Lord, help us. Lord, help us this morning to be able to hear what you would have us hear from your word this morning. In Jesus name, amen.
The 1930s saw the rise of one of the most notoriously evil people in history. With Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler gained both popularity and power, eventually becoming the head of the nazi party and the supreme leader of Germany. Hitler oversaw the systemic imprisonment and execution of 11 million people that he and his party deemed unworthy of life, particularly those of jewish heritage, while demanding ultimate loyalty to himself and the nazi party from all others in Europe. Corey Tenboom was born in 1892 to a family of watchmakers, devout christians in the Dutch Reformed tradition. The tendency the ten boom family was deeply affected by the care of God for his people. So as the rise of Adolf Hitler and the influence of Nazism in Germany turned to the systematic imprisonment and extermination of various people groups throughout Europe, the ten Boom family became part of an active resistance in the Netherlands, hiding jewish people in their homes for four years, fueled by their deep christian convictions. And in 1944, the ten boom family themselves was arrested and brought to concentration camps to face torture and death.
Faced with a cultural pressure to conform to the evil whims and desires of the supreme leader, the ten boom family chose to do what was right, even in the face of imprisonment and likely death.
During our time in Daniel, the last couple of chapters have brought our attention to the fact that the theme is honoring God and trusting God above all else. Daniel chapter one. Honoring God with the things that they're eating. Even though the king was providing good things, they said, we're going to choose to honor the Lord with our diet instead of the king. Daniel chapter two, Ricky did such a great job last week of helping us see how Daniel trusted and how we can trust God. Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, have been faced with significant decisions. And all of these decisions so far have centered around the choice to either honor the king or honor God. So as we come to this well known story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, we'll see that they are faced with the issue of idolatry, with a cultural pressure to conform to the image of the world. This familiar and encouraging passage has a lot of really helpful applications for us, but the whole thing really centers around the choice for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego of honoring God through obedience, no matter the cost.
We, like these three men, like the ten boom family, are regularly faced with choices. Now, it might not involve imprisonment or death, but we all must regularly choose to honor God or honor the world, to obey God or to obey the world. So our application today is simple. It's exactly what these three men were faced with so many thousands of years ago. We are called as christians to honor God, obey God, whatever the cost. Cross of grace, you are sent. No, let's go to the story together.
This morning I went back and forth with, sometimes when you're preaching Old Testament narratives, there's long, long narratives. And we went back and forth, but we decided this narrative is really compelling and worth reading in its entirety. So we're going to read it in three chunks, but we're going to read all of it. Here's the word of the lord. Daniel, chapter three. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And the Herald proclaimed aloud, you are commanded, o peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigonous harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music. You are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And whoever does not fall down in worship shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, the pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations and languages fell down and worshipped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Therefore, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, o king, live forever. You, o king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, 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 the burning, fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed Nego. These men, o king, pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in a furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, is it true, o Shadrach, meshach and abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now, if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image I have made. Well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning, fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?
6 · Exegetical analysis of Nebuchadnezzar's character and the symbolic meaning of the golden image, drawing on Ferguson to show the image represents resistance to God's revelation in Daniel 2
Here's what we just read in a nutshell. Nebuchadnezzar, king over Babylon, says, honor me, obey me, no matter what. Nebuchadnezzar is a powerful king who's primarily concerned with himself. He's easily swayed by impressive things. He chases power, and he's extremely volatile. Remember one chapter ago he had a dream, and he calls all the important people, and he says, tell me the dream. And they can't tell them the dream. And he says, kill them all. Now we see this same king building an image of gold, roughly 90ft tall by 90ft wide, so cubits are hard to understand in our modern language. But think of this 90ft tall, gold and 9ft wide. Listen to what Sinclair Ferguson says of this image. Had Nebuchadnezzar wanted to memorialize the revelation that God had given him, namely, to point out that only that kingdom God builds cannot be shaken, he would have built an image with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay. Beside it he would have placed a large stone. Apparently, Nebuchadnezzar resisted God's revelation. The image he commissioned symbolized his desire that no kingdom should destroy his, not even the kingdom of God. This image that Nebuchadnezzar built is meant to symbolize the power of Babylon over all other kings and peoples and gods over all other kingdoms.
