Three Names High on the Muster Roll

Three Names High on the Muster Roll

(No. 2217)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, AUGUST 16, 1891,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, O
Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter. If it
is so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning
fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hands, O king. But if
not, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods,
nor worship the golden image which you ha ve set up." Daniel 3:16-18.

IF YOU read the second chapter of the Book of Daniel, you will think
that Nebuchadnezzar was not far from the Kingdom of God. His dream had
troubled him, but Daniel had explained it. Then the king made this
confession to Daniel, "Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of
gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing you could
reveal this secret." He acknowledged that Jehovah, the God of the Jews,
was the greatest of gods, and was a great interpreter of secrets, but
in a short time we find this man setting up an idol and persecuting to
the death those who would not worship it. He seems, indeed, to have
turned the blessing into a curse, and made the image of his dream the
pattern of the idol he set up for the nation to worship, thus making
that through which God had graciously revealed His power and wisdom,
the very instrument of his folly and vainglory.

Man's proud heart is the same in all generations and the same thing
happens even today. Have you not seen in your time men seriously
impressed? They could not hold their own. They seemed stricken down by
the force of the Truth of God and you felt almost sure that they would
become, like Saul of Tarsus, true converts, and even Apostles of the
faith. But after a while they forgot it, forgot it all, and became, at
last, the most bitter and determined opponents of the Truth of God
before which they seemed once to bow. Every minister who has a
congregation of any considerable size must have met with such people. I
remember one who, being at a Prayer Meeting where there was much
wrestling power with God, was so overcome that he prayed aloud and
seemed to cry with all his heart for mercy–and before he left, he said
that he had found it. But the next day he declared that he would never
go to such a meeting again–that he had been almost caught, but he
would not trust himself in such society any more.

And I fear that he never did, for he could always speak with great
severity against the people who met for prayer and were earnest in the
faith. We know, then, what to expect–that some who seem like fish
almost landed, will, nevertheless, slip back into the stream–that it
will happen unto them according to the true proverb, "The dog is turned
to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in
the mire." They will go out from us because they are not of us, and the
last state of such men will be worse than the first.

This great king of Babylon was an absolute monarch. His will was law.
No man ever dared to dispute with him. Who would differ from a
gentleman who could back up his arguments with a fiery furnace, or with
a threat to cut you in pieces and to make your house a dunghill? And
now, when it comes to this, that he sets up a god of his own, a huge
colossal statue, and gathers all the princes and potentates of his
world-wide dominion together to bow down before this image, it seems a
strange thing to him that there should be anybody found who would not
do so!

And yet there were three Jews who mastered him! Once before they had
broken the laws of his court and refused to eat unclean meat–and
though they ate nothing but vegetables and water, "At the end of ten
days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all
the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat." Having
stood firm for the right, before, they were the bolder to face the more
terrible ordeal. The king himself had exalted them in the land and he
expected them, of course, to do his bidding and set an example to
others. But these three of the despised race of the

Jews were unconquerable even by the master of the whole world! They
stood out before Nebuchadnezzar and carried their point for God and for
conscience.

As we dwell upon this deed of noble heroism, may we become sharers in
the courage and faith of these men whose names stand high on the roll
of worthies in the Kingdom of God! Thirteen times their names recur in
this chapter, like a refrain to the song which speaks of their deed of
valor.

Notice, first, the excuses they might have made. Secondly, the
confidence they possessed. And thirdly, the determination at which they
had arrived.

I. First of all, as we think of these three brave Jews, let us consider
THE EXCUSES THEY MIGHT HAVE MADE. They were accused by the Chaldeans
who had so recently been saved from death by Daniel and his three
friends. The surest way to be hated by some people is to place them
under an obligation. "What favor have I ever done him, that he should
hate me so?" said one. But in this case the wrath of man was to praise
God. The incensed monarch called the offenders before him and, scarcely
believing that in his realm any could have defied his authority, he put
the alternative plainly before them. "Here is the golden image; you
three Jews are to bow down before it. If you do not, there is the
burning fiery furnace–and into that you shall be cast at once. What is
your answer?"

