Life in a Hostile World: serve the Lord

Speaker: Chris Jones

Date: 9th May 2010

00:00:00 --> 00:00:09 Good morning everyone. That was a great verse that Banda read to us a minute ago.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:13 Not to us, not to us, but to your name be the glory. Let's bow our heads and pray.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:21 We do pray Lord Jesus in everything we do and even right now as we read your word and listen to it preached as I speak it,
00:00:21 --> 00:00:25 that you would speak to us by your spirit and that you would glorify your name.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 And we pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:39 Great Britain's wartime Prime Minister was Winston Churchill, probably Prime Minister at the time of the story that Banda told to us this morning.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:48 And sometime after the war a newspaper editor wrote to him to approve a list of those who had been his teachers.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:53 And he sent the list back with this written across the top of it,
00:00:53 --> 00:00:57 you've omitted to name my greatest teacher my mother.
00:00:57 --> 00:01:02 And that's not normally how a teenager sees their mum, is it?
00:01:03 --> 00:01:04 Not quite there yet.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:09 And maybe when we all get to 60 and we've been a world leader,
00:01:09 --> 00:01:14 maybe we'll talk about our mums in different terms from where we did when we were back there a bit.
00:01:14 --> 00:01:19 But it's a great comment and it's a wonderful expression of a mother's significance.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:23 I think we all care about significance.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 We like to think that we make a difference in the world.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:34 Maybe as a mum providing a safe and nurturing environment for her kids.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:40 Or a dad providing and caring for his family and leading them in Christ.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 Our significance is a really important concept.
00:01:45 --> 00:01:50 How we see ourselves matters to life.
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 None of us wants to see our children anorexic or bulimic.
00:01:54 --> 00:02:00 None of us wants to go into a marriage or see our child go into a marriage where they are oppressed and abused.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 The world certainly cares about significance.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:11 You get measured and maybe you measure yourself at the end of high school with a UAI or an ATAR ranking.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 We care about things like our job title.
00:02:14 --> 00:02:15 We care about our pay.
00:02:16 --> 00:02:17 We care about the house we live in.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 The possessions we stuff it with.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 The overseas trips we take.
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 We adopt a view of ourselves against other people.
00:02:25 --> 00:02:30 If we know that we are paid more than them or if we've got more gifts and abilities than them.
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 Or we can do more than them.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:37 We see ourselves in the light of the comparisons we make with other people.
00:02:37 --> 00:02:41 And so the need for significance is something which can cross a line.
00:02:41 --> 00:02:45 It can easily cross a line and become pride.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:52 And in the recesses of our heart, me measures me.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:59 And me quickly gives myself the heart tick of greater significance when I measure myself against others.
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 And we have a very optimistic view of ourselves.
00:03:03 --> 00:03:08 Now last week we began a new sermon series in Daniel.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 Sam Lowe took us through Daniel chapter 1.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 He set the scene in a horrific scenario.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 God's people fall under God's judgment.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:21 They're conquered by the greatest superpower in the world at the time, Babylon.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:23 Nebuchadnezzar is the emperor.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 He takes the nation's wealth and treasures.
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 He abolishes the way they worship.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 Ultimately, eventually, he destroys the temple.
00:03:30 --> 00:03:35 He takes the articles from the temple and puts them in the treasure house of his God.
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 And in doing so, he effectively declares,
00:03:39 --> 00:03:40 My God's better than your God.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:48 And so anybody in Judah who wasn't reading their Bible or listening to what God said through his prophets
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 may well have thought, well, that's true.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:59 But those who knew and paid attention and listened to the word of God would have known what was happening.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 God was punishing his people for unfaithfulness.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 Nebuchadnezzar was in God's hands.
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 God was using him as an instrument of judgment.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:18 Sam told us about the process of assimilation that Nebuchadnezzar put some of the people through.
00:04:18 --> 00:04:22 He took the best and the brightest from the nations that he conquered.
