We're studying the book of Daniel, but we need to become aware of something very, very important. God never allows something like Daniel and his special friends and then Ezekiel and thousands of others to be taken captive into Babylon unless he warns them first. And every time before some great catastrophe takes place, God warns. And then if that warning is heeded, then God is able to hold back that which he has warned. So before we go to chapter four of the book of Daniel, let's read, there's many. But let's read two warnings to the nation of Israel that they did not obey, and therefore came the Babylonian army and took away the very best, the cream of God's crop. Even back in Leviticus, the time of Moses, he warned them, and I'll read it to you. In the book of Leviticus chapter 26, starting with verse one, What am I telling you? No great catastrophe is gonna take place unless God warns first. And then since he's sovereign, if we do not heed the warning, then something is going to happen that could have been avoided. Started with verse one of chapter 26 of Leviticus. What am I doing? I'm giving you the warning that Israel did not heed and therefore captivity. Starting with the 26th chapter of the Leviticus, verse one. Ye, Israel, shall make no idols, nor grave and images, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall you set up any image of stone in your land. to bow down to it for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep my Sabbaths. Not just Saturday, but plural. And let me just tell you about two of those Sabbaths that they quit and how they were so conniving to try to get around those Sabbaths. There was the year. one year out of seven, that they were not allowed to put anything to farming. They were to leave the land at rest for one year. So what did they do? Did they obey God and be blessed? No. They found a way they thought they could get around God. You can't. They would sell, listen carefully, their land to a Gentile, and that Gentile was not under the law of Moses, so they could go ahead and farm the land. And the contract was at the end of the year, he got to buy it back. You can't get around God. Then there was a time when they were told this Sabbath, you are to let all the slaves go free. You are to cancel all debts. You are to totally trust me. So what did they do about having money owed to them? and it being canceled, the debt being canceled. What did they do? They invented a religious court and they would give the ownership of the slaves and the debts that was owed to them to that religious court. And then the religious court would do a lot of like fire courts, go on forever. They went on for a year, and when the year was up, they canceled the court. Therefore, they got their money. They did not keep his Sabbaths. You shall keep my Sabbaths and revere my sanctuary. That would be the temple. I am the Lord. If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. and ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword, and five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase 10,000 to flight, and your enemy shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. And ye shall eat all store, and bring forth old because of the new. And I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I'll walk among you, and will be your God. And you shall be my people, for I am the Lord your God. which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their bondsman. And I have broken the hands of your yoke and made you go awry." And then Jeremiah, the prophet, the weeping prophet. And I'll only read a few verses. In fact, I'll read Jeremiah 25, 11. That'll be sufficient. This whole land, the land of Israel, shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the King of Babylon 70 years. Now, King Nebuchadnezzar comes down and the 70 years begin. Daniel and his special friends and a few others were taken into Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar's father died and he had to go back and be the king and say he was king. Then he came back and took Ezekiel and thousands of others. He took them down by this, the river Chebar. And these Jews worked the land and made the food for the Babylonians, food that they could have had in their own land for themselves. And so now we have come to chapter four. Nebuchadnezzar has been real impressed by what Daniel has been able to reveal to him, but he has not gotten past his insanity. his mental illness, and his egomania. He still has that problem. Although he mouths it here, we're going to find some things that happens to him later. We'll start with the fourth chapter of Daniel now. Nebuchadnezzar, verse one, fourth chapter, Nebuchadnezzar the king said to all his people, now he's just talking, and nations and languages that dwell in all the earth. Peace be multiplied to you. He's already been to Jerusalem and it's been destroyed and he's taken the cream of the crop back to his land to be slaves to him. Now he's using his mouth. The Bible teaches it's not just saying, it's doing as well as saying. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion is from generation to generation. You'd think this man has totally changed, that he's saved, he's honoring the true God and he's put all other gods away. He's talking, that's all he's doing. He's not gonna do it in his heart. Nebuchadnezzar was at rest. in my house, and I flourish in my palace. Then I saw a dream which made me afraid, suddenly a total change. He's been sleeping well, everything's going good, and suddenly he has another dream. Verse five, and I saw a dream which made me afraid, and thoughts upon my bed and visions of my head trouble me. Fear and trouble. After he's made that great confession. Therefore made I decree to bring in all the wise men. Here he's gonna call in all his hacks again. All this bureaucracy, all these fakes. Therefore, I made a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the magicians and the astrologers and the Chaldeans and the Seussaires. And I told the dream before them, but they did not make known to me the interpretation thereof. Now, please don't get angry what I'm gonna say now. I am simply telling you the truth. You hear all these astrologers and Chaldeans and soothsayers and all these people that he brings in that are a bunch of fakes. Do you know where Halloween originated? With the Druids. And it came out of paganism. And if you want to know the rest of it, those of you who have the little thing that you can punch with your hand and put the word Halloween in and read all the history there, If you're like me and you still have an encyclopedia, read about it in your encyclopedia. God is not pleased with paganism and he will not allow it without letting us know he's not pleased. Oh, well, let's just make sure we get the kids in church. What for? To teach them about Jesus? or to just teach them about paganism. If you don't like that, love me anyway. I'm responsible to tell you the truth. But at the last, Daniel came in before me and they had changed his name to Belshazzar, a Chaldean name. according to the name of my God." Those were the words. Nebuchadnezzar named Daniel officially in Babylon after the name of his God, Baal. And in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, little G-O-D-S. And before him, I told the dream. I told the dream to Daniel. And Daniel, he says, O Belshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods, little g-o-d-s, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, Daniel, and no secret troubles thee. Tell me the vision of my dream. that I have seen and the interpretation thereof. Thus were the visions of mine head as I was on my bed. I saw, he tells the dream, I beheld a tree in the midst of the earth and the height thereof was great. The tree grew and was strong and the height thereof reached into the heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. And the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit was much, and it was meat for all. Beast of the field had shadows under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the brows thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. And I saw in the vision, still asleep, verse 13, I saw in the vision of my head upon my bed, and behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven. I believe this was Jesus incarnate prior to his coming as the baby in the manger. And he cried aloud and said, you are cut down the tree, cut off the branches, shake off the leaves and scatter the fruit. Let the beast get away from under it and the fowls from the branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the grass of the field. Let it be wet with the dew of heaven and let his portion be with the beast and in the grass of the earth. You see, he's saying, to Nebuchadnezzar, I am going to put you out in, you're gonna be an animal out in the wild. I'm cutting you down. Verse 16, let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast heart be given unto him and let seven times pass over him. God allows egomaniacs. Think of God allowed Hitler. God allowed Stalin. And even back earlier, he allowed Antiochus Epiphanes to rule Jerusalem. He warned them. But this man now, who was the head of gold, suddenly is out in the field and he's running around like a beast. He's dressed like an animal, this great king, because he dared to mock the true and the living God by being two-faced. You can't be two-faced with God. Jesus said, you're either for me Are you against me? Verse 17, this matter is the decree of the watcher and the demand by the word of the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of man. And you may think And our great universities and our great churches, they may think they're getting away with not giving the truth about who Almighty God really is. He is God. He is sovereign. He is holy. And you don't mess with him. that God made the head of gold now is like a wild animal out in the, well, let me just keep reading. Verse 18, this dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen Now thou, oh, Beltshazzar, he names him, the name he gave him after his false God, you can call him Daniel, God is my judge, declare the interpretation thereof. Tell me, what does this dream mean? For as much as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but Daniel, you're able. and you're able, you're able. You're not one of the fakes and you're never going to become an animal. You're able. How do you know, Nebuchadnezzar, that Daniel's able? The last part of verse 18, for the spirit of the holy gods, little g, He still hadn't gotten graduated yet, is in thee. Then Daniel, whose name was Belshazzar, was astonished. For one hour, he let that play, that dream play through his thought process by the Spirit of God. And his thoughts troubled him. And the king spake and said, Belshazzar, Daniel, Let not the dream or the interpretation thereof trouble thee, Belshazzar, Daniel. Answer and said, my Lord, the dream be to them that hate thee and the interpretation thereof are from your enemy. See all of these quacks he had around him hated him. and they played on his mania, his mental illness. Verse, so Daniel tells the interpretation. The tree thou sawest which grew and which was strong, whose height reached into heaven and the sight thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair and the fruit much, And it was meat for all under which the beasts of the field and upon whose brows the fowls of the heavens had their habitation. You're not gonna like this Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 22, it, the tree is thou. Oh, king that are grown and has become strong FOR THY GREATNESS HAS GROWN AND REACHED TO HEAVEN AND THY DOMINION TO THE END OF THE EARTH. AND WHEREAS THE KING SAW A WATCHER, JESUS PRE-INCARNATE, AND A HOLY ONE COMING DOWN FROM HEAVEN. WELL, WE KNOW THERE'S ONLY ONE HOLY ONE, THAT'S WHY I KNOW IT'S JESUS. SAYING, HEW DOWN THE TREE, DESTROY IT, Let leave the stump and the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, let it be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beast of the field till seven times pass over him, 70 years. And this is the interpretation, O King, And this is the decree of the Most High, which is come upon my Lord, the King. You are my master. In this world, I'm to honor you. You are the man that God has put in charge of the whole land of Babylon. And they shall drive thee from men, your enemies. and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as an ox, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee till thou knowest, and this is when it'll change, King Nebuchadnezzar, when thou knowest that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men. and giveth it. You know, to have an election before us. I know who's gonna win. The people that God has chosen to win. And he doesn't always choose them to win because they're good. Sometimes they're what we deserve because of how we have, how as a nation, we have turned away from Almighty God. I love when Brother Phil has us read, has us sing, God bless America. But there is also a curse. And God will be first or there will be a curse. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the roots, the kingdom shall be sure unto thee after thou hast known that the heavens do rule. The day, the second you believe that God is God, and you really mean it, That's when the stump is gonna come alive. Have you noticed the bushes they cut down over here by the railroad track? Cut everything off, but look at all the things that are growing back. Well, that's what he's telling him here. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be accepted unto thee, and break off thy sins. by righteousness, and that iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, it shall be a lengthen of thy tranquility. All of this came upon the King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. And the king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I built for the house of the kingdom are by my power and for the honor of my majesty. While the word was in the king's mouth, when he began to say, this is, God didn't do this, I've done it. It's me and only me. While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, oh king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. Today, God will not take away anything that we give him honor, but he will demand, and I know he's a God of love and mercy and grace, but he's a holy God. And that's why, are you listening now? I thank God I live and you live in the age of grace. And right now, let's not say I've done this, but let's say God has done it for us. I can tell you, I can tell you that he loves you, but he demands absolute submission in everything and that you need to know the truth and accept the truth. and then the truth will set you free. Now he comes back and we'll study about that, God willing, next Wednesday night as we stand to sing. Let's sing Jesus Paid It All. ♪ I can hear my Savior say ♪ Thy strength indeed is small ♪ Child of weakness watch and pray died all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed me white as snow. For now indeed I find Thy power and Thine alone Can change my leper's spots And melt my heart of stone Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had left a crimson stain He washed me white as snow For nothing good have I Whereby thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's Lamb. There's a turn and face you. She said, I want to come and show my faith by being anointed. And she tonight is preaching a lesson to those of us who are seeking the fullness of the anointing. Thank you, Father, for sending this sister to this church, and that her faith will add to the grace of this church. In Jesus' name, amen.