They might have said to themselves, "It is perfectly useless to resist.
We cannot contend against this man. If we submit, we do it unwillingly
and surely, being coerced into it, we shall be but little blamed. A man
cannot be expected to knock his head against a brick wall, nor throw
his life away and, therefore, we will bow our heads, as the rest of the
multitude have done, and worship the image which Nebuchadnezzar the
king has set up." It is a bad excuse, but it is one that I have often
heard made. "Oh," says a man, "we must live, you know; we must live." I
really do not see any necessity for it. We must die, but whether we
must live or not, depends upon a great many things, and it is
infinitely better to die than to sink your manhood and to violate your
conscience at a tyrant's bidding!

Again, they might have said, "We are in a strange land, and is it not
written by one of our wise men, 'When you are in Babylon, you must do
as Babylon does'? "Of course, if we were at home, in Judea, we would
not think of such a thing. We would remember how God has said, 'You
shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make unto you any
graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them.' If we were at
home, we would obey that Law of God, but we are many hundreds of miles
away from Jerusalem, and surely we may be permitted to yield in this
point." Thus have I known many who say they are Christians at home, act
differently when they are abroad. They have not regarded the Sabbath,
neither have they even regarded the decency or the indecency of the
amusements to which they have betaken themselves, because, after all,
they were not at home! "We would not do this in England, but we are in
Paris, you see, and the case is altered," they say. Is the case
altered? Is God the God of this island and not the God of the
Continent? Has He ever given us permission to do abroad what we may not
do at home? It is a vile excuse, but commonly enough made.

They might also have said, "We are officers of the land," and seeing
they were set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, they might
have found some difficulty in detaching their private religion from
their public duty. They were high officials! And what an excuse this is
for a great deal of roguery and trickery everywhere! A man gets elected
to a parish vestry, or a council, or a board–and when he once gets to
sit on that board he seems to have left his honesty at home! I say not
that it is always so, but I am sorry to say that it has often been so.
The official has no sooner put on his robes of office than his
conscience has vanished! But these men were not so foolish as to think
that because they were made rulers in Babylon, they might, therefore,
sin against the Most High God! It is true that they were bound to obey
the lawful orders of their sovereign, but whether it is right to obey
men rather than God, their conscience could easily enough judge. So
they never made that excuse.

But, then, they were prosperous men. They were getting on in the world
and I believe that God sent this trial to Shadrach, Meshach and
Abed-Nego because they were prospering. They might have said, "We must
not throw away our chances." Among the dangers to Christian men, the
greatest, perhaps, is accumulating wealth–the danger of prosperity!
Wesley sometimes used to fear that Christianity was self-destructive,
for when a man becomes a Christian, the blessings of this life are his,
too. He begins to rise in the world. He leaves his old position behind
him and, alas, too often, with increasing riches, forgets the God who
gave him all! There is much truth in this idea and unless the Spirit of
God

abides with His people, we might, indeed, see our faith thus commit
suicide! It is a danger to be guarded against, both by liberal giving
and by frequent intercession!

We often pray for Christians in adversity and it is right that we
should do so, but it is even more necessary to pray for Christians in
prosperity, for they run the risk of gradually becoming soft, like
Hannibal's soldiers destroyed by Capuan holidays, who lost their valor
in their luxury. Many a man who was an out-and-out Christian when he
was lower down in life has, when prosperous, become much too great a
gentleman to associate with those who were his honored Brothers and
Sisters before. I have seen it scores of times and it is a shocking
thing. May God grant that we may never turn His mercies into an excuse
for sinning against Him! You who are rich have no more liberty to sin
than if you were poor. You who rise in the world have no more right to
do wrong than you had when you were down in the world and his lordship
is no more honorable at a prizefight than the bullet-headed boxer! We
must do right! We must never do wrong, or plead our position in
society, or our prosperity in worldly things as a reason why we may do
what others might not

do!

