Scripture: Daniel 3:1-23
Sermon Series: Stormproof – Sermon 07

If you keep up with our missionary, Tania Bure in Ukraine, then you know her team recently experienced a night of terror from an attack by Russian missiles and drones. It’s an Unsolvable Problem.

Last week I wished an old roommate “Happy Birthday” only to learn his wife has cancer. It’s an Unsolvable Problem. I have a pastor friend whose daughter and son-in law cut he and his wife off. It’s an Unsolvable Problem.

Over 7,000 Christians have been murdered in Nigeria in 2025 alone. Since 2009, it’s estimated that more than 52,000 Christians have been martyred in Nigeria. It’s an Unsolvable Problem.

Recently, my cousin shared that she’d retired from teaching because her school superintendent required teachers to choose a pronoun and sign their name with it. Maybe you’re facing a similar situation that compromises your biblical convictions. You’re dealing with what John Stonestreet calls the theology of getting fired. It’s an Unsolvable Problem.

Are you’re facing a financial crisis? Perhaps it’s an emotional problem and the darkness never seems to end? They’re Unsolvable Problems.

Maybe you have an unsaved spouse or an irreconcilable relationship with a friend. It’s an Unsolvable Problem. You don’t have to be a cannibal to be fed up with people. People are often the source of Unsolvable Problems.

So, raise your hand if every single part of your life is going great right now!

We’re continuing our series: Stormproof and talking about Unsolvable Problems. Maybe today you’re in a hard season. It’s like that line from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Always winter, never Christmas.” The facts are “you are going into a hard season or you’re in the middle of a hard season or you’re coming out of a hard season. Peter calls them “fiery trials.” 1 Peter 1:7, So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire.

God’s Word overflows with His people facing Unsolvable Problems. We have one in the Old Testament book of Daniel. If you’re taking notes…

1. God allows impossible problems. 

Let me share some background to help you understand Daniel 3. God promised Israel that if they rebelled and blew off His commands, He’d discipline them. But that’s what they did.

They blew it so God raised up King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to destroy Jerusalem. He’s powerful and evil. After he conquered Judah, he destroyed the Temple. He mocked their faith. He captured the best and brightest young men, deported them from their homeland to Babylon to indoctrinate them with the evil Babylonian worldview.

Daniel was among those deported to Babylon when he was about fifteen years old with his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, along with thousands of other Jewish leaders. They spent the rest of their lives living and working in Babylon. They were like Ivy League students and upon graduation given work in the government where they rose to senior positions.

Nebuchadnezzar had an inflated sense of importance. He made a gold statue of himself that was 90 feet tall, nine feet wide. That’s as tall as an eight-story building. To give you some perspective, the Statue of Liberty is 130 feet tall. This statue built 2600 years ago was almost as tall!

Nebuchadnezzar was saying, I am Babylon. Look what I have done. He built this statue to show how awesome he was. He’s a very arrogant dictator. But it didn’t stop there. It’s not just a statue; it’s an idol to be worshipped.

Nebuchadnezzar commands all the leaders, all the important ones to come to the dedication of the statue he made to be worshipped. It’d be like ordering Congress, all the Senators and Representatives to worship the king. (They really needed a “No Kings Day”).

Daniel 3 says, “Then a herald,” kind of like an announcer guy shouts, “When you hear the sound of the musical instruments, bow down to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s gold statue. Anyone who refuses to obey will be immediately executed by being thrown into a blazing furnace.”

This ego maniac builds a huge statue and commands everyone to worship his gold statue. If you don’t, you’ll be thrown in the fiery furnace. But what does God’s Big Ten tell us? You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them (Exodus 20:3-5).

Daniel and his three friends may have been in Babylon, but Babylon wasn’t in them. They lived for the one true God even in Babylon. To worship an idol is disobeying God. It’s an Unsolvable Problem. How do we respond?

You can respond irrationally. A group of Boy Scouts from the city camped along the river for the first time. That evening the mosquitoes were fierce. Their attacks sent the boys under their blankets to escape. One boy peered out and saw a bunch of lightning bugs. He said, “Guys, we might as well give up. They’re coming at us with flashlights.”

You can exaggerate the difficulty. You can hurt so badly you quit. You even think about suicide or running away. When Elijah was under pressure, he ran away, hid in a cave, and said, “God, I’m the only prophet left; just take my life.” God said, “No, Elijah, you’re exaggerating the problem. There are still 7,000 of My people. Get up and get going.”

You can respond resentfully. When Job underwent all his troubles, his wife told him to curse God and die. Some get angry at God and become extremely bitter thinking, “If there really was a God in heaven, He wouldn’t let my child have cancer. He wouldn’t let my mate abandon me and run away with someone else. He wouldn’t let me face this horrible unsolvable problem.”

