Sunday School, Daniel - The Fiery Furnace and The Lions' Den

Grab your bibles and start turning to the Book of Daniel.

And if you don't have a Bible, we have a

bunch of them at the resource desk and the lobby.

We want you to have a Bible, So if you

don't have one, please grab one and keep it. We

want you to be able to read God's word. We're

gonna be in the Book of Daniel. We've been in

a series called Sunday School. It's been a ton of fun.

We're going through some of the most famous or most

popular Sunday School stories. These are stories that you're probably

very familiar with, but if you're not familiar with them,

that's okay. That's why we're preaching through the series so

that we get to learn about these stories. But our

hope for this series is not just that we would

know how the stories go, but they would actually know

what the real points of these stories are, like, what

God wants us to understand and know and apply to

our lives based on these stories, or what these incredible

things that have happened throughout scripture. So this week we're

actually finishing the series in the Book of Daniel. This

is the last message in our summer series Sunday School.

And that's actually a two fer. You guys don't know

a two for is, you know, we get two stories

for one message. It's great, we're gonna be covering two

of them. But these are two really incredible stories that

I think are personally, I think extremely mind blowing, and

they get me pumped when I read them.

So we're talking through these two stories in Daniel today.

We're talking about Daniel the Fiery Furnace and the lions Den.

So Daniel the Fiery Furnace and the lions Den. Both

these stories are saying the same thing. They're saying the

same thing. They're both way too cool to leave one out,

so we got to cover them both. Both of these

stories have a ruler who makes a worship decree, a

decree about worship or a law telling people who are

what they should worship. And then, with full knowledge of

this law about worship and full knowledge of the consequences,

we see some courageous, or you might argue, stubborn men

of God refusing to bow to anyone but God. They

refuse to follow this decree of worship, and then when

they're punished, God miraculously delivered them in the coolest ways.

And the result in both of these stories is that

these rulers end up praising the one true God.

That's amazing.

The result is that they're praising the one true God.

And what I want us to see from these two

stories today is this that God alone deserves all worship

and he saves all who trust in him. So, if

you're taking notes, I want you to write this down,

because this is what I want you.

To get from these two stories.

That God alone deserves all worship, and he saves all

who trust in him. This is the two points I

want you to understand. There is no one else that

we should ever bow to in worship other than God,

no one, no matter what. And He saves everyone who

puts their trust in him, that those who entrust themselves

to him.

I love this.

The Bible says will never be put to shame. I

don't think we view shame in the same way as

the Bible puts it in those kinds of senses. To

to be put to sh shame is to be proven

that you were wrong that you trusted in something as like, Oh,

to your shame, you never should have trusted in that.

The beauty, beautiful thing about trusting in Jesus, we will

never ever be put to shame. Our God is able

to save anyone, and he delivers all who call upon him.

So before we actually get into this ione to pray,

so let's take a moment and just ask God to

be with us.

God, we thank you for this moment. We thank you

for your word.

We thank you that you've given us the ability just

to gather together to learn from your words. So God,

give us open ears to hear what you have for

us today. Let us see the truth of your word

and let us apply it to our lives boldly and

courageously that we would walk forward trusting in You the

whole way. So God, help us learn from your word.

Holy Spirit guide our hearts in following your word.

Today.

We thank you for all this in Jesus name. Everybody said, Amen,

is there anything in your life that you're willing to

give it all for? Are you willing to like risk

it all no matter the cost. I don't care what

it costs me. I'm going after fill in the blank.

Raise your hand. If you got kids, okay, some of

us got kids in here, Well, that's definitely something that

we're worth risking it all. For right, the spoiled, rotten,

snot nosed, selfish little cuties. We love them. It's actually

teasing Sasha because I was like, oh, that's your little

baby going doing. And she's like, oh, she's a little

pill this morning. And I was like, they're kind of

always that way. Good thing, They're cute, right, We love

those those little little beings that we've our little spawn.

I was what I was gonna call them.

We love our spawn. No, we love them.

But actually, when I was thinking about this illustration, I

remember going on vacation one time.

I can't remember exactly where the vacation was.

I think it was just going to ocean shores and

we stayed at a hotel, but we were with the Elwangers,

so Jordan and Lindsay and they actually the hotel we

stayed at had a pool, so all of us adults

were kind of just hanging out watching the kids as

they were all swimming, keeping an eye on them. Well,

this is before any of the kids really knew how

to swim, so we're keeping them in the shallow end.