Again, further, they might have excused themselves thus. The putting up
of this image was not altogether a religious act. It was symbolical.
The image was intended to represent the power of Nebuchadnezzar and
bowing before it was, therefore, doing political homage to the great
king. Might they not safely do this? They might have said, "We are
politically bound." Oh, how often we hear this brought up! You are told
to regard the difference between right and wrong everywhere, except
when you get into politics! Then stick to your party through thick and
thin! Right and wrong vanish at once. Loyalty to your leader–that is
the point! Never mind where he leads you, follow him blindly! You are
even told that you may do wrong because it is politically right! I hate
such an argument! These men never, for a moment, entertained that evil
thought! It is true that politics were mixed up with this image, but
whatever might be mixed up with it, they would not worship it, for God
had said, "You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them,"
and these sturdy Believers would do nothing of the kind under any
pretense whatever.

A very soothing salve for their conscience might have been found in the
absence of any command to renounce their own religion. They might have
encouraged each other to submit, by saying, "We are not called upon to
deny our God." They need not believe the idol to be divine, nor confess
the least faith in it–in their hearts they might make a mental
reservation as they bowed–and they might have whispered to one another
and said that it was a devil, and not God. They might have excused
themselves to their own conscience by saying that they prostrated
themselves to the music and not to the idol–or that they made
obeisance to the king rather than to his image. In fact, if their
consciences had been as elastic as some modern ones, though that was
hardly possible, as the virtues of India rubber were scarcely known,
then, they might have said that, in bowing down before the image, they
were praying to Jehovah, since He might be worshipped anywhere and
under any circumstances! They might have said that, although they
looked at the image, they did not worship it. But beyond the glitter of
its gold, their thoughts rose to the God of Glory. Anything, in fact,
will serve for an excuse, when the heart is bent on compromise and,
especially in these half-hearted days, it is very easy to find a
specious reason for a false action if some temporal benefit is attached
to it! Modern charity manufactures a multitude of excuses with which to
cover sins.

A stronger argument, however, might have been secured from the fact of
the universal submission to the decree. "Everybody else is doing it,"
they might have said. That morning, when the rising sun was saluted by
the strains from those varied instruments of music from Persia, Greece
and Babylon–when all the music of the world seemed gathered
together–everybody bowed. There were Jews there, thousands of
them–and they all bowed. There were fire worshippers there–men who
hated the worship of graven images–but they all bowed. There were men
there who had gods of their own which they reverenced–but they all
bowed before Nebuchadnezzar's god. "What a singular being you must be
to stand out against the fashion of the time!" the tempter might have
said. "Your own countrymen have bowed and you will not–better men than
you, let me tell you, have bowed, but you will not!"

No, they will not, these three singularities, these strange
eccentricities! It is folly to be singular except when to be singular
is to be right! And to be eccentric is not commendable unless the
eccentricity consists in not being concentric with any kind of evil
way! In spite of all the apostate crowds, these brave men would not
yield–not they! Though millions bowed, what had that to do with them?
My dear Hearers, I ask you to cultivate a brave personality. In the
service of

God, things cannot go by the counting of heads. You must follow the
Lord's will wherever it leads you, whether you go alone or not–

"Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone."

They might have said, "It is only for once, and not for long. Ten
minutes or so, once in a lifetime, to please the king– such a trivial
act cannot make any difference. At any rate, it is not enough to brave
the fiery furnace for. Let us treat the whole thing as a huge jest. It
would be ridiculous to throw away our lives for such a trifle." Have
you never heard such arguments in these days? This indulgent 19th
Century has plenty of easy maxims of a very similar sort. In the
supreme hour many fail because the trial is seemingly so small. They
mean to stand for God, but this is scarcely the right time! They will
wait and choose a more worthy occasion, when something really heroic
can be attempted. Were they to stand for such a little thing, the world
would laugh with derision at such a straining out of a gnat! So Adam
eats the apple, Esau the pottage and the one temptation, unresisted,
issues in life-long loss! Not even for a few minutes in a lifetime
would these three brave men deny their God. May their stubborn faith be
ours!

Another excuse that they might have made was, "We can do more good by
living than we can by being cast into that furnace. It is true, if we
are burned alive, we bear a rapid testimony to the faith of God, but if
we live, how much more we might accomplish! You see, we three are Jews,
and we are put in high office–and there are many poor Jews who are
captives. We can help them. We have already done so. We have always
seen justice done to God's people, our fellow countrymen, and we feel
that we are raised to our high office on purpose to do good. Now, you
see, if you make us bigots and will not let us yield, you cut short our
opportunities of usefulness."

