Well, once again, we welcome
you and thank God for bringing you here. We know that our God
controls every heart. That is so overwhelmingly wonderful. And He has moved upon our hearts
to be here in this assembly this morning. And so I thank Him that
we can be here for this very purpose of worshiping Him and
giving Him all the glory for this unspeakable gift, eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior. I draw your
attention to the fourth chapter of Daniel. Lord willing, we'll
pick up in our studies in the book of Isaiah next week. We
didn't get back until late Thursday night. I actually didn't get
to bed until early Friday morning. And boy, I came back with a full
plate, a lot of things that I had to take care of. So my studies
in Isaiah has been put on hold again until next Sunday, Lord
willing. Now sometimes we wonder, I know
God's preachers do, I do, is this really what the Lord is
directing me to preach on? Is this what he would have me
to bring? And for the last several days, actually for the biggest
part of our absence back east, this passage of Scripture in
Daniel chapter 4 has been going through my mind. And I even mentioned to my wife,
I think when we get back, this is what I want to preach from.
I got on the internet, and I always
do, checking those men that I highly regarded in the ministry, Pastor
Fortner being one of them, to see if they have anything to
say about this passage of scripture that I feel led to preach from. And lo and behold, Pastor Fortner
had a message on this same passage of scripture. He preached it last Sunday evening. I had no idea. No idea until
I checked his web page this morning. So that blessed me. I thought,
well, that's some confirmation. And his message blessed me. The
way he brings out things in such clarity and such God-honoring
truths is always a rich blessing to read those men who are gifted
from God to write and preach those things that give our God
all the glory. And in that sermon, and I'll
share our passage of Scripture for our text in just a moment,
but in that sermon, Pastor Don Fortner said, God's will is done
in heaven, always. God's will is done on the earth,
always. God's will is done in hell, always. With unexplainable, infinite,
sovereign power, God Almighty so governs all beings and all
things that all either willingly or unwillingly accomplish His
will. Both the good and the evil acts
of men and angels are so completely and absolutely ruled by our God
that nothing ever comes to pass except according to God's will
and power. And he gives several scripture
references, and if you want those, you ask me after the services,
I'll be glad to give them to you. Anyway, I wholeheartedly
agree with what Pastor Don Fortner stated in those words that I
just read. And let me add a couple of thoughts. Maybe you agree,
I hope you do. I know that most professing Christians
do not. But the fall of Adam was as much
a part of God's eternal purpose as the death of Christ. The same is true concerning the
flood during the days of Noah. God knows the end from the beginning,
the scripture tells us. And it's because God has purposed
the end from the beginning and everything in between. And so,
Israel, God's chosen people, being taken
captive by that wicked king, Nebuchadnezzar, is no exception. This was God's purpose. And I've
titled this message according to God's will. Nebuchadnezzar was a religious,
self-righteous, arrogant, proud, wicked king, but he was one of
God's elect. One of the reasons, I believe,
that God allowed Israel to go into bondage during the Babylonian
captivity was for Nebuchadnezzar. I know there are other reasons,
but Nebuchadnezzar was a chosen vessel of mercy. And he had to
see some things. God had to deal with him. And
he did. According to his will, God dealt
with Nebuchadnezzar in a very personal way. which is how he
deals with all of his chosen people when he regenerates us
by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Now just for the record,
miracles and signs and wonders do not reveal the Lord Jesus
Christ to God's people. A wicked and an adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign, our Lord said, and no sign shall be given
it but the sign of the prophet Jonah, For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the fish's belly, so must the Son
of Man be in the heart of the earth. And it's a picture of
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. So signs and wonders
and miracles, as much as they might encourage us to want to see them,
they're not what God uses to reveal His Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. We must come under the preaching
of His glorious gospel. And God must, by the power of
the Holy Spirit, make His gospel effectual as only He can. King
Nebuchadnezzar saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego cast into
a furnace heated seven times hotter than it had ever been
heated before. And he witnessed those mighty
men that tossed those three Israelites into that fiery furnace, consumed
by the fire. He saw that. King Nebuchadnezzar
saw that. He also, when he looked into
that fiery furnace, saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and one
like the Son of God walking in that fire with no hurt coming upon them. And when Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego came out of that fiery furnace, they didn't even have
the smell of smoke on their clothes. But that did nothing to change
the sinful, wicked heart of that king. So here in Daniel chapter
four, verse 30, we read where this king, after
he witnessed what I just brought before you, we read where King
Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that
I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my
power and for the honor of my majesty? You see how arrogant
and how proud he is? He still has that old wicked
heart. Now folks, listen, verse 30 describes
every one of us in our unregenerate state. We might not have worn
the royal garments of an earthly king. We might not have sat on
a throne made of ivory, an earthly throne. We might not have worn
a golden crown on our heads. But all of us wore the garments
of self-righteousness, thinking that we were just something.
