen. 1 Peter 4:12 says,”Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.” If we serve God faithfully-trials-fiery ordeals will come. That’s not strange or unusual in a fallen world but we must remember, as these three men obviously did, that it is better to accept the narrow way that leads to eternal GAIN than it is to follow the way of the world which will result in eternal LOSS. True faith-mature faith in God-enables us to say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15)
You see, confident faith cannot always be proved by cause and effect on this side of eternity. There are times when we must place emphasis on “HE IS ABLE” or “HE WILL” but in this age of “feel good religion” there is also a need to stress, “BUT IF NOT.” And there are literally millions of Christians who have embraced this same, “but if not” caliber of faith. In the last 2,000 years 70 million Christians have DIED because of their faith in Jesus and over half of them did so in the last 100 years. Hebrews 11 refers to this kind of believer when it says they, “died in faith, without receiving the promises…” and that they “were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection…” It talks about believers who “experienced mockings and scourgings…chains and imprisonment…who were stoned, sawn in two…put to death with the sword…” They went about “in sheepskins being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men of whom this world is not worthy wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.” In conclusion Paul declares,”And all these having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised.”
In other words, countless Christians have had this kind of firm commitment to God no matter what happened. They have had FAITH IN GOD…not His works. These mature believers-like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego-are the examples we should follow! As Philip Yancey says in his classic work, Disappointment With God, “Saints become saints by somehow hanging on to the stubborn conviction that things are not as they appear and that the unseen world is as solid and trustworthy as the visible world around them.”
So these three men were able to say these brave-and for all they knew FINAL-words because of their conviction and because of their confidence IN and commitment TO God.
But there’s more here-there’s more I want us to learn from this familiar story. You see, because they said these words they were thrown into the furnace but while in the furnace they learned a wonderful truth.
Okay, stop a minute and try to imagine what it must have been like. Put yourself in their shoes. They say these bold words and then at the king’s decree they are marched toward the furnace.
They feel the intense heat-they see the soldiers who led them to the furnace door collapse and die from the great heat as they march them into the furnace. Then they’re in the fire-and they wait for the searing pain-for the numbness-for the smoke inhalation that will suffocate their lungs-but it doesn’t come. In fact, after a few seconds they realize that they don’t feel any different, and it begins to dawn on them that they’re not even warm. Then they see that they are no longer bound and can just walk around in the furnace without being harmed. I’m sure that at this moment they remembered the words of Isaiah 43 where God said, “When you walk through the fire you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze for I am the Lord your God.”
But that’s not the best part-the best part is the fact that they saw that they weren’t alone.
And they aren’t the only ones who saw-the king did as well. Look at verse 24, where with a bit of fear in his voice he asked, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw in the fire?”
Then the officer in charge replied, “Certainly O king…but look I see FOUR men walking around in the fire unbound and unharmed and the fourth looks like the Son of God!” Jesus is there with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego! They met the Son of God personally hundreds of years before anyone else did!
And I wonder what they talked about as they strolled around in that huge oven? Surely Jesus told them Who He was and how proud the Father was of their conviction, confidence and commitment. And then I believe they responded by pouring out gratitude and WORSHIP to the Lord. Think of it. They came to this place on the Plain of Dura intending to WITHHOLD worship and they ended up worshiping as they never had in their lives-at the feet of the Son of God!
So, understand. This day that they dreaded turned out to be the BEST day of their life. I’m sure they looked back on it as the “can’t miss” event of their lives! And this is the main truth I want us to get. You see, as John Ortberg points out, sometimes God saves us FROM the furnace but many times He saves us IN the furnace. Please take my advice and commit this truth to memory-because believers like you and me STILL go through furnaces, and that shouldn’t scare us, because as we learn here our God is a “furnace kind of Guy.” When we put our faith in GOD and follow where He leads He will often take us to places that look scary and dangerous and painful-and maybe even deadly. But when we follow in faith, we learn that Jesus is there with us even in these frightening places. Our Lord MEETS US in the furnaces of life. As God says in the rest of Isaiah 43, Do not fear…for I will be WITH YOU. Do not be afraid for I am the Lord YOUR God.” (Vs 2, 5)
You know, as Christians living in the 21st century we need to embrace this wonderful truth because the fact is many times in our culture our primary goal is “furnace avoidance.” So often we pray, “God deliver me FROM pain, discomfort, suffering, inconvenience. Make my life smooth, make my life easy and comfortable and pleasant. REMOVE all obstacles.” I mean, we avoid even low level flames. And that is a great mistake. You see, the best, most fulfilling, most exciting times of life are IN the “furnaces”-because God is there. God is omnipresent-even in our pain. Nothing can separate us from God-not even the hottest furnace of life. Do you remember what Paul said in Romans 8?:
“Who-or what-shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor live, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, either height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation [EVEN THE HOTTEST FURNACES] will be able to separate us form the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
NO FURNACE can separate us from God’s loving presence-and NOTHING in life is better than the PRESENCE of God!
