In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: Let me answer a couple of questions because I've been asked this over and over every time I teach Daniel Chapter 3. We don't know, and scholarship can't tell either, how long from Chapter 2 it was to Chapter 3. We have no idea. But if it was a short period of time—and I think it was—isn't it amazing how quickly Nebuchadnezzar has forgotten what was just told him there in his court by Daniel the prophet and his response to that revelation, to that insight? As Daniel prays to the God of heaven, the God of heaven reveals to Daniel what the dream is that Nebuchadnezzar had, not only the dream but the interpretation. But even Daniel went further than that as the Lord revealed to him what he was thinking on his bed before he had the dream and even the feelings and emotions that were stirring in him while he was having the dream.

And so, he understands. In fact, he says, let's just read it there in verse 47 of Chapter 2. We'll back up just a moment. Read it with me. He says there that "the king answered Daniel and said, 'Of a truth it is that your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and he is the revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret.'" And so, he has this experience, as it were, where God is putting this dream into this king's heart. He, by the way, is an absolute dictator. There has been no ruler like Nebuchadnezzar from every other empire that followed. His word was without contestation.

God revealed to this man—and I think we're going to see Nebuchadnezzar when we get to heaven. I think after having feathers and claws and wandering around for seven years eating grass, I think he learned his lesson, and I think we're going to see him when we get to heaven. I think old Nebby got saved. I mean, how can you not, going through what we walk through in Daniel, the things he went through? It's unbelievable the extent God will go to get a hold of us and get through our thick skulls.

And so, he has this experience where God reveals to him what he was thinking before the dream, reveals to him the dream, the content of the dream, the emotions that he was having, and then gave him the interpretation of it, what it actually meant. His response to that: there's no other God like this. He truly is a God of gods. He's the Lord of kings because no god can do what your God did, Daniel. In fact, he promotes Daniel. He promotes the three Hebrew children too: Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. They're promoted along with Daniel.

Now, the second question that comes up is where is Daniel at this time? Because there's no mention of him in Chapter 3. My best guess would be is because he was promoted to the second under Nebuchadnezzar because he interpreted this dream, because of his prophetic gift that God had given him, I think that the king had sent him off someplace outside of the area where these governors were going to see and these sheriffs and princes and rulers were invited to worship this image. I think he's away on business.

Which is interesting to me for this reason. Sometimes you can have a strong figure like Daniel. And he seemed to be as we read through Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, he seems to be the leader of the other three. Maybe he's a little older, maybe they're a little younger, we're not really sure. Maybe they look to him for insight and direction. He's the one that went in before the king and said, "Just why are you being so hasty? Give us a little time." He comes back to his three companions to say, "Listen, it's prayer time. We need to seek the mind of Christ." God gives it to Daniel. So, it seems to be that Daniel is the leader of this group of these four teenagers. And we don't know, there could have been more that came out of Judea in bondage that were part of this group, but the Bible only focuses on these four.

But for whatever reason, he's away. And I think it's a good thing because we all need to learn not to draw our strength from the people around us. I've had three great mentors in my life. Two have gone on to be with the Lord: Pastor Chuck Smith and Pastor David Hood, that poured into my life. And they were a source of strength. I could get on the phone anytime and call them. And then my pastor, Bob Fromm. By the way, he's got Parkinson's. He got to where he couldn't talk, and I got to talk with him last week for an hour and a half. They did this operation where they go up into your brain and they connect some wires and stuff, some kind of electronic device that makes your brain work like it used to. It was like my old pastor again. It was amazing. For an hour and a half, he just was a chatty Cathy. Man, it was so good.

But he was the kind of guy that would call me up every week and he'd ask me two questions: "How are you doing?" and "How's your marriage?" Well, actually three questions. And then he'd say, "Are you lying to me?" That's the kind of guy you want in your life. He is right to the point, holding you accountable. But as these people fade from our lives, these people that were pillars, as it were, strengths to us, as these people fade, the question is, can you stand when there's nothing else but you? Will you stand? Obviously, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did. We're going to see it tonight.