And little June's in the pool in the shallow end,

and she starts tiptoeing her way out of the shallow end,

and you know in the pools, there's a little slope

that starts to go down that say, get to the

deep end. Well, next thing we know, June just disappears

under the water, and so we're like, oh, and then

Lindsay jumps up, runs over and she reaches in to

grab June. And Lindsay is a lifeguard by the way

in her past life, so no one's worried about Lindsay.

But she like dives in there to grab June and

reaches there and basically darnir falls into the entire pool

to get her daughter out of the water.

So she comes up soaking web. But what's the point?

Why am I telling you this? She was willing to

risk it all to save her daughter. Yeah, and full

clothes and jeans. My wife just reminded me she was

really willing to risk everything to make sure that her

daughter didn't drown. If my boys are in a burning building,

I'm running in that burning building after them.

I'm just going to do that.

There's if my boys in the middle of a road

and there's a car coming, I'm running to push them

out of the way, even if that means I get

hit by the car. So there's something I'm willing to

risk my life for. I don't even care what it costs.

I'm going to try to save them. Well, the consequences

didn't matter to the men in our stories today either.

They didn't care what the consequences were. Do whatever you're

gonna do to me. I cannot bow to anyone or

anything other than God. This is the resolve that they had.

And the text we're specifically looking at today is Daniel

chapter three and Daniel chapter six, So if you'll flip

over to chapter three with me, that's where we're going

to be starting. And at this point in the book

of Daniel, Babylon has already besieged besieged Jerusalem, so they've

already taken the city, and they've actually started taking certain

people captive and putting them into these like I would

call them brainwashing schools, because you're just learning them or

teaching them in all of your ways to make them

your people. Four of the people that were taken captive

were Daniel, Hanna and Ayah, Mishael, and Azariah. And you

might also recognize the names of the Babylonians gave them.

They were Belta, Shassar, Shadrack, Meshak, and Abedigo will sound

a little bit more familiar. And God has already done

some pretty cool stuff through these four young guys. Already

their level of wisdom is unmatched by anyone in the land.

God has given them supernatural wisdom that it is outmatched

first unmatch. Excuse me and King nebut Caninezer has this

super weird dream, and God tells Daniel two things, exactly

what the dream was, because nebet Konezer is like asking

all of his enchanters and his magicians, saying, come here

and tell me what my dream means. But first tell

me what the dream was. But I'm not going to

tell you. So God tells Daniel what the dream was

and then tells them exactly what it means. And then

he tells the king. And what does the king do.

We actually promotes Daniel and Daniel's like also promote my

three guys. So all four of these guys who are

Israelites get promoted into positions of power and authority under

King Nebuconezer. And this leads us right to chapter three. Guys,

I'll cut up awesome. So here we see the first

ruler and he's going to make a law about worship.

So he'll start in verse one. King nebecin Nezer made

an image of gold whose height was sixty cubits it's

about ninety feet and its breadth or its width was

six cubits that's about nine feet, so it was ninety

feet tall nine feet wide, and he set it up

on the plane of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Then King nebekin Nezer sent to gather the say traps,

the prefects and the governors, the councilors, the treasurers, the justices,

the magistrates, and all the officials officials of the provinces,

so all the super important people who were in charge.

And then he gathered them all together to come to

the dedication of the image that King Nebucanezer had set up.

Then the say traps, the prefects and the governors, the councilors,

the treasures, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials

of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image

of King Nebukinzer that King Nebukinzzer had set up. And

they stood before the image that Nebucinzer has set up.

Now whenever the Bible continually repeats itself. It's trying to

make sure you don't get the information wrong. So I

think it's worth reading it over and over and over

again to make sure we get.

It all right.

Verse four, and the Herald proclaimed aloud, you are commanded

o people's nations and languages that when you hear the

sound of the horn pipe, liar, trygon, harp bagpipe, and

every kind of music, you are to fall down and

worship the golden image that King Nebucinezer is set up.

And what whoever does not fall down and worship shall

immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. Therefore, as

soon as all the people's heard the sound of the

horn pipe, liar, trygon, harp bagpipe, and every kind of music,

all the people's nations and languages fell down and worshiped

the golden image that King Nebucinzer has set up. You

guys kind of seeing what's going on here, this law

about worship. Nebu Cainezer builds this huge gold monument, and

then he says, when you hear the sound, it's time

to get down. There's my rap that's as good as

it gets. When you hear the music. It's time to

worship this giant golden monument. And if you don't do this,

if you don't bow down to this golden monument, the

consequences are you're thrown into a burning fiery furnace.

