Episode Transcript
Daniel chapter 4, verse 1.
Again, we're starting a brand new chapter this morning.
In the past three chapters, we have watched God working in Nebuchadnezzar's life.
Nebuchadnezzar was a man of extraordinary power, having been given rule over all the world, all the nations of the world.
But when God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream about this certain image that we've studied about, All this man of power and authority became very afraid.
And then, when he understood the image, He then became proud and idolatrous, and had an image made, and then commanded everybody to bow down to it in all the world.
And then, when the faithful of God, when three godly men refused to bow down and somebody saw them not bow down, they then came and told Nebuchadnezzar.
And Nebuchadnezzar then commanded that they be burned to death in a burning fiery furnace, only to see Jesus come into the furnace and deliver those people.
This humbled Nebuchadnezzar again.
And Nebuchadnezzar issued a decree to all the world that nobody should speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
But it didn't end there.
You see, men who possess great power often need great humility dished out to them.
Lest they trust in the position they hold instead of the God who put them in that position.
The Apostle Paul was a man of great power.
In the church.
He was an apostle.
He had been given extraordinary revelations from God that other men had not been given.
And that can make a man proud.
He can think, oh, God treats me different than other people.
I'm special.
It can make him think he's more important.
So, to keep Paul humbled, you know what God did?
God ordained that Paul would suffer from a Physical ailment during his ministry.
And that kept Paul humble.
Second Corinthians chapter 7, I'm sorry, chapter 12, verse 7.
Paul said, And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me or to torment me. lest I should be exalted above measure.
In other words, lest I should get the big head and think I'm more highly of myself than what I should.
And because of Nebuchadnezzar's great position of power, He had the big head.
And when a person is full of pride, they are empty of faith.
Repeat that again.
When a person is full of pride, they are empty of faith.
Which is better?
Is it better to have pride in yourself or to have faith in God?
Have faith in God.
Which is better?
Is it better to have great riches and to die without Christ, or is it better to have poverty and faith and die with Christ?
Absolutely.
Pride is the enemy of faith.
And because of that, God must cripple a man's pride.
That he might enable a man's faith.
I'm going to repeat that again.
Many of y'all may wonder in your hearts.
Why did God allow me to go through this and through that?
Especially men who like to take charge.
I'd like to feel they've got the world by the tail.
They've got their family in order.
They got their jobs, their income, their health.
They're men.
And men are prone to pride.
Pride is the enemy of faith, so God must cripple a man's pride that he might enable a man's faith.
And that's what he did with Nebuchadnezzar.
In Daniel chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar writes a priceless letter to all the world.
I marvel when I read it.
I'm moved by it when I read it.
I'm sure you will be too.
Nebuchadnezzar reigned over 500 years before Christ.
But the amazing letter that he wrote so long ago, 2,500 years ago, is preserved for us in the Bible.
We get to read it.
A letter that he wrote to all the world.
And it starts like this.
Look in your text.
Nebuchadnezzar the king.
Nebuchadnezzar the king.
So Nebuchadnezzar begins this letter by recognizing who he is in relation to the people he's writing to.
He's their king.
And remember, Nebuchadnezzar was the king of the Babylonian world empire at that time, so he's writing, look back in your text, unto all people, nations, and languages.
You see, because of Nebuchadnezzar's position of power over all the world, when God was working in Nebuchadnezzar's life, God was also working in the lives of everyone who dwelt.
In Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom.
When a king believes a certain Issue when a king believes and holds to a certain doctrine, it affects the people who are under that king.
What a king believes affects the people who serve that king.
There's no way around it.
I was reading in the news the other day.
How the number of students who identify as transgender is quickly falling.
You all see that in the news?
Y'all read that as well.
Soon after President Trump was sworn in earlier this year, he announced that the pride flag would no longer be flown. at the White House as it was under the previous administration.
The previous administration celebrated perversion, sexual perversion.
He said it won't happen.
He then started kicking out the drag queens from our military bases.
And you know what happened?
Men were again encouraged to be masculine.
I don't like a sissy man.
Men need to be masculine and women need to be feminine.
And recently, Governor Greg Abbott, and I believe Governor Ron DeSantis as well.
But I know Governor Greg Abbott, he ordered that all the rainbow crosswalks on our streets, they got to go.
And suddenly, it's no longer popular to be a pervert.
It's just amazing how quickly things can change.
Data from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression reveals this sharp decrease.
I pulled some of their statistics. in students identifying as transgender or non-binary.
The share of students identifying as transgender dropped from nearly 7% in 2023 to under 4% this year.
The number of students identifying as non-binary fell from 6. 8 to 3.
6.
As well, this year.
It's about half.
Hadn't been in office a year.
There's no doubt in my mind that this is the result of Christians who have been crying out to God to save our nation.
And we need to keep praying.
I believe God was working through Nebuchadnezzar's life because of the godly people who were praying during that time.
And here's a kingdom truth.
God turns a king that he might turn a nation.
God turns a king.
That he might turn a nation.
Nebuchadnezzar was not a perfect man.
Nebuchadnezzar was not the fellow you'd want to go to and start being trained in theology.
But Nebuchadnezzar was a man that made it favorable for people to worship the one true God when before could get you thrown into a burning fiery furnace.
I've noticed at work in a federal building, I've noticed there has started to become more liberty for people to speak.
They're not quite as afraid where before they said now, you know, I can't tell you what I really think, or I'm not supposed to say this, or you know, all afraid of their job or something.
I've noticed a lot of liberty coming back.
But God turns a king that he might turn a nation, and that's what God was doing during this time in Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar wrote unto all people, nations, and languages.
