First Baptist Church of Highland Park

Rev. Dr. Henry P. Davis III: Hi, I'm Henry Davis, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, Maryland, a Bible-believing, Christ-centered, and spirit-led congregation. I want to welcome you to our radio broadcast and remember, there's power at the park.

Guest (Male): To the passage we lift today out of the book of Daniel. You know the story, but let me read it. Daniel 3:16 and following. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if He doesn't, we want to make it clear to you today, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."

Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So they tied them up, threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbans, robes, and other garments. And because the king in his anger had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace, the flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in.

So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, securely tied, fell into the roaring flames. But suddenly Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisors, "Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace?" "Yes, Your Majesty, we certainly did," they replied. "Look!" Nebuchadnezzar shouted. "I see four men, unbound, walking around in the fire, unharmed, and the fourth looks like a god!"

Then Nebuchadnezzar came as close as he could to the door of the flaming furnace and shouted, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!" So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stepped out of the fire. Then the high officers, officials, governors, and advisors crowded around them and saw that the fire had not touched them. Not a hair on their heads was singed and their clothing was not scorched. They didn't even smell like smoke.

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in Him. They defied the king's command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except their own God." Amen. You may go to your seats around the building even in the presence of our God.

I pull from that 17th verse of this passage, of course, a familiar story that we refer to all the time. But we look at that 17th verse as our focus. "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty." I want to look in this service, Stand Anyway. Stand Anyway.

Every believer eventually arrives at a moment where standing for God becomes costly. It is easy to stand when everyone applauds your faith. It is much harder to stand when standing threatens your promotion, affects your friendships, your comfort, your security, your reputation, in fact, your future. It is about allegiance. Nebuchadnezzar had erected a 90-foot golden image on the plain of a place called Dura.

Government officials from every province have assembled. A royal orchestra has been organized. And the command is simple: let the music play. And as the music is going to play, I'm urging you to bow. The issue isn't whether they believe in God; the issue is whether they will compromise God. Matter of fact, that's where the tension comes, that struggle. Are we going to compromise our faith in the face of challenges?

The king understands something Satan still understands today: if we can make God's people bow, if Satan can make God's people bow, he doesn't have to make them quit, because bowed convictions eventually produce compromised lives. Are you going to bow to the things of the world and all of the things, the bling, the challenges? But notice something fascinating. The text never says the other Hebrew exiles refused.

Perhaps in this moment, there were more believers in the place than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But they were the ones who had made a definitive decision that we will not bow. Thousands of others were there, but only three are mentioned. Faithfulness is rarely determined by majority vote. Standing with God means sometimes standing alone. This is where Daniel demonstrates remarkable literary theology.

Daniel himself is absent from the chapter. The spotlight has now shifted to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. But they are better known by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The empire had changed their names, but it could not change their identity. Your name might be changed, but my identity is who I am. I might change my location, but I'm not changing my faith.

I move from one district, one location to another, but I am prioritizing that God is going to be God in my life. I will worship. I will be in church on Sunday. I will praise God. I thank God for every breath that I take. Babylon could educate them, employ them, even rename them. But Babylon could not redefine them. That's the real message today. Are you going to allow the things of the world to redefine who you are?

Walter Brueggemann often observed the empire always seeks to reshape identity before it reshapes behavior. I can want to reshape your identity, because if I reshape that identity, you're going to start acting and moving differently. The pressure is first internal, then external. The empire says, "Become someone different." God says, "Remember whose you are."

During this week in Dallas, Texas, there was a conference by the EK Bailey, a preaching conference. And EK Bailey would remind preachers that before we preach the miracle, we must preach the moment. I'm preaching the moment before I preach the miracle. The miracle is not that they survived the fire. The first miracle is that they refused to bow before they ever entered it.

The question this morning is not simply, "Can God bring you out?" The question is, "Can He trust you to stand while you're still in?" I'm in the midst of a challenge, but am I going to be in the midst and still stand? I don't know who that message is for this morning, because somebody who is listening in person or online, you're standing in the midst of a challenge. But here's the word: don't bow down.