So, let's just dive into our study. "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold." He got clear the interpretation here: the head of gold, then the silver arms and breast, the Medo-Persians, then the Greeks of bronze, then the Romans of iron will follow you. Four great empires, and it's going to go down to the ten toes and the stone cut without hand. He knew. This is a direct violation. Listen carefully, point number one from this message that we're getting out of Daniel Chapter 3. How often does God give us clear instruction of what he's doing and we try to circumvent it? We try to change it. We try to rationalize it.

Obviously, the motivation is King Nebuchadnezzar didn't want his empire to ever fade away. He wanted what he wanted, and he wanted what he wanted to be permanent instead of bending to the will of God Almighty. And so, he constructs this image we're going to see tonight, this image of gold, all gold, whose height was three score cubits (90 feet) and this breadth was six cubits (9 feet). This thing is 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. In fact, on the plains of Dura, archaeologists have uncovered the base. They've found the base. It's almost 50 feet square, and it's raised up about 20 feet off the ground. So, they found the base that this thing would have stood on.

And the base is constructed, as you would imagine, of stone. So, this thing had to be heavy. Now, we don't know if it was solid gold or if it was hollow and just a golden shell, or if it had a wooden structure to it and it was overlaid in gold. We're not sure. But it's interesting, some of the historians of the day, in fact, there was a Greek historian that was living in the land of Babylon at the time, Herodotus, that tells us that gold was so plentiful in Babylon at this time that he makes note in his writings of this table. I told you about it last week. This table that is 6 feet wide, 40 feet long, 4 inches thick, that weighed 50,000 pounds of solid gold. Boy, wouldn't you like to have that for your kitchen table today? You might want to chisel a little bit of that off and cash it in.

But this image of solid gold now is erected there, and we find out that it was set up there in the plains of Dura, in the province of Babylon. So, this is in direct violation to God's will. This king, just before the ink is even dry on Chapter 2 where he acknowledges that God is the God of gods and he's the King of lords, now he's defying him by trying to change his will, trying to change his commandments, and he builds this image. Nine stories tall, 9 feet wide, this golden image from the top to the bottom. He sets it on the plains of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Verse 2 says, "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes and the governors, the captains and the judges, the treasurers and the counselors and the sheriffs, and all of the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up." And so, this decree goes out through the land. And it's interesting when I was in Turkey and we were traveling the seven churches that are mentioned in Revelation, the seven churches of Asia Minor, that there was a system of roads that connected all the way to Babylon. And every 14 miles they had, as it were, like we had the Pony Express, they had a station for new horses. And it was incredible the information she shared with us about how these roads were so interconnected and how quickly King Nebuchadnezzar could send his decree to the 120 provinces that he was over. It was amazing.

And we got to see some of those roadways that were there constructed, and in fact, even there were the remnants of one of those corrals where they kept their horses. And so, this decree goes out and all of these leaders are invited to this ceremony. Verse 3 says, "Then the princes and the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, the rulers of the province were gathered together unto the dedication of the image of Nebuchadnezzar the king which he had set up, and they stood before this image Nebuchadnezzar had set up." They're standing before this image that represents him.

And so, ultimately what he's saying is that my authority is the final authority. Oh, really? I know that we don't know anything about that, people in government thinking that their authority is the final authority. Take my word for it, it has happened in times past where they think that they're all of that and some more. "Then a herald cried aloud, 'To you, it is commanded'—this is my mandate. We don't know anything about mandates, do we?—'It is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sackbut, the psaltery, the dulcimer, and all kinds of musical instruments'—he must have had a band. Man, it must have been something—'you shall fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.'" Which, by the way, represents him. Human government and complete defiance of a God that is said to be the God of gods.

And here's the motivation, verse 6: "And whosoever falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour"—the idea is the same moment—"be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." The furnaces they made there and heated up their bricks in. Now, he's kind of deviated a little bit from his normal M.O. because his normal M.O. is cut into pieces, house made dunghill. Now, he's moved on—oh, he'll go back to that before it's over—but now he's moved on a little bit: fiery furnace. So, we would say that this is a fiery trial. Amen? What did Peter say in his epistles? He said, "Do not think it a strange thing, Christian, when you encounter a fiery trial, as though some strange thing has happened to you."

