SPEAKER_00: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_01: God, we uh we worship you.
SPEAKER_01: We praise a hallelujah to you in this place, God.
SPEAKER_01: Acknowledge that the God um that we worship is the God who reigns.
SPEAKER_01: The God that we worship is the God who reigns, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So we just thank you for your holiness.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for who you are, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being the King of Kings, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I pray that you can bless this time as we learn from you and help us to lead our lives like what we just see right here in complete worship, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's in your beautiful, it's in your amazing name.
SPEAKER_01: I pray, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You may be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, guys.
SPEAKER_01: Good morning, Harry.
SPEAKER_01: We good?
SPEAKER_01: Good.
SPEAKER_01: It's always good to be here.
SPEAKER_01: I I get to come, I was telling someone just a second ago, um, coming here once a semester is like recess.
SPEAKER_01: It's always awesome just to come to Grand Parkway and preach here for a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: I was here last month, February 1st through 3rd through D now.
SPEAKER_01: So I got to preach at some of your children, and it was awesome.
SPEAKER_01: And like the same kindness that I feel in here is the same kindness that I was um extended out there.
SPEAKER_01: So just thank you guys for being a great church.
SPEAKER_01: Um I peek into some of your messages sometimes weekly.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you guys so much for just your your your your your generous way of welcoming me in.
SPEAKER_01: So hey, if you have your Bibles, would you grab those and go to Daniel chapter four for me?
SPEAKER_01: Go to Daniel chapter four.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't have a Bible, there should be one laying around somewhere next to you.
SPEAKER_01: I think maybe in the seat back in front of you.
SPEAKER_01: Um if you are um if you don't own a Bible, I don't I don't think Neil would mind me saying this.
SPEAKER_01: That one is yours to keep.
SPEAKER_01: Um if you're sitting next to someone who doesn't have a Bible or doesn't have a Bible open, would you be so kind as to just slip your Bible in between the two of you?
SPEAKER_01: I know that's awkward, but no one's ever died of an awkward moment, okay?
SPEAKER_01: No autopsy ever showed cringe was a person, the reason someone died.
SPEAKER_01: I think that uh um looking at the scriptures, looking at the words of God is the best use of our time here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be in Daniel chapter four, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Daniel chapter four.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm always sensitive to people who don't quite know where we are in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: So let me give you some context as to how we got to Daniel chapter four in the story of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: So um in the fifth book of the Bible, in the book of Deuteronomy, God lays it out very simple for his people.
SPEAKER_01: They're about to go into the land that he promised them.
SPEAKER_01: They're about to go into the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: The Israel's about to go into the promised land, and God lays it out very simple in Deuteronomy chapter 28.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, um, either you obey me, if you obey me, I will bless your fields, I will bless your crops, I will bless your households, I will bless you.
SPEAKER_01: Obey me and I will bless you.
SPEAKER_01: But if you disobey me, I will curse your land, I will curse your crops.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I will pluck you out out of that land that I brought you into.
SPEAKER_01: And if you know the Bible, the latter one is the one that actually happens, and God uses Babylon as an instrument of wrath on Israel, and Babylon gets or the people of Israel get exiled out of the promised land.
SPEAKER_01: So the people of Israel are living in the midst of a perverse culture, a polytheistic culture, even a pagan culture, and in the midst of that, there are still some faithful men of God.
SPEAKER_01: Enter in Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, enter in Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: And it's what's interesting is in Daniel chapter 3, um, the camera of the Bible is not on Daniel, but the camera of the Bible is on Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
SPEAKER_01: And they get invited to this party thrown by the king of the world at the time.
SPEAKER_01: I put heavy air quotes on that.
SPEAKER_01: The king at the time is the King Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: It's the king of Babylon at the time, and he throws this party, and this party is designed to unveil this statue that he just made.
SPEAKER_01: And his their job is, listen, um, whenever the music starts playing, you are to bow down and worship the statue.
SPEAKER_01: The statue is about 90 feet tall, nine feet wide.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, some people think that it's an all-gold statue of Nebuchadnezzar, some people think it's an all-gold statue of uh representing all the polytheistic gods, when you bow down to it, you are uh praising the polytheistic culture.
SPEAKER_01: Either way, it was simple.
SPEAKER_01: When the music starts playing, you bow or die.
SPEAKER_01: You bow or die.
SPEAKER_01: And because of the personal conviction that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had in the God of the Bible, they remain standing.
SPEAKER_01: And because they remain standing, they were cast into a burning fiery furnace where the Bible says they were completely unscathed.
SPEAKER_01: They were completely unscathed.
SPEAKER_01: Now, think about that for a second, okay?
SPEAKER_01: We have we have uh Sunday schooled that passage to oblivion.