7 · Exposition demonstrating that the repeated listing of instruments and officials signals a formal worship service, and that Nebuchadnezzar's command placed him above even Babylon's gods
Nebuchadnezzar, this king, set it up as an object of worship. Let's not pass over the significance of this. Did you see the list of instruments that the writer said more times? Over and over again? Four times. The text lists seven specific groups of instruments. This is clear. This was a worship service. When we look at the groups of people he calls out specifically, we see that it's not only just like random people in the kingdom, it's everybody. But including the most influential dignitaries in the babylonian empire. They are being commanded, upon the sound of all those instruments, to bow down and worship at his command. This image made by man, this image built by Nebuchadnezzar, is a testament to his power and a unifying symbol of worship. Here, the babylonian king was placing himself in a place of power over even all the pantheon of gods in ancient Babylon. He asserts his power by making the penalty for non worship, in this instance, an excruciating death.
8 · Exposition establishing the theological foundation for the three Hebrews' refusal—they were governed by the first and second commandments written on their hearts from youth
This blasphemous display effectively sets the scene for the holy defiance of Daniel's three friends. In order to honor the king, those present, particularly the jewish people who had been assimilated and were living in the empire, would have had to actually worship the human king over the one true God. This service of false worship provided the occasion for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego's decision to honor God by refusing to worship the kingdom. Here's the point. This act of defiance is an outward symbol of inward conviction for these three young men. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had been educated by Babylon. They had been put in places of power in the empire. But their cultural and ethnic identity was jewish, meaning they would have grown up understanding the law of the Lord, particularly God's. First commandment, which is what? Have no other gods before me written on their heart from a young age, and they would have had the second commandment in mind. I'm going to read this in its entirety. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven or the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. These boys would have had the word of the Lord clearly written on their hearts. And the Lord says, honor me. Obey me, no matter what.
9 · Theological claim establishing that the three Hebrews chose to honor God over the king despite their dependence on the king for their livelihood and status
Faced with a choice between honoring the king through false worship, whose resources they were stewarding, and to whom they owed their livelihood, or honoring the one true and living God, to whom their souls were accountable, we see that they decide to honor the one true and living God through obedience to him alone.
10 · Application turning the biblical situation toward the listener, asking them to identify areas of cultural pressure to conform that compromise honoring God
So there's a question for us here before we move on. As we think about our own lives, you and I right now might not be called to bow down and worship before a 90 foot tall golden statue, but we may, in some areas, be feeling cultural pressure to conform, to look more like what the world celebrates than what God celebrates. So my question for you as we go on, something to continue meditating on as we go through this passage, do you have any places in your life where you are being called to conform to cultural pressure in a way that would mean that you are no longer honoring God?
11 · Structural pivot from honor to obedience, signaling the sermon's two-part movement
This first section, we think about honor. This next section, we think about obedience. Let's go to verse 16.
12 · Full reading of Daniel 3:16-23, capturing the three Hebrews' response to Nebuchadnezzar and their being thrown into the furnace
So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego have been called to account by Nebuchadnezzar. He gives them a choice. Obey me or die. Let's see what happens. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, o nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the 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 that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated, and he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats and other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace because the king's order was urgent and the furnace overheated. The flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace service.
13 · Exegetical analysis of the three Hebrews' 'but if not' statement, establishing that their obedience was not contingent on deliverance—they trusted God's will whether they lived or died
This worship service that the king forced his subjects to participate in is an act of blasphemy. And these boys, who knew the law of the Lord as it related to idolatry, knew that to worship an image of any kind would be to live in rebellion against the one true and holy God. So here's the category this text gives us when obedience to the world is disobedience to the Lord, obey the Lord whatever the cost. They answer the king, knowing that the consequence of their disobedience to King Nebuchadnezzar is certain death. For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, obedience to the Lord meant complete submission to his will and ultimate trust in his plan. So when they're brought before the king, these three young men again in obedience to the Lord, defy the king to his face, saying, we don't answer to you. We answer to a higher authority. They say, we trust him to deliver us from the furnace and out of your hand. But look at the next three words. They say to the kingdom, this is so convicting. This is what threw me. I spent more time on these three words this week just thinking about it and even in my own life than anything else in this text. But if not, we trust the Lord to deliver us. But if not, their trust in the Lord is so steadfast that they believe obedience to the Lord, even unto death, is their primary objective. Even if the Lord doesn't save their physical lives, the God they serve is far more worth serving than the man made image and human power of King Nebuchadnezzar. In fact, they know for certain that they will end up in a fiery furnace for their obedience to God over the king. Look at what Ferguson says. Sinclair Ferguson says again here. Notice that these men of faith would not have regarded their deaths in the flames to be a failure of faith, but rather an indication of God's will. Faith means trusting God and his word. Faith doesn't mean that we either know or understand what a specific purpose in our lives may be. It means a ready willingness to follow him, whatever his purpose is.
