(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now let me just focus on a few points from this chapter, then we're going to go to the Old Testament. But I want to show you the first verse here where he says, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. God's telling us to be strong. Look at verse 3. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. It says in verse number 5, If man also strive for the masteries, yet is he not proud, except he strive lawfully. Look at verse number 9, he says, Wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even in the bonds, but the work of God is not valid. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. He said in verse 12, If we suffer, we shall also reign with them. The Bible is teaching us in this chapter, we need to be strong. We need to endure hardness. We need to endure all things. We need to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as we know that our labor is not vain. Now turn back to Daniel chapter 3. And here's what I want to preach about tonight, enduring hardness. You see, today, people don't have the strength that they need to have. And that's why they're not serving God like they should. That's why they get out of church. And especially to the men. You know, we need some men to rise up in 2009 that have the backbone to stand up and do what's right and to endure some hardness. You see, the Christian life is not going to be a road of easy street. You know, and so many people today want a Christianity and they want a church and a walk with God that's going to cost them nothing, that's going to cause them not to have to endure any kind of harvest. They want everything to be easy. And they're weak is what they are. The Bible said, no, be strong. Don't be weak. Be strong. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, he said in Ephesians chapter 6. But the example that I want to give you tonight, what I want to preach about is mainly in Daniel chapter 3. I'm going to talk about some other stories in the book of Daniel. But in Daniel chapter 3, we see these men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, who were basically young guys. They were transplanted at a young age. They were basically kidnapped by an invading army, taken to Babylon. Their parents were not around. Their friends were not around. And they'd basically, they'd even been emasculated. They'd basically been made a eunuch. In chapter 1, that's clear that Daniel and these three young men basically had their manhood removed. And so these guys are not having a lot going their way. And they don't have a lot of people that are standing with them. Nobody's encouraging them. They don't have Pastor Anderson preaching to them. They don't have Mom and Dad, you know, encouraging them and being there for them. And yet these men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, had the backbone and the manhood to stand up and to do what was right, to endure hardness, to be fearless, and to be strong in the Lord. You see, today we have too many men who are just pushed around by the world so easily. They're watered down. They can't handle any kind of tribulation or trials that come their way. And today even the school system, and I'm going to get into the story, but think about the way school is. They don't even want to give a kid an F anymore because they say he's going to hurt his psyche, you know, to get an F. You know, they take a test and it's, well, there's no wrong answer. It's just choose the best answer, you know, on this particular question. I mean, you know how it is. I saw this thing where in school they're not using the red pen anymore because red, the color red, who's heard about this? The color red agitates. You know, it's like an angry color, like no. So they're starting to use purple. What other color were they using? Blue and purple. Because blue and purple are a little bit softer because we hate to tell them no. We hate for anything to be hard. You know, we were talking about, who was it that I was talking to? Somebody in high school, and we were talking about how when we were kids and you got a PE class and the teacher made you run really hard and made you do all this hard exercise, and they were saying that now the kids, you know, they tell them to run, they tell them to do all this stuff, and they don't. They just walk. You know, they won't endure hardness. It's too hard. You know, they're not going to push themselves even physically. It used to be that, you know, you at least wanted to impress your friends and you didn't want to be the wimp. You know, the baby who everybody else is running and, you know, your side hurts, you know, so you're not going to run. Or everybody else is doing the push-ups and the pull-ups. And, you know, when I was a child, you pushed yourself because you didn't want to be perceived as weak. You didn't want to be seen as the wimp or the baby. You wanted to be tough as a man. You know, you wanted to have the dignity of not being a baby, of having the endurance to endure some hardness. And that's just an example of school. But today, kids are growing up and young people out of Christian schools that have no backbone. And we as men in 2009 need to have a backbone, need to be able to stand up for what's right. You cannot be a good Christian if you're weak. And I'm not talking about physical strength. I'm not talking about lifting weights or, you know, going to the gym. I'm saying spiritually, mentally, being strong in the Lord. You cannot, cannot be a pastor that's going to preach the Word of God right if you're weak. You're not going to do it. You're not going to be a good soul man. You're not going to be a good Christian. You're not going to be a good father. You're not going to be a good mother. You will fail in the Christian life if you're weak. That's why God made you be strong. You must put on the whole armor of God. Whether you like it or not, you're in a fight. You must fight the good fight. You must stand up because your adversary, the devil, walking about is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And guess who the whom he may devour is? The weak. The weakling. The weak woman. The weak man. That's who he's looking for. You must be strong. Now look at this chapter. This is a great example in the Bible. And I feel like sometimes we read through these stories without actually putting ourselves in this... You know what I mean? We just kind of read through it and we don't really stop and think what these people are actually facing. When you read these stories, stop and put yourself in that position. You've got to