Let's go back to the book of
Daniel. Hopefully you've kept your Bible
open. This is a very unique portion
of scripture because the one who wrote this
letter, and it is a letter, is a heathen king, and his name
is Nebuchadnezzar. He wrote to tell people what
God did to him, how God brought him down, and then how God lifted
him up. And we asked God if he would
give us understanding of this portion of scripture, and we'll
ask him to do that, and then we'll go into the message this
evening. Once again, our Father, we bow
before you, very, very much aware of the fact that we can receive
nothing unless it be given to us from above. Lord, we have
read in this portion of Scripture, even as we read there in the
Psalms of the greatness of our God, and we bow before you. Lord, we ask that you would humble
us, make us to know our natural nothingness, and that you are
everything. Oh God, help us to worship. Thou art a God whose ways are
past finding out, You're the one who dwells in
eternity. Your thoughts toward us are of
infinite mercy and grace. You're seated upon your throne
of majesty, and you always exercise your will. Though we may or may
not perceive that which you're doing at any given time, yet
we're assured from the Word of God that our God reigns. And Lord, we fall before you
in contrition, in utter humility, and we thank you that Though
you're so great and so high above us, yet you have thoughts of
peace toward your people. You love us with an everlasting
love. Back before you made anything,
even in old eternity, Lord, you chose us to be your own family. and therefore the Lord Jesus
redeemed us by his blood. The spirit of grace has brought
home the gospel unto our hearts. We live now by the miracle of
your grace. We live spiritually, Lord, unto
thee. We receive divine truth. Not that we have a grasp of all
the scriptures, but we do understand that in this book, the Lord Jesus
is all. And we worship him and we adore
him. Lord, we love him because he
first loved us. And we believe him. We ask you
to give us additional faith that we would believe more fully upon
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Bless your dear people,
people who suffer, people who are in the midst of affliction.
Some of your people are sick, some diseased, some in great
hardship. Lord, we know that in whatever
condition we find ourselves, it is by your sovereign will. We ask that you would teach us,
teach us all contentment. Not to merely say, well, this is the will of
the Lord, and then to have a bad attitude toward that which you
send us. Lord, help us to rejoice in your
will, to be joyful that our God is working
all things for the good of your people. Therefore, whatever comes
our way, be it health or sickness, whether it's wellness or whether
it be even great pain, Lord, what you send is best for us
and teach us to be contented, to rejoice always before you. Thou art our God. Thou art our Father. All that
you do toward your children is due to your great and infinite
wisdom. and out of love for us. And we
are assured in the scriptures that your eternal purpose is
being fulfilled in each of our lives, and in that we rejoice. Give us an understanding here
this evening as we study a little bit about this man, Nebuchadnezzar. May we, in viewing that which
you did to him and that which you did for him, may we be instructed
from the word of God and know that, Lord, you deal with us
individually, and all of your children are dealt with in a
way that's pleasing to you. None of us follow the same path
to glory We know that Christ is the only way, but we all have
a different path that providence brings to pass because that is
what's predestinated for us. Lord, we rejoice in you. We're
thankful for you. We're thankful that you govern
all things. We're thankful you're the God
of our salvation. Therefore, our salvation is sure.
Be pleased this evening now to teach us from the life of this
man. We ask these things in the name
of our Savior and for his sake. Amen. This is a very unique chapter,
and a good many of you are very familiar with it. You've read
this portion of Scripture many times, and I'm sure that you
have heard several excellent messages on this, and so I have
nothing new to say to you this evening, but rather I just repeat
that which is brought out wonderfully in this particular chapter in
the book of Daniel, that our God has absolute everlasting
dominion. That's my subject this evening,
everlasting dominion. So I say this is a very unique
chapter because Nebuchadnezzar was a great king who had authority,
had dominion over a vast empire, unlike in our country where we
vote and we have representation in our state in Frankfurt and
we have representation in Washington DC. Back then, and even in some locations
today, there are kings who ruled and some kings still rule over
a country with absolute authority. When I say man rules with absolute
authority, I want you to understand that that authority that they
do have is under God. It's authority that God gives
them. And there had been kings who
were very ruthless, because we know that in the word of the
king there is power. The scripture says that. And
with a man like Nebuchadnezzar, he had authority in his kingdom. He had great power in his kingdom.
