Now let's turn in our Bibles
to the book of Daniel, chapter 4. Daniel, chapter 4. I've entitled the message this
evening, The Tree of Pride Cut Down. The Tree of Pride Cut Down. Now most people, when you think
of the book of Daniel, chapter 4, especially most people in
what we might describe as the Sovereign Grace Movement. Because
most people, when they think of Daniel, you know what they
think of. They think about Daniel in the lion's den. They think
about the children of... the Hebrew children in the fiery
furnace. And rightly so. I mean, those
are great, great words, narratives. Not just stories, and certainly
not children's stories, but just like we studied last time in
Daniel chapter 3, that great picture of Christ there in the
deliverance of the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego from the fiery furnace. What a great picture that is
of the sinner's deliverance and redemption and salvation by the
Lord Jesus Christ, the fourth man in the furnace, the God-man.
And how that deliverance is so applicable to our state under
the, you know, because we deserve the wrath of God, but Christ
took what we deserve, what we've earned, in His obedience unto
death on the cross. But in Daniel chapter 4, most
people, as I said, in what we might describe as the Sovereign
Grace Movement, mainly think of the last verses of this chapter,
where Nebuchadnezzar, after having been brought to a low place in
his life. He says in verse 34, he says,
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. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. I was listening to Tim James
on this passage here and he said, that's our reputation, nothing. That's reputed, that's what that
means, our reputation. Well, we're nothing. And he said,
as he continues here, and he doeth according to his will in
the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand. or saying to him, what doest
thou? You know, most people today, and I've been writing an article
on this for a future bulletin, and I entitled the article, God
is not playing chess. Because most people's view of
God, even those who call themselves Christian, their view of God
is God's up there in heaven somewhere or up in the sky somewhere. And
it's almost like a chess game. He's got his plan, and he makes
his move, but then we make our move, and then God has to make
a counter move, and he has to change his plan and change it.
Well, that's, listen, even old Nebuchadnezzar knew better than
that. I've often, I've heard several preachers say, and I've
often said, Nebuchadnezzar knew more theology than most professing
Christians today. So when we think about Daniel
4, that's what we think of, those last verses. And I'm certainly
going to deal with them, but I'm really going to deal with
them in depth in the next message rather than this message. You
know, a lot of times when you have a narrative like that, a
story, which you have in the first few chapters of Daniel,
you can sort of bite off a big chunk at one time. But sometimes,
you know, you need to slow down. and take your time. And I want
you to see this. There's a major theme. The major
theme of all the scriptures is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
crucified, buried, and risen again. The gospel of Christ. He is the subject and the object
and the author of the scriptures. And so, if we look into any Scripture
and we don't find some application that drives us as sinners to
seek mercy in Christ, we've missed it now. I know there are moral
teachings in the Scripture, there are guides in the Scripture,
there are things that we're taught, but the major theme is Christ. But now, how does God drive us
to Christ? Well, one of the major themes
of Scripture, and especially the book of Daniel, is this.
And here it is, that all mankind will ultimately be brought down
in humility before God. Now it's going to happen. It's
going to happen. Paul wrote about it in Philippians
chapter 2, when he was speaking, when he was encouraging believers
to be humble. Now, you'd think that a sinner
saved by the grace of God wouldn't need any encouragement to be
humble, but I'll tell you, you know as well as I do, we need
a lot of encouragement to be humble. Because pride is something
we fight all of our lives. Am I right? Pride and self-righteousness. Well, in Philippians chapter
2, in verse 9, He's speaking of how Christ humbled himself
unto death, even the death of the cross. And in verse 9 he
says this, he says, Wherefore, or for this reason, God also
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name. There's no name, there's no person
above Christ. And he says for this reason,
verse 10, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of
things in heaven, 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. That's the purpose. And Daniel's
talking about that. That's what the first few chapters
of the book of Daniel really major on. Every knee's gonna
bow. Every tongue's gonna confess.
