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June 10, 2021 4:00 am
The Nebuchadnezzar was the powerful King about when he had alarming dream and ultimately his stubbornness led him to a lesson in humility. What does it take for someone to swallow their pride in the knowledge that God is the sovereign authority today on Truth for Life. Alister Brady explains the extreme circumstances that offered salvation more in Daniel chapter so the dream is told in verse 19 interpretation is about to be given. Then Daniel whose name was Belle discharger was dismayed for a while and his thoughts alarmed him a real problem here. Don't wait because now the two of them are completely out to lunch. Nebuchadnezzar is terrified because he doesn't understand. And Daniel is getting pretty terrified because he does understand. In an ironic sort of juxtaposition the king now is counseling Daniel and telling him I don't want you to be afraid.
He says elders doesn't let know the dream or the interpretation alarm you. I wish I could hear what was said that's easy for you to say, but if you just hang on a minute, you realize that you're not so smart belt such as an answer and said, my Lord made a dream before.
Those who hate you, and this interpretation, for your enemies.
Then he goes on to tell in this tree that you saw that you you are the man. This is a description of God's judgment, it will be seven times, which is an indefinite period to complete. He says, but there's a possibility of a reprieve. If you will break off if you will discontinue your sins is how he says that there is very very pointed Nebuchadnezzar was a vindictive and merciless oppressor and he says perhaps your prosperity will be prolonged if only you will let my counsel be acceptable to you.
Verse 27 break off your sins by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity. We have understand the Bible in light of the Bible.
Daniel is not saying there that you can buy your own practicing of righteousness. Put yourself in the right position by God.
I think perhaps the cross reference that I scribbled on for myself is when Paul is before I think is Agrippa and he tells him of his preaching and he says I preach that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. So you say Nebuchadnezzar if you really get serious about this, then your life will declare the reality of your change of heart, but he didn't listen. Verse 28. All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months here 12 months and God in his mercy had sent him a dream to disturb and send Daniel to instruct for and gave him an opportunity to turn and enjoy a reprieve of appalling the moments to resist. Would you show disrespect for the kindness of God, not realizing that it is his kindness that leads you to repentance you here tonight with an unrepentant heart would you besmirch the kindness of God that he is called out to you in his word that he is reached you through members of your family that he is been gracious to you and preserve your life and prolong your days I was on the summary the last couple of days I said to him you know what you should be praying my friend is God, be merciful to me a sinner in the major reply was, well, I've been very lucky. I don't know about that and I said you have been very lucky it's all God is been very good to you by his providence, you're still sitting here beside me and you still can understand the gospel and you still can trust in Jesus, Nebuchadnezzar blew it all off, and so the curse was fulfilled and the end of 12 months. He was walking on the roof of the Royal Palace of Babylon. The king answered and said, is not this the great Babylon, which are built by my mighty power is a royal residence and for the glory of my Majesty's all my I need in mind that's what he said. Verse 31 what did he hear and while the words were still in the king's mouth there fell a voice from heaven or King Nebuchadnezzar to you, it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and so on and immediately the world was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar and he was driven from among men anti-grass like an ox and his body was wet with the Jew of heaven until his hair grew as long as Eagle's feathers and his nails were like birds, cloths, note some of your psychiatrists and so you know that this condition is lycanthropy or lycanthropy costs wolf anthropologists man King George III, apparently suffered from this very condition.
It is rare, but it is real. Dr. Barker from England. The consultant psychiatrist psychiatrist writes of it in this way as far as Nebuchadnezzar's illness is concerned the features are of a fairly acute onset of insanity with the apparent delusional idea that he was an animal. The length of time that he was unwell is not clear, but he also seems to have had a spontaneous remission, which of course he didn't have his cause-and-effect only just hope he's not crazy anymore, nor wasn't he says a spontaneous remission and return to sanity and change his way of life. Subsequently, this kind of history is much more typical of depressive illness, with relatively acute onset delusional beliefs of a morbid nature and in the days before drugs and ECT.
Most such illnesses had a spontaneous remission within a period of 12, and occasionally more years. The person who recovered would recover complete insight, as did Nebuchadnezzar. Apparently so when you read this and you read that and then you read of the restoration sealer Barker helps others, but only in part because this is not a spontaneous remission and fight the remission comes about were told by Nebuchadnezzar himself. At the end of the days four days seven times the indefinite, but complete.
At the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted my eyes to heaven, he did something that he had not done before. He had never lifted his eyes much beyond his procreation. So this when he was at ease on the roof of his balance.