And at his word you lived, or at his word you died. That's
the kind of authority you had. when he commanded that everyone
bow down and worship the great god that he had made, the emblem
that he had made of his authority, and not offer a prayer or worship
any other god. He was the one who had the authority
when he received word that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not
bow down to the image. It was Nebuchadnezzar who held
their lives So he thought in his hands and he commanded them
to be put to death. This is the kind of authority
that the kings had and they exercised back in those days. But in this
particular chapter of Daniel, we discover that the Lord, he
dealt with this man in a very unusual way. Nebuchadnezzar was
an arrogant, self-centered king who attributed, who credited
to himself all of his great achievements of life. Brother Terry read to
us when the king in verse 30, he says, this is not this great
Babylon that I have built. I did all of this. This is a
man who gave no credit, no acknowledgement to God, all of the glory and
all of the honor he heaped upon himself. He built a powerful
kingdom, a magnificent city, and a glorious castle. He was
a daring rifle for the glory that is due to God alone. And
the Lord was pleased to bring this man down. I mean he brought
him low such as no other man has ever been brought in the
Scriptures. And he's made by the mercy of
God to see that in reality he was nothing. And he was made to see that God
was everything. Well, you say, well, he's not
unique in that, Jim, in the sense that God brought him down, because
God brings every man down that God saves. And it's so that he
does bring us down, and he makes us see we're little better than
the beasts of the field. There's no worship of God. There's
no acknowledgment of the greatness of God among the sons and the
daughters of men. We're little better than beasts.
We receive from God daily all of these mercies and then we
use them to the satisfaction of self. And God has brought many of us,
He's brought us low before Him. Now that's not unique. Because
if He's going to exalt us, He will first of all abase us. That's always God's method. And
so we read in 1 Samuel, the Lord says He kills and He makes alive. He's first of all going to kill
us. He's going to bring us down to where we see we're nothing
and then He lifts us up. He's going to strip us of our
self-righteousness. And we're made to see that we
have nothing but iniquity before God. And then He robes us in
the righteousness of Christ. He's going to show us our filthiness,
that we need a royal bath. And the royal bath is indeed
the sacrifice, the substitutionary death, that is the bloody death
of our Lord Jesus. And so God does humble all of
those that he saves, and then he lifts us up. But here's what's
really unique about this. A couple of things. First of
all, God brought Nebuchadnezzar down to be as a beast. Terry
read to us. He ate grass like an oxen. And his hair began to grow, and
it became like the feathers of an eagle. and his fingernails
and his toenails became like the claws of a bird. And then
seven years go by, and he stays in that condition, and such was
his insanity. that he was driven from men. They said, put the king away.
What has happened to the king? And I'm sure that the soothsayers
of the kingdom and the witches of the kingdom, they said this
man is demon possessed. He's turned into an animal. And
the scripture says they drove him, they drove him away. And
out he went. So that's unique. But another
thing that is unique is that he wrote this. He wrote all of
this. This is his own testimony. This
is his witness of that which God did for him. And then he
gave it to Daniel in the Spirit of God had Daniel put it in the
record, this the Word of God. And look how he begins this chapter,
this letter. Chapter 4 of Daniel, verse 1,
Nebuchadnezzar the king. Unto all the people, nations,
and languages that dwell on the earth. After all, he had a vast
empire. And he says to everyone, and
remember he's writing to everyone who will ever read this, so he's
writing to us. He's writing to us this evening. It's for our benefit. He said,
I thought it good to show, to manifest to you the signs and
wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. I want to
tell you what God has done for me. That's what a witness is. A witness just tells what God
has done for them. He says in verse 3, how great
are his signs, how mighty are his wonders, his kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to
generation. And then he begins to go into
detail as to what God did for him. I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at
rest in mine house and I was flourishing in my palace. He
was at rest. He wasn't disturbed. He had it easy. Sitting upon
his great throne, viewing his magnificent empire,
having conquered multitudes of people, He's at rest. I've got it made. I've got it
made. But something happened. Verse
five, I saw a dream which made me afraid. Now this is the king
of the most mighty empire in the world, Babylonian empire. And he had a dream, he had a
vision, which God sent to him. He says it made me afraid. And
this is a man who's afraid of nothing. He said, the thoughts upon my
bed and the visions of my head, they troubled me. Therefore made high decree to
bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me that they might
make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in the
magicians, that is the miracle workers, and the astrologers,
