BE THE LAST MAN STANDING

TEXT: Daniel 3:1-30

In the days before the floods, lawlessness and wickedness were highly prevalent. There was corruption and fornication everywhere and those seemed to have become the popular and acceptable patterns for living. But there was a man called Noah who stood up for God and stood out for the truth. He was the last man standing with his nuclear family (Genesis 6:5-9).

Today, the truth is fast fading out. We are in a time when people celebrate sin and falsehood and cannot tolerate the truth. Also, many people who stood for the truth are now falling away. Many first love have been replaced by new found lust (not love). We now see what was (and still is) sin in 1990 being modified and accepted as no longer sin. This way, many who held the truth have been overtaken by worldliness. They bought the truth but sold it (Proverbs 23:23).

It has become difficult to find people who can stand in the truth till the end. Since upholding the truth comes with prices to pay, many find it hard to endure and are soon easily sifted. In offices, believers are cheating, changing figures, altering dates etc just like unbelievers. There is no difference between the person preaching and the person listening.

Some people proceed to compromise because of what people would say about them. Some give in because of temporary pleasures. It is hard to find handsome men who are living holy like Joseph in the Bible. It is difficult to find beautiful ladies presently who are keeping themselves undefiled like the Biblical Esther. It is rare to find highly placed men who still retain financial and career integrity like Daniel in the Bible. Today, beauties, handsomeness, intelligence among others are seen as channels for sinfulness rather than glory to God.

Friend, whatever you do now has eternal consequences. Heaven is for those who will endure and stand to the end. The last men standing will be those who will make it. You should never compromise. You should stand for what is good and true even if you are the last man standing. You don’t have to win the argument, but it is recorded that you stood for the truth.

The three (3) Hebrew children found themselves in a place where everyone was bowing to an idol. If they refused to bow, their career, prospects and lives were at stake. But they stood for God and for good. They were last men standing. One day, these three (3) will stand to testify against this generation being swept away by compromise and corruption. Where do you stand? Where would you stand?