be able to use your imagination and think about what it would be like to be faced with the fiery furnace. It's one thing you just read about it. Oh, cool, they didn't get burned. Instead of stopping and thinking about, wait a minute, there's a raging oven and somebody's about to throw you in. How would you react? You know, Nebuchadnezzar's talking to you. Can you even talk? Would you even have the strength and character to stand up like these men did and not just even give a wimpy answer? But watch what they did. Let's go through this story together and see the strength that these men had. It says in verse number 1, Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height was three-score cubits and the breadth thereof six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Bela. Now a cubit, according to the Bible, is the distance from your middle finger down to your elbow. This is a cubit. So if we're talking about a statue that's three-score cubits, that's basically 90 feet because this is about a foot and a half. And it varies from person to person, but it's about a foot and a half of length. So we're talking about a 90-foot tall statue. Now that's extremely tall. That's like, what, a nine-story building or an eight-story building? And so this gigantic golden image is made. And this is a foreshadowing of the Antichrist. Nebuchadnezzar picked the Antichrist who's one day going to have an image that people have to bow down and worship. And it says he set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Bela. And then Nebuchadnezzar, the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. And then this whole litany of people and all the rulers of the people were gathered together under the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Verse 4. Then Harold cried out aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbutt, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Now who was at this dedication? Not everybody in the whole kingdom. Only the rulers, the captains, basically all the government workers. The sheriffs, right? The rulers, the captains, the governors. Now the reason that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were there is because in chapter 2, Daniel and these three boys had basically interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream and they were promoted to being leaders. They basically got lifted up to these positions. Now he says all nations and languages because these people are leaders from all over his vast empire of 127 provinces and so they're all there together, gathered together, and they're supposed to worship this golden image. And he says in verse number 5 that when they hear the music, that's when they're supposed to fall down and worship the golden image. And he says in verse 6, And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning, fiery furnace. Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sacklet, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Now isn't it amazing? The people who are getting a paycheck from the government, isn't it amazing how they just all bow down so easily? Now three people out of all these thousands and thousands of people. And by the way, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in this position because they were abducted and enslaved and forced to serve the king of Babylon. And yet today we have people who just willingly want to go down and sign up and swear an oath of allegiance to the king of Babylon, Barack Obama. And you can say whatever you want, support our troops and all this stuff, but you know what? The true story, let's just be real folks. This country is not serving God. This country is against God. This country is protecting the homosexuals, giving children, babies to them to be adopted, putting them in families, and they're getting to the point where they want to put somebody like me in prison just for preaching against them and calling it hate speech. This is the government that we have over us today. A government that wants to rule the entire world. That's why we have the United Nations where we have this world government body in New York City, in the United States, and yet today people just want to join up because the economy's bad because they don't have a job. Oh, I'm going to join the military and go to Afghanistan and go to Iraq and do all this stuff that they don't even believe in just for a paycheck and swear an oath. I talked to a guy recently, a Christian young man, and he said, I was thinking about going to the military, but he said, I talked to a recruiter and I had to swear an oath of allegiance to obey anything that Barack Obama or any of my commanding officers tells me to do. I had to swear to do it. I had to swear an oath to just obey it. Now, today, you know, a lot of people are being told to do a lot of things that are immoral and wicked, and so I wouldn't want to be in that kind of position. And you say, you're uncatriotic. You're un-American. No, I don't believe in the real America, like the Constitution, the founding fathers, freedom, liberty, and justice for all, not a government that steals from us and, you know, wants to just abuse us and wants to promote all the guilt that takes our tax dollars and funds the murder of babies with your money and my money, and you expect me to support that government, and you think we should spread that around the world? Yeah, let's spread our way of life to Iraq and Afghanistan. At least the people in Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran, at least the women wear clothing. You know what I mean? At least they're not walking around naked like the women in America are with their short shorts and their halter top. I mean, at least they're dressed. At least they're clothed. But, oh, we've got to spread our way of life. No, we need to spread our religion of Christianity, and that's exactly what they're not doing. That's exactly what they're not bringing those people. They're not bringing them the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're bringing them liberalism, worldliness, Hollywood, rock and roll, a bunch of promiscuous clothing, and they call it liberty. They're liberating these women by stripping their clothes off of them and sending them to work and putting a rock and roll iPod in their pocket and putting them in front of a TV and cable and everything like that. Hey, I'm not for that. They need the gospel. They don't need us to go over there and teach them how to be a wicked heathen like we are. And look, this country's wicked. Face it. Don't sit there and say, oh, we love America. God bless America. You