We who stand for the true and living God, we who stand for truth, we who stand and walk in the Spirit, we who understand that we're in this world but we're not of it, we who have answered the call to come out from it and be separate, touch not the unclean thing because we have a Father—He is our God, we're His children, we're His sons and daughters—He's put His hand of blessing upon us. We who have answered that call understand there are going to be times because of our stance that we're going to be put in a position where there could be a fiery trial.

We're in that position today if you've noticed. And I thank God, we need to be praying for those airline pilots, we need to be praying for the nurses and the teachers and the doctors that are saying, "No, you're not forcing us to do something that violates our conscience and our commitment to the Lord that and God that we serve. We can't do that. In good conscience, we cannot do what you're asking us to do." And so, just because we stand, listen, it doesn't mean that a fiery trial won't ensue. Amen? You and I need to settle in our hearts who we're going to stand for and who we're going to stand with and what we're going to stand for and where the line of demarcation is, how far we can go and feel okay in our conscience and how far we won't go and things we won't do. Amen?

This is the message tonight. I think it's applicable to us this evening. So, listen carefully. And so, he gives this motivation. Verse 7 says, "Therefore at the time when all of the people heard the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sackbut, the psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, the languages, they fell down, they worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up." They all did.

Now, it's interesting, there must have been such a great crowd there that Nebuchadnezzar does not notice Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael still standing. He has to be informed. And boy, is jealousy and pride and bitterness a cruel master. Because guess who comes and tells on these guys? The ones that were put to shame in the king's court when they couldn't tell the dream or the interpretation, but Daniel and his three companions were. So, we read in verse 8, "Wherefore at the time certain Chaldeans"—you know, they probably were watching. They just probably couldn't wait until they failed, or what they thought was a failure, so they could get them in trouble. You be careful that you're not that kind of person.

So, the Chaldeans came near and they accused the Jews. Who's the accuser of the brother? Boy, may it never be said in our lifetime that we ever accuse somebody else of anything. Amen? Hey, listen, get the log out of your own eye. Can I get an amen? Then you can see clearly to take the speck out of somebody else's eye. And when you see clearly, you won't be accusing them; you'll be helping them. Amen? "Who art thou who judges another man's servant? Before the Lord, he stands or falls, and the Lord is able even to make him stand." Amen? "Righteous man," Proverbs says—we just spent a year and a half going through Proverbs—"will fall seven times and rise again."

But there is something wicked in a heart when you want to see people fail, you can't wait till they fail, you can't wait to get them in trouble, you can't wait to accuse them of their failures. That is wicked to the core because you are emulating the wicked one. So, they run to the king and say, "O King, man, we know you didn't see it, but we saw it and we're going to help you out. Those three Hebrews that were in the court there that were part of Daniel's gang, man, they didn't bow." They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, "O King, live forever," buttering him up. Hey, you know what? I'm always leery when people come and butter me up. I really am. My kids used to try that on me. "Oh, Daddy, you're the best Dad. Oh man, we're so glad we're part of this family." Why do they come and do that kind of stuff? "Man, you're the Dad of dads." Can I have the car keys tonight?

You know how—okay, what's coming next? You know, you get used to that kind of stuff. But you know, I've learned in the 37 years I've been a senior pastor, the 27 years I've been here as the pastor of this church, I have learned that you take the criticism and you take the praise with the same grain of salt. Because ultimately, I have to get alone with the Lord, and if he's okay with me, I'm okay. Because people are fickle. They can be one day saying, "Hail King of the Jews" and be dropping palm branches, and just a few days later, "Away with the man, crucify him." I mean, people are just that kind of fickle, and I've had both of those experiences, and so have you.

So, they go to tell on these three Hebrew children, and they say, "King, you made a decree. You made a decree, King Nebuchadnezzar, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet and the flute, the harp, the sackbut"—how many times they going to repeat this? "The sackbut, the psaltery, the dulcimer, and all kinds of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. In all actuality and reality, worship you as though you were a god and you're going to last forever and that your decrees are final and that God doesn't rule in the affairs of men, you do." I know we don't know any people like that today, but they were people in the past who were just like that.