Now, make this distinction. For God's elect, that'll happen
in our salvation. That's what happened when God
the Holy Spirit brought us to see our sins and our depravity. and our nothingness, our reputation,
our nothingness, our less than nothingness, really, we're on
the negative scale, aren't we? When God the Holy Spirit brought
us to see our sin in light of the glory and the majesty and
the mercy and the grace and the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus
Christ, What did he do? He brought us down on our knees,
didn't he? Didn't he bring you down on your
knees? And in essence, spiritually, we've been there ever since,
haven't we? Confessing Christ, bowing to Christ, worshiping
Christ, for God's elect, for His church, for His people, His
sheep, that happens in salvation. But now for the rest of mankind,
it'll happen in their condemnation under judgment. And that's a
sad thing. And that's why we're motivated
and commanded to preach the gospel to every creature. Oh, to see
men perish, men and women enter, go out of this life to meet a
holy God without Christ. I can't think of anything more
horrible than that. More terrible. Paul said in 2
Corinthians 5 and verse 10 that we must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. And then he said, knowing the
terror of the Lord. That's the terror of God's judgment
against sinners who have no hope, who have no righteousness, who
have no forgiveness, no pardon. Think about that. Well, Daniel
chapter 4 kind of brings all that to a climax of that theme
in setting forth God's sovereignty over nations and individuals.
Think about how we've been brought up through this. In Daniel chapter
1, for example, he set forth God's sovereignty over the nations
and individuals in the way in which he gave wisdom to Daniel
and his three brethren, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who survived
the testing of their captivity in that court of the heathen
king Nebuchadnezzar. And God preserved their ceremonial
purity in a heathen land so that they would not have to eat the
sumptuous feast of idolatry. But they existed on the simple,
simple meal of pulse. Some say bread and water. And
there's a type of the simplicity of Christ. False religion feeds
on the sumptuous feast of the world and sin and idolatry. And
they love all the trappings that go with it. But God's people,
we feed on the pulse. The bread and the water. The
bread of life and the water of life. The simplicity of Christ. And what does that make us? Well,
that makes us ten times better than anybody else, not because
of our works or our power or our goodness, but because of
Christ, because in Him we're a perfect ten. We're perfectly
righteous, perfectly forgiven, perfectly holy, perfectly sanctified
in Christ. Daniel chapter 2 set forth God's
sovereignty in that Daniel alone was able to interpret the dream
which was given to Nebuchadnezzar, member of the statue, and which
none of his counselors or his diviners, as they would call
themselves, were able to interpret. But Daniel interpreted it. Daniel
said, it's not by my wisdom, the old king, that I did it.
It's not by my power that I did it. It's by the power of God.
God is sovereign. Daniel chapter three set forth
God's sovereignty in the preservation of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. I'm trying to get used to using
those names rather than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But either
way, they're the same person. But he delivered them and preserved
them from the fiery furnace in that great picture of our salvation
from the wrath of God in and by Christ. Now here in Daniel
chapter 4, it sets forth God's sovereignty over mighty Nebuchadnezzar
and the great and powerful kingdom of Babylon. And he does it in
another dream. And it's a strange experience
of Nebuchadnezzar. God brings Nebuchadnezzar to
confess what we read in Daniel chapter 4 verses 34 and 35. Now,
how does he bring him there? Well, look at Daniel chapter
4. The first three verses, I want
you to notice something that's very significant. And that's
this. Here we have An idolater. Recognizing and acknowledging
and declaring the power of God. An idolater. Now you might ask
this question, well how can an idolater do that? Well listen,
it says in verse 1, Nebuchadnezzar, the king, unto all people, nations,
and languages. And what he's doing, this is
Nebuchadnezzar speaking, this is a narrative of Nebuchadnezzar.
as it's recorded in the Word of God. And he felt him... he's talking to his kingdom unto
all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth.
Peace be multiplied unto you. This is from the king. And he
says in verse 2, I thought it good to show the signs and wonders
that the high God hath wrought or worked toward me. The high
God. How great are his signs and how
mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation."