the soothsayers, and the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told
the dream before them, but they didn't make known unto me the
interpretation thereof. But at the last, Daniel came
in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar. And it was Nebuchadnezzar
who gave him this name earlier in the book, back in chapter
one. Nebuchadnezzar gave to Daniel
this Babylonian name, which roughly, translators have a little difference
of opinion. One says it means, it's certainly
to honor the main god that Nebuchadnezzar worship, Baal. Some said it means
to the treasurer of Baal or to the protector of Baal. Anyway, according to the name
of my God, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and before
him I told the dream. And it's what I said, Obel to
Shazar. Master of the magicians, because
I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no
secret trouble at thee, tell me the visions of my dream that
I have seen in the interpretation thereof. Thus were the visions
of mine head in my bed. I saw and behold a tree in the
midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew. The tree was strong. In fact,
the height thereof reached under the heaven, and the sight thereof
to the end of all the earth. The leaves thereof were fair,
the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all. The beasts
of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven
dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.
I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed and behold a watcher
and a holy one came down from heaven and he cried aloud. This is a messenger from God.
This is an ambassador from God. This is the son of God speaking
to him and said, hew down the tree. This is what the messenger
from God said. Hew down the tree and cut off
his branches and shake off the leaves and get away from under
it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless, here comes the
word of the Son of God, who has absolute authority. Nevertheless,
leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band
of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, and let it
be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the
beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from
man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him, and let seven
times pass over him. This matter is by the decree
of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones."
The watchers, that's the trinity, the Father, Son, and Spirit,
the holy one. To the intent that the living
may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth
to whomsoever he will. and setteth up over it the basest
of all men. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar,
have seen. Now thou, O Belteshazzar, would
you declare the interpretation thereof? Forasmuch as all the
wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the
interpretation, but thou art able for the spirit of the holy
gods is in thee. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar,
was astounded for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. God
immediately gave him understanding of what this dream was about.
The king spake and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation
thereof trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said,
my lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation
thereof to thine enemies. That tree that thou sawest, which
grew and was strong, whose height reached unto heaven, the sight
thereof to all the earth, whose leaves were fair and the fruit
thereof much, and it was meat for all, under which the beasts
of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the
heaven had their habitation, it is thou O king, thou art grown
and become strong, for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven
and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king
saw a watcher and unholy one come down from heaven saying,
hew the tree down and destroy it. yet leave the stump of the
roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass
in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew
of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field
till seven times pass over him. This is the interpretation, O
King, and this is the decree of my Lord the King. I have thee
from men. Thy dwelling shall be with the
beasts of the field. 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 unto whomsoever he
will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree
roots, thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt
have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O King, let
my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins
by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor,
if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility." And then as
Terry read to us a few moments ago, all of this came upon the
king, Nebuchadnezzar. And a good bit of time went by,
12 months, a year went by, and everything was fine. Nothing
unusual happened. Nebuchadnezzar continued to rule
in his kingdom. He enjoyed great tranquility. He was at rest. He marveled at
the greatness of his own kingdom. He was so very, very proud of
all that he had accomplished, and he kind of strutted himself
around like a peacock, filled with arrogance, filled with pride. And most everybody looked up
to him and said, my, what a great man King Nebuchadnezzar is. And then something happened. God began to fulfill his word
regarding Nebuchadnezzar and God brought him down. He brought
him down all the way to the bottom until men drove him away. They
