SPEAKER_00: This podcast is brought to you by Grant Harkway Father.
SPEAKER_00: Helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandHarkway.org.
SPEAKER_01: God, our confession is that all of the ground is sinking sand.
SPEAKER_01: And so we can get our person elected president and still not acknowledge you as king, and that would be sinking sand.
SPEAKER_01: We stand before you today, the faultless people of God.
SPEAKER_01: We want to see ourselves the way the Bible says we are, not just when we get to heaven, but here on earth.
SPEAKER_01: Because there's not a separation of heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_01: That's why you taught us to pray, you know, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: So that your will be realized in our lives this morning, Lord, from your word and by your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Illuminate, stir up in us, point to and remind us of all that you say and all that you are.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, our confession today is that only God gets to be God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why the world works, is because only God can be trusted to be God.
SPEAKER_01: Because if we had your power, we would be destructive.
SPEAKER_01: We would get two more senators from Puerto Rico and DC, and we would pack the court to get our agenda.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's just human nature, God.
SPEAKER_01: We want to win, and you want to be worshipped.
SPEAKER_01: It's a big difference in those two.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, all of our little victories, pale in comparison, to spend in our life worshiping God as our King, as our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So, Holy Spirit, let us see in the life of this man, the Bible, this morning, a lesson that applies to all of us.
SPEAKER_01: We pray and we listen now in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_01: And everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: You can have a seat if you got a Bible.
SPEAKER_01: I invite you, you sons and daughters of God, you children of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: Open your Bibles, if you would, to Daniel chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a guest, we're preaching through the book of Daniel, uh, verse by verse.
SPEAKER_01: It's called Expository Preaching.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's not always sexy, but that's the way you nourish a congregation over the long haul.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, you go to church and you hear a lot of topical things about different topics, and you walk out and kind of go, okay, I shaved my legs for this.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, anyway, uh, and so today we're in chapter four.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just tell you this about the book of Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: It is historical, it is not chronological.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, chapter three ends with these three guys getting thrown in this fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, very familiar with that story, many of you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, some time lapses.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, the book of Daniel covers 70 years of Daniel's life.
SPEAKER_01: And during that 70 years, he only writes about nine episodes from his life.
SPEAKER_01: And so every day is not a journal entry, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And so after chapter three, some time elapses.
SPEAKER_01: Why do I tell you that?
SPEAKER_01: Because Nebuchadnezzar is kind of towards the end of his rule.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, we'll read the last words that were spoken by Nebuchadnezzar in this chapter.
SPEAKER_01: But he's accomplished a lot.
SPEAKER_01: He built a palace, he built two palaces.
SPEAKER_01: He built one of the seven wonders of the world, the hanging gardens of Babylon.
SPEAKER_01: He has accomplished a lot.
SPEAKER_01: Now he pressed people into service and he abused people that worked for him that built these things.
SPEAKER_01: One of his palaces, nerd alert here.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of his palaces, the wall was 80 feet thick.
SPEAKER_01: And beyond that 80 foot thick wall, he had another wall just in case they got to that one wall.
SPEAKER_01: He built a summer palace.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you're like me, you have a home, then you have a summer palace.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, I have a summer palace.
SPEAKER_01: And he would he built it up on a hill, and so he could walk out on the roof and kind of look down and survey everything that he had accomplished in his life.
SPEAKER_01: And so he has some pretty sweet gig going on.
SPEAKER_01: He's accomplished a lot, but he's not acknowledged God.
SPEAKER_01: He's full of pride.
SPEAKER_01: He's a very matter of fact, he's one of the most prideful people in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to talk to you today about this topic from Daniel chapter 4 who really elects the president?
SPEAKER_01: Uh and and and another way to say it is the purpose of sovereignty in the affairs of mankind.
SPEAKER_01: Because back then, I know we don't think this way nowadays, but back then the people thought God rules heaven, but man rules earth.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's all well for heaven, God and Jesus, that's all well when you get to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: But for now, it's a dog-eat-dog world.
SPEAKER_01: It's every man for himself.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta get you, you, you get, you gotta get yours because everybody else is trying to get theirs.
SPEAKER_01: And so people were ruthless and self-serving and tyrannical.
SPEAKER_01: And so that was back then.
