Resolved Faith Confronts
Be Resolved! - Book of Daniel • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsGod wants to develop our faith so to display our faith before others
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True, tested faith
True, tested faith
Faith that is tested and tried is faith that you can count on. Faith that is given from above and brings glory to God. Our passage today brings forth and shows faith that is about to be tested and tried, all for God’s purpose and glory (1Pt1:7;1Pt4:12).
(faith that can be tested picture inserted here)
Faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted
Satan and this world want to destroy your faith, steal your joy, and kill your testimony
God wants to develop your faith so it can be displayed for others to come to faith.
False faith withers, true faith deepens it’s roots in and through the trials, tribulations, testing, trying times.
True faith brings glory to God; and endures the fiery trials.
7 so 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;
Tell me about the proof of your faith in this verse?
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;
Fiery ordeals should not surprise us, nor should they overtake us, we should be prepared for them. Faith is a heart matter and as we go through our passage today I think you will see it is and we all may be challenged and encouraged regarding resolved faith.
1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits and its width six cubits; he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
3 Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all the rulers of the provinces were assembled for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed: “To you the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language,
5 that at the moment you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. 6 “But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.”
7 Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 8 For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews.
9 They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: “O king, live forever! 10 “You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image.
11 “But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. 12 “There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.”
What do you see, what do you notice, what sticks out to you?
So now, this morning we will look at
The heart of the King (Dan3:1-3)
The heart of the people (Dan3:4-7)
The heart of the resolved (Dan3:8-12)
Our heart matters (1Pt1:6-9) - bonus section
Heart of the King
Heart of the King
Nebuchadnezzer had dreams, dreams retold, dreams interpreted now that leads to our passage today, what the king did with the dreams. The Kings heart is made evident.
Pride of the King (Dan3:1; Dan2:38; Pro16:18; Mk7:21-23; 1Jn2:16)
So Daniel had given the king the dream and the interpretation and it involved the king and that brought about the pride.
38 and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field, or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.
All power, all authority had been given to the king, given to his hand and made to rule over them all. So the kings heart became prideful and pride is dangerous
18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.
And it is not a O.T. thing only look at this.
21 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
Where does the pride come from according to the words of Jesus? - from the heart, from within
What are the results of this heart matter? - The heart defiles a man, so what we allow into our heart will defile us.
Kings display (Dan3:1)
You can see the massiveness of the statue it would be about 90 feet tall. It would be seen in the entire region, there would be no missing it.
The statue was to be built in Dura (where that is exactly is unknown) but the name Dura means “walled in place.”
Kings demands (Dan3:2)
Who did he king demand to come to the dedication of the statue - all the government officials, high and low, all were to come.
Why were they to come? - to worship the image. What do you worship, God, so the king was making this created image a god instead of the God of all creation being the God of all.
Some wonder was the statue an image of the king? Most believe it is of the Babylonian god, Marduk
(Marduk chief god of Babylonia)
Marduk. Marduk, in Mesopotamian religion, the chief god of the city of Babylon and the national god of Babylonia; as such, he was eventually called simply Bel, or Lord. Originally, he seems to have been a god of thunderstorms
Kings people follow through (Dan3:3)
I think you can see, the “yes” men did what the king commanded and they came before the image for the dedication of it.
Heart of the people
Heart of the people
The kings command went out, the kings command was obeyed (they assembled). Now the kings instructions that will display the heart of the people.
Command proclaimed (Dan3:4)
Who gives the kings command? - a herald
A herald is one who proclaims a message, it is the word kerux in the Greek, I am a kerux. I do not originate the message, I proclaim the message from the scripture.
This is now going from a political event to a religious ceremony, event.
From a command of a king to the worship of a god. From political to religious.
Command recipients (Dan3:4)
Pay attention to (v.4) who is commanded now, it has a vaster audience than what we saw in (v.2) - so now this is all inclusive, all people, all nations, all tongues
Command instructions (Dan3:5; Jn12:24-26)
What are they to do, when are they to do it? - better to look at both (vv.4-5) to answer that question
So when the music starts you stop and drop
Today people can easily be influenced too can’t they. More concerned about what people say, may think, than being resolved in faith and staying to what God says in His Word.
