Trusting in God’s Sovereignty

Daniel 1; Daniel 3:19-30

SERMON PROPOSITION

When life doesn't make sense, trust the sovereignty of God.

Because what appears to be chaos to us is never outside the control of God.

INTRODUCTION: THE TENSION OF FAITH

One of the greatest struggles in the Christian life is the tension between what we know about God and what we experience in life.

Faith says God is good.

Yet life sometimes feels painful.

Faith says God is in control.

Yet circumstances feel out of control.

Faith says God is a deliverer.

Yet sometimes we still find ourselves in Babylon.

Many believers live in this tension.

The tension between God's promises and present pain.

The tension between spiritual commitment and earthly confusion.

The tension between what God has said and what life is showing.

And that is exactly where we find Daniel.

DANIEL'S DILEMMA

The year is approximately 605 B.C.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has conquered Jerusalem.

Daniel and his friends have been ripped from their homeland.

Their future has been disrupted.

Their nation has been humiliated.

Their lives have been turned upside down.

And if anyone had a reason to question God, it was Daniel.

Because Daniel knew what God had done before.

God delivered Noah.

God used Moses to part the Red Sea.

God empowered David to defeat Goliath.

God gave Solomon wisdom.

So the obvious question becomes:

"If God did all of that, why would He allow Babylon to conquer His people now?"

Daniel didn't have all the answers.

But Daniel understood something many believers never learn.

God can still be trusted when He doesn't explain Himself.

And that brings us to the central theme of this message:

GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY

God’s sovereignty refers to His absolute and unrivaled rule over all His creatures and their circumstances. This means nothing escapes God’s governance. He does as he pleases and His purposes cannot be thwarted or challenged. Our response is a reverential respect for the most high. It’s to fear God. Psalm 128:1: Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.

The Book of Daniel is ultimately not about lions' dens.

It is not about fiery furnaces.

It is not even primarily about prophecy.

The Book of Daniel is about the absolute sovereignty of God over kings, kingdoms, cultures, crises, and circumstances.

And Daniel chapter 3 gives us a front-row seat to what happens when God's people trust His sovereignty when life doesn't make sense.

I. GOD ALLOWS THE FURNACE

Daniel 3:19-23

Nebuchadnezzar is furious.

The furnace is heated seven times hotter.

The strongest soldiers in Babylon die from the heat.

The Hebrew boys are bound and thrown into the fire.

Now here is the tension:

If God could stop the furnace...

Why didn't He?

Because God's goal is not always to keep us from trouble.

Sometimes His goal is to reveal Himself through trouble.

A. They Were Persecuted Because Of Their Standards

Daniel 3:8–12 (KJV): ⁸ Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. ⁹ They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. ¹⁰ Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image: ¹¹ And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. ¹² There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

The Chaldeans specifically targeted them because of their loyalty to God which made them stand out (Verse 8).

Take a stand on God’s word on any prevalent issue today and watch you become a target. If you are not a target in Babylon, you haven’t taken a stand. Where were the other captive Hebrews? The “people of God”... they were bowing.

What are the issues of today? Race, Abortion, Sexuality to name a few. Where does God stand on the issue of race? Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Abortion? I knew you before you were formed in your mothers womb (Jeremiah). Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not sacrifice your child to gods of convenience. Sexuality? God created humans both male and female in His own image and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:26).

My question is where do you stand on the issues in Babylon. Will you continue to bow or take a stand on the plain or durah.

2 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV)

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord..."

The world resents what reminds it of God.

These young men refused to blend in with Babylon.

They understood that God's people are called to stand out, not fit in.

B. They Were Persecuted Because Of Their Savior

Nebuchadnezzar was not simply attacking their behavior.

He was attacking their allegiance. This is why he had his chief of eunuch rename them immediately after they arrived in Babylon. Their names were representative and in honor of Babylonian gods.

The issue was worship.

The issue was lordship.

The issue was who would occupy the throne of their lives.

C. They Were Persecuted Because They Refused To Bow To Idols

Before there was a furnace, there was an idol.

Before there was persecution, there was a choice.

Would they bow to the image or remain faithful to God?

What Is An Idol?

An idol is anything that takes the place that belongs to God alone.

The Bible reveals that idolatry is more than statues and images.

It is the exchange of God's glory for created things.

Romans 1:21-25 (KJV)

"Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator..."

Idolatry occurs whenever we elevate something created above the Creator.

Money can become an idol.

Success can become an idol.

Relationships can become an idol.

Politics can become an idol.

Self can become an idol.

Comfort can become an idol.