Ah, my dear Brothers and Sisters, there are many that are deceived by
this method of reasoning! They remain where their conscience tells them
they ought not to be, because, they say, they are more useful than they
would be if they went "outside the camp." This is doing evil that good
may come and can never be tolerated by an enlightened conscience! If an
act of sin would increase my usefulness tenfold, I have no right to do
it! And if an act of righteousness would appear likely to destroy all
my apparent usefulness, I am to do it! It is yours and mine to do the
right, though the heavens fall–and follow the command of Christ
whatever the consequences may be. "That is strong meat," do you say? Be
strong men, then, and feed on it.

But they might also have said, "Really, this is more than can be
expected of us. If we had been asked to contribute our tithe to the
support of the religion of Jehovah, we would cheerfully do so, but to
yield our lives in this horrible way, to be cast into a burning fiery
furnace is more than flesh and blood can bear!" Yes, and some of us
could not answer that argument, for, perhaps, it is pressing upon
ourselves. Remember what Jesus said to the multitudes who went with
Him, "If any man come to Me and hate not his father, and mother, and
wife, and children, and brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life,
also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and
come after Me, cannot be My disciple." We must stand to a full
surrender and say, "Let it cost what it may, I make no exception. I
take all risks. I will follow Christ, the Lamb, wherever He goes, even
should I die while I am following Him!" He that does not come to that
has not taken the position which Christ demands of us–and which His
Holy Spirit must work in us before we are fully converted to the faith.
"Strong language again," says one. God make you strong enough to apply
it to yourself!

Thus I have set before you the excuses that these three Jews, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-Nego, might have made.

II. In the second place, let us assure our own hearts by admiring THE
CONFIDENCE WHICH THEY POSSESSED. They expressed it very emphatically
and clearly. They had a very definite, solid, foursquare faith.

First, they said, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you
in this matter." The word, "careful," there, does not give you the
meaning. Read it, "We are not full of care as to how to answer you."
They did answer very carefully, but they were not anxious about the
answer. It was not a thing that troubled them in the least. They knew
what they were going to say. They did not deliberate. They did not
hesitate. They said, "Nebuchadnezzar, we can answer you at once on that
point." They were so calm, so self-collected, that they could talk to
him, not as a king, but as Nebuchadnezzar. When it came to life-work,
it was man to man, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego to
Nebuchadnezzar–and they told him that they had no difficulty in
answering him.

In the second place, they did not judge it theirs to answer at all. I
find that it may be read, as in the Revised Version, "O Nebuchadnezzar,
we have no need to answer you in this matter," meaning, "We will not
answer you. It is not for us

to answer you. You have brought another Person into the quarrel." Let
me read the words that precede my text. Nebuchadnezzar said to them,
"Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" In effect,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego replied, "It is not for us to answer
you. There is Another that will do that. You have challenged God and
God shall make His own reply." It was bravely spoken. They threw the
onus of this matter upon God, Himself! So may you. If you will do
right, it is God's affair to see you through. You have nothing to do
with the consequences, except patiently to bear them–the consequences
must be with God. Only you do right. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and obey Him and keep the command of the Most High, and then whatever
comes of it, it is no fault of yours. That must be left with God.

Then notice what they say. "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us
from the burning fiery furnace." They avowed their faith in the
Omnipotent God, knowing that if He chose, no mighty man of Babylon
could ever throw them into that furnace. The furnace itself must die
down and become cool as ice if God so wills it. They tell the tyrant to
his face, enveloped as he was in the flame of his wrath, that God can
save them out of the fire. Their God was almighty and they put their
trust in Him.

What is more, they add, "And He will deliver us out of your hands, O
king." Whether they burned in the fire or not, they were sure they
would be delivered. "If we die, we shall be out of your reach, but we
may not die. We may live beyond your reach! You have asked the
question, 'Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?' and
we answer you, 'Our God will deliver us out of your hands, O king.'"