know what? America's wicked. How wicked does it have to be before you'll say this is a wicked country? When what percent of people are homosexuals? When you go to the grocery store and see a homosexual everywhere you go? When all the music is obscene? When all the music's pornographic? When all the TV's pornographic? When everything is blaspheming Jesus and blaspheming God? How bad does that be before you say it's a wicked country? No, it's a Christian nation and we're free. And we live in freedom. Face the truth. These people weren't free and were not free. And their country was wicked and we're wicked. And so why don't you enlist in the Lord's Army instead of enlisting in the U.S. Army? That's what I'll face tonight. I might offend people and make people mad, but you know what? I'm in the Lord's Army. I don't need to go join the military to go prove how tough I am or to go live out some adventure of fighting on some battlefield. Hey, you want to go to the battlefield my friend? The battlefield is out there on Sunday afternoons in the kettles of America preaching the gospel to every creature. That's where you're fighting for something that actually matters. And hey, that's where I'm going to fight. And if you want to endure hardness, why don't you endure some hardness for something that matters like the gospel not fighting to make somebody rich in some war that doesn't even matter? That's what I say. And you don't agree with me? Tell me, is what they're fighting for more important than what I'm fighting for and what you're fighting for in this church? When you're out winning souls and preaching the gospel? Let them go fight their stupid war. I'm fighting the real war and why don't you join with me and go out and win some souls to Jesus Christ when this world's all gone and all those poppy fields in Afghanistan are gone and all those oil pipelines are gone. Hey, the people that we win to Christ are still going to be in heaven, my friend. Get on the right battle. And it's amazing how the soldiers, they do endure some hardness. That's right. You know, they hike around the pack. You know, I did this pack hike a few weeks ago. I hiked and I was thinking about, man, these soldiers work hard. Because I had a whole bunch of gear and a whole bunch of stuff and I had a whole bunch of time. And I flew into this little town in Nebraska and the airport was six or seven miles away from my hotel. And I had a bunch of stuff, a bunch of gear, a bunch of gear, a bunch of clothes, some tools and all kinds of junk and a suitcase and a backpack. Two different things. And I had extra time. I was like, I'm going to save money on a rental car and I'm just going to watch that. I'm just going to march all the way over there. It always takes a lot longer than you think. You think to yourself, seven miles? When I looked at the map, I thought it was 8 miles, but it turned out to only be like 7. But I thought it was 8 going into it, and I'm like, 8 miles? You know, that was going to take, what, an hour and a half? But the thing that made it so hard was the weight. So basically I had my backpack on, my back was pretty heavy, and then I was carrying my bag. Well, first I was carrying it with my right arm, then twisting my left arm, then I started just carrying it and hugging my chest. That was the best. But then I put it on my back. I strapped everything to my back. And that was the hardest, when it was all just strapped to your back. It makes your back pretty sore. So I was doing this, I was marching, it was kind of cold, the sun was going down, I'm marching, and I finally get there. Crossing the freeway was the hard part. So then I finally get there, I stay at my hotel, I get up in the morning, I do my job, and then I was thinking, should I call a cab, or should I just do it? And I was like, no, I'm going to do it, I'm going to go back the same way. So I pack everything up and march back to 7 miles back, and I'm going to tell you what, my legs were pretty sore the next day. It was hard work, and I was thinking to myself, man, this is really hard. These guys that are marching with all their equipment and stuff. But you know what, why is it that you can't get somebody to do that for the Lord? It's like, do it for God. Do it for Jesus. Instead it's doing it for some corruptible crown on somebody else's head. Why don't you do it for something that matters? And so God said, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. I'm in the Lord's army, I'm in God's army, I'm a soldier for Jesus. I don't want to be a soldier for something that I don't even believe in, that I don't even think is right. I'm not going to fight for that. I want to fight for what's right, I want to fight for the things of God. And by the way, you should never let money make your decisions anyway. Don't say, I'm going to join the military because of the money. Yeah, and guess what, they own you and they can put you anywhere in this country. And let me tell you something, I'm going to shock you. There's not a fundamental Baptist, soul winning, Bible preaching church in every town in America. And you can get put somewhere where there's some watered down church and that's where you're going to have to raise your family. And you won't even have the decision about moving or going somewhere else. You're going to be deployed and be injected with a bunch of stuff and you're going to have to leave your wife behind for what? For nothing. And so that hurts people's feelings when you tell them it's for nothing. But at least I'm warning the people who haven't signed up yet so that they can not make the mistake. Instead of signing your life over to Obama and signing your life over to the one world government, United Nations. Because by the way, there is no war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Because when there's a war that means the government declares war. The United States has not declared war on either of those countries. We're fighting for the United Nations and that's wrong. That's the one world government. That's the anti-Christ. But instead of that, why don't you decide to enlist today? I'm your spiritual recruiter except I'm not going to lie to you. I'm here to recruit you today into the Lord's army. I'm not going to tell you how great it's going to be. I'm going to tell you it's going to be hard. But you know what? You have to decide today how I'm going to enlist in the Lord's army. Picture this church as like a spiritual boot camp and you're going to go out and do your hardest as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. But here these people, I mean they don't have any freedom. They're forced in this position. All the other government employees are just kind of drinking the Kool-Aid. They all fall on their face before this image. I didn't mean to go off on that tirade. I'm sorry. I just feel a little bit worked up about these things. But it says in verse 10, I love this chapter. Thou, then spake and said to the king, Nebus and Ezra, O king, live forever. Verse 10. Thou, O king, has made a decree that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, with heart, sack, blood, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Watch verse 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. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. So look, the king is angry. And this man is so powerful, he can snap his fingers and have them thrown into a fiery furnace. He is a supreme king, he is a dictator, he has ultimate power, and he is rage and fury. That's two pretty strong words. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do not you serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sack, butt, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made well. But if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And watch this. And who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands? Now imagine yourself in this position. You've got to use your imagination here. You're standing before this man who has the power to have you killed within minutes. And he's enraged, he's furious, and he says, he said, if you will not bow down to this image, if you will not obey what I am saying to you, he said, you will be cast this hour into a burning fiery furnace. And what's your god going to do about it? Now stop and put yourself in that position. How would you react? I mean, be honest. Think about it. It's easy to make excuses and to say, well, here's what I'm going to do. I think I'm just going to bow down, but in my heart I've been praying to the Lord. That's what a lot of people would have done. Admit, but think about it. A lot of Christians would say, well, you know what I'm going to do? I think I'm just going to bow down and go through the motions in order to placate this guy from killing me. But inside, I'm actually going to pray to the Lord. Wait a minute. Would that have been the right thing to do? No. That's not the right thing to do. It's not right to go along with the crowd. It's not right to do the appearance of evil. To pretend like you're worshipping Satan when really you're praying to God. You know, that's not the kind of man that we need in 2009. The closet Christian. That's what the closet Christian would have done. The one who on the outside, he just wants to be like everybody else and go with the flow. But then you talk to him in private, oh yeah, I'm with you. I'm with you, brother. I believe just like you. But then in public, it's a different story. That's not what God's looking for. God's looking for men like this that say what these men say. Look what they say. I love the answer that they give him. It says in verse 16, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king. I love just the first thing he's saying. Oh Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer the endless matter. Let me just say this right now. I'm not going to be careful what I say. That's what they're saying. They're saying, Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer the endless matter. I mean, that's just such a great way to start out. First of all, let me say this. I don't really care. Before I tell you anything else, I don't care what you think or what you say you're going to do. We're not careful to answer you. And today we're so careful what we say. You've got to be careful. He said, no, be careful for nothing. He said, we're not careful to answer the endless matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able. Because this is a response to what he had just said. Well, who's the God that's going to deliver you out of my hand? He said, wait a minute. Our God is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. And he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But I love what they said next. But if not, be a note of the O king that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. So they said, look, God can protect us. And I believe today that God can protect us. But he said, even if God doesn't protect us, we still will not bow down. And what they're basically saying is this, I'd rather burn than bat. And can you really say that tonight? I can stand here and tell you, I'd rather burn than bow. I'd rather die than to bow down to this wicked world system. I'd rather die, literally, than to stand up and apologize for what I've preached. That was Bible preaching. I mean, if I make a mistake, I'll be glad to apologize. But I'd rather die than to apologize to the queers. I'd rather die than to apologize to Ted Kennedy. I'd rather die than to stand up here and to back off and say, oh, I was wrong. Actually, I need to back down a little bit and these people are wonderful and there's a lot of nice this and that. I'd rather die than to stand up here and preach a lie to you. And you know what? Wouldn't it God if we had some men that had this kind of backbone that would face the fiery furnace and not even just say, well, I know God's going to protect me. But to say, you know what? Even if God doesn't protect me, go ahead and throw me in. And yet today we have people who much smaller adversities will face them. And they can't take the heat and they get out of the kitchen. You know, because some relative is giving them grief. You know what I mean? Like, oh, my mom and dad are giving me grief. Or, oh, my brother says that I'm going to a bad church. So I just don't know. This is tearing apart my family. Or, oh, this guy at work saw our church on the news. It's like here these people are faced with the most powerful man in the world. And look, I don't know about you, but if I had a choice laid out for me how I was going to die, I'd keep throwing it at the fiery furnace, but I'd be very high on the list of ways that I would choose. I mean, that would be a pretty horrible way to go, I think. I can't think of anything to put at the top of the list, but I'm just saying. It's pretty horrific, and yet we can't handle somebody slamming the door on my face outside with him. You know, somebody calls me a dirty man. Somebody at my job. They're giving me all the hard assignments because they know that I'm a believer. Or, oh, my family doesn't approve of the church that I'm in. Or, oh, this, no that. And it's all these little things. Or, oh, my finances are bad right now, so I need to go move over to some other area. I don't know if there's a good church there. I'm going to try to find one when I get there. But I'm going to have to move because the job's transferring me and the economy and everything else. But these men endured hardness, and God commands us to endure hardness. And I don't think any of us have faced what these men have faced. And yet they had the boldness and the strength and the fortitude to be men and say, we can't handle it. We will face it. Today, people laugh at you and back you down, when these men couldn't be backed down by a fiery furnace. And so watch what happened next. Do you think that this went over well with Penebic and Ezra? We don't care what you think. We don't care what you say. God can protect us, and if he doesn't, go ahead and throw us in. We're not going to bow down to your image. We won't serve your gods. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed. Okay, now what is his visage? His face. He started to have a really bad look on his face, is what it's saying. His face changed because he got even more angry. And he says his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was want to be heated. Now, I don't really understand this because probably if you're getting thrown in the furnace, you're getting thrown in the furnace. I don't think it really matters how high you turn the thing up. But he just got mad and in his rage said, why don't you crank that thing up? And basically it says seven times hotter than it was want to be heated. What that means is that it had a certain rating that it was designed to have a certain temperature. Let's say it was supposed to be 300 degrees or 200 degrees, and you say no. No, you turn it up even, but it's not supposed to be that hot. No, turn it up. Make it hotter than it's even designed to be. Just crank it up. So it was seven times hotter than was the usual temperature that it was heated to. You know, usually it was heated to 150 degrees or whatever. No, he's saying times it by seven. And it says he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen. See, they were wearing pants, thank God. Hosen or pants. It's not a thing about pantyhose. The German word, because this is 1611 back when German and English were a lot closer together. Hosen is the German word for pants. That's the only word for pants in German, and that's what this means here. So basically they were wearing coats, they were wearing pants, their hats, and their other garments and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew these men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So basically, they went so fast, because he says, quick, get these guys out, throw them in. It was done so hastily that the men who threw them into the furnace, they didn't realize how hot it was and they actually were burned to death as they were throwing in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And it says, and these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, this is verse 23, fell down, bound, into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. So basically they're bound up. Their hands are tied, their feet are tied, and they're laying on the ground because as they're thrown in, obviously they can't stand up like that so they can fall down and they're laying in the fiery furnace in the midst of it. And it says in verse 24, then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, our modern word would be astonished, he was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counselors, did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, true, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no herd, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth up the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counselors 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. Isn't that amazing? They didn't even smell like smoke. So they didn't find a cold spot. I mean, these guys were miraculously protected by God. And it says, then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who had sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and had changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except their own god. And this is the result of standing up for something, by the way, instead of just, oh, I'm going to pray to God in my heart. Therefore I make a decree that every people, nation, and language would speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god that can deliver after this sword. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. That's an amazing story. It's a powerful story. Now, let me read for you, because you know, the problem with the King James Bible is that it's so hard to understand, you know what I mean? All these archaic words and all this stuff, it's so hard to understand. So I've got here the NIV. Okay, now I know it says on the door, King James only, but you know, we're just trying to understand this a little bit deeper. We're going to look at verse 25 in the NIV. Okay, because you know, you probably had a hard time understanding verse 25, right? Where it says, he answered and said, lo, lo, you know, what's that? Lo, I see four men loose. These are really hard to understand words. Walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. How can people understand? And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Now let's look at it in the NIV, okay? Let's see here, Daniel 3.25. He said, you're looking at your Bible, right? Are you looking at the King James Version? 325, I'm going to read for you the NIV. He said, look, oh okay, we add an O and a K on the end. That makes it a little bit easier, right? He said, look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed. And the fourth looks like a son of the gods. Now is that a little bit different? So in the NIV, it's the fourth looks like a son of the gods. Whereas in the King James Bible, it says what? The form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Not a son of the gods, okay? And so that's what the NIV is good for. It's a piece of garbage. But anyway, it's amazing to me how they can just make all these changes, and everybody just says, oh, it's just easier to understand. Unbound and unharmed. Loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. Now first of all, the King James verse is almost twice as long. I don't know if you noticed that. Because they just sum it all up with unbound and unharmed. When the Bible says that they're loose, walking in the midst of the fire. Now, where is the walking in the midst of the fire in the NIV? It's gone. I mean, you know