There's an idolater recognizing, acknowledging, and declaring
the power of God. Now, again, you might ask, how
can that be? Well, now think about it. And
I want you to turn to the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 36. Turn
to 2 Chronicles chapter 36. Listen to what I'm going to tell
you now. At times, God, in His sovereign power and providence,
He will reveal some things about Himself to the heathen, certain
things about Himself, especially His sovereignty and His power
in all things. Now, why does He do that? Well,
here in Daniel 4, he does it to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon, in order to preserve his people while they're under
this foreign, heathen, idolatrous domination. He's going to preserve
Judah. And so he reveals certain things
about himself to the king of Babylon and that gives Daniel
favor with the king and thereby he's able to preserve his people
even while they're under this foreign, heathen, idolatrous
domination. And those like Daniel and Shadrach
and Meshach and Abednego, their faith was tested all the way
through. Well, why does he do that? Why is he going to preserve
Judah? Well, because he made a promise to Abraham, Isaac,
and to Jacob. He told them, he said, the scepter's
not going to depart from Judah until Shiloh come. Well, why
did he do that? Because he'd already made a promise
to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the
world, to whom he gave a people. And everything that God does
is working toward that goal. the salvation of his people in
Christ. Look at 2 Chronicles chapter
36, the last verses. Now often I read Isaiah chapter
46 when it comes to issues like this about God's sovereign providence
and the purpose of it. But in Isaiah chapter 46, he
mentions the rabid bird, the bird that comes out of the east,
an evil bird. And he's referring, that's a
prophecy, of this man here named Cyrus, king of Persia. God used
Cyrus, king of Persia. Remember the second empire, the
first empire, the head of gold was Babylon? Well, the second,
the shoulders and the arms of silver, that was the Medes and
the Persians, the Medo-Persian empire. Cyrus was the conqueror
who delivered Judah from Babylon and they took over the kingdom.
And it was prophesied that he would do that. And it says here
in verse 22 of 2 Chronicles chapter 36, "...is now in the first year
of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by
the mouth of Jeremiah..." It was prophesied in Jeremiah. I don't have the exact reference
there for Jeremiah, but I can look that up. But it says, "...the
mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished. The Lord stirred up the spirit
of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout
all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith
Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the
Lord God of heaven given me." This is Cyrus talking now, an
idolater. He's not a Christian. He's not
a Jewish man, he's a Persian. And he says, and he hath charged
me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there
among you of all his people? The Lord his God, be with him
and let him go up. Now God put that in this king's
heart in order to allow his people to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild
the city and rebuild the temple. And that's what's happening over
here with Nebuchadnezzar right now. Anyway, I know people can
argue about other things as we go along through. But what's
happening here? Well, look over at Daniel chapter
7. Here's what's happening. Look at Daniel chapter 7. Get
a little bit ahead of ourselves. And look at verse 14. Here's
exactly what's going on in the history of mankind. And it says,
he's talking about, look at verse 13, Daniel said, I saw in the
night vision to behold one like the son of man came with the
clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and they
brought him near before him and there was given him. Now who
is the ancient of days? It's Christ. He says, and there
was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people,
nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an
everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed. Christ is in control. That's what's going on back here.
what one of went on that's what's going to go on later in time
uh... up through the time of daniel
when saris king of persia comes in and takes over it's all god
working his way working all things after the council of his own
way up working towards that great and glorious point in time when
every knee will bow And every tongue will confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. That's what's going on. Look
back at Daniel 4. Look at verse 4. Now, here's
the king's dream. Here's what troubled Nebuchadnezzar.
Look at it. It says, I, Nebuchadnezzar, verse
4, I was at rest in my house and flourishing in my palace."
There's his state, he's in good health, he's at peace, he's flourishing,
he's rich. He said, I saw a dream which
made me afraid and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of
my head troubled me. He says, therefore made I a decree
to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me A lot of
commentators, they'll argue, well, why didn't he bring in
Daniel first? He knew Daniel couldn't do it. Well, this is
probably around 30 years after that other episode. I don't know.
I mean, I could tell you this. Let me give you the stock answer
I like to give you, and I've already given it to you. God's
working all things after the counsel of his own will. How
about that? I believe there's the bottom
line to it all. A lot of times we're not allowed to climb into
the head of people like Nebuchadnezzar or even believers, like the apostles,
and figure out why they made this move or that move. But all
I'm telling you, it's recorded right here, Nebuchadnezzar, he
called for his wise men, his counselors, the wise men of Babylon. He called them before him. It
says in verse six that they might make known unto me the interpretation
of the dream. And it says, then came in again,
you've heard this before, this list of the brain trust of Babylon,
the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And I told the dream before them.
This time, you remember last time he said, I'm not going to
tell you the dream, you tell it to me. And he put him to the test.