SPEAKER_01: We don't think that way anymore, right?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: You see, what God demonstrates to this whole chapter is that, hey, by the way, there's no bifurcation, there's no separation.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, heaven's great, heaven belongs to God, but earth belongs to man, so just be ruthless.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: God says the two are connected.
SPEAKER_01: The same God that rules heaven rules the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Now, typically, if you're visiting, I'll read a whole passage.
SPEAKER_01: Use not read a whole chapter.
SPEAKER_01: But today I want to do something different.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read each section, there's five sections in chapter four.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna read every section, and after every section, I'll just make, I'll just point to the point that the Bible makes, okay?
SPEAKER_01: As we just kind of we just kind of sit and look at, hey, who really elects the precedent?
SPEAKER_01: Or what is the purpose of sovereignty, of God being sovereign in the affairs of mankind?
SPEAKER_01: Uh Daniel chapter four, verses one to three.
SPEAKER_01: First section, King Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: Now, by the way, he is writing after the fact, these first three verses.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, because he he he he's saying, hey, this is what I learned, and then he tells you the story, what happened that caused him to learn that, and then he ends with a parting with some closing words.
SPEAKER_01: King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Peace be multiplied to you.
SPEAKER_01: And it seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me.
SPEAKER_01: How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders.
SPEAKER_01: His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.
SPEAKER_01: The first thing in this first section, the point that the Bible makes is that God demonstrates sovereignty and salvation.
SPEAKER_01: God demonstrates sovereignty, that he's in charge, that he has more authority than Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: Nebuchadnezzar, in verses, the first three verses, is writing as a humble man because he's been humbled by a sovereign God.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're here in this room right now and you're like, hey, I'm not a Christian, I don't have a faith relationship with God, I'm atheist, I'm agnostic, I'm too scientific or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want you to understand about God.
SPEAKER_01: God doesn't just want to win.
SPEAKER_01: God, that that's that's not what God's about.
SPEAKER_01: God wants to be worshipped.
SPEAKER_01: He wants you to build and bank your life on the most certain, unchanging thing you could ever know, and that's Him.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, for God to leave you to yourself, one of the most uh uh strictest forms of judgment that you see in the Bible, you see it most on display in Romans chapter one, is where God gives people over.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he just gives them over to do what they think they want to do.
SPEAKER_01: They think it's freedom, but it's really bondage which leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_01: And so when I say that God is sovereign, it's not like God's trying to win an argument or win a contest.
SPEAKER_01: He's also offering salvation to this man, Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: Um signs and wonders, because he talks about, he says, How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: This is a man that has been humbled by the signs and wonders of God, who realizes that the signs and wonders are as great as they have to be in order to turn your heart back towards him.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a child that's away from the Lord this morning, maybe an adult child, uh, don't pray at them, pray for them, and just pray, God, just ask God, say, Hey God, would you use signs and wonders just to kind of turn my child's heart back towards you?
SPEAKER_01: Because this is what he does with Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: He's sovereign and he could have wiped him off the face of the earth, but instead, he's so merciful that he says, Hey, I want you to understand that I'm sovereign, but I also offer salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the next section begins in verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace.
SPEAKER_01: I saw a dream that made me afraid.
SPEAKER_01: As I lay in bed, and 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 the dream.
SPEAKER_01: Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: At last Daniel came in before me, he who was named Belteshazzar, after the name of my God, and in whom the spirit, uh in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.
SPEAKER_01: And I told him the dream, saying, O Beltashazzar, chief of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and that no mystery is too difficult for you.
SPEAKER_01: Tell me the visions of my dream that I saw and their interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: The vision 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, and the tree grew and became strong, and its top reached to heaven, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth.
SPEAKER_01: Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all.
SPEAKER_01: The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the heavens lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.
SPEAKER_01: I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in the bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: He proclaimed aloud and said thus, chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.
SPEAKER_01: 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 and bronze amid the tender grass of the field.
SPEAKER_01: Let him be wet with the dew of heaven, let his portion be with the beasts and the grass of the earth, let his mind be changed from a man's, and let a beast's mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him.
SPEAKER_01: The sentence is by 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.
SPEAKER_01: This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: But you are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is twice that the king Nebuchadnezzar has said to Daniel, uh, somebody that's been brought to his city and pressed into service for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is now the second time he's had a dream.
