Father, we thank You that we can come to You in the times of life that are difficult for us, and we thank You for Your great grace to sustain us in the time of our need.   We do pray for Rodney and his family in the loss of their grandfather, that You would especially be near to them, and they would even discern in this the meaning of life and eternity, the significance of Christ and His resurrection, that they might come to know that eternal life that comes only through faith in Him.

We thank You for Rodney, and we pray that You will bless him even in this time, as well.   And, Lord, as we come together to look at Your Word tonight, we pray with open hearts and open minds, we might be taught of Your Spirit and that we might not be listening to a human voice but that we might hear You speak for Your praise and glory we pray, Amen.

We’re looking at Daniel chapter 3 tonight and it’s going to take us a couple of times to get through this tremendous chapter, an exciting chapter with much truth and many principles to deal with.   And I trust that the Spirit of God will in a very special way make known to you the truths that are here as we go along.   It reiterates some of the principles that we talked about in chapter 1 particularly, and I think you’ll see that as we go along.

In chapter 1 of Daniel, we saw a very severe stress situation which Daniel and his three friends were able to meet with their great faith in God, and we likewise see the same thing happening in chapter 3.   Tonight we want to begin to look at the chapter and we’ll see how far we get along as we go.

I read the other day about a man who, being a very religious man decided that he would purchase a statue of Jesus Christ for his home.   And so he purchased this statue of Christ, he brought it home, and he set it on the coffee table in the living room.   His wife was somewhat distressed, not feeling it went exactly with the decor that was there, removed it to the den.   Later on, the husband moved it again to another area of the house, which finally prompted the two-year-old to say, “Can’t you decide what to do with God?”   Very profound question.

There are a lot of people in the world who can’t decide what to do with God.   What are we going to do with God?   Is the question, really, of chapter 3 of Daniel.   Some people don’t know where to put God and some people do.   And tonight we’re going to find out about one man who did not know where to put God and three men who did.   And it sets for us a rather constant theme throughout Scripture and throughout human history, the conflict between those who give God a rightful place and those who refuse to do that.

Now, let me give you an introduction of some length so that you’ll really have a running start, and then the passage will just unfold for you.   Man is incurably religious.   Man, generally, man is basically is religious.   That’s very obvious as you go around the world.   You find that all peoples, and ethnic groups have some substance of religion.   Man is an incurably religious creature.   He inevitably bows at some shrine.   It is either the worship of the true God or some false substitution, but man is incurably religious.

Romans chapter 1 tells us this, because Romans 1 says that when man “knew God, he glorified Him not as God.”   And turning his back on the true God, he began to worship the creature more than the creator.   And he made gods out of wood and stone, and he began to worship man, and beasts, and creeping things.   In other words, what Romans 1:18-23 is telling us is that man is incurably religious, and if he turns his back on the true God, he will not go into a vacuum, he will create other gods out of snakes, and birds, and beasts, and men.   And he will worship the creature if he does not worship the creator.

Now, whenever man does this and whenever man invents, or concocts, or prescribes, or defines his own god, he makes him into the kind of god he wants him to be.   And there’s an interesting cycle.   He usually becomes like his god.   And so here is man making the god that he wants to exist, and then becoming like that god that he himself has manufactured.

The Old Testament tells us much about man’s religious nature and how he does this.   It is characteristic of man to create a god like himself and then become more and more like that god.   This way he accommodates his sinfulness.   You see, the difficulty with worshiping the true God is you have to face the reality of your inadequacy and your sinfulness.   So if you reject that, you invent a god who is a lot like you, and it’s a lot easier to live with that kind of a god.

In Psalm 115, we get a little bit of an insight into how man does this.   It says, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy and for Thy truth’s sake.”   The psalm begins with a statement that God is to be glorified.   “Wherefore should the nations say, Where is now their god?   But our God is in the heavens:   he hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.   Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.   They have mouths, but they speak not:   eyes have they, but they see not:   they have ears, but they hear not:   noses have they, but they smell not:   they have hands, but they handle not:   feet have they, but they walk not:   neither speak they through their throat.   They who make them are like unto them:   so is everyone who trusteth in them.”

You see?   They make them and they’re like them.   Men invent gods of their own making.   The Bible says, “God created man in His own image.”   But man creates gods in his own image - the ultimate rebellion, man inventing his own gods.

Now, there is then a constant conflict in the world, and that constant conflict is between the worship of the true God and the worship of the false gods made out of the imagination and the mind of man.   And deities made by man always express the sinfulness of man, always.   Now I don’t have time to go into this.   Sometime we should do a study on idolatry and really get in it in detail.   But just to give you an illustration, whenever men invent gods, those gods mirror the deficiencies and the sins of men.

For example, in reading the Old Testament you come repeatedly across a god known as Baal, B-A-A-L.   Now Baal is not really a proper name.   It is a word that simply means “lord,” and there were many baals, many lords, many pagan gods.   And as you study the baals of ancient history, you find that they inevitably carried out the sinfulness of men in their character.

For example, just one illustration, it was believed of the Canaanites and the people around Israel that Baal was the force behind sexual power in the man and the woman.   Baal was the power behind the sexual part of human nature.   And so therefore any sexual act became a performance of the power of Baal.   All sex relations, then, according to those who worshiped Baal became sacred acts because they then became demonstrations of this great force of the god Baal.

Now, the temples of Baal were then occupied by priestesses who were known as “sacred prostitutes.”   The Hebrew in Hosea 4:14 even calls them by the root word of “holy women.”   They actually were considered to be holy women because Baal was believed to be active in the sexual act itself, and so worship, then, became a sexual act with a temple prostitute.   To have intercourse, then, with a temple prostitute was to be united in power with Baal, a very consummate act of worship.

Now, that is the way man invents his gods, to accommodate his own vile sinfulness.   Inevitably, people - now get this - when men invent gods, those gods will lead men into immorality because they will be gods that reflect the sinfulness of the men who invented them.   That is exactly why in Romans chapter 1, you have the fact that when they knew not God, or “when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God.”   They changed the glory of God into an image.   They made their own idols.   And immediately in verse 24 you read this, “Wherefore God also let them go into uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.”

In other words, you have the rejection of the true God in verse 21.   You have the establishment of the false gods in verse 22 and 23.   And you have the consequent immorality in verse 24.   And it goes all the way down to verse 32.   It talks about God giving them up to vile affections.   It talks about homosexuality.   It talks about a burning in lust one toward another.   It talks about unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maligning, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, and so forth.   And all of those are simply representations of the kind of worship that man himself builds.   And when man does that, it says that he not only does them, but has pleasure in them that do them.

Idolatry is always an abandonment to an immoral standard.   Idolatry in the Old Testament even goes under the name of a-whoring.   It says Israel went a-whoring.   It says Israel committed adultery, because that kind of prostitution was so integral to idolatry.

Now, idolatry, then, is the corruption of true worship.   And from the very beginning, man has always set up his false gods, and the running conflict has gone on through all of human history, the conflict between the worship of the true God and the worship of false gods.   In fact, let me say something that’s kind of a basic statement you ought to remember.   Idolatry is the most basic issue about which God is concerned.   Did you get that?   Idolatry is the most basic issue in terms of the life of man in which God is concerned.

You say, “How do you know that?   How do you know He’s more concerned about that than other things?”   Because it says so in Exodus chapter 20.   That is the first of the ten commandments that the Lord gave and it relates to idolatry.   Exodus 20:3-4, listen.   “Thou shalt - ” here’s the first commandment.   “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.   Thou shalt not make unto thee any carved image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:   Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:   for I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children under the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy to thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.”

All right?   There you have the first and the second commandment.   The first one, have no other gods before Me.   The second one, make no graven image.   The primary issue, then, in the ten commandments, the beginning of it all, is the affirmation that there is to be no god substituted for the true God.   That is God’s basic concern in His dealing with man.

And Romans 1 charts the course for us, traces the appalling shipwreck that results when God is thrown overboard.   When you abandon God, and you turn God loose, and you let God go, and you turn your back, then you invent your own gods because man is incurably religious, and in inventing his own gods he makes gods like himself, he becomes more like them, and damns his own soul in the process.

Now, Exodus chapter 20 says, “Thou art to have no gods before Me.”   Isaiah tells us again and again in chapter 43 and around that area that there is none other but the true God.   In Deuteronomy, “the Lord our God is one” Lord.   The Bible explicitly says there are no other gods but the true God.   The Bible crushes literally all idols, whether they are idols of stone, idols of wood, idols of metal, or idols of the mind, or idols of the heart, or idols of the emotions; whether they are tangible or intangible, whether they are external or internal; all idols are crushed in the statement of God “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image.”   And yet, though this is the first and primary commandment of the Scriptures, it is a looming reality in all of human history.   Man inevitably continues this flight into idolatry.

Leslie Flynn states it so well.   He says, “Like the flow of a river which cannot be stopped but which can be diverted, the yearning of man’s soul for an object of worship can easily turn from the true God to another god.”

So, the Scripture over, and over, and over, and over forbids idolatry, forbids it.   Now let me give you a sample of what the Scripture teaches so you’ll understand a little bit of what Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, the three Hebrews that you know as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, their Babylonian names, so that you’ll understand why they stood the way they stood.

They knew that idolatry was unacceptable to God.   They knew that they could not please God and bow down to the image of gold erected in chapter 3.   And why did they know that?   Because the Word of God was so very explicit.   And though they didn’t have the whole revelation of God as we do, they had enough of it to know.