Now, Beloved Friends, if any of you are in great difficulty and
trouble, tempted to do wrong, no, pressed to do it, and if you do what
is right, it looks as if you will be great losers and great
sufferers–believe this–God can deliver you! He can prevent your
having to suffer what you suppose you may and if He does not prevent
that, He can help you to bear it and, in a short time, He can turn all
your losses into gains, all your sufferings into happiness! He can make
the worst thing that can happen to you to be the very best thing that
ever happened to you! If you are serving God, you are serving an
Omnipotent Being, and that Omnipotent Being will not leave you in the
time of difficulty, but He will come to your rescue! Many of us can say
with Paul, "We trust not in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead:
who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver: in whom we
trust that He will yet deliver us."

The Lord has helped us in the past, He is helping us in the present and
we believe that He will help us all the way through. He will help you,
too, if you just follow His Word and, by a simple faith, do the right
thing. I believe that we have reason to expect interpositions of
Providence to help us when we are called to suffer for Christ's sake.

III. But here is the point that I want to make most prominent–the
third one–THE DETERMINATION AT WHICH THEY ARRIVED. "If not," if God
does not deliver us at all, "be it known unto you, O king, that we will
not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set
up." Grand language! Noble resolve! "If not, if we have to go into the
fire, into the fire we will go, but we will never bow the knee to an
idol." So these gracious Jews were enabled to say!

They did not base their loyalty to God upon their deliverance. They did
not say, as some do, "I will serve God if it pays me to do so. I will
serve God if He helps me at such and such a time." No, they would serve
Him for nothing! Theirs was not cupboard love. "If not, if He does not
deliver us, if it is His will that we should be burned alive, we
surrender ourselves to His will, but we will not break His Divine
command, or make idolaters of ourselves by bowing before an image which
has no life in it, which could not even set itself up, but which
Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up."

They resolved that they would obey God at all costs. Now, I knew a
young man, once, to whom a certain ordinance of Christ was made known
as being Scriptural, but as far as he could see, if he followed that
ordinance, every door would be shut against him. If he was bold to do
as he thought he ought to do, according to his Master's command and
example, it would be the ruin of everything! Well, he did it, and it
was not the ruin of anything–and if he had to do such a thing again a
hundred times over, he thanks God that he would do it. There is such
sweetness in having to make some sacrifice for God. There is such a
heavenly recompense, that one almost envies the martyrs! Rather than
pity their sufferings, one feels an intense longing that such honor had
been ours and that we had had the moral courage and holy stamina to
suffer for God even as they suffered. Who among the bright ones are the
brightest in the land of light? They that wear the ruby crown of
martyrdom most certainly lead the van, for they suffered, even to the
death, for their Lord. O Friends, it is a

glorious thing when we make no calculation of costs, but with our whole
heart and soul follow the Lamb wherever He leads us!

Let us walk in this heroic path. But some will say, "It is too hard.
You cannot expect men to love God well enough to die for Him." No, but
there was One who loved us well enough to die for us, and to die a
thousand deaths in one, that He might save us. If Christ so loved us,
we ought so to love Him. "Well," says one, "I think it is impossible. I
could not bear pain." It is possible, for many have endured it! I
remember that one of the martyrs who was to be burned on the following
morning, thought that he would test himself–and there being a large
stove in the cell, he put his foot into it to see whether he could bear
to have it burnt–and soon shrank back. Therein he was foolish, for
when he went out the next morning to stand on the firewood and burn, he
stood like a man and burnt bravely to the death for his Master! The
fact was, his Lord did not call him to burn his foot in the stove, and
so He did not help him to bear it. But when He called him to give his
whole body to the flames, then Divine Grace was given.

There is a story of a martyred woman who had a child born to her a few
days before she was burnt and, being in great pain, she cried aloud.
One said to her, "If you cannot bear this, what will you do when you
come to burn?" She said, "Now you see the pains of nature which befall
a woman and I have not patience enough to bear them. But by-and-by you
shall see Christ in His members suffering and you shall see what
patience He will have, and what patience He will give to me." It is
recorded of her that she seemed as if she had no pain at all when she
yielded herself up to Christ. Do not judge, by what you are, today,
what you would do if you were called into trouble! Divine Grace would
be given to you. I have no doubt that many of the most timid of those
who truly love the Lord would be the very bravest–while some who think
they would be brave would be the very first to start back. You may
never be called to such a trial as that, but still, if you cannot bear
the small trials, how would you bear the great ones?