14 · Exposition connecting the three Hebrews' trust in God's presence to the promise in Isaiah 43 that God will be with His people when they pass through fire and water
What we see at the end of this section is that for the moment, the king seems to be winning the temporal battle here, doesn't it? It looks hopeless for the boys. They literally end this part of the story in a burning furnace that's so hot that the people putting them into the furnace died. This rage he sets. It's interesting, when you see in the Old Testament, when anybody's face changes, it's a big deal. Pay attention to that. In the Old Testament, when God, his face changes, or when somebody, the character we're reading about, when his face changes, pay attention. His rage is kindled against the young men for their defiance. And he orders the furnace to be heated to seven times its normal flesh burning temperature. It's so hot that you can't get near it. Now look at this. One of the promises throughout scripture, both in the Old Testament and New Testament, is that God promises to be with his people. So as these boys are facing this raging inferno, both of the fury of the king and the fury of the fire, what they have in mind is the promise of the Lord that he will be with them. Listen to this. That they may have had in mind as they acted in obedience unto death. Look at the words from Isaiah 43. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the holy one of Israel, your savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes and honored, and I love you. I give men in return for you peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring from the east and from the west, I will gather you.
15 · Theological claim establishing that the Old Testament promise of God's presence with His people finds fulfillment in Christ's promise in Matthew 28:20 to be with His disciples to the end of the age
When Sinclair Ferguson uses this text, he draws the connection of God's promise here to be with his people from the earliest covenants, all the way through Christ's promise to his disciples in Matthew 28, that he will be with us even to the end of the age. How do we see Jesus in the old testament? This is how we see Jesus in the Old Testament. This promise that God will be with his people is the promise we take comfort in now.
16 · Theological claim asserting that even if the three Hebrews had died in the furnace, their obedience would have been sufficient because it honored God and trusted His promises
It's the one we sang about this morning. Through Christ, these three men honored God and their actions and interactions with the leaders of Babylon then obeyed God, even though it meant certain death. And they faced a steep cost for their obedience of God and disobedience of the earthly king. The cost was their lives. They stepped into the furnace in faith, fully trusting God with the outcome. They rested in the promises of God being with them, the trial. And should the story have ended there, it would have been sufficient.
17 · Transition to the final section of the narrative, signaling that God's deliverance provides further encouragement of His nearness
But God in his kindness, has given us a picture and further encouragement of his nearness. As we finish the count, and as we finish this account and see that honor and obedience to God is worth it, no matter the cost, look at verse 24.
18 · Full reading of Daniel 3:24-30, capturing the appearance of the fourth figure in the furnace, the deliverance of the three Hebrews, and Nebuchadnezzar's decree honoring their God
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, didn't we cast three men bound into the fire? 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're not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning, fiery furnace. He declared, Shadrach, meshach and Abednego, servants of the most high God, come out and come here. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. Look who's present. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not any power over the bodies of these men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of the fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies, rather than serve and worship any God except their own God. Therefore, I make a decree. Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other God who is able to rescue in this way. Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
19 · Exposition identifying the fourth figure as a theophany—an intense manifestation of God's presence accompanied by extraordinary visual display—demonstrating that God kept His promise to be with His people in the fire
There's a number of places in the Old Testament that we see clear appearances of God or God's presence in the midst of his people. I saw it defined this week. This is an example of an intense manifestation of the presence of God. That's accompanied by an extraordinary visual display. God here is walking out the promise, I will be with you. With Shadrach Meshach in Abednego in his furnace, he's with them to the extent that in this raging inferno, their clothes aren't consumed and not a hair on their heads was touched. They didn't even smell like fire. If you look at a campfire, all of a sudden you smell like campfire for days, right? They didn't even smell like fire after being in the inferno.
20 · Theological claim establishing the central interpretive point—the emphasis is not on deliverance from the fire but on God's presence with His people in the fire
We see here that these men are delivered from the fire. But the thing that the Lord wants us to see here is that he was with them in the fire.
21 · Theological claim asserting that the obedience of God's people results in God receiving glory and serves as a witness to the watching world
The effect on the observer, Nebuchadnezzar is to be affected by God's nearness to his people. We'll see next week that Nebuchadnezzar, he's a crazy dude who's just going back and forth. Look, he's like, oh, this guy. Okay, don't kill anybody. This guy interpreted my dream. Now kill everybody. If they don't worship this God, right? He doesn't know what he's talking about, but he's affected by the power of God. The one true God is given glory here as a result of the obedience of his people. Honoring and obeying God becomes both a comfort to us in the fire and a witness to the watching world.
