First, I'd like to ask you to
turn with me this morning to the Old Testament book of Daniel
chapter 4. Daniel chapter 4. Most of you
are familiar with the story of King Nebuchadnezzar. Let's look
at it. Daniel chapter 4. Daniel chapter 4, according to
verse 29, King Nebuchadnezzar walked in the palace of the kingdom
of Babylon, and he proudly, in verse 30, said, is not this great
Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom? Now
let me pause there just for a second. This arrogant king, and that's
what he was, he's saying much more here than what we see at
face value. Nebuchadnezzar here didn't claim
to build Babylon to be his house or to be his kingdom, though
many commentators think that's what he meant. But that's not
what he said. He said, it's not this great
Babylon that I have built for the kingdom. Speaking of God's
kingdom, there are a lot of men and women today, friends, that
think that they are adding and that they are building on to
God's kingdom, but they're not. God's kingdom is no earthly kingdom. That's what many of the Jews
thought when the Lord came. They thought that Christ was
going to set up an earthly kingdom and deliver the Jews from their
Roman bondage. In Acts chapter 1, before Christ's
ascension into glory, many of the Lord's disciples came to
Him and asked, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the
kingdom to Israel? But they totally misunderstood
why the Lord had come to earth. And there's a lot of folks today
that still don't know. He came to earth to save sinners. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. Paul added, of whom I am chief.
I'm glad he added that. You know why? Because I'm the
chief of sinners. They totally misunderstood why
the Lord came. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. Pilate said to the Lord, Art
thou king of the Jews? And if I may paraphrase for a
moment, the Lord asked Pilate, Does this question come from
something that you see and have observed? Sayest thou this thing
of thyself? He said. Or did someone tell
you that I was the King of the Jews? Did God reveal this to
you or did man? That's a good question. That's
a good question. It's the difference between error
and truth. And it's the difference between
life and death. This is serious business, friend.
We're not just playing church. If you come in here just to feel
good about yourself, you're coming here for the wrong reason. Pallet
said, am I a Jew? And what he was saying was, I
don't know how you Jews choose a king, but obviously you're
not much of a king, and you're not their king, since your own
nation and your own chief priest have delivered you unto me to
judge. I can just hear, Pallet, they're
crying out that I crucify you. Don't you know that I have the
power to do so? And the Lord said, you don't
have any power at all but that which God gives you. The Lord
answered this way, He said, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world,
then would My servants fight? And they would have. And He said
that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is My kingdom
not from hence. So here in Daniel 4 we have Nebuchadnezzar
who says in verse 30, Is not this great Babylon that I have
built for the house of God's kingdom? But friends, no mere
mortal man can build the Kingdom of God. But Nebuchadnezzar's
great pride and his arrogance didn't stop there. He went on
to say, I built Babylon by the power of my might. He said, I
built great Babylon for the honor of my majesty. It was all about
what Nebuchadnezzar had done, without any mention at all of
God. I hear that a lot going on today in religion. And really,
that's all of us by nature. We beg for attention by crying,
Lord, Lord, haven't we, haven't we, haven't we done, haven't
we done many wonderful works. We just keep bragging about what
we've done. Look at what we by our power
and will have done. Men and women know how to build
kingdoms. Men and women know how to build
church buildings. But not churches. Not churches. Only God can do that. And only
God will get the glory for doing so. The things that Nebuchadnezzar
did increased the splendor of Babylon, no doubt about it. But
he did not do it for the honor and the glory and the majesty
of God. He did it all for his own honor
and majesty. His heart was inflated with pride
and He attributed everything here to Himself and acknowledged
God in nothing. And the word of God says in verse
31, while the word was in the king's mouth, Nebuchadnezzar
was still talking about what all he had done. And while he
was still speaking, we are told here that there fell a voice
from heaven saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom
is departed from thee. And God said, you shall be like
a beast of the field. And immediately to the field
Nebuchadnezzar went like a beast. God said, you'll eat grass like
the oxen. And immediately he began to eat
grass like an oxen. Sounds to me like God's in control.
God Almighty tells this proud king that for seven years, seven
years, there'll be one constant thought, one reoccurring truth,
one reality that will repeatedly go through his mind. How do I
know that? Well, verse 32 says, until thou
know, until thou know. King Nebuchadnezzar, there's
something that you're gonna learn. There's something that God is
going to teach you. There's something you're going
to know something about. God's going to reveal it to you,
and you're going to confess it. What is it? Well, every believer's
going to know it. What is it that God's going to
reveal to us? Again, verse 32. We are going
to be made to know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of
men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. Did you hear that? God
rules. He's the Most High. And He rules
the kingdom of men, and He gives salvation to who He wants to. He has mercy on whom He'll have
mercy. Isn't that what the Scriptures
teach? Like Babylon's proud king, we've built nothing. We have
no power, no might in and of ourselves to do anything. Absolutely
nothing. I don't know why men get offended
when you tell them that. I suppose because it's true.
