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Elevate - The Story Pt 19 - Elijah - Another in the Fire
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The Word of God does not change. As culture moves further from God, the pressure to conform increases. But we must stand firm and refuse to bow. In the story of Daniel, he and his friends are taken into exile in Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar builds a statue and demands everyone worship it. This idol represents humanism, the belief that humans can be like God without God. We must not exalt human strength and ability above God. The Word of God does not change, and as culture moves further and further away, as we continue to try to become God without God, as we subscribe more and more to a humanistic philosophy, the pressure is only going to get greater for you folks. What do we do in the midst of all this? We stand firm, and we refuse to bow. Welcome to Elevate from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama with Pastor John DeQuatro. We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life of God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message, and welcome to Elevate. We are continuing today in the story. If you remember from last week, we talked about Isaiah. We talked about Isaiah's commission, and the state of Israel when Isaiah came on the scene. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been exiled. Assyria had conquered them and drug them away. Many of them were living in exile in Assyria. And Assyria was gaining more strength, and they were about to come against the southern kingdom of Judah. All of Israel, but they're divided right now. There's two kings. It's a big mess. In the southern kingdom of Judah, they are fearing that Assyria is coming to exile them as well. Which is when Isaiah comes on the scene to begin to tell them why this is happening to them. And why things are getting so tough. And they need to hear it. They need to be corrected. But they also need to be encouraged in the midst of what they're facing. And so, if you remember, Judah was this close to being attacked by the nation of Assyria and being carried off to exile just like they did to the northern kingdom of Israel. Now there have been a succession of kings in Israel. Most of which did not follow the laws of God. And they led the people into paganism and idol worship and other detestable practices. And so judgment is drawing near. Judgment is upon them. They're about to face some hard times because they have neglected God. However, Assyria gets defeated by Babylon. The Babylonians, they're on the rise and they destroy Assyria. And you'd think Judah would be happy about that. Except, as Babylon is on their rampage, they end up besieging Judah. And they end up carrying off many of the Israelites from Judah into exile in Babylon. And that's where we pick up our story is now Judah has now finally been exiled. But rather than being exiled to Assyria, they are exiled to Babylon. And so there's four men in particular that are carried off into Babylon. And they find themselves in the royal court of the king. They have favor with the king of Babylon. His name was King Nebuchadnezzar. Everybody say that. Nebuchadnezzar. The four men that are carried off are Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. And when they are chosen to enter into the king's service, they are given new names, Babylonian names. So Daniel becomes Belteshazzar. Hananiah becomes Shadrach. Mishael becomes Meshach. And Azariah becomes Abednego. Now these are four men that love God. And they are doing everything they can to not defile themselves with Babylonian culture and practices. They even refuse to drink the wine and eat the meat that is served to them at the king's table because they don't want to defile themselves with the culture of Babylon. So God gives them favor with the king. And they end up becoming elevated in the royal court. And they become advisors to King Nebuchadnezzar. Now know this. Babylon is not a good place. It is not a godly place. It is rife with pride, with paganism, with the worship of false gods. And these four God-fearing Jews in the royal court, they have been ripped from their home and they are stuck in this evil place called Babylon. So that's where we're going to pick up the story. These four have been brought into Babylon. So we're going to look at Daniel chapter 3 beginning in verse 1. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. He then summoned the satraps, the prefects, governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial officials to come to the dedication of the image he had set up. So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial officials. You don't need to know what all those things are. Just know these are important people. They assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and they stood before it. Then the herald loudly proclaimed, Nations and peoples of every language, this is what you are commanded to do. As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, the flute, the zither, the lyre, the harp, the pipe, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all kinds of music, all the nations and peoples of every language fell down and worshipped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So in his pride, King Nebuchadnezzar makes this image of gold, a statue, a godlike figure. It may have been a statue of him. It may not have been. It could have been an obelisk. We don't know exactly, but we know that this thing was about a hundred feet tall and about nine feet wide, and it was a statue that was made out of pure gold, unlike most statues that were made out of wood and overlaid with gold. This one was pure gold. This was an impressive thing, and I can imagine that this was quite a sight. Nine stories tall, made of pure gold, gleaming, set in the plain of Dora, just outside the center of the city of Babylon. Man, it's got to be an impressive thing to see. And so Nebuchadnezzar, in order to show off his new building project, he calls anybody and everybody of importance to come and to see it. And of course, if the king comes calling, everybody