Let me run by you some of the things that the Scripture says about idolatry, and it’s going to come pretty quick, just listen.   I’m not even going to give you the Scriptures.   I just want you to get it kind of like a machine gun.   Idolatry consists - and here are a list of things that I found in the Scripture - idolatry consists of:   Bowing down to images, worshiping images, sacrificing to images, worshiping other gods, swearing by other gods, walking after other gods, speaking in the name of other gods, looking to other gods, serving other gods, fearing other gods, sacrificing to other gods, worshiping the true God by an image, worshiping angels, worshiping the hosts of heaven, worshiping devils, worshiping dead men, setting up idols in the heart, covetousness, sensuality.   Because all of these things change the glory of God into an image.

In the Bible, idolatry is described in these terms.   It is an abomination to God, in Deuteronomy 7:25; it is hateful to God, in Deuteronomy 16:22; it is vain and foolish, Psalm 115; it is bloody, Ezekiel 23; it is abominable, I Peter 4; it is unprofitable, Judges 10:14; it is irrational, Romans chapter 1; it is defiling, Ezekiel 20:7.   You kind of get the picture that it’s not good, don’t you?

Another thought, idolatry results in men doing the following:   Idolatry makes men forget God, go astray from God, pollute the name of God, defile the sanctuary of God, estrange themselves from God, forsake God, hate God, and provoke God.   And the Bible says that idolatry will be punished with:   A judicial death, a dreadful judgment which ends in death, banishment, exclusion from heaven, and eternal torment.

Now, that’s pretty serious stuff.   God has said an awful lot about idolatry.   And because of its seriousness, you can reduce the warnings in the Bible down to three simple statements.   When it comes to idolatry you are to do three things.   Number one is to flee, 1 Corinthians 10:14, flee idols, flee from idols.   Number two is to avoid idols, 1 Corinthians 10:10-20, have no fellowship at all with the table of demons.   To flee, to avoid, the third one is to stay away from them. First John 5:21, “My little children, keep yourselves from idols.”   What does the Bible say?   Flee, avoid, and stay away, and they all basically mean the same thing.   Idols have no place.   And it’s a very, very serious matter to God, the matter of idolatry.

You say, “Well, you know, we don’t have any idols.   I mean, we don’t - this is a very sophisticated 20th century.”   Yes, we do, and I’m sure you’re aware that we have idols.   The presence of idolatry is great even in our sophisticated society.   Even in a society that is supposed to be Christian with biblical backgrounds, and the presence of churches, and the name of Christ, and God, and all that Christian influence can bring to bear on our society, we still are a society literally filled with idols.

Because, as I said, idolatry may be external in some societies, but in other societies it is internal.   There are millions of people in our society who would never ever think of bowing their knee to a stone thing.   You know, that would just seem ridiculous to them, or bowing down to some wood, or bowing down to some metal.   But they spend all their life bowing down to some empty, useless god established in their own mind or in their own heart.

And an idol, frankly folks, is anything you put before God.   It can be your car, it could be your hobby, your house, your wife, or anybody else, or any other item - your bankbook.   A few years ago Christianity Today asked a panel of Christian scholars this question.   What are the most prevalent gods of our time?   Those mentioned included many things:   The anti-Christian welfare state, scientism, communism, political democracy, nationalism, conservatism, social adjustment, behaviorism, secularism, humanism, naturalism, and the cult of progress.   More personal idols were listed by Dr. Andrew Blackwood, professor emeritus of Princeton, he said, “America has these following gods:   Self, money, pleasure, sex, romance, amusements, sports, education.”   And he added, “We need a return to the first commandment in the light of the cross.”

Now, if I were to take the 20th century idols and boil them back down a little bit, you might get them in a list like this.   First of all, we worship the god of possessions, don’t we?   Possessions usurp the place of God.   Do you spend more time thinking about possessions than you do about God?   Do you spend more of your energy, more of your resources on possessions than you do on God?   It’s a good indication that you’ve got a problem in that area.

“The principle god of our times,” says Dr. W. Stanford Reid of McGill University, “is our standard of living.   We are so concerned with material possessions that we have forgotten they are a gift of God.”

That’s kind of what we were saying this morning.   So one of the 20th century idols is possessions.   Another one is plenty, plenty, love of money.   Colossians 3 says,   “Covetousness is idolatry.”   When you covet it, you worship it.   Another one is pride.   And covetousness, by the way, or plenty, I think about the rich man and the bigger barns don’t you?   I’ll just build bigger barns, and bigger barns, and store all my crop.   And the Lord says, “You fool.   Tonight your soul will be required of you.”   And you can’t make it living on eat, drink and be merry.   So, possessions and plenty.

And then pride.   I guess the main god of our society is the love of self.   And we could say people are a god in our society.   Some people idolize a child.   They literally worship their child.   It becomes perverse, the attitude they have.   Some people worship a mate.   Others worship a lover.   Some worship a friend.

In contrast to that, don’t you love to see Hannah, who all for so long had prayed and just begged God to give her a son, and God gave her a son, and then she didn’t worship the child so that the child stood before God.   She gave the child to the Lord and walked away and said, “That’s the way it ought to be because that’s the best place for the child.”

And I think about Abraham, who waited, and waited, and waited until he was 100 years old to have a son, and then God said, “I want that son, and I want him on an altar, and I want him dead.”   And Abraham said, “All right, God, I love that son.   I don’t worship that son above You, and if You say, ‘slay him,’ I’ll slay him.

But we make gods out of people.   We make gods out of pride.   We make gods out of plenty.   We make gods out of possessions.   And I’m not saying you shouldn’t love people, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t be committed to your family, your children, and your wife.

Kind of an interesting story, Charles Spurgeon, just before he got married - and I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to be married to him - but, before he got married, he had picked up his fiancee to take her to a place where he was going to preach.   And they were separated in the jostling in the crowd and they were kind of lost and thousands of people were pushing in to hear him preach.   And so he sort of pushed his way up to the platform.   And after the meeting was over he couldn’t find her anywhere, so he just went over to her house.   And he found her there and she was pouting.   And she said, “Charles, you left me in that crowd all alone and you weren’t even concerned where I was.”

This is what he replied: “I’m sorry, but perhaps what happened was providential.   I didn’t intend to be impolite, but whenever I see a crowd like that waiting for me to preach, I’m overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility.   I forgot about you.   Now, let’s get one thing straight, it will have to be the rule of our marriage that the command of my Master comes first.   You shall have the second place.   Are you willing as my wife to take a second place while I give the first place to Christ?”   Well, wonderfully she was willing and became a faithful wife.

I understand something of that.   In the anticipation of the pulpit, the excitement of your heart, the mind begins to function and a lot of things just don’t enter in to your thinking.   He loved his wife.   He loved her to the death.   He never made a god out of her.   His God was the true God.

We might also say that pleasure is a god in our society.   Oh my, is that ever a god.   Entertainment, oh, do we worship the God of entertainment.   It’s incredible.   You know, every time I go to one of those places where you ride something, you know, Magic Mountain, Disneyland, or Knott’s Berry Farm, or I don’t know what all, I just - my theology goes wild in those places.   I just - I look around and so many things bother me, you know, it’s a fantasy world and people don’t even live the reality of life.   They’re off on some fantasy, you know.   And I think they’re just paying all this money for a minute and a half of “Woo,” and that’s the way they live life.   I mean, you know that’s it.   It’s the whole thing.   You go up to the top and down the deal and that’s it.   And you’re down at the bottom and you come out of the deal, and there’s your wife and your four kids standing there, just like they were when you got on.   Go get in the same crummy car, and go to the same house, and have the same ole hassle, and the same job and you can’t wait until you get back, and get up there again, and do it all over again.   In fact, I know people who’d like to have that in their back yard.   Live for the thrill, live for the thrill, the sensual, the feeling.   We’re lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.

And I would also add that one of the gods of our society is projects.   Have you noticed that?   Not only possessions, plenty, pride, people, pleasure, but projects.   The PTA, the Little League, world peace, politics, hobbies, religious programs, Kiwanis, Rotary, you name it.   Projects.

And then there’s prominence.   Some people live to get in Who’s Who, what’s what, and why’s why, and where’s where.   They want a chief seat in the banquet.   They want to be on the social registrar.   They love to see their name in the paper.   They cut out every clipping that you can imagine.   They want to be the chairman.   And all of these gods end up in the trash heap of an empty, burned out life.   Man is incurably religious.   He will worship something, believe me.

A parable tells about an idol-burning ceremony in the backyard of a church.   Every person had torn from his heart his dearest possession, ambition, his dearest achievement.   And they all took it and put it on a heap and they said, “We’re going to burn all our idols.”   Some people put their long hair there.   Some people put their new Ph.D. there.   Some people put their favorite antique there.   Some put their not-yet-purchased but coveted mink coat there.   But nobody could find a match, how inconvenient.   And the parable says that all agreed that failure to burn them didn’t mean they weren’t willing to give them up.   Slowly, the group drifted back to their homes with one or two backward glances.

Well, one lady didn’t sleep well that night.   And at last convinced herself that what she had given up was no idol at all.   And early the next morning she sneaked back to the pile, hoping not to be seen, and when she got there she found her idol lonely and forlorn, the only one still left.   Oh, how we cling to our idols.