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 He gave them a great education.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:31 He trained them in Babylonian culture, arts, literature, religion, politics.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:36 And four young men from Judah are named in chapter 1 in verses 6 and 7.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:37 It says,
00:04:37 --> 00:05:00 And what you see is these men actually are given wonderful opportunities in this new land.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 They're given position.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:04 They're given prestige.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 They're given opportunity for wealth.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:12 They were connected to the elite of Babylonian society.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 And they were given a wonderful education to match.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:21 And I was thinking about that.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:32 Because in Aussie terms it's like being sent to Sydney Grammar or one of our other leading public schools, private schools.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 Having all your fees and expenses paid for.
00:05:36 --> 00:05:44 And not being taught a scrap of any significance about Christ.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 And that made me wonder a little bit more because I thought,
00:05:50 --> 00:05:56 Can a Christian person call a Christless education a good education?
00:05:56 --> 00:06:08 And the state and so many of our so-called top private schools have very little interest in educating children in the things of God.
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 And nor do our universities.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 And we are a Christless society.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:25 And so what we model and what we teach about Christ in our families and at our church is crucial.
00:06:25 --> 00:06:29 We must not outsource the teaching of the faith to others.
00:06:32 --> 00:06:38 It's a good place to honour mum because there are some mums in our church family who really get this and dads.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:47 And see the absolute crucial importance of what we nurture in our families and our children about the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 And you do a magnificent thing when you grasp hold of that.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:59 But in worldly terms, there's no doubt about it, these young men from Judah were in a place of great significance in Babylon.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 In human terms, you could say they fell on their feet.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:09 But significance in a Christless culture brought weighty challenges.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:16 Sam brought out last week how they were easily able to say yes to some things in the culture, but no was necessary as well.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:22 And so Daniel very respectfully said no to food from the king's table, for meat from the king's table.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 It was a moment of crisis.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:29 There was a real possibility of him losing his life, his supervisor losing his life.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:37 The crisis passed because God caused Daniel and his compatriots to be able to survive, to be able to live on a vegan diet.
00:07:37 --> 00:07:38 And that's a miracle, isn't it?
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 And then chapter 1 finishes with them entering the king's service.
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 They've served their traineeship and they're now full time.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:51 If we looked at chapter 2, you would see crisis again.
00:07:52 --> 00:07:55 Nebuchadnezzar, his advisors cannot interpret the dream.
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 He has this dream, the advisors can't interpret it.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:05 The despot is fed up with the lot of them and so he orders the execution of every wise one in the kingdom.
00:08:07 --> 00:08:12 And I was thinking about that, that's like lining up the entire New South Wales public service and shooting the lot of them.
00:08:13 --> 00:08:14 Terrible.
00:08:14 --> 00:08:14 Terrible.
00:08:16 --> 00:08:16 Terrible.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:18 Does anybody work?
00:08:20 --> 00:08:21 One or two of you.
00:08:21 --> 00:08:25 I said this morning, I think we'll spare the nurses and we'll spare the teachers.
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 And I'll apologise to anybody else later.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 But the executioner turns up at Daniel's place to do the deed.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:42 The short story is that God allows him to interpret the dream.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:50 Daniel brings a very severe word from God to Nebuchadnezzar.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:55 And then the chapter finishes, verse 47, the king said to Daniel,
00:08:55 --> 00:09:02 Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords and a revealer of mysteries.
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 For you were able to reveal this mystery.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:20 And then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him and he made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:36 And moreover, at Daniel's request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:42 The king is actually a Hindu at this point.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:50 He's still got a cupboard full of gods that he worships.
00:09:51 --> 00:09:58 But what he's done is he's bowed and called Daniel's God, God of gods and Lord of kings.
00:09:58 --> 00:10:03 And so he's taking him as well and adding him to the cupboard.
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 Sometimes you've got to be careful when you talk to Hindu people because they do that.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:14 They'll accept the name of Christ but haven't necessarily cast the others out of the cupboard.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:23 And chapter 1 ended with Daniel and his mates in the king's service.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:31 Chapter 2 ends with Daniel elevated to ruler in Babylon and all his mates from Judah are administrators under him.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 And you get this picture of their moving up in the world.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:44 In worldly terms, they've risen like stars in their professions and they have been placed in positions of huge and increasing significance.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 Chapter 3 introduces a new crisis.