But this time he said, I told the dream before them, but they
did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof. Well,
one thing you can see here, look back there in verse six, Nebuchadnezzar,
he says, therefore made I a decree. Well, that just shows you something
about all the decrees of man. They really, they boil down to
nothing. I mean, he can make a decree
all he wants to. Nebuchadnezzar's decree did not
work. And his wise men failed. And
so anytime these wise men, as they're so called by Nebuchadnezzar,
these magicians, astrologers, chaldeans, soothsayers, and whatnot,
anytime they come in, listen, what's it teaching us? It's teaching
us the abject failure of man to figure it out. Salvation, for example. Man cannot
figure that out. We can't figure that out. When
we go to figuring, what do we do? We identify with Adam. We
identify with Cain. We identify with Babel. When
we go to figuring it out, well, I do something for God, he's
going to do something for me. That's man's figuring right there. And preachers are decreeing that
all up and down this country. But man's decree means nothing.
Man's figuring means nothing. Salvation has to come by revelation
from God. It must be revealed to us or
we will not see. The natural man will not receive
the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them. They're
spiritually discerned. And God reveals the things that
are freely given of God in Christ. That's what salvation is. It's
the free grace of God. It's the sovereign grace of God. It's the righteous grace of God. It's the merciful grace of God. God's decrees always work. God's decrees always. His purposes,
His decrees. God, listen, God never tries
to do anything. I'm telling you the truth. You
won't find the God of the Bible trying to do anything here. He
does as He will among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. Now the fact that we cannot sit
down and analyze all that and figure it out to the satisfaction
of our finite minds means nothing and doesn't touch these truths
in order to lessen them or diminish them. They're still true. God's
in control. And that's the bottom line. Look
on, he says in verse 8, he says, but at the last Daniel came in
before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, that was the Babylonian name
given him, according to the name of my God, now this is Nebuchadnezzar
talking, now this is the same one who just talked about the
God of heaven, The everlasting God. He said that Daniel's name
was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God. See, there
are many gods. Understand that. I mentioned
this last time, that in this culture, they had many gods.
They tolerate every god. You know? It's like I heard a
song one time about dogs, and they were talking about all those
dogs by nature are the same, and the guy ended up about religion.
He's talking about man's religion, people fussing and fighting and
dividing. He said, but all them gods are the same. And that's
the way they felt back then. And all those gods are the same.
They're all idols. But there's only one true and
living God. So he says, "...and in whom is the spirit of the
holy gods." Now, a lot of people want to give Nebuchadnezzar more
credit there than they ought to, but he's just simply admitting
here that Daniel is a special man. He's not just an ordinary
man. He's not like these magicians
and these soothsayers. Here's something special about
Daniel, in whom the spirit of the holy gods dwells. Now he
didn't know the true and living God, that is Nebuchadnezzar didn't,
but Daniel did. And he says, and before him I
told the dream saying. Now listen to the dream, verse
9. He says, O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know
that the spirit of the holy God is in thee. Now again, who's
talking here? Nebuchadnezzar. This isn't Daniel talking now.
This is the idolater talking. And he's using language that's
common to him and his natural depraved heart. And he says,
in no secret trouble of thee, tell me the vision of my dream
that I have seen and the interpretation thereof. So he goes on, he says,
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, was strong, the height thereof reached unto the
heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth.
The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and
it was all meat for all." There was enough on that tree to feed
everybody. The beast of the field had shadow under it, and the
fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and the 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." This is probably Nebuchadnezzar's view of his idolatrous gods,
that they watched over him in some way, and Holy One. He probably had a vision of one
individual. Now we can make an application
of we know who the watcher of all people really is, the true
and living God. The Holy One is truly the Lord
Jesus Christ. But Nebuchadnezzar didn't know
that now. He had no knowledge of the true
and living God other than that sovereignty that he saw in the
workings of this kingdom among Daniel. He certainly had no knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ, even when he saw the fourth man in
the furnace. He didn't realize that that's
a pre-incarnate appearance of the coming Messiah, the Lord
our righteousness. Nebuchadnezzar didn't see himself
as a sinner in need of mercy and grace. He knew he was a limited
man. Any man who doesn't know that's
a fool. Isn't that right? I mean, even the best of men.