SPEAKER_01: He had a dream back in chapter two, and in that dream, now all his magicians, everybody on the payroll, uh, they could not interpret the dream.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is the second time they couldn't interpret the dream, and he turns to Daniel to interpret the dream.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to know that he mentions twice, he says the same thing to Daniel twice.
SPEAKER_01: He says, the king, an unbeliever, says to Daniel, the Christian, he says, the spirit of the holy gods is in you.
SPEAKER_01: This is why I'm drawn to you.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you a question you should think about today.
SPEAKER_01: What do people that the lost people, people that do not have a relationship with God, what do they notice about you?
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever asked yourself that?
SPEAKER_01: Now, the insinuation, and I'll just be blunt, is you should be around people that don't believe like you because it sharpens your faith.
SPEAKER_01: You shouldn't spend all your time with Christians.
SPEAKER_01: I think your best friends should be, you should be encouraged by that fellowship, but you should be around people who don't think like you, vote like you, see the world like you.
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm always around people like that.
SPEAKER_01: And some of y'all ask me, you say, uh, how do you get in these conversations?
SPEAKER_01: Because I have a lot of friends that don't believe the way I believe.
SPEAKER_01: And I enjoyed the back and forth.
SPEAKER_01: And I say things to them like, tell me when you want me to turn it from three to seven, because if I turn it to ten, your head's gonna explode.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, bring it, big boy.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I had a friend the other day got so mad at me, he called me a pale whale.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Is that like some slang for your fat white guy?
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Pretty much.
SPEAKER_01: And I goes, Man, if I wasn't a Christian, I'd punch you in the face right now.
SPEAKER_01: But anyway, uh, you should be around because they notice things.
SPEAKER_01: And so the king notices, he says, Daniel, you're not like all these other Chaldeans and these interpreters and my favorite psychic.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he says, the spirit of the holy God, the spirit of God is inside of you.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself this morning, what do people who do not believe like me notice about me?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the second point is that God establishes the pattern.
SPEAKER_01: And the pattern is not about his dream, the interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: And keep in mind, we live as if God rules heaven, but earth is on its own.
SPEAKER_01: And here God is establishing that not only am I aware of what happens on earth, I'm sovereign over that as well.
SPEAKER_01: Allow me to demonstrate.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_01: This sentence is the is the key to the entire chapter.
SPEAKER_01: Let me read it out loud again.
SPEAKER_01: He says, 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.
SPEAKER_01: I have a friend that's an unbeliever, and when we talk, he's always asking me, So, what are you gonna talk about this week?
SPEAKER_01: He just thinks it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01: He thinks that I say and believe things off the platform that I will not say on the platform.
SPEAKER_01: And I say, Well, I'm gonna tell my people uh this week that that the whole purpose of this chapter we're gonna read the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna read the whole chapter of the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: The problem with preachers in America is we have too many of our words and not enough of God's word.
SPEAKER_01: And so I said, I'm gonna read a whole chapter or read a section or break it down.
SPEAKER_01: But basically, the whole crux and theme of the thing is he's is that God says it right here, he says, to this end.
SPEAKER_01: This is the goal of this.
SPEAKER_01: I want the living to know that the most high rules the kingdom of men.
SPEAKER_01: And then I said this to my friend, and he puts over it, he rules the kingdom of men, and God puts over the kingdom of men the lowliest of men, the lowliest of people.
SPEAKER_01: I said, Does that remind you of anybody?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, That explains how Donald Trump became president.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, wow, you just went that, you can't get away from that.
SPEAKER_01: I said, you know what?
SPEAKER_01: What are you gonna do on Tuesday if he puts him over that again?
SPEAKER_01: That's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: We've got a good ground game and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01: So, yes, my friend and I have totally opposing political views, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I've never told him what I believe.
SPEAKER_01: He just assumes.
SPEAKER_01: And I just let him, and I just let him just spool that line.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Does that remind you of anybody but our president?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, No, the lowliest of men.
SPEAKER_01: That explains where's that in the Bible?
SPEAKER_01: I said, Dude, are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_01: He goes, That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what happened.
SPEAKER_01: I said, now you you realize that there's a maybe there's another king that that that that here's the pattern that God establishes, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Because one of the reasons that people did not see Jesus coming is because they expected something, because they didn't acknowledge and understand the pattern of scripture that God establishes way back in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: So there's crazy things in Isaiah, like of Jesus, he had no form of comeliness that men should desire him.
SPEAKER_01: People didn't look at him and go, hey man, you're going with a winner right there.
