DANIEL 3:13-28

1. WE SEE AN UNCOMPROMISING DEDICATION: VV16, 17:
1. What audacity! What boldness! What commitment! But these boys didn't have to debate the issue! They didn't go into a huddle! They didn't have to quickly decide a course of action! They had settled the issue long ago: "We will serve the Lord God alone and Him alone will we worship!" Let me share a good principle with you: Decide what you will do before the moment of crisis comes and when the moment of crisis comes, you won't have to make a snap, impetuous, and often wrong decision!
1. Decide now that you won't do drugs or consume alcohol and when the test comes you won't have to make a pressured, stressed out decision.
2. Decide now that you will apply sexual abstinence until marriage and when the temptation comes you've already taken your stand.
3. Decide now that you will do the honorable thing and when the opportunity to cheat or lie presents itself, it is a foregone conclusion that you won't!
4. Decide now to serve God and when you are tempted to shove Him aside, your lot is already cast!
2. Well, these boys had made their decision and stuck to it! They might have been tempted to make excuses, though:
1. "We'll just pretend to worship the idol, but won't do it in our hearts!"
2. "We might as well join the system; you can't fight city hall!"
3. "If we don't do it, we'll stand out and be a spectacle!"
4. "We'll do it to save our skins! Better a live coward than a dead hero!"
5. "After all, we have to respect other religions. And when in Babylon, this is the religion!"
3. You might ask, "Why didn't they compromise?" There are a number of possible reasons:
1. They realized that there is but One True God and this idol wasn't Him!
2. They were of strong enough character to do right when wrong would have been easier and safer.
3. They were God pleasers, not man pleasers. They took a stand like the apostles who said, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:19-20 (NIV).
4. Their eyes were on the eternal, not just the immediate things.
5. They recognized that they belonged to God and were not their own!
6. They remembered the value of a clear conscience without deceit or offense before man and God.
4. The three boys had the kind of commitment to God that the old pagan had to Neptune: during a storm at sea, the old sailor prayed, "Oh, Neptune! You can sink me if you want to, or you can save me if you want to, but as for me I will keep my rudder true!" Their dedication was uncompromising; they would keep their rudder true.

2. WE SEE AN UNSHAKEN DEPENDENCY: VV17, 18:
1. "God will rescue us from your hand; but, even if He doesn't, you can forget us bowing to your false god!" They believed in God's ability to save, but would not make that a condition of their obedience and faithfulness! This was not, "Lord, get us out of this and we'll serve You!" It was, "Lord, we'll serve You whether You get us out of this or not because we are confident You will do the right thing!"
2. They had no revelation from God as to whether he'd spare their lives or not but they were confident that God is sovereign, wise, good, powerful and right whether the result be what they wanted or not! They depended on God in triumph or tragedy! They'd keep an unshaken dependency upon Him come what may.
3. The bottom line was: they'd be delivered out of Nebuchadnezzar's hand one way or the other: If they died, they'd spend eternity with God; if they lived, the king's wrath was ineffective. Kill their body and their souls were free; spare their bodies and they were delivered from death. It was a "win-win" for the three boys. But in any case, they simply depended on God!
4. Oh that we would have the unshaken dependency of:
1. Job who said, "Though He slay me, I will trust Him!"
2. A little boy who was standing on the sidewalk in the middle of a block, obviously waiting for something. A man asked for what he was waiting. The little guy told him he was waiting for the bus. The man said the bus stop was in the next block. The boy knew that but insisted the bus would stop for him right here. The man became annoyed and raised his voice and told the boy he better start walking if he hoped to ride that bus. The boy politely said he would wait for the bus right there. The man fumed and walked off. Before the man was too far away, he heard the screeching of brakes. He turned around and couldn't believe his eyes. The bus was actually stopping for the little boy. The bus door opened and the youngster started to board. Just before he did, he turned toward the man down the street and yelled, "My daddy is the bus driver." And he had full dependency upon his father!

3. WE SEE AN UNDENIABLE DELIVERANCE: VV24, 25:
1. "Wait a minute! Hold the phone! We tossed in three but look! We see four!"
2. Note that God did not keep them out of the furnace, He joined them in it! He did not keep them out of, but took them through, the fire! He did, indeed, spare their physical lives!
3. God has not promised to always spare us physical harm or even death. The blood of the martyrs testifies to that fact! But he has promised that even if someone destroys our bodies, our souls are safe if we are in Christ.
1. Paul knew that even as he faced imminent martyrdom, and wrote, "At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me, in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the lion's mouth. The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." 2 Timothy 4:16-18 (NASB).
2. Peter knew it and wrote, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1:3-9 (NASB).
4. John Huss, a Bohemian priest, denouncing the corrupt practices of the Church, was tried and convicted and sentenced to death. He was kept in prison for seven months before he was burned. As Huss stood before the stake he said, "In the truth of the gospel which I have written, taught, and preached, I die willingly and joyfully today." Then the fire was kindled, and as the red tongues of flame driven by the wind from Lake Boden rose high around the body of the martyr, Huss sang, "Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, have mercy on me." "The smoke blinds him, the flames are circling above his head. Yet the voice goes on: 'Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.' The flames wrap him round, his head falls on his breast. The fire does its work, and a heap of ashes is all that remains." (Charles Carleton Coffin). And he experienced an undeniable deliverance from fear, from persecution, from death unto life eternal.

What a promise God gives to His own: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you." Isaiah 43:2 (NASB). When life puts you into the furnace, it can't keep you there! Remember that it is 10,000 times safer to be in the flames with God and die there than out of the furnace and go on living without Him. When you are called upon to take a stand that brings you suffering or death, remember His promise: "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." Revelation 2:10 (NIV). Take your stand for Jesus! Let the chips fall where they may! Let those oppose who will! Let come what may! Be uncompromising in your dedication! Be unshaken in your dependency! If you are, you will be delivered in His time, in His way. This is an invitation to surrender all you have and are to Him; some for the first time; some as a renewal of commitment; some to join this congregation. This is an invitation to surrender your will to His and to live from this day forth serving Him as Lord. Who will make that surrender as we sing?

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