There Is Another in the Fire — Shane Idleman

The Presence of God in the Fire

The title of the message I want to encourage you with is the same title of the song that we just sang, there is another in the fire. There's another in the fire. And many of you know the story, but if you don't, I'm going to get there in just a minute from the book of Daniel.

But let me just be transparent with you tonight. It's been probably one of the most difficult seasons of my life, the last four months. Anyone else can relate to this? Oh, wow. That's a lot of you. Okay.

This is going to be very applicable. We know what's going on. We see ulterior motives. We see numbers being skewed. We see fear and politicizing of different things. And it's a very stressful time of life, especially for pastors trying to find that balance of honoring God, but honoring the civil authorities as long as they don't start to overstep certain boundaries and juggling things and constant criticism.

There's not a day goes by that I don't get negative emails and criticism. Why don't you do this? Why do you do this? Why do you say this? Why are you political? Why are you political? Bye, bye, bye. It's just a never ending, a never ending amount of stress.

And so I can relate to this topic. There is another in the fire. And I want to encourage you, but I also want to convict you. And last week, you'll remember I talked about that there is no hindrance too great for God.

Amen. There is no battle too hard. There is no power too strong for God. That's what we focused on last week. There's nothing, nothing can stop God Almighty. That's why I love that song. Nothing, not the government, not the virus.

God is on the throne. Nothing can stop Him. But what do you do when you're in the fire? What do you do when you're, I mean, Shane, that sounds great, but I'm going through it right now. I'm being challenged.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Refuse to Bow

I need encouragement. I'm barely hanging on. That sounds great. But what do I do when I'm going through the fire? And I'm going to take you to a story. I'm not going to read it all. It's in Daniel. Many of you know the story of Nebuchadnezzar who built a, what was a golden image.

And they wanted the people to bow down to that. And if you see where America is going, we're not too far off from that, are we? And we're going to be in that challenging situation, I believe, at some points.

And remember when you hear the wind, just remember the Holy Spirit's convicting you in some area. That's the wind of the Spirit convicting, Oh, Lord, what do I have to work on? I hear that wind blowing.

I'm going to use it to our advantage. So King Nebuchadnezzar, he made an image of gold and certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. So here we have this golden image and you have the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not bow to this image.

So the king said, you have to bow to this image. And they said, we are not bowing to this image. Whoever is not bowing to this image and worshiping is cast into a burning fiery furnace. So I want to give you the first point from this is this, prepare for accusations.

Standing Firm Against Accusations and False Standards

Prepare yourself for accusations. If you want a lot of accusations, just go into the ministry. What is an accusation? Well, it's interesting. It's a charge against you that you did something illegal or wrong.

But remember, legal is not always lawful. What God says is lawful sometimes is illegal. And what is legal according to society is often not lawful according to God's word. So it's a very hard balancing act there because just because something is legal.

But Shane, it's legal. But is it lawful? And when you begin to obey God more than laws that are against Him, you, there will be accusations against you. Aren't those being railed at us now? You're racist.

You're bigoted. You're narrow minded. You're a hater. When has love speech of the gospel become hate speech? How did that happen? Loving someone enough to tell them the truth but now it's being labeled hate speech.

We are seeing something cataclysmic take place in our nation. Woe be to those who call good evil and evil good. We are beginning to call what is unlawful, lawful and right. And the things that are perverted, we are now calling that good.

And that's a very dangerous spot to be in. You can just look at how far we have drifted recently. And then Nebuchadnezzar in a rage and in a fury. Why was he mad? Because they did not bow down to his idol.

So he said, go bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to me right now. I'm mad. I'm angry. And it reminded me that you need to prepare for your demonic response. Demonic powers hate to be challenged. And people say, well, Shane, you're not somebody who believes in demons, do you?

Well, Jesus did. If you believe on me, you will cast out demons. So I take the Bible for what it says. There are demonic powers. That's why Paul said that our battle is not against flesh and blood. Listen, our prayer closets are empty but the gun safes are full.