SPEAKER_01: But actually think about that fiery furnace for a second.
SPEAKER_01: It's a it's a human uh microwave or a human oven, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And they get tied up and thrown in there.
SPEAKER_01: And that scene is so unbelievably dangerous that the very soldiers who tied them up and threw them in, they died in the process.
SPEAKER_01: They died setting everything up, they died heating up the fire, they died in the process, and these three men are tied up and they're thrown into a burning fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_01: And when Nebuchadnezzar peeks in, he does not see three men tied up.
SPEAKER_01: He sees four men untied walking around.
SPEAKER_01: And he says that the fourth is like the son of the gods.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that that is an Old Testament cameo of Jesus Christ himself.
SPEAKER_01: The fourth is like the sons of the gods.
SPEAKER_01: And he orders them to come out, and he notices that their hair is not burnt, their clothes is not burnt, and they don't even, they don't even smell like the fire at all.
SPEAKER_01: So I went to Oklahoma State University and I majored in fire protection and safety engineering technology.
SPEAKER_01: Exciting, right?
SPEAKER_01: Fire protection and safety engineering technology.
SPEAKER_01: So I actually studied from almost every major fire in human history.
SPEAKER_01: So from the great fire in the AD 60s all the way to the BP explosion, every fire in between I was tested on, quizzed on, I was tested on a lot of fires.
SPEAKER_01: And here is what I know unequivocally about the danger of fires.
SPEAKER_01: Fires have a devastating effect on human health beyond just burnt skin.
SPEAKER_01: It goes deeper than just burnt skin.
SPEAKER_01: Those fumes will kill you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, for example, if you are in a burning wooden house, so if you're in the middle of a wooden house that's burning down, okay, those fumes alone will most likely kill you before the fire even touches you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, because in a burning wooden fire, you have things like methane, carbon monoxide, benzene, sulfur dioxide, formaldehyde, formic acid, acetic acid, and inhaling these fumes even for a few minutes will change your life and give you about lifelong lung problems.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, in this passage, you see the rope around their wrists being burnt, they have no smell, their hair is not burnt, and their clothes is not burnt.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, this is evidence of God's complete deliverance of these men.
SPEAKER_01: And Nebuchadnezzar saw the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: He saw the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: So how is he to react?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, how is Nebuchadnezzar to react?
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, I'm having mic issues.
SPEAKER_01: My I gesture a lot and it keeps coming undone with my African gesturing.
SPEAKER_01: So I need to tie this up.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just being honest.
SPEAKER_01: This is how it works, okay?
SPEAKER_01: It's coming back to haunt me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Um, how is Nebuchadnezzar to react?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, how did he react?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, because there is what's the appropriate way to react with God's majesty on display?
SPEAKER_01: What's the appropriate way to react with God's majesty on display?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let me just fix this for a second.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry about that.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what's the appropriate way to react with God's majesty on display?
SPEAKER_01: Because there is an appropriate response.
SPEAKER_01: There's also an inappropriate response.
SPEAKER_01: I heard a speaker speak one time.
SPEAKER_01: His name is Greg Kokel.
SPEAKER_01: He's an evangelist, and he's talking about the dangers of using church jargon and using Christian knees and places not in church.
SPEAKER_01: And he was talking about talking to this lady on an airplane and talking to her about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Jesus died for my sins.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus died for my sins.
SPEAKER_01: And the lady looked at him and goes, I'm so sorry to hear that.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Like she doesn't have a category for substitutionary atonement.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, she has an inappropriate response to God's majesty on display.
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, as a youth pastor, I'm always telling my students, hey, listen, when you open this book, study the face followers of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Study the face followers of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Anybody you see that sees God and hits the deck, you study them.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it's Isaiah in chapter 6, Ezekiel in chapter 1, John in Revelation 1, you study the face followers of the Bible because they're dialed into a reality that you and I are often disconnected from.
SPEAKER_01: Study the face followers of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, because they have an appropriate reaction to God's majesty on display.
SPEAKER_01: So how does Nebuchadnezzar react?
SPEAKER_01: At the end of chapter 3, we see Nebuchadnezzar's instant reaction.
SPEAKER_01: We see his instant reaction.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually very admirable.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, he looks up and he says, Blessed be the most high God.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, blessed be the God of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be the most high God.
SPEAKER_01: That's a very admirable response.
SPEAKER_01: Especially because he invited these people over to worship the statue, and now he's worshiping Yahweh.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, as a leader, there's nothing worse than looking like a flip-flopper.
SPEAKER_01: And at the expense of looking, if you're a parent, you should say amen right now.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: At the expense of losing his credibility, he goes, Blessed be the most high, blessed be the God of Meshach, Shadek, and Abendigo.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, if anyone here curses that God, I will rip you slash your household apart.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be the most high God.