Warren Wiersbe says Realism is idealism that has been through the fire and got purified; cynicism is idealism that has been through the fire and got burned. Whether you get burned or purified is not determined by the intensity of the heat but by your own heart and trust in God.

2. Standing up for God will bring unsolvable enemies. 

But there were three young men, probably twenty somethings who love God and won’t worship an idol. It doesn’t get any more serious than this. The message is, when the band starts playing, you must bow and worship the king. If you don’t, you’ll be crispy critters. Literally, you’re going to die. It’s a test. It’s vital that we know A faith that’s been tested is a faith that can be trusted.

Are you in one? Your faith is being tested. Tests strengthen our faith.

So, Nebuchadnezzar says, “Bow down and worship the statue or you’re going to die.” Now there’s a huge crowd there. What do you think they did? Anyone want to take a guess? Did they stand up or did they bow? They bowed. Why? They don’t want to die. Verse 7, Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So, picture this,, there’s a big gold statue. Everybody, all the important people are bowing, “Oh, great statue, oh great king, you’re amazing. We worship you.”

But there are three young men not bowing. These three are still standing. And the leaders are looking around going, “Wait, they disobeyed the king! There’s no way! We are so telling the king.” And that’s what they did. They ratted them out. They’re like, “Oh, great King, those Jewish boys you promoted…” Remember, they’re jealous of these Jews. “Those Jewish boys you promoted, they’re not worshiping you, O King.” And the king’s like, “That’s not right. I built a big statue of myself. I’m King Nebuchadnezzar!”

Often, we experience persecution from our peers. Look who brought this to the king’s attention. It was certain Chaldeans, the astrologers, who had their noses out of joint because Daniel became their boss in chapter two when they couldn’t interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. They’re looking for a way to get back at these Jewish men, so they maliciously accuse them. The way to get God’s people in trouble is find ways they’re not conforming to the culture.  

It’s not much different today. As Christ-followers, if we claim exclusivity, if we say Jesus Christ is THE only way, what are we accused of? We’re accused of intolerance. But if you think about this, it’s backward.

If pluralists claim Christians are intolerant because we believe Jesus is the only way, doesn’t that same argument work in reverse? Isn’t it intolerant to Christians to say that we must believe all religions are the same? The knife of intolerance cuts both ways. Are all religions the same as pluralists claim?

Absolutely not. Mormons and Muslims claim you can have multiple wives; Christianity says you can’t. Other religions claim you must do lots of good works to earn salvation. The Bible teaches that there’s nothing you can do other than accept the free gift of salvation by Jesus’ death on the cross.

So, the two positions are incompatible. Pluralism falls apart. Even though pluralism falls apart logically and intolerance cuts both ways, we must expect persecution when we claim exclusivity or refuse to privatize our faith.

3. God uses unsolvable problems to test our faith. 

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are brought to Nebuchadnezzar and he screams at them, “Bow or burn.” Verse 16 tells us that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego respond with respect and kindness. They’re not arrogant or mean but direct and respectful.

They said, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to defend ourselves. If we’re thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and our God will deliver us from your majesty’s hand.” In other words, we don’t need to defend our faith. We worship the one true God and are going to serve Him. We’re not bowing down to you. The God we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace and He will deliver us from you.

Wow! Now that sounds great in church, but when your life is on the line, if you’re literally about to be thrown into that fire, it takes faith to say, “Our God is able to deliver us.” They refused to compromise their faith even in the face of death. It’s bold. A faith that’s been tested is a faith that can be trusted.

Let’s just acknowledge how easy it’d have been for them to blend in. Everybody else is bowing down. They don’t want to die. It’d be easy to rationalize and bow down. They could have just faked it like, “We’re bowing down and we’re acting like it, but we’ve got our fingers crossed, so we’re not really worshiping.” Or, they could have bowed just one time, “Okay, we need to do this, so we’re worshiping and then we’ll ask God for forgiveness. He’ll understand.” Besides if they’re dead, it’s hard to have a ministry. You can see how easy it’d have been for them to rationalize and compromise their faith. But they refuse to compromise their faith even in the face of death.

It’s easy for us when we live in safe places like the U.S. to write this story off as an Old Testament Bible story that doesn’t apply to us. “I’m never going to have my faith challenged like that or have my life in danger.”

Maybe? Maybe not? But the fact is that your faith is tested in many ways every single day. It’s whether you compromise and laugh at the dirty joke or don’t? It’s whether you compromise and join in the gossip or don’t? It’s whether you join in the chaos of all the political division or try to rise above it and keep the mission of Jesus higher than anything else in your life? Every day, your faith is tested. You have a choice between doing what’s right or what’s easy. It’s a choice between doing what pleases God or pleases people.