Everybody's fighting a spiritual battle physically. And I'm all for being prepared. But the Bible writers remind us that our battle is spiritual. The weapons of your warfare are mighty through God for the pulling down of what?

Strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity. That is spiritual warfare, calling down heaven to fight hell.

And anytime you do that, the demonic powers become enraged. That's what you're seeing across our landscape, is it not? Peaceful, nice protests in Portland. Rage. Rage and fury and anger because they can't debate the truth.

They can't answer to the truth. When you bring the truth to someone, all they can do is yell and scream at you. They become enraged when you don't believe and embrace their agenda. And that's what happened.

The Dividing Line of God’s Word

He became enraged. I am the king. And he said, is it true that you do not serve my gods and you will not worship my gold image? Here's where it gets interesting, folks. We're actually, what we've been preaching for decades now, we're beginning to live out.

We are living in very serious times. I've had a couple of conversations with my wife and kids that a voice like this will not be able to stand too long in a culture that we're living in if we get the wrong people elected.

And I'm not getting political. I'm just telling you the truth. The pastors who stand up for truth, who are going to be on the front lines, seeing jail time and fines and different. That's just the truth.

That's the direction we are going. There has to come a point where you, and what you're seeing now is the chaff and the wheat are being divided. The goat and the sheep are being divided. There is a clear line of demarcation.

What is that line? Is God's word, the inerrant, inspired, authoritative word of God that we stand on or is it something we can compromise? Those are the options. That's why there's a big divide. You're saying, how can these people post this on Facebook?

How can they believe that? Because the line of demarcation is being drawn in the sand. Choose today who you will serve. As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord. And those lines are being drawn. Those lines are being drawn in the sand.

Choosing Whom to Worship

So he said, now if you are ready to fall down and worship this image, good. But if you do not worship, you will be cast immediately into the midst of this fiery furnace. And he said something, I get the shivers every time I read this.

And whose God is going to be able to deliver you? Challenging God Almighty, that is not a good thing. What God is going to be able to deliver you? You will bow to our gods. And so we learn here that there is a choice.

Prepare to be challenged and prepare to make a choice. Listen, the day of the lukewarm, casual, comfortable Christianity is over. You are seeing that where people need to boldly stand up for their faith.

And they will be challenged. They will have to give an answer for what they believe. So he challenged him, will you bow to my God? Or are you going to trust in a God that will not deliver you? They had to make a choice.

And that's what I said earlier, whoever denies me before God, I will deny him. I'm sorry, whoever denies me before men, Jesus said, I will deny him before the Father. And that's, isn't that where the rubber meets the road?

Is when it comes down to who will we worship? Who will we serve? And who will we deny? And I'm always reminded of Matthew 7. I was just a few hours ago. Jesus said, he said that there will be those. Many will say to me in that day when the judgment hand of God falls and they stand before their risen Lord and Savior, Jesus will say, many will say to me, but Lord, we did all these things in your name.

We painted neighborhoods. We helped the homeless. We did all these things in your name. He'll say, depart from me. I don't even know you. Can you imagine standing before Jesus Christ someday, look at all these things I did.

He said, depart from me. I don't even know you. I know who you are, of course, but I don't have a relationship with you. And that is a frightful day, I believe in the lives of many people. And I don't say it to upset.

I say it to convict. And as you can hear the wind blowing, is the Holy Spirit convicting you in this area? And so what did they say? Yes, we are scared. We don't like this cancel culture. We don't like being told mean things.

We are going to bow to your gold image, King. Is that what they said? Come on, Bible scholars, you know the story. They said, we will not bow to your King. We will not bow to your golden idol because our God will deliver us.

Our God will deliver us. But now he said, he said something very interesting that you always have to remember. He added, but even if he doesn't, I will not bow to your God. See, that's where we get in trouble.

Faithfulness Regardless of the Outcome

Jesus will heal me no matter what. Jesus will get me through. I will never have to go through this. I'll never experience this. God will save me. Be careful. We don't know what his sovereignty includes.