"And whosoever falleth down not and worshippeth," verse 11 says, "that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews, O King"—now they're going to rot them out—"that have set you. You have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O King, have not regarded you." Listen, they're disrespecting you. Listen, just because we don't agree with other people, just because we don't agree with the mandates and the commandments and the orders and the laws of men, it doesn't mean we disrespect them. Tomorrow morning, the governments of this world will be prayed for by the group that meets here on Thursday mornings to pray. We pray for their salvation. We pray that God would get a hold of their hearts.

And I think Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah prayed because we know the end result of Nebuchadnezzar's life is he comes to faith. The God of heaven becomes his God. Oh, he has to go through some pretty difficult and dark times to get there. But just because we disagree with you, it's not we're disrespecting you. In fact, the opposite is true. We don't really care about you; we care about the one we're to respect. It's a decision of respect, not disrespect. Because we already owe our allegiance to one one day that we're going to stand before and give an account for our lives.

You remember how they tried to persuade Paul? The prophets did. Agabus being one of them that bound him with his tunic, with the belt of his tunic, and said, "Any man that goes to Jerusalem that wears this tunic is going to be bound." And you remember Paul said, "Why break ye my heart? I already know this. You're not telling me anything new. The Spirit's already shown that to me. I know you love me, and I know that you think I'm out of my mind. I know you think I'm even crazy. But that is my destiny. That is the will of God for my life. I'm not only willing to be bound, I'm willing to die for the cause of Christ. Don't you get it?" And they left off as he persuaded him when they saw they couldn't persuade him. You know why they couldn't persuade him? Because he was already persuaded.

You see, you can't persuade a person who's already persuaded. I'm already persuaded that what I've committed unto him, he's able to keep against that day, and no man's going to persuade me otherwise. My life is not dear to myself. This life isn't. We just went through that section as we're going through Revelation on Sunday mornings, which said, "They overcame," Chapter 12, "they overcame by the blood of the Lamb." Aren't you glad for the blood of Christ that washed away our sins so purely and so perfectly we can stand before a holy God and poured out His grace upon us, gave us His mercy, wrote our names indelibly in the Lamb's Book of Life, calls us His sons and His daughters, and puts up with the mess that we are? Can say amen?

We overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. What's the word of our testimony? We believe this book. I believe it. I'm convinced of it. I believe it's inerrant, inspired, and it's authoritative. I believe it says what it means and means what it says. I have studied through this book so many times, I can't even tell you how many times. I've read it. I've set it to memory because I know that it is the word of life. There's something about it. In college, before I got saved, studying to be a world history teacher, I had to study comparative religions. Nothing reads like the Word of God. I've read it all. It's the writings of men. But this is God's inspired word. Three thousand promises contained in this book. And not one jot or tittle will fail till it all come to fruition because there's no shadow of turning in him. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Part of His character is he's immutable.

And he tells you and me, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because we know that our labor is not in vain. Jesus said, "Don't fear those that can destroy this body. Fear those that can destroy your spirit and your soul." You see, those are already in my mind. I've already made that commitment, and my wife, we've made that commitment. We talk about it often. What's coming down the pike? We don't know. She'll ask me, "What do you think?" and my son will call me, "What do you think?" my daughters will ask me, "What do you think, Dad? What do you think?" I think the Bible says it's going to get worse and worse until the coming of Christ. The Bible says you're going to be hated of all nations for his name's sake.

Well, what's that mean for us? Doesn't mean anything. Well, why? Because we've already committed our soul and our spirit to the one who can keep it. Amen? That's what these guys are exampling for us tonight. Listen carefully. They didn't do what you told them, King. They've disrespected you, King. You set this image up, they're not falling down and they're not worshipping it.

And so, Nebuchadnezzar, he does an honorable thing here in verse 14. "Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, 'Is this true?'" He's not taking hearsay. He's not taking this report for granted. He probably doesn't trust those Chaldeans anyway. You remember he told them, "I'm not telling you the dream because I know how you dealt with my father, Nabopolassar. You're a bunch of conniving fools. And listen, I'm not telling you the dream. You need to be able to tell me the dream because then I know you can tell me the interpretation." And so, he doesn't take—and listen, never take somebody's word at face value unless you can back it up.

