2 11 2024 Sunday School

Worth Risking our Lives

Daniel 3:19-28 Lesson Text

Daniel 3:18 “But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.””

Conviction: In verse 17...”The God whom we serve is able to delivery us”.....The 3 young men had no doubts about God. Apparently, they knew the history of God providing and delivering those who praised and worshipped Him.

Romans 8:31 “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

Hope: In verse 18…And He will deliver us out of thine hand....they knew God was with them and that God was for them because they were standing up for Him. Their hope was that God was going to deliver them from this situation

When you pray to God and you may be specific to Him about what you need deliverance from...but have this attitude…God I know you are able to make things happen in my life but if what I am asking you for does not happen…God I still have hope and trust in you…Because I know you can do all things but fail.

Resolve: In verse 19...we will not worship the golden statue

We will not compromise the truth of God or offend our God by worshipping a god that has ears and can’t hear, eyes and can’t see, hands and can’t touch....

An idol is anything that takes the place of God in a person’s life. Devoting the best of our attention, affection, energy, time, and resources to something other than God makes that thing or person an idol.

Daniel 3:19 “Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face was distorted. He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary,”

Here is a King who has made a public decree. All of the people except 3 Hebrew boys obeyed his public command.

He becomes so upset that his attitude and facial expressions changed. He commanded to heat the fire 7 times hotter than normal

Daniel 3:20 “and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.”

This verse continues to show the E.G.O. of the king. Not only was the fire not hot enough, then he heated it 7 times hotter, now an ordinary soldier is not enough and he orders the strongest soldiers to throw them into the fire.

Real Time Example: It is not enough for Mighty Russia to bomb small Ukraine but they want to wipe them off of the map.

Daniel 3:21 “So the men were bound, still wearing their tunics, their trousers, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the furnace of blazing fire.”

Sometimes when fiery situations come you ain’t got time to properly dress

Daniel 3:22 “Because the king’s command was urgent and the furnace was so overheated, the raging flames killed the men who lifted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.”

Rage (Emotion) will cause you not to think with your heart but with your head. That is why leaders must lead with their heart and not their head. The King was so upset that his focus was on burning up the 3 Hebrew boys that he didn’t focus on the men he ordered to throw the Hebrew boys into the fire.

I want you to focus on the words in the NIV “who took up” . When you make the right decisions, then you are in the right relationship with God, and therefore Psalm 110:1 “The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.””

Sometimes the same people who try to dig a ditch for you and try to set traps will elevate you and get caught in their own trap. You just keep standing up for what is right in life. Serving the Lord will pay off…after while.

Daniel 3:23 “But the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound, into the furnace of blazing fire.”

Do you see the irony in this verse? The reason they were in the fiery furnace is because they would not bow down or fall down before the graven image erected by the king. The flames just killed the men that were bringing them up to the furnace. I believe they fell down when they got in the fire because they saw their Lord our Lord waiting for them in the fire.

Sometimes when you are thrown in the fire and you are bound with your burdens, then you just fall down on your knees and worship our God.

This lesson is about faith. These 3 individuals were more willing to risk their lives for God than to bow down to a false god. Let’s remind you that everyone was bowing down but them. Example that the majority is not always right.

Daniel 3:24 “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, “Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “True, O king.””

The King was prepared to see the 3 burn up, but when his carnal eyes translated to his mind that I know we threw 3 into the fire but I am seeing 4 inside the furnace.

The truth of God will cause even the evil person to acknowledge the truth.

Isn’t it amazing that the king wanted the public to see how powerful he was by burning up the defiant young men that the Almighty God used this public display and this evil king to acknowledge Him.

When people try to publically shame you, then God will publically bless you

Daniel 3:25 “He replied, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god.””

Three types of fires:

The one other men build

The one satan blows your way

The one God creates for His Children

Isaiah 43:2–3 “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.”

Daniel 3:26 “Nebuchadnezzar then approached the door of the furnace of blazing fire and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire.”

The 3 Hebrew boys were more blessed coming out of this fire.

They walked with Jesus

They suffered with Him

1 Peter 4:12–14 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.”

Daniel 3:27 “And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men; the hair of their heads was not singed, their tunics were not harmed, and not even the smell of fire came from them.”

Point: the fire didn’t burn any part of their bodies, didn’t burn the hair on their heads, didn’t burn their clothes, and they didn’t even smell like fire. Point: But they did lose something that I pray will encourage you today that maybe going through the fire, look at verse 22 when the flames killed the men taking them up to the furnace. They fell bound into the furnace but look at verse 25, they were walking around inside the furnace with Jesus. Meaning that by them going through the fire, the fire set them free from the bonds.

When you are walking with Christ, the fire has no power. That is the miracle in this lesson. God displays His supernatural power.

Daniel 3:28 “Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.”

The King commends the 3 for serving their God.

Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”