He will walk through the fire with you, not always around it. And that's something so profound because I've seen many people walk away or get upset at God because he doesn't answer like they want him to answer.

They said, God will deliver us. But even if he doesn't, even if he doesn't, God, even if you don't heal me, even if you don't set me free, anybody struggle with an addiction, God, take this away. Take this away.

And even, even if he doesn't deliver you right then, will you still follow him? Even if he doesn't rescue from a difficult employment or a divorce situation, God, I will still follow you. You have to get down deep inside of you like Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

God, wherever you take me to the furnace of affliction, to the walls of destruction and not understanding what I'm going through, no matter what, God, I will serve you because you are the king on the cross who died for me.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, Paul would say. It is my cross I follow that I would know him in the fellowship of his suffering. And we've been painted this picture of Christianity in America that just, you're going to be wealthy and healthy, no challenges.

That's not biblical. The greatest preacher that ever lived. You know what Jesus said, this is the greatest preacher that ever lived. John the Baptist was beheaded around age 30. Jesus was killed on the cross.

The first martyr Stephen filled with the spirit of God was stoned by the people. 11 of the 12 disciples were either beheaded, stabbed, hung upside down, thrust through with the sword, boiled. Read Fox's book of martyrs.

There's a dying to self that happens. And the reason I tell people this is I believe it's better to be forewarned so you can be forearmed. Then keep being given this, this picture of Christianity that is not biblical.

Preparing the Next Generation for Spiritual Warfare

And I believe that's why many young adults, you remember 10, 20 years ago, young adults are leaving the Christian faith like never before. What's going on? You have to prepare them for warfare. You have to prepare them for the atheist professor who's going to demean their faith.

You've got to strengthen them. You've got to give them apologetics and, and, and ground them in the faith. But one of the most eyeopening things for me was when Josh McDowell, you remember Josh McDowell evidence that demands a verdict.

He wrote 20 years ago, I think it was 22 years ago. Now they asked him, I'll never forget this. He talked to teens all across the United States. And he asked, and they asked the teenagers, they would ask this question.

Why, why are you leaving? Why are you walking away from the faith? What's going on? Why don't you want to be a Christian? Why, why, why? And the question, or actually the answer above all other answers was this.

How can we live for Christ when we don't want the Christ that our parents have? Oh, you better hear a pin drop on that one. Could it be, could it be that we are leading the generation astray because we are arrogant and prideful and legalistic and carnal.

We preach one thing, but do another thing. Listen, it's okay to tell your kids, you're sorry. I've done it. Ask them, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have said that. I got upset. I am sorry.

That's why I need Jesus Christ. And you point your kids to forgiveness. You point them to the cross. You tell them it's okay to fall as long as you get back up. You don't paint this image of some perfect Christianity that no one can fulfill.

Lead them to a powerful Savior who can set them free. And that was one of my points I already shared with you. Prepare to trust God regardless of the outcome, regardless of the outcome. But it does beg the question, how will you die for him tomorrow if you're not willing to live for him today?

Drawing Near to God in Affliction

You ever hear in the Bible, the furnace of affliction? The furnace of affliction. What it would do, it would heat up metal to a very hot temperature and it would pull out all the impurities. And so I want to encourage you as you're going through difficult seasons, don't run to God.

Actually draw near to God. There are so many promises on that. Just read the Psalms. Those who draw near to me, I will draw near to them. Those who draw to me, I will no way cast out. If you seek me with all of your heart, you will find me.

Who is going to hide from God? David even said, if I go to hell, he is there. If I make my bed in hell, he is there. If I go to the uttermost parts of the sea, even there, God is there. I cannot run from God.

He is everywhere. Look to him and him alone be strengthened. Then Nebuchadnezzar, was he happy? No, he said, he was full of fury. And the expression on his face changed because they said, I will not bow to your God.