That's probably why they get offended. Even the King's heart
is in the hand of the Lord, and as the rivers of water, God turns
that King's heart whithersoever He will. Acts 17, 24 says that
God made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord
of heaven and earth, and He dwelleth not in temples made with hands,
speaking of man's hands. And if God was hungry, He said
He wouldn't tell us. Why? Because the world and the
fullness thereof are His. All is in His hands to give,
and we have nothing to add to God. If God has no hands but
our hands, if He has no hands but your hands and my hands,
then God is as pitiful and helpless as we are. But that's not the
case. God's hand is sovereign. God's hand is mighty. After God
delivered Israel from Pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea,
they sung these words, Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious
in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, has dashed
in pieces the enemy. Truly, as God had promised, they
had been delivered by God's strong hand. Now, does that sound like
a God that needs your hands to do something? Does that sound
like a God that needs your help to do anything? Well, preacher,
you're always going on about God being sovereign. That's the
only God there is. A sovereign God. That's the only
God that you'll ever truly worship. You'll never worship a God who
wants to do something and can't unless you let Him. You'll never
worship a God that's trying to do something. I've tried. You
can't do it. And it was these things that
ran through the mind of this man, Nebuchadnezzar, who was
now more a beast, more an animal than he was a man. His hair was
like the feathers of an eagle, and his nails were like a bird's
claw. And then in verse 34 we read,
And at the end of the days, Let me quickly remind you, whenever
we read, and it came to pass, or whenever we read at the end
of the days, we know that it was our sovereign Lord that determined
both. The beginning from the end. And
He's in control of all in between. He says, For I am the Lord, and
there is none else. I am God, and there is none like
Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I'll do all My pleasure. That's the God of this Bible.
That's the God with whom you have to do. We need to bow to
Him. We better bow to Him. When God
was finished with Nebuchadnezzar, when God determined that it was
enough, when God returned him his understanding, when God made
him to know what he was, and when God made him to know who
God was, Nebuchadnezzar then blessed the Most High God. And you will too. if God ever
reveals that to you. He praised and He honored him
whose dominion is everlasting and whose kingdom is from generation
to generation. That's what it says here. You
see friends, His kingdom is forever because there's none that can
dethrone Him. He's God. There is none else. And before they ever got Nebuchadnezzar
back in the palace and cut his feathers and clipped his bird's
nails, he made a statement that natural man would nor could ever
understand. He said this in verse 35, look
at it. He said, and all the inhabitants,
all the residents of the earth are reputed, that word means
regarded, by God I might add, as nothing. Nothing. Folks will tell you that they
ain't perfect, but being nothing, being a nobody, oh, that's got
to be revealed. You tell them that and you'll
find out. That's got to be revealed. We have great difficulty believing
that about ourselves, don't we? This book is clear, though. We
are nothing. We have nothing. We can do nothing. God reputes us. He regards us
as nothing. In and of ourselves, that's how
God regards us. And I know that's not a popular
message. I know that. Men have convinced
themselves that there's something and somebody. I saw a church
sign not long ago that said, come visit the church where everybody
is somebody. I'm reminded of what Brother
Scott Richardson once said. He said, I'm just a nobody trying
to tell everybody about somebody that can save anybody. It's what
I am too, and it's what we all are. And we live in a day where
we're encouraged by the world to learn to love ourselves. Oh,
we're learning to love ourselves, which is supposedly, according
to a psalm, the greatest love of all. It's not the greatest
love of all. It's not even close. The greatest
love is that great love wherewith God loved us. Yes, sir. When we were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others, but God, who is rich in mercy for
His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead, even
when we were wretched, dead in sin, hath quickened us together
by grace are you saved. by nature we're dead in trespasses
and sin. That's what God told Adam in
the beginning. He said, in the day you eat thereof
of this tree, you shall surely die. And friends, he died and
we died in him. What is a dead man? He's nothing
but dead. What does a dead man possess?
He doesn't possess anything but death. What can a dead man do? He can do nothing. He's dead.