You'll be burned alive. So let's keep reading verse eight.

Therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans, which Chaldeans are just

Babylonian wise men, they were cultural.

And religious instructures.

They teach people in culture and religion, same ones that

taught Daniel Shadrack meshack in a bed and to go.

They came forward and meticulously accused the Jews. They declared

to King Nebekin nezer o King live forever. And whenever

you see someone say, oh, King live forever, there's buttering

the guy up. That's what's happening. So they're buttering up

this king. You o King, have made a decree that

every man who hears the sound of the horn pipe, liar, trigon,

harp bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and.

Worship the Golden image.

And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be

cast into a burning fiery furnace.

Verse twelve.

There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the

affairs of the province of Babylon. Shadrack, Mishak and the

bed Nigou. These men, o, King, pay no attention to you.

They're ignoring you. They do not serve your gods or

worship the golden image that you have set up. Snitches

get stitches, man. They're calling them out straight up. These

wise men are calling out Shadrack, Meshack and abd Neigo,

and they're calling them out for disobeying King Nebekinezzer's rule

or his order, his decree, and this decree is to

worship these lowercase g gods for not worshiping his golden

image that he set up. But Shadrack, Mishak and Abdnigo,

like I said before, there Israelites, so they're not from

this land. They're exiled right now. There Israelites. So who

are they supposed to worship? Who's the god of it

is the one true God God. That's who they're supposed

to worship. It's literally the first two of the ten commandments.

Number one, you shall have no other gods before me.

Number two, you shall make excuse me. You shall not

make for yourself a carved image. You shall not bow

down to them or serve them. That's what God has

commanded them. That's the commands of God. This is what

they must obey. And here we have nebukin Nezer ordering them,

giving them a direct order just to disobey God. But

look at what the king says next, because I think

it gives us a good look into who this person is,

who this king nebukin Nezzer is verse thirteen. Then nebukin Nezer,

in a furious rage, commanded that Shadrack, Meshak and abd

and go be brought. So they brought these men before

the king. Nebukin Nezer answered and said to them, is

it true, oh Shadrack, Meshack and Abed Nag, that you

do not serve my gods. Excuse me that you do

not serve my gods or worship the golden image that

I've set up. Now, if you are ready, when you

hear the sound of the horn pipe, liar, trigon, harp bagpipe,

and every kind of music, to fall down and worship

the image that I have made well and good. But

if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast

into a burning, fiery furnace in this line right here,

And who is the god who will deliver you out

of my hands? This is what King Nebu Kinnezer says.

He's a rage filled, prideful man who's put himself above

everybody else. He's mad that these guys would dare defy

his decree, so he asked him, who's going to save

you from me?

If you disobey me? Well, God is gonna come to

rescue you.

I can't think of a more prideful thing to say,

or a more prideful posture to have, like I'm over everybody,

who's gonna save you from me? But their response is

the biggest mic drop ever. Look at verse sixteen. Shadrack

Mishak and a Bednago answered and said to the king,

O Nebeknezzer, we have no need to answer you in

this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we serve,

is able to deliver us from the burning, burning, fiery furnace,

and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King.

But if not, be it known to you, O King,

that we will not serve your gods or worship the

golden image you have set up. That's amazing our God

will save us, but even if he doesn't. Even if

he doesn't, we will not bow. That's what they said.

So that's why I get so pumped when I hear

this kind of stuff. I'm like, come on, even if

he doesn't, we still will not bow. These men are

so committed to worshiping God alone that they don't even

care what the consequences are for defying this king. They said,

God will save us, but even if he doesn't, we

will still worship him only. But this is also as

I was reading through this, I was thinking, and it

reminds me of when Jesus was tempted by Satan in

the wilderness. You guys, remember that Satan tempts him to

bow down. He makes all these promises. But what did

Jesus say in return? He said, is it as it

is written. You shall worship the Lord, your God, and

him only shall you serve. It's in Luke chapter four

that's the response we should have. We bow only to God.

We serve only God. We worship him alone, no matter

what the consequences are. And this is also the same

response that the apostles said when they were arrested for

preaching in the name of Jesus. If you look at

Acts chapter four, don't turn there. Keep your spot in

the Bible. But in Acts chapter four, Peter and John

tell the council whether it is right in the side

of God to listen to you rather than to God.

You must just or you must judge. Tell me, because

they're talking to the priests at that point. You tell me,

mister holy man, who should I listen to?

You are God? That's what he's saying.