Or we can describe it this way, you have a choice between worshiping God or giving your heart to an idol. “Oh, I’d never give my heart to an idol.” Scroll, scroll, scroll. “I’d never give my heart to an idol.” Oh, football team, football team. “I’d never give my heart to an idol.” What do you think of my house? What do you think of my outfit? What do you think of my car? If you’re committed to serving God, Satan will tempt you to compromise your faith. Even in the face of death, they refuse to compromise their faith in God.

These boys inspire me. 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. We all have hard times. We must remind ourselves that “No matter what I face, my God is able. I serve the God for whom all things are possible. I serve the God who has the ability to open blind eyes, open deaf ears. I serve the God who can bring the dead back to life. My God is able!

I don’t know what it’ll be for you. You might get a bad medical report, so you say, “That’s bad. I don’t like it, don’t want it, but my God is able to heal or get me through it.” You may be in a relationship and think there’s no way God will ever fix it. God is able to restore broken relationships. You may be struggling emotionally or financially. God is able to meet all my needs! God is able. Say it with me, My God is able. My God is able.

4. God can always rescue us in the unsolvables, but sometimes He doesn’t. 

What if God is able and He doesn’t? What if He’s able to provide and He doesn’t? Anyone ever been there?  

Can we be real? I mean, you’re praying, you’re believing, you’re doing all right. Scripture says if I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth.” Or, if two or three gather together and believe anything, if we pray according to Your will, God, You hear our prayers, God, the prayer of faith will heal the sick, God. So, you pray. You’re believing God will and He doesn’t.

So, we see these three young men face this very real possibility. Verse 17, “The God we serve is able to save us.” We know He can. We believe He will. “He will rescue us from your power.” But sometimes He doesn’t always do what He can and we think He will, right?

So, they say, “God will save us. But if He doesn’t, we want to make it clear that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you’ve set up.”

Whatever you’re facing right now, if you’re in a fiery trial, and I know many of you are and you’re asking God to deliver you. One of the greatest faith statements you could ever make goes like this. God, I believe You can. And God, I believe You will, but even if You don’t, I still believe. I’ll still trust You. I’ll still serve You. I’ll still honor You. I still believe.

Maybe you’re here and God didn’t do what you thought He’d do, so you walked away from Him. Can I just say very lovingly, that’s not real faith. Faith is believing He can. It’s believing He’s King, that He’s sovereign. Real faith, a faith that’s been tested is a faith that can be trusted. At some point you must decide: Is He God or are you god, even if you go through the fire.

Many of us don’t have a faith that would use the daring words they used, But, if not… How sad to go into your furnace crying, “God, where are You? You’ve failed me!” Job had their kind of faith. Job 13:15a, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. We need their kind of faith. It must be God, I believe you can. God, I believe you’re able. God, I believe you will, but even if you don’t, I will still trust you. That was them, and it must be us.

5. God is always with us even in the fire of the unsolvables.

Nebuchadnezzaris so furious, he’s the one burning. He orders the furnace to be heated super-hot. Sparks fly. Flames are roaring; the smoke is billowing out of the top. Archeologists think this was a brick furnace shaped like an old milk bottle, wider at the bottom with an opening through which metals could be inserted to heat it up. There was an opening somewhere halfway up where fuel could be added to the fire by standing on some kind of scaffold with an opening at the top to allow the smoke to escape.

The fire was so hot; the strong soldiers who dropped them from the platform succumbed to the heat and died but still managed to drop our three friends into the fire. The Septuagint says they were “singing” as they were thrown into the fire. Wow! What do you think they were singing? I don’t think it was “Hunka Hunka burning love.” They were probably singing, “God is good, all the time.” If you sing in the fire you won’t be singed.

Then Nebuchadnezzar is amazed because he sees FOUR men walking around. Their bonds are burned off. Other than that, they’re unharmed. He calls the fourth man an angel. Who was the fourth man?

Bible scholars tell us the fourth man is most likely Jesus. It’s what’s called a Christophany. That means an appearance of Christ. What we have is an Old Testament appearance of Christ, a pre-incarnate visit from Christ. In the beginning, there was God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus has always been there. He wasn’t just here when He became flesh. He was here before He was flesh, pre-incarnate. It’s probably a Christophany.

This is so cool! Jesus meets these men in the fire. It’s where the story goes to a whole other level. Jesus was waiting for Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fire. Only the ropes were burned. So, fast forward to the end. Daniel 3 tells us these young men miraculously survived. Not only did they survive, but they also had no burns. They didn’t even smell like smoke.

There’s someone here, you’re going through a fiery trial right now. And I want to tell you that by the power and grace of God, not only are you not going to get burned, but you’re also going to come out not smelling like smoke. God is faithful, and He can prove Himself faithful to you.