SPEAKER_01: So in chapter three, we see his instant response.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter four, we see his response over time.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where we're gonna be in today.
SPEAKER_01: Now, chapter four, Daniel, is long, so I'm gonna read some, summarize some, read some, summarize some.
SPEAKER_01: It's unique because we have a pagan king speaking the entire time.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we have a testimony of a pagan king the entire way in this passage, but it's also helpful because it provides you and I with two different paths.
SPEAKER_01: Two different paths.
SPEAKER_01: What are the two options we have whenever we encounter God's majesty?
SPEAKER_01: What are the two options you and I are left whenever we encounter the majesty of God?
SPEAKER_01: Right now you're you're running through the book of John.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you should be finished somewhere in 2022, 2023.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And you're seeing Jesus heal people, bring them back from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: You're seeing him forgive season, you're seeing the majesty.
SPEAKER_01: You have a front row seat of seeing the God man Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What are the two options we're left with?
SPEAKER_01: Well, this passage shows us that there is a prideful path.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, number one, there is a prideful path.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 30 for me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what Nebuchadnezzar says in verse 30.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my power by my mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of my majesty?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so how do we get here again?
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: At the end of chapter 3 says, Blessed be the most high God.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, blessed be the God of Meshach, Shredak and Abednego, and then on right here at the beginning, or right here, he says, uh what you see happening is actually plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: Because you see plagiarism actually happening.
SPEAKER_01: What is plagiarism?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, the plagiarism is to use another's production without crediting the source.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, that is something that God hates is plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: God hates cosmic plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: The moment you open these scriptures, you realize God hates cosmic plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: Because one of the biggest questions that's undergirding the meta-narrative of the Bible is who gets the who gets the credit?
SPEAKER_01: Who gets the credit for all this?
SPEAKER_01: Who gets the credit for the beauty in the world?
SPEAKER_01: Who gets the credit for the goodness in the world?
SPEAKER_01: Who gets the credit for the blessings in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and therefore he hates it when people commit plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: All that is due to a holy, perfect God.
SPEAKER_01: And plagiarism is a major offense.
SPEAKER_01: So how do we get here?
SPEAKER_01: How do we get from praise to plagiarism?
SPEAKER_01: How did Nebuchadnezzar go from praise to plagiarism?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I believe this passage shows us at least three bricks that line the road from praise to plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, it's prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: Prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4 for me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: It says, I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace.
SPEAKER_01: Like I was at ease and I was prospering in my palace.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I feel dirty even using the P word from behind a pulpit.
SPEAKER_01: It feels weird using the word prosperity from behind a pulpit.
SPEAKER_01: I have a weird church background where I just listen to teachers and preachers and pastors and deacons and all sorts of people on stage talking about how the whole point of the gospel is you get you get stuff.
SPEAKER_01: If you're good, you get stuff.
SPEAKER_01: The whole point of the gospel is prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: The whole point of the gospel is God will give you health and wealth if you behave a certain way.
SPEAKER_01: When friends, if you know the gospel, that is not true.
SPEAKER_01: The whole point of the gospel is that we get God at the end.
SPEAKER_01: We are reconciled to our Creator and we get to enjoy Him and be with Him and commune with Him forever.
SPEAKER_01: That's the fulfillment of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It is not prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: So prosperity is not the point of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Prosperity is not the point.
SPEAKER_01: Furthermore, I've experienced in the Christian life and even seen in scripture how prosperity, specifically material prosperity, can often derail people spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: How prosperity can sometimes derail people spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: I don't, for my life, whenever life gets easy, that's when I pray the least.
SPEAKER_01: It's whenever I feel weak that I begin to plead with God for strength and wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: So prosperity can oftentimes derail people, especially specifically material prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, friends, prosperity is not a bad thing.
SPEAKER_01: God is not anti-Range Rover.
SPEAKER_01: He is not anti-nice car.
SPEAKER_01: He is not anti-Rolex.
SPEAKER_01: He's not anti-nice stuff.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, James 1:17 says, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, prosperity is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_01: It is to be enjoyed.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, blessings are gifts from God to be enjoyed.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, if you look at Matthew chapter 7, namely verses 7 through 11, you will see that the Father, okay, he actually gets a rush from blessing his children.
SPEAKER_01: Prosperity is a good thing meant to be enjoyed, but over and over in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, you see him failing the test of prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: He failed the test of prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever you and I think of test, we think of something arduous, something strenuous, something difficult.
