I've entitled the message this
morning, Brought Low for Salvation. Brought Low for Salvation, because
how great a bringing low was this one. How great. You know,
it's very easy to confuse spiritual awakening with spiritual life. We do it all the time. We're
so enthusiastic when we're small in number, when there seems to
be so little faith in our days, we're so eager to grasp at the
faintest little wisp of a straw that here's somebody who's become
a Christian. Oh, let's make a great fuss of them. Let's put out the
red carpet. Let's bow down before them. Let's do all sorts of things
to make them feel so, so welcome. And we confuse what was merely
spiritual awakening with spiritual life. You know what James said?
The Apostle James, he said, even the devils believe. Just some
appreciation that there's a God is not spiritual life. Even the
devils believe and they tremble. And this great potentate, this
great king, this head of gold of the statue of Daniel chapter
2, this man had experienced the true God. Yet his heart wasn't
changed. His heart was as cold and as
hard and as self-reliant as ever. What had he done? He'd seen in
chapter 1, he'd seen the way that the true God had blessed
Daniel and his three companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego we better know them as by their
Babylonian names he blessed them with wisdom and it says ten times
better I don't think that was done with an objective SATS test
where they got ten times the marks that the others did but
you know what he's saying they were in an altogether league
of their own their wisdom was altogether different from the
worldly wisdom of the wisest men of the kingdom they were
in a league of their own and this Nebuchadnezzar had seen
that and he'd seen that there's something special about these
guys from Jerusalem where they've got this funny religion there's
something special about them and then in chapter 2 he'd seen
God as sovereign over all history when he'd had that terrifying
dream that took his sleep away from him and he'd seen that he
was the head of gold and he'd been put there by the God of
the universe. It wasn't because he was stronger
or cleverer or more powerful or richer than anybody else.
It was God that had given him all of those things and put him
in that position, but that he would go. His kingdom would come
to an end and would be replaced by the Medes and Persians. I'm
sure the name wasn't given to them, but the shoulders and the
breast of silver and then on to the bronze, the brass of the
Greek Empire, and then the legs of iron, which was the Roman
Empire, and then all of the toes, which are the nations, even as
we see them in our days. But in the end of that time of
the Roman Empire, he was told that there would be an everlasting
kingdom. That God would establish his kingdom, and it would be
an everlasting kingdom. Not like those kingdoms, however
worldly powerful, they would come and they would go. But that
kingdom, which was like a little rock, hewn out without hands,
made by God, would come and would crush all of the rest and the
wind would just blow the powder, the dust away. He'd seen all
of those things. And then in chapter 3, there
was Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who would not bow to his idolatrous
statue that he'd made in response to the vision that he'd had in
chapter 2. What does he do? Instead of the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shining into
his heart, he gets this idolatrous view of God. as so many do with
their religion. They get a sense of God and they
set up an idol and it becomes something that they compel others
to worship and so did he. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
wouldn't bow down and worship his idol so he threw them in
the burning fiery furnace. And not only did Nebuchadnezzar
see them thrown into the fiery furnace, listen, he saw the Son
of God. You say, wow, there's a man that
saw the Son of God. Surely he's a Christian. No.
The unregenerate Nebuchadnezzar looked into that furnace and
he saw the three servants of God who he'd thrown in there
walking with a fourth who was the Son of God. He saw that.
He saw all. Surely he's a believer, isn't
he? Surely he's a Christian after all of these things. Surely the
wonderful things. How on earth would they not believe
if they saw that? Surely if if we could do something
similar in Nebuchadnezzar, wouldn't the people believe? Surely if
there could be miracles in our day, wouldn't the people believe?
And Jesus said in that parable about the rich man and Lazarus,
and the rich man cries out, go and please tell my brothers,
go and tell them. You know, go and do some miracle
before them. Perhaps if somebody rose from the dead, they would
believe. Please go down, gather up Nebuchadnezzar and go down
to the cemetery. And let's see some people come
out of the graves and then they'll believe. And Abraham in the parable
says, let them go and read Moses and the prophets. Let them go
and read the word of God. This place, Neboth, other places
up and down this land, what have they got? What have they got?