SPEAKER_01: He rides in on a donkey.
SPEAKER_01: And my friend, who's not a believer, it's kind of like I don't get it.
SPEAKER_01: I said, when it says right here that the Most High rules the kingdom of man and he gives it to whom he will, he sets over it the lowliest of men.
SPEAKER_01: Does that remind you of anybody?
SPEAKER_01: I told you it reminds me of your president.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You don't know, he's not my president.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, So if Biden gets elected on Tuesday, is he gonna be your president?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: Matter of fact, I'll stand up next Sunday and I'll ask my church to pray for our president, whoever it is.
SPEAKER_01: What are they gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: I said, they'll pray.
SPEAKER_01: Some will pray through gritted teeth, but they'll pray.
SPEAKER_01: You get in trouble for that kind of thing?
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, here's the deal because it doesn't matter who's in the White House, eventually God rules the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of men, the kingdom of earth.
SPEAKER_01: And we get the leaders that we deserve.
SPEAKER_01: And now my friend is lost.
SPEAKER_01: He's like, ah, ah, ah.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, but here's the thing when he says he puts over it the lowliest of men, does that remind you of anybody else?
SPEAKER_01: Just what are you trying to say?
SPEAKER_01: Mind you of another king that left a lofty position and humbled himself and came to a position of lowless, took upon himself the appearance of man and walked on this earth as a servant.
SPEAKER_01: Mind you of anybody?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross, and therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name above all names at the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Every oh, there you go.
SPEAKER_01: Eventually this gets to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, every story in the Bible eventually gets to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You think the New Testament is you think that God was like mad in the Old Testament, and so he invented Jesus for the New Testament to tell everybody else, hey, God's not that bad?
SPEAKER_01: He has always existed, he is the agent of creation.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing was created without him, and by him all things are held together.
SPEAKER_01: You can't breathe without having some beliefs about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So you mean to tell me that way back in the old test?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And God's been telling the same story all along.
SPEAKER_01: And he sets over this kingdom of men, the lowliest of men.
SPEAKER_01: This is why Jesus, that's why people did not recognize him when he comes.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, Nebuchadnezzar gets humbled because of his pride.
SPEAKER_01: But this King Jesus, and my friends, just oh, at this point, he's so exasperated.
SPEAKER_01: Just get done.
SPEAKER_01: I said, but Nebuchadnezzar was humbled because of his pride.
SPEAKER_01: He was brought from a lofty place to a low place because he was prideful.
SPEAKER_01: Stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: This applies to you.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, let me know when it applies to me.
SPEAKER_01: But this King Jesus left his lofty place, not because of his pride, but because of yours.
SPEAKER_01: And to deliver you from your pride and deliver me from my pride.
SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, my friend got real quiet.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, because here's the thing about pride, it feels good in the moment, but then you wake up one day and you realize it all depends on me.
SPEAKER_01: I have a friend that owned that owns a company, has 220 employees.
SPEAKER_01: And I went one time, he said, No, I'll show you around, show you the operation.
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, He said, What do you think?
SPEAKER_01: I said, You're you're the most miserable, successful person I know.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, thanks.
SPEAKER_01: His wife's over sticker, and I said, Dude, your employees seem happy.
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Well, they can be happy.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't all depend on them.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the well-being of 220 families depends on me.
SPEAKER_01: That is a crushing weight to get up and live with every day.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I don't run a business or anything, but no, it does not.
SPEAKER_01: You don't really convince these people that their mortgage payment depends on you, do you?
SPEAKER_01: Because if I worked for you and I thought my well-being depended on you, I would quit.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, You know how hard it is to find, don't say that.
SPEAKER_01: You know how hard it is to find good employees that want to work?
SPEAKER_01: I said, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I said, You don't think that this all depends.
SPEAKER_01: And his wife goes, Yes, he does, Neil.
SPEAKER_01: Please talk to him.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, You you really think I mean I'm all for being responsible, but ultimately, please tell me that your hope and future rest on somebody bigger than you.
SPEAKER_01: And he goes, My name is on the company.
SPEAKER_01: What do you want me to do?
SPEAKER_01: Just take the company and just put it before God and say, You blessed my grandfather and my father, and I think you're gonna keep blessing me, but this doesn't depend on me, this depends on you.
SPEAKER_01: Because ultimately, what this comes down to is your pride.