00:10:50 --> 00:10:51 I'm reading from the beginning.
00:10:51 --> 00:10:59 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold 90 feet high, 9 feet wide and set it up on the plain of Jura in the province of Babylon.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:06 And then he summoned the satraps, prefects, governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 to come to the dedication of the image that he'd set up.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:16 So the satraps, prefects, governors, advisors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the other provincial officials
00:11:16 --> 00:11:21 assembled for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up and they stood before it.
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 Now, this is written afterwards, okay?
00:11:24 --> 00:11:25 And they're celebrating the moment.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:30 And whoever's writing this, Daniel's writing this, he's drawing out the detail and telling the story.
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 And all these people are assembled and all this great stuff's going on.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 And the herald loudly proclaimed,
00:11:36 --> 00:12:02 From a secular point of view, it is probably really clever politics.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:06 Babylon is a multicultural society.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:13 People from all sorts of nations have been conquered and brought there as Nebuchadnezzar has taken them over.
00:12:14 --> 00:12:20 And it might be that maybe in the city of Babylon they can continue their religious practices and traditions
00:12:20 --> 00:12:25 as long as everyone in the nation prostrates themselves to the image in the centre of the city.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 It's a way of unifying the nation.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 It's also a way of emasculating religious belief.
00:12:33 --> 00:12:34 It's sort of like what we do in Australia.
00:12:36 --> 00:12:42 You know, the prevailing view out there, everybody's allowed to believe whatever they like to believe, that's okay.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:46 Just make sure you don't elevate what you believe above what anybody else believes.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:56 And that sort of thinking and that sort of philosophy of its own very nature is a backhand way of saying that religious belief doesn't really matter.
00:12:57 --> 00:13:04 We can put up with a few quaint people believing funny things gathering in a strange building in Chatswood on a Sunday morning
00:13:04 --> 00:13:07 just as long as they don't disturb the rest of society.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 And so this is a crisis for the people of God.
00:13:12 --> 00:13:16 Our problem is we believe in the idea of truth.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 We want to live our lives on the basis of what is real.
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 We fix our eyes higher.
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 We want to know the creator God of the universe.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:28 We want to know the one who has revealed himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:36 And our God is intolerant of people worshipping anything other than himself.
00:13:36 --> 00:13:46 So to worship anything other than the truth is to worship something less.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 And you put yourself in God's shoes.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:56 If you had created the universe in all its intricate detail and beauty,
00:13:56 --> 00:14:01 would you put up with people designing their own religion and leaving you out?
00:14:03 --> 00:14:08 Would you put up with people glorying in what you made but ignoring you?
00:14:08 --> 00:14:16 And God tells his people very clearly what his attitude is.
00:14:16 --> 00:14:21 Exodus chapter 20 verse 1, God spoke all these words.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:26 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 You shall have no other gods before me.
00:14:31 --> 00:14:35 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 You shall not bow down to them or worship them
00:14:41 --> 00:14:45 because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
00:14:45 --> 00:15:04 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God
00:15:04 --> 00:15:09 for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 You see what happens here?
00:15:13 --> 00:15:20 Nebuchadnezzar's command forces the young men from Judah to make a choice.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 They know what God requires.
00:15:25 --> 00:15:26 They don't bow.
00:15:27 --> 00:15:31 And it doesn't matter how many times this fancy orchestra strikes up,
00:15:31 --> 00:15:32 they don't bow.
00:15:34 --> 00:15:38 And you presume that they're going about their jobs in the king's service in a faithful way,
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 but on this issue, they do not bow.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:44 And guess what?
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 The king doesn't even notice.
00:15:47 --> 00:15:48 That's cool.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:51 But other people do.
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 And they go to the king and they dob.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:56 Verse 12.
00:15:57 --> 00:16:01 There are some Jews that you've set up over the affairs of the province of Babylon,
00:16:01 --> 00:16:02 Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 And they pay no attention to you, O king.
00:16:05 --> 00:16:11 They neither serve your gods or worship the image of God that you have set up.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:14 They've been noticed.