King Nebuchadnezzar who’d resented their faith in God, promoted them. God has his undivided attention. Verse 28, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered His servants, who trusted in Him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Before Nebuchadnezzar was mocking, after he saw the presence and power of God, God has his attention. Our God is able. God showed up. God did this.

Let’s slow down for a moment and point out what God did and what God didn’t do. Notice, when God delivered these boys. God didn’t deliver them from the fire. God delivered them in the fire. This is vital! God doesn’t always deliver us from our trials, but He’s always with us in our trials. In the midst of the worst fiery trial of their lives, Jesus met them in the fire.

As I’ve gone through fires in my life, a song that’s helped me is Hillsong’s, Another in the fire. Are you dealing with an unsolvable problem this morning? Always remember God is always with us in the fire.

Conclusion

What does this mean to us? Let’s end with Four Life Lessons from Unsolvable Problems.

Persecution. Facing unsolvable problems deepens our commitment. When you dare to be different, dare to stand up for God and refuse to bow down to the idols of this world, you’ll suffer persecution. Sold-out Christians bug the average American. If you’re a Sunday-only Christian, you’ll fit in. Once you decide to be a 24/7 Christian, you’re considered a fanatic, a kook! Live for Jesus 24/7 and watch what happens. You’ll be thrown in the furnace. I’ve been through the fire a few times. I’ve found during the hottest persecution; I’ve been driven to my knees and my intimacy with Jesus deepens.

Perseverance. Don’t give in to peer pressure Remember, they wouldn’t bow. That’s devotion. When given a second chance, they wouldn’t bend. That’s determination. They’d already determined beforehand to be faithful to God. You must determine before the crisis you’ll be faithful. If you haven’t already made that decision, it’s tough to make when the heat is on.

How do you think they felt when everyone around them bowed down? They felt different. No one likes feeling that. One university worked with the TV show “Candid Camera” to conduct psychological experiments on the power of peer pressure. They put actors on an elevator and had all of them face the back of the elevator instead of the door to see what people would do. Most of the unsuspecting people got on, pushed their button, and turned with the crowd facing the back of the elevator. Stand alone and you’ll face ridicule.

Presence. Jesus is always with you in the fire Here’s a little math lesson. How many were thrown in the fire? 3. How many men walked around in the fire? 4. How many men walked out of the fire? 3. So, where’s the fourth man? He’s still in the fire. My friend, you’ll find Jesus waiting for you when you’re thrown in the fire. While God didn’t keep them from the fire, He did keep the fire from them! Let me ask a question. Would you rather stay out of the fire and miss Jesus or go through the fire and walk with Him?

Purification. God uses the fire to purify us. Some of you are facing a painful furnace. You’re asking, “What’s God doing? Why am I going through this fire?” Remember 1 Peter 1:7, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.God carefully regulates the heat so the impurities in our lives burn off.

Jesus is with us even in the Unsolvable Problems. But maybe you’re here and you’re facing Unsolvable Problems all alone because you’d have to admit, “I’m kind of doing life without Jesus.”

So, who is Jesus? What does Jesus mean to this whole thing? Let me tell you about how good God is. Our God is a loving God and He loves you. He loves you so much that the Bible says that He sent His only Son Jesus to this world. God loves you so much that He sent Jesus, the perfect sinless Son of God to die for us. Jesus didn’t come into the world to make people feel guilty. He didn’t come here to condemn us. He came here to rescue us.

What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? We recognize He’s the Son of God. He gave His life so our sins could be forgiven and God raised Him from the dead. Because of who He is, the Son of God, the King of kings, we decide we’re not King, we’re not Lord and we turn away from our selfishness. We turn away from our sinfulness and say, “Jesus, save me. I want to know You. I want to serve and follow You. You are the King of all my life.”

You may be in a place where you grew up around church and know all the Jesus stuff, but He’s not your King. You recognize today, when you’re in the fire, you’re alone in the fire. You don’t have to be. But you’re alone in your sin. You feel guilty about them. You don’t have to feel guilty for your sin.

When you call on Jesus, He hears your prayers. He forgives all your sins. He doesn’t hold them against you anymore. The old is gone. He makes you new. He’s with you always and will never forsake you. You have the promise of eternal life. You have the promise of His presence in your life today.

Do you need to make Jesus your King? Do you need to surrender your life to Him today? Will you do that? Would you just pray right where you are?

Just pray this: Heavenly Father, I need You in my life. I’m broken. I’m sinful and I need a Savior. I trust Jesus to save me from my sins, to make me brand new. My life is not my own. You’re my King. You’re my Savior. You’re my Lord. Thank You for new life. I give You all of mine. In Jesus’ name I pray.