couldn't stand his very presence. And then this man who ruled his
kingdom with might, with knowledge, with leadership, And with whatever
wisdom he had, all of a sudden, he lost it all. And then God restored his kingdom
to him after he had learned whose kingdom it all belonged to. It all belonged to the Lord. My subject is the absolute, everlasting,
dominion of God, absolute. What does absolute mean? That
something that is absolute, nothing, nothing can be added to it, nothing
can be taken away from it. That which is absolute is beyond
human control, complete, having unlimited authority and power,
everlasting. without beginning and without
end. As the Lord is the Alpha and
the Omega, the first and the last, so He is from everlasting
to everlasting God. Dominion. Dominion. Authority. Sovereignty. In fact, the word dominion comes
from a Latin word which literally means Lord or Master. It is utterly foolish to ever
refer to God as being Lord, which means absolute, having everlasting
control, and then adding to that, now won't you let him have his
way. It's just foolish language. If
he is the Lord, then he does have his way. If He has absolute
everlasting dominion, then He has authority and He has power
that can never be changed and can never be threatened. The Lord has His way always,
always. The Lord, our God, has absolute
everlasting dominion. That means He has all supremacy. Or as we often use this word,
He is the sovereign God. The root word of sovereign is
reign. To say that God is sovereign
is to merely say that God reigns. And there is no limit to His
reign. His reign extends to everybody
and everything. He reigns in the kingdom of creation. He reigns in the kingdom of divine
providence. And He reigns in salvation. He
has absolute everlasting dominion in creation, absolute everlasting
dominion in providence, and He has absolute everlasting dominion
in salvation. Our God rules over all things. He executes His will. And none
can interrupt that which God has set out to do. Now, we know
the word sovereignty. I've already said the root word
is reign. When we say God reigns, we don't
mean He wants to reign. Rather, we mean He does reign.
We don't mean that God intends to rain someday. No, He rains
now. He rains forever. He rained yesterday. He rains today. And He will rain
tomorrow. You see, Daniel chapter 4 written
with the ink pen of Nebuchadnezzar and then recorded by Daniel in
the Word of God, it teaches us two great truths. The two great
truths are the greatness of God and the insignificance of man. If you take nothing else away
from Daniel chapter 4, surely you need to take those two things
away. The greatness of God and the
insignificance of man. Or to put it another way, the
independence of God and the dependence of all men. That was Nebuchadnezzar, the
Lord's purpose from old eternity. to bring this arrogant king down. God determined to humble him,
to break him, and then to make himself known
to Nebuchadnezzar. That's what God intended to do. It's what God determined to do
and that's what He did. And God actually took away the
sanity of this great king. And it's a blessed day really
when God removes from us all ideas of our own sanity, of our
own knowledge. When He strips us bare and makes
us to see we know nothing, we can do nothing. We're helpless. before the God
of absolute everlasting dominion. It's a great day when that happens. Nebuchadnezzar learned this. The Lord is everything, and he's
nothing. Man is nothing. The Lord governs,
not Nebuchadnezzar. It isn't Nebuchadnezzar who governs,
it's the Lord who governs. Nebuchadnezzar is governed over. Now let me give you four or five
things as time allows. Number one, God taught this man
that the Lord only is from everlasting and the Lord only is independent.
Notice in here, just two verses I really want to look at in depth.
Verse 34, at the end of the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine
eyes into heaven, mine understanding returned unto me. You know what
conversion is? You see in our fall in Adam,
we lost all sanity. all understanding of spiritual
things. And when God shows us mercy,
He returns to us wisdom and understanding of spiritual things. I've often said a man can receive
nothing except to be given him from above. You can't understand
spiritual things unless God gives you understanding. God took away the sanity of this
king and he became a raving lunatic. A picture, no doubt, of the spiritual
condition of all men. A total lack of any spiritual
knowledge and a lack of spiritual ability. The king was put out
of his kingdom. He was driven away from society. For seven years he lived like
a beast. Then after seven years of madness,
of losing his mind, God gave him reasoning ability. God gave him spiritual understanding. That's what God does in conversion.
As a result of regeneration, God gives us an awareness of
our dilemma outside of Christ Jesus. And He shows us our need
of the Lord. Before that, we were like Nebuchadnezzar,
at rest, living a tranquil life. virtually
undisturbed except by the troubles that happens to everybody, but
undisturbed about our relationship with God and the things of eternity
and salvation and heaven and hell and righteousness and wickedness. Those things didn't disturb us,
but then God teaches us. He gives us sanity. Spiritual
sanity is restored to us. And we begin to see some of the
things that Nebuchadnezzar saw. We begin to see who God is. And
I'll tell you this, the subject of who God is is a subject that
men don't know anything about. People don't know who God is.
