The Battle for Your Allegiance

[Music] This episode comes from a series on the book of Daniel that Martin Isles recently delivered to a group of students at Jackson Hall Bible College in Jackson, Wyoming. I trust it will be a blessing to you. Father in heaven we come before you at the start of a new day and Lord we give thanks for your word. We give thanks that it imparts wisdom that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. And Lord we give thanks that as James promises us that the one who is not just a hero who hears or a doer who acts will be blessed in all he's doing. And so Lord we look to that blessing for our own lives and ourselves today. Father we look to you by your spirit to take up your word and make it effective in our lives to that end. Lord help us to submit to it, help us to have insight into it and Father take it up powerfully to change us and to sanctify us all the more into your purposes. Lord guide us in all things we pray for your glory in Jesus name. Amen. All right Daniel three. This is the account of and we'll read it in full in a minute but I'll just give a summary to start with. Nebuchadnezzar sets up a great golden image on the plane of Dura and he gets all of his officials and people together and everybody has to bow down to this image which he is set up when they hear certain kinds of music. Of course Shadrach, Meeshach and Abednego think oh we can't do this it's a bad testimony but it's also unfaithful to God and this is one of those days when we know we're going to have to take a stand and you can imagine standing amongst all those powerful people being the three that are sort of standing straight like this. It's pretty conspicuous they knew they weren't going to get away with it and so Nebuchadnezzar finds out there are those who conspire against them until Nebuchadnezzar and he becomes absolutely enraged and he calls them in and says you go to the fiery furnace and they say so be it they go into the fiery furnace the fourth figure appears in the fire they are delivered they're not burned not even the hair of their head is singed and Nebuchadnezzar praises God and makes an edict that all people should worship the God of Shadrach, Meeshach and Abednego. It's basically the shape of the chapter there is something in this chapter with there's lots of things but there's something in this chapter I want to draw out at the start which is an enduring principle or theme of history which we saw yesterday and to give us an interesting parallel into this or two but I'll start with one in Revelation. You fast forward to Revelation 13 you don't have to turn there I'll just quote a couple of fragments but just compare this Revelation 13 where you see that incident where they would cause that as many as would not worship the beast shall be slain. Turn the page Revelation 14 and what is the call fear God and worship him the made heaven and earth see that tension but there is a pressure from the powers that be that allegiance and honor and worship be given to the beast whereas God says no allegiance and honor and worship must be rendered to me alone compared with Daniel 34. This isn't the herald proclaimed aloud you are commanded to fall down and worship the golden image is the king that be could there's a has set up and whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Why do I take those two examples it's like one's well in the past and other ones up ahead it's because there is a reality of our world that is enduring which is a battle for our allegiance it's a great conflict between false and true worship that we might be drawn to serve one power or another power and everybody serves one or the other and the world is constantly offering all that it has to us that's a constant theme in life there's a but the issue is on what terms on what terms does the world offer us all that it has for us also though at the same time God is offering us all that he has for us he's making that offer to all people all the time and it's a lot but here's the question again on what terms on what terms does God make that offer and the question is when it comes to the terms of the worlds offer are we prepared to reject those terms and when it comes to the terms on God's offer are we prepared to embrace those terms right and I make that point partly because the truth is maybe we don't hear this enough today but the terms on God's offer don't always look attractive to us and the terms on the worlds offer often do look attractive to us one presents itself as the easier path it's not the easier path but it certainly presents itself as the easier path and Jesus therefore said many times that you must count the cost of being his disciple what kind of cost we said if anyone would come after me he must take up his cross and follow me there's terms right they're not all easy there's terms of great weight and significance are you prepared to embrace them because if you're not then you are prepared to embrace the terms the world has which are far easier there's often an easy decision to make I'll give you an extreme illustration of this you know we see it in many small ways in life but I'll give you one of the greatest illustrations in history which is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness when Satan is tempting him and the final temptation in verse 5 is that it says the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and said to