He was surveying everything if you like from horizontal perspective.
He was of you like the archetypal nowhere man living in is nowhere land making all is nowhere plans for nobody. Ultimately now he lifts his eyes to heaven, says the Luitpold in his commentary. It is almost touching detailed notice that the outward evidence of the return to reason is the upward look. The most notable feature that differentiates man from beast, which of course is another conversation about worldview, which is another arbitrarily in touch right now as it comes across my mind but it differentiates man from beast in a pantheistic society such as ours. There is no such differentiation is why you can't, you know the deal with the deer when the reading your hospice, but that is not something I'm going to talk about right now.
It differentiates man from beast T.S. Eliot's old Possum's book of off track of practical cats again quarter) begins the naming of cats is a difficult matter is just one of your ordinary games. You may think of first I'm as mad as I have to when I tell you I Must've three different names.
First of all there's a name that the family use daily such as Billy Augustine salons wargames such as someone and someone and someone and someone in all of them letter the everyday names but any goes on to say a masterful little beast.
He says, but when you see a cat and is sitting by the fireplace and it is looking. He says I can tell you what it's thinking it's thinking about the name that only it knows it has a name that only it knows that's what it's thinking about why I don't know whether it is artisan but eigenvalue and it is not thinking about God and neither is your Labrador. How much you love it. I don't care. It is not what it gazes up if looking for food is not lifting his eyes know this is what differentiates man from the because God is said to sanity in the hearts of man so that they might find out what he is done from the very beginning. That's what Ecclesiastes said, and suddenly this man who had it all could be down all of the streets. All of the dead-end streets is just to animal status and then with the psalmist. He says I to the hills will lift mine eyes from when start coming my way.
My safety cometh from the Lord who heaven and earth have made.
Thank God for the magical Psalms of the Highlands of Scotland, 121 I lift my eyes to the hills where does my help come from my help comes from God. That is the breakthrough moment my friend that is the moment of transformation that is when we moved from our time bound himself preoccupations to the wonder and grandeur of God's invading presence and through the magnificence of his upbringing and the tragedy of his downfall. Suddenly he lifts his eyes. I think he would've been glad to sing the hymn, the sands of time, or sinking the dawn of heaven breaks and would have been perfectly at ease with the lines that read with mercy and with judgment.
My web of tying he wall and I the use of sorrel.
Our lust stirred with his love, Nebuchadnezzar has that story now to tell. Up until this points you is just self-fulfillment.
And so he ends as he began with a doxology. What an amazing thing. He says I lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, it would appear to be spontaneous, but it was cause-and-effect. I did not lifted his eyes to heaven it still be there till the day of his death, and I blessed the most high, and I praised and honored him who lives forever. Unlike me, he might've added for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the Arava none can steer sound or say to him what have you done.
Did you get that from everything has her ruled out for you know I said I eyes. I don't know I can really explain what I got. I think God messages invaded my life and give me a song to sing the story to tell, yes, and in his providential kindness.
At the same time. Verse 36 my reason returned to me and for the glory of my kingdom.
My majesty and my splendor returned to me and my counselors in my Lord start me the thick vacation looking for which is another story altogether. But is it is good to have you back.
Nebuchadnezzar good to have the old Nebuchadnezzar back as a guys is not the old Nebuchadnezzar. This is the new Nebuchadnezzar. I'm a new man goddess sought me out daughters brought me down to set me up and so I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven for all his works are right in his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. What an encouragement.
I must've been to these exiles.
Well, what an encouragement it is to me on tell you and I hope to you to because we live as exiles we live as aliens and strangers. We are bewildered by what we see in the world for me that Supreme Court decision.
I wrote in my journal. This is the saddest day of my life in America is what I wrote in my journal. I then said, but I do know that God is still in charge. So we proceed accordingly. But the fact is we are buffeted we are bewildered we are increasingly ostracized. We are marginalized. Don't think that you want to fix this by appealing to the elite.
It is never happened in history, and it will not happen here. It's going to take a minute and amazing intervention of God himself at a grassroots level. For those of us who say we believe things actually start living as if we do for some of us are sanity needs to be restored because we have been start on a horizontal plane as well and we need to realize that what he says is true that his kingdom is the kingdom that lasts Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, are responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of our brothers and sisters.
Make no mistake about every day in this world. Christians are martyred for their faith every day. How are we to understand the is God in control.
Yes, yes Satan is a defeated foe.
He came out with all guns blazing against the Lord of glory.