SPEAKER_01: At that point, his wife got up from her desk and walked out.
SPEAKER_01: And there I was with my friend who's extremely successful and is a great guy, but sometimes he just loses perspective.
SPEAKER_01: What I want you to see in this section is that God establishes a pattern.
SPEAKER_01: God says, here's what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the purpose of all this.
SPEAKER_01: Because you knuckleheads act like, oh God, you got heaven, but we got earth.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have earth.
SPEAKER_01: The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
SPEAKER_01: Third section begins in verse 19.
SPEAKER_01: You still with me?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19, then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a little for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him.
SPEAKER_01: The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.
SPEAKER_01: Belteshazzar answered and said, My Lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies.
SPEAKER_01: 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 beasts of the field found shade, and whose branch the birds of the heaven lived.
SPEAKER_01: It's you, O king, who have grown and become strong.
SPEAKER_01: Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, Chop down the tree and destroy it.
SPEAKER_01: 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 beasts of the field, till seven periods of time pass over him.
SPEAKER_01: This is the interpretation, O king.
SPEAKER_01: 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 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 your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the third thing this chapter tells us that God brings judgment to show mercy.
SPEAKER_01: God brings judgment to show mercy.
SPEAKER_01: There's two things you see in Daniel when he speaks truth to power.
SPEAKER_01: Too many people get in a situation where they speak truth to power, and you do it so harshly that no one can hear the truth you're saying because they're responding to you.
SPEAKER_01: Two things you see in the life of Daniel is he speaks truth to power.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, he has a tender heart.
SPEAKER_01: And secondly, he has a truthful tongue.
SPEAKER_01: Back to standing in my friend's office and owns a company with 220 people who said out loud of his mouth, This all depends on me.
SPEAKER_01: I get up every day, I go to bed every day, and the well being of not just 220 employees, but 220 families and their kids and their grandkids depends on me and this company surviving and thriving.
SPEAKER_01: And I graciously had to speak truth to power and say, that is the worst thing you could infect these people with.
SPEAKER_01: I just believe there's a God.
SPEAKER_01: In heaven, who blessed your grandfather, blessed your father, and you're not gonna fail, you're not gonna put this in the ditch.
SPEAKER_01: Get that pressure off of you.
SPEAKER_01: I say God brings judgment to show mercy.
SPEAKER_01: What do you mean?
SPEAKER_01: What does God want of Nebuchadnezzar?
SPEAKER_01: I say again, God's sovereign, but he's also a God of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: If God just wanted to demonstrate that I'm all powerful, he could destroy Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: But he's as patient with him as he is with you and me.
SPEAKER_01: Here, verse 25 and verse 26 again.
SPEAKER_01: He's spelled it out.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, What's going on here?
SPEAKER_01: He says, which has come upon the Lord my king, verse 25, 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.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to be roommates with Howard Hughes, bro.
SPEAKER_01: And seven periods of time shall pass over you.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know if those periods a year, is it a month?
SPEAKER_01: Is it a lunar cycle?
SPEAKER_01: We don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Till you know, here's what God's driving him to.
SPEAKER_01: Till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.
SPEAKER_01: And as it is 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 your sins by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.
SPEAKER_01: God brings judgment to show mercy.
SPEAKER_01: It manifests itself in two ways.
SPEAKER_01: God says, Hey, break off your sins by practicing righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: If God said to you today, hey, break off your sins, would you have any idea what he was talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Or would you be like, I got no idea.
SPEAKER_01: What sins are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's not enough just to stop doing the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_01: We have to start doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: Break off your sins by practicing righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: The more you and I practice righteousness, the less sin interests us.
SPEAKER_01: If you're sitting in this room right now or you're at home watching, or you're listening while you're driving to work, if you are engaged in sinful behavior right now, it's not that that really satisfies.
SPEAKER_01: It's that you were created to practice righteousness, to do the right thing, but you have settled for a vain substitute, which the Bible calls sin.
SPEAKER_01: He says, break off your sins.
SPEAKER_01: Here's how you break sin off of you is by doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_01: And then secondly, he says, Hey, by showing mercy to the oppressed.
SPEAKER_01: Remember those hanging gardens of Babylon, those palaces with the walls, 85.
SPEAKER_01: You think Nebuchadnezzar built that?