him to you I will give all this authority and their glory for it has been delivered to me and I give it to whom I will if you then will worship me it will all be yours and Jesus answered him it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve same conflict right and we discover a few things in this episode we discover that the worlds offered to us all its glory all that it has for us the world doesn't make that offer from itself as if the world was a entity it's actually Satan's offer he's reaching at us through the world right and it's Satan who even offers Jesus the world he says you know I've got a great offer here and the terms are really easy but you don't have to do that much just now right here it's not going to cost you but of course what did Jesus do well he's the great example isn't he he chose God's offer he chose the terms on what God the Father would have him to do and he chose the cross because he did get all the kingdoms of the world and their glory delivered to him but it was on the other side of the cross it was on the other side of the terms that the Godhead had put together in the eternal council and it's the same with us in smaller ways the terms might be costly the terms might mean we face tough things we take up our cross not Jesus's cross there's only he's the only one who takes up his cross but we take up a cross too because we follow in his pattern um you know Jesus chooses the hard alternative uh Shadrach Meshach and Abednego did exactly the same thing they chose the fire and we don't face crucifixion today we don't face burning in a fiery furnace to yet today the stakes are lower but the world still makes its threats to us and it still makes its attractive offers to us and you will find as life unfolds and maybe you've already found in different ways that to choose rightly to honor God can come at a certain cost and there are days when we need to embrace that cost uh the Apostle Peter makes this point he refers explicitly to the fiery furnace of Daniel 3 and 1st Peter 412 you don't have to turn there but you can write it down if you like 1st Peter chapter 4 verse 12 Peter says this he says beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you the fiery trial what does that make you think of Daniel right he's writing to these exiles says he addresses them in an opening chapter of his letter and what does that make him think of well exiles in Jewish history or Babylon Daniel yes and so he keeps using this Daniel imagery uh and so he uses this fiery trial and he says you know when you encounter this dynamic that i've just been describing don't be surprised like you don't live your life hoping it'll never happen or when it does come up one day you're like this is so weird he's like no no no no this is a feature it's not a bug in the Christian life there's nothing strange going on here and he goes on to explain why there's nothing strange going on here in verse 13 he says but rejoice which we find hard to do, don't we? He says, "Rajoy's insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you're insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon you. But none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evil-doer or a medler, yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name." It's interesting. I think that's the second use. It's either the first or the second use of the word Christian in the Bible. And the belief is that when the label Christian was first given to the early church, it was a derogatory label. Like, "Oh, they're the ones that sort of are obsessed with Christ, they're of Christ kind of thing." And Peter's saying, "Rajoy's in that insult. Own it." And of course they did, right? Anyway, you know, he says, "You are of Christ, right?" That's true. And the fiery trials that you're in, are just little shadows of the trials that he bore. Don't be surprised, he says. You're sharing Christ's sufferings. You're of Christ. It's part of the pattern of the Christian life. And he goes so far as to say this. He says, "You know, when you're insulted for the name of Christ, right?" And that, I don't know, I've experienced that in all for a lot. I don't know if you have, but, you know, even the way the world thinks of Christians these days are sort of bigots and full of all kinds of phobias and backward and all that kind of thing. It's insults, right? For the name of Christ, you get it more and more. A haters, you just full of hate, right? Of course you're not full of hate. They don't understand the word. But he says, you know, when this is happening, he actually says, "The spirit of glory and of Christ rests on you." It's a very interesting phrase, isn't it? He was saying, he's saying, actually believe it or not, negative and kind of dirty as that feels. He says, "That is actually part of the glory of Jesus Christ," right? Because what's glory? Glory is just the manifestation of who God is, his character. When you see what God is like, you see his glory. It's seen in many different ways in the Bible, you know, from the blinding light, right? Which is sort of his radiating perfections through to John saying about Jesus. We've seen his glory, we've beheld his glory, right? Because full of grace and truth is character, who he was, showed us who God was. And you know, in Christ's sufferings, you see who God is. That's actually who God is. That he would do that for the reason that he did it. And of