comes running. So this site in the plain of Dora is filled with all the judges and the rulers and the governors and the police officials and the advisors and anybody else who had a modicum of importance in the Babylonian empire. And Nebuchadnezzar gives them this command. When you hear the music, you are to fall down and worship this image of gold that the king has set up. You are to pay homage to this image that represents the glory of King Nebuchadnezzar, and it magnifies his reign over the kingdom of Babylon. In fact, it is so important to the king that you worship this statue that he built, that if you don't, you're going to be executed. And not in any kind of a humane way, but you are going to be thrown into a blazing furnace. Now, understand this was not just a random furnace, right? Most cities had a furnace outside of the city walls, and it was used for their building projects. They would fire the bricks, and they would create the bricks that they needed in order to build new things. And so, if you know anything about that particular process of baking bricks into hardened things used for structure, you know that those furnaces were hot. They were hot. So let's stop here for a moment. And I want to draw some parallels in the story that we just read and the current state of the world that we're in. No, nobody is erecting a statue and requiring that it be worshipped yet. The Antichrist is going to do that, but he's not here. He's not on the scene yet. But there is an idol, a god of this day, if you will, that has been erected in our day, and it has crept suddenly into our culture, and unfortunately has crept into much of the church in many, many ways. And this idol is called humanism. Now, humanism, as defined by humanists themselves, the American Humanist Association says this, Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism, which means without God, or other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good. In other words, what they're saying is, without God, we can lead moral lives and understand the difference between good and evil. Where have we heard this before? Genesis 3, verse 4 and 5. This is the serpent talking to Adam and Eve. You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman, for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. The basic idea, the basic humanistic idea is that we can be like God without God. That we have the ability and the right to determine for ourselves what is good and what is evil. What is right and what is wrong. We have the right and the ability to determine the values that will govern us. That's humanism. It exalts human strength and ability and science and discovery and philosophy. It exalts all those things above God. Not that those things are bad. Science is not bad. Science is great. I get lost in scientific documentaries. Love it. But you cannot exalt science over God. I tell my son, he's up in Auburn, and he's studying physics. And every debate I've ever seen against any atheist that's ever debated the existence of God has always been a physicist. And so my son is getting all this stuff, right? And I tell him, I'm like, I want you to understand that what you discover as you're learning about physics and how the world and how the universe operates, what you discover does not prove that God doesn't exist. What you're doing is discovering all the things that God put in motion at the beginning of time that we're only now just beginning to understand, and how detailed and how magnificent of a designer and a creator that He is. You're discovering God as you learn all these things. We cannot exalt science above God. The humanistic philosophy glorifies the human being itself and its own strength. This is human, being a humanistic, being like God, without God. And we see the onslaught of humanism throughout the history of our nation. A nation that was founded on biblical principles and was governed by many God-fearing men for many, many years. But this onslaught of humanism has picked up speed in the last 50 or so years, right? The removal of prayer from schools in 1962. The sexual revolution of the 60s. The national legalization of abortion in 1973. The rebellious mindset of the 1980s. The decline of national and governmental morality in the 1990s. The embrace of and legalization of same-sex marriage in 2012. And the transgender movement of recent years. The order of the day is anything goes. The human is king above God. Whatever is my truth. Whatever I think is right. Whatever makes me feel good. Whatever brings me happiness. That is what I will do and you can't say anything about it. So there's no guide rails. There's no standards. There's no fear of God. There's no reverence for the divine. There's nothing divine, just an increase in self-loving behavior and philosophy that makes humanity a God unto itself and ignores the true Creator God that has revealed Himself in His Word. This, this is the idol that has been erected today. The idol of humanism. And it's calling anybody and everybody of importance to bow at its feet. Governmental leaders. Politicians. Church leaders. Influencers. Celebrities. Major corporations like Target and Bud Light. And the list goes on. Anybody of human importance is bowing now at the feet of humanism. Except it's really not called humanism in the public sphere. It goes by many names. It's called pride. It's called self-love and self-care. It's called woman's reproductive health. It's called woke culture. And when I say woke culture, I'm referring to a philosophy that seeks to redefine the basic created order of sex and gender and attempts to force others to adhere to their beliefs. Regardless of what name it has based on the specific issue, it's all humanism. It's all exalting the human being above God, trying to be like God without God, the glorification of me, myself, and I, and we have made ourselves idols. Gods without God. Now listen, nobody's being threatened to be thrown into a blazing furnace right now. But the reality is that you are on the outs if you don't bow down. You're canceled. Minimized. You're called stupid and old-fashioned. You're accused of hatred. You're called a bigot. You're labeled