Look at it, Daniel chapter 4 verse 35 again. It is God that doeth
who? God. According to what? His will. Where? In the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can say what? His hand. Or saying to him, what
doest thou? Now I want to talk to you just
for a few minutes, the time that we have left, about the hand
of God. Oh, the hand of God. What a subject
that is. To those of you who are yet lost
and yet without Christ, let me say to you, it's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of a living God. Oh, it's a fearful thing. And to those of you who are saved,
I give you the words of the Lord Himself. He said, And I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand. And no man is able to pluck
them out of My Father's hand, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My hand. What a hand God has. Anytime the hand of God is mentioned
in the Scriptures, it denotes God's mighty power. The primitive word here for hand
means direction. It's the sovereign hand of God
that directs all the affairs of life in Providence. The original
word for hand here also means distinction. It's the sovereign
hand of God that distinguishes and makes one to differ from
another. Sixty-six times in the Scriptures, the word mighty precedes
the word hand when it refers to God's hand. Why? Because His hand is mighty. You
better believe it is. Turn with me to the Gospel of
Luke chapter 24. Here the Lord had risen from
the dead, but His disciples were not yet convinced of His resurrection. And there were some women who
came to the Lord's tomb early that resurrection morning, and
as you know, they found the stone rolled away, and they were asked
by an angel in verse 5 here. Look at it with me. He said,
Why seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here. but is risen. And then in verses
10 and 11, we see that they went and they told these things to
the apostles, but it says that their words were like idle tales,
and they believed them not. May I ask you a question? Does
the gospel of this risen Savior sound like an idle tale to you? Do you believe what you're hearing
about God this morning, or do you not? Two of the Lord's disciples
were walking from Jerusalem to a little village called Emmaus,
and they were heartbroken over the death and the crucifixion
of their Master. They were talking among themselves
about the things that had transpired over the past few days, and then
an amazing thing happened. The Lord Jesus, the risen Savior,
joined Himself with them and walked along beside them. But
they didn't know Him. The Word of God here in verse
16 here in Luke 24 says, their eyes were holding that they should
not know Him. You see, they didn't recognize
the Master as He was walking along right beside them and talking
about the things that had taken place. He looked at them and
He said, why are you so sad? And one of them, I think probably
somewhat shocked, looked up and said, Are you a stranger in these
parts? Don't you know what's been going
on? Don't you know about Jesus of Nazareth and about His death
and about His crucifixion and about His burial? Don't you know?
Then the Lord asked him, He said, What things took place? And it
was then that those disciples began to tell him about Jesus. As I read that verse, I thought,
wow, they were telling Jesus Christ about Jesus Christ. And
they said, we thought that He was that prophet that Moses had
prophesied about. We thought that He was that One
who was coming. We thought that He was the Messiah. We thought He was the One that
God would send to restore Israel to its glory and to its greatness. But it's been three days. We
thought all these things, but now we see that He's dead. And in verse 20 they said the
chief priest and the rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death
and they've crucified Him. Oh, we thought this and we thought
that, but we were wrong. But were they? And that's when
the Lord Jesus said to them in verse 25, O fools, and slow of
heart to believe all that the prophets wrote, Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? Friends, He had to suffer these
things. He must suffer these things.
And it was then that the Lord Jesus, we're told, beginning
at Moses, beginning in Genesis, the books of Moses, the first
five books, beginning at Moses, He went through the Old Testament
Scriptures and He showed them every type and every picture
in the book of Moses, and in the Psalms, and in the Prophets,
through the whole Old Testament pretty much. That covers it.
The things concerning Himself. This is a book about Him. We
say it all the time. It's a Him book. H-I-M. It's
all about Him. And He showed them that the Old
Testament Scriptures was about the coming of Christ, the death
of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the
fulfillment of all these things. And it was then, we're told,
that they stopped for the evening, they prepared a meal, and the
Lord took the bread and He blessed it. And according to verse 31,
it was then that their eyes were opened. It was then that they
knew Him. It was then that He vanished
out of their sight. These two disciples, they hurriedly
got up and quickly went back to Jerusalem to find the other
disciples, the eleven apostles, to tell them that the Lord had
indeed risen from the dead and that He had appeared unto them
and talked with them. And then we're told in verse
36, and as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of
them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And they were terrified
and afraid, and they thought He was a spirit. Verse 38, and
He said unto them, Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts
arise in your hearts? And then He said these three
words, Behold My hands. Behold My hands. and my feet,
that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have." And when he
had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. Behold my hands. This morning I want to encourage
each of you to behold his hands. First, these hands are the hands
of creation. These are the hands that made
the worlds. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not
anything made that was made." John 1.3 Colossians 1.16 says,
For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers All things were created by Him and
for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist. Friends, if it is with His hands
that He clothes the lily of the field, which is today and gone
tomorrow, will He not clothe you, O ye of little faith? It's by God's sovereign hand
that He feeds the sparrow Are you not worth more than the sparrow? Will he not feed you? Why are
you troubled? Why do so many thoughts of worry
arise in your heart? Behold my hands! See my hands. See the nail-scarred prints in
my hands. They're the hands of assurity.