SPEAKER_01: He had people that built it for him.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible says that these are the people that he oppressed.
SPEAKER_01: He took advantage of them.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'll pay you this much.
SPEAKER_01: And he cheated them on payday and said, What are you going to do?
SPEAKER_01: You guys are like indentured servants.
SPEAKER_01: You're my slaves.
SPEAKER_01: You do whatever I tell you to do.
SPEAKER_01: But again, God brings judgment to show mercy.
SPEAKER_01: And even though Nebuchadnezzar has lived his whole life full of himself, prideful, arrogant, thinking this is all about me, God just graciously says, Hey man, if you'll do this, the stump in the land, the stump that remains, is just a reminder that I'm a God that's gracious and I long to show mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Next section begins in verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: Now, look at me.
SPEAKER_01: Up to this point, it's just been a dream and an interpretation.
SPEAKER_01: He had a dream.
SPEAKER_01: The prophet Daniel said, Hey, here's the dream, and here's what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: And all of it came to bear upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the next verse.
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 and for the glory of my majesty?
SPEAKER_01: 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 will 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 that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.
SPEAKER_01: And immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: He was driven from among men, ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair grew as long as eagle's feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the fourth thing.
SPEAKER_01: This Daniel chapter 4 tells us is that God is patiently unchanging.
SPEAKER_01: God is patiently unchanging.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 29.
SPEAKER_01: It tells us in verse 28 that all this, imagine that, things happen just like God said.
SPEAKER_01: But look at verse 29.
SPEAKER_01: It took 12 months.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of 12 months, he's walking on the roof of his royal palace, the one built up on a hill, his summer palace.
SPEAKER_01: And he's up on the roof and he's looking down on everything.
SPEAKER_01: He's got the hanging gardens there that he built for his wife.
SPEAKER_01: He's got all this stuff, and he's just like, man, check me out.
SPEAKER_01: And then he others, can you imagine yourself ever speaking these words out loud?
SPEAKER_01: Is not this great Babylon which I've built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?
SPEAKER_01: How full of yourself do you have to be to think that, much less say it?
SPEAKER_01: But God is patiently unchanging.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of 12 months, God gives him 12 months after the dream and the interpretation to do something about it, to break off his sins by doing, practicing righteousness, but he doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: He continues to oppress people.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_01: Because if you're sitting in this room and you're living in sin right now, and you're thinking, well, you know, it's no big deal.
SPEAKER_01: We're considering adults, we're not hurting anybody.
SPEAKER_01: It's my body.
SPEAKER_01: I can do what I want.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, my parents told me this might happen, but nothing's happened to me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to just keep on doing what I want.
SPEAKER_01: I will just remind you that God is patiently unchanging.
SPEAKER_01: Before you, there were people who thought the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter writes to them in 2 Peter chapter 3, and he says these words, but do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but he's patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that should all, but that all should reach repentance.
SPEAKER_01: He's patiently unchanging.
SPEAKER_01: Because even a prideful, arrogant ruler like Nebuchadnezzar, God wants him to come to repentance and change.
SPEAKER_01: When you're sovereign over the affairs of mankind, you drive them towards that which accomplishes your purpose.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: When you're sovereign over the affairs of mankind, when you rule the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth, you drive circumstances and situations here on this earth to the place which they accomplish your purposes.
SPEAKER_01: So if you've got somebody in your life that is just unruly, unyielding, is arrogant, is hard to get along with, or whatever, uh, don't avoid that person.
SPEAKER_01: Just pray to God and say, God, you're sovereign.
SPEAKER_01: Would you alter circumstances to remind that person that they don't have to be this way?
SPEAKER_01: God is patiently, unchanging.
SPEAKER_01: The last section begins in verse 34.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: For or because, here's why this once prideful, arrogant, self-seeking, self-centered man praised and honored the God who lived forever, because his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
SPEAKER_01: For 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 can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
SPEAKER_01: At the same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and my splendor returned to me.
SPEAKER_01: My counselors of 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: Beloved, this is the voice of experience, and these are the last recorded words of Nebuchadnezzar in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: He fades from the scene after this.
SPEAKER_01: This last section makes this point that God is the only one capable of being God.
SPEAKER_01: God is the only one capable of being God.
SPEAKER_01: Notice two things.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, notice that his eyes have changed because the focus of his life has changed.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 34.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me.