And he spoke and he commanded them. He said, turn up the heat. Turn up the heat. Anybody feel like that right now? Oh, the Holy Spirit is speaking to somebody. Turn up the heat. That's what's happening right now.

In our demonic oppression, demonic influences are turning up the heat in our nation. They are turning it up. We will not bow to you. We will not close our churches. We will not sing to God. We will proclaim the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

And that upsets the demonic influences. There's a fight. There's a battle. And he commanded, he commanded the men to throw them, bind them, throw them in the fiery furnace. So these men were bound in their clothing and they were thrown into the fiery furnace.

The Fourth Man in the Furnace

And what happened? Did it consume them? Of course not. Kids, pay attention. Then the king, he was astonished. I bet he was. He rose up and spoke. Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? Did we not cast three men into the fire?

But look, there's a fourth. There's a fourth. And he looks to be like the son of God. Now, how he knew that he was the son of God, I have no idea. They call that an image of Christ coming and appearing in the Old Testament.

Who is that? Who is that? Looks like the son of God. There's another in the fire. That's why we sing that song. There's another in the fire. No matter what you go through. Can I tell you that I'm still standing here before you today because there was another in the fire.

And many of you can say, how are you still standing through that divorce? Or are you still standing through that disease or that, that health issue or financial, that financial devastation? And how are you still standing?

You know because there's another in the fire. There's another in the fire holding you together. But doesn't the enemy taunt you just like he taunted these boys? The king said, and who is the God who will deliver you from me?

Who is the God going to deliver you from me? And I, my mind immediately this week, I went back to a king named Sennacherib. Any of you know, have you heard that name before? Sennacherib. He was a king of the most ruthless, I'm sorry, ruthless.

I know I'm going to have trouble on that one. Ruthless army that ever existed. I believe the Assyrians, they would kill their enemy and they would build pyramids of skulls. Now you know that Jonah went and preached to the capital of Nineveh.

Nineveh repent. In 40 days God will judge you. That Assyrian army. And so Sennacherib going a different time now. I'm not talking about King Nebuchadnezzar. He surrounded the city of Jerusalem and he mocked the children of Israel.

He mocked them. He said, who is going to deliver you? I'm going to tell you his exact words. Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you. He cannot help you. Can you imagine that type of challenge to God?

So how did God respond? He said, I will put a hook in your nose and a bit in your mouth and I will make you return by the way that you have come. And that king challenged God. And that night, the Bible records that the death angel flew over the entire Assyrian army and killed 185 ,000 of these men, these warriors.

You don't mess with God. And you don't challenge God. And the enemy taunts, who is this God? Have you heard that before? Who is this God who's going to set you free? Who is this God that you're looking to?

God doesn't hear you. God doesn't see you. But you have to say like these men, oh king, my heart will not fear what God has defeated. Did you hear that even up there? Your heart does not have to fear what God has defeated.

God’s Promises in the Midst of Trouble

Look to his word. His word says, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Come unto me all who are weak and heavy. And I will give you rest. When you pass through the waters, it will not overtake you.

The fire will not scorch you. The flame will not hurt you. Why? Because I am the Lord thy God and I walk through the fires with you. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them from them all.

Man, the power of the word of God. It even says, do not be anxious for anything. How many of us need to work on that? Just come on. You guys are being honest. It's the honest side over here. Be anxious.

Be anxious. What does that mean? Be fearful. Be anxious. What's going on? Shane, look at the chip. Look at the vaccine. Look at Bill Gates. Come on. I'm not naive. People are anxious. He says, be not anxious about anything.

Nothing, God. Come on. Nothing. Be anxious about nothing but in everything. Prayer and supplication. Let your request be made known to God and the God will give you the peace that rules your heart. The peace that surpasses all understanding.

And you have to get to that point. My God will deliver me, but even if he doesn't, I will not bow to this culture. Isn't that what we're doing? We are bowing to the culture. We're bowing to the agendas.

And God says, trust in me no matter what happens. Now, I know some of you are probably saying, well, Shane, that's great. But I need the boldness. Anyone need boldness? We are in desperate need of boldness.