They're the hands of the one mediator between God and man. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn? It's Christ that died. Who can
separate me from the love of God? Shall tribulation, distress,
famine, persecution, the sword? No! I'm in His hands. Secondly, these hands are the
hands of providence. These are the hands that works
all things together by the counsel of His own will. These are the
hands that work all things together for the good of them that love
God, who are thee called according to His purpose. God in time,
by His sovereign hand, did what He purposed in eternity to do.
You see, we have a God, friends, that's able, and He's willing. You remember what King Nebuchadnezzar
said? He said, none can stay His hand. None can say unto Him, what doest
thou? And thirdly, these hands are
the hands of salvation. Oh, it's the best news I ever
heard. The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, He said,
behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands. Isn't
that an amazing thing? The word engraven here means
appointed. It means decreed. I have appointed,
I have decreed thee upon the palms of my hands. No, I won't
be looking for stars up in heaven. I won't be looking for scars.
I speak of the nail print scars upon the hands of the lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. That's what I'll be looking
for. These are the hands of salvation. They're the only hands that can
save you. God Almighty says, O house of
Israel, can I not do with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. Oh now, Lord, Thou art our Father,
we art the clay, and Thou art our potter, and we all are in
the work of Thy hand. Isaiah 64 Behold the Lord's hand,
it's not shortened that He cannot say, neither His ear heavy that
He cannot hear. Thomas said, I won't believe
until I see the prince in his hands. And his first words to
Thomas when he saw him was, behold my hands. Do you remember what
Thomas said? He said, my Lord and my God. The Lord said, Thomas, you see
me and believe, but blessed are they that have not seen and yet
have believed. Can I ask you a question? Do
you believe? Do you believe? Do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ? Do you believe that only He can
give life? We are told that many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not
written in this book, but these are written that you might believe.
Believe what? That Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. His hands are God's hands. and
that believing you might have life through His name. Fourthly, these hands are the
hands of preservation, kept by the power of God. Fear not, for
I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Dear sheep, did you hear what
your Good Shepherd said? He said, My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them everlasting
life, and they shall never perish, and neither shall anyone, anybody,
anything pluck them out of My Father's hand. Good news, friends,
you can't jump out of them either. God's elect are kept by the power
of God. They're kept by the mighty hand
of God, which as we said earlier, that's what represents His power,
His direction, His sovereign distinction. He's the one who
makes you to differ. David said, my soul follows hard
after you. He said, your right hand upholds
me. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth Me, it says. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thine
own hands. It's by the hand of God that
you and I are the righteousness of God in Him. That Him imputing
unto us that perfect righteousness that Christ worked out for us.
Oh, it's only by His sovereignty. Dear sinner, do you believe in
this God and in this Christ that I have declared to you this morning?
Will you bow to Him or will you continue to resist? If you are
His, your resisting is futile. Let me just tell you that. Behold
the hand of God. It's God's sovereign hand. And if it is God's sovereign
hand that's drawing you, and I have no doubt but to think
that it is, then you cannot stay His hand, for who hath resisted
His will? Come to Christ. Do you know that
if you come to Christ, where that'll bring you? Paul told
us in Colossians chapter 3, I won't turn you there, but he said,
If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. And on the right
hand of God is all power and all majesty. Christ sits on the
throne of God in all power and in all authority. And it's in
Christ that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly places in Him. It's in Him. And this exceeding
greatness of His power toward us who believe is according to
the working of His mighty power, the work of God's sovereign and
mighty hand which He wrought, which He worked in Christ when
He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own Christ. You
know what that means. Child of God, the One who has
you graven in the palms of His hand is the same One that's in
control of everything. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Have you seen His work of righteousness? Have you seen the righteousness
that His hands accomplished? Do you see those hands that finished
the work? The hands that kept and fulfilled
God's law? Have you seen them? Do you see
the hands that took the quill and with His own blood crossed
every T and dotted every I of the commandments of God? Do you
see the nail-scarred hands of the One who satisfied the justice
of God, providing for us with those hands all that God requires
from us? Blessed are you, Linda Welburn,
flesh and blood, and reveal that to you. Blessed are you, Sharon
Cothran, men didn't teach you this gospel, but your Father
in Heaven did. And beholding the hands of the
crucified Savior, you find great proof of redemption. When the
sin of God's elect was found on Christ, Man's wicked hands
took and crucified the Lord of glory, but that's not the amazing
thing. The amazing thing is that it
was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. It
was in, and it was by, and it was through, and it was according
to the sovereign hand of God Almighty. Behold His hands.