course in Jesus we see a greater revelation of who God is than at any time in history up until that point. And Peter is saying, if you share in that, you're revealing his glory in your life. Don't think that you're being beat down or that it's some awful thing to behold. He's saying, "No, no, rejoice." He said, "This is who God is." That he would suffer in this way for the right cause for the testimony of Jesus Christ. So you can share in that and his glory does shine in triumph. Yes, absolutely. And that's where a lot of the songs about glory and the Psalms and a lot of the references to glory and the New Testament have a lot to do with the fact that he is victorious and triumphant and risen. But what is an essential ingredient in that? It's his cross, his sufferings. Without it, the result simply doesn't exist. And we're called to the same glory, right? We're called to reveal that in the world. We're called to carry across to stand firm in trials, to be on a pilgrimage towards a city whose builder and maker is God and will rejoice and will share in all the results and the fullness of his glory on that day. But it is a glory that is forged in suffering and victory. By the way, that's been the lot of the church for millennia. Very weird times we've lived in in recent decades where it's not been quite the same. But you know, you read good church history, you read the theology of the church fathers, you read the patristics, they're very, very preoccupied with this thing because their life was full of suffering. And that was, they just said, rejoice. This is the path of Christ, suffering and glory. We've been preserved from a lot of it in our day and I know we like that, but I do wonder sometimes, you know, when we get to heaven we might realize maybe it wasn't all the blessing we thought it was. Maybe we missed out on much of Christ in this life because we had an easier life. I don't know. However, I will qualify it with this. God does bring trials, you know, even people who live in a prosperous Western, quote unquote, "Christianish" kind of society. You know, God does actually bring everyone their own burdens and trials in different ways. You know, you don't get through life without burdens and trials, without hard days, without facing the cost sometimes. It just happens. Never assume when you look, you know, one of the things, I don't know if this is an Australian thing to do, we have this thing called Torpopy Syndrome. And like we look at people who are doing well for themselves and who are, you know, got all these benefits in their life and we resent it, right? And there's a cynicism there. And it's like, well, you know, they must have had a great upbringing. They're probably an erudite money like all this kind of stuff. Never assume that in spiritual terms. Never assume that someone's just had it easy. Trust me, God ensures that each person faces their own trials and faces their own troubles. And you don't know because you don't see it and you're not living their life. So don't make those assumptions about people. And in fact, if you see somebody who is like a real spiritual giant, I assure you, they've been through some stuff because that's how God does it so often. He leads them through. I'm going to see the truth of that in a minute. Anyway, our examples in sort of following this path today, Shadrach, Meshach, and a bed and go and then we'll look at Daniel as well as time permits. And what these guys did is really massive, right? It's, it's not every day and there's not many occasions in history where somebody said, sure, throw me in the burning fiery furnace. You know, I'm sure they had some apprehension, but they faced it, which is remarkable. And, you know, I like the fact that scripture is full of these ultimate examples because it gives you this confidence that if they could do it by God's help and grace, then whatever we're called to face, we can definitely do it, right? You know, it's the same God, it's the same Lord, same Christ, same Holy Spirit. We can do smaller things because they did this great thing. And sometimes we look at these great examples and we're just like, well, I'll never be able to do that. No, don't think that way. Think to yourself, what was their secret? How were they that good at it? Because if I can learn their secret, I might learn something about how to live this way, even if it is a smaller, rhyming pattern of how they have lived. So we're going to see what we can learn from them. I'm going to turn to the opening scene and you can turn there now, Daniel 3. All right, Daniel chapter 3, verse 1, it says, "King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plane of Dura and the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent together the satraps, the prefix and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up." Okay, we didn't look at chapter 2, at least not yet. We've skipped from chapter 1 to chapter 3. It's interesting the context here. In chapter 2, you've got this whole chapter about Nebuchadnezzar's dream, where he dreams of an image of a man, right? And the head is gold and then you have other metals going down to iron and clay in the feet. And people can't interpret the dream. He starts killing people because they can't interpret the dream. Daniel prays, gets the interpretation, comes and talks to him. And Daniel says, "You, Nebuchadnezzar, are the head of gold." And a kingdom will come