We shall now turn to the chapter which we read together, the book of Daniel and chapter four, and we will consider together the message of this chapter today. It's a fascinating chapter. It tells us about the conversion of a heathen emperor. the most powerful man in the world at the time is converted to the Christian faith. And in fact, we're told the story in his own words. And that's interesting. We don't tend to think of Nebuchadnezzar as one of the authors of scripture. We think of Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah Paul and John, but Nebuchadnezzar has written for us this chapter. The fact that Nebuchadnezzar was converted surely emphasizes for us that anyone can be saved. and that should be a great encouragement for us. Perhaps sometimes we're a bit despondent, a bit troubled, maybe about some of our own family, perhaps, who are careless and thoughtless, maybe a close friend who's an atheist or following some other religion, and we worry about them and we're concerned what's going to happen to them. And maybe they seem so defiant and so hostile to the truth, we think, well, they could never be converted. But if Nebuchadnezzar was converted, anyone could. And similarly, when we think of the most powerful people in the world, when we think even of our leaders, Nicola Sturgeon here in Scotland, She shows little respect for the Christian faith. Boris Johnson down there in London, again, shows little appreciation of God. We look across the world and we see people like President Xi of China persecuting the Christian church. We see Kim Jong-un in North Korea terribly persecuting Christians. Could Kim Jong-un become a Christian? Of course he could. Could President Xi of China become a Christian? Can God do it? If God converted Nebuchadnezzar, surely he could convert a heathen, an atheist, or a megalomaniac today. Well, first of all then, today, I want us to think of Nebuchadnezzar's past. His father, Nebuchadnezzar, was the one who began the Babylonian Empire. Nebuchadnezzar the son was appointed the leader of the army. And he went and he fought with the army against the greatest empire which existed at that time. That was the empire of Assyria. He fought at Kharkamesh, and there he defeated the Assyrians. Now, the Assyrians were in alliance with the Egyptians. And Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzar came with an army out of Egypt. And you remember how the Bible tells us that King Josiah of Judah thought he would side up with the Babylonians. So King Josiah went to fight against Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzar, very unwise, and he died in the battle. And Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzar went up to Carchemish, fought against Nebuchadnezzar, and was defeated there. and Nebuchadnezzar followed him as he retreated to Egypt. There was another great battle in Hamath and Syria. Again, the Egyptians were defeated, and Nebuchadnezzar began to establish the empire in Syria, came down into Samaria, came into Judah, took possession of Judah, and took captives from the family of the kings of Judah. and these captives were brought to Babylon. While he was fighting in Syria, rather in Israel, while he was fighting in Judah, his father died. And history tells us that he rode across the desert in order to take over the crown of Babylon. That was in 605, BC and he reigned for 43 years until 562 BC. Now, chapter one of Daniel tells us how he was a very wise ruler and one of the things he decided to do was to try and integrate the empire, to take some of the leading children from the leading nations and train them in Babylonian literature, culture, et cetera. And you remember how there were four children, 14-year-olds, from Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were taken to be trained for the civil service of Babylon. They were to be given a portion of the king's food from the king's table, the best of food, best of treatment, and they were to be taught in all the learning of the Babylonians. You remember how Daniel and his three companions refused the food that had been offered to idols. And they managed somehow or other to persuade the officials so that they could just eat food that they knew would be pure and clean from idolatry. They stood out from the rest. And after three years training, they were all brought and examined by Nebuchadnezzar. And Daniel and his three companions were found not only to have learned far more than the rest of their contemporaries, but in fact they were found to be better than their professors. And so Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were appointed as king's counsellors at the very early age of 17. So that's the first chapter and it shows Nebuchadnezzar's initial contact with a true religion and with godly men, these young godly men from Judah. Now in chapter two we're told about Nebuchadnezzar's great dream and how all his wisest men were called to tell him the dream and tell him the interpretation, but they couldn't. And so this tyrant said that they should all be cut up in pieces and their houses turned into dunghills. But then Daniel came forward and Daniel said, give me some time, don't kill the men. Give me some time, and we'll tell the king the dream and the interpretation. And he and his three friends set apart time for prayer and fasting, and so they were able to discover the dream. God revealed it to Daniel, and Daniel explained how God was going to destroy all the empires of this world, and he was going to establish a new empire. an empire, a spiritual empire, an empire that would last forever, the Kingdom of Christ, which of course has been established today. And you remember when Daniel told the dream and the interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar did something very unusual. came off his high throne, and he got down on his knees before Daniel. He recognized that Daniel's God was a great God, a great God who knows secrets, a great God who understands everything. That was chapter two, and then we came into chapter three last week, and there we see how Nebuchadnezzar forgot the God of heaven, how he got carried away with his own importance, how he made this great golden image, 90 feet high, set it on the plain of Jura, called together all the leading officials of his country, of his empire, from all the different parts of his empire, set up a great orchestra of many different instruments The law was that when the orchestra started playing their music, all had to bow and worship the image that he had made. But there were three men who wouldn't bow. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three godly young men from Judah. No reference to Daniel. We don't know where he was at this point, but he's not around, obviously. But these three men, they would not bow. And Nebuchadnezzar was furious. No God can deliver you out of my hand. Heat the furnace seven times hotter than it was and throw these men into the furnace and see what will happen. And you remember how he was there looking at the furnace with a smug grin on his face. But that grin soon changed and he got up off his seat and he saw in the furnace, not just three men, but four and one like the son of God. And he called them and they came out of the furnace. Only the ropes that tied them had been burned. God had protected them in the fire. And so Nebuchadnezzar again recognizes God. And he says, anyone who says anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the Babylonian names that he had given them, they shall be cut in pieces and their houses made a dunghill. So you see here a man who knows a considerable amount, believes a considerable amount, but yet he has not come to faith and personal repentance. He has not been humbled. and he has not come to put his trust in God. And it may be possible with you today that you know the Bible, you know all about God and creation and the history of the word of God and Jesus Christ coming into this world and dying on the cross for sinners and rising again, you believe it all. But do you trust? Do you love the Lord? Do you worship Him in sincerity and truth and Him alone? That's a great question because at the end of the day, there's lots of people who will end up in hell who knew a great deal and who had wonderful experiences and close contact with godly people and yet they perished. because although they knew so much and in a sense abstractly believed it, yet they had never come to trust in God and his mercy and to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their saviour. So what about you? Are you converted and do you trust in Christ as your saviour? Nebuchadnezzar's past. Now secondly we come to his dream. We're told Nebuchadnezzar tells us that he was prospering and flourishing and everything was going so well in his empire and then one day he had a dream and he dreamt of a tree, a huge tree, a tree that reached up to heaven a tree in the middle of the earth. And its leaves were fair, and its fruit was abundant. And underneath its shadow had gathered all the animals. In its boughs were all the birds. And this tree provided fruit and food for all. A huge tree reaching up to heaven. But then a watcher appears, an angel, a holy one from heaven, and he says, cut down the tree, but leave its stump. Cut down the tree, shake off its leaves, cut its branches. Let the beasts of the earth flee from under it and the birds from its branches, but let its stump be left in the ground with a band of iron and brass, wet with the dew of heaven and his portion with the beasts of the earth. Let his heart be changed and the heart of a beast be given unto it until seven times Passover. seven months, perhaps, or maybe even seven years, seven periods of time, until he recognizes that the Most High, God Almighty, rules. That was the dream. So he called together his wise men, we're told in verse six, how he called together the magicians, verse six, bring together the wise men of Babylon before me that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. And they came in, all these magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, soothsayers. He told them his dream, but they couldn't tell him the interpretation. He knew that this dream had a special meaning. but they were unable to give him the interpretation. But why did he not go right away to Daniel? Because he knew that Daniel had a great power of interpreting dreams. Well, no doubt he felt a bit uncomfortable about the dream. No doubt he already knew something in his own mind of what the dream actually meant. Who could that great tree be but himself? And this cutting down of the tree and giving, taking away the heart of man and giving the heart of a beast unto it, surely it's referring to a great man himself. He tried his magicians, his astrologers, his soothsayers, to see if they could come up with some interpretation, but they couldn't. So in the end, he's forced to turn to Daniel. And he calls in Daniel, and he tells Daniel his dream. And when Daniel hears the dream, Daniel's astonished. Who could have believed that this would happen? Daniel is frightened. How can he tell the great emperor Nebuchadnezzar that he's going to be cut down, as it were, removed from his throne, and that he's going to be given the heart of a beast? So Daniel is there sitting in front of the king for a whole hour, astonished. Till in the end the king says, right Daniel, just tell me. Don't let the dream disturb you. Don't let the interpretation disturb you. It's best for me to know. What does it mean? Just tell me the dream. Don't be frightened to tell me. So Daniel responds and says, let this dream be to your enemies, to those who are against you. But you, you, Nebuchadnezzar, yes, you are that great tree that reaches up to heaven, and you are the tree in whose branches all the birds come, and the animals gather under you, and you provide, as it were, food for all. You are this great tree. But you will be cut down, and you will Have your heart, as it were, the heart of a beast given to you, and you will go out and eat grass like the beasts