They've got this book. They've got Moses and the prophets
and not only that, the words of Christ. They've got the truth
of Christ. They've got the foundation of
the prophets and the apostles and the patriarchs. It's all
there. And he says, let them go and listen to them. And the
rich man replies, ah, but no, no, no, I know they've got that.
But if one should rise from the dead, and Abraham says, ah, if
they won't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe
even if one would rise from the dead in front of them. This is
what we have, the word of God. Because it's not by human understanding. It's not by being impressed.
It's by the spirit of the living God coming upon us, that we see
light, and we see truth, and we see his salvation. But Nebuchadnezzar
remained through all those things he'd seen in self-sufficient
pride. Oh yes, he was the richest, most
powerful man that has ever existed. He was truly that head of gold.
But all of us in our natural selves have that pride of self-sufficiency
before God when facing eternity. It's only things like accidents
or diseases that bring us face to face with it or perhaps old
age when we know that maybe our time isn't much longer. It's
only those things that bring us face to face with it. But
so often we just remain in our self-sufficient pride. But I
tell you, I believe that God had purposed to save this man. Many others he hadn't, but he
purposed to save this man. I want to show you what God did
to him, and then I want to show you why I think God had saved
him. And there's some lessons in it
for us. This chapter 4 is Nebuchadnezzar's personal testimony. It starts
in verse 1. It's a letter. Nebuchadnezzar
the king, unto all people, nations, and languages. I thought it good,
verse 2, 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.
He's writing a letter to his empire. You know, I've been through
a terrible experience. I've been through a humbling
experience. I've been through a shameful experience. But He's exalted me. How has
He exalted me? He's shown me His truth. He's
shown me His power. He's shown me His sovereignty.
It's His letter, the account of what happened to Him. There
was a dream. He was given another dream. And
the dream was of a tree, a magnificent tree that was fruitful and gave
prosperity and abundance to all around it. The beasts of the
field dwelt under it and all people fed from it. It's a picture
of himself and he knew. Archaeologists tell us that the
tree was the symbol of the power of the king. It was the symbol.
But it was to be cut down. It was a decree from heaven that
this great, magnificent, never before equal tree was to be cut
down. But its root was to be left firmly
in the ground with iron bands it was to be protected with iron
he knew he knew from from just secular writings he knew that
that was a symbolical of the fact that his power was to be
taken from him but he didn't want to hear it you know when
you you've got something malignant you hear people who've got something
malignant and they really know they have but they stay away
from the doctors And so they go and talk to people who'll
tell them, oh no, you're all right, just take this powder,
you'll be okay, or start eating such and such a plant and you'll
be okay. No, he stayed away from the one who could really tell
him, and that was Daniel. So when his soothsayers had given
him no convincing comfort at all, he couldn't get any peace,
he called for Daniel, for he knew that Daniel could. He'd
experienced that chapter two dream, he'd experienced that.
And he didn't need to tell Daniel you must tell me what I've dreamt
otherwise I won't believe your interpretation of it as he had
before he knew that he knew that the God of heaven would reveal
to Daniel the thoughts of his dream and of his heart he knew
that he didn't so he tells Daniel what the dream is and then we
read in verse 19 he's finished speaking he's told him at this
stage he doesn't know he only thinks the spirit of the holy
gods is in Daniel See, he's a polytheist. He doesn't know the true God.
He just thinks the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. You've got a
powerful God, but there's lots of them. There's lots of possible
gods, but there's a good one in you. He doesn't see that it
is the Most High, the High God. He doesn't see that it is the
One whose dominion is from everlasting to everlasting. He doesn't see
that yet, but he calls for Daniel. And he tells him all these things.
And then Daniel, verse 19, whose name was Belteshazzar, that's
after the name of his God, the name of Nebuchadnezzar's God. It says, this is a very old-fashioned
word, but I think we know what it means, then Daniel was astonished,
not astonished, it says he was astonished for one hour. It means
the same, shocked, absolutely shocked. He was shocked at what
he saw. You, the most powerful king,
who've elevated me, Daniel, to such great heights in the kingdom.