after you, which is the next piece, and then the next piece, and then the next piece. But God will set up a kingdom and it will crush all these and they will be swept away by the wind. And it's interesting, what Nebuchadnezzar gets from that interpretation is, "Well, your kingdom is finite. Your kingdom is temporary. Your kingdom is limited. The God of heaven overrules your kingdom, and indeed will crush it to pieces in the fullness of time. There's another kingdom that's going to come after you. You're going to be conquered is sort of the psychology of a king in those days." And you know, that revelation was felt by Nebuchadnezzar. You see the results of it. And he makes this proclamation about God and it has some impact on him. It says, "Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face." The king answered and said, "To Daniel, truly your God is God of God and Lord of kings, a revealer of mysteries for you have been able to reveal this mystery." That's chapter 2 verse 46. But Nebuchadnezzar didn't listen. All right. God's not finished with him and his pride isn't broken. He didn't listen to that dream and Daniel's interpretation. Rather, you turn the page to chapter three and you find him rebelling against it. He constructs an image, much the same, right? But there's a crucial difference. It's all gold. It's all gold. It's not merely the head. It's not going to be a succession plan. There's not going to be a greater kingdom that breaks it all in pieces. The symbolism here is Nebuchadnezzar is rebelling against the word from God and saying, "No, my kingdom is everything and everyone will bow down to my kingdom and serve me." It's not interesting. God spoke to him, pricked him for a while and then he pushed it to the side. In so doing, he finds himself rebelling against that revelation. You know, that's a human tendency in our day. I'm sure you've had the experience where it feels as if God is speaking to you. Some conviction, something is exposed to you that you think, "Huh, I need to deal with that." Or you become burdened about something. Or you read a word in Scripture and it leaps off the page. I'm sure we've had these experiences. I just want to say, don't trifle with God when he speaks to you. When I was in the political world, I made reference to this the other day. I had a lot of meetings with some pretty rabid activists and I would sit across the table from the leaders of the equality movements and all this, transgender people, people in the LGBT movement and I would go on TV and have some of these people. I was interviewed by a lot of gay interviewers who had a real B and they bonded about what the Bible says about those things. In the face of all of that, it was just interesting when I looked into the backgrounds of some of these people. I would say 75% of the time they had a Christian upbringing. Many of them came. For example, I remember one lady, man, she was so angry with me. She was interviewing me for 60 minutes actually. She was sitting there and this woman was just raging. I thought she was going to launch out of her chair and claw my eyes out. I was thinking, man, is she going to attack me at any point? It was just simmering in her face and she was so hard. It was so bad that at the end of the interview, I had to close. She just wouldn't stop. I said, "Look, I've really got to go. We've got to get something on. I've got to get out of here." Anyway, we finally wrapped the interview up and we got to the door. We're in a hotel room. They'd come to Canberra for the interview and I got to the door and me and my media, my comms media person, we got to the door closed at behind us and we just looked at each other. At the same time, we both just said, "Run." We just bolted and ran out of there. That's how bad the atmosphere was. I found out that her father is the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Australia. That kind of thing just kept happening over and over again. Another sort of more public example of something like this could be like Kanye West. I really release that album, Jesus is King, wasn't it? Then what happened? Just spiraled. It's almost like he actually did. God did speak to him. Everything happened there, but then it was just no. I won't give all this up. What happens? Jesus actually says, "When you remove demons from a person and you just clean the house up and don't replace it with anything, seven more come back." It just spirals way out of control. Almost moves into this rabid rebellious pattern. This happens all the time. That's why you see those who often come out as a de-convert. You see them start to spiral. It's such a serious thing to try full with God when he speaks to us because it may be that he simply stops. If God is not having any dealing with you at all, you have no idea how to brave you can get. Also, there is something psychologically which will make you try and suppress that voice, that conscience. It will bend your behavior out of shape. Really serious stuff. Then in the Christian life, sometimes we can have something that we're just pushing to the side. You won't believe the destruction that can be brought about in a life by papering over something that God is trying to say to you. It creates this disease. It just starts to infiltrate everything. We have to remain open to God's speaking and we have to remain responsive to God's speaking. Otherwise, we could do it. Maybe you can