Amen. You may be seated. Turning your bibles this evening to the book of Daniel and chapter four book of Daniel and chapter four. So we continue to work our way through this amazing book. We see once again Interaction between Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar. Let's give our attention now to the word of God. Daniel chapter four beginning in verse one King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth. Peace be multiplied to you. It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endures from generation to generation. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace, I saw a dream that made me afraid. As I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians and the enchanters and the Chaldeans and the astrologers came in and I told them the dream. but they could not make known to me its interpretation. At last, Daniel came in before me, he who was named Belteshazzar. after the name of my God, and in whom the spirit of the holy gods. And I told him the dream, saying, O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no mystery is too difficult for you. Tell me the visions of my dream that I saw in their interpretation. The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these. I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beast of the fields found shade under it and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches and all flesh was fed from it. I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed and behold a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus, chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beast flee from under it and the birds from its branches, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron bronze amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beast in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast mind be given to him. And let seven periods of time pass over him, The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end. that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will, and sets over it the lowliest of men. This dream I, Nebuchadnezzar, saw, and you, O Belteshazzar, tell me the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation. But you are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you. Belteshazzar answered and said, my lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies. The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, so that its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the fields found shade. and in whose branches the birds of the heavens lived. It is you, O King, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to the heaven and your dominion to the ends of the earth. And because the King saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field. And let him be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beast of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him. This is the interpretation, O King. It is a decree of the Most High which has come upon my Lord, the King, that you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beast of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox. You shall be wet with the dew of heaven and seven periods of time shall pass over you till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. And as it was commanded to leave the stump, the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed to you from the time that you know that heaven rules. Therefore, O King, let my counsel be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar at the end of 12 months. He was walking on the roof of the palace at Babylon, and the king answered and said, is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, O King Nebuchadnezzar, To you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you and you shall be driven from among men and your dwelling shall be with the beast of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles feathers and his nails were like birds claws. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? At the same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and my splendor returned to me. My counselors and my Lord sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. thus far God's word. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for yet another testimony of your great power and sovereign grace. And we ask that you will take these words tonight and impress them upon our hearts and upon our lives that we too may bless the king of heaven. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. I don't know how he did it, but somehow my father, when I was 16 years old, found out that I was looking to buy a motorcycle. And he told me in no uncertain terms, do not buy that motorcycle. Because if you do, I will not put you on my insurance policy. Well, you probably can guess what I did. I sold my car and I bought the motorcycle. And I thought, no problem, I'll just call the insurance company and get my own policy. Well, guess what? The insurance guy said, sorry, we don't insure male drivers under the age of 21 without their parent's approval. You know what happened? For the next three months, my mother had to take me to school. That was the most humiliating, embarrassing thing I had ever experienced, or at least so it seemed. Well, my friends, perhaps you know something of what it's like when you are warned not to do something. Maybe by your parents, maybe by your spouse, maybe by a Christian friend that's concerned enough to speak up and say, don't do that. and then you stubbornly go ahead and do it because that's what you want to do. In most cases, that scenario does not end well. It didn't end well for me, probably has not ended well for you in those situations. Well, this evening, our text sets before us the king of Babylon. And you know what? He, too, was stubborn. He was hard-headed. Nobody was going to tell him what to do. And, of course, what we see unfold here while the chapter begins With Nebuchadnezzar, speaking of the ways God had graciously worked in his life, the bulk of this chapter is what happens before that. Most of this chapter is dealing with how God graciously and repeatedly bestowed his grace on Nebuchadnezzar. But Nebuchadnezzar