Go out and look at the graveyards. They're full of indispensable
men and women. And so, Nebuchadnezzar knew some
limitations, but look on verse 14. It says, He cried aloud and
said, Hew down the tree. This Holy One cried aloud and
said, Hew down, cut down the tree. and cut off his branches,
shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit. Let the beast get
away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless,
leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band
of iron and brass." Leave the stump, but bind it, so to speak,
with a band of iron and brass. "'In the tender grass of the
field, let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion
be with the beast 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. Most commentators agree, and
I agree with that, that that's seven years. Now, obviously,
you know what he's talking, he's talking about that Nebuchadnezzar's
heart's going to be changed, and he's going to be put out
as a madman for seven years. And we'll get to that next time,
but now look at verse 17. He says, this matter is by the
decree of the watchers, the gods. or the heavenly host. How did
Nebuchadnezzar see this? We don't know, but we know it
was idolatrous. It was in ignorance. And he said, in the demand by
the word of the holy ones. Well, what do we know? What did
Daniel know? It was by the decree of Almighty
God. It was under the headship of
Christ in his providential sovereignty. And he said, to the intent that
the living Whoever's living may know that the Most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and
setteth up over it the basest, the meanest, the poorest, the
most wretched of men." That's what was revealed to Nebuchadnezzar
in the dream. that god's in control that's
that that's the that's the crux of the whole matter right there
and verse seventeen now why did he reveal this to that nebuchadnezzar
might understand and know that the one true and living god the
most high ruleth the kingdom of men and he gives it to whoever
he will even to the most wretched basest of men like nebuchadnezzar That's the key. God's decree,
not man's. God's will, not man's. Well,
look at verse 19, or verse 18. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar,
have seen, now thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation thereof.
For as much 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. You see what Nebuchadnezzar knew.
Again, he knew Daniel was a special man. He didn't know the God of
Daniel. But look at verse 19. Now Daniel
interprets the dream and he gives the king advice. It says, then
Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for one hour. He stood in amazement at this
dream. And his thoughts troubled him.
And the king spoke 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. Now he's paying
homage to the king because of his office. What he's doing is
he's troubled by it because he knows it's bad news for King
Nebuchadnezzar. And usually back then when somebody
brought the king bad news, you know what happened to him. Well,
it didn't happen to Daniel before. That's the sovereign providence
of God. It won't happen again, but he's
paying homage to the king in his office and it says in verse
20, unto the heaven, and 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 beast
of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the
heaven had their habitation, it is thou." You're the tree,
Nebuchadnezzar. "'It is thou, O king, that art
grown and become strong, for thy greatness is grown and reacheth
unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.'" That's
you. And whereas the king saw a watcher
and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, How the tree,
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 beast of the field,
till seven times pass over him. 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, giveth it, and giveth it to 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 have known
that the heavens do rule." In other words, God's not going
to take it completely away from you. He's going to give it back
to you for a while. Now ultimately, it is going to be destroyed.
Remember that statue in chapter 2? That's coming down. After this episode in Nebuchadnezzar's
life, God's going to give the kingdom back to him for a little
while. Now verse 27, Wherefore, or for this reason, O king, let
my counsel be acceptable unto thee, You consider this, and
accept it, and believe it, and break off thy sins by righteousness,
justice, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor?"
That was foreign to people like Nebuchadnezzar. "...that it may
be a lengthening of thy tranquility, peace in the kingdom." What's
this all about? Well, that tree that Nebuchadnezzar
Saul symbolizes the natural man's exalted view of himself. That's
what that tree is all about. Strong, high, fair, fruitful. That's the way man sees himself
by nature. Especially in religion. Pride,
self-righteousness, self-love, self-exaltation, self-promotion,
It comes out in every aspect of life, but especially in religion. Look over at the book of Luke,
chapter 18, with me. That's what that tree is. It
represents not just Nebuchadnezzar himself, it does. That's what
he said, you're the tree. God's teaching you a lesson.
But what is it all about? It's about this man's pride.
It's about his self-righteousness. It's about his self-will, his
self-love, his self-exaltation, his self-promotion. You see,
that's what man's all about. Self, self, self. That's why self has to be crucified,
you see. Look at Luke chapter 18 and verse
9. Christ spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in
themselves. That's who Nebuchadnezzar trusted
in himself, that they were righteous and despised others. Nebuchadnezzar
thought himself to be righteous. Man by nature thinks himself
to be righteous or at least righteous enough How many times have you heard
somebody say, well, I know I'm not perfect, but I haven't done anything
bad enough to go to hell? That's what they're saying. I
may not be perfectly righteous, but I'm righteous enough. Like
that tree, they think they're strong, but they think they're
strong enough to work their way to God's favor. That's what we
by nature think. We think we're strong enough
to make ourselves righteous before God, to clean ourselves up, to
wash away our own sins. And that's why he spoke this
parable in Luke chapter 18. Here's that Pharisee, verse 11. In verse 10 it says, two men
went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other
a publican. Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God,
I thank thee that I'm not as other men are. That's the same
thing as saying I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as others.