And we've been through such experiences. You, whose word is death and
life, you who speak and it happens, you who have all things in your
hands and your power are going to be brought so low. You're
going to be brought to such a position of humility. Oh, King Nebuchadnezzar,
this is what it means. Your kingdom's going to be taken
from you for a time. Not permanently, because those
iron bands will keep the root in the ground. And these seven
times, this divinely ordained time of seven times, seven years,
it doesn't really matter whether it's seven years or seven months
or seven, it's a time determined by God. And because He's determined
it, He's ordained it, He knows it's going to be that long, He
brings it to pass. For this amount of time, your
power is going to be taken from you. And those wise men that
ran and feared when you snapped your fingers, they did exactly
what you wanted them to, those wise men are going to say, he's
lost it completely. We can't have him in power. And
they're going to put you out into the grass of the field with
the beasts of the field. And you're going to be naked.
And your hair is going to grow long and you're just going to
be covered with the hair of your head. And your nails are going to grow
like eagle's claws. And you're going to eat grass
like an oxen in the field. and you're going to have the
heart of a beast, it says. The heart of man, you know, the
sense and the language and the sensibility of a man will be
taken from you and the heart of a beast will be given to you
for this length of time until you've learned that it's the
Most High who rules in the affairs of man. He told him the interpretation. Because Nebuchadnezzar had said,
don't hold back, Daniel. I want to know. Tell me. Tell
me the truth. Don't hold anything back from
me. So he tells him the truth. And in verse 27, look in verse
27, Daniel's shocked at what he's seen. Oh, this is such a
dreadful thing that's going to happen, Nebuchadnezzar. 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. Why did Daniel
say that? Well, no doubt he knew about
situations like Nineveh, you know Jonah the prophet was I
can't remember the history exactly but these sorts of things but
we could take as an example Jonah and the city of Nineveh you know
Jonah was told to go and preach righteousness against that city
of Nineveh which was a great city but such a sinful city and
full of wickedness because God had determined that he was going
to judge them and destroy them like Sodom and Gomorrah and they
had warnings and they didn't heed the warnings and Jonah went
and he preached that reluctant prophet, he went and preached.
Why was he reluctant? Because he didn't want these
evil people to be saved. He wanted to stand in the place
of God and judge them. It was the Jews, it was the people
of Judah who ought to be saved, but not these people of Nineveh.
But he went and preached and you know his word sounded in
their ears and the Spirit of God spoke to them and they repented
in sackcloth and ashes and God relented. That doesn't mean he
changes, he's the same yesterday, today and forever. But in his
sovereign purposes, he relented of the judgment that he had promised
them if they did not repent and they repented and we know from
the Acts of the Apostles when Paul preached on one occasion
and God granted to the Gentiles repentance God gave them repentance
and so Daniel's thinking King Nebuchadnezzar repent put off
your sins it may well be that God has threatened you but if
you repent it may well be that these things will not come upon
you He calls him to repentance. He'd already told him, Daniel
had already told him of that great kingdom of God. He told
him of that little stone taken out, made, cut out, not with
human hands, that came and crushed the kingdoms of the world. He
told him about this kingdom of God. He told him what that means. It means the sovereign salvation
of a people. When you hear about the kingdom
of God, I'll say more about it later, but it's the sovereign
salvation of a people. And he's saying, there may be
a chance to avoid fearful judgment. Fearful judgment. Oh, that he
might see a glimpse of the wrath to come, because the Scriptures
are clear. God, the holy God, the true God, must punish sin. He cannot remain God and not
punish sin. Sin is absolutely vile in His
eyes. It's an absolutely dreadful thing.
And by His grace, you know this, I keep mentioning it, I'll find
that hymn one of these days, Praise the grace whose fears
alarmed me. Oh, if you've got a fear of eternal
judgment, praise the grace whose fears alarmed you, roused you
from your slothful ease. In Psalm 119 and verse 120, we
read the testimony of one who has seen the judgment of God
against human sin. And he says, my flesh trembles
for fear of thee. Have you ever been so frightened
of something that you couldn't stop shaking? I have very very
very rarely I can't remember the last time but you know that
feeling when when it's as if when it's as if your stomach
would fall out of your body so frightened of a situation my
flesh trembles for fear of thee Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 16 the
prophet sees the judgments of God from a position of safety
and salvation himself he sees the judgments of God and he says
when I heard my belly trembled while being trembled at the thought
of the judgments of God. You see, before God will save
anyone, before he will save Nebuchadnezzar, before he will save me, before
he will save you, he must bring us low. That's what he must do.