So, Nebuchadnezzar brings them in and says, "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do not you serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?" And which, by the way, the golden image represented him. "Now, if you be ready"—get ready, we're going to try this one more time—"then at the time that you hear the sound of"—here we go again—"the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sackbut, the psaltery, the dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image that I made. Well, but if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour"—the idea is the very same moment—"into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand?" You're about to find out. Oh, how quickly you forgot, Nebby. The ink is not even dry in Chapter 2, and you're saying he's the God of gods and the King of lords, and now you're saying, "Who is he? Who is he that can deliver you out of my hand?"

You know, as we go through history, Pharaoh had kind of the same deal going on in Exodus Chapter 5, verse 2. I just find this funny when I read that. I think, man, this—and this repeated even more times through the Bible where people will challenge God's people and the question always: "Who is this God?" Well, Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." Complete defiance. He'd seen the plagues. In fact, he came to the last plague and he saw the Death Angel pass through, he saw Israel saved and Egypt destroyed. In fact, his counselors came and said, "Let them go. Do you not understand Egypt is destroyed?"

In fact, in Chapter 6 of Exodus, verse 6, it says this: "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel"—this is God speaking—"I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians." Do you think that the God that we serve is the same yesterday, today, and forever? Do you think maybe there's some things coming down the pike that are going to say, "Who is this God that we should obey him? We're not letting you go. You're under our control, you're under our rule. You're going to do what we say. We're going to put burdens on you. In fact, you're going to start making bricks without straw. We're done giving you straw. We're going to lay this stuff on you."

And God responds in the next chapter by saying, "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, Moses, you remind them: I am the Lord, and I will bring you up from under the burden of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm and with great judgment." I think we're on the precipice of that again. He's going to pull us out of this mess, and I'm going to tell you judgment is coming. And when it's done, they're going to know. Psalm 83, the very last verse, says, "And all the world know that Jehovah alone had rescued Israel." It's one of those prophetic psalms. Oh, how quickly he has forgotten who he is.

Listen carefully. I love the response of these young—now get this, they're teenagers. They're like Jesse, Jesse's age, Emma's age. Probably a little older than Josh, but I think Josh could probably take some of those guys in a knife fight, I'm pretty sure. But you know, when you look around, the teenagers in our church, these are teenagers that are standing before the most powerful king to ever reign, whose decree is without contestation, who's already said if you don't bow and worship, it's the furnace for you. Now watch their—you got to understand the gravity of this. This is what's right before them. They've been brought into the king's court. The king is inquiring of them. He's brought in the musicians and the magicians. He brought them all in and said, "Maybe you didn't understand. Here's the deal. We're going to do this one more time, and you better bow, and if you don't, that fiery furnace over there, that's where you're headed." I mean, that's in living color. That's up in your grill, that's in your face. That's a reality, and they knew he could do it.

Listen to their response in light of what is being said. Their response, listen carefully: "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said unto the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar...'" They're showing him respect. I don't think there's ever a time when we should disrespect, but we can disagree. Amen? "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter." What a play on words. You could glibly pass it and not understand what they're saying. You've asked a question: "Who is the God who can deliver us?" What they're actually saying is we don't need to answer; you already know. Have you forgotten? That's the play on words here. It really means we have no need to answer; you already know because it was the same God in the last chapter that you said is the King of lords and the God of gods. But you have forgotten it. We haven't.

And then they say this incredible thing in verse 17: "If it be so"—that's, you know, you're going to throw us in the furnace—"our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace." Do you believe that? See, I'm convinced that I'm not leaving this planet one day too soon or one day too late. The race that God has set before me, listen, was metered out to me long before I ever existed because the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord. The Lord knows the number of my days. He knows how I'm going to step out of this life. He knows the end from the beginning. My job is to commit myself to be faithful to the race that's been set before me and run it to the end. I don't know what the end's going to be. Could it be me dangling over a tank of sharks? It could be. I hope I didn't give any hints to anybody out there that's going to persecute a Christian. Actually, I'm more afraid of dolphins than sharks. Just go on record there. Don't dangle me over dolphins. You can dangle me over sharks, but not dolphins. Wink wink. It won't matter because I'm already a dead man. I died 46 years ago to this, and I'm just waiting for this to fall away so the real me can go be with my God and my Savior, my King and my Lord, my Father.