You know, I’ll just take it a step further.   In the Scripture, it’s not only wrong to worship something other than God, but it’s wrong to worship God through the wrong method.   You remember Saul, when he was told by God not to take anything, but to kill the king and all of the army, and take absolutely nothing.   Came back with all those sheep, and all of those animals, and when Samuel came to him and said, “What’s going on?”   And, “I hear the bleating of the sheep.   You weren’t supposed to take anything.”   And he says, “I’ve taken them all to worship God.”   And Samuel says to him, “The throne is removed from your family.   God wants you to worship Him the way He says to worship Him, not the way you choose to worship Him.”

Idolatry is worshiping the wrong god and worshiping the right God in the wrong way.   And I think we have to be careful about that.   I think idolatry is also worshiping symbols that may stand for God.   Now we’ve all been aware of what is known as the iconoclastic controversy from the word eikōn in Greek, which means “image.”   Throughout the history of the church, the church was in its early manifestation of Romanism wanting to put everything in statues, and the Roman Church still does that.   And the statues were everywhere, and there was always a controversy, and the going back and forth.   And you still have crucifixes, and other images, and saints, and so forth that represent a certain kind of idolatry.   And you say, “Well, we don’t really worship the idols, it’s just that the representation is there.”   Yes, but the transition is so subtle, so subtle.

Let me show you an illustration.   Look in your Bible at Numbers chapter 21, Numbers chapter 21.   I told you this was a long introduction.   In fact, I’ll save the sermon till next time.   Numbers 21:6, you remember how “the Lord sent the fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.”?   This was when they were with Moses.   And the people were being disobedient to God.   The Lord sent fiery serpents, they bit.   “Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that He take away the serpents from us.”

And Moses stood in their behalf.   He prayed and the Lord answered somewhere between verses 7 and 8 and said, “Make a serpent, set it on a pole:   it shall come to pass, every one that is bitten, when he looks up shall live.”   Now, watch what happened.   The children of Israel had sinned.   God says, “There’s going to be a punishment.   Snakes are going to bite you.   If you look at the pole, you’ll be healed.”

Now, I believe the pole was symbol of God’s power.   There was no power in the pole.   The power was with God.   To look at the pole was simply an identification of their faith.   And I want you to see what happened.   Go over to 2 Kings, chapter 18.   Along comes Hezekiah later in the history of Israel, and in Judah, we find that Hezekiah reigns as king, and he brings about a great revival.   And one of the things he does in the revival is in verse 4, and I want you to see it.   “He removed the high places, - ” now watch this “ - and broke the images, and cut down the idols.”   Now stop right there.   He wiped out idolatry.   But notice the next one.   “And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made:   for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it:   and he called it Nehushtan.”   Which means “the little brass thing.”   He treated it with disdain.   Get rid of that little brass thing that they were all worshiping.

In other words, something started out as a symbol and it became an idol.   And that is always a danger of an icon, that man will twist the symbol into an idol.   So, whether you’re talking about worshiping a false god, or worshiping the true God in a wrong way, or worshiping God to a wrong image, it is all forbidden in Scripture.

Now, having understood that, that idolatry is forbidden, look with me at Daniel 3, and let’s see what unfolds.   Remember now that these young men were well educated in Hebrew doctrine and theology, and they knew exactly how God felt about idols.

Now, let’s come to the text.   We find in the opening of the text five major points, but I’m just going to start at the first one.   First we find the ceremony, the ceremony in verses 1 to 3.   Let’s look at it.

“Nebuchadnezzar the king - ” by the way, he’s the king of the Babylonian Empire, which is a marvelous, incredible empire stretching over the known world of the Middle East, and we don’t really know even how far, and it had the inherent power to have stretched around the world, could it have extended itself.   Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest monarch on the face of the earth.   “And he made an image of gold - ” now watch this “ - whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth of it six cubits:   and he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.”

Now, Nebuchadnezzar makes this huge image.   Now what’s interesting about it is that it is an idolatrous act.   And it seems very strange in the light of 2:47.   Look back at that.   You remember in chapter 2 that Daniel had told this tremendous dream to Nebuchadnezzar?   He had this dream about an image.   It had a gold head, and it had brass, and then it had silver, and then it had iron, and then it had iron and clay mixed.   And he told him the meaning of those things, and how all the world empires would come to pass, and how they would be destroyed by a stone cut out without hands in the final phase of their ten confederate kings.   And he goes through all this marvelous interpretation of the dream.

And Nebuchadnezzar knows that Daniel is telling him things that his own seers, and magicians, and Chaldeans didn’t know.   And so in response, in verse 47, “Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face - ” verse 46 “ - worshiped Daniel, - ” and so forth.   And then in 47 he said, “Of a truth it is, that your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing that thou couldest reveal this secret.”

Now, that’s a pretty great statement.   “Your God is the God of gods.”   Your God is the ultimate deity.   “Your God is the revealer of secrets, the Lord of kings.”   That was in verse 47.   Two verses later, he’s building an idol to himself.   Fickle, fickle Nebuchadnezzar.

Even the demonstration of the power of God couldn’t override his unbelievable ego.   Incredible.   The man is an egomaniac.   In fact, I believe when Daniel started telling him that dream he said, “The top is a head of gold and thou art that head of gold - ” right there, Nebuchadnezzar tuned out and thought, “I’m the gold.   Everything else is inferior to me.”   And so, he built a whole image of gold, just extended it all the way down.

“Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold.”   I take it that this was in a human form.   It was made of gold, but believe me, it is so huge, three - you know what a cubit is?   A cubit was measured from the elbow to the end of the hand.   It’s approximately 18 inches, so 90 - let’s see, 60 cubits would be 90 feet high.   That’s really high.   I guess a telephone pole is about 60 feet high, so it would be half again as high as that.   And it was six cubits wide, which really isn’t very wide.   That’s 9 feet wide, which means it was a great big long skinny thing.   That would make it a ten-to-one proportion, and most human beings are four-to-one or five-to-one.   Real skinny people are six-to-one and some are three-to-one.   But anyway - I’ve seen some two-to-one, come to think of it.   But normally it’s about a ten - this kind of an image is a ten-to-one ratio, which means it either was this long thin thing, or that it was a high, high pedestal in which a normal five-to-one ratio man might have stood on.   But it’s a 90 foot high image.

Now, I don’t believe that it was absolutely solid gold.   That would have been utterly prohibitive in terms of economics, as well as a horrendous problem to construct and to move around.   It is common in those times to find information to the effect that when they wanted to build such an image, they would build it out of wood, and then they would cover it with a substance, and they would overlay it with heavy gold.   And it seems to me that that is the best way to perceive this image.

In fact, this was rather common.   If you make a footnote of Isaiah chapter 40 and Isaiah chapter 41, you will note a couple of places in those two chapters where such an overlaid wooden image of gold is indicated.   So that may be the more common way for them to do it.

Now, the cost would still be utterly incredible.   Just beyond your belief the amount of money involved in that.   Mining gold in those days and getting gold was so difficult that it was just incredibly valuable.   By the way, the 60 cubits and the 6 cubits is kind of an interesting indication to us because the Babylonians had what is known as a sexagesimal system.   We have a decimal system based on tens, right?   They had a system based on sixes.   And this is a very important footnote because it is an indicator of the authenticity of Daniel as truly representative of the Babylonian times.   The higher critics want to shove it up nearly to the time of Christ to get it passed the prophecies that it predicts because they don’t want the Bible to make predictions, otherwise it’s a divine book.   But because it uses what is known as this sexagesimal system rather than a decimal system, it’s indicative of the Babylonian times.

Now, it’s also fascinating to me - and this is another little footnote - that it is 60 cubits by 6, and I see two sixes there.   The first king made an image of himself in sixes and if you read Revelation 13, you will find that the last ruler of the times of the Gentiles - Nebuchadnezzar was the first - the last monarch of the times of the Gentiles will also set up an image of himself.

It tells us that in Revelation chapter 13:14-15.   It says, “He will make an image and the people will bow to the image, and the number will be - ” what? “ - six, six, six.”   It’s as if it starts out with two sixes and ends up with three.   Six is the number of man.   Man tries, six, six, six, six, six, but he never hits seven, that’s the number of perfection.   That’s reserved for God.   And Nebuchadnezzar is like a preliminary picture of the antichrist.

Now, you’ll notice in verse 1 that it says, “he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.”   Now the plain of Dura, as far as we know, was just in the province of Babylon, just near the city itself, maybe six miles southeast of Babylon.   And by the way, this is fascinating.   A French archaeologist - I can’t think if I can pronounce his name, I think it’s Oppert, something like that - was doing some digs down southeast of Babylon a few miles and he came across, in his diggings, an absolutely huge brick foundation that must have held some gigantic statue or obelisk.

And as they began to do a little more study on the plain of Dura, it is the conviction of this French archaeologist, Oppert, that that is in fact the base of Nebuchadnezzar’s image still remaining underneath the soil of the centuries that have covered it over.   The image being long gone.   Why?   It was made of gold, folks.   The next group that came in made sure that it didn’t just hang around until it blew away.

The plain of Dura is a flat area where it would be visible.   Sticking up in the plain of Dura, can you imagine the sun in the Babylonian area would be so bright that that thing would sparkle and shine in an incredible display of grandeur.

