Make Your Stand for God

Are you in a situation where you know you need to make a stand for righteousness? Then do it, knowing that the God who was with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace is the same God who will be with you as you do.

We will be looking at a familiar story, but it is relevant to us here today. We’ve been skirting amongst the minor prophets. Daniel is a major prophet, who was active while they the children in Babylon.

Daniel 1:1-3

We’re in the time of Nebuchadnezzar in this extract.

Daniel 1:8

Daniel took a stand. He didn’t want to eat unclean meat. And he was with three companions.

Daniel 1:12-16

Daniel 1:19-22

There was a team of four people, and they made a stand. Instead of eating the unclean meat, they ate vegetables – and they thrived far more than the people who ate the king’s meat. And the king promoted them. They took a stand for what they believed to be right.

I’m talking to two types of people – the first, those who are facing a question as to whether they will take a stand for Jesus Christ; and the second, those who have taken a stand and find themselves in the thick of it.

Daniel 2:27-29

During this chapter, Daniel refers to what the dream is about. The image’s head was of fine gold, for instance. Daniel told him what the dream was and what it meant.

Daniel 2:47-50

We have a team of four who are standing for righteousness, who know their God. We have a prophet who leads them. Daniel was the only one who could reveal the dream and the interpretation.

But despite what Nebuchadnezzar said in chapter 2 we now see the events of Daniel 3.

Note that although Nebuchadnezzar recognised who God was, he didn’t say he was his God. You can be in a church, without knowing God.

Are you going to stand for truth or not? And if you are standing for truth, you aren’t on your own.

God has brought things to light, and He will bring us through. He is building His church in His way in His time.

Nebuchadnezzar’s image was made of gold and gold again, it was 90 feet tall:

Daniel 3:1-8

The Chaldeans were amongst those who had been unable to match Daniel’s ability. He knew his God and his God was the God.

Daniel 3:9-13

Nebuchadnezzar had identified who God was. He knew who Daniel’s God was. But He wasn’t Nebuchadnezzar’s God. And his reaction ...

Daniel 3:13-16

“You can’t kid me that you God will deliver you. I’m in control. I am a despot. There is nothing you can do against what I have commanded.”

Daniel 3:17-19

“We won’t try to make out something which isn’t true. We aren’t deceivers. You can throw us into the furnace, but our God will set us free. And even if He won’t, we will not bow down to the image you have set up.”

There was a resolve in those people to say no. They could have had excuses to act differently. “What’s the point of doing this? It’s only once, and we’re in a foreign country, so no one will see.” “We have to think of our lifestyle, of the gifts we’ve been given, of the fact that we have a position to maintain. Maybe it will affect our standing and the material benefits we’ve had.” “Everyone else is doing it, so who are we to be different? We only have to bow down once, and we can carry on as before.”

I know there is a situation that some of you are facing, where that backbone needs to be there. It might be at work, with your neighbour, with respect to someone else here, where you know you have to make a stand. What are the excuses going through your mind? You’ve tried the excuses, but now God is saying, “Come on. We’re at the situation where you have to make a stand.”

God is faithful, and you know inside through your conscience and the preaching of His word what’s right and wrong. It’s not right to sit here praising God if you have something against your brother or your sister. There are things you have to put right. You know it.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew they had to make a stand – not just for appearances, but in their heart they knew they had to make a stand, irrespective of the consequences.

“Our God can take us through the furnace, and even if He doesn’t, we will not bow down.” In the New Testament, it says Jesus set His face as a flint to go to Jerusalem for you and me – and that was the same resolve.

You say you’re a weak individual, but it doesn’t matter. God is inside you, and as I preach this, you’re setting it in the context of the situation you need to address, and inside you’re making that resolve and determining to stand.

Isaiah 43:1-7

As we’ll see in a minute, if God puts in you – as He does – that uncompromising, straight-down-the-line, not deceiving, resolve to make that stand, it doesn’t matter what the opposition might be doing, what they may be saying, what the situation is, make that stand. At your school, at your employment, whatever the situation, make that stand.

“But God does it all.” Yes – He does. He gives you the resolve to make that stand.

Daniel 3:18-24

You can’t get more hopeless than this. They were bound. They were dropped into a furnace heated seven times. Sometimes we get to the point where we think things can’t get worse. You’ve made your stand. You’re not better about your situation, but you can’t see a solution. You know you’ve been clear before God.

Daniel 3:24-26

John 16:33

We sing, “He is”, going through the books of the Bible. In Daniel, He is the fourth man in the fire. Heaven organises things so you have a revelation, in your situation in life, where you reach such a point that you literally cannot see a solution. In a sense you’re not even looking for a solution, because you’ve made your stand and know you are clear before God. Well, God delights to provide a solution when we aren’t even looking for it.

When Jesus hung on the Cross, He organised it for us when we didn’t know Him, and when He knew we would push Him away.

And for those of you who have made a stand and are at your wits’ end, God is saying, “I have a solution.” And even in the impossible circumstances of a fiery furnace, God is there in the middle.

Daniel 3:25-27

Coats speak of character. They were the same coming out as when they went in. There wasn’t even a smell of fire. When God saves an individual, He saves you clean. He divides your sins as far as the east is from the west. You come out clean. And when you make a stand for God, He knows. He’s been with you throughout the week and is with you now.

Daniel 3:28-31

You would have thought that Nebuchadnezzar would then have acknowledged in his heart who God was. But within a few days he was eating grass. It’s easy to say things. Words are cheap. It’s easy to say people are Pharisees. But what’s the reality of where you are in your heart? If you know you need to take a stand, be encouraged. You’re not being asked to do the impossible, to do something God hasn’t already prepared.

Philippians 2:12-14

You’re in the mainstream of God’s destiny for you life, in the centrality of His provision. It’s God working in you this morning. He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. This church is His. You’re His. And it’s God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

I wonder what Daniel thought. He wasn’t in the furnace. He would have seen what was going on, would have seen them put into the fire. He probably thought that henceforth he would be on His own. Maybe he knew what God was going to do. But I know when he saw the three come out, He knew His God was capable of doing what He did, and we have acknowledged God for who He is.

This morning, make that stand. And realise that God is there right in the midst of your situation, and He loves you. You can’t figure out a solution. He’s already done that. He’s already figured out the way forward for this church. He knows what He’s doing. It’s His church. He has the resolution figured out because of who He is.

I wonder if they talked with the fourth man in the fire. They were dancing together. Did they speak? What did they say?

You know in your heart of hearts, when God comes inside, you know when He’s speaking to you and you know He loves you. It’s a tremendous privilege to declare that Holy Ghost is more than interested in your life. He in inside you, pulsating as the creator God, who redeemed you and wants you to fulfil His purposes for your life, which is the greatest thing for you.