Resolve for Christ (Sermon 10 Camp Meeting 2024 Jonathan Murdock)

Good evening, I want to apologize first for Saturday evening, my wife said it was very evident but I typically preach in English and Spanish at the same time and it took me a little bit to make my brain stop thinking in Spanish after I would say something in English so I apologize for that.

A Word of Exhortation to Providence Baptist Church

Before I get to the text and pray, I do want to give Providence Baptist Church a word of exhortation. It is not a small thing the Lord has done here, it is a miraculous thing that doesn't often happen and you've been given a gift, don't waste it.

God is worthy of a faithful church, a healthy church in Perryville, Arkansas but God is not scared to remove the lampstand. You're looking at the book of Ephesians now, you're toward the end and if you know about the church in Ephesus, it was a church doctrinally sound.

You have the letter written by Christ to the church says you hate the Nicolaitans, you can't bear with their evil doctrine, your doctrine is good but the same thing that Paul warned them about in chapter 4, they failed to do, they did not love one another as they should have and after Paul wrote that letter, we have in history, one mention of them giving Ignatius some help and then nothing more and it becomes a trash dump, their lampstand removed.

So I exhort you this evening, do not take lightly what the Lord has done here. If you will take with me your Bibles to the book of Daniel, chapter 3 and verse 16 -18 Daniel 3, 16 -18, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this manner.

If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

Let's pray. Father, you are good and you are gracious and my desire for the church here in Perryville and every church represented is that they set their hands to the plow and don't look back. That they set all their hope on Christ and look up and not down and that they remain faithful and make it to the end.

Father, I beg and I plead, send your spirit this evening. Spirit, come and work on hearts. Use the means of grace that you've given to the church to build her up and encourage her to endure. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Hope Produces Resolution

I'm calling the message this evening. Hope produces resolution. Paul in the New Testament encourages the Colossian church. Since you have been raised with Christ, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth.

And he says this, for you've died and your life is hid in Christ on high. He says, so that when Christ, who is your hope, is manifested in glory, you also will be manifested with him. Robert Robinson was riding on a train in London in the late 1700s and there was a woman on the train that day and she was humming a song.

It was actually the song we just sang, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. And he looks at her and says, Ma 'am, will you please stop singing that song? And she says, Why? That's my favorite hymn! And he says, It's a lie, I wrote it.

Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave, the God I love. It's a little bit more weighty when you think of it like that. My question for you tonight is how are you going to endure? How are you going to hold on to the end?

Now, I want to clear some things up on the front side. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, justification is never lost. Justification is never future. Justification and salvation are sealed in the blood of Jesus.

It says in Hebrews 9 .12, He entered once by the means of his own blood, securing eternal redemption. My question is, how are we going to endure? It's more like this. What's it going to look like in your life?

To the one who is in Christ, he will get there. We hold to the doctrine, perseverance of the saints. Amen? He will get there. The question is, how is he going to get there? I've chosen an Old Testament passage.

Actually, Alan asked me to preach this. But I want to make some clarities about this. In the Old Testament, the Gospel was preached. Brother Randall did a great job of that, the Gospel according to Moses.

It was preached and it was clearly preached. They were not left wondering what's going to happen. Not only was the Gospel preached, but men believed in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And they were justified by their faith. That's what it says about Abraham. Galatians 3 .8, if you go and think about that, the Scriptures at the time of Abraham were verbal. The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham.

And it says in chapter 1 that there is no other Gospel. And that if anyone comes preaching another one, he's anathema. That Gospel preached to Abraham, he believed it and he was justified. Now, let me read to you something from the Confession this evening.

This comes from chapter 7, verse 2. Moreover, having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, talking about the fall of man, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace, amen, wherein He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in Him.

Now, here's where it gets a little difficult. That they may be saved and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life His Holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe. The last paragraph of that section says, this covenant was first preached in the Gospel to Adam in the garden.

Chapter on justification reads like this. Chapter 11 and paragraph 1. Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law and passive obedience in His death for their whole and sole righteousness by faith.

So, when we see Abraham is justified by faith, what does that mean? The active and passive obedience of Christ were applied to Abraham. Abraham lacked nothing in his justification. Abraham lacked nothing in his sanctification.

Abraham lacked nothing in his adoption, even the spirit of adoption. In our text this evening, let me set this up. There was a few preachers before Daniel. One of them was Isaiah, long before. God's going to come against you.