I'm not bowing down to the things of the world. And that's why this morning, three areas we want to look at. Number one: faith doesn't wait for comfortable circumstances. No, it's not always going to be comfortable. Sometimes it's going to be uneasy, uneven, and challenging. But no matter what the challenge is, we have to believe that God can and will bring us through. That's the reality, that's where we stand.

And then secondly, conviction is going to be revealed under pressure. I don't know how serious you are until you have to go through some serious circumstances. Somebody is in this room today and you've gone through. Matter of fact, somebody could say, "I'm going through right now, and I am understanding that my faith is in You, God. My trust is in You." Cast your cares upon Him because He cares for you.

And so that's my reality as I'm moving. And thirdly, in this message, God joins His people in the fire before He brings them out. Oh yeah, He doesn't just put you in the fire by yourself. He's saying, "I'm going to join you in the fire." That's why Nebuchadnezzar's mind is blown when he looks up because he realized, "I know I told them to heat up the furnace seven times hotter. I had strong men to throw them in, but even they got burned up. But now I'm looking in there and something has shifted."

Well, let me back it up and unpack it. Number one: faith doesn't wait for comfortable circumstances. My God, it's not going to be comfortable, but my trust is in God. Verses 16, 17, and 18. The end of 16: "We do not need to defend ourselves before you." We're not going to do that. And 18 said, "But even if He doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty," and they're going to give him all of his props right there, "that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."

I don't care how big it is, I'm not going to worship that. I'm not going to put on a red cap and MAGA. I'm not going to worship no matter what you build and I don't care how big your ballroom is. I'm not going to bow down to that. I put my trust in the Lord. That's what they said. And my God, notice the timing. They did not wait until the furnace cooled. They did not negotiate. They did not ask for another committee meeting. They answered immediately.

The Hebrew faith was never built upon favorable circumstances. It was built upon God's character. Look at what it said in verse number 17. It says, "Our God is able." That's all you got to know. Our God is able. He's able to save us. He will rescue us from your power. I'm believing that no matter what it is I got to deal with, I know my God is able.

Somebody got up this morning because you know my God is able. No matter what your week look like, no matter what your year has looked like, you can come here today with no doubt in your mind: my God is able. He's able to make a way out of no way. He's able to put a smile on my face. He's able to put pep in my step, joy in my heart. He's able! Thank God that I'm serving an able God.

Their confidence rests in God's ability. But verse 18 is even more remarkable because it said, "But even if He doesn't." This is one of the greatest statements of faith anywhere in scripture. They are not doubting God's power; they are surrendering to God's sovereignty. Real faith is not confidence that God will do exactly what I want. Real faith is confidence that God is always going to do what is right.

The Hebrew expression carries a sense of settled resolve. Their minds are already made up before the furnace is ever heated. My God, that's why I look at that verse in Isaiah. God never promised there would be no furnaces. He only promised, "I'm going to be with you." I'm thanking God. The great theologian Charles Spurgeon once observed, "Faith is believing God when there are no other grounds for believing."

That is Daniel chapter three. Many believers spend their lives waiting for perfect conditions before obeying God. "I'm going to come to church when my life comes together. I'm going to start getting right with God when my finances come together." No! I'm going to get right with God first. I'm going to serve when life slows down. I'll give when my finances get better. I'm a witness when I'm more comfortable.

But faith says, "I'm going to obey You now!" Now, now! Many of our parents and grandparents stood for Christ during segregation without favorable conditions. They worshipped in churches with leaky roofs and worked jobs where promotions were denied. They endured insults and injustice, yet remained faithful. They did not wait for America to become fair before they trusted God. They stood anyway.

In spite of what is going on. My God, I can remember going to church and we had window air conditioners and fans in the ceiling and wasps and bees flying around in the church and a gravel parking lot and a wooden pew that if you move too much you could get a splinter. But I thank God in all of that was going on, I still got a praise. I still can lift up my hands. I can still give God the glory when I stand.