He managed to have them killed, but he rose as we sang tonight death is crushed to death and life is mine to live but I don't know why it is that so many suffer so dreadfully. I don't know why it is that the times are as daunting as we are, but I do know this God is sovereign over all the earthly kingdoms. Nebuchadnezzar is long gone. Nero's dad. So to is Stalin, Hitler, Chairman Marcy Chong and Stanley my perspective.
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan for the logo and the wind blows over the place and are known relatively normal but very little took his wife to China since we are on the China theme.
I will finish here when he headed to China.
He was an Olympic athlete, you will know one. The gold in the 1924 Olympics are running in the 400 m he played rugby for Scotland.
He was a significant hero, at least in the small country of Scotland and in the British Isles.
He had stood up to the king because of her conviction he had about Sunday and he then, in obedience to the call upon his life left Edinburgh for China to teach there in the school. Remember, you contracted the disease and died.
There is a relatively young man when he left Edinburgh the people of Edinburgh came to see them all for the railway station at Waverley railway station down underneath the castle there by the Princes St., Gardens and history records the people that were there when I guess it's not just people from a small group not just people who were interested of folks from his church family by the people of the city of Edinburgh were there and beyond and many of them youngsters, many of them young boys and Gross who were fascinated by this man who had been such an amazing athlete and that he was going away to China of all places apparently to teach children about Jesus. What a strange thing to do. Unless of course you believe that the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, when he got ready to leave. He let down the window in his carriage and he silenced the crowd and he shouted out Christ for the world for the world needs rights was a parting shot and then he led them in the singing of the hymn, Jesus shall reign where'er the sun dog for successive journeys run his kingdom stretched from shore to shore to moon show wax and wane no more, and if by God's grace you have been made.
One of the kids of that kingdom. Bring your chin up, get out of the the rock of the old days in the glory days, get up and get out. If your banker be a banker to the glory of God. If you're a teacher teach to the glory of God. If you're a scientist research, to the glory of God. If your salesman sailed to the glory of God. You don't have to become crazy like me and get stuck in this hard place on a night like tonight in order to serve God I don't like it when pastor suggests that if you want to get really serious, you become like me know all that is not a good idea.
Just you being who you are where you are in the conviction that God is accomplishing the internal counsel of his will and in the mystery of his purposes is drawing you into the story and giving you a part to play and I can think of no greater thing to do than to do medicine to the glory of God to write novels to the glory of God to tackle the injustices of our world and the legal systems to the glory of God.
Whatever it is is get out to a backhoe set is a big man I like to be attention while I'm gone will bring our Lord what is of yourself seal it in our hearts.
What is untrue, unnecessary to banish it from the recollection they are kingdom, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven tonight and every night until Jesus comes or calls us to himself and then forevermore. Amen. Listing to Truth for Life.
Alistair Begg series titled faith under fire if you're enjoying this study in the book of Daniel. You want to request our current book recommendation. It's a brand-new release by an author with whom you are familiar, Alistair Begg, Alister's written a book called brave by faith God -sized confidence in a post-Christian world. It's all about God's sovereign power even in a culture that refuses to honor him as Lord in this study were seeing that trusting God and living according to his instruction is not something that was just ignored back in the pagan world for Daniel was living more and more. This is becoming the norm in our culture. True Christian beliefs are in the minority. So the question is what is it look like to live as a Christian society that doesn't like what Christians believe or what we say or how we live, how are you live in this new normal. Attempting to become angry to keep our heads down to retreat or just to give up altogether. The book brave by faith reminds us that the battle may seem to be tilting against the church but God still reigns, he is still in control. Alister encourages us to look to him. The same God. Daniel new so we can find out why and how we should live as his people.
You'll be inspired by this book to stand firm in our generation, much as Daniel and his friends did in their generation.
But that's not ultimately the point of this book brave by faith is written to help us believe in Daniel's God and rediscover our confidence in him sure to request a copy of Alister's book brave by faith.
When you give to Truth for Life to find the book on our mobile app or online at truthforlife.org/donate or you can request your copy when you call us at 888-588-7884. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book brave by faith to us the Truth for Life PO Box 39, 8000, Cleveland, Ohio.
ZIP Code is 44139 while your online look for the brave by faith audiobook and the companion study guide both are available for purchase or you can download the study guide for free, simply visit Truth for Life.org/store about Lapine. Thanks for joining us today. Can you see the handwriting on the wall for that strange phrase comes from tomorrow as we continue our study of the book of Daniel, the Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life for the Learning is for Living