Turn to Psalm 116. Psalm 116, which is the testimony
of one who was brought low. You see, he loves the Lord, Psalm
116, verse 1. Because He's heard my voice and
my supplications. He's inclined His ear unto me.
Therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. Why? Because
I was brought low. Verse 3. The sorrows of death
compassed me. This is fear of judgment for
sin and for the certain just judgment of God upon sin. And
the pains of hell got hold of me. And I found trouble and sorrow. And to whom can I go in that
situation? And to whom can I call? I can
only call upon the Lord. So I called upon the name of
the Lord. Deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord. Praise
the grace whose fears alarm me. Gracious is the Lord and righteous.
Yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple. Not the proud. Not the complicated. Not the arrogant. The Lord preserveth
the simple. And then this is his testimony.
I was brought low and he helped me. I was brought, I think they're
lovely words, I was brought low and He helped me. Our God helps
those who He brings low. He brings us low in order to
help, to save, to save from that situation. We must learn that
we are sick before we go to the physician. Is that not right? We must learn, we must believe
there's something wrong before we go to see the doctor. And
we must learn that we're sick in our souls with sin before
we go to the physician. of our souls in Mark chapter
2 verse 17 Jesus says they that are whole they that think they're
well they that think they don't have any need they that are whole
have no need of a physician but they that are sick I came not
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance but there are no
righteous no not one there are only those who are self righteous
and Jesus didn't come to call the self-righteous but sinners
to repentance Oh, that he would show us that we're sinners. Oh,
that he would give us that sight. This is what George Whitefield
said a long time ago, that great preacher who preached in this
country and in America. He said this, If you have never
felt the weight of original sin, do not call yourselves Christians.
I am verily persuaded that original sin is the greatest burden of
a true convert. Not how good he is. Original
sin, the greatest burden of a true convert. This ever grieves the
regenerate soul, the sanctified soul. The indwelling sin in the
heart is the burden of a converted person. It is the burden of a
true Christian. He continually cries out, Oh,
who will deliver me from this body of death, this indwelling
corruption of my heart? This is that which disturbs a
poor soul most. And therefore, if you never felt
this inward corruption, If you never saw that God might justly
curse you for it, indeed, my dear friends, you may speak peace
to your hearts, but I fear, nay, I know there is no peace. For
as the Word of God says, they speak peace, peace, the false
prophets, when there is no peace. That's what they say. Peace,
peace. It's such a mistake if we think we can bring any of
our goodness and our importance to God. In Matthew chapter 23
and verse 12, Jesus said this, He who exalts himself will be
abased, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." Or that God
would grant us repentance, true, humbling, abasing repentance,
to cast ourselves as beggars, poverty-stricken, pleading only
for mercy at his feet. That he might lead us, as Peter
says, and as we read right at the start of the service, 1 Peter
chapter 5 verse 6, to humble ourselves Therefore, under the
mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." You see,
pride and self-righteousness and self-reliance, it must be
put down. God must put it down. He will
not have a proud heart. He will not have one shred of
self-reliance. It must all be put down. A man,
when he's talking to the rich young ruler, and he tells him
to give away his things, because his problem was covetousness,
and he couldn't see it. He was self-righteous. He was
proud in his own eyes, and he thought that he was good enough
for God, because he'd obeyed all the law of God, and therefore
he would inherit eternal life. That was his question. What must
I do? Well, I've done all these things. Well, go and sell what
you have, because he had a covetous heart. He had a sinful, covetous
heart, and he went away sorrowful. And the disciples were amazed,
and those around were amazed. And he said, a rich man cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven. What you mean If I have a few
quid in the bank, I've got to get rid of it before I can be
a Christian." That's not what he's saying at all. He's talking about riches
in self-righteousness. Deceiving riches of self-righteousness. He says, a man who is rich in
his own righteousness cannot enter the kingdom of God. He
said it's easier for a camel, that great fat beast. We went
to the zoo the other week and you see them. And they do look
like they could do with a diet, but that's their natural shape.