SPEAKER_01: We think of adversity.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: But there is such a thing as test of prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes God will test us with prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, that sounds counterintuitive, but Jesus knew this.
SPEAKER_01: That's why whenever his disciples ask him, hey, how do we pray?
SPEAKER_01: He said, when you pray like this, uh, God, give us this day our daily bread.
SPEAKER_01: Give me what I need.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, give me what I need.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, that's a dangerous prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Pretty dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, uh, Proverbs chapter 30, verses 8 and 9, there's a pretty dangerous prayer in that kind of mirrors a daily bread prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, it says this Okay, feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be fool and deny you and say, Who is the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Give me what I need, or else I'll forget you.
SPEAKER_01: Just give me what I need to offer you.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the test of prosperity is real.
SPEAKER_01: And Nebuchadnezzar fails it.
SPEAKER_01: And that begs the question: are you watching your heart as God prospers you?
SPEAKER_01: Are you keeping surveillance on your spiritual life as God blesses you and your family?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you're not, you may be on the road to plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: You may be on the path to plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: So the first brick that lines that road from praise to plagiarism, the first brick you see is prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: And the second brick you see is poor counsel.
SPEAKER_01: Poor counsel.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses five through eight for me.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses five through eight.
SPEAKER_01: It says, I saw a dream that made me afraid.
SPEAKER_01: As I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me.
SPEAKER_01: 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 this dream.
SPEAKER_01: Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream.
SPEAKER_01: But they could not make known to me its interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now this chapter is about one of the things that it's about, that comes up in this chapter, is um this terrible dream that Nebuchadnezzar has.
SPEAKER_01: Nebuchadnezzar has a terrible dream.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna dissect that dream here in a second, but he has a terrible dream that disturbs him, and he goes to the magicians and the enchanters and the Chaldeans, other random people for the interpretation of this dream.
SPEAKER_01: And if you know the book of Daniel, that is ridiculous to do.
SPEAKER_01: Because in chapter one, um, Nebuchadnezzar measures the competency of uh Meshach, Shredak, and Abednego, and Daniel versus the competency of all these other people in the king's court, and he says um it he found them to be ten times better than all the magicians and the enchanters that were in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So in chapter one, he sees that Meshach, Shredak, and Abednego, and Daniel are ten times more qualified than everybody, anybody else.
SPEAKER_01: That's chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: He sees potential in chapter one.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter two, he sees that potential transform into provision when he has a terrible dream, and Daniel interprets to him this dream and provides for him comfort, provides for him security.
SPEAKER_01: And then in chapter three, obviously we just talked about it, he sees how anointed Meshach, Shreddek, and Abednego are.
SPEAKER_01: And he sees how powerful the God of Israel is.
SPEAKER_01: And even after all of that evidence, he just runs back to what he knows.
SPEAKER_01: He runs back to who he knows.
SPEAKER_01: And he says he came and called the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers.
SPEAKER_01: They came in first.
SPEAKER_01: And as before in chapter two, they couldn't figure it out.
SPEAKER_01: This man, as every king back then did, this man surrounded himself with yes men who were not connected to God's truth.
SPEAKER_01: He surrounded himself with people who were not connected to God's truth.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe who were weren't even willing to tell him God's honest truth.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm a youth pastor, and this right here is what I would use to start railing on my not railing, encouraging my students, um, encouraging passionately to my students about peer pressure.
SPEAKER_01: I just told myself about that about peer pressure and the power of influence and the power of choosing friends.
SPEAKER_01: And I tell them all the time, listen, show me your friends, and I'll show you your future.
SPEAKER_01: I would talk to them about showing or just the power of influence.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna go on that rant right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna passionately encourage you about that right now.
SPEAKER_01: But I will ask you, are you connected to people who are connected to God?
SPEAKER_01: Are you connected to people who are connected to God?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, whenever Hebrews chapter 3 talks about how, well, as long as it is today, um, or just not to forget about the gathering of the saints, that doesn't just mean attend a building.
SPEAKER_01: Are you known by the people here?
SPEAKER_01: Do you belong to a people that are connected to the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Um are there people in life who are connected to God who are willing to say hard truths in your life?
SPEAKER_01: If not, you may be on the path to plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: So how did Nebuchadnezzar go from um praising God to plagiarism?
SPEAKER_01: Well, one, he failed the test of prosperity, two, he See poor counsel, and three, this was the most difficult one.
SPEAKER_01: Three, you see the passing of time.
SPEAKER_01: The passing of time.
SPEAKER_01: So, this chapter, the Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he has this dream that there was a tree that went from the ground all the way up to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: This gigantic tree that the Bible says could be seen, or in his dream, this tree could be seen from everywhere, everywhere, all around the world.