never have a good ending. Although it was through some pretty nasty stuff. God had really rough dealings with that man. But you know, you've got the story of Belch-Azer. It didn't end well. God's mercy is for a time. He brings into our lives times of critical opportunities and we must make the most of it and be drawn near to God in response and not harden our hearts. All right. What does Hebrews say? Therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. That's Hebrews chapter 2 verse 1. Nebuchadnezzar, as I said, is a good ending, but it comes through some trap-challenging things. One is the trial. Let's go to verse 3 of chapter 3. This is one of his little interactions with God's voice. He says, "The satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up." We're going to verse 8 because there's a reasonable amount of repetition here. "Therefore, at that time, certain caldians." So what happens is that everyone bows down. Obviously, these three guys don't. "Therefore, at that time, certain caldians came forward and maliciously accused the Jews." They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, "O King, live forever." You see it in Daniel over and over again. This is like just lathering it on whenever these people who have got agendas are trying to get something out of the King. And it always works. I don't know what it is about these guys who love power, but men always works. Anyway, where are we? Verse 8, "I read down to certain caldians came and maliciously, yes, O King, you've made a decree that every man, verse 9, who hears the sound of the horn pipe, liar, trigon heart, bagpipe, and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image." And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Shadrach, me shak and a bednigo. These men O King pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar infurious rage commanded that Shadrach, me shak and a bednigo be brought. By the way, why is he angry? Probably that little conscience thingy that he's dealing with, which might be the reason why he set that image up in the first place. Verse 13, halfway through, "So they brought these men before the King." Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, "Is it true, oh Shadrach, me shak and a bednigo, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?" Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of a horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? See his problem? He's like, "No, God can't fight with me, right? That's kind of where he's at in his head." Verse 16, "Shadrach, me shak and a bednigo answered and said to the King, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King." But notice this, they say, "But if not, right?" Well, he can deliver us, but maybe he won't. And if he doesn't, verse 18, "Be it known to you, O King, we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, me shak and a bednigo. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated, and he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to buy in Shadrach, me shak and a bednigo, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the King's order was urgent, and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, me shak and a bednigo. And these three men, Shadrach, me shak and a bednigo fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. So they said, "Yes, to the threat of fire." They said, "No," to the offer of the world. Peter says, "That is to partake in the special glory that belongs to Jesus Christ." You notice a dynamic, and it's the same dynamic in Daniel each time, a great opportunity is before them, that's how it starts. The world says, "Look here, I've got something for you." And they had been just promoted. So this is the great opportunity. It's like, wow, you know, where the ones that walk through the White House with their own personal security. detail and everyone says, "Good morning, sir." You know, we're in the private jet class. It's very intoxicating for young guys. They love this kind of thing. And this opportunity is there. And they're among the seetrap, the treasurer, the counsellors, the justices, the magistrates, and the officials of the provinces. And you might as well say the president, the chiefs of staff, the secretaries, the governors, the judges, the billionaires, and the senators, and the tech bros and all that kind of stuff. This is who's there. And these young men find themselves in that world. And that is their opportunity. But that opportunity, it turns out, after they've got a bit of a taste of it, and they're like, "This is good, I want this," right? After they've had the taste, they realize it's bound up with. It's wrapped around some form of compromise, some act that's sort of, well, it's disobedient to God, really. Although in their heads, they could probably justify it in different ways, or at least an act that dilutes their testimony. And you would say, "Well, we wouldn't do that." We're not so fast, because the other side of this is not just the opportunity that's great, but it's the threat that exists. There's always going to be a cost to doing the right thing in these scenarios. Or at least it will appear that there's going to be a cost to doing the right thing. And for these guys, the cost of doing the wrong thing, is very easy. In fact, it looks like an opportunity. The cost to doing the right thing is rather great. It's the burning fiery furnace, right? But there's