They're fat and they've got the big humps on their back. And
you know what the eye of a needle is? Don't you believe it when
people try and get round it and tell you that it's a pretty narrow
gate in the wall of Jerusalem? It's not. It's the eye of a needle
that you sew with. You know, you ladies can... This
is not a politically incorrect ladies, gentlemen thing, but
my wife laughs at me when I try to thread a needle. She just
goes... And there it's done. And I'm
sat there trying to poke... I can't even get a thread through
the eye of a needle. And a thread's meant to go through
the eye of a needle. Never mind a camel. God says this, our God
in Jesus Christ says, a man who is rich in his own righteousness
cannot enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle. And so Nebuchadnezzar had this
revelation pointed out to him. He had this warning of judgment
to come. He had this plea, this preacher's
plea from Daniel. Repent. Today is the day of salvation. Repent. put off your sins show
mercy to the poor perhaps if you come as a penitent sinner
to the throne of God perhaps he will have mercy and this will
not come upon you and a week goes by and it hasn't happened
the month goes by and the fear and the awful shock of what's
going to happen is beginning to fade in Nebuchadnezzar's mind
and a year goes by interesting incident happened
to me but nothing's happened now I'll just carry on exactly
the way I am and at the end of 12 months verse 29 he walked
in the palace of the kingdom in his self-sufficient pride
in his self-righteousness his self-sustaining pride and the
king spoke and he said is this not this great Babylon that I
have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power
I mean, he's taken a bit more to himself than history tells
us is true, because there was already a lot of it there before
he got there. But history also tells us, archaeology
tells us, that this was an absolutely magnificent kingdom. Ancient
writings say that this city was not just the capital, it was
enormous, absolutely enormous, it was magnificent. The hanging,
I've already told you, the hanging gardens of Babylon, which were
built in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, at his command, were regarded
as one of the seven wonders of the world. Absolutely phenomenal. You know, they've done experiments
as to how they would have been irrigated. I don't know if you
saw the documentary program where they worked out how they got
the water from the river up there so that it could irrigate these
hanging gardens. And yes, it's perfectly possible
that this thing worked. It was a magnificent thing. And
you know, there's nothing more pleasing to the human heart than
to stand back from something that you have done and say, wow,
look at that. I stand there with you. I'm really
pleased at some of the things I've done. I remember one job
I did at work, which was setting up a new training center, and
I remember the feeling of utter delight the morning we handed
it over to the client. Lovely sunny morning, going with
my video camera to take pictures of it so they had a record for
posterity that this was the state of the place when we started
it up. It's a lovely feeling. Look at what I've done. But don't
you see what he's saying? Do you know what my least favorite
popular song is of all time? It's the one that many people
would say was their favorite song of all time. Janine's grinning
because I think she knows what I'm going to say. I did it my
way. And I hate that song because every sentiment of it is proud
self-reliance. Every sentiment of it is proud
self-reliance. Whereas the testimony of the
true child of God is only because of the grace of God am I what
I am. Left to myself, I'm a sinner deserving of his eternal condemnation. But under his mercy, he's brought
me to where I am. Nebuchadnezzar said, I did it
my way. Look at this. I didn't need anything else.
And then he's abased. Immediately, when the word was
in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven which repeated
the dream. This is what's going to happen.
And within the hour, it happened. Within the hour, He was driven
from men. The same hour, verse 33. He was
driven from men. He ate grass as oxen. His body
was wet with the dew of heaven. His hairs grew like eagle's feathers
and his nails like bird's claws. And that went on for seven times. Seven years if you agree with
John Gill. I don't mind. That went on. That was fulfilled.
But then he was exalted. Verse 34. At the end of the days
I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven. Now listen
to his testimony. After he's been brought low,
listen to his testimony of God helping him. 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,
me included, is what he's saying. and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth." I bet you've heard this a lot, haven't you? You've heard
this verse. Did you realize it was Nebuchadnezzar that said
it? 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? At the same time my reason returned
unto me. and for the glory of my kingdom
mine honor and my brightness returned unto me and my counselors
and my lord sought unto me and I was established in my kingdom
and excellent majesty was added unto me now I Nebuchadnezzar
I'm no longer proud in my own strength but I praise and extol
and honor the king of heaven praise my soul the king of heaven
to his feet thy tribute bring all whose works are truth and
his ways judgment and those that walk in pride He is able to abase. I believe He was saved. I believe
God brought Him low in order to save Him. Why do I think God
saved Him? There are some who don't. There
are some who doubt. But I believe God saved this man. In verse
34, His understanding returned to Him. His understanding. Do
you remember the man who was in the tombs in Jesus' ministry? And nobody could restrain him.