SPEAKER_01: The leaves on this tree were beautiful, the the fruit on this tree were plentiful.
SPEAKER_01: Beasts of the field made houses within the tree.
SPEAKER_01: Birds of the air made houses on top of the tree.
SPEAKER_01: This is a big tree.
SPEAKER_01: This is a significant tree.
SPEAKER_01: This is a beautiful tree.
SPEAKER_01: This is an important tree.
SPEAKER_01: And in the middle of his dream, he saw a holy one come from heaven and say, Chop this tree down.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, chop the rip away its leaves, scatter its fruit, make the beasts of the field scatter away from it, make the birds that are making houses scatter away from it, chop this tree down until there's nothing but a stump left.
SPEAKER_01: And on that stump, you are to tie that stump up with the metal band and keep it stump and tie it to the floor until I give the stump the mind of a beast.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give the stump the mind of a beast until the stump understands that the Most High gives power to whom he will.
SPEAKER_01: It's a very bizarre, very, very bizarre dream.
SPEAKER_01: But he goes, finally goes to Daniel for an interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: And Daniel, the first thing that Daniel says, actually hilarious.
SPEAKER_01: The first thing that Daniel says is, hey, first off, Nebuchadnezzar, you need to pray that you're not the tree.
SPEAKER_01: But uh you're you're you're the tree.
SPEAKER_01: He explains to me that he's the tree.
SPEAKER_01: And then this is how verse 24 and 27 go.
SPEAKER_01: The interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: This is the interpretation, O King.
SPEAKER_01: It is the 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 beasts of the field.
SPEAKER_01: You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and 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.
SPEAKER_01: And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that heaven rules.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you.
SPEAKER_01: Break off from your sins by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: Now, the dream itself was scary enough for Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: The visuals were creepy enough.
SPEAKER_01: It was a scary dream in and of itself.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine how much more scary it got for Nebuchadnezzar when the most trustworthy person who knows, the expert dream interpreter in all of the land, comes up to him and says, So that wasn't bad pizza.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't caused by bad pizza.
SPEAKER_01: That was God talking to you.
SPEAKER_01: That was a prophecy.
SPEAKER_01: And God is warning you either you humble yourself or he'll come and do it for you.
SPEAKER_01: Humble yourself, or he will come and do it for you.
SPEAKER_01: And what was his reaction?
SPEAKER_01: That would have been bone chilling.
SPEAKER_01: Would have been completely bone-chilling for Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: What was his reaction?
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at verse 29 and 30.
SPEAKER_01: See his reaction.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of 12 months, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.
SPEAKER_01: And the king answered and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence for the glory of my majesty?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we don't know his instant reaction.
SPEAKER_01: All we know is that a year went by and he was as prideful as ever.
SPEAKER_01: Like he might have humbled himself initially, but we know that a year went by, 12 months went by, okay, and he was as prideful as ever.
SPEAKER_01: Time eroded that fear of the Lord that he had when he woke up from that terrible dream.
SPEAKER_01: Which beggars to great.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, what was God teaching you a week ago?
SPEAKER_01: What was God teaching you a month ago?
SPEAKER_01: Like, think back to this time last year.
SPEAKER_01: What was God teaching you a year ago?
SPEAKER_01: Have you made active steps to stay true to that?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the Christian must guard himself.
SPEAKER_01: The Christian must guard herself from the hardness of heart that occurs through the passing of time.
SPEAKER_01: This world has a way of rocking you to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: The patterns and the rhythm of this world has a way of rocking you and I to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: And we can constantly forget, and time can erode that fear of the Lord that God put there.
SPEAKER_01: That was Israel's problem the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: Exodus 14, God splits the Red Sea, they walk across.
SPEAKER_01: Exodus 15, you have the first worship song of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, God.
SPEAKER_01: Exodus 16, they get a little hungry, get a little confused, and they go, you know what's better than all this?
SPEAKER_01: Slavery.
SPEAKER_01: This world has a way of rocking you to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: I'll give you two examples: one micro, one macro.
SPEAKER_01: So, micro example, how many of us, okay, have read the Bible in the morning?
SPEAKER_01: By noon, you have no clue what you read.
SPEAKER_01: That's the micro example.
SPEAKER_01: Let me the macro example.
SPEAKER_01: So a few years ago, I was really sh on my heart, I was really thinking a lot, a lot about eternity.
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking constantly, constantly about the realities of hell.
SPEAKER_01: They're like life is short and hell is real.
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about that all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what happened was a couple of my unbelieving friends died back to back, and I had to do eulogies, or I had to sit front row at a funeral.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was just harsh, harsh time.
SPEAKER_01: But I was thinking a lot about the realities of hell.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is literally agony to the infinity degree.