another cost as well, even if they got away with it, because the king wasn't there to see it at the time. He was told about it afterwards. It's worth bearing in mind that this is a world of loyalty. This is where you stand with your faction. If you don't do that, you've got no one to look after you. In all the power battles and games that go on in the political world. The pressure to support your friends to stand with them, to be like them, to conform. Very, very big in this kind of world. And that's how power works. And to portray powerful colleagues or stand apart from them, or show them up in some way. Very lonely thing to do in the corridors of power. And it's possibly a career derailing move. At best. If they get away with it. Probably, however, a death wish. Those are the threats that these guys face. And for us today, we don't face that threat. But I mentioned some yesterday, which are much less. But nonetheless, very effective. For us very often, it's something like social acceptance. On what terms do we find social acceptance? Pressure to reduce your testimony. Pressure to laugh as they laugh. Speakers they speak. Drink as they drink. Be quiet on matters of religion. What else? You know that kind of thing. What's the consequence if you're not like that? Well, you might think you're going to lose friends. You might think you're going to be left on the fringes. You might think there'll be less opportunity for you. Or life will just be less comfortable. This is very effective in our world. Very effective kind of threat. Again, if you're not like that, you might think you're going to lose friends. Very effective kind of threat against us. Opportunities of advancement. Hussle, right? Getting ahead in corporate stuff. And there'll be, you know, on what terms? Well, don't rock the boat. Don't upset anyone with your convictions. What's the cost? Well, you might not be in line. I actually know a guy. He's very, very experienced all over the world in financial stuff. And he's got a level of seniority in his qualification. But he actually works sort of several rungs below. He's level of superiority. And I asked him about his level of ability. And I asked him about it. And he said, well, that's as high as you can get in corporate Australia if you have my convictions. And you don't go to the Christmas party and you don't do this. And you don't do that. And he says, this way, I'm kind of under the radar. There's no expectations on me. And he says, if I go up higher, the expectations are things I just don't want to do. It's like, well, I respect, right? That's what he was where he was. And I think a lot of people do that. And I think a lot of people just compromise for peace and quiet really. And these little threats that our world offers. Very effective. Very effective. And it's sad to see how effective they are. Or here's another way to go about it, to think of it as well. For some people, you know, it's not that there's some dynamic of opportunity and threat that makes them be disobedient. It might simply be lust. It might simply want to sin. Which is a very grave problem for any Christian, you know? If you find yourself wanting to sin and you find yourself unconcerned about sin, you need to read first John because it tells you pretty clearly that that's a sign that could be something wrong with your salvation. You know, we do get drawn into it, but we don't like it. We hate the fact that we're sinners. That's a very important dynamic. I have a quote here. I'll see if it's any good by reading it. Oh yes, this is a little old fashioned, but it's good. He says, "Every audacious refusal," this is Alexander McLaren, "to bow to the habits or opinions of the majority is visited by consequences, which only the martyr spirit will endure. Despots have no monopoly on intolerance. A democracy can be even more cruel and more impatient of singularity and especially religious singularity." Which I find to be true that if you say, "No, no, no, no, not anyone and everyone, but this." You know, people are pretty impatient with that kind of conviction. He says, "England and America have no need to fear the old forms of religious persecution. In both, a man may profess and proclaim any kind of religion or no religion, but in both the advanced guard of the Christian church, which seeks to apply Christ's teaching more rigidly to individual and social life, has to face public condemnation, exclusion, misrepresentation from the world for not serving their gods or worshipping the golden image which they have set up. martyrs will be needed and persecutors will exist until the whole world is Christian." That's Alexander McLaren. Hostility in the Christian life is a feature, it's not a buck. It's really important. You know, you'll have days where you experience this stuff and one of the worst things you can do is assume that something is wrong. Now, what does the John say in Revelation 1? He says, "I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and patient endurance that are in Jesus." And so he's saying, "Guess what? You know, if you're facing tribulation, if you're facing tribulation means pressure from the world against you for being a Christian, that's what tribulation is." So if you're facing pressure from the world on account of your faith or your confession or your witness, he says, "Guess what? Me too. I'm your brother and partner in that. That's a shared experience