A young professional may be the only believer in a workplace where integrity is mocked, faith is dismissed, and compromise is rewarded. Every meeting pressures them to blend in. They want you to be the person who's going to make sure that you drop your spirituality at the door. Yet they quietly refuse to cut ethical corners or deny their convictions. You're in that space but you say, "No, I'm not going to become like y'all. I'm not going to do what y'all are doing."

They discovered that courage is not loud; it is consistent. Thank God for consistency. We celebrated a life of a brother who was in worship every Sunday morning eight o'clock, sat over there, George Callahan. And brothers, thank you so much for giving support to him because one of his strong gifts was consistency. Standing anyway is often choosing faithfulness when no one else applauds. Nobody is patting you on the back. No one's throwing a pocketbook at you and waving a handkerchief. But you got to still get up there and do what God has called you to do.

Do I have a standing in faith? Eventually it attracts pressure. Because if you're going to stand in faith, you are eventually going to have to deal with opposition. But I'm thanking God that we already sang it this morning: I'm standing on the promises. And if I'm standing on the promises, I can bend but I'm not going to break. I can go down but I'm not going to stay down. I thank God that God can raise me up!

And that brings me to my second point: conviction revealed under pressure. Conviction is revealed under pressure. It's right there in the Bible. Nebuchadnezzar gets angry. Rage reaches its peak. The furnace is heated seven times. Seven is a great number in the Bible. Seven is the number of completion. In other words, what Nebuchadnezzar is saying: heat up the oven as hot as you possibly can.

If you can take it up to 750, I want you to take it up. It's not going to set off any alarms. It's not going to be any smoke around here. Seven symbolizes completeness. In other words, the king throws everything he has at them. Notice the irony. The strongest soldiers die from the heat, while the faithful servants survive inside the heat. The very thing meant to destroy God's people becomes the stage upon which God reveals His power.

Sometimes God is going to reveal His power in difficult circumstances. Pressure does not create conviction. Pressure exposes conviction. Do I have a witness in here? It's like squeezing an orange. Squeezing an orange reveals orange juice. But pressure reveals what already lives within. The juice was already there. All we had to do was squeeze the orange and then we got orange juice.

Jesus taught the same principle: out of the abundance of the heart. Pressure introduces us to ourselves. You're not going to really know who you are until you have to deal with pressure, until you have to deal with a challenge. You have to deal with a door shut and deal with all kind of things coming at you. Then when something comes at you, you're going to realize how great God is.

Late great pastor A. Louis Patterson in Houston, Texas would often point us back to the triggering verse, Nebuchadnezzar. Verse number 19 tells us Nebuchadnezzar's face became distorted with rage. The king lost control because three young men would not lose their conviction. Their calm exposed his chaos. He brought chaos to the situation, but these brothers were chill, they were calm.

"We're not going to bow down to you. And if you throw us in there," notice in the scripture, it does not say they were screaming and hollering. It doesn't say that they were protesting. Matter of fact, I think there was some "brah-man" in them. That I can see them now: "You going to take me there? That's where I'm going to go. And if you're going to take me there, I'm going to go there not scared, not fearful, but I'm going to go there with confidence."

We got some boxing fans in the room. And many times boxers would say they knew in the beginning when they were getting the instructions, they knew right then that the person had fear. And I'm grateful for people who can face the challenge. But I'm facing the challenge understanding if God be for me, He is more than the world against me. Somebody who is out there today, you're facing a challenge, but God is bigger.

Matter of fact, there's a book that says, "How big is your God?" And if you have a big God, you can do big things. Don't ever limit where God can take you. I'm grateful that when I walked in church today I was stopped downstairs by brother Humble. And brother Humble showed me his nephew who just got his PhD at the age of 27 from the University of Alabama on yesterday. I said to myself, that's the power of God.

You can't ever limit what God can potentially do, because when I put my stuff in the hands of God, there is, oh I wish I had a witness in here, when I put my stuff in the hands of God, God can lift me, God can lead me, and God can love me. God can make a way, Joe Malone, and no matter what goes on, still standing. The calm exposed his chaos. Our culture rewards convenience; the Kingdom rewards conviction.