00:16:16 --> 00:16:22 They've been dogged in by people who may have been jealous at their rapid rise in the public service.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:29 They've stood out because they've continued to be faithful to the created God of the universe.
00:16:32 --> 00:16:39 They haven't compromised their faith in their God and they now appear to be in really deep trouble.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:50 Twice this week, I have known Christian people who have ended up in quite a dilemma at work.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 They weren't trying to stand out.
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 They just ended up in the middle of it.
00:16:58 --> 00:17:07 And in one situation, someone was asked by a superior to write a report about an incident in a particular way.
00:17:09 --> 00:17:13 And they wouldn't because it wasn't what they saw.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:25 And in the other, a person witnessed a terrible injustice to a powerless person and they reported it.
00:17:28 --> 00:17:33 They were both forced out of their comfort zone because of their relationship with God.
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 In this case, he protected them.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 Both cases, he protected them.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 They weren't just trying to be goody two-shoes.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:47 They were trying to honour the Lord Jesus Christ in how they went about their life and their work.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:54 And in both cases, they're okay, but it's not always like that.
00:17:54 --> 00:17:58 In Daniel 3, the king's furious.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:02 Gives an opportunity to repent and then an ultimatum.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:03 Turn or burn?
00:18:05 --> 00:18:06 And then verse 15.
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 What God will be able to rescue you from my hand?
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 See, he's got this clear view of his own significance.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:14 He throws down the gauntlet.
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 He confidently and arrogantly asserts his power over any God.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 Nothing stands over him.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:22 He's powerful.
00:18:22 --> 00:18:23 He's intimidating.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:29 And the young men reply, verse 16, Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.
00:18:30 --> 00:18:35 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:39 And he will rescue us from your hand, O king.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:48 But even if he doesn't, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51 They'll work for him, but they won't serve his gods.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:56 And it's a clear and it's a wonderful expression of faith.
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 They will cling to God even to death.
00:18:58 --> 00:19:03 We don't have to defend ourselves.
00:19:03 --> 00:19:07 The implication is that God can look after himself and his people.
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 Their reply is defiant of Nebuchadnezzar.
00:19:13 --> 00:19:18 The God we believe in is able to save us from your furnace.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:24 And if he doesn't, we want you to know that we won't serve your gods or your image.
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 The line is drawn.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:30 The potential consequences are fearsome.
00:19:30 --> 00:19:38 I think their faith is an echo of the same faith that Jesus showed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 Father, all things are possible for you.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:48 If possible, take this cup from me.
00:19:48 --> 00:19:51 But not my will, but yours be done.
00:19:55 --> 00:20:01 Like Jesus, they put themselves in the safest place in all the world.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 They don't demand from God.
00:20:04 --> 00:20:05 They don't tell him what to do.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 They submit themselves to the purposes of God.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 They put themselves in God's hands.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 They put God's significance ahead of their own.
00:20:16 --> 00:20:17 They trust him.
00:20:19 --> 00:20:26 And in Jesus' case, his life is lost, although vindicated at resurrection.
00:20:27 --> 00:20:31 And here in Daniel, God works the most extraordinary deliverance.
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 Nebuchadnezzar goes into a furious rage.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:39 Turn the thermostat up to the max.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:44 The Bible actually talks about his face contorting.
00:20:44 --> 00:20:45 He's so angry with what's gone.
00:20:46 --> 00:20:52 He loses some of his strongest soldiers who are incinerated just as they throw the young men into the fire.
00:20:52 --> 00:20:53 It's hot.
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 Nebuchadnezzar looks into the furnace and he leaps to his feet in amazement.
00:20:58 --> 00:21:02 Look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound, unharmed.
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 The fourth looks like a son of the gods.
00:21:04 --> 00:21:08 There's a lot of ink which has been spilled about who that fourth man was.
00:21:09 --> 00:21:12 Some people have speculated it's an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament.
00:21:13 --> 00:21:17 But rather than deciding what we probably can't decide,
00:21:18 --> 00:21:23 it's better to say God didn't leave them alone in this moment of trial.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:25 He was with them.
00:21:25 --> 00:21:29 And he or one of his messengers was keeping them safe.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:35 And so they were never abandoned even in the midst of the furnace.
