Faith Which Demands No Miracle

Bible Book: Daniel 3 : 15-18

Subject: Faith; Believing; Miracles

Introduction

One summer, my wife and I were privileged to go to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Los Angeles. After the afternoon meeting one day, we went sightseeing with Dale and Kathy Burris who had brought their car. After stopping near the beach, we walked along the sidewalk above the beach. Brother Dale walked ahead and soon engaged in a conversation with four young surfers. Soon he began to witness to them. As we spoke to these young men, the one point came out over and over again. They said that they would believe if they could see a sign. In other words, they would have faith if they saw a miracle.

Perhaps they are like another man who once said, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it" (John 20:25).

This man, Thomas, and these young surfers are like many others. Our faith is not complete because we've seen no miraculous events or because our faith is based on getting something rather than giving.

In a time when real faith is desperately needed, we are full of doubts, and halftrust. We desperately need faith which demands no miracle. How we need simple, pure faith.

I am glad to report that it is possible. Several young men once had this faith and we can too. Let's read of their experience in Daniel 3:15-18, 24-26, 28.

I. Faith Which Demands No Miracles Produces Confidence (v. 17)

Imagine the scene. Here are these young men who have refused to kneel before a pagan statue of the king. They do not try to justify themselves. That which has been demanded of them, they cannot do. Without fanaticism, they calmly decline to answer, and say, God will care for us. If He wants to deliver us, He can. If He doesn't want to, that's okay. They had a faith, pure and total, which gave them a mighty confidence.

Once in 1865, Abraham Lincoln wrote a resolution on a piece of paper, which he folded, and asked his cabinet members to endorse it with their signatures without reading it. They did so. That is faith.

God wants you to have a faith in Him which is confident, one which is bold. He wants you to trust, completely. Some of you feel that if ever forced or asked to bow before an image, then you would have a bold faith. I say to you that every day of your life you are being asked to bow...to your own will...to your own gods. The Lord wants you to have faith in Him. Faith which demands no miracle produces confidence.

II. Faith Which Demands No Miracles Produces Steadfastness In Commitment (v. 18)

These young men said, "If not...we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up." They had a faith, which produced steadfastness in commitment. There was nothing conditional in their commitment to God.

The king had agreed in condescension and generosity to meet the three accused face to face. When his magnanimous gesture was so flatly repulsed, he became furious. The expression of his face (the image of his face) was changed. His face was distorted. He reacted in fury and ordered the furnace heated seven times more.

Job had a faith, which produced a steadfastness in commitment. He said, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him" (Job 13:15).

We live in a throw away society. If something doesn't work, throw it away, or trade it off. When you're through with your product, then throw it away. If your marriage is sour, then throw it away. If your friends aren't treating you right, then you get rid of them. If God isn't performing according to our wish and schedule, then our faith is thrown away.

Real trust in God, real faith, faith which demands no miracle produces steadfastness in commitment.

III. Faith Which Demands No Miracles Produces A Realization Of The Presence Of God (v. 25)

In v.25 we read, "He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Friends, in other words, real faith made God real for them. God became not an idea, or illusion, but a real person, a real delivered. Their faith which demanded no miracle produced a miracle, in the presence of God.

The astonishment and haste of the king accentuate the idea of the unusual. The king calls for his counselors. It was probably a Persian title. He verifies that three had been thrown into the furnace. The king saw four men. The fourth figure attracted the king's attention first. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. He resembled a divine being. The KJV has "Son of God." But this translation "is not grammatically defensible." In Aramaic the plural 'elahin (gods) is always a true plural. This godly being is called his angel (v.28). Early Christian commentators thought the fourth being to be "the second person of the Trinity." "This view has been generally given up by modern Christian commentaries." Nebuchadnezzar was not knowledgeable enough of the power and resources of the true and living God to be able to discern the identity of the fourth image. Since no specification is added, it is improper to read too much into the text.

The point is simple. God intervened with His presence. Friends, when God visits, miracles occur.

According to a recent and extensive poll, the deepest need expressed by Christians today is the sense of being distant from God, alone, discouraged, and unloved..." (Ogilvee, The Bush is Still Burning).

We are saved by grace through faith. Faith is the key. It is that decision to give up - to give everything up - to God. Only then will you have a faith which makes God real and close. It is a faith which realizes that God is not just an idea, but a real deliverer. It is that kind of faith which produces a friend who will walk through the furnace with you.

IV. Faith Which Demands No Miracles Produces A Recognition Of The Power Of God (v. 26)

Even Nebuchadnezzar, the king, recognized the awesome power of the Lord. First, he recognized God's authority, for in v.26, he realized that these three were servants of "the most High God." Then he recognized the power of God and he praised Him. In v.28, He said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego."

The faith of these young men not only produces a recognition of God's awesome power in their lives, but also in the lives of non-believers. Oh, how we need Christians whose lives would produce this recognition in nonbelievers.

We've talked about faith, faith which needs no miracle. Faith is simply that total, complete trust and surrender. Where are we in our faith? Spurgeon once said, "Many a believer lives in the cottage of doubt when he might live in the mansion of faith (v. I "Faith" #4).

You can live in the mansion of faith. As one author said, "Better a day of faith than a thousand years of doubt! Better one mortal hour with Thee than an endless life without!" Henry Burke Robins.