SPEAKER_01: It's forever.
SPEAKER_01: You're cut off from God.
SPEAKER_01: It is agony forever.
SPEAKER_01: And that led me to two different places.
SPEAKER_01: One, I was praising Jesus like Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, praise you, God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I deserve, and yet here I am.
SPEAKER_01: Because on the cross, Jesus got my consequences.
SPEAKER_01: I get his rewards now.
SPEAKER_01: You kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: I was my praise life was through the roof.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your mercy, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I deserve, and yet thank you for your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so one place it led me is my praise life went up.
SPEAKER_01: And two, I was preaching the gospel to anything moving.
SPEAKER_01: 2012, 2013, Leo was working Jesus into every conversation I possibly could.
SPEAKER_01: I was basketball was not just a game.
SPEAKER_01: Basketball was a tool to meet people.
SPEAKER_01: I needed to meet people and tell them about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I was having lunch with random people.
SPEAKER_01: I need to tell you about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: With my waitresses and waiters, I need to tell you about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I was constantly, I was like a hate-seeking missile when it came to the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I was preaching the gospel to everyone.
SPEAKER_01: 2012, 2013 league, I was preaching the gospel to anyone and everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Now, a few years later, tragedy hasn't struck like that in a while.
SPEAKER_01: I haven't had to write a eulogy or sit front row at any funerals recently.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think about hell as much.
SPEAKER_01: And I have to confess, that's actually affected my ministry.
SPEAKER_01: It's affected my urgency when it comes to talking to people about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's affected my praise life.
SPEAKER_01: The Christian must guard herself, must guard himself from the hardness of heart that comes from the passing of time.
SPEAKER_01: Because, or else this world will rock you to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: It will rock you to sleep.
SPEAKER_01: So if you don't, if you don't encourage your heart in that way, you may be on the path to plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: So we see prosperity, we see poor counsel, we see the passing of time, and that leads us to plagiarism, aka pride.
SPEAKER_01: Nebuchadnezzar is pride incarnate.
SPEAKER_01: He's one of the clearest case studies of the Bible that we have of pride.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what is pride?
SPEAKER_01: Um, pride, I mean, let me quote Tim Keller because I don't want to talk about plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: Let me Tim Keller says, I don't want lightning to strike on this wooden stage here.
SPEAKER_01: Tim Keller says, pride is ruthless concentration on the self.
SPEAKER_01: It's a relentless concentration on yourself.
SPEAKER_01: And friends, this actually started in the garden.
SPEAKER_01: This is not a new thing of Babylon.
SPEAKER_01: This started all the way back at the beginning of whenever sin entered the world.
SPEAKER_01: Because Adam and Eve, whenever they ate of the tree, they went from a childlike dependency on God to a godlike dependency on self.
SPEAKER_01: And we have all inherited that.
SPEAKER_01: This is not just the king thing, this is everybody involved.
SPEAKER_01: This is in all of us, and a lot of us, this is the root of our sin, is pride.
SPEAKER_01: So when Nebuchadnezzar says, I have built this by my power for my glory, by my power for my glory, by my power for my glory, that is oftentimes the slogan of the human heart.
SPEAKER_01: By my power for my glory.
SPEAKER_01: So whether you brag or boast or you're constantly self-deprecating, pride is extremely involved.
SPEAKER_01: And pride is one way to react to God's majesty.
SPEAKER_01: Where does it lead?
SPEAKER_01: Where does pride actually lead?
SPEAKER_01: Because there are consequences to plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: There are consequences to plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: I read about this guy named Walter Keene.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you guys know who Walter Keene is, or Walter Keene was, he passed away now.
SPEAKER_01: He was a famous painter in the late 1950s or in the early 1960s, okay?
SPEAKER_01: His dominating both sectors of the art world, his art, he had like private art and art expedition expeditions, but he also had his art on post stamps and backpacks and mugs.
SPEAKER_01: He painted these paintings called the big eye paintings.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't pull them up for you because they're extremely creepy.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna creep you out, but it's like these little kids with gigantic like football eyes.
SPEAKER_01: He painted these paintings called the big eye paintings, and he was world-renowned, world-renowned painter.
SPEAKER_01: The problem was, Walter didn't paint any of it.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Walter couldn't paint at all.
SPEAKER_01: His wife Margaret was the one painting all of it.
SPEAKER_01: One thing led to another.
SPEAKER_01: After the secret was their secret for a long time, Walter and Margaret got divorced.
SPEAKER_01: And in 1970, at a radio broadcast, uh, Margaret Keene revealed to the world, I painted these.
SPEAKER_01: I was the one that was painting these.