That's Isaiah's sermon. He's coming for you. He's going to take you to Babylon. Jeremiah comes along. This is going to happen.

No, sir, we're going to Egypt.

No, no, no. God's taking you to Babylon.

Go.

It's the will of the Lord. And so, Daniel goes with a couple of his buddies, willingly, because it's the will of the Lord. And then, while they're there, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. And it's interesting.

I'd like to read. You know the story. I don't need to hash this out.

He has a dream.

He tries to call the wise men. Don't only tell me the interpretation, but tell me the dream and the interpretation. And they can't do it. Well, Daniel goes in praise with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And he says, praise God, He's made it known to us. And so, they bring Daniel before Nebuchadnezzar, that little man. And Daniel says this in chapter 2, verse 31. You saw, O king, and behold a great image, this image mighty and of exceeding brightness stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.

The head of the image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet of plenty of iron, and partly of clay. Partly of iron, partly of clay.

As you looked, a stone was cut out. Now, pay attention here. He's looking at this image in his dream. A stone is cut out, now hear this, by no human hand. That's important. So, this image is built of all this clay and metals, and then a stone is cut out by no human hand.

And he says, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them into pieces. Then the iron and the clay, the bronze and the silver,.

The gold,.

All together were broken into pieces because, and it became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, filled the whole earth.

That's the dream. A little bit farther on, verse 44, he explains the dream, the last part of it. And in those days, of those kings, now, all of these kings are the different metals that he saw, and the clay.

And in those days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. Do you hear that? God tells Daniel to tell Nebuchadnezzar, these kings are going to raise up on the earth, and these kings are going to raise up on the earth, and these kings are going to raise up on the earth, but theirs is going to become a kingdom that raises above all of them.

Nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It's one people to God. It says, it shall break in pieces all those kingdoms, and bring them to an end. And it shall stand forever. Just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.

A great God made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure. So, Daniel comes to Nebuchadnezzar, and he says, let me tell you what's going to happen.

Your kingdom is going to bear a little bit longer. But theirs is going to become a kingdom that will be forever, and it's going to raise up against all kingdoms, and it's going to be a kingdom of kingdoms, and it's going to come not by what man can do.

This kingdom is not cut from stone by the hand of man. Why do I bring this up? We see in our text in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, a resolve. And I want to show you where the resolve of the church comes from.

Daniel got a promise of a kingdom. Abraham got a promise of a kingdom. Moses got a promise of a kingdom. Not yet, but it will come. And the hope of that kingdom brought resolve into their hearts. Let me show you.

If you go with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, you know the text. You know the chapter of this great hall of faith. These great men of God who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and bore through all the suffering to the end.

But the end of that chapter, verse 39, and all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. Now, I want to argue this evening, what was promised was not justification in Christ.

What was promised was not adoption in Christ. And what was promised was not sanctification. What was promised was a kingdom. Hebrews, the very next chapter, says, you, having received an unshakable kingdom.

So, they didn't receive what was promised. And it says this, that we, God, in verse 40, had provided something better for us that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. So, I want you to think about it like this.

Here's Daniel, standing before Nebuchadnezzar, prophesying about the coming of the church through the blood of Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God in the church. And Daniel's looking at it as his hope.

Why can I go to Babylon? Why can I sit under Nebuchadnezzar? Because God has promised something greater than your kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar. So, what do they do with Daniel? They take him and they sit him in the palace.

Man, Daniel gets to eat the good food. And in verse 49 of chapter 2, Daniel does something. Daniel made a request, having been ascended in the providence of God to this high position, he made a request.

And he made a request of the king. And he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the providence of Babylon, but Daniel remained in the king's court. After this, Nebuchadnezzar makes a golden image.

He sets it up and he says, whenever I sound my music, everyone's to bow down and worship this image. You know the story. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, they did not. And we come to chapter 3 and verse 13.

Then Nebuchadnezzar, in a furious rage, commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So, they brought these men before the king. Now, I want to submit to you this evening why they did not bow down.

They would not give themselves to lesser things because their hope was set in the kingdom of God. A promise was made that a kingdom will come and Hebrews says that they cannot be perfected without us.

What is it saying? That until the kingdom comes and we're brought in, the fullness will not be. They set their hope there. And so they say, we will not bow down. So, here they are before Nebuchadnezzar and he's mad.