Boldness Through the Holy Spirit

Where does boldness come from? Can you work it up? Alright, God. I just want to be bold this week. Boldness cannot be worked up. It has to be brought down by the power of the Holy Spirit. Listen, the Holy Spirit has been given a lot of weird labels over the years and interesting things done in the name of the Spirit and all this stuff.

But throughout all of the New Testament, the one thing that was a clear indication of the Holy Spirit ruling and reigning in your life, yes, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, contentment, long suffering, but boldness.

Without a shadow of a doubt, boldness. This is how they would go before kings and they would speak the truth of God because of boldness. They would pray over their family members and cast out the works of darkness because of boldness.

Acts 4, after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. Wouldn't you like to feel the power of God again? The place was shaken. And what happened? And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they became very timid.

I wish you'd stop me, Wendy, because I have to hold my notes down. I preach with my body. You can get excited about God, amen? And some of you need to know you can get excited about God. If God delivers you and sets you free and fills you with boldness to speak his truth and you know come hell or high water, you are serving him.

You know you've got a house in heaven that God will see you through. The no man can knock you down because God is your strength. You can walk in that boldness. We should be the most joy filled people on the planet.

Then why are we the most miserable often? Because many people lack that boldness of the Holy Spirit. They really don't have hope in Christ. They have hope in Facebook. Hope in their retirement. Hey, a lot of these things are a blessing.

I got it. That's good. But I hope you're not hoping in your retirement. I hope you're not hoping in a good economy coming up. And I pray to God you're not hoping in November, on November 5th. Oh, that's my hope.

No, your hope is in Jesus Christ. I love that song. I don't know how many of you know this. The lyrics, it goes something like this. There is a song I know it well. A melody that never fails. On mountaintops and valleys low, my soul will rest, my confidence in Christ alone.

Hope has a name and that name is Jesus. There is that hope. So part one I just did was to encourage you. To encourage you, there's another in the fire. And so many people, I can see it. Yes, they're so excited.

The Urgency of Salvation

But so many people have no idea what I'm talking about. They want that but they're lacking that. I'm just going to part two briefly. Don't worry. It's only about 45 minutes long. But let me just shoot you straight for just a minute.

The urgency of our times. I have never seen it more urgent than now. Have you? The urgency, the urgency. Anytime they preach the gospel, they never said next week. They said today is the day of salvation.

Today is this day of salvation. Three times in the book of Hebrews, they said, when you hear his voice, harden not your heart. When you hear his voice, harden not your heart. See, there's one thing about God.

He's not a puppet master. He calls, he petitions, he convicts. But at the end of the day, it's up to man to make a choice. I accept Jesus Christ and I bow to my knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords or I reject him.

I reject him. I deny him. Those are our two choices. I want to speak to you for a minute. Those on the fence. There's something called the Romans road to salvation. Have you heard that before? Romans 3 .23.

The Undiluted Gospel and Human Sin

Well, I should warn you, this is not going to be popular, but it's going to be powerful. Anytime you preach the undiluted, unpolluted, clear gospel message, it convicts and it upsets. It's supposed to.

We think that somehow we need to watch, you know, if I could just water down the gospel, if I could just kind of ease people into it. Jesus didn't. Jesus didn't ease it up. Actually, the Bible says, speak.

Paul said, Timothy, for the time will come when they will not endure. They will not put up with sound doctrine, but they will look for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Is not my word like a fire?

Jeremiah, God told Jeremiah, preach my word. Timothy, Paul would tell Timothy, preach the whole counsel of God's word. Convince, rebuke, exhort, warn, encourage, let the word of God fall where it may and let him sort out the chips.

Anytime you soften up the gospel, it loses its power. So Romans 3 .23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All, Shane, is there a couple people? No. All have fallen short of the glory of God.

Romans 6 .23, for the wages of sin is death. I didn't say it. The Bible says here's why. The cross cost Jesus Christ a great deal. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that the world might not be condemned but saved.