what I'm saying? They're taken out with whole pieces. Because the obvious change that jumps out is they change the Son of God to a son of the gods. But not only that, it takes out a whole phrase. Walking in the midst of the fire. Because the loose is the unbound, right? Walking in the midst of the fire is gone from the verse. And they have no hurt. That's a lot harder to understand than unharmed. They have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. And so the Bible is teaching us in the book of Daniel about men who had strength of character and boldness and backbone. Chapter one. We're just going to quickly go through this. I don't know if this term is almost over, but Daniel chapter one. They're basically confronted with their first challenge. Daniel shattered every second of Egypt. They're being forced to eat meat sacrificed unto idols. And to drink what was probably an alcoholic beverage. And here they are. They're being confronted with this, commanded. I mean, they've been made eunuchs. Okay, so they're not exactly in control of their physical body here. I mean, they're just totally under the control of these people who kidnapped them and made them prisoners. And Daniel goes to the master of the eunuchs and he says, wait a minute, is there any way we could not eat this meat? But it says in the Bible that he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's meat or of the wine. He knew he wasn't going to do it. But then he kindly entreated, you know, if he might not defile himself. So he didn't just go to the guy angrily, but he was kind about it and nice. He said, look, he said, you know, is there any way we could not eat this meat? He said, no, there's no way. He said, I have been told exactly what to feed you, exactly what to teach you, exactly what to indoctrinate you. And I don't want you guys to be any less healthy than everybody else. You need this meat, you need this protein, you know, you need this juice and the wine. And Daniel said this, he said, well, look, why don't we do an experiment? He said, prove us now for ten days we will eat just pulse, you know, lentils, beans, peas, and, you know, just give us water. Just water and vegetables and we'll get our protein from beans and lentils and, you know, because those things have protein in them. And prove us for ten days. And after ten days, they were healthier, they were stronger, they looked better. And so he said, okay, you know, go ahead, as long as this isn't going to get me in trouble. And so they were able to eat the right diet and it turned out that they excelled. You know, they were the strongest, they were the brightest, they were the best. Well, chapter two, of course, the king basically has a dream, he doesn't know what it means, and he forgot what the dream was. So he brings in all the astrologers, soothsayers, sorcerers, wizards, and he says, here's the thing, I had this dream, but I forgot what the dream was, I want you to tell me what I dreamed and what the interpretation is. And they're like, you know, you can't do this, it's impossible. And he said, well, yeah, I know, because you guys are a bunch of phonies anyway, you guys don't know anything, you claim to be, you know, you got your stupid crystal ball and all your Ouija board and all this stuff. You know, I want you to do something, a real miracle here, I want you to tell me what I dreamed. And they said, it's too hard, no king has ever asked any wise man, magician, sorcerer, astrologer to do this. And he says, okay, well then, what do I need you guys for anyway? So I'm just going to have you guys all killed. Okay, so he commanded that they're all going to be killed. He's like, I don't need all these charlatans. He said basically that they were paid. So he said, let's just kill them all. Well, that included Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, because they were wise men, because they were learning all this, you know, information. And so Daniel said, well, give us a few hours, you know, we're going to pray to God and see if he'll reveal this miracle, because he's like, our God, he's like, the God that we worship is real. And so God might do this. And so God actually revealed them the dream. So Daniel marches in. And the four of them prayed together first, and the dream was revealed to the four. And then Daniel goes in and basically just explains it all to Nebuchadnezzar, and then he comes back to them, yeah, that is what I dream. And then he promotes them and brings them the great honor. Chapter three, we just read, we saw what happened in chapter three. Chapter four, God humbles Nebuchadnezzar, because Nebuchadnezzar is puffed up, and you know, he already built this giant statue in chapter three, probably of himself. And then in chapter four, he's puffed up saying, look at all the good things that I've done. Look at this great kingdom that I've built. Look at this nation, I'm the most powerful man in the world. And God looked at it and said, okay, we'll see how tough you are. And he basically gave him the mind of a beast. He made him go insane. And in chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar was out in the field eating grass like an ox. The Bible says that his fingernails grew like bird claws, and that his hair became all nappy and matted from just living outside. And he was just like an animal, living outside for seven years. And then after seven years, God gave him his mind back. And all of a sudden he just snaps out of it, you know, and realizes what he's been doing for the last seven years. And then he realized, you know, basically his pride, and he actually, you know, got a hair cut, you know, cleaned up, went back. And they actually received him again as the king, you know, once he was back in his right mind. And he basically acknowledged the power of God and worshiped God and said, you know. I believe that he was saved. I believe he's in heaven right now. Because he finally broke down and acknowledged that, you know, the Lord was the only one that had any kind of power. Well, in chapter five, his grandson, Belshazzar, okay, because his son's name was Evel Merodach, and his son's name was Belshazzar. So this is Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, basically is partying and drinking. And he decides, just for fun, to go get all the gold and silver vessels from the house of God. And hey, let's drink alcohol out of the vessels that we took from the house of God in Jerusalem 70 years ago. And so they thought that was fun, so they worshiped all their false gods, basically desecrated the vessels from God's house. And as they're doing