Now, what is Nebuchadnezzar doing?   We need to at least talk about that for a minute before we finish.   And we’ll just cover this first point.   What is he trying to do?   What is he trying to prove?   What’s his point here?   Well, I believe he had some reasons for this.   He was a smart man.   He was one of the world’s greatest architects.   He was one of the world’s greatest statesmen.   He was one of the world’s greatest soldiers and strategists.   This is not the village idiot.   This is a very intelligent man.   What’s he doing?

Well, what he’s doing is pulling together his nation in an act of unity.   That’s the first thing.   He wanted to unify his nation.   You unify your nation around a common objective.   He wanted the whole pile of them to bow down to him.   By the way, the Caesars did exactly the same thing, didn’t they?   They tried to get the whole Empire to worship them as a unifying factor.

Not only that, he wanted the allegiance of his leaders.   He wanted all of his leaders to bow down to him.   He wanted to make sure they were loyal and faithful to him.   He wanted a single religion because he was afraid that a split of religion, because religion is so deep in the heart of man, that if they split over religions in the Empire they would fracture the empire.

But, there was something even beyond that.   I think politically he wanted the unity of the empire.   I think just in terms of his own personal needs, he wanted the worship and allegiance of his leaders.   I think religiously, he wanted one religion to hold the people together, but beyond all of that the guy had an incredible ego, and he just sought self-glory, and he saw himself as the head of gold, and he just lost control of himself and decided to go whole hog and make himself an image so that the whole world would worship him.

He’s little different than Herod in Acts 12.   Herod gave a great speech, put on his fancy robe, and stood up, you know, in Acts 12 down there at Caesarea, and he gave a great speech and the people said, “Oh, it is the voice of a god and not a man.”   And he just loved it, you know.   He just ate it up.   And the Bible says immediately he was eaten by worms and died, because he gave not God the glory.

Well, Nebuchadnezzar didn’t get eaten by worms, his due comes in chapter 4.   We’ll see that later.   But he sought the glory.   And the whole thing, then, poses a conflict for us throughout this chapter between worshiping the true God and worshiping this self-centered, humanistic egomaniac.

Now, I want you to see this choice clearly in mind because this is the choice everybody makes.   You either worship God or false gods.   Even as a Christian, listen, we can be lured to the worship of false gods, can’t we?   We really can.   That’s what this chapter calls for.   Like the little five-year-old who said, “Where you going to put God, Daddy?”   The question comes to us.   Where are we going to put God?

Well, let’s see the rest of the ceremony, very quickly, in verses 2 and 3.   They both say essentially the same thing.   “Then Nebuchadnezzar the king - ” it’s really kind of funny, I’ll show you why “ - Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together - ” and here we go “ - the princes - ” and the word literally means “the governors.”   And I think it goes into descending rank here.   The satraps were the top governors of the provinces in the Babylonian Empire, all right?   The satraps.

And then you have “the governors, and the captains.”   As best we can know, they were sort of secondary rulers in the divisions.   You might say the governors were in the states, and then the subdivisions were the counties, which were ruled by the governors and the captains.   And then there are the “judges.”   And by the way, there were chief arbitrators and there were provincial judges throughout the Babylonian Empire.   Then there are “the treasurers,” and they are the masters of the treasury.   And then there are “the counselors,” and they were the lawyers who made up the cabinets, and the senates, and whatever.   And then there were “the sheriffs,” and they were just exactly what we think.   They were minor judicial people who carried out justice.

So, you have all of these people and then finally says, “And all the rulers of the provinces.”   He’d got everybody who was anybody in there to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.   Now, he wants everybody’s allegiance.   He wants to get the whole pile of them there, and so they all show up.

And then look what it says in verse 3.   This is really interesting.   “Then the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together under the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.”   Now why does it repeat all of that?

You know, when the Greeks came along and they were writing a Greek version known as the Septuagint, they just left out verse 3 because they said, “It’s ridiculous to repeat the whole thing.”   I mean, it just says in verse 2, “the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs were all called.”   And then in verse 3 it says “the princes, the governors, the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs all came.”   Can’t you say that a little shorter?   Can’t you just say everybody that was called came?

Well, I think it’s very subtle.   I think it’s very subtle.   The repetition of verse 3 is a subtle, almost humorous, insight into the lack of personal integrity by all the leaders of the whole Empire.   And it reiterates that they were all big shots, but none of them had the courage to say “no.”   They all came.   They all came.   Walked in there, spinelessly followed the lead of Nebuchadnezzar, all the great ones.   You see, it’s tongue in cheek is what it is.   All the big shots, all the great ones came, and they all had to be humiliated, and they all “stood - ” it says at the end of verse 3 “ - before the image Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”

There they all are, all the great princes, governors, captains, like a bunch of rubber ducks, all ready to quack the same way; no integrity, no character, no nothing.   They responded as they were told.   If Nebuchadnezzar says we all worship the idol, we all worship the idol, guys, we’ve got to keep our jobs.

But, it wasn’t so with some others.   We’re going to find out who they were and why they did what they did and what happened next week.   Let’s pray together.

While your heads are bowed for just a moment, let me just share a thought with you or two.   It’s an exciting chapter.   We’ve just begun to see it.   Oh, next week it’s so exciting.   But this is the time tonight as we begin for us to examine our hearts.   What do you worship?   When I say to you, “Is there an idol in your life?”   What do you think of?   What immediately comes to mind?   That’s probably it.   What have you placed before God?   Where have you put God?

If you’re not a Christian, you have all kinds of idols, and you are living a life that is denying the glory of God.   Won’t you come to Jesus Christ and make Him the Savior, confess Him as Lord?   Then there are many of you Christians who have Christ as Lord of your life, and yet you find yourself diverted so often like that unstoppable river, and you find yourself going in the wrong direction toward idols of this world.   This would be a great time to open your heart and confess to the Lord that you have some idols.

We talked about a lot of them, didn’t we?   In just some general categories.   Have you examined your heart?   What about possessions, or plenty, or pride, or people, pleasure, projects, prominence?   Is it education, prestige, sex, money?   What is it?   Hobby, sports, entertainment?   Anything?   Oh Christ, and Christ alone is to be King.

Father, speak to all our hearts tonight.   And may we set aside the gods of this world, the emptiness, the deities that cannot respond and only steal us away from the virtue of your true and pure and eternal love for us.   May we set aside the idols and worship You.   No matter what Nebuchadnezzars there are in our lives, who in their dominion and sovereignty cry to us to bow, may we never bow.   May we not bow with the rest of the elite, and the erudite, and the educated, and the proud of the earth, but may we like those three young Hebrew boys, take our stand where it ought to be before almighty God, and unflinchingly stand true and never bow the knee to an idol.

Give us the kind of character that we see manifest in these three young boys.   We who name the name of Christ and possess the power of the indwelling Spirit, we who have all the resources that they have and perhaps even more to stand true.   Help us not to compromise, not only not to eat the king’s meat and drink the king’s wine, but not to worship the king’s gods.   Help us to stand true, uncompromisingly to take our place in adoring and glorifying You.   We’ll thank You in Christ’s name.   Amen.

天父啊，我们感谢祢，让我们能够在人生困难的时候来到祢面前，我们感谢祢赐予我们极大的恩典，在我们需要的时候支持我们。 我们确实为罗德尼和他的家人祈祷，因为他们失去了祖父，愿您特别靠近他们，他们甚至会从中分辨出生命和永恒的意义，基督和他的复活的意义，使他们能够知道只有通过对他的信仰才能获得永恒的生命。

我们为罗德尼感谢祢，我们祈祷祢即使在此时也能祝福他。主啊，当我们今晚聚在一起仰读祢的话语时，我们以开放的心态和开放的心态祈祷，我们可以得到祢的圣灵的教导，我们可能不是在聆听人的声音，而是听到祢为祢的赞美和荣耀说话，我们祈祷，阿们。

我们今晚要看但以理书第三章，我们需要花几次时间才能完成这个伟大的章节，这是一个令人兴奋的章节，有很多真理和许多原则需要处理。 我相信，在我们前进的过程中，上帝的灵会以一种非常特别的方式，向你们显明这里的真理。 它重申了我们在第 1 章中特别讨论的一些原则，我想随着我们的进展，您会看到这一点。

在但以理书第一章中，我们看到但以理和他的三个朋友能够用他们对上帝的伟大信仰来面对一个非常严重的压力情况，我们也同样在第三章看到同样的事情发生。 今晚我们想开始看这一章，看看我们走得有多远。

前几天我读到一个关于一个人的故事，他是一个非常虔诚的人，他决定为他的家买一尊耶稣基督的雕像。 所以他买下了这尊基督雕像，把它带回家，放在客厅的咖啡桌上。 他的妻子有些苦恼，觉得它不和那里的装饰完全一样，把它搬到了书房里。 后来，丈夫又把它搬到了房子的另一个地方，这终于促使这个两岁的孩子说：“你不能决定如何与上帝合作吗？非常深刻的问题。

世界上有很多人无法决定如何与上帝相处。 我们要如何对待上帝呢？ 这真的是但以理书第3章的问题。 有些人不知道把上帝放在哪里，有些人知道。 今晚，我们将找出一个不知道该把上帝放在哪里的人和三个知道的人。 它为我们设定了一个贯穿《圣经》和贯穿人类历史的相当不变的主题，就是那些给 上帝应有的地位和那些拒绝这样做的人之间的冲突。