I think they've come to that realization when they're standing before this great king. Our God is able. We have no confusion on that. But listen to what they go on to say: "But if not, if he doesn't deliver us, so what? Be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." We ain't doing it. We will have nothing to do with that. It doesn't matter what you threaten; doesn't matter what you do. I like what Job said. You remember God's testing Job? You know, Job is the oldest book in the Bible, chronologically wise. It was the earliest writing that we can trace back, scriptural writing. Very interesting book. Don't read it if you're depressed. Man, that book. I mean, I'll tell you, God is bragging on Job. I don't want God bragging on me as Satan is lurking around and comes up to heaven and God says, "Have you seen a servant like my servant Job? Loves me, serves me." And he said, "Oh yeah, he does that because you bless him and you take away all these things and he won't." Well, you know the book, you read it.

And so, you know, he loses his wealth, he loses his family, he's in a bad marriage (his wife comes and says, "Why don't you just curse God and die?"), he loses his health (he's on an ash heap covered boils top to bottom and scraping the oozing pus with a broken piece of pottery). Then his three friends show up, try to figure out where he'd sinned. The legalists always show up, you know, the religious people: "What did you do? How did you do to get this?" And finally, he just starts to comply, and he puts his hand over his mouth. He said, "I need to stop. I need to stop." And then he says these incredible words: "Though he slay me... though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." "But I will maintain my own ways before him." I'm not going to be moved. I've committed my ways to him, and I'm going to maintain those to the end. "He also shall be my salvation." Even if this life perishes, he will be my salvation. Other places, Job talked about, "I will see after the grave. I will live and I will see my King." He was convinced of it.

I think these young men are convinced of it. In fact, in Acts Chapter 4, you know, again, we have this test being offered out. You remember when the Sanhedrin had met together and they challenged Peter and John not to speak in the name of Jesus anymore? They said, "Don't do it." Well, that's a direct violation to God's word. Just like they told us, "You have to shut your doors down." No, we do not. We want to be lawful. We were lawful, were we not? We knew that the governor back when that pandemic or whatever this fake, phony thing is that's happened—I'm not saying that it's not a real virus, but I'm saying this was never about a virus. This was about control. It's about wrecking and ruining an economy. It's about ushering in a one-world government. This is a wicked thing that's going on today. And make no mistake about it, behind all of this is wickedness, the god of this world.

Well, you know, listen, I'm one of those kind of people that likes to research. I researched it. Okay, well he did have the right under the California Constitution, under the Emergency Power Act, to shut everything down for two weeks. But then, it has to meet a certain criteria. I studied the criteria. We had five or six nurses that attend our church, and they said, "They're laying people off. We've had three cases in all of Nevada County for a hundred thousand people." Okay, well it didn't reach the criteria. On the third week, he was supposed to go to the California Congress and get approval to extend his powers. He did not. That made it an unlawful order. Amen? We don't obey unlawful orders because we already have an order not to neglect the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some is, but all the more as we see the day of the Lord approaching. Because I'm more concerned about our spiritual health than some of us may be going to be with the Lord a little earlier because of COVID-19. Hey, listen, if you get COVID-19, come and rub all over me. Kiss me and hug me and just spit in my face if you want. I'd like to get it and go.

You act like you don't want to go to heaven. All these churches shutting down and all fear and afraid, "Oh, I get COVID." Are you kidding me? If that's the way God wants you to go, that's the way you're going to go. Hey, I've told people, "Are you afraid of it?" Absolutely not. My God is greater than a little bug. Amen? Hey, I could walk out of here tonight, a wheel could fall off an airplane, hit me in the head, my time to go. Amen? I don't want to go that way, but that would be better than sharks. But my days are already numbered here on earth. And I want to count my days as Moses said in Psalms 90. I want to number them to gain wisdom. I want to use them wisely. And I want to stand when God tells me to stand.

Listen to Acts 4:19. Peter and John answered when they were threatened, "Don't preach in this man's name anymore." They answered and they said unto them, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. You judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Not doing it. I'm never shutting these doors down again. And if you got to come and arrest me, if you lay a lien on the property, you got to do what you think you can do. There's a God in heaven that will protect this church until he's done with this church. And if he doesn't protect us, then he has another plan for us. But listen, listen, God has a plan, and he's executing that plan perfectly. Things are not falling apart; they are falling into place. Amen?

