Learning Who Rules

Well, good morning. We're going to continue our lesson or our studies in the book of Daniel this morning. We're going to pick up in Daniel chapter four. And before we begin our lesson, let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we come before you a thankful and a needy people this morning. Lord, we pray that you would send your spirit to be among us, that we might not be gathered here in vain, but that you would send your spirit to anoint the word to the hearts of your people. If you don't bless us, Lord, we won't be blessed. We pray that you would take away the our thoughts of the world and let these clay vessels proclaim the word of our Lord Jesus Christ to the hearts of your people. We ask all these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right. As I said, we're going to pick up in Daniel chapter four today.

And as we've seen in the first three chapters, the Lord has been slowly revealing himself bit by bit to this King Nebuchadnezzar. And it seems that God's given him a head knowledge, but it hasn't gone to his heart yet. In chapter one, we read how God showed Nebuchadnezzar, that he had chosen certain children, those children of Israel, that were 10 times more wise than anybody else. Then in chapter 2, after his secrets were revealed to him, the king, he said with his mouth that Daniel's God was the true God. who can reveal secret things. In chapter two, verse 47, we read, the king answered unto Daniel and said, of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldst reveal this secret. But he only knew that in his head. In fact, the verse before, Nebuchadnezzar actually wanted to worship Daniel for interpreting that dream.

The Lord gave him that interpretation, but he was ready to worship the preacher and not God. And then in chapter 3, you know, we saw a little time went by and Nebuchadnezzar gave into that flesh again, right? He made a 90 foot tall graven image and many people think it was of him and told people you got to bow down and worship this.

And he saw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saved. through our Lord Jesus Christ. He saw a pre-incarnate appearance of our Lord. And he said with his mouth, there's no other God that can save after this sort, right? That can make us completely free of sin and righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. But even then, at the end of that chapter, he made a decree He was trusting in his power to force people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ instead of knowing that it was up to God to save whom he will save. He made a decree, everybody's got to worship this God that Daniel worships.

So God's been working on him, but it hasn't sunk into his heart yet. And now in chapter four, though, What we'll come to in chapter four is Nebuchadnezzar is speaking here, and he's gonna tell us this final lesson that God finally taught him. And that lesson is, who rules? God's gonna teach Nebuchadnezzar here who rules. And he learned the sovereignty of God.

You know, and we call ourselves the Sovereign Grace Church, right? That's kind of loosely the term that we use. And that's a difficult lesson for sinners to learn because we're so caught up in this flesh and what we can do that we don't, we don't by nature accept the sovereignty of God.

And the sovereignty of God simply means God rules. It means God is God. He's the cause of all things. Nothing happens without it being God's will. And, you know, God put Nebuchadnezzar in this position as king over Babylon in order to teach him that lesson. And in order to teach us. This word has been preserved for us through the ages, right? This is God's word to teach us that God rules.

And, you know, it's difficult for us to understand the position that Nebuchadnezzar was in because, you know, we live in a country, we have a president, right? But we also have two houses of Congress and we have a judicial branch. We've got three branches of government and there's no absolute ruler. Nebuchadnezzar was an absolute ruler.

Anything he said happened. If he wanted somebody dead, they were dead. If he wanted to elevate some Jewish children to positions of power, they were elevated. And what he said had to take place. He knew what authority was. But God's gonna teach him what absolute authority is and who really rules. So let's pick up reading here. We'll read through this and make some comments as we go through. So chapter four, verse one.

Nebuchadnezzar the king, Under all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. 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. So first thing we see here is this took place after everything happened, right? And God has shown him these signs and wonders that he's worked out towards him.

And he thought it was good to tell everybody what God has done. And he tells us why it's good to show the people that God has done. And it's to show that God ruleth. Three times in this chapter, I want to just skip forward and read, three different times he tells us why it's good for him to tell people what God has done.