They have no idea. And the thought lays from with
the men who stand behind the pulpits and are declaring the
greatness and the glory of God. Why, the average God that's being
preached from the pulpits, even in Ashland, you say, well, have
you heard all these preachers? No, I don't have to hear them.
I already know what they're saying. They preach a defeated God. A
God who wants to, but men won't let Him. A God who has great
designs for your life if you'll just say yes to Him. He wants you to be wealthy. He
wants you to be healthy. He wants all of these good things
for you. He's waiting on you. The God of the Bible doesn't
wait for you to ask Him or say, yes, Lord, you can bless me.
Why, if we learn anything from this passage of Scripture, we
find out that God is God. When we say that God is sovereign,
we're simply saying God is God. God conducts himself as God. Here's the confession of this
man Nebuchadnezzar. God taught him that the Lord
alone is eternal and independent. I blessed the Most High, he said.
I praised and honored him that liveth forever. God teaches him
something about himself. He's the Most High. That's what
he said. Hey, before this, if you ask
Nebuchadnezzar, hey, who's the highest in the world? He'd say,
I am. There's none greater. But you
go through this portion of Scripture and you find out that He's constantly
saying, the Most High rule it. And He gives it to whoever He
wants to. In fact, several times He uses that kind of language.
Look back with me in verse 17. Look at verse 17. This matter is by the decree
of the watchers and the demand by the Word of the Holy Ones
to the intent for this reason. This is what it's all about.
That they may know, that the living may know that the Most
High ruleth in the kingdom of men. Why did all this happen
to Nebuchadnezzar? To teach him who rules. Look again over in verse 25. They shall drive thee from men,
thy dwelling shall be with the beasts 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. This is why all of this
happened. to teach Nebuchadnezzar who rules,
who reigns. Look at verse 32. They shall
drive thee from men, thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the
field. They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven
times shall pass over thee, until you know that the Most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men. He gives it to whomsoever He
will. And in verse 34 He says, I bless the Most High. A man, a woman, a boy or a girl
has got to find out who rules. Got to find out who God is. This
ignorance must be overcome. And God alone can teach us who
He is and that He's the one who rules overall. He's the most high God. He's
the only one who has life in Himself. He says, I am. That's
my name, I am. God says, I am God and beside
me there is none else. God says, I lift up my hand to
heaven and say, I live forever. He lives forever and He alone
can give life. He alone can give physical life. He alone can give spiritual life. He alone can give everlasting
life and he alone can give eternal life, which is to know God and
Jesus Christ whom he sent. God is the only self-existent
one and the only self-sustained one. He sustains himself. None of us are self-sustaining. We're not independent. Only God
is independent. We're very dependent. Tell you
what, when the lights went out, you were very dependent upon
the power people, making calls to people you know that you think
maybe they can help flip a switch or something. You're dependent
upon those workers out there. While we're all dependent people,
there's only one who is absolutely independent, needing nobody. That's God. That's our God. All things materially, all things
spiritually have to come from God. We need Him, but He doesn't
need us. And even when we bless Him, and
even when we praise Him, even when we worship Him, don't be
mistaken about this, you're not adding to His glory. you cannot add to the glory of
God. God dwelt in infinite glory since
forever in the past. He didn't need us. He sat upon
His throne of sovereignty. The Father, the Son, and the
Spirit contented in His very being. And when time is no more, God
will still be contented, having done his will in all things. He's immutable. He said, I am
the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He is the most high, the most
high. Secondly, God taught him of his
everlasting dominion. Look here in verse 34 again.
whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from
generation to generation. Not only is he the eternal God,
he's also the reigning monarch of the universe. He's God who
sits upon his throne of indisputable, incontestable sovereignty. He reigns over all things by
right. And the Son of God reigns over
all things, not only by right, but by reward. The God-man reigns. The God-man is sovereign. The
God-man has absolute, everlasting dominion. The God-man does. Upon
what basis? Upon the basis of having finished
the work that God gave him to do. Look yonder with the eye
of faith to the right hand of the majesty on high. There is
a man in glory and he reigns over all things. He earned the
right to reign as the God-man because he redeemed his people. He saved us by his bloody death
upon the cross of Calvary. He has everlasting dominion. God's dominion has no boundary. He reigns throughout his universe. When Satan rebelled against God,
and he led one-third of the angels in that rebellion against the
Lord, no matter, God reigned. That didn't make God uneasy. It was already purposed before
it ever happened. The fall of Adam, that happened
in the purpose of God. It didn't upset God. It didn't
throw a wrench into the wheel of God's purpose. No, not at
all. because that made way for the
greatest manifestation of the glory of God in the salvation
of sinners by substitute living and dying and rising again in
the stead of His elect people. It didn't trouble God. When a whole world of people
were in rebelling against God, and every thought of man's heart
was only wicked continually, God still reigned, and you know
what he did? He just unleashed water. It washed a whole world of sinners
away into the death chamber of hell, except for eight souls. And when Sodom and Gomorrah was
filled with wickedness, men with men, women with women, doing
that which is unnatural. Not to worry. All God had to
do was just throw balls of fire upon those cities and then cover
up the ashes with the Dead Sea. You think that troubles God?
Do you think that it bothers God? No! No, because God manifested His
grace, because you see the angels have a hold of one man, and they
are leading him out of Sodom and Gomorrah, and God says, I
am not going to destroy the city until my righteous lot is saved. And he teaches us a lesson. God's
not going to pour out judgment upon this world till all of his
elect are saved, till they're all brought into the fold of
salvation. And on and on I could go. When Judas, he sold our Savior. When the Sanhedrin rose up against
him with their wrath. When both Pilate and Herod said,
Okay, crucify Him. That didn't unnerve God. That
didn't disturb God. That's what God purposed all
along. He used Judas. He used the Sanhedrin. He uses everybody to fulfill
His purpose. That's what he said about Pharaoh.
For this same purpose, I raised you up to make my power known.
Then I'm going to throw you in the Red Sea. I'm going to drown
you and send you to hell. Well, you think about that. That's
what God says. Let come what may, all things
are under the government of God. And even today, I know false
religion is deceiving the multitudes, but God still reigns. And he has a people whom he will
make willing to be saved his way by grace through the substitutionary
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. No power can keep the Lord from
exercising his authority. His dominion. Jehovah reigns
and does exactly as he pleases. As you have been doing perhaps,
at least a little bit, you see this Mars rover, Perseverance,
is that the name of it? And sending back these photos
from Mars. Wow, look what great advancements
men have made. I rather think that passage in
Psalm 2 might come into play there. He that sitteth in the
heaven shall laugh. Oh, how great man is. He can
go to Mars. You want to book your flight?
Probably just won't cost you over a million dollars or something. Those sorts of things impress
us. Doesn't impress God. Now listen
to me. God's only impressed with His
Son. That's all. And these little
creatures of the dust do some things and they get all the approval
and all the praise of men. Oh, how brilliant we are! Yes, you're so brilliant that
you say there is no God. That's how brilliant you are.
You're so brilliant that you say man came into being not as
a result of the creative act of God, but because of some blubber
or whatever came from that. We're fools. There's no question
about it. Men are fools. Only God can give
us spiritual wisdom to know how God can be just and justify the
ungodly. And I'll tell you something else
very quickly. Thirdly, God taught Nebuchadnezzar that man, even
at his greatest, is nothing at all. Look at verse 35. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. The word reputed. Good word. You know what it means? All of
them together amount to nothing. All of us All of mankind, all
of us together, put us all together. My, what wisdom, what knowledge. God says, nothing. You're just
all nothing. The Lord says, the nations of
the earth, put them all together. All the population of the nations
of the earth, the billions of people, put them all in a bucket. And just like the insignificant
drop, that when you have taken your watering can and you've
watered your flowers in the springtime and the summertime, and you get
it all out and there's another drop in there, it means nothing
to you. It's insignificant. Or God uses
this illustration, where like the dust in the balance on the
scales, Doesn't affect anything. We don't affect anything. We
don't affect anything. We think too highly of ourselves,
I'm telling you. We amount to nothing at all.