I think he's stirring the church. I think he's waking up those sleepy saints, to be honest with you. Listen, we got to get through this. Oh man, let me get through this. Verse 19: "Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury." It seems like he was being kind of kind and giving them every opportunity, but then it changes. Listen, this government will try to manipulate you, persuade you, do everything, then it's going to get ugly. When we're gone, it's going to get real ugly. You got to take a mark of the beast, sell your soul to the worship of Satan to buy or sell.

But listen, he was full of fury now, and the form of his visage, it changed, his face, his countenance, it changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace up seven times more than it was wont to be heated. Man, this thing is going—it's glowing and it's—you know, this is probably a sight to see. And he commanded, verse 20, the most mighty men that he had there that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and to cast them into this burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound with their clothes—they want to make sure they burn thoroughly. They're going to put coats on them, their shirts, clothes, wrap them up good so they be like cotton balls, you know, so we're going to bundle you up and we're going to cast you into the midst of this burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace was exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire slew the men that took Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—took them up. The flame came out and wiped them out. Listen, God knows how to take care of your enemies. Amen?

I like this story; this is one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament. "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished." Listen, he was astounded, he was amazed, he was overtaken because he's looking into this furnace. Now, rabbis of old—and I like to read rabbis because they're pretty flavorful when you start reading some of the things that they add to the Scriptures. And I can't disagree with some of their writings, just like, you know, in the Garden of Eden when Eve added to the Scripture and said we should not eat of the tree nor touch it, lest we die. God never said not to touch it; he said don't eat of it. The rabbis write, well, at that moment, Satan bumped her into the tree, and she touched it and she didn't die. And he said, "See, you shall not surely die. You touched it, you lived." See, he's sly.

In the rabbinical writings, it says that when he turned to leave because he was so upset, he heard singing. When I read that, I go, "Wow, that would be just like them." This is what garners his attention. It turns him back away toward this fiery furnace because he hears singing. "Unto thee, O God, do I lift up my soul." Maybe that song? Remember that back from the Calvary days? "Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven and earth." I don't know what he heard. "Amazing Grace." I don't know. But the rabbis said he heard something and he turned, and when he turned, he's astounded. And he rose up in haste and he spake and he said unto the counselors, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said unto the king, "True, O King." And he answered and said, "Lo, look, check this out. I see four men loose, not bound, and they're walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like unto the Son of God." Now in a few moments, I want to make a note that you could probably glibly pass and not get the full impact. They come out, but Jesus doesn't. Why do you suppose Jesus stayed in the fire? Because he's in every trial you'll ever have. He is in every trial you will ever have. He's already there. "Where are you?" "Right here." "Where's your faith?"

So, he's blown away. Let's finish this chapter up. This is a good one. And he said the fourth is like the Son of God. Verse 26: "Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and he spake and he said"—and I guarantee you his attitude has changed now. That fury has left his face, his probably like, "Hey, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, ye servants of the most high God." Oh, you get it again, huh Nebby? You figured it out. "Come forth, come here, please, please, come here." Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth from the midst of the fire. And the princes and the governors and the captains and the king's counselors being gathered together saw these men upon whose body the fire had no power. None.

Listen, Satan has no authority over you and me. He can only do what the will of the Father is to us. And if the will of the Father is to use Mike Warren as a martyr to reach others for Christ, then Lord, I'm yours. Thick or thin, all or little, I'm in. Amen? I often think of Polycarp. I want to spend time with Polycarp when we get to heaven. The disciple of John, one of the early church fathers. Polycarp, he pastored there in Ephesus when John was let go from the exile in Patmos. He was in Ephesus, spent his final days there with Polycarp. And Polycarp was not only the pastor at Ephesus, but he was also like an oversight pastor, like I am to a number of churches in Smyrna.

But when Polycarp was martyred, you know the story, they took him to the arena and it was packed. And the emperor said, "Listen, it's very simple. You're an old man, we really don't want to hurt you, but if you will just say that Caesar is god, take that pinch of incense and just burn it on the altar, be done with it. We're not telling you you can't serve or worship your God, we're just saying that what is required by the Roman government, what's required by this empire right now is Caesar worship, and you just have to say that Caesar's god, burn a little incense, and then go about your business." Isn't that what we're being challenged to do today?