I don’t know if anyone’s counting but I’ve been a pastor now for nearly seven years and I truly love my job. I am so privileged to serve God’s people-especially people like you! I want you to know that I brag about you all the time to my pastor buddies. I told someone yesterday that I have the best church in the kingdom of God! And I do! But I felt led to tell you this morning that about three months after I first became your pastor I endured a fiery furnace of my own-and it centered around a pastor’s main task: preaching. I learned very quickly how long it takes to prepare a sermon-about 30 hours a week. I also learned that it is a never ending task. I remember reading that one pastor said, preaching is like giving birth on Sunday morning and then waking up from your Sunday afternoon nap to discover you are 9 months pregnant. Well, I remember one Monday morning it hit me that I was going to have to prepare a sermon every week for the rest of my life. And that led to a real form of anxiety-heart palpitations-panic attacks-the whole works. You see, I’m the type of person who likes to cross things off his list. I like to finish things and be able to say, “That job is DONE” but I realized that a pastor you never finish your list. You never get done. I mean there are always decisions to make, crises to deal with, weddings to prepare for. And, as I said there is the ever present sermon to prepare.
Plus, I have been taught-and firmly believe-that the sermon should be worth your congregation’s time-it should be your best effort-especially when you are “feeding” a congregation like RBC!
Well, as I said this realization led me to panic. I thought, “What if I’m not able to get a good sermon done each week? What if some crisis comes up that keeps me from doing so? What if I disappoint these wonderful people God has called me to shepherd?” Now, as you can see, I didn’t avoid the furnace. Don’t get me wrong-I’m no Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego-I’ve a long way to go to develop a faith like theirs. But in these past seven years God has patiently taught me a wonderful thing-a lesson I would never have learned outside of my own “furnace of sermon prep.” You see, God didn’t save me FROM the furnace of preaching. He saved me IN it. He didn’t say, “Oh you poor pastor-don’t worry. I’ll get you out of this. You can stop preaching anytime you want. I’ll get you a nice easy job in My kingdom. Nothing but short to-do lists!”
No, instead He joined me IN my furnace. He’s been with me and helped me to deal with each and every crisis-He’s never failed to help me with my sermons. He’s enabled me to help people in their grief and also to share their joy as they got married or welcomed a baby to the world.
And, IN the midst of all this I’ve gotten closer God than I ever have before. I’ve gotten to know far more about Him IN the furnace than I ever would have OUT of it. And it’s been wonderful. I’m sure when I get to the end of my days, I’ll look back on this as the “can’t miss” event of my life. Now-what if God has a calendar of your life-and on it he has marked a day that you will go through a furnace of sorts. And on this calendar God writes, “Meet Mark or Bill or Sue….in this furnace.” Well, what if we chicken out and don’t show up? Think of what we’d miss!
Maybe your furnace is at work. You work with some real mean people and it’s tough to even go to work everyday because you dread the heat of the office. Maybe you have people at work who are cranky, difficult, hostile. Maybe your boss gives you a hard time because he knows you’re a Christian. Well, Nebuchadnezzar was not exactly up for the Employer of the Year award and God was with his three Hebrew employees. In fact He used their conviction, confidence and commitment to change his heart. Could God be inviting you to meet Him in the furnace of your career to do the same to your boss or co-workers? Maybe your furnace is an illness or diagnosis you don’t want to face. Maybe it’s loneliness. Maybe it’s financial troubles. Well, whatever it is remember, our God is ABLE to deliver you from it-but even if He doesn’t hang in there, because He will meet you in the furnace. And nothing is more wonderful than being WITH God.
Let us pray.
Father God,
Forgive us for the times our faith has been weak and help us to strengthen it. God, we believe but help our unbelief. Help us to grow in our trust in You…our confidence in You…our commitment to You…no matter what comes our way. But most of all, remind each of us present this morning, Father that You promise to be with us always-even in the midst of the furnaces of life. I ask all this in the name of Jesus.
AMEN.
Invitation:
As we stand and sing, we invite you to come forward…to pray…or to ask me to pray with you…or to make a public decision….to accept Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior…or to join our church. Won’t you come as God leads?