Christ is all. Do you know what the repeated
theme of eternity is going to be for all the children of God?
Christ is all. That will be our theme. That's
the theme of the Word of God. And we're nothing. In election
unto salvation, we're nothing. We make no contribution. In redemption,
we're nothing. We make no contribution. In regeneration,
we're nothing. We make no contribution. In justification,
we're nothing. We make no contribution. In sanctification,
we're nothing. We make no contribution. In perseverance,
we make no contribution. We're nothing. Because it's the
Lord who preserves us. And in our glorification, we're
nothing. He's the one who glorifies us.
That's the reason I began the service tonight, by reading,
Not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name give glory, for thy
mercy and for thy truth's sake. And then quickly, fourthly, God
taught Nebuchadnezzar that the will of God is always accomplished. Look what he says in verse 35. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. The will of God is always accomplished. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
David wrote, that he did in heaven, in earth, in the deep places,
and in the seas. God's will is done everywhere. Scripture says, there are many
devices in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the counsel of
the Lord, that shall stand. You go ahead and make your plans. You're gonna do this, and that's
okay. I keep a bit of an itinerary. This doctor's appointment, that
doctor's appointment. As you get older, you're either
making doctor's appointments or keeping doctor's appointments.
Or going to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions that your doctor
ordered for you. All of these things. Well, we
make our plans. Many devices in a man's heart.
Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord. That's what's going
to stand. And the scripture says, Psalm
76 verse 10, surely the wrath of man will praise thee, the
remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain. If God doesn't want
something to happen, it's not going to work into his purpose,
hey, it's not going to happen. If it does happen, if something
does happen, whatever happens, I promise you, based on the word
of God. It's a mystery to me, but nevertheless
I believe it. If something does happen, It's
because God purposed it. That's the only reason it happens.
If God doesn't want something to happen, hey, it's just not
going to happen. There's no telling how many things
that men have designed to do and God said, no, no. And he just stops us. The last thing is God taught
Nebuchadnezzar that the will of God is irresistible. and resistance
to his will is an impossibility. It says here, and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? What does it mean
to stay his hand? Nobody can stop God or prevent
God from doing his will. God says, I will do all my pleasure. You can't hinder God from doing
His will. And you can be a rebel. You can
say, hey, I'm not going to do what God says do. Go ahead and
have that attitude. You'll go to hell and the purpose
of God will be fulfilled. That's the way it is. You remember Elihu said to Job,
After he had listened to Job's three older friends, Elihu said
to Job concerning the way that God dealt with him, he said,
let me tell you something, Job. God doesn't give an account of
his matters. God doesn't tell you why he does
this, that, or something else with you or to you. God doesn't
owe you an explanation. You know, when your kids were
little, And he said, don't do that. And I said, why not? Because I said don't do it. I
don't have to give you a reason. I'm your daddy. I'm the voice
of authority. Don't ask me again. You'll regret
it if you do. And that's what Elihu says. God
doesn't give an account of his matters. And the word matters
means business. God doesn't consult with you
before He does something, and when He does something, He doesn't
tell you why He did it. Now, you may be able to, from
the Word of God, figure out a little bit of the reason why He has
brought this to pass, but He doesn't answer to you. He answers only to Himself. And I have news for this religious
but lost generation. Their so-called free will has
no effect upon God. Go ahead and exercise your free
will all you want to. Doesn't matter to God. God will
do His will everywhere. Well, let me give you a few things
to think about as I send you home. The everlasting or the
absolute everlasting dominion of God shuts all men up to God. Let me tell you something. He's
the only help you got. That's just the way it is. You
say, Jim, are you talking about our own inability and we're like
the beasts of the field? You're just backing us in a corner.
There's no way out. There is no way out except for
Christ Jesus. And the Lord's going to have
to open your eyes to show you Him. Whom to know is life everlasting. And He's got absolute dominion
over you. He can save you or damn you.