And again he said in Acts chapter five, the apostles

all responded to the religious leaders and say we must

obey God rather than men. This is on repeat all

throughout scripture. You tell us to do something contrary to

what God told us to do. We must obey God.

We have to obey God. And this is also the

same thing for us. This is the same thing for us.

God tells us to obey the authorities that are placed

over us. That's what he says. Why, because he's the

one who's put all authority in place. The only time

that we disobey those authorities is when they are telling

us to disobey the higher authority, which is God. That's

when we should practice some civil disobedience. I'm not inciting

any riots right now. The only time we disobey in

authorities when the higher authority. It's so that we wouldn't

disobey the higher authority. If we're told to do something

by someone in authority that God forbids us to do,

we listen to God. We don't listen to man. If

we are told not to do something that God commands

us to do, we obey God, not man. We always

obey the higher authority, And the highest authority is God.

He's the ultimate authority over all of us. And Shadrack

Mishak and a bed and a go, they understood this,

and so their response sends the king into a fury.

So if you look at verse nineteen, then nebuk Nezar

was filled with fury and the expression of his face

was changed against Shadrack Mishak and a bed and go.

That means he changed the way he was feeling about him.

He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it

was usually heated. That's really hot. It's already a fire

meant to burn people alive. Heated seven times hotter verse twenty.

And he ordered some of the mighty men of his

army to bind shadrack mieeshak and a bed and a go,

and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then

these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats,

and their other garments. And they were thrown into the

burning fiery furnace. Because the king's order was urgent, and

the furnace overheated. The flames of the fire killed those

men who took up shadrack meshack in a bed to go.

It's so hot that the soldiers that threw these guys

in the fire died just throwing them into the fire.

They don't even make it out Verse twenty three.

And these three men shadrack meshack in a bed and

to go, fellbound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King

Nebukenezer was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared

to his counselors, did we did we not cast three bound?

Excuse me? Three men bound into the fire. Then they

answered and said to the king, true, O King, He

answered and said, but I see four men unbound, walking

in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt.

And the appearance of the fourth is like a son

of the gods. Let go. Come on, that's just got flexen.

That's amazing. This king is freaking out because he only

threw three guys into the fire, and not only are

are they not burning alive, but he sees what another

in the fire, which is sang the song. That's why

I say it that way. He sees another in the fire,

a fourth man who looks like the son of the gods.

He says, King Nebukinezer later is gonna call him an

angel sent by God. But there's many theologians who believe

it's actually pre incarnate Jesus. That Jesus, the one standing

in there with the guys. The fourth man who's protecting

Shadrack Mishak and a bed and to go, is Jesus.

Now I definitely lean that way, because that's pretty amazing.

But God saved these guys from being burned alive, and

the astonished king called them to come out. He calls

them to come out of the fire verse twenty six.

Then Nebukinzer came near the door of the burning fiery furnace.

He declared, Shadrack Mishak in a bed and to go,

servants of the what okay, So Nebuconez are starting to

see the truth a little bit. Servants of the Most

High God come out and come here. Then Shadrack, Meeeshak

and a bed Nigo came out of the fire, and

the say traps. 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 cloaks were

not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.

When was the last time you were around a campfire

at all? That sef justus gets into every fiber of

your clothes. You're smelling like smoke just from hanging out

around a campfire. These guys didn't even smell like fire.

Verse twenty eight. Nebukanezer answered and said, blessed be the

God of Shadrack, Mishak and abd Nigo, who has sent

his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him

and set aside the king's commands and yielded up their

bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their

own god. Blessed be the one true God. Because they

rejected listening to me and listened to him instead. Nebuknezra

sees exactly what just played out. He sees exactly what

they did rather than bowed it to worship his golden image,

this fake god. They trusted in the one true God

that choose to worship him only even when in the

face of certain death. And then the king makes a

new decree. He changes things up verse twenty nine. Therefore,

I make a decree any people, nation or language that

speaks anything against the God of Shadraknee Shack and Abednego

shall be torn limb from limb, and their house is

laid in ruin, for there is no other God who

is able to rescue in this way. Then the King

promoted shadraknee Shack and Abednego in the province Babylon.

Of Babylon.

God shows his amazing power in how he saved these

three guys from the fiery furnace, and the king recognizes

that no other God can rescue in this way. No

other God that he has been serving bowing to worshiping,

has ever done anything like that. And I think the

reason he's starting to realize is because they're not real.

These are not real gods, but this pagan king is

giving glory to the One True God, and I think

that's incredible. Then he promotes the guys after punishing them,

which I think is crazy. Went from punishing to promoting.