00:21:38 --> 00:21:39 Nebuchadnezzar calls them out of the fire.
00:21:40 --> 00:21:43 Everyone sees not a hair of their head singed.
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 You know, I cook Mother's Day.
00:21:45 --> 00:21:46 I'm a great guy.
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48 I cooked Mother's Day dinner last night on the barbie.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:53 I singe every hair off the back of my hand every time I light the barbecue.
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 These guys came out without a smell on them.
00:21:59 --> 00:22:03 And it's really, really interesting because Nebuchadnezzar doesn't say,
00:22:03 --> 00:22:05 Oh, wow, Pharaoh, how did you do that?
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 Where did you get the invisible asbestos suits from?
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 He just praises God.
00:22:12 --> 00:22:14 And he addresses God.
00:22:14 --> 00:22:16 And in verse 28 he says,
00:22:16 --> 00:22:19 Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,
00:22:19 --> 00:22:22 who has sent his angel and delivered his servants,
00:22:22 --> 00:22:26 who trusted in him and set aside the king's command
00:22:26 --> 00:22:30 and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own.
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 And therefore I make a decree.
00:22:34 --> 00:22:38 Any people, nation or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach,
00:22:39 --> 00:22:44 Meshach and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruin,
00:22:44 --> 00:22:48 for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 One of the things that you can see in these chapters,
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 as you go across a few chapters in Daniel,
00:22:56 --> 00:23:04 is the impact of authentic faith on those outside of Christ's kingdom.
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 It's one of our value statements,
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 that we be authentic Christians,
00:23:08 --> 00:23:11 not people of hypocrisy and pretense,
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 but just authentic.
00:23:12 --> 00:23:16 And Nebuchadnezzar had boasted,
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 verse 15,
00:23:17 --> 00:23:20 What god will be able to rescue you from my hand?
00:23:21 --> 00:23:22 Who's got the power?
00:23:23 --> 00:23:27 And now at the end of this chapter he yields to the majesty and power of God
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 and he says,
00:23:28 --> 00:23:31 There is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:35 And it's interesting,
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 I don't think he's of the faith yet.
00:23:40 --> 00:23:43 See, he recognises that the young men trusted,
00:23:43 --> 00:23:43 he's looking on,
00:23:44 --> 00:23:45 he's seeing those people at the back of church,
00:23:46 --> 00:23:47 they really did trust God
00:23:47 --> 00:23:50 and they trusted him with their lives.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55 He knows God saved them from something which was unsavable
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 in terms of circumstance.
00:23:57 --> 00:24:02 He acknowledges God's power but he hasn't yet changed sides.
00:24:03 --> 00:24:07 He doesn't actually call God or speak to him personally
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 or speak about him being his God.
00:24:14 --> 00:24:15 Worth thinking about, isn't it?
00:24:15 --> 00:24:16 How do you speak about God?
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 My Lord and my God.
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 It's a fantastic movement,
00:24:23 --> 00:24:26 it's a great thing that's going on for Nebuchadnezzar
00:24:26 --> 00:24:27 but he's not all the way yet.
00:24:29 --> 00:24:30 It's not saving faith.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:35 Coming to Christ means dying to self,
00:24:37 --> 00:24:38 yielding our significance,
00:24:39 --> 00:24:42 no longer finding consequence in who we are,
00:24:42 --> 00:24:43 finding it in Christ.
00:24:44 --> 00:24:47 God has increasingly raised the significance
00:24:47 --> 00:24:49 of the young men from Judah.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 You know, I've been down here
00:24:50 --> 00:24:52 and he has been lifting them up
00:24:52 --> 00:24:53 and lifting them up
00:24:53 --> 00:24:54 and lifting them up
00:24:54 --> 00:24:57 and he is glorifying himself through them.
00:25:02 --> 00:25:04 I think they could only risk their life
00:25:04 --> 00:25:08 because they find their worth in Christ.
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14 Who they were is rooted in who God is.