stubbornly resisted that grace every step of the way. And then, finally, God's grace is realized in Nebuchadnezzar, but only after he had endured great humiliation and trial. Well, let's look first of all at the grace of God repeatedly being bestowed upon Nebuchadnezzar. From the very beginning, as we started this series on the book of Daniel, the previous chapters, we've seen multiple episodes and events that demonstrate how Nebuchadnezzar was just another ungodly, unbelieving, arrogant world ruler. Generally speaking, I think we can say that power and wealth and pride do not usually manifest or help or contribute to godliness in an individual. And that was certainly the case with Nebuchadnezzar, and yet Even though those things existed, God in his sovereign mercy had been repeatedly bestowing grace upon Nebuchadnezzar. God was working. God was working in his life. And he repeatedly showed him kindness and grace as he worked. As a result of Nebuchadnezzar's initial invasion and conquering of Jerusalem, we see first of all that four godly young men are brought into Nebuchadnezzar's house. And there, those four young men continually as God blesses them and raises them to a place of honor and influence. God uses them to become daily examples of how God blesses those that love him and serve him. Secondly, we see how God worked through Daniel to reveal the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar's first dream. as Nebuchadnezzar sees this great statue and all the different kings and kingdoms that it represents, but then one comes, a stone uncut with human hands, comes and crushes this mighty statue, showing him, pointing him to the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, pointing him to a kingdom that would be above all other kingdoms, the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then, thirdly, we see God powerfully delivering Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace. And again, demonstrating vividly for Nebuchadnezzar that God, the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was God of gods, that he was more powerful than any other god. He was the supreme power, far greater than any of the gods of Babylon. Over and over and over again, God was working graciously, repeatedly bestowing kindness and testifying to his self that he was the only true and living God. He was testifying again and again that the God of Daniel and his friends was God of gods. He was the sovereign God. But my friends, in spite of all the kindness God had shown. In spite of all the revelations of himself and of the eternal God and the eternal kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar just wasn't getting it. Now we heard back at the end of chapter three, in verse 29, Nebuchadnezzar says the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is great, he's powerful. But my friends, the actions we see in chapter four demonstrate that it was just words. In Nebuchadnezzar's mind, the god of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was great, he was powerful, but he was just one god among many other gods. And now God graciously, mercifully revealing himself again and again. And he is giving Nebuchadnezzar multiple opportunities to know the truth. But Nebuchadnezzar continues to suppress that truth. And he refuses to submit to the God of heaven. and to worship him alone. So here God has repeatedly given opportunities and Nebuchadnezzar has resisted those opportunities. And we're gonna look at that more closely now in our second main point, the grace of God stubbornly resisted. The beautiful thing here is that in spite of Nebuchadnezzar's resistance, God was not through with him. And God speaks yet again in a response to his second dream. The big question is, would Nebuchadnezzar change? Though God reveals yet again the meaning of his dream. Verses 5 through 7, Nebuchadnezzar describes this dream, and perhaps you've noticed in just the readings, Hebrew, the language Hebrew, is very repetitive. And so you have one episode that Nebuchadnezzar describes this dream. He repeats it. Then he repeats it to Daniel. Then Daniel repeats it. It's just very repetitive in the way that it's written and the way that it records these events. So Nebuchadnezzar says, I saw a dream, and the dream, the thoughts of my head greatly troubled me. Now, when Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, now remember, this is not the first time this has happened, but when Nebuchadnezzar has this dream and he can't understand it and he doesn't know the thoughts of his own head and what they mean, what does he do? Well, he calls, not for Daniel, but for the magicians, the wise men, the astrologers. In other words, here is this man to whom God has spoken repeatedly, and when he has the opportunity to seek counsel, to call for help, he turns to unregenerate men. My friends, I think this is a point worth parking on for a minute and thinking about. When you find yourself in trouble, when you find yourself in a time of need, who do you turn to? Who do you turn to for help? Whose counsel do you listen to? Do you turn to the world? Do you turn to the society in which we live, the unregenerate man or woman around you? When you have the opportunity, brethren, turn to godly individuals. And this, especially for you younger people, this is a lesson of inestimable worth. If you will learn it now, don't turn to the world. Don't turn to the ungodly. Turn to your godly parents if you have them. Turn to a solid Christian friend if you have them. And if you have them, brothers and sisters, young people, thank God for that. If you don't have them, ask God for them, but learn to turn for godly counsel and godly wisdom when you're in that situation. Well, verses 8 through 18 we read that finally Daniel is called. And again, Nebuchadnezzar says, he says repeatedly, I know that the spirit of the holy God is in you. And so he calls Daniel and he says, no one else can tell me this interpretation of this dream, but you can. The spirit of the holy one is in you. Now, that sounds good, but again, his actions which follow shows it's just empty words. It was not true faith. Perhaps you can remember how Jesus puts it in Matthew 7, verses 21 and following when he says, many will come and say, Lord, Lord. Have we not done this? Have we not done that? Lord, look at my life. Look at all the good things I've done. Look at the good works I've done. Look at my knowledge. And what does the Lord say? Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Just talking about God is not knowing God, not loving God, not serving God. Nebuchadnezzar say, oh yeah, the spirit of the holy God is in you. Anyway, Nebuchadnezzar continues and he reiterates for Daniel, he tells Daniel the dream, I saw a tree. It was a tree that was lovely and filled with fruit, and it was a great and powerful tree. It was stretched to heaven. It could be seen from the ends of the earth. And then I saw a watcher. Interesting terminology. Most likely in reference to an angel. A watcher comes down and gives the command, chop the tree down. lop off its branches, but leave the stump until seven times pass over." We don't know what a time is in the book of Daniel exactly, probably year. So until seven years pass over. But look at verse 17 as he comes to the end of his description of the dream. He says that all of these things happened and here God reveals this to him. And he says, in order that the living may know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets over it the lowest of men." So Nebuchadnezzar relates his dream, he describes it for Daniel, and then again he says in verse 18, the spirit of the holy God is in you. Tell me the interpretation. In verse 19, We're told that Daniel is astonished and that he's troubled, not because he doesn't understand, but because he does understand. And when Nebuchadnezzar can see visibly that Daniel is troubled by his knowledge of this dream, Nebuchadnezzar says, oh, don't let the dream bother you. Don't be troubled about this. Nebuchadnezzar does not have a clue, my friends, of the danger that he is in. And you need to realize that about lost friends, family members that are denying God. They don't have an understanding of the danger they are in. Nebuchadnezzar didn't. Daniel, on the other hand, knows the danger. Daniel sees judgment is about to fall on Nebuchadnezzar. And strikingly, in spite of how Nebuchadnezzar has treated Daniel before and treated Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, My friends, Daniel cares about Nebuchadnezzar. And so he says, oh king, may the dream be about those who hate you. And may it concern those who are your enemies. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar, I wish this wasn't about you. Daniel doesn't take delight in the thought that God is about to pour out judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar. We don't need to be gleeful when we talk about God's punishment of the wicked. We need, like God himself, to say, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Why will you die? Oh Israel, why? Come to me, turn from your sin and live. And so Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar, I wish this was not about you. My friends, again, we need to pause for just a second and ask yourself, Is your heart cold towards God? Do you find yourself resisting repeated stirrings of the Spirit of God in your soul, repeated opportunities to stop what you're doing and break off from your sin? My friends, if your heart is cold, if you're constantly resisting the work of the Spirit of God and the Word of God, you need to be troubled. You need to be concerned. You need to stop resisting, stop ignoring the warnings of God. We just sang about praising the grace whose threatenings are designed to alarm us when we are sinning against God. Well, beginning in verse 20, Daniel begins his interpretation of the dream, and pointedly in verse 22, he says, the tree, Nebuchadnezzar, is you. You are the tree. And God has blessed you. God has exalted you in a kingdom that is greater than any kingdom on earth. And now he is graciously speaking to you again. And Nebuchadnezzar, this is what's about to happen. You're going to be driven from the kingdoms of men. You're going to be living like an animal in the fields, eating grass like an ox. You're going to lose everything unless, unless you repent. And so Daniel in verse 27 says, therefore, O King, let my advice be acceptable to you. Break off from your sins and begin to practice righteous living. Show mercy to the poor. Think about other people. and try to minister to them. Perhaps, perhaps if you will do that, Nebuchadnezzar, there will be a lengthening of God's mercy and grace to you. I'll never forget. In 1979, my pastor said something and I'll never forget it. He said, God will only do what's necessary to bring you to repentance. If you humble yourself and listen to the word of God and respond in repentance, that will be the end of it. But if you stubbornly resist If you insist on continuing in your sin, God will do whatever's necessary to bring you to repentance. In this case, Nebuchadnezzar continued in his pride, verses 28 through 33, in spite of this impassioned plea from Daniel He continues in his pride and his pleasure, and he is not interested in changing anything. And notice what it says in verse 29. At the end of 12 months, God waited for a year after Daniel's words for Nebuchadnezzar to change. But he stubbornly resisted that. And don't mistake God's patience, brethren. The patience and goodness of God in not bringing judgment right away is meant to bring you to repentance. But if that doesn't work, God will do whatever is necessary. And in this case, it meant that Nebuchadnezzar would lose everything. His kingdom, his glory, his riches, everything, even his mind. But if that's what it takes, that's what God will do. So God repeatedly bestows his kindness upon Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar repeatedly, stubbornly resists that, and God humbles him. Well, lastly, we see the grace of God ultimately realized. It was a long, hard road for Nebuchadnezzar. He spent seven years, probably, of his life living like an animal. No other human contact, none of the enjoyments of life that he had had before. He was out like a wild animal in the fields. But at the end of that time, the light finally came on. God