All of us sat on our own throne of self-centeredness, and all
of us wore the crown of sinful pride, praising ourselves for
our own accomplishments. That's just human nature. Look
at what I have done. And as a footnote, this is exactly
what the doctrine of free will produces. Look at me. I'm smarter than
those who are burning in hell because God has given everybody
a choice and I made the choice. I have exercised my free will. Therefore, because of that, God
has mercy on me and He did not have mercy on those people burning
in hell because they didn't make the right choice. Now I'm not
making that up. That's what they teach. That's what they believe. Look at verse 31. of Daniel 4. While the word was in the king's
mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken, thy kingdom is departed from thee, and verse
32 says, and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling
shall be with the beast of the field, They shall make thee to
eat grass as oxen, and seven times or seven years shall pass
over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." Now that's the fulfillment
of prophecy that was made to him by God's prophet a year before
this took place. Look back at Daniel 4, verses
24 through 26. The prophet says, This is the
interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High,
which is come upon my Lord the King. that they shall drive thee
from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field,
and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall
wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over
thee, till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom
of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And let's stop right
there. Verses 24 and 25. That's what
the prophet Daniel said to the king an interpretation of a dream
he had. And God is God. Whatever he has
said, he will bring it to pass. And he purposed, way before this
happened, he purposed to put that wicked king down in a position,
humble him before God to where it was obvious when his understanding
returned unto him that God is in the heavens and He does whatever
pleases Him. And nobody can stop Him from
doing what He is pleased to do. And like I said earlier, God
has purposed all of this before it all happened. I'm talking
about everything from the beginning of creation till our Lord Jesus
Christ comes in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who
know not God, who do not obey His Gospel. King Nebuchadnezzar
lost everything. His position as a king did not
help him one little bit. None in his kingdom could help
him. All of his earthly riches were
useless. But he was safe in the hands
of a sovereign God. who as the divine potter, which
was mentioned in Sunday school this morning, formed him as a
vessel of mercy before a star of a twinkle in the sky. In God's
mind, he purposed this. And when Nebuchadnezzar came
into this world, he had no idea of what God had purposed. He
had no idea that he was one of God's chosen people. He had no
idea who God was because he bowed down to gods of his own imagination.
And that's exactly where we were. We didn't know anything about
spiritual truths, about Christ our Savior, about his finished
work at Calvary 2,000 years ago, which was purposed by God in
the eternal covenant of grace before time began. We didn't
know any of this. Look at verses 32 and 33 of this
fourth chapter again. It says, They shall drive thee
from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beast of the field.
They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall
pass over thee, until thou knowest Until thou know, until thou know,
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever He will. And the same hour was the thing
fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and
did eat grasses often, and his body was wet with the dew of
heavens, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers,
and his nails like birds' claws. He had to learn something. He
had to be humbled. Now it's interesting. The Word
of God clearly teaches that God is pleased to give us His Kingdom. And the Kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. And when God delivers us from
the power of darkness, and that's what He does, and we're to thank
Him for that. When He delivers us from the
power of darkness, He translates us into the Kingdom of Jesus
Christ. So this wicked king, his understanding came back to
him. It says in that 34th verse, at the end of
the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. His understanding came back to
him. He had worldly understanding, That
was restored, but he also had spiritual understanding. Matter
of fact, it says in verse 36, at the same time my reason returned
unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and brightness
returned unto me, and my counselors and my Lord sought unto me, and
I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added
unto me. So, all of that which he had
before was restored unto him. Isn't it interesting that for
seven years, He was like a wild man, a beast, but God preserved
his kingdom. Nothing could happen to him except
what God permitted to happen to him. His kingdom was to be desired
by anybody who was worldly, would have loved to have been in that
position as king over Babylon. God preserved that kingdom for
him. He did not allow anybody to kill that wicked king. And everybody had heard about
that, I'm sure. Everybody had heard that this
man who once was such a mighty man, who ruled over that portion
of this world with sovereign majesty as an earthly king, was
now a madman, a wild man. Well, that's the way we were.