SPEAKER_01: And then Walter Keene responded by having this scathing article written about his ex-wife on USA Today.
SPEAKER_01: And then Margaret Keene responds by uh suing her husband and suing USA Today.
SPEAKER_01: So with millions in the balance, with lawsuits in the balance, with credibility in the balance, the judge that was overseeing all of it decides that they're gonna settle all of this by having an in-courtroom paint off.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't even sound right.
SPEAKER_01: Having an in-courtroom paint off, and wouldn't you know on the Super Bowl painting day, Walter calls in and says he can't paint on account of a sore shoulder.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that just how it goes?
SPEAKER_01: You just want to paint, but like light, you just you're that's just how life is, you know.
SPEAKER_01: But in 53 minutes, on the other hand, Margaret does show up.
SPEAKER_01: And in 53 minutes, she painted one of those big eye paintings, and on the spot she was rewarded four million dollars.
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, if you were to Google Walter Keene right now, the first thing that comes up is great American plagiarist.
SPEAKER_01: What not to do in art?
SPEAKER_01: Greatest American plagiarism stories.
SPEAKER_01: And his name is completely targeted uh tarnished, and he becomes a punchline.
SPEAKER_01: He is a punchline in a lot of the art world, Walter Keene.
SPEAKER_01: There are he went from world renown to now he's a punchline.
SPEAKER_01: There are consequences to plagiarism.
SPEAKER_01: So where did this lead?
SPEAKER_01: Where did this plagiarism lead for Nebuchadnezzar?
SPEAKER_01: Where did this lead?
SPEAKER_01: Let's look at it.
SPEAKER_01: It's in verses 31 through 33.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 31 through 33.
SPEAKER_01: He says, While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, Oh Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken.
SPEAKER_01: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know.
SPEAKER_01: Until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.
SPEAKER_01: Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, his body was wet with dew of heaven, till his hair grew long as eagle's feathers, and his nails were like the bird's claws.
SPEAKER_01: So, verse 31 says, as he was talking, as he was saying that sentence in verse 30, as he was talking, God interrupted him.
unknown: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Which means that God was probably watching his heart fester up full of pride.
SPEAKER_01: Unpopular opinion, Nebuchadnezzar is probably brilliant.
SPEAKER_01: He's probably a brilliant man.
SPEAKER_01: His brain was probably an encyclopedia for battle tactics and politics alike.
SPEAKER_01: He's probably a brilliant man.
SPEAKER_01: Furthermore, he was someone who we have a lot of evidence outside the Bible, even that he was obsessed with showing people his splendor.
SPEAKER_01: He loved to show people how awesome he was.
SPEAKER_01: And then God, in his wrath, strips both of them from him.
SPEAKER_01: God strips his mind, God strips his splendor from him.
SPEAKER_01: And what you have here is the King of Kings living in the woods with the mind of a beast, with long hair, nasty long nails.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, pride is bestial.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, pride is bestial.
SPEAKER_01: It's nonsensical.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what do you have that wasn't given?
SPEAKER_01: It's nonsensical.
SPEAKER_01: And what God was doing right there, he was just stripping him and showing him and showing us this is what you look like whenever you're prideful.
SPEAKER_01: This is how bestial you look like whenever you're a prideful.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, and reading this book for the last nine and a half or so years, there are two types of people in this world: those who are humble and those who are about to be.
SPEAKER_01: Those who are humble and those who are about to be.
SPEAKER_01: That's one path.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's the prideful path.
SPEAKER_01: Now there is another path, obviously, and that is the humble path.
SPEAKER_01: The humble path.
SPEAKER_01: I'll be brief on this point, but let's look at verses 34 through 37.
SPEAKER_01: He says, at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me.
SPEAKER_01: And I blessed the Most High and praised him and honored him for who lives forever.
SPEAKER_01: For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.
SPEAKER_01: And he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none shall stay his hand, or even say to him, What have you done?
SPEAKER_01: At that same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty's splendor returned to me.
SPEAKER_01: My counselors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges that God is king.
SPEAKER_01: And as soon as he praises God, he's restored.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever he's restored, he has more splendor than before.
SPEAKER_01: So what you have right here is pride getting him shoved down, but humility getting him lifted up.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, this is a constant theme that's undergirding the meta-narrative of the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Where do you want God's hand in your life?
SPEAKER_01: Doing it above you, smushing you down, or beneath you, lifting you up.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is a constant thing that's reverberated throughout the rest of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Just listen to these passages that I have here.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 138, verse 6, for though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 334, toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.
SPEAKER_01: Proverbs 29, 23, one's pride will bring him low, but he he who is lowly in spirit, he will obtain honor.
SPEAKER_01: Luke 152, he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.