as a phobic of whatever group you don't particularly agree with. And the pressure is great. Careers, reputations, relationships, acceptance. It all seems to hinge on whether or not we will bow to the God of this day. And everybody's bowing. You see it. If you have a smartphone, all you've got to do is open one of those social media apps or look on one news site and you see it. Everybody is bowing. Churches are bowing. And they're changing their theological positions to fit the new truth of today's culture. Celebrities and politicians are bowing as they embrace philosophies that they denounced only a few years ago. Regular people like you and me are bowing because everyone that we hold in high esteem is bowing. And we trust them and we just want to go along with them. Folks, we're in a dangerous time. It's a crazy time. The tactics of the enemy, though, are no different today than they were thousands of years ago and at the beginning of time. That you can be a god unto yourself and you can have and you can do whatever you want with no consequences, no standards, no guide rails. You can be god without god. That's the golden image that we are bowing to today and it's idolatry. It's humanism. The idea of wokeness is humanism and idolatry at its very core. So in our story today, everyone was bowing. Everybody of importance is bowing at this statue for fear of the king. For fear of what might happen to them if they don't bow. Everybody except three people. Beginning in verse 8 in Daniel 3, at this time some astrologers came forward and denounced the Jews. Astrologers, these were people that were in the royal court along with Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego. These were part of the advisors of the king. These were the colleagues of our three Jews. Well, four, but Daniel's not mentioned in the story. They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, May the king live forever. Obviously they're on the king's payroll. Your majesty has issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the hork flute, zither lyre, harp pipe, and all kinds of music must fall down and worship the image of gold and that whoever does not fall down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. But there are some Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who pay no attention to you, your majesty. They neither serve your gods nor worship the image of gold that you have set up. You see, these God-fearing Jews that have been forcefully drugged to the city of Babylon recognize what this is, this image and the worship of it. They recognize it as idolatry, as idol worship, right? And they're not having it. They worship the one true God. They worship Yahweh. They worship the Creator of the universe. And although they are submerged in a culture that worships many gods, all except the one true God, and even though their lives are on the line, they refuse to bow to the image and give it worship. Just like today, you see what's happening here, right? Somebody doesn't toe the line, and they're immediately being called out. Here, they're being ratted out to the king by some jealous colleagues of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They're jealous, so they're ratting them out, hoping that maybe they'll get furnished treatment. Now today, people are called out in all kinds of ways, on social media and whatever, for not towing the woke humanism line that we're expected to tow. You know, there's nothing new under the sun, right? Satan's using the same tactics. He's just disguising them differently. He's disguising them better. And you may ask, what's the big deal? They knew that that image was not a god. Why would they put themselves at risk? Why not just bow down to it and just go on with their day? Because it's not just a hunk of metal that they're bowing to. It's more than that. It's selling their soul and bowing to the evil philosophies of the day. It is a big deal. Now you'll notice what they didn't do is start a campaign to tear down King Nebuchadnezzar and try to get petitions and start smearing his name with everybody. They just refused to bow. That's all they did. So I'm not talking about us becoming social media warriors that tear down our leaders and our elected officials. The Bible speaks very clearly about that. That's not the role of the believer to tear down those that are in authority over us. Our job is to pray for them and obey them and respect them. However, you need to know where you stand and the tactics of the enemy. And you need to refuse to bow when the culture is asking you to compromise the Word of God. You need to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to you so that you don't get sucked in by all of this. You need to know your Word. You need to know what the Bible has to say about all these things. You have to know. And you need to choose to stick to the Word and to stick to truth. I'm telling you, if you are a Christian, then you are affirming that this is the Word of God. And if this is the Word of God, and if this is the document by which you have patterned and fashioned your life, you better know what it says. And you better do what it says. That's what it means to walk as a child of God in today's culture. Let's move on. Now the humanistic, prideful spirit that is ruling the day today causes King Nebuchadnezzar to get a little upset at the news that there were three people in all the kingdom of Babylon that wouldn't bow to the image. Verse 13, furious with rage, Nebuchadnezzar summoned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So these men were brought before the king. And Nebuchadnezzar said to them, Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the image of gold that I have set up? Now when you hear the sound of the horn flute, dither lyre, harp pipe, and all kinds of music, if you're ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to him, I love this, King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it. And He will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. And even if He doesn't, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up. The pressure is turned up here, folks. Nebuchadnezzar gives them