I was at Ephesus. I walked past the courtyard of the library into the courtyard where they burned all of those books of witchcraft. And there is that station that's still there to this day where there is the idol to Caesar, there is the bowl where you pick up the incense and you burn it before you could go through the gateway because you couldn't buy or sell unless you worshipped Caesar. And Polycarp said, "I'm not going to do it." Some incredible words. He said, "These past 70 years, God has been faithful to me. I'm an old man now. How at the end of my life could I ever be unfaithful to him?" "Well, we're going to feed you to the lions if you don't!" And he goes, "You know what? I like lions." That's what is recorded he said. Boy, you don't think that was taken aback? Then the emperor said, "Then we're going to burn you at the stake." "Well, bring it on."

And so they stacked wood around him, and they lit him on fire, and he didn't burn. The flame literally went around him. One of the Roman guards became so furious because he's preaching the Gospel while they're trying to burn him at the stake. One of those Roman guards got so mad, historians tell us, that he ran at Polycarp with his spear and he stabbed him, and so much blood came out of Polycarp, it put out the fire. What do you do with a prophet like that? So they covered him with wood and they covered him with wood. But you could still hear his voice. Historians of the day say while he burned, you could hear him preaching the Gospel till it was finally silenced. But there was such a sweet savor that filled that whole arena that over 20,000 people that day came to faith. Polycarp, one of many.

But look at the impact that this had on Nebuchadnezzar. And so they said, "Look at these their bodies. The fire has no power, nor was there hair"—man, their beards, their hair—"not even singed. Neither were their coats changed. It didn't even touch them. In fact, they don't even smell like fire or smoke." You think God can't protect you? Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said—boy, this guy, you talk—he must be a politician. He can flip-flop more than anything. "I voted for it just before I voted against it." You know, how many times have we heard that?

Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." He's not yet his God, but he will be before the book is done, the book of Daniel. "But blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's words. Man, I had to eat them, and they tasted like crow. I had to eat those words and change those words and yielded their bodies that they might serve and worship any other god except their own God." Now watch this. "Therefore I make a decree"—he's always making these decrees, trying to save face—"that every people, nation, language which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego"—here he goes again—"shall be cut into pieces and their house shall be made a dunghill." He just defaults right to that. "That's what's going to happen to you. Because"—oh, don't miss the because here—"because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort." Amen?

I trust him. Doesn't matter. My life is a story that's already been told, beginning to end. And I committed it 46 years ago to the one who knows how to keep it. And I don't fear what men can do to this body, and I'm not going to let them defile my soul and my spirit. And the chapter ends, "Then the king promoted"—he's always promoting these guys—"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon." I wonder what happened to those tattle-tales, those slanderers, those gossips, those accusers. I don't think it went well for them. Amen?

Listen, I think that what we just read and all of the implications and applications of that mean something to us today, does it not? Settle in your heart whom you're going to serve. Settle in your heart what you're willing to pay, the cost you're willing to absorb to make that commitment. And then set your face like a flint and don't turn to the left or to the right. Be fully persuaded that what you've committed to him, he is able to keep against that day. Amen? And don't bemoan—it could be martyrdom. Do you understand, Voice of the Martyrs said that 2014, there were more martyrdoms that took place in 2014 than then any other time in recorded history. Some of those people I served. I went to South Sudan and trained chaplains there, you know, when the absolute—they were scorched earth was going on in North Sudan and Christians were being slaughtered by the hundreds and the thousands. They were fleeing to South Sudan, which is a Christian state, and we were training the chaplains so they could minister on the battlefield and lead people to Christ.

Listen, it's been said of old, the early church, listen, the seedbed of the early church was the blood of the saints. What are you willing to give? What price are you willing to pay? What are you willing to go through? I hope it's easy and I hope we get out of here soon. But if not, we need to stand. Amen? Just like these guys did. And we stand. Amen? Okay, stand. I mean, really, stand. Get Todd up here. We'll close out—well, and I'll close you out in a song.