SPEAKER_01: If you're confused about anything today, if you're a little fuzzy on things, just lift up your eyes to heaven and get the perspective of heaven before you look back down at earth.
SPEAKER_01: Because in the section right before this, Nebuchadnezzar was looking down at all he had done.
SPEAKER_01: Look at my palace, look at the hanging gardens of Babylon.
SPEAKER_01: This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: I did all this for the glory of my majesty.
SPEAKER_01: And he loses his mind.
SPEAKER_01: And then God, who's merciful, restores his sanity and his kingdom back to him.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a competition.
SPEAKER_01: So notice what he does with his eyes.
SPEAKER_01: But secondly, here's why God is the only one capable of being God.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, And I bless the Most High and praise and honor him who lives forever.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean God doesn't love the people of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: That means that God doesn't consult us for what God's going to do.
SPEAKER_01: God acts as God with motivation from God.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't look to us to cross-reference his ideas and see that this is okay.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have a focus group of all of humanity and say, Are you guys cool with this?
SPEAKER_01: How will this play in the polls?
SPEAKER_01: No, 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 can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
SPEAKER_01: You can't stop him and you can't question him.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why I say that God is the only one capable of being God.
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself the simple question.
SPEAKER_01: If you had this kind of unchecked power, what kind of person would you be?
SPEAKER_01: I confess my own sins.
SPEAKER_01: I know some of y'all are kind of like, oh, well, I don't know what the big deal is.
SPEAKER_01: This happened probably a month ago.
SPEAKER_01: I'm driving and somebody's in the far right lane and they forget, oh, I got to turn left right there.
SPEAKER_01: And they just swoop across three lanes right in front of my truck.
SPEAKER_01: I locked up my brakes, and in a nanosecond, you know what went through my mind?
SPEAKER_01: I said it out loud to my wife.
SPEAKER_01: Right now I wish I had a bazooka on the front of my truck, and I could just evaporate that person.
SPEAKER_01: And my wife just patted me and she said, That's why you don't have that kind of power.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, but I read this in preparation for today, and I just thought about, and he does according to his will, among the hosts of heaven, among the inhabitants of earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done?
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine having that kind of unchecked power?
SPEAKER_01: There's political parties in our country right now.
SPEAKER_01: They're like, hey, when we win this, we're gonna we're gonna make DC and Puerto Rico states, we're getting four new senators, and we're gonna blah blah.
SPEAKER_01: Because it's it's not Democrat or Republican.
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, it's human nature.
SPEAKER_01: We want to win.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, No, I want to be worshipped.
SPEAKER_01: Because God is the only one capable of being God.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're in the room or if you're listening online today and you're an atheist or an agnostic, you have to ask yourself, who can be trusted with this kind of power?
SPEAKER_01: And what does it say about God?
SPEAKER_01: That he's a moral being, he's all powerful, moral being who is by nature good, benevolent, gracious, patient, sovereign, and kind.
SPEAKER_01: And he's long-suffering.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean he doesn't think sin is sin.
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, he does.
SPEAKER_01: But he's patient because he wants you to come to repentance.
SPEAKER_01: But if you never come to repentance, you will experience judgment.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's the moral being.
SPEAKER_01: And so ask yourself this simple question, and I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: Because God is the only one that's capable of being God, and this is the kind of God that he is, and this is the way he interacts with humanity that he owes nothing.
SPEAKER_01: He's not responsible to us.
SPEAKER_01: We did not elect him, and therefore we cannot vote him out of office.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, he's governed by the nature of his being, and he's good, and he's gracious, and he's benevolent, and he's forgiven, and he's kind, and he's merciful to this conceited, prideful man named Nebuchadnezzar, who just exploits people for his own good.
SPEAKER_01: And God so works in this man's life that his last words he speaks, he says, I praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, for all his works are right, his ways are just, and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble.
SPEAKER_01: I just ask you a simple question.
SPEAKER_01: If this is what God is like, and it is, then why would you not want to know him?
SPEAKER_01: Why would not why would you not want your life to be built on and based on him instead of you?
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a guest, I just say relax.
SPEAKER_01: We like to teach the Bible and then give you some soul space to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: And usually we have questions that come up on the screen, but today I just want us to spend some time praying as a church.
SPEAKER_01: Not for anything in specific, uh, but I want you to pray for whatever God stirred up in you.