We were all nothing but beasts, wild asses coked, running from
God, hating God, shaking our fist in His face, drinking iniquity
like water. I heard an excellent object lesson
or devotional from Brad this morning that just blessed my
socks off. You don't mind me saying that
Mr. Ward. I just love to hear Christ
exalted. And He brought before us these
very truths that I'm bringing before you right now. God works
all things after the counsel of His own will. And it was God
by His sovereign power that came to us. And there is a difference
between the sheep and the goats. We were like wild beasts, but
we were not beasts that were made to be taken and destroyed.
God loved us with an everlasting love. And He was for us. He was for us from eternity past
and He will be for us for all eternity. And so God has given
us spiritual understanding as well. We might have thought we
knew something, but we didn't. Until the gospel is revealed
to us, that gospel is nothing but foolishness to us. Now, verse
34. God's appointed time, or verse
35 rather, God's appointed time of love for this man is revealed
not only in the fact that he praised and extolled the most
high God who lives forever, and Jesus Christ, our great God,
is the eternal God. He has always been, He always
will be. His dominion has always been
a sovereign dominion. He has always reigned over everything. everything in this universe after
He created it and everything before that and everything following
that. Our God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit has always been a sovereign God, a sovereign ruler. His sovereignty
cannot be denied. We must acknowledge that. If
we don't, we have not been enlightened by God the Holy Spirit. And these
people who are making statements like God is wanting to do something
but can't because you won't let him. They don't believe in the
absolute sovereignty of God. They believe man is sovereign.
They believe man is God. And this is exactly what King
Nebuchadnezzar thought before God gave him his understanding.
But when his understanding was given to him, when not only he
had worldly understanding, but spiritual understanding as well,
that's when he praised the true and living God. And he made this
statement in verse 35, And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Nothing. No thing. And he, God, doeth according
to his will an army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? Now all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. This includes all the nobles
that ever lived or ever will live and all the nobodies that
ever lived and ever will live. Everybody in between. It also
includes the most educated person that ever walked on this earth
and the most illiterate person that ever walked on this earth.
It includes the wealthiest and the poorest and it includes you
and me. God reputes all the inhabitants of
the earth as nothing in his sight. Nothing. In the flesh dwelleth
no good thing. And Nebuchadnezzar said, God
does according to his will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? I put two passages of scripture
on the front of this morning's bulletin. I told Judy while we were back
east, I never considered this, the truths in Matthew 6 verses
9 and 10 and this truth that we're looking at in Daniel 4.35,
I've never brought them together, never considered the two of them
together. But listen to this, I already
read Daniel 4.35, but our Lord taught us in Matthew 6.9-10 to
pray this way, After this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now he's not
telling us to pray that it might be possible that God might have
His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. He's saying
this is how we ought to pray, acknowledging that God's will
in heaven and God's will on earth is being accomplished by God
and nobody can stop Him. You know, as I considered those
two verses together, or those several verses together, I also,
when I got back home, I was looking through some of Pastor Henry
Mahan's writings, and lo and behold, he unites these verses
together. So this was just a confirmation.
This is what God would have me to preach on. That our God is
in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. God's will is going to be accomplished
and nobody's going to stop Him from doing what He has purposed.
Verse 37, we've already looked at verse 36. Verse 37, we read, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise
and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all whose works are
truth, and His ways judgment, and those that walk in pride
He is able to abase. The King of Heaven is Jesus Christ.