another chance. Here you go, guys. Last chance. When the music plays, go ahead and bow to the image. You see the parallel? This is what we're doing today. Right? If somebody digs up a tweet from 15 years ago and it doesn't fit today's narrative, now the pressure is on to bow. Bow to the woke humanistic culture or we'll lynch you. We'll erase your career, your name, your influence, and we'll throw you into the furnace where careers and reputations go to die, forever branded as a bigot or a hater or an unenlightened idiot, all because you won't bow to our ideas. It's the same thing happening. That's what's happening here. Alright, guys, you've been found out. Will you bow now? Will you bow now, guys? Listen, the pressure is great. And the argument for all this stuff is convincing. Let me tell you, there's an argument out there. Love wins. This is for the homosexual agenda. Love wins. And they say, oh, well, if God is love, then why would He care who we love as long as we're loving somebody? I mean, that sounds convincing to so many. They're like, yeah, He is a God of love. Why would it matter who I love? And they're like, ooh, I never thought of that. Love is love. I guess this is okay. People are buying it. Can I tell you something with that one argument that you've probably all heard? God is agape love. You know that term agape love? Unconditional, undeserved love. A fatherly love that God has for us and that we reciprocate towards Him. The love that everyone else is talking about is eros love. Romantic love. Erotic love. Can I tell you, God is not eros love. God does not love you romantically or erotically. So don't listen to the convincing argument that tries to tell you these things. He loves you unconditionally to the point of ultimate sacrifice. And He keeps loving you no matter how many times you reject Him. But it's not the same, folks. It's not the same. Don't be swayed by the convincing arguments. Know what the Word of God has to say so that when the arguments come, you've got the Scripture. You've got the sword. You've got the weapon. And you know the truth. Stick with the Word. God knows. And no, it's not going to be popular if you dare say in the public sphere that homosexuality or transgenderism or abortion is a sin, you will be berated for it. You'll be hated. You might lose some friends. And listen, I'll probably get some hate emails or texts today because of the things that I'm saying. In fact, some of you in the room might not come back. But that's okay. I know the Word of God. And I'm going to preach it unashamedly and unapologetically. The Word of God does not change. And as culture moves further and further away, as we continue to try to become gods without God, as we subscribe more and more to a humanistic philosophy, the pressure is only going to get greater for you folks. So what do we do? What do we do in the midst of all this? We stand firm. And we refuse to bow. We stand firm and we refuse to bow. We've got to draw the line and we have to say no. I'm not bowing to this anti-God, humanistic, anything goes, I'm number one culture. You need to understand, in Scripture, you have to know what you believe according to this Book. Not according to what you think or what you think is right or what somebody told you is right. You have to know this Book for yourself. And you have to know what it says so you know what you believe about things like abortion and homosexuality and transgenderism and self-indulgence and pride and greed and lust for power and lust for money and lust for everything that appeases the flesh. You need to know what this Book says about it. Because you'd better stand for something, if not you'll fall for anything. And unfortunately, this is what's happened in our churches. We are afraid to stand for something and so we've fallen for anything and everything and now you see that whole church denominations are splitting over these issues because they're changing what the Bible says in order to fit the narrative of today's culture. Folks, we can't do it. But see, now this gets real for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They've taken their stand. They know what they believe and they aren't backing down. They've placed their trust and their faith in God and they have full confidence that God can save them. And if He doesn't, you know what, they're okay with that too. Because they won't bow. Verse 19, Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men wearing robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king's command was so urgent and the furnace was so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire? They replied, certainly, your majesty. 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. That's Jesus, everybody. That's Jesus. Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here! So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire. He just came out of the fire. And the satraps, prefects, governors and royal advisors crowded around them. They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was the hair of their heads singed. Their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar said, Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who has sent his angels and rescued his servants. They trusted him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Standing up for truth in a culture that glorifies humanity and evil is not going to be popular. It may cost you a promotion at work if you aren't willing to redefine your pronouns. It may make you unpopular if you choose not to allow greed and lust for power to motivate you. You may lose friends if you choose to exercise restraint rather than self-indulgence. It's okay because every time you stand up for truth, Jesus stands with you. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website authenticlife.tv for more information about Authentic Life Church. To find out what we have going on or to make a donation, you can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery and youth programs, so bring the family. For Pastor John DeQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening and God bless you.
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