We’re finishing up our Faith-Full series and today’s message is “A Stand Brings THE MAN.”
The core scripture we’ve used is Hebrews 10:23, which says in the New King James version, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” As I looked for greater clarity of that verse, I found the Amplified version:
“So, let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His Word.” – HEBREWS 10:23 (AMPC)
The Spirit of God wants me to ask you to do something: Take your fists and reach them out in front of you and then bring them across your chest. That’s seizing and holding fast. I played football in high school, and the coaches would tell us to extend our arms, wrap up the opposing player, and then bring them down. It’s important to understand that God really wants us to seize, hold fast, and retain the hope we cherish.
Confess this aloud: “I am filled with hope because He Who promised is faithful to His Word!”
When we talk about God being full of faith, He has faith in us as well as faith in Himself. He is absolutely persuaded He has the ability to get everything that He’s promised accomplished if you’ll believe. Hope is the thermostat for your faith. It’s the goal setter. The thermostat on your wall has no ability other than to set the control. Hope sets the control and your faith is like the furnace (it brings the temperature up or down).
It’s important that you USE your faith, understanding that the One Who made the promise is faithful and you have the opportunity to respond to His faithfulness. As I was studying for this message, He made it clear I should deal with the fact you need an assurance of His faithfulness. Look at the end of verse 5 and verse 6 of Hebrews 13:
”5 …for He [God] Himself has said, ‘I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]’ 6 So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, ‘The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?’” – HEBREWS 13:5b-6 (AMPC)
The Amplified Bible’s rendering of the end of verse 5 is powerful. (The Amplified Bible dives into the Greek and Hebrew of verses and shows the inferences of words.) Here, it’s like God is screaming to the people (including us!), “I’M NOT LETTING YOU GO!”
We don’t have to wonder about that, questioning if God’s going to show up today or cares about us today. When you begin to grasp that, it changes your whole perspective on what you face in the future…and it should provoke in you a stand.
A Stand Brings THE MAN
A “stand” is where you make a decision. It’s where you say, “THIS is what I believe and THIS is why I believe it.” With God’s Word, I make a stand because I believe in the One Who I have trusted and relied on and made Himself sure in my life. He’s promised me things like “with long life I’ll satisfy you.” When the adversary told me my life was going to be shortened due to the auto accident and COVID, I reminded him of that verse.
When the adversary told me I’d never be able to preach again because I didn’t have enough capacity of air in my lungs, I reminded him that God’s breath is in my lungs. I reminded him I am able to overcome these things because faithful is He Who promised!
We’re not able to do these things because we’re special but because God is special! When we begin to live our lives that way, it changes how we see ourselves and others. We think of the possibilities of things even seemingly beyond our abilities come into play. It gives us hope, assurance and confidence.
We don’t trust in our intellect; we trust in our spirit man because our intellect is limited to what we know, but our spirit man is limited to what GOD knows. There’s things we can draw on from our spirit that only God has revealed to us. It’s the way God intended the body of Christ to live. We’re to live a life with so much victory that it causes everyone around us to ask, “How did that happen with THEM?”
A Simple Stand Sets Faith in Motion
God’s not in the giving up business. Make a simple stand – make a declaration. An example of that would be the end of Joshua 24:15 where he says, “…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” That’s about as simple and basic as you can get. But when Joshua said that, it set his faith in motion. It set his assurance in motion.
Again and again, we see that when people make a stand, it changes everything about them (their future, their destiny, how they see themselves) and gives them greater confidence in God Who cannot fail.
Your Faith Will Always Be Challenged
Consider from the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. The Babylonian empire had conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and these three young Hebrew men were brought to serve in the king’s palace. For three years, they were trained in Chaldean history and customs so they could communicate with the king and impress all the people around them.
During that time, the three and Daniel had made a decision – a simple stand – that they would not eat the king’s food. Instead of eating the king’s delicacies and drinking the king’s wine, they decided they were going to stay with the food God instructed them to eat as Hebrews. By doing just that, they became blessed; eventually, they came into the position of being recognized by Daniel as people he could trust and rely on.
(Look around you…you have many Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego people around you, people who have made a decision that they’re going to serve God and follow after Him. You have some people that have decided that everything they put their hand to will prosper because God’s made that promise. If you’re struggling with those things, it’s time for you to grab hold of God’s goodness and not allow yourself to think contrary of that.)
So, the young men made a stand, but as with all things, faith will always be challenged. But, whenever you’re going through something, the biggest thing is to keep on going. What you’re going through – good times and bad times – will pass, but if we continue on with faith in the One Who made the promise, He’ll bring us through and give us the victory we so desire.
God’s Word is eternal. We’re motivated by an unseen God. His Word is spoken and given in our hearts, motivating us and keeping us going.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego’s faith was challenged when King Nebuchadnezzar had a 95-foot gold statue made and ordered all the kingdom to bow down and worship it. Whoever didn’t would be cast into a white-hot furnace. They decided they could not do that and worship a false god. When the king heard that, he flew into a rage and summoned the three Hebrews:
”14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, ‘Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?’” – DANIEL 3:14-15 (NKJV)
I like that last sentence. The king was cocky without support. But look at how the three men responded:
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.’” – DANIEL 3:16 (NKJV)
They essentially said, “We’re not giving a thought about what we’re going to do.” The problem some folks have is that they often try to give thought to what they’re going to answer. God will give the answer on what to speak; it’s important that we learn to yield ourselves to Him and let Him speak through us.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego understood that. It’s important we do too. When we do, we step into a realm that will cause others to be affected around us.