That's right. He can save or put you away forever. He can give you life or give
you death. Do you understand? Surely you
do that our lives are in the hands of our Lord. And He has
the right to do with us according to His pleasure. He's the potter. wear the clay. He has the right
to fashion out of that clay a vessel of honor, fit to put up on your
shelf so that every person who comes in will say, my, that's
beautiful. Or he can make you a vessel of
dishonor, such as a spit tune or something. Or that basin that
you used to put under the bed at night. He does what he wants to. And
I'll tell you this, remember something else. The absolute
everlasting dominion of God means that God moves at his own pace. You know, Daniel, he made known
this vision, this dream to Nebuchadnezzar. A year goes by. Wow, 12 long months. Time means
nothing to God. And then seven times Passover. Seven years goes by while Nebuchadnezzar
is out there like somebody who's lost his mind. God moves at His own pace. He
doesn't get in a hurry. Don't expect Him to rush. He'll fulfill His purpose in
His time. And then the absolute everlasting
dominion of God is a great comfort to all of His people. He rules
for our good. You understand that? I'm sure
we wouldn't fuss about His divine providence if we really believed
that the absolute everlasting dominion of God is for our good. Satan doesn't rule the world.
Oh, he's the prince of the power of the air. Don't deny that.
But he's God's Satan. He's God's devil. And he rules
over his empire of darkness. But God rules over every empire. And he'll use him in one of these
days. God will cast him into hell forever. Be comforted. God rules. And the absolute everlasting
dominion of God is the only foundation for true worship. I just don't
believe that men and women and boys and girls have ever worshiped
until they worship at the throne of the God of absolute everlasting
dominion. As long as you think you can
manipulate God, that your will can put God's will in checkmate,
you don't know God. You never met Him. If you ever
meet Him, you'll be like Nebuchadnezzar. And I'll tell you, here's the
security of the people of God. like Eli said concerning what
Samuel told him that the Lord had said to him. God said, I'm
going to kill Eli's sons. Samuel told Eli, and Eli said,
well, it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good
in his sight. And this gives us a sweet resignation
to the will of God. Bow to his will, trust his tender
care, I know troubles are real, trials
are real, afflictions are real, pain is real. I don't deny those
things, and I don't deny that some of God's people, they hurt,
and they're going through difficult times. But those difficult times
that you're going through, our God has arranged all of those He's not going to forsake you.
Why, He may have Nebuchadnezzar toss you in the furnace of affliction.
Not to fear. The Son of God is with you. That's
what Nebuchadnezzar told the men. He said, didn't I throw
three men in that furnace that I cranked up the thermostat and
it got even hotter? Yeah. He said, I see a fourth
one in there. Looks like the Son of God. Yeah,
that's because He's always with His people. So be encouraged. Be joyful. And don't just say,
well, it's the will of the Lord, and then kick and scream about
it. It's the will of God concerning you. Give thanks. Rejoice. Whatever
it is. Whatever it is. May God give
us grace to bow to Him in worship and say, Lord, this is your will
for me. And I know you love me more than
I can ever understand. And I know your wisdom is deeper
than the sea. I bow to you as one of your children. Lord, do with me as you will
and give me grace to rejoice in you always. This is absolute, everlasting
dominion. Let's pray. Thank you, Father,
for making yourself known unto us. And we do rejoice in your
greatness, your wisdom, your purpose, You move all things,
you've ordained all things, and all things fulfill your will.
Let the people of God rejoice. And let the enemies of God be
fearful. None can stay His hand. Nobody
can stop God from doing that which He is purposed to do. Let the enemy stand in fear.
And let all of us who know you by your grace, rejoice that the
one who has the scepter of universal authority in his hand and who
exercises absolute everlasting dominion, lo, he is our savior. He's the son of God and he's
the son of man. and he reigns over all to fulfill
the purpose of the Father and to do good for all of your children,
Lord. We thank you for Christ Jesus.
Bless us this evening as we go from this service, and may we
have worshipped you, and may the things that we have heard,
may they stick with us. Lord, teach us. Teach us. We'll give you the thanksgiving
and the praise and the glory for Jesus' sake. Amen.