You can imagine this king that has everything he ever wants, he thinks he's the ruler of all the world. And these three little men won't do what he says. He's in a furious rage. And they bring them before him and listen to what happens.

Verse 14, Nebuchadnezzar answered them. They didn't actually say anything. He answered them. Said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up?

Now, if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn,.

Pipe, lyre,.

Trigon, harp, bagpipe,.

And every kind of music,.

To fall down and worship the image that I have made well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands?

So, he tells them, when you hear my music playing, if it's all well and good, just bow down and we'll go along with our day. But there was a problem. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had set their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.

Hope had filled their hearts. They had gone through a life of hearing the Gospel through the prophets, which in Romans 16 says that the prophets preached the Gospel to all nations. They heard the Gospel through the prophets.

They had set their affections on Christ. And they said,.

We will not move.

I love their response. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. Look, Nebuchadnezzar, turn the iPod off. Tell them not to play.

You take your trigon.

And put it somewhere else.

You don't even need to blow it. Save your air, because we ain't even talking about it.

There's no way!

We have set our hope on Christ.

And we ain't moving.

I'm not bowing down.

Hope. And hope in the kingdom produced resolution or resolve in the hearts of these brothers. They had set their affections on Christ. They say this, if this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

But if it not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you set up. Eternity set in their hearts. So I'm going to ask you this evening, what does it mean to be resolved?

How do you gain resolve like these brothers had resolve? Let me give you a definition. Being resolved is having a determined purpose in the heart through providence. Let me explain.

In my heart,.

There is a determined purpose.

Because what I've walked through.

That has tested my faith, that's made it rock solid, that has set my eyes on Christ, that I ain't moving from. There's a determined purpose in my heart that's been brought about by the providence of God.

And it causes a firm disposition and leads to freedom. That's what it means to be resolved. You see that in our text. These brothers walking through the exile, walking through being led to Babylon, seeing the temple being destroyed where they once offered worship and it being ransacked.

Trusting in Christ the whole way. You see the same resolve in Jeremiah. It's my favorite. They come to Jeremiah and they're like, we've heard all the good things you've been saying about us. Babylon obviously.

We want to take you and set you at the table of the King. And Jeremiah says, nope. I'm staying here with these wicked men that threw me in the system and I'm going to keep preaching. His resolve to stay.

I want you to see the implications. Whatever the consequence. Whatever it costs me. Whatever you say that I'm going to have to suffer.

That's fine.

But I am moving. If a man is resolved in Christ, he will not move. How do we shut Paul up? I don't know. Let's tie him to this thing and stretch his arms out and his legs out till all of his joints come apart and leave him all night and see what happens.

He sings in the morning.

How do you shut him up?

You can't.

When a man's resolved on Christ, when hope has filled his heart for the Kingdom of Christ, he can't be stopped. That's why Jesus says the gates of hell can't prevail. So let's get to the question. Do you not want it?

I want it. I want to be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I'm preaching through Hebrews and I come to chapter 4 and verse 16. And I read Robert Trail in his works has 13 sermons on that verse. And he tries to give a defense for preaching so many sermons.

And he just says this,.

It's the most important verse, the most applicable verse for the Christian because we all have need. Come to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace in your time of need. We all have need, therefore it's most applicable.

In our time of need, in our time of sitting under the hard providence of God, how do we know we'll be resolved? How do we get to a position like these brothers? Resolution is a process under the banner of sanctification.

You have a new believer. They come out of the baptismal waters. I'm ready to go fight hell with a pistol,.

A water pistol.

No one really believes them. How do we know? How many times have we heard pastors, the only way you're taking me out of here is in a body bag. Two weeks later, here's my resignation I wrote two weeks ago because I'm leaving the church because you made me mad.

It's a process. You can't leave an emotional event like we've had this week and think, I'm going to make it to the end because I feel it in my heart. So do the Mormons. Resolution is a process under the banner of sanctification and it requires a work in two areas.

First, in faith. Faith must be tested and tried and put on trial just like faithful was in vanity fair. That's why we have suffering and afflictions. A couple of years ago, I'm preaching through James 1.

We all like when we're young and backpack missionaries, consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds. That's my life verse. Until you walk through a couple of trials and you're like, I'm going to pick a different one.