When your values cost you something, that is where your witness becomes believable. Coal under pressure becomes a diamond. I wish I had a witness. Tea bags reveal themselves only in hot water. Some believers never know how strong their faith is because it has never been tested. But the greatest surprise isn't what happens to them; it's who joins them. In other words, when the challenge comes, God will show up.

And the reason why God's going to show up, Les, is because He has never left. He's never left. And that brings me to my third point: God joins His people in the fire before He brings them out. Nebuchadnezzar, he is looking now. And as he looks now, he says, "I see something I can't believe." Nebuchadnezzar, he leaps to his feet. His arithmetic no longer works. "I tied up three, but why do I see four?"

This mysterious fourth figure has stirred some theological reflection for centuries. Many Christian interpreters have understood him as a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, a visible manifestation of God's presence before Bethlehem. Whether we understand it that way or as an angelic deliverer, the theological point is unmistakable. God did not remain distant from His faithful servant. Heaven entered the furnace.

Notice God's order. He did not keep them from the furnace; He joined them in the furnace. Sometimes we pray, "Lord, get me out of what I'm going through." God said, "No, I'm not going to get you out, but I'm coming in. I'm going to meet you where you are." I'm coming in, I'm coming in, I'm coming in. Their ropes burned, but their bodies did not. The fire destroyed what had them bound.

Some experiences don't come to destroy you; they come to free you. Verse number 27 is extraordinary because no burns, no smoke, no smell of fire. When God finishes with you, people will know you've been through something, but they will also know something greater has carried you through. I wish I had a witness in here this morning at 8:00 in the morning. You can testify that God is bringing me through.

Isaiah 43:2 echoes this beautifully. Said, "When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned." Notice it does not say if you walk through, but when you walk through, because the fire is inevitable. But abandonment is impossible. Somebody came to church carrying furnace scars. You've wondered why God allowed this season. Daniel is reminding us this morning: if He didn't stop the fire, it's because He had already decided to meet you in the fire.

I'm getting ready to take it home. I don't know who this message belongs to this morning, but maybe you're standing in the furnace of grief. Maybe it's a doctor's report. Maybe it's betrayal. Maybe it's unemployment. Maybe your children had broken your heart. Maybe you stood for righteousness while everybody else bowed. But hear the word this morning: stand anyway.

Stand when culture bows around you. Stand when the crowd laughs at you. Stand when the promotion passes by. Stand when diagnosis might frighten you. Stand when the bank account gets low. Stand when your prayers seem delayed, because your standing is never based on your strength; it's based on His presence. The king expected ashes, but God produced a testimony.

The king expected surrender, but God produced worship. The king expected three victims; God gave him four witnesses. Isn't that the gospel? One Friday on a hill called Calvary, it looked like evil had won. Jesus entered the furnace of suffering, the fire of judgment, the heat of death itself. But early Sunday morning, He walked out. Oh yes He did, with all power in His hands.

Now because Christ stood for us, we can stand for Him. So don't bow down. Don't quit. Don't surrender. Don't compromise. Stand anyway! Because when you stand like you know who God is, stand because you know God is with you, you'll discover that He has been standing with you all along. That's my word, Highland Park. May the Lord bless you real good.

I got clapping in my hand. I got joy in my heart. I'm still going to stand. Stand and praise His name. Stand and give God the glory. Stand and let the world know if God be for me, He's more than the world against me, because can't nobody do me like Jesus. Do you love Him today? Do you? Do you? Won't He do it? He's able to make a way out of no way. He's able! Won't He do it? He'll open up your blinded eyes. He'll tell you to run on a little while longer, see what the end is going to be. I love the Lord! He heard my cry. Say yes! Stand! Stand anyway! Regardless of what it looks like, I'm going to stand anyway.

Rev. Dr. Henry P. Davis III: You've been listening to the radio broadcast of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, Maryland. If you want to receive a CD or DVD of what you have just heard, please call 301-773-6655 or visit us on the world wide web. And remember, there's power at the park.