The cross cost him his life. There's a price to pay. Why? Because the wages of sin is death. Here's the gospel in a nutshell. What we just read. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I cannot stand before a righteous, holy God in my own strength.

Penal Substitution and the Exclusivity of Christ

So Jesus Christ absorbed the wrath. The Bible, the New Testament talks about propitiation. Jesus absorbed the wrath of God on the cross. He took on the appeasement. He appeased God and he took on the wrath of God and died for the sins of the world.

And that's why it says the wages of sin is death. But don't get discouraged. But the free gift of God, did you hear that? The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's why we say that he is the only way.

He is the only truth. He is the only life. Nobody comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ. You can't ride your parents' coattails. You can't say I've been born in a Christian nation. I go to a Christian school.

I go to a Christian church. I own a Bible. God will say what have you done with my son? Have you repented of your sin and believed in the only name that saves? That's the only hope. God is not a cosmic ball of love.

And he's not a doting grandfather. There is a price. There is a reckoning. And then Romans 5, 8, I love this verse. I'll try not to tear up. But God demonstrated his own love toward us. And then while we are still sinners, Christ died for us.

He demonstrated his own life. He demonstrated his own love for us. And while we were yet sinners. In other words, when I was mocking God, when I was going out and living a terrible life, I was mocking God, shaking my fist.

There is no God. I'm God. Yet in that, he loved so much that he demonstrated his love for us while we were still sinning, Christ died for us. And there's a story I told. I was just, I debated somebody at the college many years ago.

Grace, Repentance, and the Call to Decide

And I saw the clip again. I wanted to just share the story with you. It's very brief. It's of a young man, a teenager, probably 18, 19, who had rejected God. And he was out drinking all the time and partying and living this terrible lifestyle.

And his parents had had enough. And he came home late at night. And the dad heard the mom get up and he said, well, finally, finally, she's going to let him have it. Finally, let's tell this boy out. Let's kick him to the curb.

Let's get him out of here. Many of you have that view of God and that's not the case. If that was God's true nature, I would have been dead long ago. His grace abounds. So the mom went down the stairs and the dad heard nothing.

Five minutes later, he heard nothing. He's like, what's going on? So he went down there and the son was passed out. He was drunk, completely passed out and the mom was holding her little boy, holding him, just caressing his hair and loving him.

And the dad said, what are you doing? And she said, he would not let me love him while he's awake. So I will love him while he's asleep. And is that not the love of God? We reject him. Society mocks him.

We live for ourselves. And in all of that, God says, listen, my son died for you. In all of this, Christ died on that cross. I'm willing. I am ready. I am patient. But at the end of the day, you have to realize you have to make a decision for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

If you confess with your mouth that Christ is Lord and believe that God has raised him from the dead, you will not shell, you will be saved. There has to come a day of choice, of decision. And people do ask me sometimes, they say, Shane, why are you so passionate about this?

Well, many of you know, wouldn't you be when God saved you? When God pulled you up out of the, out of the, the, the, the miry clay, out of the, out of everything, he pulled you up and he saved you. That's why the number one song in America sung 10 million times a year, Amazing Grace.

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. And the Bible says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Let him hear what the Spirit of God is saying.

He who has eyes to see, let him see what God is doing. He's convicting. He's drawing. And you can all see that the alarm clock is sounding. Time is ticking. And God is saying, you have to make a decision to follow me.

But Shane, I struggle with same-sex attraction. Run to the cross. We all struggle with something. If you don't struggle with something, I would love to meet you afterwards. How do you do that? I'll tell you how you do it.

It's something called pride and arrogance. But Shane, I struggle with this. You don't know my past. I can't break free of this, Shane. I just looked at poor. I'm a mess. You don't know. All I know is Jesus says, he who comes to me, I will no way cast out.

There's no sin too big, no sin too destructive that God can't save. It caused Christ on that cross. He took on the wrath of God for every sin unmanageable. But you have to make that decision to follow Christ no matter what the cause.