We want to go ahead and get to chapter 1, verse 17. All good and perfect gifts come down. We miss a part of that verse though. He says, don't err. Don't be an error. Don't make the mistake. These trials we talked about in chapter 1, verse 3, that's the good and perfect gifts He gives you.

Don't err about that.

Don't be an error.

All the good and perfect gifts come down from the Father of lights. He's going to give them to you. That's how faith is grown. That's why Jesus says you're going to suffer. You're going to enter the kingdom through many tribulations.

You must suffer. Afflictions. They're essential to our sanctification. You've got to go through vanity fair. Your faith's got to be put on trial. There will be no resolve where faith has not gone to the school of affliction.

There may be zeal, but no resolve. There's a difference. Faith that leads to resolve is like the man in Matthew 7 who's built his house upon the rock through time. And when the wind and the waves come, it stands.

Faith must be tested that we gain resolve. Second, fear. Through the testing of our faith, fear is removed. It says in Hebrews 2 that He came and died to save those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

You know what that means? Jesus came to save me from the fear of death. You know what happens when you put the hope of Christ in the heart of someone and remove their fear of death? It's the church unstoppable.

What are you going to do to me?

Kill me?

Priest, God, that's better! I'm seeing Jesus! Hebrews 11, they were men whom the world wasn't worthy. Fear kills resolve and must be removed. You remember in Pilgrim's Progress, the man of little faith.

Little faith had some money he had made and earned with his own hard work. He had it in his pocket. He also had the jewels to the kingdom of God. He was walking on the way one day and some men beat him up and took all his money.

Left him with his jewels. He spent the whole life begging on the side of the road. Hopeful says he ain't going to make it. And Christian goes,.

Don't you see he has faith? He might be small, but he has faith.

He's going to make it. He's just going to have a hard go at it. Because he lives in fear. But when faith is tested and fear is removed, hope set on Christ, resolve fills the heart. These brothers have walked through the trial of affliction, hearing Isaiah, hearing Jeremiah, having the prophets, going to Babylon,.

Losing their homes,.

And trusting in God the whole way. In Ezekiel 36, you know the text, verse 20, but when they came to the nations, speaking of the exile, Ezekiel's writing of that saying, but when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned My holy name in that people said of them, these are the people of the Lord, and yet they go out of this land.

The ones who were carried off to Babylon, it says that they had blasphemed His name among the nations. But not these brothers. They held hope in their heart. They submitted themselves to the Lord through providence.

Their faith was tested.

It grew.

Fear was lost. Hope was set in their hearts. And they became resolved. You little man Nebuchadnezzar, we are not even going to answer you. You remember Pilate? Do you not know I have the authority over you?

No, you don't. Same situation. Hey, look, if it's all well and good, the band plays the music, you just bow down and we'll be good. We're not even going to answer. Tell them to leave their instrument at home!

You don't even need to sound it. Nebuchadnezzar didn't even sound the instrument. He just said, fire it up. He saw the resolve in their heart. No need to waste your time. These guys aren't changing.

Why?

Fear was removed. Hope set in their heart. Faith grows. Little faith was rich with the jewels of the kingdom, yet he stood by the way begging. You know the text. I've never seen a righteous man beg for bread.

Why was little faith begging? A righteous man doesn't beg for bread because he doesn't have a need. Don't hear the text wrong. He has a need. Paul says, I'm hungry. Clothes don't even work. I've come to the point, my clothes don't even cover me sufficiently.

But a righteous man won't beg because he knows he has no need to beg for men. His hope set on the Lord Jesus Christ. These men with resolve in their heart gained resolve like every believer from history through providence of God, through the providence of God to bring about trials in their lives, to walk them through the furnace.

To remove fear, strengthen faith, set their hope on Christ. They stood at the fiery furnace unmoved with a determined purpose because they persevered through providence. That's how we gain resolve. See the process.

We come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We grow in the Scriptures and that faith is tested, fears removed, hope set in the heart, and that hope causes resolve. Next question. What are we resolved to?

These brothers lost absolutely everything! You know what they had? A promise of a kingdom they weren't even going to get at the time. Same thing Abraham. You're promised a land and a kingdom you're not even going to see.

But he was looking for a city whose builder and founder is God. We are not resolved to Calvinism or any other ism. We are not resolved to street preaching, abortion ministry, kitchen ministry, or any other ministry.