He says I'm not an extortioner, an unjust adulterer, even like
this publican, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all
that I possess. See that tree lifting himself
up? He thinks he's bearing all this
flourishing fruit. And that old publican, verse
13, standing afar off, would not even lift so much as his
eyes into heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. And that publican went down to
his house justified, but that Pharisee didn't. You see, that's
the problem back here. God hates a proud look. Proverbs
chapter 16. God resists the proud, but he
gives grace to the humble. Think about it. That's that tree. That's man by nature. Lifting
himself up with Adam. Lifting himself up with Satan.
I will send unto the most high. I'll work. I'm good enough. God
would be unjust to send me to hell. No, my friend, if God sends
anyone to hell, he's not unjust. Second thing, that watcher back
here in Daniel chapter 4, that holy one. Nebuchadnezzar didn't
know who they were, but Daniel did, and all God's children do. Who is the one that watches over
his people, controls every movement? to the praise of the glory of
His grace to bring His people to Christ, who works all things
after the counsel of His own will. Christ said all things,
all authority and powers given unto me under heaven and earth.
Why? In John 17 he said, to give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given. We know who that Watcher
and who that Holy One is. It's the Lord God Almighty, set
forth in revelation in the fullness of Christ, for in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're complete in
Him. And then thirdly, I want you
to turn to Isaiah chapter 61. The tree that God plants in salvation
will never fall. It'll never be cut down. It'll
always flourish. It'll always flourish. Now, Nebuchadnezzar,
he was told that his tree, himself, he's going to be cut down and
we'll study more on that Sunday night about how he was cut down. Do you remember he said there,
leave that stump, that root, and he said, cover it, bind it
with a band of iron and brass. You know what iron and brass
represent? Iron is strength. Brass is judgment. What that
is, that's the strong judgment of God upon Nebuchadnezzar. Remember, the statue had feet
of iron, that strong empire, the Roman Empire, but it also
had clay. Clay there. And so it was bound
to fall and come apart. But God bringing his judgment
down. Well, those trees that God plants in salvation will
never fall. They'll never be cut down. They'll
never suffer under the strong judgment of God. because Christ
has already done that for them. That's right. Look at Isaiah
61, verse 1, "...the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the
meek." That's not the proud, that's the submissive. That's
one whom God the Holy Spirit has brought down, showing us
our sins and our depravity. And if God were to mark iniquities,
we wouldn't stand. We're sinners. He has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, those who are brokenhearted over
their sin. Blessed are the poor in spirit. To proclaim liberty
to the captives, that's what we are. We're captives to sin,
to Satan, to the flesh. Our only hope to be set at liberty
is that Christ the Son make us free. And the opening of the
prison to them that are bound. We're not bound by the strong
judgment of God like Nebuchadnezzar was. Because Christ has taken
that... He was made sin, Christ who knew
no sin, for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
His appointed day, and the day of vengeance of our God, His
vengeance against our sin upon Christ on Calvary's tree, to
comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes. We've got ashes, but in
Him we have beauty. The oil of joy for mourning.
Oh, my soul. The garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees of righteousness. Oh, my soul. I don't want to
be a tree like Nebuchadnezzar. I want to be a tree of righteousness.
Well, where does that come from? It's the planting of the Lord.
And what it says? The Lord plants these trees.
that he might be glorified. Righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read you Psalm 92, verse
12. It says, the righteous shall
flourish like the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age. And they shall be
fat, that means healthy, and flourishing, to show that the
Lord is upright. In other words, this is not going
to be to our glory, but to His glory. He is my rock, Christ
is our rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. We read
it in Jeremiah 17, 8, Those who put their trust in the Lord shall
be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots
by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaves
shall be green, and shall not be careful or anxious in the
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." I
think about all the trees. Remember the olive tree of Romans
11? You know what the olive tree in Romans 11 is? It's God's elect,
Jew and Gentile. Christ humbled himself for our
salvation as he hung upon that tree of the cross. And the scripture
says, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having
salvation. He himself humbled himself. He's
lowly and riding upon an ass and upon the colt, the foal of
an ass. Psalm 138 and verse 6, let me
close by reading it. Though the Lord be high, yet
he hath respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar
off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive
me. Thou shalt stress forth thine hand against the wrath of mine
enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine
own hands." Well, that's what a sinner saved by grace is. He's
the work of God's own hand.