现在，让我给你做一个长篇的介绍，这样你就会真正有一个完整的开始，然后这段话就会为你展开。 人是无可救药的宗教徒。 人，一般来说，人基本上是虔诚的。 当你环游世界时，这一点非常明显。 你会发现所有民族和种族群体都有一些宗教的实质。 人是一种无可救药的宗教生物。 他不可避免地会向某个神社鞠躬。 要么是对真神的崇拜，要么是某种虚假的替代，但人是无可救药的宗教徒。

罗马书第一章告诉我们这一点，因为罗马书第一章说，当人 “认识 上帝 时，他并不是像 上帝一样荣耀他。” 他背弃了真神，开始崇拜受造物多于崇拜造物主。 他用木头和石头造了神，开始崇拜人、走兽和爬虫。 换句话说，罗马书1章18到23节告诉我们的是，人是无可救药的宗教徒，如果他背弃了真神，他就不会陷入真空，他会用蛇、鸟、兽和人创造其他的神。 如果他不崇拜造物主，他就会崇拜受造物。

现在，每当人这样做，每当人发明、编造、规定或定义他自己的神时，他都会把他变成他希望他成为的那种神。 还有一个有趣的循环。 他通常会变得像他的上帝。 所以，这就是人创造了他想要存在的神，然后变得像他自己创造的神一样。

旧约告诉我们很多关于人的宗教本性以及他是如何做到这一点的。 人的特征是创造一个像他自己的神，然后变得越来越像那个神。 这样他就可以容纳自己的罪性。 你要明白，敬拜真神的困难在于你得面对自己的不足和罪恶的事实。 所以如果你拒绝这一点，你就会发明一个很像你的神，和这样的神一起生活要容易得多。

在诗篇 115 篇中，我们对人类是如何做到这一点有了一点了解。 它说：“主啊，不是给我们，而是为了你的怜悯和真理，把荣耀归给你的名。 诗篇以 上帝要得荣耀的声明开始。 “为什么列国要说：'他们的神现在在哪里呢？ 但是我们的 神在天上，他所喜悦的事，他都行了。 他们的偶像是金银，是人手所造的。他们有口却不说话;有眼睛却看不见;他们有耳朵却听不见;他们有鼻子却没有气味;他们有手却不动;他们有脚却不走路;他们也不用喉咙说话。 造他们的人与他们相似，凡信靠他们的人也一样。

你看？他们制造了它们，他们就像它们一样。 人们发明了他们自己创造的神。 圣经说，“上帝照着自己的形象创造了人。 但是，人是按照自己的形象创造神——最终的反叛，人发明了自己的神。

那么，世界上有一个不断的冲突，这个冲突就是对真神的崇拜和对由人的想象和思想构成的假神的崇拜之间的冲突。 而人所造的神祇总是表达人的罪恶。现在我没有时间深入讨论这个。 有时候我们应该对偶像崇拜做一个研究，并真正地详细地研究它。 但举个例子，每当人们发明神时，这些神都反映了人的不足和罪恶。

例如，在阅读旧约时，你会反复遇到一个被称为巴力的神，B-A-A-L。现在巴力并不是一个真正的专有名词。 这个词的意思是 “主”，有很多巴力，很多主，很多异教的神。 当你研究古代历史的巴勒时，你会发现它们不可避免地在人的性格中执行了人的罪性。

例如，仅举一个例子，迦南人和以色列周围的人相信巴力是男人和女人性权力背后的力量。 巴力是人性部分背后的力量。 因此，任何性行为都成为巴力力量的表现。 因此，根据那些崇拜巴力的人的说法，所有的性关系都成为神圣的行为，因为它们随后成为巴力神这种伟大力量的展示。

当时，巴力的庙宇被被称为“神圣”的女祭司占据。 何西阿书4章14节的希伯来文甚至用「圣洁的妇女」这个词根来称呼她们。 她们实际上被认为是圣洁的女人，因为人们认为巴力在性行为本身中很活跃，因此，崇拜就变成了与寺庙的性行为。 因此，与寺庙的发生性关系，就是与巴力联合起来，这是一种非常完美的崇拜行为。

这就是人类发明他的神的方式，以适应他自己卑鄙的罪恶。 不可避免地，人们——现在明白了——当人们发明神时，那些神会引导人们走向不道德，因为他们将成为反映创造他们的人的罪恶的神。 这就是为什么在罗马书第一章中，你会看到这样一个事实，即当他们不认识神时，或者“他们认识神的时候，却不把他当作神来荣耀”。 他们把 上帝的荣耀变成了一个形象。 他们制作了自己的偶像。 “在第24节，你立即读到这句话，”所以神也让他们因自己心里的情欲而行污秽，在彼此之间羞辱自己的身体。

换句话说，你在第21节里看到了对真神的拒绝。 你在第22节和第23节中建立了假神。 而你也在第24节里看到了随之而来的不道德。 它一直一直延伸到 32 节。 它谈到 上帝让他们屈服于卑鄙的情感。 它谈到了同性恋。 它谈到了彼此之间燃烧的情欲。 它讲到不义、淫乱、邪恶、贪婪、恶毒、嫉妒、凶杀、纷争、欺骗、毁谤、低语、毁谤、憎恨神、无礼、骄傲自夸、发明恶事、违背父母、不理解、背约、没有亲情、无情、不怜悯等等。所有这些都只是人自己建立的那种敬拜的代表。 当人这样做时，它表明他不仅做了这些事，而且以做这些事的人为乐。

偶像崇拜总是对不道德标准的抛弃。 旧约中的偶像崇拜甚至被称为嫖娼。 它说以色列去妓女了。 它说以色列犯了通奸罪，因为那种卖淫是偶像崇拜不可或缺的一部分。

那么，偶像崇拜就是纯真崇拜的败坏。 从一开始，人类就总是设立他的假神，持续的冲突贯穿了整个人类历史，对真神的崇拜和对假神的崇拜之间的冲突。 事实上，让我说一些你应该记住的基本陈述。 偶像崇拜是 上帝关心的最基本的问题。 你明白了吗？ 偶像崇拜是神所关心的人类生活最基本的问题。

你说，“你怎么知道的？ 你怎么知道他比其他事情更关心这一点？ 因为在出埃及记第20章里是这样说的。 这是主赐予的十诫中的第一条，它与偶像崇拜有关。 出埃及记 20：3-4，听。“你要——”这是第一条诫命。 “除了我以外，你不可有别的神。 不可为你雕刻任何偶像，或天上、地下、地下水中的任何事物的样式，不可向他们下拜，也不可侍奉他们，因为我，耶和华你的神，是忌邪的神。 探究父亲对第三代和第四代孩子所犯的罪孽，他们恨我; 怜悯成千上万爱我、遵守我诫命的人。

好吧？那里有第一条和第二条诫命。 第一条，除我以外，别无他神。 第二个，不做刻像。 因此，在十诫中，作为这一切的开始，主要问题是肯定没有神可以替代真神。 这是神在与人交往时所关心的基本问题。

罗马书 1 章为我们规划了航向，追溯了当上帝被扔进海里时所导致的骇人听闻的海难。 当你抛弃了上帝，你让上帝松动了，你让上帝走了，你背弃了你自己，那么你就发明了你自己的神，因为人是无可救药的宗教徒，在创造自己的神时，他使神更像他自己，他变得更像他们，并在这个过程中诅咒他自己的灵魂。

现在，出埃及记第 20 章说，“除了我以外，你没有神。 以赛亚在第43章和那个地区一再告诉我们，除了真神之外，没有别的。 在申命记中，“耶和华我们的神是独一的”主。圣经明确说，除了真神之外，没有别的神。 圣经几乎粉碎了所有的偶像，无论它们是石头的偶像、木头的偶像、金属的偶像，还是心灵的偶像，还是情感的偶像; 无论它们是有形的还是无形的，无论它们是外部的还是内部的; 所有的偶像都在神的声明中被粉碎，“除了我以外，你不可有别的神，你不可为自己雕刻任何偶像。 然而，虽然这是《圣经》的第一条也是首要的诫命，但它是整个人类历史上迫在眉睫的现实。 人类不可避免地继续这种逃向偶像崇拜的命运。

莱斯利·弗林 （Leslie Flynn） 说得非常好。 他说，“就像一条无法阻止但可以改道的河流一样，人的灵魂对崇拜对象的渴望很容易从真神转向另一个神。

所以，《圣经》一遍又一遍地禁止偶像崇拜，禁止它。现在让我给你一个例子，看看《圣经》的教导，这样你就会稍微了解一下哈拿尼雅、亚撒利雅和米沙利，你所知道的沙得拉、米煞和亚伯尼歌这三个希伯来人，他们的巴比伦名字是什么，这样你就会明白为什么他们是这样的。

他们知道偶像崇拜是 神所不能接受的。 他们知道，他们无法讨神的喜悦，无法向第三章所竖立的金像下拜。 他们为什么知道这一点？ 因为神的话语是如此明确。 虽然他们没有像我们一样得到 上帝的全部启示，但他们已经有足够的知识来知道。