We must not even first be resolved to our own families and churches. And before you stone me, let me explain. First, our resolve must be set on the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ above all. All glory be to Christ!

He's my only hope in life and death. We must be resolved to the means of grace, prayer, preaching, sacraments, daily time in His Word, given to us that we would grow in our understanding of Christ. He gave us them that we might see Christ.

Our brothers just read it. We behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We behold the face of Jesus Christ through the means of grace. Then, our resolve will lead us to Him and be reflected in our resolve to our families, to our local churches, to our cities.

A man cannot be resolved to the Lord Jesus Christ and not be resolved to his local church. Your resolution to Christ, your resolve in Christ, will reflect in your resolve to the local church. These men, they came before them and said, we will honor the Lord Jesus Christ?

He says, look, you can throw us in there.

We ain't bowing down.

We're not even going to answer you. God's able to save us, but if He doesn't know this, He's God. He's the one you're asking about. We have no need to answer you, they said. Their life was hid in Christ.

Their resolve was in Him. Therefore, their resolve was to suffer before the peasant Nebuchadnezzar. We must be resolved to Christ. This is not the testimony of Paul. Can you imagine Paul sitting around with his family and them saying, you know you lost everything?

And he says, I counted as dog food. That's what skubalon means.

Dog food.

These dogs are troubling you, he says early in the passage. And they mention all these things that those guys have a taste for and he says, I counted as dog food that I might gain Christ. Lastly, I'll close here.

The Benefits of Being Resolved in Christ

What are the benefits of being resolved? What do you gain by walking under the providence of God, growing in your faith, losing fear, gaining hope in your heart, and gaining a resolve? What do you gain?

First, you gain liberty. Freedom. These brothers were free. Carried all the way to Babylon in a land not their own. Didn't even worry about the food they were going to eat. Look, we're just going to trust God.

You bow down and you're going to die. You can't even kill us. You don't even have the power. When one is resolved in Christ and the Gospel through providence, there's great freedom. Let me give you an example.

Some of you wake up on Sunday mornings and ask the question, Hey, honey, are we going to go to church today? And it's a battle every time. I remember early on in our marriage. Are we going to go on vacation?

Are we going to go to church? If I ask my wife that now,.

God put you at the head of this family. You're asking if we're going to go to church.

If you're resolved, you're free.

The question's not are we going to go to church. What do you want us to wear? Are you going to wear a tie? Which one? Second, when you're resolved, hope said in the heart you're resolved, you have the joy of hope.

You see, some men have the hope of Christ, yet they don't enjoy it. See it in our text. God can save us, but if He doesn't. Their hope was not walking out of this situation, but their hope was the Lord Jesus Christ.

Their joy couldn't even be taken away by a fire. When you have set your hope on the Lord Jesus Christ and resolve fills your heart, then you can joy in the hope that's there. And we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Amen?

Third, when you gain a godly resolve through providence, you gain capacity in your heart and your mind for the knowledge of Christ. Thomas Manton used an illustration like this. When we get to heaven, everybody gets a cup that's overflowing.

Some of them just have a thimble and some have a barrel. When you are taken through providence, faith is tried,.

Hope fills your heart, resolve is where you're set,.

Your heart and your mind are expanded to the knowledge of Christ. You're more fit for heaven than you ever were. The one who gains the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through providence will have his theological capacity to the size of a barrel.

Amen?

Fourthly, what are the benefits of resolution or resolve? There's great reward. These brothers walked in the fire with the Lord Jesus Christ.

You can do whatever you want, little man!

You can toot your horn all you want to!

We ain't bowing down!

And I'll show you. I'm going to walk with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with Him in all His glory. And I'll even come out of here and not even smell like smoke. You can't even sit by the campfire without stinking.

The fire was so hot, the guys that threw them in died!

They didn't even smell like smoke!

They walked with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why?

Their hope was set on Him and they walked with resolve. Church, let me encourage you. Set your hope on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look for His appearing. Paul says this, the time has come for my departure.

And there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, and for all who love His appearing. If you'll set your hope on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll set your hope in His kingdom, in His kingdom alone.

The church.

The promise that's been given to us that they looked forward to, that they were willing to die for. That hope will carry you through this life while you're here. But if you don't, you'll be like little faith.