SPEAKER_01: For some of you, it was when when the Bible said, and God said to Nebuchadnezzar, hey, break off your sins and practice righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you need to stop engaging in specific sinful behaviors today, and not just stop doing wrong, but start doing right.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have to go to work tomorrow and speak truth to power, and you got to have a tender heart and a truthful tongue.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are prideful, your heart is just as hard as Nebuchadnezzar.
SPEAKER_01: You think it's because you're an engineer or you're a scientist or you you you clubbed out a mincer or whatever?
SPEAKER_01: No, it's just you're full of yourself, and you don't want to surrender to anybody, and God comes along and says, Hey, I'm the sovereign king who rules heaven and earth, and I'm gracious, and I'm patient.
SPEAKER_01: So, whatever God stirred up in your head and heart, I want you to spend the next minute just praying over that.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to use big words, just use your words.
SPEAKER_01: He understands those the best.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together, church.
SPEAKER_01: God, our confession today is that you are better at being God than we will ever be.
SPEAKER_01: And so we acknowledge, we give up, we surrender.
SPEAKER_01: We're tired of trying to live this facade of control and convince everybody it's going well when it's not.
SPEAKER_01: We know it's not, and most of all, you know it's not.
SPEAKER_01: And so, why are we trying to save face?
SPEAKER_01: Why are we trying to keep up the illusion?
SPEAKER_01: We want to be like Nebuchadnezzar and just humble ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that God exalts the humble and he humbles those that exalt themselves.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a competition or a contest, it's just the way you created the world to be.
SPEAKER_01: And so, our our our last confession today, God, is that the world runs best when God is in control.
SPEAKER_01: Because only God has the nature and being to be God.
SPEAKER_01: And so we submit and we surrender to you.
SPEAKER_01: And we say to you that whatever happens on Tuesday, you're still gonna be sovereign, you're still gonna be good.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna pray for those who are in leadership, just like the Bible says we should.
SPEAKER_01: This is our prayer, God.
SPEAKER_01: We prayed in Jesus' name, and everyone said, Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a guest today, I want to say thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_01: You're always welcome, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You are always welcome.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to know all the answers, you don't have to know all the songs that we sing.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, just know this that we believe that the Bible teaches this, that you're created by God for a relationship with God that brings glory to God.
SPEAKER_01: And so we want to help you understand that, experience that, and grow in that, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So if you're a guest, hopefully you've had a chance to pull in the guest cards in the seatback pocket in your row.
SPEAKER_01: And if you would fill that out and you leave here in just a minute, just drop it in the wooden box by the door.
SPEAKER_01: That's also where we uh receive our offerings.
SPEAKER_01: So if today's the day, you practice obedience or generosity in that area.
SPEAKER_01: That's where you take care of that as well.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have asked, what's the trailer over here on the property?
SPEAKER_01: That's the new parsonage that the church has bought for me and my family.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we'll be available 24-7.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, no, that is the construction trailer for the construction company for the new sanctuary.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they're gonna drop a line to that and get power, and then they'll get going.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so we'll continue on that.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we're excited about that, but we rejoice over the fact that our names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
SPEAKER_01: Not that we're building a new sanctuary.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're not gonna send you pledge cards.
SPEAKER_01: We don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: We you you just listen to God and do whatever God tells you to do as it relates to that.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: There's a few things we want to make you aware of by way of announcement, so give your attention to the screens.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: The table is happening tonight at 6 30 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: in St.
SPEAKER_00: George.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies, we look forward to seeing you there.
SPEAKER_00: For students, our next impact night is Wednesday, November 14th.
SPEAKER_00: Also, registration is now open for following happening November 13th, mid-15th.
SPEAKER_00: Grandparkway.org slash email to register.
SPEAKER_00: Operation Christmas Chow G boxes are available in the lobby.
SPEAKER_00: Following the instructions in the box, filled it with quality items and include$9 cash or a check made out to some American Spurs.
SPEAKER_00: Once it's ready, drop it off at the church on November 15th or November 22nd.
SPEAKER_00: Find us online at grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you're on social media, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new or would like prayer, or you have any questions, come find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_01: We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.
SPEAKER_01: So if you would stand to your feet, hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_01: Your place in the world is secure.
SPEAKER_01: Depart now into the reality that God is God and you are his child.
SPEAKER_01: You live like it.
SPEAKER_01: In the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Bless you.