让我向你介绍一下圣经中关于偶像崇拜的一些事情，它很快就会到来，你听着就行了。我甚至不打算给你圣经。 我只是希望你把它弄得像机关枪一样。 偶像崇拜包括——以下是我在圣经中找到的一系列事情——偶像崇拜包括： 向偶像下拜、敬拜偶像、向偶像献祭、敬拜其他神、指着其他神起誓、随从其他神、奉其他神的名说话、仰望其他神、事奉其他神、敬畏其他神、向其他神献祭、 用偶像敬拜真神，敬拜天使，敬拜天上的万军，敬拜魔鬼，敬拜死人，在心里树立偶像，贪婪，放纵情慾。因为这一切都把 上帝的荣耀变成一个形象。

在圣经中，偶像崇拜是这样描述的。 这是神所憎恶的，在申命记 7：25 中;它是神所憎恶的，在申命记 16：22 中;它是虚妄和愚昧的，诗篇 115;它是血腥的，以西结书 23;它是可憎的，彼得前书 4;它是无益的，士师记 10：14;它是不合理的，罗马书第一章;它是污秽的，以西结书 20：7。你有点觉得它不好，不是吗？

另一种想法是，偶像崇拜导致人们做出以下行为：偶像崇拜使人忘记上帝，偏离上帝，玷污上帝的名，玷污上帝的圣所，远离上帝，离弃上帝，恨上帝，惹怒上帝。 圣经说，拜偶像会受到惩罚：司法的死亡，可怕的审判，以死亡、放逐、被天堂驱逐和永恒的折磨而告终。

现在，这是相当严重的事情。 神对偶像崇拜说了很多。 由于它的严重性，你可以把圣经中的警告简化为三个简单的陈述。 当涉及到偶像崇拜时，你要做三件事。 第一是逃跑，哥林多前书 10：14，逃避偶像，逃离偶像。 第二是避开偶像，哥林多前书 10：10-20，与鬼的桌子完全没有交往。 逃跑，逃避，第三个是远离他们。 约翰一书 5：21，“小子们哪，你们要保守自己，远离偶像。 圣经怎么说？ 逃跑、逃避和远离，它们基本上都是一样的意思。 偶像没有位置。 对 上帝来说，这是一件非常非常严肃的事情，偶像崇拜的问题。

你说，“嗯，你知道，我们没有任何偶像。 我的意思是，我们没有——这是一个非常复杂的 20 世纪。 是的，我们有，我相信你也知道我们有偶像。 即使在我们这个复杂的社会中，偶像崇拜的存在也很严重。 即使在一个本应是基督徒的社会中，有圣经背景，有教堂的存在，有基督的名，有上帝的名，还有基督教的影响能给我们的社会带来的一切影响，我们仍然是一个真正充满偶像的社会。

因为，正如我所说的，偶像崇拜在某些社会中可能是外在的，但在另一些社会中，它是内在的。 我们社会中有数百万人从来没有想过向石头低头。 你知道，这对他们来说似乎很荒谬，或者向一些木头低头，或者向某种金属低头。 但他们一生都在向某个建立在他们自己思想或自己心中的空虚、无用的上帝低头。

坦率地说，偶像就是你放在上帝面前的任何东西。 它可以是你的车，可以是你的爱好、你的房子、你的妻子或其他任何人，或者任何其他物品 - 你的存折。 几年前，《今日基督教》向一个基督教学者小组提出了这个问题。 我们这个时代最流行的神是什么？ 提到的包括很多东西：反基督教的福利国家、科学主义、共产主义、政治民主、民族主义、保守主义、社会调整、行为主义、世俗主义、人文主义、自然主义和对进步的崇拜。 普林斯顿大学名誉教授安德鲁·布莱克伍德博士列出了更多个人偶像，他说：“美国有以下这些神：自我、金钱、快乐、性、浪漫、娱乐、运动、教育。“他补充说，”我们需要在十字架的光照下回到第一条诫命。

现在，如果我把 20 世纪的偶像稍微归结一下，你可能会把它们放在这样的列表中。 首先，我们崇拜财物之神，不是吗？财产篡夺了上帝的位置。 你花在考虑财产上的时间是否比你花在思考上帝的时间多？ 你花在财产上的精力、资源是否比花在神身上的还要多？ 这是一个很好的迹象，表明您在该区域存在问题。

麦吉尔大学（McGill University）的斯坦福·里德（W. Stanford Reid）博士说：“我们这个时代的主神 是我们的生活水平。 我们太关心物质财富了，以至于忘记了它们是上帝的礼物。

这就是我们今天早上所说的。 因此，20 世纪的偶像之一是财产。 另一个是 plenty， plenty， love of money。歌罗西书 3 章说：“ 贪婪就是拜偶像。 当你贪恋它时，你就会崇拜它。另一个是骄傲。顺便说一句，贪婪，或者说很多，我想到了那个有钱人和更大的谷仓，不是吗？ 我只会建造更大的谷仓，越来越大的谷仓，并储存我所有的庄稼。 “主说：”你这个愚蠢的人。今晚需要你的灵魂。 你不能靠吃喝玩乐来维持生计。所以，财产和丰富。

然后是骄傲。我想我们社会的主神是自我之爱。 我们可以说，人是我们社会中的神。 有些人崇拜孩子。 他们真的崇拜他们的孩子。他们的态度变得反常。 有些人崇拜伴侣。其他人崇拜爱人。有些人崇拜朋友。

与此形成鲜明对比的是，你难道不喜欢看到哈拿吗，她长久以来一直在祈祷，只是恳求神给她一个儿子，神又给了她一个儿子，然后她没有崇拜这个孩子，所以这个孩子站在神面前。 她把孩子交给主，然后走开说：“这是应该的，因为那是孩子最好的地方。

我想到亚伯拉罕，他等啊等，等到他100岁才有个儿子，然后上帝说，“我要那个儿子，我要他上祭坛，我要他死。“亚伯拉罕说：”好吧，上帝啊，我爱那个儿子。 我不崇拜那个高于你的儿子，如果你说，'杀了他'，我就杀了他。

但我们把人塑造成神。 我们出于骄傲造就了神。 我们从丰饶中造就了神。 我们用财产造神。 我不是说你不应该爱人，也不是说你不应该对你的家庭、你的孩子和你的妻子做出承诺。

查尔斯·司布真（Charles Spurgeon），就在他结婚之前 ── 我甚至无法想象嫁给他会是什么样子 ── 但是，在他结婚之前，他接了他的未婚妻，带她去了一个他要去讲道的地方。 他们在人群中的推搡中走散了，他们有点迷失了方向，成千上万的人挤进来听他讲道。 所以他有点推到平台上。 会议结束后，他在任何地方都找不到她，所以他就去了她家。 他发现她在那里，她正在噘嘴。她说，“查尔斯，你把我一个人留在那群人里，你甚至不关心我在哪里。

他是这样回答的：“我很抱歉，但也许发生的事情是天意。 我无意不礼貌，但每当我看到这样的人群等着我讲道时，我就会被一种责任感所淹没。 我忘了你。 现在，让我们弄清楚一件事，我们婚姻的规则必须是我主人的命令放在第一位。 你将获得第二名。 你愿意作为我的妻子，在我把第一名交给基督的时候，居第二位吗？ 嗯，奇妙的是她愿意并成为一个忠实的妻子。

我对此有所理解。 在对讲台的期待中，在你心中的兴奋中，头脑开始运作，很多事情就是不进入你的思考。 他爱他的妻子。 他爱她至死不渝。他从来没有把她塑造成神。他的神就是真神。

我们也可以说，快乐是我们社会的上帝。 哦，天哪，那真是神吗。 娱乐，哦，我们崇拜娱乐之神吗。 这太不可思议了。 你知道，每次我去那些你骑东西的地方，你知道的，魔术山、迪斯尼乐园或纳氏浆果农场，或者我不知道是什么，我只是——我的神学在这些地方变得疯狂。 我只是 - 我环顾四周，很多事情困扰着我，你知道，这是一个幻想世界，人们甚至没有生活在现实生活中。 他们离奇了，你知道的。我认为他们只是为了一分半钟的“Woo”而付了这么多钱，这就是他们的生活方式。 我的意思是，你知道就是这样。 这就是整个事情。 你上到顶，然后下交易，就是这样。 你处于底层，你从交易中出来，你的妻子和你的四个孩子站在那里，就像你上船时一样。 坐上同一辆破旧的车，去同一栋房子，做同样的麻烦，做同样的工作，你不能等到你回来，再回到那里，再来一次。 事实上，我知道有人想在他们的后院拥有它。 为刺激而活，为刺激、感性、感觉而活。我们爱享乐胜过爱神。

我还想补充一点，我们社会的神之一就是项目。 你注意到了吗？不仅是财产、财富、骄傲、人、快乐，还有项目。PTA、少年联盟、世界和平、政治、爱好、宗教项目、Kiwanis、扶轮社，应有尽有。项目。

然后是突出性。 有些人活着就是为了进入 Who's Who， whatis what， why is why， and where's where。 他们想在宴会上占有一席之地。 他们想加入社会注册商。 他们喜欢在报纸上看到他们的名字。 他们剪掉了你能想象到的所有剪辑。 他们想当主席。 而所有这些神最终都进入了空虚、燃烧殆尽的生活的垃圾堆。人是无可救药的宗教徒。相信我，他会崇拜什么。