He was so violent. He was filled with spirits and
Jesus cast out those spirits and they went into a herd of
swine and the swine ran and landed in the lake and so on and so
forth. As I heard one of the preachers at Don's conference
this year say, I wonder what they did with all that pork.
A lot of pigs. But that man who nobody had been
able to constrain, where do we see him? Sitting at Jesus's feet
and what was he like? He was clothed and in his right
mind. Nebuchadnezzar says, my understanding
returned unto me. He was humbled under the mighty
hand of God. Humbled under the mighty hand
of God, that he might be exalted in due season. And what's his
attitude of heart? It's the attitude, you see, true
worship only comes from true experience. You can make a lot
of noise and you can go through all of your liturgies and rituals,
but do you know, that still small voice, that quiet place, you
truly worship the God of heaven. And he draws praise which is
due to his name for salvation, for his grace, for his love to
such a one as me, to such an undeserving one. And he's worshipping
and praising and extolling the God of heaven. He's bowing before
God's sovereignty and omnipotence. That is the best known doxology
of the sovereignty of God in scripture. And it's the words
of Nebuchadnezzar. You know, he does according to
his will in the army of heaven. He does according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
who strut and puff their chests out and threaten with their weapons
and their economies and their materialism. He does all of that,
but none can stay his hand. None can. None can. Or say unto
him, what do you think you're doing? Who gave you permission? Nobody says to God, who gave
you permission to do this? He's God. He is sovereign. All
of this was shown to Nebuchadnezzar. You know, like Job, I mentioned
him a week or two ago, Job said his testimony when he knew the
truth. At the last chapter of the book of Job, he said, I had
heard of thee with the hearing of the ear. And it had taught
me a lot, but now mine eye sees. And what do I do? I abhor myself
and repent in sackcloth and ashes. He could see who God really is
and how he related to him. Nebuchadnezzar saw the true state
of mankind. Look at verse 35. All the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
own will in the army of heaven. He saw the true state of mankind,
reputed as nothing. He himself, that head of gold,
that greatest, most powerful, most glorious, most golden ruler
of the greatest unified empire there ever was and ever has been
on earth. reputed as nothing. What's your status, Nebuchadnezzar?
Reputed as nothing. Compared with him, in the account
of the eternal God of the universe, I'm reputed as nothing. And so
are you, and so am I. Reputed as nothing. We're nothing. The islands, you read the scriptures,
the islands are as the light dust of the balance that just
blows away in a moment. Nothing compared with the God
who is in all, and fills all, and upholds all things. In salvation,
I am nothing because I can bring nothing to salvation. I can't
save myself. There's nothing I can do. I'm
not good enough for God. I just can plead nothing other
than mercy. I'm in the dock and I'm guilty
and the only thing that can happen is the sentence. But in Christ,
He can pronounce mercy and pardon. In salvation, I'm reputed as
nothing. In election, what did I have
to do with election? Nothing. I'm reputed as nothing.
In God's sovereign choice of a people for His own glory, to
save in election, I am nothing. I am counted as nothing. In redemption,
I can contribute nothing to the price of redemption. Redemption
is a price that must be paid for someone to be saved. And
we read in Psalm 49 that no man can redeem his brother. It's
too costly. Not even Nebuchadnezzar with
all of the resources at his disposal. No man. In redemption, man is
reputed as nothing. In regeneration, I can't give
myself spiritual life. I'm reputed as nothing. You can
go into a monastery or do whatever you like, it counts for nothing.
It's the Spirit of God who regenerates. It's the wind that blows where
it lists, as John 3 says. The Spirit of God comes and He
speaks to whomever He will and He gives light and truth to whomever
He will in regeneration. In justification, I can do nothing
to add one thing to my standing before God. And so I sing as
that hymn says, nothing in my hand I bring. There's lots of
people, churches up and down this country this morning will
be standing up and singing, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to
thy cross I cling. secretly, they're clinging to
all sorts of things because they think they're bringing this contribution.