In verse 17, if we skip down, at the end of verse 17, it says, we find out why. To the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth it up over the basis of men." The reason it's good for us to know what happened with Nebuchadnezzar is so that we know that God rules. Skip over to verse 25. The end of verse 25, it says, Till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

Salvation is of the Lord. That's God's glory. I will save whom I will save. I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And then verse 32, at the end of that verse again, we see, Until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. So that's the purpose of all of this.

What Nebuchadnezzar's gonna tell us, the purpose of that is to the intent that we're gonna know who rules over everything. Notice the first time we read that in verse 17, it said, all the living will know. Those that have been born again, they know this. He didn't know it when he was dead in his sins, but it was taught him, God taught him this. and he's born again and he has life and now he knows it. And I pray that we're gonna see that ourselves, that the living will know that God in heaven rules in the kingdom of man. Okay, so let's go on reading in verses four through nine.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in mine house and flourishing in my palace, I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions on my head troubled me. Therefore made I a 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, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them that they did not make it known unto me the interpretation thereof. But at the last, Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my God. And in the spirit of the holy gods before him, I told the dream saying, oh, Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy God is in thee and no secret trouble with thee. Tell me the visions of my dream that I've seen in the interpretation thereof.

So the first thing we see here is the king was fat, dumb, and happy, right? He was at rest and flourishing in his palace. And God gave him a dream that made him afraid. And isn't that how we are so often? That in order for us to turn to the Lord, we have to be troubled. We've got to be put in a place to see that we don't, We don't have it. You know, I got this. No, you don't have it. God's going to put us in a place where we're troubled and when we're feared, afraid, and that's where he puts us to teach us.

And, you know, nobody could interpret that dream. And eventually he turns to Daniel. And I don't know why it took him so long, because he knows that the spirit of God is in Daniel. But it did, and Daniel spoke, he had spoken the words of God to the king before.

And there's a lesson in that for us. When we're in times of trouble, when we're not in times of trouble, but don't hesitate to seek the word of the Lord. To go where you know God's word is. to go to the Bible, to look for God's word in all that you're facing, and to go to the living word. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the living word. Go to Christ, seek God's word in these times of trouble. Because God's gonna put us there. He's gonna put us, he's gonna make us uncomfortable, he's gonna get us out of our comfort zone. Or at least I pray that he will. And then that we turn to him. Okay, verses 10 through 12. Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed.

I saw and built a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. and the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and then it was meat for all. The beasts had the field of shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the bowels thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. Can you imagine the size of this tree that he saw in this vision? Everybody in the world could see it. It grew to the heavens to where everybody could see that tree. And it provided food for everyone. It provided shelter, shelter and food even for the beasts of the field.

And then continuing, I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed and behold, a watcher of an holy one came down from heaven and cried aloud and said thus, Hew down the tree, 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 the band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field. Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let this portion be with the beast and 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. Seven times is seven years.

This matter is by the decree of the watchers in the demand and demand by the word of the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will. and setteth it up over the basest of men.

So this holy one came down from heaven in his dream and said, cut down the tree. Cut down this tree that everybody's looking to. And why? That the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will. That holy one came down and said, the purpose of tearing down this tree is to declare the sovereignty of God.

It's to declare, and we have no gospel, no good news without the sovereignty of God. That's the basis of the gospel. And it thrills the heart of a believer to think of the absolute power of God. Because we look around us and we don't understand what's going on, but we know that it's of God.

God rules. God does as he pleases, only what he pleases, always what he pleases, And when he pleases, God is in control. Everything is all, God's will is always gonna be done. What's it say in Psalm 115? Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. God's accomplishing his will in everything that happens in this world. It's God accomplishing his will.

And you know, we run into people And we've been there ourselves where we say, I don't believe that. My friend died. My husband died. That can't be God's will. I'm left alone. It's God's will for them. And if somebody doesn't believe it, it's God's will that they don't believe it. Just like it's God's will that you do believe it. What does it say in Proverbs? The preparations of the heart in men and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. If it's not given to someone to believe, that's of God.