The Bible also teaches that idols can live in the heart.

Ezekiel 14:3-4 (KJV)

"These men have set up their idols in their heart..."

Which means idolatry is not merely an external problem.

It is an internal problem.

Many people have never bowed to a golden image.

Yet they bow daily to approval of men,

Status,

Achievement,

Pleasure,

Control.

The biblical writers expose the foolishness of idols.

Psalm 115:4-8 (KJV)

"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands."

They have mouths but cannot speak.

Eyes but cannot see.

Ears but cannot hear.

Feet but cannot walk.

Jeremiah 10:3-5 (KJV)

"Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good."

The tragedy of idolatry is that people trust powerless substitutes instead of an all-powerful God.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to exchange the living God for a lifeless substitute.

And that refusal led them to the furnace.

Kingdom Principle

We are all facing a moment where we now have another chance to re-evaluate our choices. God’s mercy and grace is such that we can re-evaluate today in the culture we find ourselves living in.

Will I bow to culture or stand with Christ?

And so, these Hebrew boys stood for God even when they couldn’t trace God. They had an unconquerable faith in God’s ability to deliver them. Whether now or after death, they were ready to stand for God and they did. They were willing to die for their faith.

Are you willing to die for your faith? Do you have something you’re willing to die for?

II. GOD ENTERS THE FURNACE

Daniel 3:24-27

Nebuchadnezzar expected to see three dead men.

⁴ Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.

²⁵ He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.

²⁷ And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

A. They Were Preserved By An Ever-Present God

Isaiah 43:2 (KJV)

"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee..."

Matthew 28:20 (KJV)

"Lo, I am with you alway..."

God never promised they would avoid the fire.

He promised they would never face it alone.

The greatest miracle in the text is not that they came out.

The greatest miracle is that Jesus went in.

B. They Were Free In The Fire

The ropes burned.

The Hebrews didn't.

The fire destroyed what had them bound.

Sometimes God allows the furnace because there are things attached to us that comfort cannot remove.

Pride.

Fear.

Self-reliance.

Bitterness.

Unbelief.

The fire burns what is binding us.

C. They Were Fine In The Fire

Romans 8:28 (KJV)

"And we know that all things work together for good..."

Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV)

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you..."

2 Corinthians 4:17 (KJV)

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment..."

God allowed them to go through the fire.

But He did not allow the fire to go through them.

The furnace was for development.

Not destruction.

D. They Were Preserved By An All-Powerful God

Ephesians 3:20 (KJV)

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think..."

Not a hair singed.

No smell of smoke.

No evidence of damage.

Because when God works, He works completely.

III. GOD USES THE FURNACE

Daniel 3:28-30

God never wastes a furnace.

Every furnace has a Kingdom purpose attached to it.

A. God's Name Was Magnified

2 Corinthians 12:9 (KJV)

"My grace is sufficient for thee..."

The same king who mocked God now praises God.

Why?

Because somebody remained faithful in the fire.

Your trial may be someone else's testimony.

Your endurance may be someone else's evidence that God is real.

B. God's Servants Were Elevated

Verse 30 says they were promoted.

Notice God's order.

Fire first.

Promotion second.

Pressure first.

Influence second.

Testing first.

Advancement second.

God often uses adversity as preparation for greater responsibility.

CLOSING

The story is not ultimately about three Hebrew boys.

The story is about a sovereign God.

A God who allowed Babylon.

A God who allowed the furnace.

A God who entered the furnace.

A God who controlled the furnace.

A God who used the furnace.

And a God who brought His people through the furnace.

Somebody today is facing a furnace.

A furnace of grief.

A furnace of uncertainty.

A furnace of disappointment.

A furnace of sickness.

A furnace of financial pressure.

And life doesn't make sense.

But Daniel reminds us that when life doesn't make sense, God still does.

The same God who controls kings controls your circumstances.

The same God who rules kingdoms rules your situation.

The same God who walked with them in Babylon walks with you today.

So trust God's sovereignty.

Because what looks like chaos to you has never escaped the control of God.

Prayer of Salvation

Father in the name of Jesus, I recognize I am a sinner separated from God.

I confess that Jesus is Lord and I believe in my hear that God resurrected him from the dead, and that Christ’s death and resurrection accomplished what the law could not.

I repent from all my sin. I turn away and submit to God’s Lordship and Authority. I call upon the name of Jesus Christ, and therefore I am saved.

I acknowledge that Salvation is not based on feelings or worthiness but on God’s promise and His Grace. I receive salvation. Amen.

Benediction (Doxology) Jude 1:24-25

24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.