But that's the arc of this story. We see a

king make a decree about who people are to worship,

and he gives the consequences if you don't. And then

some men of God, stubborn, with full knowledge of the

decree and the consequences, they refuse to bow. They remain

faithful to God and they worship and serve Him only,

and then they're punished. But God delivers them where he

saves them from their situation, and this king ends up

giving God the glory and promoting the ones who just punished.

So the same thing happens to Daniel. That whole story

we just went through for Shadrack, Mishak and a Bednego

is the same story arc we're going to see that

Daniel goes through. So turnover a couple pages to Daniel

chapter six. And at this point in Daniel, a ton

of years have passed. And when I say a ton

of years have passed, I grew up thinking like, oh,

Daniel's just a dude thrown in the lions. Then he's

in his mid early to mid eighties. That's how old

he is. That's how much time has passed between the

Fire of Furnace and this den of Lions, because he

was captured with the other guys around the age of fifteen,

and he's been in captivity, in exile from the Promised

Land for basically his entire life. But now he's under

a new ruler because Persia has actually defeated the Babylonians

and defeated Babylon and now a man named Darius is

in power in the area, and Darius really really likes Daniel.

Daniel's found favor in his eyes, it would be one

way to put it. He put him as one of

the high officials over all the say Traps in the land,

and a say Trap is just one of the Persian governors,

someone who's governing, and Darius actually has this king. Darius

has plans to make Daniel in charge of all of

the land.

That's what his plans are.

And while the high officials and governors, the other guys,

they didn't like this, and so they want to take

Daniel out of the picture.

But they have one problem.

Daniel is extremely faithful. He's a good and faithful guy.

He doesn't do anything wrong. He follows the rules, he

plays by the rules, and he's a faithful guy. So

they come to the conclusion there's only one way we

can find a charge against him. So we're in chapter

six here, and I want you to pick it up.

In verse five, then these men said, we shall not

find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we

find it in connection with the law of his God.

He does everything right.

So the only way we're going to get him is

if we find a way to make what right thing

he's doing wrong.

That's what they're saying. Verse six.

Then these high officials and say Traps came by agreement

to the King and said to him, Oh, King Darius,

live forever. That sounds familiar. It's buttering him up again.

It's buttering up the king. All the high officials of

the kingdom, the prefects and the say Traps, the counselors,

and the governors are agreed.

We all got together and we talked it over.

We agree that the king should establish an ordinance and

enforce an injunction that whoever makes petition to any God

or man for thirty days except to you, O King,

shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O King,

establish the injunction and sign the document so that it

cannot be changed according to the law of the Meds

and the Persians, which cannot be revoked. Therefore King Darius

signed the document and injunction. These are wicked, evil men.

They're wicked and evil, and they think they've come up

with the perfect plan to get rid of old Daniel.

They know that Daniel always prays and petitions God every

single day.

They know this.

So if they just make it eily eagle to pray

to anyone other than the king for thirty days, and

they make it punishable by death, throwing in the lions den,

that Daniels as good as dead. And King Darius is like, wow,

pray to me for thirty days. Sounds great, I'll sign it.

So he signs this law into effect, this precept into effect.

But let's look at what Daniel does Verse ten. Hello,

how it starts. When Daniel knew that the document had

been signed, He's like, okay, I know the document's been signed.

He went to his house where he had windows in

his upper chamber opened toward Jerusalem. He got down on

his knees three times a day and prayed and gave

thanks before his God as he had done previously. Even

though Daniel knew about this law, he knew about the law,

and he knew what the consequences where. He carried on

as he always did for him, business as usual. I

worship the Lord, I petition the Lord. I'm going to

continue to worship the Lord and petition the Lord. It

does not matter with the consequences are to him. He

did not care no matter what, he was going to

remain faithful to God. And these evil men thought, yes,

Daniel has fallen right into our trap.

Look at verse eleven.

Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making

petition and plea before his God. Then they came near

and said before the King concerning the injunction, O King,

did you not sign an injunction that anyone who makes

petition to any God or man within within thirty days,

except you, oh King, shall be cast in the dead allions.

That's just conniving talk. You can hear it in what

they're saying.

Didn't you do this?

They're thinking we got him now The King answered and said,

the thing stands fast according to the law of the

Needs and the Persians, which cannot be revoked. Then they

answered and said, before the King, Daniel, who is one

of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you.