Your stand will bring a test, but the test will bring a testimony.
That’s just the truth. If you stand for anything, you will have a test…that brings a testimony. When you understand that, you’ll see victory virtually every time. It DOES need to be a stand based on God’s Word.
“17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” – DANIEL 3:17-18 (NKJV)
There’s an issue people often get caught up in. In verse 18 when they said, “But if not…” they weren’t questioning whether God could deliver them; they were saying it didn’t matter. Sometimes we need to get to the point of saying to people around us, “It doesn’t matter what the outcome is, I’m still serving God.” When you’re at a place where you’re willing to put that out, you know that your stand is strong!
You know your belief is fixed on a God Who cannot lie. Every time you speak, you change not only the outcome of the immediate problem, but it starts setting a course for you that gives you absolute assurance about what the future holds for you.
”Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” – PSALMS 34:19 (NKJV)
I’m not going to try to tell you that walking the life of faith in God is a flowery bed of ease; but, it’s easier than the way of the transgressor. You WILL deal with challenges because of your beliefs.
As a young man, I was always having people come up to me and say, “You can’t actually believe God is real, that He wants to make your life better, take away your sin, that there’s actually a Heaven.” I had challenges over and over. When I was called to preach, people I worked with called me “United Rent-a-Reverend” because I preached the Gospel and was willing to go anywhere to do so.
I once traveled 180 miles one way to preach. There were five white-haired ladies there and I got $5 for coming. I barely had any gas in my gas tank, yet made it there and back on “fumes”. (The next day, I tried to start the car and it wouldn’t because the tank was empty…but God got me there and back!)
I don’t know how I got home, but He did, because I had confidence that I was doing what He wanted me to do. It is important that we allow ourselves to see God’s faithfulness. YOUR TEST WILL BRING A TESTIMONY. Rabbinic teaching of that verse states that a righteous man emerges from his challenges and his faith is stronger for it because the Lord rescues him.
I want you to have the courage to make a stand that will bring a test, knowing that your testimony will come out of that. God’s saying to you that you may have challenges, but stand fast! Your faith will get stronger! I want to get you to the point that you’re not questioning God’s faithfulness, but you’re always challenging that faithfulness by saying, “YOU said this would be my future.”
When you do this, your life changes.
Don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! You’re so close to having the answer, the truth, the victory; don’t forget that your challenge is supposed to be something you emerge from with your faith being stronger because the Lord has rescued you.
”24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, ‘Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?’ They answered and said to the king, ‘True, O king.’ 25 ‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.’” – DANIEL 3:24-25 (NKJV)
“27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!” – DANIEL 3:27-28 (NKJV)
Every time you see the word “angel” with a capital A, that’s talking about Jesus Christ in His pre-incarnate form. Jesus was there with the three Hebrew men in the midst of the trial!
We need to remember that in the midst of a trial, we’re not facing it alone! We have Someone Who’s willing to walk with us all the way through that fire! He’s willing to come in there and dance in the fire with us. We need to say that there’s NO trouble, NO trial, NO obstacle standing in our way that He cannot overcome if we’ll continue to put our faith that way.
When you begin to release your faith and do what God’s told you to do, you start seeing God’s blessing in your life. The problem we have over and over again is that we want things to be “convenient.” It’s not. It wasn’t convenient to be thrown into the fiery furnace, bound up. The men were bound hand and foot. They’d been tossed into the fire like a cord of chopped wood. That’s not convenient.
BUT, immediately they noticed that something was happening to their bonds, that they could kick the ropes off. They stood up and realized there was Someone in the fire with them! Something took place in their lives that they didn’t expect. They probably were thinking, “We get to see God soon!”
People don’t want the challenge; they just want to see the results of the challenge. We need some backbone, faith-wise. I’m trying to get you to the point where you can say, “Hey! My God can deliver me out of anything! But if He doesn’t, I’m still not going to worship something else. I’m not going to bow my knee to a false god of fear or intimidation or lies or distrust. I’m going to stand and be able to victoriously say that my God is able.”
I want you to get that kind of backbone, where you can face any obstacle knowing that God is with you and that you’re not forsaken. You have a fourth Man in the furnace with you.
When I was in the hospital, I had times when I’d just speak to God and tell Him, “Well, I’m here. Who do you want me to witness to?”
I want to lay before you that God wants you to face the challenges of life and emerge from them stronger, because your faith will grow as you face challenges with the assurance that God is there with you.
Can you imagine what it was like when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego suddenly saw the fourth Man in there with them? Can you imagine what experience they had, the joy that they felt, knowing they weren’t alone?
I believe sometimes our eyes are not open to what God is really showing us when we face a challenge. A brother or sister will come and stand with us or open a door for us to have something we didn’t think we could have; they make a way for us to do something we thought was impossible to occur.
God is making a body that is working together to make things happen. Think about it: We are God’s hand-picked representatives; we are laying our lives out before others so that we can make a difference in their lives. He’s with us to make it happen. Remember:
“I will not, I will not, I will not let go of you!”
To watch the full September 25, 2022 service on which this post is based: CLICK HERE.