How dare I go into the presence of God empty-handed? You better
had go into the presence of God empty-handed, because that's
the only thing he will accept. Only in Christ, only in Christ,
nothing in my hand I bring. And he saw the supremacy of the
kingdom of God. Did you know in verse 3, right
at the start, how great are his signs? This is his testimony.
When he's opening his letter, this is what happened to me and
this is his testimony. How mighty are his wonders! His kingdom
is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion is from generation
to generation. Daniel had already told him in
chapter 2 about that kingdom of God. He said his kingdom is
an everlasting kingdom. Verse 34 at the end. His kingdom
is from generation to generation. He saw the supremacy of the kingdom
of God. Why is that significant? Did
you ever wonder why was it that Jesus preached the kingdom of
God? What is it to preach the kingdom of God? What does it
mean? Go about preaching the kingdom of God. What had this
man seen? Did you hear when we read John
3, what he said to Nicodemus? Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. But Nebuchadnezzar could see
the kingdom of God. Nebuchadnezzar had been given
sight of the kingdom of God. He was born again. He was a born-again
man. Can you see it? Can you see the
Kingdom of God? What is it to see the Kingdom
of God? What is it? Well, it's to see
the blessed salvation of God. Not by natural ability, but by
God's Spirit. It's seeing that blessed salvation
of God. To see the Kingdom of God is
that God has purposed to save a people, and those people are
the citizens of that Kingdom of God. And the price that was
paid that they might be the citizens of that God was paid by Him in
the person of His Son. The basis of God's kingdom is
election to citizenship of it. Before the beginning of time,
He saw that kingdom of God. Do you see that kingdom of God?
If I'm in it, it's because before the beginning of time, God elected
me unto salvation. This is what Paul said to the
Thessalonians. Beloved, we know your election of God. We thank
God that he's elected you. Why? How do we know? Because
you believe the truth. You believe the gospel. And the
means of salvation, the means of salvation is what you see.
Because this kingdom of God, you can't just breeze up to it
and walk in. It isn't an open doors policy. There's tight border
controls. And the border controls are redemption. They're payment of the sin debt.
They're a credit of righteousness. You know, this is it. The hope
that is in us. A reason for the hope that is
in us. What's the reason? I'll put it in very colloquial
language. Christ has been down to the bank of God's justice
and paid my debt for me. And that's how I know. And he's
not only paid my debt for me, but he's credited my balance
with his righteousness. That's how I know. That's the
basis of my hope. That's the basis of my confidence.
And I see the king of this kingdom. To know this Kingdom is an everlasting
Kingdom, you see the King of the Kingdom. And who is the King
of the Kingdom? It's our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our surety,
our guarantee, the One who stands in the place of His people, the
substitute, the sin-bearer, the sinner's righteousness. I see
it all in Him. And I see my acceptance in Him,
in seeing this Kingdom. I see I'm accepted in the Beloved. I see I'm a citizen because of
Him, and of being in Him, and all that He is. And I see the
eternity of that kingdom. That kingdom which came and crushed
all the kingdoms of the world. So that the dust blew away and
it filled the whole universe. And I see the eternity of that
kingdom. And the blessedness of that citizenship. And the light and the life of
that kingdom. And so Nebuchadnezzar, verse
37, extols and honors the King of Heaven. He doesn't strut around
in his own pride. Oh, he's had all of the majesty
of his kingdom restored to him. We honor rulers who are put in
that place by God. He's had all of that restored
to him. But no doubt now he's a just king. And he's a merciful
king. And he's a compassionate king.
And I would imagine that this was a blessed empire to live
in. But you know, it was only one year long. Other history
tells us that from the moment he had his sense restored to
him to the moment he died was no more than a year. He just
had one year to live. Very short, isn't it? Almost
like a terminal sentence. He had one year to live, but
in that time, he praised and extolled and honored the King
of Heaven. His earthly majesty restored,
for that time, blessedness on his people, and then he went
to the glory of God's kingdom. And any glory he'd had as an
earthly king was eclipsed by that glory that he entered. one
year after he'd had his sense restored or that God would remove
from us and others around us every shred of self-reliance
that we cast ourselves at the feet of Christ and see his kingdom. Well he is truly a glorious God. To God be the glory. Great things
He has done. So loved He the world that He
gave