He ignores you, O King, or the injunction you have signed,

but makes his petition three times a day guilty. We

got him. Then the King, when he heard these words,

was much distressed and set his mind to deliver Daniel,

and he labored till the sun went down to rescue him.

The King spends the whole rest of the day and distressed,

trying to think of a way to save Daniel from

the situation that he's now in.

And verse fifteen.

Then these men came by agreement to the King and

said to the King, know, O King, that it is

a law of the Needs and Persians, that no injunction or

ordinance that the King established can be changed.

These evil men have come for blood.

They're calling to account the promise that the King has made.

You can't change your mind.

Now, King got to follow through. They're calling for Daniel

to be tossed to the lion. So at this point

King Darius is really stuck between a rock and a

hard place. He's stuck between this according to their own rules,

he has to do something he really doesn't want to

do because he loves Daniel. He wants to His plan

is to make Daniel the ruler over everything, and now

he has to send Daniel to the lions. So keep

reading in verse sixteen. Then the king commanded, and Daniel

was brought and cast into the den of lions. The

King declared to Daniel, may your God and catch this

whom you serve, continually deliver you. And a stone was

brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and

the king sealed its own with his own signet and

with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be

changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace

and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought to him,

and no and sleep fled from him. King Darius knows

that Daniel continually serves the Lord. He knows this, and

he tells him, I really hope your God comes to

save you, and I think he genuinely means it, I

really hope your God comes to save you. He seals

the den and has a completely sleepless night. He doesn't eat,

he doesn't sleep, he refuses entertainment for the whole He's

in complete distress over what's happening right now. And when

the sun finally comes up, King Darius jumps up and

runs to the den to see what happens verse nineteen.

Then at break of day, the King arose and went

in haste to the den of lions. As you came

near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out

in a tone of anguish.

He's so upset over this whole ordeal.

The King declared to Daniel, Oh, Daniel, servant of the

who of the Living God, has your God whom you

serve continually been able to deliver you from the lions. Now,

if we're making a movie, this is where the soundtrack disappears,

Like everything pauses and there's like you see a water

drop slow motion dropping because you're just waiting for the response,

which is in verse twenty one.

Then Daniel said to the King.

And then the triumphant music when he sus you hear

Daniel's voice, the triumphant music comes in and he's alive.

Then Daniel said to the King, O King live forever

buttering them up a little bit. My God sent his

angel and shut the lion's mouths, and they have not

harmed me, because I was found blameless before him, and

also before you, o King, I have done no harm.

Then the King was.

Exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out

of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of

the den, and no kind of harm was found on

him because he had trusted in his God. Daniel fully

trusted in the Lord. He trusted the Lord when the

law said he wasn't allowed to pray to God or

partition him, and if he did, he be thrown into

the lines. He says, I must obey God. I have

to obey the Lord, no matter what you may do

to me, no matter what the consequences are, I will

only bow to and worship Him. And in the midst

of Daniel's faithfulness, this amazing thing happens. God delivers him.

He saves him. Daniel trusts in God. God saves him,

and he sent an angel to shut the mouths of

the lions, to hold the lion's mouths shut.

That's crazy. You put meat in front of a lion

and it's going to eat it.

Like. They just devour like I don't watchable National geographic.

It's rough.

They devour meat and living things.

Well, these lions are still hungry because they didn't get

to eat last night, and King Darius knows exactly what

to throw to them.

Next.

Look at verse twenty four, and the king commanded and

those men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and

cast into the den of lions. They their children and

their wives, And before they had reached the bottom of

the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their

bones and pieces. Yikes, that's insane. I don't remember the

kids' bibles that I read growing up ending.

The story that way. But that's what happened.

We see this justice and it's I mean, it's hard

to even say and read, but it's there that God

is just these evil men, their wives and their children

roll thrown at the lions. Then, but this entire encounter

led to King Darius giving glory and praising the One

True God verse twenty five. Then King Darius wrote to

all the people's nations and languages that dwell in all

the earth, Peace be multiplied to you. I make a

decree that in all my royal dominion, people are to

tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For he

is the what he is, the living God, enduring forever.

His kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall

be to the end. He delivers and rescues, he works,

signs and wonders in heaven and on earth. He who

has saved Daniel from the power of the lions. So

this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the

reign of Cyrus.

The Persian.