24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
26 “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
______________________
Be willing to stand up, stand out for your faith, lay down your life for Him and that will bring honor to the Father through the Son.
_________________________
We need to be people who have laid down our life because of our faith, because of our God and willing to stand up, stand out for our faith, our God, not fall down to the ways of the world.
Commands penalty if not followed (Dan3:6)
What will happen if you do not adhere to the command of the king given through the herald to all the people? - it will be a hot time in the city, the walled in place for anyone who does not obey the command.
So it seems there is another death sentence handed down, and that did not work out the way it was planned before did it? You will have to come next week to see how this one works out.
Commands response by the people (Dan3:7)
What did the people do? - - - people are easily influenced, and we see that today too don’t we? What kind of things influence people today?
Heart of the resolved
Heart of the resolved
Being resolved sometimes, oftentimes is not popular and you will see in this next section that being resolved brings accusations and persecution.
Maybe we better read this section again as a refresher then will get into it
8 For this reason at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews. 9 They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king: “O king, live forever!
10 “You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. 11 “But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.
12 “There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These men, O king, have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up.”
The accusers (Dan3:8)
Who are the accusers? -
The Chaldeans, this was the kings wise men who were not so wise that they could tell the king the dream and the intrepretation as commanded by the king before.
The Chaldeans that were found lacking, but the captives, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were found 10 times better than the wise men.
In this world there are people who look for reasons to accuse people of things, in this case it is because of their faith they are being accused. Have you seen that today in this world today? If not, be resolved in your faith for the accusations will come and you want to have true faith that can be tested and tried and be strong and rooted deep.
The accolades (Dan3:9)
Ever worry when someone starts off a conversation with a huge accolade like that? Was this respect they were giving? Was this trying to butter up the king? Either way, the king was already leery of the Chaldeans and knew they were liars or would be liars.
The reminder (Dan3:10-11)
What did they remind the king of? - - the command, the consequences. Come on, do you think the king forgot?
The accused (Dan3:12; Isa43:1-3)
Who are the accused, do you notice anyone missing? - Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, Daniel was missing.
Something to consider Daniel is writing this book, and after the fact, it is not about Daniel is it? It is about the sovereignty of God and the glory of God and that did not have to include Daniel. in this section god’s tool for glory are his friends not him.
it could be that Daniel was protected by God in this instance.
The heart of the resolved, the one with true faith that can be tested and tried is one who is willing to obey God regardless of feelings or said consequences. It is one of faith like (Isa43:1-3)
1 But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! 2 “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.
3 “For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
Look at (v.2) what does God promise?
Look at (v.3) why can He make the promise?
Resolved faith is not filled with fear at threats
Resolved faith is not influenced by the crowds
Resolved faith is not swayed by superstitions
Resolved faith trusts and obeys the Lord for the Lord will work out all things for the good.
A great example of this is found in Gen22 in the story of Abraham and Isaac.
Now this leads me to some more scripture with application.
Our Heart Matters
Our Heart Matters
Jesus told the apostles that in this life you will have tribulation (JN16:33) I think you can agree we have all had to face things that have tried our faith, stretched or faith, helped deepen our faith. So just a little more to add to this today before we close out (1Pt1:6-9).
6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so 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;
Now look at this passage and let’s break it down.
Why do the distressing times trying times come?
What are we to do in them?
What is the result of them?
What we need to glean from our study today and this passage here.
Be resolved in your faith as we wait for the final revelation of Jesus Christ when he comes to take home his Church.
Resolved faith shows even when you don’t see it yourself, it is in you when He is in you, allow Him to help your faith grow and mature as we wait for him.
If your resolved faith is confronted, know God knows and is with you and will strengthen you in the inner man to withstand the confrontation for His purpose and glory!
(Pray) close