SPEAKER_01: And then finally, Jesus speaking to his disciples in Matthew 23, verses 11 and 12, he says, Listen, the greatest among you shall be your servant.
SPEAKER_01: Because whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
SPEAKER_01: Where do you want God's hand in your life?
SPEAKER_01: On top of you smushing you down or beneath you, lifting you up.
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew chapter 5, verse 3, it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: People who are poor in spirit, it's literally the opposite of being proud.
SPEAKER_01: People who are poor in spirit, they recognize their spiritual bankruptcy before a perfect holy God.
SPEAKER_01: They recognize their spiritual inadequacy and cast themselves on the mercy of God.
SPEAKER_01: They look to God for his justice, they look to God for his mercy, they look to God for his deliverance and not themselves.
SPEAKER_01: It's literally the opposite of proud is being poor in spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, the God whom we serve not only exists, but he reigns.
SPEAKER_01: And he needs to be worshipped by people who are humble.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let us worship him with humility.
SPEAKER_01: And that's humility in every facet of our lives, not just Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_01: Humility in every facet of our lives.
SPEAKER_01: That's humility in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: In the chapter before this, you have Meshach, Shredak, and Abednego, and they are in a dire situation, but they don't use the dire situation as a means to call God out, like, God, you got us in this mess.
SPEAKER_01: Get us out of here.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: But they literally say, God will save us.
SPEAKER_01: God can save us.
SPEAKER_01: Even if he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: But even if he doesn't, I'll obey him.
SPEAKER_01: And that mirrors Jesus Christ at the Garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_01: He said, God, God, please let this cup of wrath pass from me.
SPEAKER_01: Please, if there's another way, let's do another way.
SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, let your will be done.
SPEAKER_01: So we need humility and prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Humility and suffering.
SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of confused, billions of confused Christians who use suffering as an excuse to sin, as an excuse to do evil, as an excuse to act like the world owes them one and God owes them one.
SPEAKER_01: But what you see in Job, in the case of Job, in Job 121, he looks up to heaven and he says, God gives and God takes away.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Humility and confrontation?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times, again, when we're angry, we get to act like people owe us one.
SPEAKER_01: But in the book of Philemon, okay, your favorite book of the Bible, I know.
SPEAKER_01: In the book of Philemon, it's a short little book in the New Testament, and Paul literally goes, I could demand this from you, but I won't.
SPEAKER_01: I'll ask.
SPEAKER_01: Like I can do that's literally humility.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is having the powers to do something, having the right to do something, but refraining from it out of the benefit of someone else.
SPEAKER_01: I could demand it, but I'll ask.
SPEAKER_01: So humility and confrontation?
SPEAKER_01: Humility and worship?
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 18 juxtaposes two different people worshiping in church.
SPEAKER_01: One of them is looking around, comparing himself, going, God, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not like these bozos over here.
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you giving that.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that I'm not like everybody else.
SPEAKER_01: I fast this amount of time.
SPEAKER_01: Like he's comparing himself.
SPEAKER_01: And there's another worshiper in the room who doesn't even look up to this stage.
SPEAKER_01: He can't even look up because they're just beating their chest, going, God, I need your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: I need your mercy.
SPEAKER_01: It's humility in worship.
SPEAKER_01: What do you have that wasn't given?
SPEAKER_01: So the God who we serve is the God not only exists, but he reigns.
SPEAKER_01: Let us honor him by being poor in spirit with humility.
SPEAKER_01: As we look at the one who is humble in himself, and I'll end with this passage, is it's Philippians chapter 2, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: It says this let us each look not only to his own interest, but also to the interests of others.
SPEAKER_01: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who he who, though he was in the form of God, did not, did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form.
SPEAKER_01: He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, God has exalt has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above all name every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Let me pray for you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, I I pray that these this isn't just a history lesson on Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray that even we don't even have this aesthetic distance, like he's over there, we're over here.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that we understand how disgusting, how bestial and nonsensical pride really is.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, I pray that Grand Parkway starts becoming known for their humility.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, great teaching, yes, phenomenal music.
SPEAKER_01: But I pray that the people of Grand Parkway start to become known respectively for their humility.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, I pray that we can pass the test of prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that we can surround ourselves with not poor counsel.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that we can not have hard hearts in terms of passing of time.
SPEAKER_01: God, let us not plagiarize.
SPEAKER_01: Let us give you the honor and the praise that you deserve.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, it's in your amazing name I pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Speak a blessing over you.
SPEAKER_01: May the Lord bless you and keep you.
SPEAKER_01: May the Lord watch over you and give you his favor and peace.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we ask that we are those humble people.
SPEAKER_01: We ask that you mold us into being those humble people.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Peace.