一个比喻讲述了在教堂后院举行的焚烧偶像的仪式。 每个人都从心中撕下了他最珍爱的财产、野心、他最亲爱的成就。 他们都拿来堆起来，说..「我们要把我们所有的偶像都烧掉。 有些人把长发留在那里。 有些人把他们的新博士学位放在那里。有些人把他们最喜欢的古董放在那里。 有些人把他们尚未购买但令人垂涎的貂皮大衣放在那里。 但是没有人能找到匹配项，多么不方便。 这个比喻说，所有人都同意，不烧掉它们并不意味着他们不愿意放弃它们。 慢慢地，这群人向后看了一两眼，飘回了自己的家。

嗯，那天晚上有一位女士睡得不好。 最后，她说服自己，她所放弃的根本不是偶像。 第二天一早，她偷偷溜回那堆东西堆里，希望不要被人看到，当她到达那里时，她发现她的偶像孤独而孤独，只剩下一个人。哦，我们是多么执着于我们的偶像。

你知道，我只是更进一步。在圣经中，不仅敬拜 上帝以外的事物是错误的，而且用错误的方法敬拜 上帝也是错误的。你还记得扫罗，当上帝告诉他不要拿任何东西，要杀死国王和所有的军队，什么也不要拿。 带着那些羊和所有的动物回来，当撒母耳来见他时，他说：“怎么回事？ “还有，”我听到了羊的咩咩叫声。 你不应该拿走任何东西。 他说，“我带他们全都去敬拜上帝。 撒母耳对他说：“王位从你家被废掉了。 上帝希望你按照他所说的敬拜他的方式来敬拜他，而不是你选择敬拜他的方式。

偶像崇拜是敬拜错误的上帝，以错误的方式敬拜正确的上帝。 我认为我们必须小心这一点。 我认为偶像崇拜也是崇拜可能代表上帝的符号。 现在我们都已经意识到了希腊语 eikōn 这个词所谓反传统的争议，意思是“图像”。 纵观教会的历史，教会在罗马主义的早期表现中，希望把所有东西都放在雕像里，罗马教会现在仍然这样做。 雕像无处不在，总是有争议，来来回回。 你仍然有十字架、其他图像、圣人等等，它们代表了某种偶像崇拜。 你说，“嗯，我们并不是真的崇拜偶像，只是偶像的存在。 是的，但过渡是如此微妙，如此微妙。

让我给你看一个例子。 请看圣经中的民数记第21章，民数记第21章。 我告诉过你，这是一个很长的介绍。 事实上，我会把讲道留到下次再说。 民数记 21：6，你还记得“耶和华如何差遣火蛇到民间，他们咬了百姓; 以色列人多人死了。 那是他们与摩西在一起的时候。 百姓违背了神。 上帝派遣了火蛇，他们咬了人。「所以百姓来见摩西，说：『我们犯了罪，因为我们说了得罪耶和华和你的话;向主祈祷，求他从我们中间除掉蛇。

摩西为他们站着。 他祷告，主在第7节和第8节之间的某个地方回答说：“造一条蛇，放在杠上，凡被咬的，抬头一看，就必活着。 现在，看看发生了什么。 以色列人犯了罪。 上帝说，“将要有惩罚。 蛇会咬你。如果你看那根杆子，你就会痊愈。

现在，我相信那根杆子是神能力的象征。 杆子里没有电。 能力在上帝那里。 看着那根柱子，就是对他们信仰的认同。 我想让你看看发生了什么。 请看列王纪下，第18章。希西家在以色列历史的后面出现，在犹大，我们发现希西家作为王作王，他带来了一场伟大的复兴。 他在复兴中所做的一件事是在第4节，我希望你能看到。 “他挪去了邱坛，——”现在看这个“——打破了偶像，砍倒了偶像。” 现在停在那里。 他消灭了偶像崇拜。 但请注意下一个。 “他把摩西所造的铜蛇打碎了，因为直到那些日子，以色列人还向它烧香， 给它起名叫尼户施坦。” 意思是 “小黄铜东西”。 他不屑一顾。 把他们都崇拜的那个小铜东西扔掉。

换句话说，某物最初是一个符号，后来变成了一个偶像。 而这总是一个偶像的危险，那个男人会把这个符号扭曲成一个偶像。 所以，无论你说的是敬拜假神，还是以错误的方式敬拜真 上帝，还是以错误的形象敬拜 上帝，这些都是《圣经》所禁止的。

现在，我们已经明白了偶像崇拜是被禁止的，请和我一起看看但以理书第3章，让我们看看会发生什么。 现在要记住，这些年轻人在希伯来语教义和神学方面受过良好的教育，他们确切地知道神对偶像的感觉。

现在，让我们来看文本。 我们在文本的开头找到了五个主要要点，但我只想从第一个开始。 首先，我们找到仪式，第1节到第3节的仪式。让我们看看它。

“尼布甲尼撒王——”顺便说一句，他是巴比伦帝国的国王，巴比伦帝国是一个了不起的、不可思议的帝国，延伸到已知的中东世界，我们甚至不知道它有多远，它有内在的力量，可以延伸到全世界，它能不能自我扩张。 尼布甲尼撒是地球上最伟大的君主。 “他用金造了一座偶像，高六肘，宽六肘，在巴比伦省的杜拉平原上安立了。”

现在，尼布甲尼撒制作了这个巨大的形象。 有趣的是，这是一种偶像崇拜的行为。 在2章47节的光照下，这似乎很奇怪。回头看看那个。 你还记得在第二章里，但以理曾把这个巨大的梦告诉尼布甲尼撒吗？ 他做了一个关于图像的梦。 它有一个金头，有黄铜，然后有银，然后有铁，然后是铁和粘土混合。 他告诉了他这些事情的意义，以及所有的世界帝国将如何发生，以及在他们的十个邦联国王的最后阶段，它们将如何被一块没有双手凿出的石头摧毁。 他经历了对梦的所有这些奇妙的解释。

尼布甲尼撒知道但以理告诉他的事情，是他自己的先见、术士和迦勒底人都不知道的。 因此，作为回应，在第47节，“尼布甲尼撒俯伏在地——”第46节“——敬拜但以理——”等等。然后，在第47章中，他说：“这是事实，你的神是万神之神，万王之主，是揭示秘密的人，因为你能揭示这个秘密。

现在，这是一个非常好的声明。 “你的上帝是众神之神。” 你的上帝是终极的神。 “你的上帝是揭示秘密的，万王之主。” 那是在第47节。 两节之后，他正在为自己建立一个偶像。善变，善变的尼布甲尼撒。

即使是上帝大能的展示也无法战胜他难以置信的自我。 不可思议。这个男人是个自大狂。 事实上，我相信当但以理开始告诉他那个梦时，他说：“陀螺上是金头，而你就是那头金头——”就在那时，尼布甲尼撒听了进去，心想：“我就是金子。其他一切都不如我。 所以，他用金子造了一个完整的像，只是把它一直延伸到下面。

“尼布甲尼撒王造了金像。” 我认为这是人类的形态。 它是用金子做的，但相信我，它好大，三肘——你知道什么是肘吗？ 从肘部到手的末端测量一肘。 它大约是 18 英寸，所以 90 - 让我们看看，60 肘就是 90 英尺高。 这真的很高。 我猜一根电线杆大约有 60 英尺高，所以它应该是它的一半高。 它有六肘宽，真的不是很宽。 那有 9 英尺宽，这意味着它是一个又大又长又瘦的东西。 这将使它成为一个 10 比 1 的比例，而大多数人是 4 比 1 或 5 比 1。 真正的瘦人是 6 比 1，有些人是 3 比 1。 但无论如何 - 我见过一些二比一的，想想看。 但通常大约是 10 - 这种图像是 10 比 1 的比例，这意味着它要么是这个又长又细的东西，或者它是一个很高的基座，一个正常的 5 比 1 比例的人可能站在上面。 但这是一幅 90 英尺高的图像。

现在，我不相信它是绝对的纯金。 从经济学的角度来看，这将是完全令人望而却步的，也是一个构建和移动的可怕问题。 在那个时代，人们通常会找到这样的信息，当他们想建造这样一个形象时，他们会用木头建造它，然后他们会用一种物质覆盖它，然后他们会用沉重的黄金覆盖它。 在我看来，这是感知这幅图像的最佳方式。

事实上，这相当普遍。 如果你对以赛亚书第40章和以赛亚书第41章做一个脚注，你会注意到这两章中有几个地方指出了这样一个重叠的金像。 所以这可能是他们更常见的方法。

现在，成本仍然令人难以置信。 这其中涉及的金额超出了你的想象。 在那个年代，开采黄金并获得黄金是如此困难，以至于它非常有价值。 顺便说一句，60 肘和 6 肘对我们来说是一个有趣的指示，因为巴比伦人有所谓的六十进制系统。 我们有一个基于 10 的十进制系统，对吧？他们有一个基于 6 的体系。 这是一个非常重要的注脚，因为它表明但以理书是巴比伦时代的真正代表。 更高的批评家想把它推到基督的时代，让它通过它所预言的预言，因为他们不想让圣经做出预测，否则它就是一本神圣的书。 但是因为它使用所谓的六十进制系统而不是十进制系统，所以它表明了巴比伦时代。

现在，它对我来说也很有趣 - 这是另一个小脚注 - 它是 60 肘 x 6，我在那里看到两个 6。 第一位国王将自己的形象塑造成六人组，如果你阅读启示录 13 章，你会发现外邦人时代的最后一位统治者——尼布甲尼撒是第一位——外邦人时代的最后一位君王也将树立自己的形象。