this, fingers from a man's hand, right upon the wall, okay. And, you know, they write the famous, you know, Minni, Minni, Tikal, Utharsa. And he brings in all of his, you know, linguistic experts and all the smartest, wisest people in the realm. And they couldn't figure out what it meant. None of them could interpret it. Well, finally, the king's mother, I believe it was, or the queen or someone, who was it? In chapter five, I believe it was the queen who basically remembered. And she said, wait a minute, there was a man. Yeah, the queen. There it is, chapter 10. So I don't know if this might have been his mother, could have been his wife, could have been his grandmother. We don't know. It just says the queen. And a lot of times the queen was a mother, kind of like King Joash where his mother was called the queen. So we don't know exactly what the relationship is, but this woman who's known as the queen says, wait a minute. And the reason I say it might have been his mother or grandmother is because of the fact that she remembered Daniel from way back when. So wait a minute. There was a guy from the captivity of Judah, Daniel, who was able to interpret dreams and was able to answer all the questions in Nebuchadnezzar. Let's go get him. He's still alive. And at this point he was probably about 90 years old, maybe like 85 years old. So they bring Daniel out. He's a very old man. And they bring him in and they say, hey, if you can interpret what this writing means, we'll put a gold chain around your neck like Mr. T. We'll make you the second man in the kingdom. We'll give you all this power, all this authority. We're going to make a proclamation concerning you that you're the third ruler of the kingdom. And if you can interpret this. And Daniel just said, well, hey, I don't need the gold chain. You know, it's not the look that I'm going for. He said, I don't need you to promote me. I don't need all this authority. He said, I'll just tell you what it means. And he basically interpreted each part. He said, you know, meaning, meaning, tingling of authority. He said, first of all, you're weighed in the balances. You're found wanting. He said, this night, your kingdom is going to be divided and given to the means and the burdens. And so, boy, they're excited. They take him and they say, you know, well, they put the chain on his neck. You know, they bow down and show him the trumpet. And Daniel's the third ruler of the kingdom. You know, the kingdom is going to last for about three more hours, you know, because that night, the Persian army invaded. And I don't know if it's true or not because the Bible doesn't really talk about it. The Bible just talks about how the Persians just instantly invaded. But the history books tell us that they had been, like, building a tunnel. And basically, that's how they did this fast attack where, you know, I don't know, where they somehow had this tunnel ready where they could just move a bunch of troops in and break down the doors. I don't know. Who knows? Who cares? But anyway, somehow they had this surprise attack in the middle of the night. And while he's drunk in the house, you know, they burst in and kill him and take over. Well, Daniel still retained a position in the government because, you know, he had a position before. And so they probably kept a lot of the safe people in place for, like, a continuity of government. Now, the interesting thing about the story was that when the man's hand was writing on the wall, the king, the Bible says, got so scared that actually, I want to show you this one verse. It says in verse number 6, the king's countenance was changed, in chapter 5 verse 6. Then the king's countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loins were loose and his knees smoked one against another. So he got so scared that his knees actually started like... Remember how big and tough he was when he was drinking? And the Bible says because he was drinking, he got prideful and arrogant, blasphemed God, desecrated his vessels. Well, have you ever been so scared that you started actually shaking? Put up your hand. No one, everybody's fearless, you know. I mean, I've started to tremble and shake before when something, you know, your teeth are chattering or your knees are shaking, you know. You guys are all a lot tougher than I am. But, you know, chapter 6 rolls around and basically we have the new regime here of Darius the Meat, okay. And he makes a proclamation, he was basically coerced by his lieutenants that basically said, you should make a decree that no one can pray to any other god. They must pray to you only for 30 days. And so he makes this decree. And Daniel, he decided that he was going to pray secretly. Right? So he goes to the basement, shuts all the doors, makes sure nobody's around. He's going to pray real quietly. No. Notice how Daniel is just like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in chapter 3. He opens the windows of his house. He makes sure the blinds are up. Are you listening in chapter 6? He makes sure the blinds are up. The Bible says he opened the windows of his house. And in verse number 10, it says he knew the writing he was signing. He knew what the law was. He knew that whoever prayed to any other god would be cast into a den of lions. It said his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his god, as he did it four times. It didn't even affect him. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his god. And they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree. That's how about signing decree again? And they go on and accuse Daniel. He commanded and brought Daniel, verse 16, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy god who must serve is continually he will deliver thee. And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the dead, and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords, that the purpose might not be changed concerning day. Now stop and think about this one. Would you have opened the windows and gone on your knees and prayed to God, openly, or would you have been hiding? And being cast into a den of lions is probably not real high on the list either of ways to go. I mean, imagine what it would be like to be attacked by a lion. Now, I've never been attacked by a lion. I've been attacked by two rottweilers before, who bit me up, and I counted 21 bite marks on my body, and I was bleeding, and it was a horrible experience. But that, I mean, that's got to be nothing compared to a lion. Imagine facing lions who are just going to tear you apart. And that's what Daniel is being faced with. And