"I cannot bear to be laughed at," says one. But though there is
something cruel about mocking, it does not break anybody's bones. And
being laughed at–well, really, I have sometimes thought, when I have
seen a good joke cracked over my poor head, that there is so much
misery in the world that if I might be the cause of making a little
more mirth, I should be glad. And even if it is told against me, if it
made somebody feel a little merrier, it was not a matter for great
sorrow. And then you go into the workshop and they point at you and
say, "There comes a canting Methodist!" Remember, that is the way in
which the world pays homage to Christianity! If there is anything
genuine in the Christian religion, the world pays its respect by
laughing at it and caricaturing it. Accept their compliments, not as
they intend them, but as you choose to read them, and you will not be
grieved.

You, Shadrach, not afraid of a burning fiery furnace, are surely not
going to be frightened by the laughter of a silly boy or girl in the
workshop! Alas, this unworthy fear enters into all relationships! I
have known men afraid of their wives! I have known fewer wives,
however, afraid of their husbands, for they are generally bold for
Christ and can suffer for His name's sake. I have known children afraid
of their parents and some poor parents, six feet high, afraid of their
children! Oh, what poor worms it makes of us when we begin to be afraid
of our fellow creatures! Do right and fear noth-ing–and God will help
you.

To enable us to get the spirit of these three holy men, we must get,
first, a clear sense of the Divine Presence. If a man feels that God is
watching him, he will not bow his knee to an idol. Neither will he do
evil, for God's eye is upon him. He will endure, "as seeing Him who is
invisible." And though the floods of ungodly men lift themselves up, he
will remember the Lord who sits upon the floodwaters and is higher than
they. The man who realizes God's Presence is, by that invisible
Companionship, rendered invincible! Greater is He that is for him, than
all that can be against him–

"For right is right, since God is God,

And right the day must win.

To doubt would be disloyalty,

To falter would be sin."

We must, next, have a deep sense of the Divine Law. I have already
reminded you of the Law of God, "You shall have no other gods before
Me. You shall not make unto you any graven image, or any likeness of
anything that is in Heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow down yourself
to them, nor serve them." No Virgin Mary, no cross, no crucifix, no
picture, no image, no visible object is to be regarded with reverence
or worshipped instead of God. All this must be put away! That is clear
enough and, therefore, Shadrach, Me-

shach, and Abed-Nego, feeling that God was near and knowing what God's
Law was, dared not violate that Law of God, but would sooner die.

Above all, to keep us right, we must have a mighty sense of the Divine
love. We shall never obey God till, by His Grace, we have new hearts
and those hearts are full of love to Him through Jesus Christ. Then, if
you love Him, you will say, "What? Put an image of gold in His place?
Never! Join the multitude in worshipping a colossal statue instead of
the invisible Jehovah? Never!" With holy indignation you will choose
the furnace of fire rather than have that purer flame which glows in
your heart quenched, or made to burn dimly.

To some of you this must seem very trifling because, you say, "I do not
care about religious forms and ceremonies. Let me enjoy myself while I
am here–that is all I ask." Well, you have made your bargain and a
sorry one it is! If this life is all, how ought a man to live? I am
sure I cannot tell you. Perhaps the wisest thing of all is, "Let us eat
and drink, for tomorrow we die." But there is another world and a life
beyond! And it is sometimes incomparably wise to fling this life away
that we may win the life eternal! Our Lord often reminded His hearers
of this great Truth, "He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that
hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal."

"But what did these three men do?" asks one. "They simply did not bow
their heads and they were cast into the fiery furnace. What did they
do?" They influenced their age, their people and all time. These three
men influenced the city of Babylon and the whole Babylonian empire!
They certainly influenced King Nebuchadnezzar. They influenced the next
age and, to this hour, the influence of their brave stand for God in
His eternal Unity and for the non-worship of any visible thing has held
the Hebrew race firmly to this one point! It was principally through
these three men that the whole Jewish people were taught their deep
hatred of everything like idol-worship. And they were, by such men as
these, and some who followed after, weaned from their tendency to
wander after idols–and tethered fast to the worship of Jehovah, the
one living and true God. Would God that the Jews as a nation went
further and knew our Lord Jesus Christ!