它在启示录13章14到15节告诉我们。 它说，“他要造一个偶像，人们要向这个偶像下拜，数字将是——”什么？“——六、六、六。就好像它从两个 6 开始，以 3 结束。 六是人的数量。 人尝试了 6、6、6、6、6、6，但他从未击中 7，这就是完美的数字。 那是留给上帝的。 尼布甲尼撒就像是敌基督的初步写照。

现在，你会注意到在第1节里说，“他在巴比伦省的杜拉平原上设立了这城。 据我们所知，杜拉平原就在巴比伦省，就在城市附近，可能在巴比伦东南六英里处。 顺便说一句，这很有趣。 一位法国考古学家——我想我能不能念出他的名字，我想是奥珀特，差不多——在巴比伦东南几英里处进行挖掘时，他在挖掘中发现了一个绝对巨大的砖砌地基，里面一定有某种巨大的雕像或方尖碑。

当他们开始对杜拉平原进行更多的研究时，这位法国考古学家奥珀特坚信，那实际上是尼布甲尼撒形象的基础，仍然留在几个世纪以来覆盖它的土壤下。 图像早已消失。 为什么？伙计们，它是用金子做的。下一组进来的人确保它不会一直闲着直到它被吹走。

杜拉平原是一个可以看到的平坦区域。 在杜拉平原上，你能想象巴比伦地区的太阳会如此明亮，以至于那东西会闪闪发光，呈现出令人难以置信的壮丽。

那么，尼布甲尼撒在做什么呢？ 在结束之前，我们至少需要讨论一分钟。 我们只介绍第一点。 他想做什么？ 他想证明什么？ 他在这里的意思是什么？ 嗯，我相信他这样做是有原因的。 他是个聪明人。 他是世界上最伟大的建筑师之一。 他是世界上最伟大的政治家之一。 他是世界上最伟大的士兵和战略家之一。 这不是村里的白痴。这是一个非常聪明的人。他在干什么？

嗯，他正在做的是团结一致地团结他的国家。 这是第一件事。 他想统一他的国家。 你们把你们的国家团结在一个共同的目标周围。 他想让整堆人都向他下拜。 顺便说一句，凯撒夫妇也做了同样的事情，不是吗？他们试图让整个帝国都崇拜他们，把他们当作一个团结的因素。

不仅如此，他还希望得到他的领导人的效忠。 他希望他所有的领袖都向他下拜。 他想确保他们对他忠诚和忠诚。 他想要一个单一的宗教，因为他害怕宗教的分裂，因为宗教在人的心中是如此深沉，如果他们在帝国的宗教上分裂，他们就会分裂帝国。

但是，还有更多的东西。 我认为从政治上讲，他想要帝国的统一。 我认为，就他自己的个人需求而言，他想要他的领袖们的崇拜和效忠。我认为从宗教上讲，他希望用一种宗教来维系人们，但除此之外，这家伙有一个令人难以置信的自我，他只是追求自我荣耀，他把自己看作是金头，他只是失去了对自己的控制，决定全力以赴，把自己塑造成一个形象，这样全世界都会崇拜他。

他与使徒行传第12章中的希律没有什么不同。 希律王发表了精彩的演讲，穿上他华丽的袍子，站起来，你知道，在使徒行传第十二章，在凯撒利亚，他发表了精彩的演讲，人们说，“哦，这是神的声音，不是人的声音。 他就是喜欢它，你知道的。他就这么吃了。 圣经说，他立刻被虫子吃掉而死，因为他没有把荣耀归给神。

嗯，尼布甲尼撒没有被虫子吃掉，他应该在第四章。 我们稍后会看到。 但他寻求的是荣耀。 因此，整件事在这一章中为我们构成了一场冲突，既要敬拜真神，又要敬拜这个以自我为中心、人本主义的自大狂。

现在，我希望你清楚地看到这个选择，因为这是每个人都会做出的选择。 你要么崇拜上帝，要么崇拜假神。 即使作为一个基督徒，听着，我们也会被引诱去崇拜假神，不是吗？我们真的可以。这就是本章所呼吁的。 就像那个五岁的孩子说：“爸爸，你要把上帝放在哪里？问题来了。我们要把上帝放在哪里呢？

好吧，让我们很快地在第2节和第3节看到仪式的其余部分。 他们俩说的基本上是一样的。 “然后尼布甲尼撒王 - ”这真的很有趣，我会告诉你为什么“ - 尼布甲尼撒王派人来聚集 - ”我们开始了“ - 王子们 - ”这个词的字面意思是 “总督们”。 我认为它在这里进入了降序。 总督是巴比伦帝国各省的最高统治者，对吧？总督们。

然后是 “州长和船长”。 据我们所知，他们是各部门的次要统治者。 你可以说州长在各州，然后分区是县，由州长和船长统治。 然后是 “法官”。 顺便说一句，巴比伦帝国各地 都有首席仲裁员和省级法官。 然后是 “司库”，他们是国库的主人。 然后是“顾问”，他们是组成内阁、参议院等等的律师。然后是“警长”，他们正是我们的想法。 他们是执行正义的次要司法人员。

所以，你有所有这些人，然后最后说，“还有所有省份的统治者。 他让所有在场的人都来参加尼布甲尼撒王所立的圣像的奉献典礼。 现在，他想要所有人的效忠。 他想把整堆东西都弄到那里，所以他们都出现了。

然后看看第3节是怎么说的。 这真的很有趣。 “众首领、总督、将军、士长、司库、谋士、治安官和各省的众官长，都聚集在尼布甲尼撒王所立的偶像的奉献下。” 那么，为什么它要重复这一切呢？

你知道，当希腊人出现，他们写一个被称为七十士译本的希腊文版本时，他们只是遗漏了第3节，因为他们说，“重复整件事是荒谬的。 我的意思是，在第2节里说，“众首领、总督、元帅、士师、司库、谋士、治安官都被召来了。 然后在第3节说，“众首领、总督、元长、士师、司库、策士、治安官都来了。 你不能说短一点吗？ 你不能说每个被叫来的人都来了吗？

嗯，我认为这是非常微妙的。 我认为这是非常微妙的。 第 3 节的重复是对整个帝国所有领导人缺乏个人诚信的微妙、近乎幽默的洞察。 它重申他们都是大人物，但他们都没有勇气说“不”。 他们都来了。他们都来了。走进去，毫无骨气地跟随尼布甲尼撒的带领，所有伟大的人。 你看，它就是半开玩笑的。 所有大人物，所有伟大的人物都来了，他们都不得不受到羞辱，他们都 “站着 - ”在第3节的结尾说 “- 在尼布甲尼撒所设立的偶像前。

他们都在那里，所有伟大的王子、总督、船长，就像一群橡皮鸭子，都准备以同样的方式嘎嘎叫; 没有诚信，没有品格，什么都没有。他们按照他们的指示做出了回应。 如果尼布甲尼撒说我们都崇拜偶像，我们都崇拜偶像，伙计们，我们必须保住我们的工作。

但是，其他一些人并非如此。 我们将找出他们是谁，他们为什么这样做，以及下周发生了什么。 让我们一起祈祷。

虽然你们低头片刻，但让我与你们分享一两个想法。 这是一个令人兴奋的篇章。 我们才刚刚开始看到它。 哦，下周真是太令人兴奋了。 但这是今晚我们开始省察自己内心的时候。 你崇拜什么？ 当我对你说，“你的生命中有偶像吗？ 你觉得怎么样？ 我立即想到了什么？ 大概就是这样。你把什么放在神面前呢？你把神放在哪里？

如果你不是基督徒，你就有各种各样的偶像，你过着否认 神荣耀的生活。 你难道不来信靠耶稣基督，让祂成为救主，承认祂为主吗？ 然后，你们中的许多人以基督为你们生命的主，然而你们发现自己经常像那条势不可挡的河流一样分流，你发现自己正朝着这个世界的偶像走错方向。 这将是打开你的心并向主承认你有一些偶像的好时机。

我们讨论了很多，不是吗？只是在一些一般类别中。 你检查过你的心脏吗？财产、丰富、骄傲、人、享乐、项目、显赫地位呢？是教育、声望、性、金钱吗？这是什么？爱好、运动、娱乐？什么？哦，天哪，只有基督才能成为国王。

天父啊，今晚请对我们所有人的心说话。 愿我们抛开这个世界的神灵、空虚、无法回应的神灵，只会偷走我们对我们真实、纯洁和永恒的爱的美德。 愿我们抛弃偶像，崇拜祢。 无论我们的生活中有哪些尼布甲尼撒，他们在他们的统治和主权中呼喊我们鞠躬，愿我们永远不要低头。 愿我们不要与其他精英、博学、受过教育的人和大地的骄傲者低头，但愿我们像那三个年轻的希伯来男孩一样，在全能的上帝面前站在我们应该站的地方，坚定不移地站在真实的位置，永远不向偶像屈膝。

请告诉我们在这三个小男孩身上看到的那种性格。 我们这些称呼基督之名并拥有内住圣灵能力的人，我们拥有他们所拥有的所有资源，甚至可能更多的资源来站得住脚。 请帮助我们不要妥协，不仅不要吃国王的肉和喝国王的酒，而且不要崇拜国王的神。 帮助我们诚实、毫不妥协地站稳脚跟，在崇拜和荣耀祢方面占据我们的位置。 我们会奉基督的名感谢你。阿门。