22 · Transition introducing the application section, establishing that eternal perspective governs the response to temporal costs
So I want to end today with giving us an eternal perspective. One of the things that we see in this story is that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have an eternal perspective. They take the temporal or immediate consequences into account, but they know that their eternal destiny is secure. That's what's in view.
23 · Application pressing the listener to count the cost of obedience to God, acknowledging the real discomfort and loss involved while calling them to identify specific areas of tension in their own lives
So a natural question for us all when faced with a choice between obeying the world and obeying God might be, what do I have to lose? Or what would be the felt result of losing this thing? We're constantly having to count the cost of our decisions in life. When we have a chance to choose between honoring the Lord or honoring the world, or obeying the Lord or obeying the world, what must we do now? The correct or like Sunday school answer here might be honor and obey the Lord, right? And it's true, but it's easy to say when we have these decisions to make. The reality is we're actually having to ask the question, what's this going to cost? Usually when we're facing this type of decision, there's outward pressure from the world to conform to the image of the world rather than conform to the image of Christ. Honoring and glorifying God against the world may not always lead to death, but it can often lead to discomfort, either slight or profound, and is often an exercise in dying to ourselves. When we do a pros and cons list of honoring and obeying the Lord in those decisions, it's possible that the only pro that we can see is that it honors and obeys the Lord. And the cons would be some combination of pain, discomfort, being ostracized from social settings, losing jobs, losing speaking engagements, losing money, losing friends, losing status, losing influence. Think for a minute. Even now, are there any places in your life where you're feeling this? You're feeling the tension, and you're facing a choice between honoring God and honoring the world, where you're facing the choice between obeying God or acquiescing to the world's standard of living.
24 · Pastoral aside clarifying the intent and scope of the forthcoming application examples—non-exhaustive but culturally relevant illustrations of the tension between honoring God and conforming to the world
So I want to spend just a minute here looking at a couple examples, and I want to keep in mind that these are not exhaustive examples. These are not the only examples. When we apply things, we're not saying these are the only things to apply to, okay? But they're hopefully helping to illustrate a particular tension and get our minds looking toward helping us honor and glorify and obey God in all that we do. Now, these are also. These particular examples are also examples we use a lot at church, but here's why. We don't want to allow culture to dictate how we apply scripture, but we want to acknowledge that scripture has clear answers to all that we see in culture. In his wisdom, the Lord has allowed these particular issues to take up a lot of room in our cultural conversations.
25 · Application to vocation using the illustration of a legendary band director who achieved professional success but regretted sacrificing his family
First, vocation. Think about vocation for a minute in order to be successful in the eyes of your vocation, you may be called to sacrifice your family on the altar of work. There's a really well known band director from New York who is the director of one of the most prominent high school bands in the United States in the 1950s and sixties. This man is a legend. He was known for being the first person in the school in the morning and the last person out at night. And his biography today, I looked it up again this week is filled with awards and accolades. His textbook is literally the ones that we use to teach with in the universities. He reached the pinnacle of success. There's a story of his high school trying to get an aerial shot of the school. And no matter the time of day, they shot the picture. His car was in the parking lot early in the morning, late at night. Did not matter. Every time they tried to get the shot, his car was there. So I had the opportunity in college to be conducted by this man for a rehearsal. And afterwards, my professor, who was his student in high school, asked him a number of questions. One question has stuck with me since college, and it had to do with whether there was anything that this man would have changed in his life after such a storied career. This man, still regarded as one of the most respected band directors in the United States history, said he wishes he spent less time at school and more time with his family. He said he's grateful that his kids are giving him a second chance with his grandkids.
26 · Application clarifying that the issue is not whether to work well, but whether our work honors God or serves the affirmation of others
The predicament here is not whether to be a good worker. That's it. We want to work well as unto the Lord, don't we? We want to be in positions of influence in the world. But the question here is, what is honoring and obedient to the Lord? Am I working in a way that honors and glorifies him, or am I working primarily for the affirmation of others?