sovereignly and powerfully and graciously opened Nebuchadnezzar's eyes and changed his heart and brought him into a saving relationship with himself. Brethren, I think this is one of the most dramatic illustrations of what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 2.14 when Paul says, the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God. Not just that he won't receive them, he can't receive them. He receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Here, Nebuchadnezzar can't understand until God changes his heart. How many times we've looked at those verses from Ezekiel 36, 26. I will take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk according to my statutes. Now, because of God's saving work in Nebuchadnezzar's heart, Nebuchadnezzar is able to make an amazing confession of his faith in God. It has to be one of the finest, one of the clearest, one of the most God-honoring confessions that we find anywhere in Scripture. And I think it highlights for us here, particularly in verses 34 and 35, we see three things. that are highlighted. Number one, this God, the God of Daniel, the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the Most High, he is a God of salvation. Look at the words, at the end of the time, my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High. My friends, I can't think of a better example of God's sovereign mercy than we have right here. Do you realize Nebuchadnezzar was utterly insane? He had no rational thoughts. He was like an animal in the field. There was absolutely nothing that Nebuchadnezzar could contribute to his salvation. There were no good works. There were no good thoughts. There was nothing God honoring in him at all. But God changed his heart. God gave him a new life. This man who could not think, who could not speak, who could not act, who had absolutely nothing to contribute. And God said, I'm gonna give you a new heart. Has God done that for you? Brethren, we have nothing to contribute. The prophet Isaiah tells us that even our righteousnesses, everything that we think we've done good, are like filthy rags to God. When we come to God, we come to God wholly on the basis of His mercy and His kindness and His sovereign power to change our hearts and minds. Paul puts it this way in Titus 3, 5, it's not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy, He saves us. God is a God. of salvation. Secondly, this God is a God who is a sovereign God over the whole earth. So in 34b, his dominion is an everlasting dominion, his kingdom is forever, he does according to his will in heaven and on earth, and no one, no one can restrain his hand. You want to boil that down into modern parlance, it would be this. No one can tell God what to do or what not to do. God is the sovereign God. A psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 135 and verse 5 and 6 when he says, our God is in the heavens. He does what he pleases. in the kingdom of heaven and in the kingdom of men, and no one can stay his hand. When we see God like that, as the almighty, as the sovereign God of the universe, as the great, the mighty, the awesome God, brethren, we by definition will see ourselves as utter insignificance. The psalmist sees it that way. When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him? It humbles us. And when we are humbled, that humility, my friends, is always a sign of a renewed heart. A proud heart chafes at the law of God. It resists the work of God. It bristles at the commandments of God. The humble heart sweetly submits to that law and loves God for giving it. Lastly, this God is a God of justice as well as mercy. Nebuchadnezzar is brought to faith, his heart is changed, his kingdom is restored, and he is given this full-orbed understanding and view of the King of Heaven. And I say that it's full orb because I want you to see what he says in the very last two verses. When he says, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice. His works are truth and his ways justice. God is infinitely merciful, but he is also infinitely just. And one of the things that I hope to bring out in the message Wednesday is that if God were not just, he could not be good. But God is just. And in one of the clearest ways where we see that justice is experienced by Nebuchadnezzar, we could say up close and personal. Because Nebuchadnezzar says, those who walk in pride, he, this God, the God of heaven, is able to put them down. There's probably never been a man more proud than Nebuchadnezzar and God put him down. Sometimes, my friends, that will be a very painful process. which is why those words we read at the very beginning from 1 Peter 5 are so important. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. God will accomplish his purpose. He will use his mercy, his love, his blessing to woo you, to draw you to himself. But if you harden your heart, If you become stiff-necked and refuse to listen, my friends, He will break you. He will humble you. If you persist in rebelling against Him, now He will only do what is necessary. If you respond to Him and listen to Him and turn from your sin, He will be gracious to you. If He has set His love upon you and you insist on resisting, He will do what's necessary to bring you to repentance. Because the eternal blessedness of your soul is far more important to Him than your comfort and enjoyment of life in this world. He will do His holy will. Well, with this, Nebuchadnezzar exits the stage from the book of Daniel. We'll read nothing more of him after this. But he exits a new man with a new heart, with faith and trust in the God of heaven. Has God worked that grace in you? I pray that he has, and if not, that he will tonight. Let's pray together. Father, we bless you for the exceeding great grace that you have manifested towards your people in the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that this evening we have heard of that grace and work in the life of a man who was proud and arrogant and unbelieving and ungodly. But you changed that man. Lord, if there be any here that needs such a change, do it, Lord. Do it. for your glory, we ask in Jesus name, amen. Let's take a moment, reflect upon these precious truths.