He's King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And all the fullness of
the Godhead dwells in Him. And as Brother Brat Warner shared
with us during his devotional this morning, the only thing
we can say about these truths is, Jesus Christ is God. I say, Amen. He's Jehovah. He's
the one who is on the throne of glory. And He's always been
there, but not as a God-man. He's always been God on His throne,
but now there's a glorified man in heaven. His name is Jesus
Christ the Lord. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead. He's the same God that we read
about in the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He's in control. He's in charge
of this whole situation. Not man. This is the difference
between the true gospel and that watered down perversion of the
gospel. The true gospel points to God
as being sovereign, and only at the throne of absolute sovereignty
will anybody worship God. We must bow down to His sovereign
power, recognizing and acknowledging that He's the one who's in sovereign
control, not man. Now, I want to take you back
to Isaiah 14, just for a moment. We'll be getting to this 14th
chapter in our future studies in Isaiah, but I want to show
you something. And A.W. Pink made this statement. He said, nothing will foster
godly fear, that is true reverential fear of God, like a recognition
of the sovereign majesty of God. Well, we know that God is absolutely
sovereign. no matter what comes our way,
no matter what we experience, no matter whether it's days of
sunshine or days of rain, no matter if it's smooth sailing
or we're on the rough seas of trials and testings, knowing
that God is in control will keep us looking to Jesus Christ, the
author and the finisher of our faith, giving him praise for
everything that he allows to happen in our lives. And this
is what King Nebuchadnezzar did. He saw that when he was a madman
for seven years, it was God's will, it was God's purpose to
bring him to this understanding that God is in the heavens and
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he
does according to his will among the army of heaven and the inhabitants
of the earth And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What
doest Thou? Now listen to these words in
Isaiah chapter 14 that describe God's perfect sovereignty. Verse 24, we read, The Lord of
hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it
come to pass, And as I have purposed, so shall it stand." God is so
perfect, and He is so sovereign, that even His thoughts are perfect. He doesn't have to give a second
thought to anything. We do. We get ready to do something,
we start planning, and in the middle of something that we plan
to do, we have to change, we have to make adjustments. Not
God. Everything about God is perfect.
And He, even in His thinking, manifests His absolute sovereignty
for His glory and for the good of His people. Look at verse
26. This is the purpose that is purposed
upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched
out upon all the nations. That's God Himself who has purposed
it all. His hand is stretched out on
all the nations. And folks, that God is Jesus
Christ. Now I'll draw your attention
to the third chapter of Philippians. The title of this message, actually
Philippians chapter two, the second chapter. The title of
this message is According to God's Will. And we were chosen
in Christ that we should be holy and without blame before Him
according to God's will. We were predestinated unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to God's will. In Christ we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to God's will. Our minds have been enlightened
unto the mysteries of the gospel by the sovereign power of God,
the Holy Spirit, according to God's will. What we have in this
relationship with God was purposed by Him before time began and
revealed to us at the time of God's love for us when we were
born again under the preaching of His gospel. We have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to God's will. And like King Nebuchadnezzar,
God came to us when we were just full of self, full of pride,
hating God, running from Him, in that number that God describes
as one of the inhabitants of the earth being nothing. We were
nothing. We had nothing, nothing to offer
God, bankrupt. But now, by God's sovereign grace,
and His sovereign mercy, and His sovereign power working in
us, and I say that purposely, God had to send the Spirit of
His Son into our hearts before we could acknowledge that we're
nothing. Before we could acknowledge our
need of Jesus Christ as our Savior. Before we could acknowledge the
truth of the Gospel that Jesus Christ by Himself purged our
sins as we heard in a devotional this morning. We had to have
the Spirit of God in our hearts before we could understand these
spiritual truths. It's God's Spirit working in
us that enlightens our minds to the gospel of His amazing
grace. And by His grace and His mercy and His power, we now,
like King Nebuchadnezzar did after his understanding was returned
to him, we bow down. to God's absolute sovereignty
that's in Christ our Savior, who is the exalted, risen, exalted
King, God's darling Son, who is over all of creation, sitting
on His throne of power right now, working all things after
the counsel of His own will. And so we praise and extol God's
exalted Son, who works all things for His glory and for our good.
In Philippians chapter 2, starting at verse 5, we read, let this
mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And God has
given us the mind of Christ. And we're to think on those things
that are lovely. We're to avoid thinking on those things that
are sinful. We're going to have those thoughts
flash through our mind, but we don't have to entertain them.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Can you imagine
that? Our Creator, who just spoke everything into existence, humbled
Himself, and became a man. And not just a man, but a servant. He came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.
And this is the mind that is to be in us. And Jesus Christ,
who is a great Creator, also was dependent upon the milk in
his mother's breast while he was an infant and he's the one
who put that milk there. That boggles my mind. John Gill
made this statement and I've mentioned it before and bears
repeating, consider the humility of our great creator. Lying for
nine months in the womb of one He created. That's just too deep
for me. I can't understand that. But
oh, what wonderful news that our God has become a man for
the purpose of redeeming us from the curse of the law. And He
has done that. He paid the ransom price in full.