Still, it is something that they are yet alive upon the earth bearing
witness that there is but one God, Creator of Heaven and earth, who
only is to be worshipped. More than that, the influence of these three
men lives in this audience and will live in thousands of audiences in
days to come. Does it not make your pulse race? Does it not make your
heart leap within you? Have you not said to yourselves, "This is a
noble example"? Oh, that we may rise to it! In an age like ours, when
everything is sold, when you can buy anybody, when the flute, harp,
sackbut, dulcimer and all kinds of music carry everything before them,
when a mask and a visor will infatuate even a saint–it is time that
there were some men of the stern old mold of these three Jews who could
not and would not, yield–whatever might happen. The pillars of the
earth might be dissolved, but these men would still stand upright and
bear the whole world upon their shoulders by the grand power of God
that made them strong.

These three men command the admiration of Heaven and earth. A fool
would have pointed at them and said, "There go three fools–gentlemen
high in office, with large incomes and wives and families. They have
only to take their cap off and they may live in their wealth! But if
they do not, they are to be burnt alive and they will not do it! They
will be burnt alive. They are fools!" Yes, but the Son of God did not
think so. When He, in Heaven, heard them speak thus to King
Nebuchadnezzar, He said, "Brave, brave men! I will leave the Throne of
God in Heaven to go and stand by their side." And invisibly He
descended, till where the fires were glowing like one vast ruby, where
the fierce flame had slain the men that threw the three confessors into
the burning fiery furnace, HE came and stood! And there they walked! It
was the greatest walk that they had ever had! On those burning coals
the four of them were walking together in sweet fellowship! They had
won the admiration and the sympathy of the Son of God who left Heaven,
itself, that He might come and stand side by side with them!

It was, therefore, comparatively a little thing that they won the
admiration of Nebuchadnezzar. That proud imperial tyrant cried to those
about him, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the
fire?" They answered, "True, O King." And he, with his visage white
with ghostly fear, said, "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the
midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God." He himself could not but stand there and,
awestruck, admire these three heroes! And today you do the same. These
three men still live! From the glowing coals their voices call aloud to
us, "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."

To close–if we would be servants of God, we must be Believers in His
Son, Jesus Christ. Come and trust Jesus Christ and you are saved! When
you are truly saved, you are to be saved from all hesitation about
obedience to God–so saved,

that from now on God's Law is your rule. Then, with that holy Law
imperative upon you, you will go forth into the world and say, "It is
not mine to ask what others will do. It is not mine to shape my course
by them, not mine to enquire what will bring me most profit, what will
bring me most honor. It is mine to look up to You, my God, and ask,
'What would You have Me to do? By Your Grace, I will do it at all
costs.'"

I wonder how many young men to whom these words are addressed have
pluck enough in them to come out on Christ's side? I believe that many
young men do not want an easy life. They would rather have a hard time
and a stern battle. We still have brave spirits among us who like to
lead the forlorn hope and are not afraid. I challenge such to come and
serve my Master fully and thoroughly! They shall have a rough time of
it, but they shall have glory, honor and immortality as their reward.
Make a whole burnt offering of yourself, my Brothers and Sisters–body,
soul and spirit–for Christ! These three young men "yielded their
bodies," as we read in the 28th verse. "I beseech you, by the mercies
of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Let the faith
of your spirit carry your whole body with it in hearty obedience to
God's command, and let this be true of you–

"In full and glad surrender,

I give myself to You.

Yours utterly and only

And evermore to be.

OSon of God You love me,

I will be Yours alone!

And all I have, and am, Lord,

Shall henceforth be Your own." But I fear that I speak in vain to many
who will turn away and say, "This world is for me." Well, if you make a
choice of this world and of ease and pleasure for yourself, then you
have chosen Egypt's treasures and you have disdained the reproach of
Christ–and you shall find, one day, how dreadful a folly you have
committed! God grant that you may find it out soon and not in the world
to come! God bless you and save you, for Christ's sake! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–Daniel 3.