of the earth. You will be driven from men, but the stump will be left, and you will be eventually restored to your kingdom. But I give you advice, says Daniel, Break off your sins. Break off the things that are wrong in your life. Do what is righteous. Do what is good. Show mercy to the poor. Repent. Turn. Give up your sins. Remember the Lord is merciful. The Lord will save you. Repent, if you will only repent, then your tranquility will continue. So Daniel, he was preaching wisdom, wasn't he? He was saying, repent, and that's what's needed for you and me today, isn't it, too? Repent. If only we'd repent of our sins and be converted, how different our lives would be, and God's blessing would rest upon us. But if we persist in our sins, then judgment is sure. Repent by breaking off your sins and showing mercy to the poor. So thirdly, we see Nebuchadnezzar here humbled. Maybe Daniel's words, it would seem that Daniel's words had a temporary beneficial effect upon Nebuchadnezzar. There was some kind of repentance. And so for a whole year he spared, 12 months pass, and nothing happens. But you can imagine as the time is passing and everything seems to be going okay, Lebuchadnezzar's dream begins to fade from his mind. And so, one day we're told, 12 months later, he's walking upon the flat roof of his palace, looking out upon the city of Babylon. These magnificent buildings which he had built, he has built up this great empire. And he had a particular interest in architecture, building temples for heathen gods. And you remember how one of the wonders of the ancient world was the hanging gardens of Babylon. built by Nebuchadnezzar for his Median wife, his Median wife who was missing the green hills of Media there in Babylon. So he built this enormous hanging gardens, these towers with trees and plants and flowers, beautiful, magnificent. one of the wonders of the ancient world. And there's Nebuchadnezzar looking out upon the great city with its beautiful buildings and this great empire which I have built, boasting. Pride, pride is such a common sin. There's a bit of it in us all, every one of us, proud in different ways, something we've got to battle against. There's not a human being but some pride in something. Boasting. Maybe not boasting but thinking inside themselves, well, I'm too good to boast. I'm not such a fool as that person over there is showing off. And proud of their common sense or proud of their humility or whatever. God hates it. What are we? You and I? Tiny little slimy sinful creatures in comparison to Almighty God. The infinite, the eternal, the unchangeable God and you and I little spiders upon this earth and yet we think we're so great and we defy God and we break his commandments. God Almighty one day will bring us before his judgment seat to give our account to him. There he is then boasting, and in the middle of all his boasting we're told that while the word, verse 31, was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, The kingdom is departed from thee, and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. That same hour it was fulfilled. He was driven from men, and did eat grass as an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs had grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. Madness came over him, and he was driven out of his palace. It was interesting that in the 19th century there were a considerable number of cases of what was called Boanthropy. People who had this madness of thinking that they were cows or oxen and began to act like oxen and eat grass. And there are still, it seems, some cases of similar sort of things around today. People who think they're animals and in their madness they act like animals. Well, there's something too not all that different today, isn't there, where there's men who think they're women and women who think they're men. Their body, their biology tells them that they are a woman or a man, but yet their mind tells them they're something different, so they begin to act in a different way. This madness has come down over our society. Just on Friday there, there was a minister in London preaching in the open air. John Sherwood, and he happened to say in his sermon that, as he was preaching there, that God created man male and female, that there's only these two genders, male and female. Somebody in the crowd took offence at this, the police were called, and this man was arrested, handcuffed, taken in, and locked up 80-year-old minister, Baptist pastor in London, locked up in prison on Friday night. He got out on Saturday, no charges laid against him. But that happening in our own country, how sad it is where we have gone. The madness that has come over our politicians, our society, our police force, our media that approves of men and women. You just think what you are and you are what you think and you pretend that you are that and everybody else must pretend that you are what you think you are and if you don't then you can be accused of hate crime. Doesn't matter how much you love the poor deluded sinner and are seeking their salvation, you're somebody who hates them. If you will not accept their view of themselves, if you will not accept that Nebuchadnezzar is a cow, you will be put in prison. How amazing that that should come, how mad our society has become. But here is this man, Nebuchadnezzar. Madness comes over him. He's out there in the fields, eating grass like an ox. Till seven times pass over him. Seven months, perhaps, or maybe even seven years, we cannot be sure. but a sad, pathetic creature. This great general who led the soldiers to victory over the Assyrians and over the Egyptians. This great king who ruled over the greatest empire that the world had seen up to that point in time. And he continued in that state. until he lifted up his eyes and recognized the God in heaven and cried for mercy. He cried eventually for mercy. And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, verse 34, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, recognizing God, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. he doeth his will in the army of heaven and amongst the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? And at that same time my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me, my counsellors and my lords. He looked to God, He cried to him for mercy. It reminds us of blind Bartimaeus. Remember him sitting by the wayside near Jericho. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. Blind Bartimaeus cried, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And he cried and he cried again. And the crowd said to him, be quiet, you're disturbing the peace. but he wouldn't be quiet. Thou son of David, have mercy on me, kept praying until Jesus heard him and called him and gave him a sight and gave him salvation for his soul. Or we think of the publican going up into the temple to pray. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Wouldn't lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but beat upon his breast. aware of his sin, God be merciful to me a sinner. And he went home justified, pardoned, forgiven. Or we think of the Philippian jailer following the earthquake, trembling before Paul and Silas, crying, what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. or Saul of Tartus, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, on his way to Damascus to destroy the Christians there, and Christ appears to him in the way. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? What a change, what a mighty change, for Saul the persecutor to become Paul. the apostle. What about you? Are you too proud to bow before God? Jesus said, you cannot become a Christian, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven unless you become like a little child. Why do you have to become like a little child? Because by nature you're so proud. If I were to offer you salvation, If you paid a thousand pounds, everybody here would buy it. But because I offer you salvation for nothing. You don't want it. You won't take it. It's free. And yet you won't have it. Why? Because you think, well, I've got to do this and I've got to do that. And if I try hard at this and try hard at that, try and be a better person. Everyone trying to find something that they can boast of and some way that they can earn salvation or make themselves pleasing to God. And you've got to realize, no, you're just like Nebuchadnezzar out there eating the grass. and you've got to cry, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I've got no merit, got no goodness, nothing that I can be proud of, nothing that can buy salvation for me. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Are you too proud to accept salvation? Too proud to become like a little child and so enter, receiving the free gift from God. So finally, we have Nebuchadnezzar's profession. Amazingly, after these seven times, his reason returned. Verse 36, his glory, his honour came back. His counsellors and his lords came to him, seeking advice from him. And he was re-established as the emperor and excellent majesty was given to him. And so, verse 37, now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of heaven. all whose works are truth and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he's able to abase and to humble. I extol the God of heaven, I praise him, and so he sends this message As he says in verse one, Nebuchadnezzar, king unto the people, nations and languages that dwell in the earth, peace be multiplied unto you. The Lord Jesus has sent us out to proclaim peace, hasn't he? Peace with one another, love one another. But the most important peace of all is peace with God, because God is angry with sinners every day. And every man and woman by nature is under the wrath and curse of God. When Jesus rose from the dead, his first words were, peace, peace be unto you. And he sent out his church to preach peace. But what way, how can we get this peace? Peace through Jesus Christ, through faith in him, through the Christ who has worked out peace for us. Peace be multiplied. 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. Nebuchadnezzar, emperor, pagan emperor of Babylon. converted to faith in the living and true God. So what can we say then in conclusion? First, it's important to remember that anyone who's alive can be saved. Once they're dead, it's too late. As you die, so you'll spend your eternity. Die a Christian, you go to heaven. Die an unbeliever, you go to hell. As long as a person's alive, pray for them. Witness to them. Tell them about Jesus and salvation. Tell them about their need to be saved. Anyone can be saved. Second, pride destroys. Destroys your life here. Pride will take you down to hell unless you repent of it. Third, we have a duty to repent of all our sins and believe in Jesus. And fourth, if you don't repent, something terrible could happen to you. Maybe actually you're one of God's elect And for a long, long time, all your life, you've been rejecting the gospel or putting it off. If you continue doing that, God might send madness upon you, something awful, because he wants to convert you. And he will convert you, but surely it's better to take the advice of Daniel and repent now before something awful happens, some terrible illness, some death of a loved one? Are you saying to God, Lord, you've got to do something terrible in my life before I'll humble myself and ask for mercy? Beware. Today is the day of salvation. Ask for mercy today. Let's pray. O Lord, our God, we pray that thou wouldst convince us of our need to be saved. Show to us our sinful hearts and thy great holiness. And help us, Lord, to see that it is appointed to every one of us to die. And after that, the judgment. And how we must prepare for death and eternity. And help us, Lord, to repent and believe the gospel while we have opportunity. We thank thee, Lord, that this gospel is And so we pray that in thy grace and mercy, every single one of us who are listening to this series today would believe what thou art saying and act upon it. For Jesus' sake, amen.