if you see what happened, of course, you know, Daniel's in the lion's den, and the Lord sent his angel to shut the mouths of the lions. And the next day, Daniel's brought out of the lion's den, and Darius was actually happy because he didn't want Daniel to go in there in the first place. His lords tricked him because they were jealous of Daniel. He threw in the men that had conspired against Daniel, he threw them in the lion's den, and the Bible says that before they even hit the bottom of the den, the lions were already chewing them. And it says that they actually bit them so hard that it broke their bones. I mean, they just chomped through them. So these are some pretty tough lions. They could bite through your bones and snap them in half. Okay, and so it wasn't that the lions just weren't hungry. You know, God performed a miracle here. They were very hungry whenever the next people got thrown in. And so what's the point of all this? What am I trying to show you from the book of Daniel tonight? Notice the pattern. Chapter one, boldness. Chapter two, boldness. Chapter three, boldness. Chapter four and five, unbelievers shaking in their boots, trembling, backing down, right? That's what you see in chapter four and five. You see Nebuchadnezzar in chapter four, humbled, brought down, driven into the dust, forced to back down and say, I'm sorry, I was wrong. I was prideful. I was God that has all the power and all the might. Chapter five, his grandson, Belshazzar. Humbled, humiliated, scared to death, shaking, afraid. And then in chapter six, again, God, people standing up and having the boldness that they always had in the book of Daniel. Hey, where is our boldness today? Where is the boldness of the book of Daniel? Get the book of Daniel and read it again and again and again until you realize that God is powerful enough to protect you and even if he doesn't protect you, he demands you to be faithful in the dead. It said in Revelation, they loved not their lives under the dead. So which side are you on? The weak-kneed, limp-wristed, wimpy side that the world's on that backs down or the side that says, throw us in the fiery furnace, throw us in the lion's den, and in fact, we won't just stand up privately, we'll stand up publicly to the world. We got way too many closet preachers and closet Christians who say, well, I believe like you, I'm just not going to be so public about it. I've had people say that to me again and again and again. They say, well, I agree with you, Pastor Anderson, I just don't want to be so public about it. You don't want to be public about it because you don't want to get thrown into the lion's den and you don't want to go to the fiery furnace. But guess what? When one man stood up and said, I will go and face the king, I'll face the lion, I'll face the fire, the whole nation was proclaimed. Nobody can mess with God's people or Christians. Look how many hundreds and thousands of people benefited from four men, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, because they went out of the law of the land that said, hands off, Christians. Don't say anything against Christianity. Don't say anything against God's people. Don't say anything against the God of the Hebrews. No one can make a law against these people. That's what was proclaimed at the end of chapter 3. That's what was proclaimed at the end of chapter 4. That's what was proclaimed in chapter 6. Three times the proclamation went out, protecting God's people in the whole empire, which was most of the entire world at that time. Why? Because a few people stood up. And the opposite is also true. When God's people back down, everybody suffers. Because what if Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would have just prayed in their heart to God? Instead of publicly worshiping God. I'll tell you what would have happened. Christians all over the world would have continued to suffer under these laws that were forcing them to either die or be imprisoned or whatever if they wouldn't bow down. Now stop and think about that. God's looking for boldness. When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, the Bible says they spake the word of God with boldness. Now the only reason to not speak God's word with boldness is fear. You say, where are the miracles? I love what Gideon said. He said, if God is with us, then where be all his miracles? You remember what Gideon said that day? If God be with us, where are all the miracles? I'll tell you where the miracles are. The miracles are ready for somebody who's willing to even go to the firing cars for God to step in and connect them. But how do you expect that? There wouldn't have been a miracle if they would have just bowed down, folks. There wouldn't have been a miracle if Daniel wouldn't have been praying with the window open. You want to know where the miracles are, we need to have somebody who's willing to stand up and preach and do right so that God will step in and do a miracle. Do you think that God is unable to perform miracles? They all allow us back then. God still has the power to divinely intervene and protect his people, just like he did back then. And there are still miracles coming, my friend. You read in the New Testament in the book of Revelation how there are going to be miracles where people are protected divinely and where people are destroyed from heaven in the book of Revelation. It's not a different dispensation, my friend. It's a different disposition among God's people who don't have the guts to stand up for anything or preach anything or do anything. That's why we're not seeing God's power. Men, I'm talking to you, but ladies as well. We need ladies that are firm in their resolve, that are strong in the Lord. The power is mine. But let me just say to the men right now, why don't you just make a decision in your heart right now and say, you know what? I am going to be strong and endure hardest. Now, whatever that is, if it's somebody criticizing me on the job, if it's me losing my job, if it's somebody physically assaulting me, if it's going to jail, if it's going to the chopping block, I will be a Daniel. I will be a Shadrach. I will be a Meshach. I will be an Abednego, and I will not back down because the Lord is with me, this life is but a vapor, and the whole world is relying upon me to stand. And let me ask you this. When the evil day comes, will you stand? When you're girt up in the armor of the Lord in Ephesians 6 and you've done all to stand, stand. Stand up. Endure as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, as far as that word of birth. Father, please...