And people, they're gonna argue and they'll say, but doesn't man have a will? Yes, we have a will. It's in bondage to sin, but we have a will and men do, exactly what they want to do. Frank, you asked me to read, so I've read ahead for what our lesson is going to be this afternoon, you know, for our service, and we're going to see men do what they will do. They do exactly what they want to do, and God's will is sovereign over man's will. We've got to remember that. Men do exactly what they want to do when they want to do it, but God's will is sovereign over that. And God has determined before what he wants us to do. When they crucified the Lord, let's turn to Acts chapter four. The people that crucified our Lord Jesus Christ did exactly what they wanted to do, but it's God that determined it to be done.

In Acts 4, verse 10, we read, Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, you did this, you wanted to do it, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. And then skipping down to verses 26 through 28. The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done."

They did what they wanted to do, but it's what God had determined to be done beforehand. And our natural reaction is to say, well, that's not fair. If God purposed it, how can I be held responsible for it? Well, we are. That's the only answer I can give. We are. Did you do it? Yes. Well, you're responsible for it.

And we see that in the Old Testament when they're talking about Pharaoh and Pharaoh hardening his heart. And then later, other times it says God hardened his heart. In Exodus 815 we read, but when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, respite, he hardened his heart and hearken not unto them as the Lord had said. than in Exodus 934 we read, and when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder were ceased, he sent yet more and hardened his heart, he and his servants. It seems like whenever we have the good times instead of the troubled times is when we tend to harden our hearts against God, where we, like I said, we're fat, dumb, and happy, and we don't look to the Lord. But Romans chapter nine, we read, in verses 17 through 18, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and on whom he will, he hardeneth. That's Paul telling the Romans about Pharaoh. And he hardened his heart, and God also hardened his heart. But Paul knew what our natural thoughts were gonna be to that, right?

And he answers it in verses 19 through 20, it says, Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? Why does God find fault if he hardened Pharaoh's heart? For who hath resisted his will? Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Who are we to judge God?

Our thoughts aren't his thoughts. His thoughts are so high above ours that we can't even fathom them. And we're so sinful that we don't understand that if God does it, it's right. And it's going to be for his glory and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not for man's glory. It's not for man's glory. We're the beneficiaries of Christ, and we're going to glorify him and be found in him. So, yes, we have a will, but our will is against God. We're born in sin. We're nothing but sin, and unless we're going to be born again, we're just going to continue to oppose God, and it's going to be on us. It's on us.

Well, when Daniel heard that dream, he was troubled by it because he knew what it meant, and he didn't want to tell the king, and the king said, now, come on, you've got to tell me. So picking up in verse 20, let's see the interpretation of that dream.

The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached into the heaven, and the sight thereof was unto all the earth, whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon the branches the fowls of heaven had their habitation. 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. And whereas the king saw the watcher and the holy one coming down from heaven and saying, hew the tree down and destroy it and leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with the band of iron and brass and the tender grass of the field and let it be wet in the dew of heaven and let this portion, let his portion be with the beast of the field until seven times pass over him. This is the interpretation of king and this is the decree of the most high. which has 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 the oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of the heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou knowest, till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

So here's the interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar, that tree, that kingdom, that's you. And God's raised you up, but he's also gonna cut you down. He's gonna, he's gonna, he's gonna take his hand from you and you're gonna become like a beast to the field. You're gonna, and he's gonna let you be out of your mind, behaving like an animal. for seven years.

Verse 28, I'm sorry, verse 26, or as 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. But there's a remnant. Your kingdom is still gonna survive. God's gonna leave a stump and that kingdom's gonna be restored, but it's not gonna be restored until after you've learned that God's God, that God rules, and you are gonna learn this.

And then verse 27, 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 that a lengthening of thy tranquility. So here he's giving, Daniel's giving Nebuchadnezzar some good advice here.

He's saying repent. God said this is gonna happen, but don't be fatalistic about it. Don't think there's nothing you can do. The command of the gospel is to repent. You know, Jonah went into Nineveh and he went through there telling them, God's going to destroy this place in 40 days.

And what did they do? They repented. Jonah 9 through 10 says, who can tell if God will turn and repent? and turn away from his fierce angle, that we perish not. And God saw their works, that they turned away from their evil, and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did it not." God's will was that they would repent, and they did.