Darius, who is a meed, seeing God save Daniel in

the way he did it from the lions, is now

declaring the people that this is this God, is the

living God, whose kingdom shall never be destroyed, and whose

dominion lasts forever. That's this rule lasts forever. That all

people should tremble and fear before this God. God is

getting all the glory, all the honor, and all the

worship that he alone deserves from a meed, not even

an Israelite, from somebody from another nation. So if we

were to summarize both of these stories, we see in

the story of Shadrackney shack in a bed to go

in the fiery furnace and in Daniel in the lions.

And we have a king who makes a decree of

worship with deadly consequences. And then we see men of

God who, knowing these consequences, refuses to bow to anyone

but God. And when those men were punished, God saved them,

and the king gave the One True God glory. That's amazing.

But do you remember what the main point that I

wanted us to get out of this? Yes, we'll have

it written down. God alone deserves all worship, and he

saves all who trust in him. He is worthy of

all glory, all honor, all praise, all worship. He's the

one true God. Like him, there is no other. He

deserves all the worship, and he saves all who trust

in him. Shadrack me, shack in a bed, and to

go and Daniel. They all trusted God and he saved him.

And this isn't something that God only did back then.

This is good news for us too. He does this now.

He saved them from a fiery furnace, and he saved

them from the lions. But those who trust in Jesus

are saved from the eternal punishment. For our sin, and

that is way worse than fire and lions. We're saved

from the wrath of God. Do our sin for all eternity.

Those who wait on the Lord, who trust in and

believe in Him, will never be put to shame. That's

in Romans nine and Romans ten, both quoting Isaiah forty nine.

It's not a new idea, it's the whole book. Read

the whole Bible. This is through and through all of it.

God is faithful and he is trustworthy. And if you

put faith in Jesus, if you're trusting in Jesus for

forgiveness and salvation, then you will be saved. Because everyone

who looks to the sun, everyone who looks at Jesus

and believes, will receive eternal life. We're forgiven of our sins, past, present,

and future. We're made right with the creator of all things.

That's the thing we need the most is to be

right with the Creator. And this is how we get right.

This is how our sin debt that we owe is

paid in full. That's really really good, great news. So,

if God alone deserves all worship and he saves all

who trusts in him, what do I want you to do?

What do I want us to do what should we do?

And firstly, if you haven't believed in Jesus for salvation,

that's what I want you to do.

First.

I want you to put faith in Jesus, believe in Him.

And I'm available. Pastor Jordan, Pastor Duncan, We're all available

to talk to you after service if you are making

that decision for the first time today to put faith

in Jesus, so please come talk to us. That's amazing.

But for those of us who have already put faith

in Jesus, I want us to be like these four

godly men that we've just read about in the stories.

I want us to worship God only, no matter the cost.

I want us to worship God only, no matter the consequences,

no matter what it cost us, no matter what's at risk,

no matter how much trouble I might get in, even

if it cost me my very life, to worship God only,

don't bow to anything or anyone other than Him. To

love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind,

and strength first and over everything, to put Him of

greater importance over everything else in my life. That's why

we say at the roots, it's all about Jesus. We

want to make our entire lives all about Him. I mean,

our every waking moment, every part of our being, all

about Him, no matter what the consequences are. And I

love how shadrack me shack can a bet and to

go put it. God can deliver us from the fiery furnace.

But even if he doesn't, we will not bow to

anything but him. Even if he doesn't, we will not

bow to anything other than him. This is the posture

that we need to have as believers, as people who

follow the Lord. But you might be sitting there thinking,

got it, don't bow to idols seems pretty easy. Next

time I see a giant golden statute and people are

worshiping it, I just won't bow down to it. I'll

make sure not to worship it. But what I really

want to do is make this super practical. So this

is the most important part of the message. And I

need you really to pay attention to all of this

that we're about to talk about, because we're gonna make

this extremely practical. We sometimes personally have a bad habit

of saying, here's the greater point of really trying to

make and I forget to put handlebars on it.

So we're gonna put some handlebars on this. What does

it actually mean?

To worship something means to pay reverence to or to revere,

but it means to serve. To worship something is to

serve it. Now, I may not be bowing down and

worshiped to a golden monument or serving some statue. But

if there's something else that I'm bowing to in my life,

something that I'm serving before God or instead of God,

something or someone else who's taking priority over God and

the things he wants, something else I'm working to appease.

Is there something else I'm revering more than Jesus or

something that I hold higher in my heart? There's something

that's more important to me than Jesus. Or I put

it this way, what in my life is competing with

Jesus for my worship or my servitude? And I have

a list that I want us to consider that's very

very specific. My comfort. Do I worship and serve my

comfort over Jesus? It'd be more comfort comfortable for me

if I didn't obey, I just didn't do what God said,

it would be more comfortable for me. I might feel

awkward or embarrassed if I said something about Jesus Right now,

everyone else around me is doing something sinful like gossiping

or coarse jokings. Just easier for me to join in

rather and put a stop to it. I don't know

about that mission's trip. I want get to sleep in

my own bed. I'm too tired to go to church today.