00:25:14 --> 00:25:17 The Lord Jesus said,
00:25:17 --> 00:25:19 if any person would come after me,
00:25:19 --> 00:25:21 they must deny themselves
00:25:21 --> 00:25:24 and take up their cross and follow me.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:28 I think we can only really do that
00:25:28 --> 00:25:31 if you are far more confident in Christ
00:25:31 --> 00:25:34 and who he is than in who you are.
00:25:35 --> 00:25:38 True significance is to be found in Christ alone.
00:25:38 --> 00:25:44 I think one of the lovely things in Daniel
00:25:44 --> 00:25:45 is that Nebuchadnezzar
00:25:45 --> 00:25:49 is brought to a real faith in the living God
00:25:49 --> 00:25:52 and in chapter 3 he's not there yet.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:55 But in chapter 4,
00:25:55 --> 00:25:56 and I can say this
00:25:56 --> 00:25:58 because we're preaching chapter 6 or 7 next week
00:25:58 --> 00:25:59 so we're jumping.
00:26:01 --> 00:26:02 But in chapter 4,
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04 God sends him mad for a period of time
00:26:04 --> 00:26:09 and he eats grass like a beast of the field.
00:26:11 --> 00:26:12 He's humbled.
00:26:12 --> 00:26:17 God brings this great despot king down low.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:22 And Daniel's advice to him,
00:26:22 --> 00:26:24 this is chapter 4 verse 27,
00:26:25 --> 00:26:27 renounce your sins by doing what is right
00:26:27 --> 00:26:31 and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:37 It may be then that your prosperity may continue.
00:26:39 --> 00:26:41 And the chapter finishes,
00:26:41 --> 00:26:42 Kings brought low
00:26:42 --> 00:26:44 and in his own words,
00:26:45 --> 00:26:46 chapter 4 verse 34,
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 this is now Nebuchadnezzar speaking.
00:26:50 --> 00:26:51 At the end of that time,
00:26:51 --> 00:26:53 I, Nebuchadnezzar,
00:26:54 --> 00:26:56 raised my eyes towards heaven
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 and my sanity was restored.
00:26:58 --> 00:27:02 And then I praised the Most High.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:06 I honoured and glorified him who lives forever.
00:27:07 --> 00:27:09 His dominion is an eternal dominion.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:13 His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
00:27:14 --> 00:27:17 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
00:27:17 --> 00:27:20 He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 and the peoples of the earth.
00:27:21 --> 00:27:24 No one can hold back his hand or say to him,
00:27:24 --> 00:27:25 what have you done?
00:27:25 --> 00:27:29 And now I, Nebuchadnezzar,
00:27:30 --> 00:27:34 praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven
00:27:34 --> 00:27:37 because everything he does is right
00:27:37 --> 00:27:39 and all his ways are just
00:27:39 --> 00:27:42 and those who walk in pride,
00:27:42 --> 00:27:43 he is able to humble.
00:27:47 --> 00:27:49 He no longer says,
00:27:50 --> 00:27:54 what God will be able to rescue you from my hand.
00:27:54 --> 00:27:57 He's been humbled.
00:27:58 --> 00:28:01 He finds his significance in Christ.
00:28:04 --> 00:28:07 I don't know where you are at in your attitude to God.
00:28:09 --> 00:28:12 I'm far off and glad to be so.
00:28:14 --> 00:28:15 Come near,
00:28:16 --> 00:28:18 but not all the way yet.
00:28:18 --> 00:28:21 I know in this church family
00:28:21 --> 00:28:23 that there are many who have
00:28:23 --> 00:28:26 already yielded their lives
00:28:26 --> 00:28:27 to the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 But for all of us,
00:28:31 --> 00:28:32 wherever we stand,
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 the safest place in all the world
00:28:36 --> 00:28:39 is to be brought low
00:28:39 --> 00:28:43 and humbled into the safe hands
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45 of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 and in the end,
00:28:49 --> 00:28:50 he is the one who rescues us
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 from his own hands
00:28:52 --> 00:28:54 and his own judgment.
00:28:55 --> 00:28:55 Amen.
00:28:55 --> 00:28:55 Amen.
00:28:55 --> 00:28:56 Amen.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:56 Amen.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:56 Amen.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:56 Amen.
00:28:56 --> 00:28:56 Amen.