And if you feel led to repent, to turn from yourself and turn to God, God's put that in you. Do it. Do it, that's the command of the gospel. We're commanded to always seek God, always seek his mercy, always seek his grace. Mark 1 15 said, and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel. Believe the good news that Christ died for sinners. Acts 20, 21 testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. we have repentance towards God, we're gonna have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And, well, did Nebuchadnezzar learn after what Daniel told him? Well, let's read on. And all this came upon the king, Nebuchadnezzar, at the end of 12 months, a year later, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is it not this great Babylon that I have built up for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?

Oh, we're so full of arrogance and pride. Everything that we have, everything we have is from God, especially the ability to know the true and living sovereign God. And yet we're proud of it. We become, Proud of our faith. And that faith, it's not of ourselves, it's of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're partakers in his faith. It's nothing that we produce, it's given to us. And yet, here's Nebuchadnezzar, God's made me to be a great king. Well, that's what he was told, but he talked about how he built it. He built it for his own majesty. Well, we can see where this is gonna go. Verses 31 through 33.

While the word was yet in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat the grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee until thou know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. That same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like bird's claws.

He didn't take a bath for seven years. He was out there eating grass for seven years. His fingernails grew until they were like eagle talons and his hair was just so matted that it looked like feathers of eagles. He was made as a beast of the field and he's going to learn that man at his best state is altogether vanity. He was all puffed up with what he had done, and God brought him low. But there's still good news. There's good news.

And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes to heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed, worshiped the Most High, and 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. 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 say unto him, what doest thou?

It took seven years, and that seven, right, we've talked about that before in our lessons, that seven, that's a number of completeness, of perfection. God completed a work in his heart. He was born again, and when he was born again, he stopped looking to his self, and he lifted his eyes up to heaven. He lifted his eyes up to heaven and he learned the sovereignty of God and he worshipped him. He worshipped God for who he is, the sovereign king. And he learned that man at his best state is altogether vanity. And that God is in absolute control. And his will's gonna be done because he has the power to make it so. God has the power over everything, and he's gonna make it so. He has absolute authority. How do I know he's born again?

Well, verses 36 and 37. At that same time, my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness was returned unto me. My counselors and my Lord sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me, to be established in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be one with him. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all whose works are truth, in his way's judgment, and those that walk in pride, He is able to abase. He's able to take my pride away from me and bring me down to worship Him.

Truth and judgment. That's what our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. Truth and judgment. Because of our sin, we owe a debt that we cannot pay. We're completely separated from God. But on the cross, Our Lord Jesus Christ endured the judgment of God. He endured God's judgment for the sins of his people. And those people have been made completely righteous in him. And God, whose truth, who sees things as they are, sees his people, is righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I just can't get over that. God, who's sovereign over all things, has done this for us. John 17, two. As thou has given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. He's sovereign over all things to give eternal life to as many as God has given him. Romans 8, 28.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose, for those who have been born again to love God, who have been called according to his eternal purpose. So then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And all three parts of the Godhead are sovereign in salvation. Romans 9, 18 talks about the Father's sovereign will in salvation. Therefore, hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and on whom he will he hardeneth. The Son is sovereign in salvation. John 5, 21, for as the Father raises up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. In the Holy Spirit, is sovereign in salvation. John 3, 8, the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou will hearst the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.

What's our response to God's sovereignty? What's your response? What's my response? May God show us mercy to abase us when we walk in pride. And may he give us the spirit and the attitude of that leper that came to him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. But he worshiped him first. Let's worship our Lord Jesus Christ.

And you may say, well, I can't. I can't do that. John 6, 44 says, no man can come unto me except the father which has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. I can't. Do it anyway. Do it anyway. If God has put it in your heart to seek the Lord Jesus Christ, come unto him. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. All right, may the Lord bless his word.

Learning Who Rules

Sermon Transcript

Comments

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Learning Who Rules

Sermon Transcript

Comments

More from Dan Morgan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book