27 · Application to sexuality, contrasting the cultural view that sex should be practiced however one finds pleasurable with the biblical view that sex is a gift meant for covenant marriage between a man and a woman
It may feel this next one like we hit the application of sexuality a lot. It's true, but don't check out for this application. Following the ways of the world in this has absolutely devastating effects on our lives. It's front and center every time you turn on the tv. Notice it in commercials this afternoon when you're watching the football games. It permeates society. It is the thing that is front and center in cultural conversations. What you view about this is how I view you now. That's the reality of the cultural conversations. And unfortunately, it's been front and center in the church, too, in the last year. I know of nine pastors who have been removed because they have not honored and glorified God in this area of their lives. They have not honored nor obeyed God in this. What's the prevailing cultural worldview when it comes to sexuality? It's good, and it should be practiced in whatever way you find pleasurable. I'd agree with the first part, not the second. It's common thought in the world that in order to know if you're compatible with somebody before you marry them, you need to sleep with them. This flies in the face of what God says. He says that sex is wonderful. It's a beautiful, enjoyable gift that is meant to be walked out in the context of a covenant union between a man and a woman in marriage. And I just. I was thinking about saying this, so I'm going to say it right now. The Lord will. When you walk out in obedience. God's plan for sexuality. He will be with you in the process. The job is not to be compatible when you get married, but he will grow you into compatibility. And when everything stops working, he's the one that's holding your relationship together, not the sexuality.
28 · Application pressing the listener to choose between honoring God's commands regarding sexuality or conforming to the world's definition
If you wrestle with living a pure life as a Christian, the question is this for us. Are we willing to walk out our sexual desires in a way that honors the Lord and obeys his commands? Or do we honor and obey the world's definition of what sex is for?
29 · Application to identity, contrasting the cultural view that identity is self-determined with the Christian view that identity is found in holiness and conformity to Christ
Identity who am I? I have conversations with a lot of high school, college, young professionals throughout. My position now has allowed me to have a lot of these with kids all throughout the city. And the question that they're all asking is, who am I? What defines me? The cultural worldview is that your identity is whatever you want it to be. You decide the way you are, no matter what. The christian identity is a life of holiness, pursuing the things of the Lord and allowing yourself to be changed and conformed into the image of Christ.
30 · Theological claim asserting that honoring and obeying God is not contingent on successful outcomes or survival—following Him is always the best option regardless of cost
Trials abound in this life, don't they? Sickness, pain, injuries, family struggles. The beauty of this passage is that what honors God and what constitutes obedience isn't dependent on a successful or comfortable outcome. From the worldly perspective, it doesn't even depend on our survival. Honoring and obeying God means trusting that whatever the cost, following him is the best option. Always the end of the story.
31 · Concludes the ten Boom illustration introduced at the sermon's opening, demonstrating the bittersweet outcome of obedience—most of the family died, but 800 lives were saved and God was glorified through Corrie's testimony
For Corey Ten Boom's family is bittersweet. You may know it. Most of the family died in nazi captivity, including Corey's sister Betsy, not long before Corey was rescued. Look what the Lord has done. It's estimated that in the roughly four years of providing sanctuary for jewish refugees, nearly 800 lives were saved through the Ten Boom family's efforts. Corrie ten Boom was rescued from the Ravensbrook concentration camp in 1944 and spent the rest of her life sharing her family's story of following God in the face of sinful opposition and showing the world the grace and forgiveness of God.
32 · Christological exposition establishing that God's promise to be with His people is most fully demonstrated in Christ, who entered the ultimate fiery furnace by taking our sin upon Himself
And the way I want you to close today is this. It's very simple. Look at the gospel. We can take comfort today in the fact that if you were in Christ, when God says, I'm with you, he means it, I am with you is most clearly demonstrated in Emmanuel. God with us. Jesus demonstrated the ultimate of honoring and obeying God in his life. Jesus entered into the ultimate fiery furnace, taking our sin, our shame upon him, willingly that we may be brought into right relationship with Christ. Jesus counted the cost, paying the ultimate price of his life for us. So living in obedience to him means that whatever the cost, we trust his plan over our desires. We trust that whatever the fire, he is with us.
33 · Quotation from a hymn reinforcing the sermon's thesis that God's grace is sufficient in fiery trials and that the purpose of the fire is refinement, not destruction
Listen to one of the stanzas of this great hymn of the faith when through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie my grace, all sufficient shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt the I only design thy dross to consume and thy goal to refine.
34 · Closing prayer asking God to help the congregation see His presence with them, empower them to honor and obey Him, and remind them that He is with them whatever the cost
Lord, would you help us see that you are with us in our lives? Your goodness and your mercy is such a good gift. Lord, would you empower us to honor you in our decisions? Would you empower us to obey you in the decisions that we make? And Lord, when we are faced with the steep cost of honor and obedience of you over the world, Lord, would you remind us that you are with us? Whatever the world can throw at us, you are with us. Jesus, thank you for who you are and what you have done. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
35 · Liturgical transition to closing worship
Please stand so we can end in song.