He by Himself purged our sins as we said earlier. And Jesus
Christ didn't make redemption possible. He obtained eternal
redemption for us. All of our sins, I heard it this
morning, I'll say it again and God's people will never get tired
of hearing it. All of our sins, past, present and future were
laid on Jesus Christ. And He paid the price in full
for every one of them. Not one thing can be laid to
the charge of God's elect. That's good news for a sinner.
So we read that Jesus Christ He felt it not, robbery, to be
equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon him
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Now
listen to me. Listen to me. This is so important. He knew
what was waiting for him. He knew. He knew he was going
to be made sin for us. He, the Holy One of Israel, the
Holy One of God, who knew no sin, knew He was going to be
made sin for us. He knew that He was going to
suffer the eternal wrath of God for His people. And He knew that
God would forsake Him. And so He prayed. Just before
He went to the cross, sweating great drops of blood, Father,
if it be possible, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but Thy will be done. And He subjected Himself to that,
knowing that was the only way that He could bring us into this
living union with Himself. He loved us with an everlasting
love. He is immutable, and His love
is immutable. Therefore, with loving kindness,
He draws us unto Himself under the preaching of His Gospel,
pointing us to what He accomplished for us at Calvary 2,000 years
ago. He didn't try to save His people.
He saved every one of them. And God is pleased when we, by
His power working in us, acknowledge that Jesus Christ is our Lord,
and our Savior. And by the way, no man can call
Him Lord but by the power of God the Holy Spirit. I witnessed
a man years ago when I was working in Chester, California, one of
those free will Armenian Pentecostal idolaters go over to a drunk
who was seated on the curb in a little town of Chester and
offer him a dollar if he would confess that Jesus is Lord. That's
the way people think. That you can coerce people into
the kingdom of God. Or that you can bribe them into
the kingdom of God. Or that you can, by your own
free will, come into the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God does
not come with observation. Ye must be born again. And the
wind blows where it pleases. And God's miracle of the new
birth falls upon those whom He pleases for it to fall. And none's
going to stop Him. None's going to stop Him. He's
going to do what He has purposed. And He has purposed the salvation
of His elect who were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
So our Lord Jesus was obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. But look what it says in verse
9. and verse 10 together. Wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name. Now grab a hold of this. We're
talking about God's sovereign will. It says that at the name
of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things
in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father. Now that harmonizes with Daniel 4.35, all in heavens of
the earth are reputed as nothing, and he, God, does according to
his will in the army of heaven and among the heavens of the
earth. None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
That harmonizes with the way our Lord taught us to pray, our
Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name thy kingdom
come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven and it harmonizes
with the truth that God reveals to all of his enlightened saints
that our God is working all things after the counsel of his own
will and it was his will It was God's will that we would come
unto the preaching of His gospel. It was God's will and His purpose
to reveal His Son in us. That's what Paul said in writing
to the book of Saints in Galatia. He said, I want to please God
who separated me from my mother's womb and call me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. In me. And the word Lord, here
in verse 11, is Kyrios. The Greek word is Kyrios. It
means supreme controller. Jesus Christ is the supreme controller
over this whole universe and everything in it. And the scripture
tells us that God himself has saved us and called us with an
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. So when we come out of darkness
into his marvelous light, It's according to God's purpose. And
he said, I will do that which I have purposed. I will work
and none can hinder me. God is in control. He's sovereign. Now listen, God saved King Nebuchadnezzar,
humbled him. And God is able, He is able to
humble the hell-deserving, ill-deserving sinner. Why doesn't He humble
everybody? not his will, not his purpose. But he has purpose to humble
his elect to bring us to this awareness of our need of Christ
and to move us to cry out for mercy in the name of Jesus Christ,
our risen, exalted Lord who saved us at Calvary 2,000 years ago. God's the potter. or the clay. He fashions us as it pleases
Him. And I thank God that it was His purpose to fashion me
as a vessel of mercy. So give Him the praise. Give
Him all the glory. And stand firm in the truths
that God has revealed to you. Don't be moved away from the
hope of the gospel. And don't let the enemies of
the gospel who are trusting in the works of their own hands
influence you in any other way than to give God all the praise
and all the glory, because He is sovereign over all inhabitants
of the earth, doing His will on this earth the same as He
is doing His will in heaven. And God Himself is pleased when
we acknowledge that. Amen.