It's my comfort. What about my preferences? Do I worship

and serve my preferences over Jesus. I'll worship and serve

God if it matches the way I prefer to. I

don't really like that worship song or style, so I

just won't sing. There isn't a ministry team to serve

on that does exactly what I want. If you're feeling

beat up, so am I. And that's not my intention.

My intention is if you feel conviction, it's coming from

the Holy Spirit, grab onto it and repent and move on.

Football season is here sports. I just had to say

that before was sports. Do I serve my hobbies or

worship my hobbies over Jesus.

It's a home game from the home team.

I gotta skip church, or maybe I won't skip churchills

watch the game during service on my phone, Jordan, You're

not guilty of that, are you? What about entertainment? Do

I worship entertainment and serve entertainment over Jesus?

Binge?

Watching Netflix rather than picking up my Bible to read,

scrolling through social media, rather than spending time in prayer,

staying up all night playing video games? Yeah, I'm a nerd.

I still play video games.

Am I more concerned with my call of duty rank

than the fact that people are dying in their sins

every single day? What about money? Financial security? Do I

serve my financial future more than Jesus? If I give

money to someone in need, will there be anything left

for me? Can't give generously to the church, then I

can't get the things I want, or the things we've

been saving for.

We've been saving up for this trip forever.

I can't bless someone with that money. Do I care

more about investing in my retirement than investing in ministry?

What about my schedule? This is a hard one for me.

Do I worship and serve my plans over the plans

of Jesus? I'm too busy to go to the men's

in women's ministry nights, meeting with someone every week to

study the Bible together is too big of a commitment

for my schedule or me? Sorry, I can't help you

move cause my schedule's too booked. I can't stop to

minister to this hurting person cause I'm already runing late.

I gotta make it to this thing. Or is there

Do I even have enough room and in time in

my schedule to notice the hurting person next to me?

My family or my kids getting close to home? Don't

hate me again? Feeling convicted by all this stuff too.

Men us not stepping up to lead our wives because

we don't wanna rock the boat or cause a fight.

Prioritizing our kids' programs over gathering with their brothers and

sisters in Christ. So many great things out there, but

are we prioritizing them over the things of Christ? Do

I put my spouse or my kid's happiness over obedience

to the Lord. All of these really boil down to

us worshiping ourselves before God. All these really are a

self worship problem. It's more about what I want rather

than what God wants. That I'm serving my own desires

before the desires of God. And some of these things

God has commanded us to be good stewards of But

what he'd never commanded us to do was to serve

these things before him. And we have sometimes a bad

habit even of taking the good blessings that God gives

us and turning them into idols, and we end up

bowing down to them and serving and worshiping them. And

I'm using those words because that's what the Bible says,

But I don't think we realize what it even looks

like to practically worship something. We serve it, we bow

down to it, we try to appease it. It's what

we work towards, it's what we think about. It's what

we serve. Are these things, even the blessings of God,

turning into an idol in our lives? What am I

bowing to before Jesus? What am I obeying the wishes

of before Jesus? Who do you serve? Who do you obey?

The one you obey is who your master is? Like

plain and simple, definitionally, who you obey is who your

master is, It's who you worship. So I want us

to really think about this. Is there something else I

chase harder than chasing after Jesus? And if there is

to stop bowing to that idol. Get realigned and put

Christ above everything, and serve and worship and chase him.

Don't bow to anything else, don't worship anything else. Like

a treasure hidden in a field, when you find the

Kingdom of heaven, when you find Jesus, it's worth selling

everything else for our eternity matters. This life feels real

because we can see it, we can smell it, we

can touch it, we can taste it. But what's really

if life is this long and eternity is forever, what's

really real?

Eternity?

We should be focused on eternity more than the here

and now, the temporal, the things that do end.

Christ is more valuable than anything else.

So, brothers and sisters, we must worship Jesus, our Lord

and Savior, first, above everything else, no matter what the

consequences are. Even if there's a fiery furnace or a

den of lions, go to prison, firing squad, skin to

light whatever, fill in the blank. These are all real

things look outside of America. No matter what the consequence

as are, we worship the Lord only because he alone

deserves all of our worship and saves all who trust

in him. Amen.