and he's an apostle." But then he says, "It's not just that. It's actually a shared experience with Jesus himself." So he's not wrong. It's quite right. There's nothing untoward. Peter says, "Don't suffer as a meddler or a busy body or an evil doer." Right? Obviously. He says, "If you suffer as a Christian, well, that's a different thing. If it truly is that kind of suffering or that kind of trial." And Jesus makes this so clear in his teaching. I'm going to read you just a few verses to make the point. John 15, 18, says, "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, if you went with its system, with its way, accepted its offers and its compromises, it says the world would love you as its own." But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." Pretty blunt, right? You know, Jesus was never shy about spelling out the terms. And he was never shy about having people hear those terms and walk away. How many times? But he kept spelling them out. He was very clear. The Apostle Paul says something most remarkable. He says, "In 2 Timothy 312, Indeed, all," it's big word, "all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Wow, big statement. You're going to have to. And when it says persecution doesn't mean you're going to be fed to the lions. Right? Jesus defines what he means by persecution in Matthew 5. He says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness and sake. Blessed are you and others revile you. When they're angry with you. When they're disgusted by you and what you believe." And they persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. I gave some examples of evil speaking against Christians. Why? Because they honor and serve Christ. He says, "Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven." That's what he means. It starts there. And goes all the way up to fiery furnaces. Some people mock the idea of persecution because they say, "Well, we're not being persecuted." There's some truth in that. But when Jesus spoke of these things and when Paul said persecution, he meant starting an insult and moving up to more extreme things. Now, that's a feature. It's not a bug in the Christian life. It is not wrong. It is right. And people might think to themselves, "Gee, I don't know what you're talking about. Like, what do you mean that someone might be mad with me or you know, people might not like what I believe or might feel this kind of approach from the world?" And that probably means that your life isn't sufficiently marked by living a godly life in Christ Jesus. Probably because Paul says that's kind of a lie. what attracts the person, it's a fallen world. People like goodness and they also hated at the same time. It's a weird fallen human dynamic. And the apostle John says in that verse, I quoted in Revelation, "Your brother and partner in the tribulation "and kingdom of patient endurance are in Jesus." He says, "I was on the island called Patmos. "I was in jail for the word of God "and the testimony of Jesus." So if your life is marked by the advance of the word of God and it is marked by the testimony of Jesus Christ, well, this is what's gonna happen from time to time. You're not gonna get out of it at the end without facing some of this. So that's worth thinking about as well. Okay, but these guys didn't compromise. They could have come up with justifications. Actually no a lady, this is crazy. She went to North Korea. One of these little tourist jones, which I'm no interest in doing. But she did do this and it was like one of the Kim Jong someone's birthday or something. And they had to go up to this statue and like literally bow to the statue. And so this tourist group was ushered to the statue and had to go up and bow to the statue. I'm like, oh, we didn't do that. Did she just like, yeah, I did. I was like, huh? And because I was thinking to myself, what would I do in that situation? I'd be straight off to the Gulag because you can't do it. And she was, oh no, she says, I just prayed to God in my head as I did it. I was like, oh, Daniel three. Anyone? Like these guys, it's interesting. See how you can talk yourself into things. Like you can look at something and take it for its blunt reality, which is this is wrong. Like these people are being forced about to a dictator like Nebuchadnezzar tried to do. But then you can sort of start to think on it and philosophize about it and work your way into some kind of head space where it's like, oh no, it'll be fine if I like sin and do the right thing at the same time. They'd be fine, right? And I didn't say anything because I actually didn't know what to say at the time. It was a few years ago, but I just have thought about that often since. And it's interesting. I have another friend who was in North Korea. He was there for diplomacy purposes. And the same thing happened, but he didn't bow. He just walked up the statue and stood there and then kept going. And nothing happened to him. So I bet his heart was in his mouth that day. But, you know, so if you ever think of going to North Korea, which is bad, I didn't mind. Things should go rather wrong. I want to say a few things. First of all, in these situations, if you're starting to make it complicated in your head and you're moving away from the simple elementary principle of the situation, just be careful. We can play all sorts of mind games with ourselves. And it could just be the serpent saying, has