Facing the Rage
The Sovereignty of God | A Study Through the Book of Daniel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsWhen given the option to stand in faith or buckle in fear, which will you do?
Notes
Transcript
Focus Passage: Daniel 3:8-18
Outline
The Enemy will Attack (vv. 8-13)
The enemy has a hatred for God’s people - ‘…brought charges against the Jews...’
Let us not full ourselves, the enemy (Satan) hates God’s people. He hates the Jewish people and he hates Christians. Why? Because they are God’s people. God chose the Jewish people to be own even when they were not a people. He chose the Jewish people to bring the savior, Jesus Christ, into the world. He hates Christians, because we are the bride of Christ. We are the vessels that God uses to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. Through us, He, God, grows and expands His kingdom. He hates us. Peter puts it this way.
8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The enemy looks to be an accuser of the brethren. Takes pride in being an accuser of the brethren.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.
The enemy uses whatever means necessary to attack God’s people
In this case before us, he used pride, arrogance, ego, and manipulation to bring an accusation against three Hebrew slaves.
He used Nebuchadnezzar’s pride, arrogance, and ego in their favor. They knew that his acknowledgement of Daniel’s God was false. They knew that it was merely an emotional diversion and not a spiritual conversion, as discussed previously. They knew that he was a megalomaniac and only needed his feathered stroked a couple of times to play into their plan to bring about persecution of those whom they were jealous of. They played him like a fiddle.
They played into his pride by stating, O king, live forever! They played into his arrogance by stating, O king, you have made a decree…whoever does not…shall be thrown into the middle of a furnace of blazing fire. While you said this, look over here, there are certain Jews who, well, namely Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you know the three Jews you promoted as leaders over this province, well, they do not serve your gods, nor do they worship the golden statue which you have set up. They knew the price for king Nebuchadnezzar to fired up.
The enemy is willing to pay the price, if means persecution of God’s people
In that they knew that he was arrogant, they played him like a fiddle and used his ego and manipulated him, These men, O king, have disregarded you. This is what the enemy does. He manipulates, triangulates, and then assassinates. He will pay the price, no matter the cost, to feed into your ego, pride, and arrogance to get you to falter and even use you to attack God’s people. This is why Peter wrote, as we have already read, Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. This is why James states that we drawn away by own lust and temptations. The enemy knows how to mold, maneuver , and manipulate you as a puppeteer does a puppet. We must be on guard. We must be aware that the enemy is relentless in his attacks.
What the Enemy Wants from Us (vv. 14-15)
14 Nebuchadnezzar began speaking and said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you do not serve my gods, nor worship the golden statue that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe, and all kinds of musical instruments, to fall down and worship the statue that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can rescue you from my hands?”
The enemy wants to intimidate - ‘…Is it true…that you do not serve my gods, nor worship the golden statue that I have set up...”
Nebuchadnezzar begins with a simple enough question. It seems like an innocent question at first, but there’s more to this question than just the surface. Because, in reality, he only wants to intimidate them. He doesn’t care about anything other than his ego.
The enemy wants you to cower - ‘…Now if you are ready, at the moment you hear…fall down and worship...’
Nebuchadnezzar makes this point obvious, when states that the alternative to worship is death, if you do not worship, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.
The enemy wants you to question - ‘…what god is there who can rescue you from my hands...’
Willing to Face the Rage (vv. 16-18)
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego replied to the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we are not in need of an answer to give you concerning this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods nor worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
How are the Hebrew children to respond? How do they face the most powerful man in the known world? How do they face the intimidation of this megalomaniac? They same way that each and everyone of us are called to, through faith. As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stand before the king, they have two options: cower under the intimidation or stand in faith on the promises of God. As they responded, they revealed what true faith is.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego revealed that...
Faith gives the child of God the ability to be unswayed - ‘…we are not in need of answer to give you concerning this matter...’
Faith is confidence in the power of God - ‘...If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will rescue us from your hand, O king...’
Faith is the willing submissiveness to the will of God - ‘…But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods nor worship the golden statue you have set up’
Faith is accepting the answer, even if the answer is no. Faith is understand that God may not take your problems away. He may just give you the strength to endure. Faith is not always yes, sometimes it is no. It is faith that helped these three and many others endure the persecution and come out strong in the end for it.
35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented
it is faith that allows you face persecution and praise God for it.
16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
May we understand that faith is not believing God can, it is knowing He will.
Conclusion
Are you and I willing to face the rage of the enemy? We must know that it is coming. We must know that it is upon us. We must walk in faith. We must being will trust God’s will and be willing submissive to it, even if we don’t understand or we do not see the benefit in it at the moment. Let us face the rage no matter the cost. Holding onto what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth...
17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.