Real faith in the fire Daniel 3:17-18

17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

If it be so — If we are brought into this strait: if we must be thrown into the fiery furnace unless we serve thine image; our God whom we serve is able to deliver us, &c. — As we are firmly persuaded of the power of our God to deliver us, so we trust in his mercy and goodness, that he will deliver us out of this imminent danger. This they spake out of a well-grounded hope, not from a certain foresight of being delivered; for such an assurance would have detracted much from the worth of their courage and constancy, in despising the danger which threatened them. And it appears, from what follows, that they were firmly fixed in their resolution, not to dishonour the true God by worshipping this image, or any of the gods of Babylon, although they should perish in the flames, for so they declare in the following words. But if not, &c., we will not serve thy gods — It was, therefore, all one to them which way God would honour himself; they were resolved to suffer rather than sin, and leave their cause to God. Indeed, if God be for us, we need not fear what man can do unto us. Let him do his worst: God will deliver us either from death, or in death.

As Christians, we have to live in faith. We have to project our faith in all the areas of our lives. Many times, in the midst of challenging situations we fail to display our faith. In this sermon we are going to see “What the real faith is?”

1. The challenge

King Nebuchadnezzar made an image and asked everyone in the kingdom to fall down and worship, but Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship the image. It angered the King. King ordered that these three young men to be thrown into the fiery furnace.

Christian life is full of challenges. There is no easy Christian life. As someone said, “Christian life is not bed of roses.” So as Christians, we have to expect the challenges in our lives all the time. It was a great challenge for Abraham to go into a foreign land which he has never seen before, when God called him to go. It was a great challenge for him to sacrifice his only promised son Isaac, when God asked him to sacrifice. It was a great challenge for Noah to preach to the generation who were mocking him and his preaching. It was a great challenge for Enoch to walk with God, while others were doing the evil things. It was a great challenge for Job to patiently suffer and glorify God in the midst of sufferings. It was a great challenge for Daniel to stand for God and be separated in the foreign land of Babylon. It was a great challenge for Paul to sacrifice many things for the sake of the gospel.

Never forget that our life is filled with challenges. Never forget that our faith is going to be challenged. Remember that our God wants us to face the challenges in order to prove our faith.

How is your life of faith?

2. The response to the challenge

We have to notice two important things in verses. 17 and 18 of chapter 3. First, we read in vs.17 that “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it.” They trusted that God is able to deliver them. We see that they understood the ability of God. They understood that God is all powerful to deliver them. There is a great lesson to learn from here. In our life situations, we often do not remember or realize how powerful our God is. We limit God. We magnify our problems and minimize our God. But these young men clearly understood who their God was. Let us never forget that the God whom they believed is the God we have today also. Trust his might. Trust his power and authority. Trust that he is powerful enough to deliver us, however big our problems may be. Second, we read in vs.18 that “But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Here we see their real faith. They said that even if God is not going to deliver us, we will never bow down to the image you have set up. Many a times we trust God that He will deliver us. But if he is not going to deliver us, what would be our response? We will murmur and complain against God just like the children of Israel. When God provided them in the wilderness, they were happy. When God did not provide them, they did not want to wait upon God and they complained and murmured. But these young men displayed the real faith in God. So, our faith is often tested, when God does not give us what we like. What we have to do is, like these three young men, we have to say with our whole heart, “even if God does not provide, still we will live for him and serve him.” It requires a great faith to trust and live for him, when he does not provide. Trusting God in all the time is real faith.

Folks, do you have the ‘real faith’? is your faith displayed in all the situations of your life?

3. Reward for the faith

We know what happened at the end of this story. Finally, the king understood all the truth and honored the God of these three young men and also lifted them to high positions in the kingdom.

Our faith will be rewarded. But sometimes it is not in this life. But in the life to come. But surely our faith will be rewarded by God.

Conclusion:

Christians, understand that our faith can be challenged. Understand that we need to respond well to the challenges come in our way and understand also that our faith will be rewarded.

May our great God bless all of us, as we live in faith for Him.