God really set? Really? Really? And people do this over and over again until they justify everything that's antibiblical. And you'll find with a lot of liberal Christians, a lot of people who are like pro-LGBT and pro-LGBT. You follow their socials and it's always just casting down, always casting down. They rarely have an articulated, specific application of theology. They simply say, but Jesus loved everyone. Like, there doesn't mean anything about homosexuality. Literally nothing, but it casts doubt. It's muddying the waters. It's confusing. And you see this all the time. And it's a satanic impulse to deceive and confuse. Has God really said, careful. Keep it simple, stupid. Right? You're familiar with that saying? Be careful now. I'm not calling you all stupid. I'm just-- it's just the saying. Second, don't overthink outcomes when it's a question of obedience. In life, it's very wise to do things today in order to have a good outcome tomorrow. We think that way. Cause and effect. That's wisdom. Proverbs is all about that. Do the right thing here and this good thing will happen. That's a pattern of life. It's a rhythm of life. But when it comes to obedience to God, we've got to kind of shelve that and say, look, outcomes need to just go to one side for a second. I need to do the right thing. Cause in that moment, you're trusting God for what's next. And it puts it in his hands. And that's right. And Daniel and his friends did that every time. They just trusted God, did the right thing. There's another great tip for these situations. A third tip is that, don't forget-- and I think this comes out in Daniel 6 as well-- don't forget the element of testimony. It's important, John says the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Don't forget what the world sees in you. Now, when we were growing up, a lot was made of having a good testimony and not doing certain things because not because you were actually sinning, but because it was a bad testimony. And you see this in Daniel, especially in Daniel 6, if Daniel had drawn those curtains for 30 days and kept praying, you could kind of understand that. Here's a guy trying to avoid the lions, Den. But he's still praying to God. He's just saying, I'm going to have to do this a little more quietly for 30 days. But Daniel knew that there was a question of testimony involved in all of this. And these guys, when they come to Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 3, they could have said to him, freedom of speech, man, freedom of religion, or you have idols, and we have our God, and we should all just worship the same. But they're like, no, we serve the living God. And he will-- he actually is greater than you in Nebuchadnezzar, because that was his problem. There's this testimony element. They never let people not see who they are and what they stand for. Don't forget that. And bowing to an idol while praying in your head, well, it's a bad testimony, apart from anything else. You know, think that through. And think through what it means I've had to do this in the days of my public figure work. I had to think a lot about what people saw, because everywhere I went, it was a weird feeling. I was being watched. And you have to think very carefully about what people are seeing, not just what you're actually doing. Jesus says, you're the light of the world. A city said on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. They're in height away. They don't make sure no one can see. But on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, he says, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Their testimony was strong. And you'll find, as it was the case with them, God helped them. And I told you that story already, didn't I? Well, I didn't tell you a story, but I told you already that principle, where we might think we couldn't do that. And the answer is no, you can't. But God can, Christ can, Christ has done it. And so if we take that step of trust in the moment, you'll find you get what you need to do it. It's a great story on this. I've forgotten his name. Are you familiar with Fox's Book of Marders? I think the story is in Fox's Book of Marders. There's a martyr whose name escapes me. But he was going to be burnt at the stake and he was under house arrest before he was to be burnt at the stake. And he was thinking, this very thing to himself, who was thinking, can I even do this? Like, is it possible? And there was a stove, a wood burning stove in the house that he was in. And he shoved his hand into the stove, just to be like, how bad is it going to be? And of course, he recoiled in total pain and agony. And he thought to himself, I can't do it. But the record is that he went to the stake the next day, singing hymns, and he died singing when the flames consumed him. And the lesson is, don't judge what you could do for God tomorrow based on who you are today. All right, don't make that mistake. Who you focus more, like I told with the Ray Bolt story, on what you need to do for God today. And he'll help you to do it. Tomorrow's problems, well, you'll solve those when they come, right? And he'll give you the grace that you need. Thank you for listening to this episode. More content from this series on the Book of Daniel will be released in the coming weeks, alongside the usual teaching material from the Book of Revelation. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]