I like that.
Why?
Because God loves all people, nations, and languages.
This is what we see here in the book of Daniel.
And God was using Nebuchadnezzar at this time to influence their lives for God, 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead.
The Bible says in Acts chapter 2, verse 5 through 11, And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of where?
Every nation.
Listen, that was not an accident that God calls people from every nation to Jerusalem for this feast at this time.
Every nation under heaven, the Bible says.
And then it goes on to say: Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded, because every man heard them speak in his own language.
And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?
And how hear we every man in our own tongue?
Wherein we were born Parthians and Medes and Elamites and the dwellers in Mesopotamia and in Judea and Cappadocia and Pontus and Asia and Phrygia and Pamphylia and Egypt.
And in the parts of Libya about Cyrene and the strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
One of the most asked questions that I've received over the years is, what about people in other nations who've never heard Of Jesus Christ?
Will they go to hell if they've never heard of Him?
People that ask me that question, they assume that God hasn't done anything to reach all people, nations, and languages.
But 500 years before Jesus came here in the book of Daniel, God was reaching out unto all people, nations, and languages, and we're reading about that this morning.
People assume that God hasn't done anything to reach every nation under heaven.
But 50 days after Jesus died, God spread the word of Christ to every nation under heaven on the day of Pentecost.
By speaking to those from every nation who assembled in Jerusalem on that feast day.
If God didn't care about all the nations, then how did the good news Get from the Middle East to Podunk, Maybank, Texas, and us talking about it right now in our language.
Nebuchadnezzar wrote to all people, nations, and languages, look back in your text, that dwell in all the earth.
All of it.
On the islands, in the mountains, everywhere where there was someone in all the earth.
This letter was sent out and dispatched out by his people.
It wasn't like He read the letter and then they went and stood like that.
And someone said, Hear ye, hear ye, and then read it and then went back inside.
And all that got dispatched out on posts by posts.
In Genesis chapter 28, God spoke to the man Israel, whose name originally was Jacob.
From whom the Savior Jesus Christ would be born.
And he told that man, Israel, in Genesis 28:14b: In thee and in thy seed shall All the families of the earth be blessed.
And that's why Nebuchadnezzar is writing to all that.
That the people that dwell in all the earth, because God promised through Jesus Christ that all the families of the earth would be blessed.
We have good news for everybody this morning.
I thank God for that.
Doesn't matter what color you are, doesn't matter what country you came from, doesn't matter what language is your native tongue, God has good news for everybody under heaven.
In Mark 16, 15, Jesus gave instructions to His disciples on where to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It says, And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world.
And preach the gospel to every creature.
People see that and they go, every creature?
They mean we won't preach it to giraffes.
He's talking about every person calling us creatures.
How do we know that?
The Bible says: if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.
There you go.
Not a giraffe, not a monkey.
God spoke to the whole world in the Garden of Eden.
Don't ever forget about that.
The first man and first woman, the only people on earth.
And God spoke to them.
God told them the truth.
They knew the truth.
And then they fumbled the truth.
God spoke to the whole world again through Noah before the flood.
They knew the truth.
They heard the truth.
They fumbled the truth.
God spoke to the whole world after the flood at Babel.
He scattered them.
They knew what happened.
They knew God scattered them.
They knew God changed the language.
God spoke again to the whole world through Nebuchadnezzar.
And God has been speaking to the whole world through his evangelist ever since.
Ever since.
A few years ago, we had a young evangelist come to this church.
And he told us about his burden.
He had taken my seminary course.
That's how I got to know him.
He told this church about his burden to reach the newbie tribe in Africa.
So they had never heard the gospel before.
He had to learn their language and go over there and tell them the gospel.
And to his surprise, after he arrived over there, For like the third time.
Instead of learning the culture more, he learned that they already had newbie Christians.
They even had their own Christian radio station in the newbie language.
What they didn't have was a Bible in their language, not a complete translation.
So he stayed, and now he's helping them translate the Bible.
But isn't it amazing?
How God has been working with every nation under heaven.
He will get the gospel to the people who will believe it.
And that's why it's here in Maybank.
And that's why it's there in the Newby tribe.
Are there people who've never heard about Jesus Christ?
Yes, there are.
Not because God didn't deal with them, but because their forefathers rejected that message long ago.
And if they would believe, God would get the message to them too.
But God knows who will believe and who won't.
And if any will believe in God, He will send them that good news as He's always done.
So what.
Did Nebuchadnezzar say to all the people in the world?
What was so important that he had to tell all the people in the world about?
We're going to learn more about it next week.
But the first thing he told them is this: look back in your text: peace be multiplied to you.
Peace.
Do you know what the world has failed to achieve?
I read this morning in the news that Israel is already back at bombing Gaza again.
I told my wife, I heard President Trump say, This peace is going to last forever.
I told my wife, I said, honey, he doesn't know the Bible.
I hope it lasts during his lifetime.
I hope he gets to enjoy watching some fruit of some peace.
I hope the people have some peace over there.
But I told her, the Bible says.
There will be no enduring peace until the Lord Jesus comes back and Israel accepts him.
Not going to happen.
We know that as Christians.
So we watch that and we celebrate with caution, knowing what is actually going to come in the end.
And so it didn't surprise us, shouldn't surprise us.
Do you know what the world has failed to accomplish since the very beginning?
Peace.
It's the one thing that people long for.
That the world cannot give.
Even the man who wrote the book, The Art of the Deal, can't make peace.
Only God can.
And that peace can only come one way, and that's through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the peace that He made for us on the cross.
Only through the cross can we have peace with God, and only through the cross can we have peace with one another.
Nebuchadnezzar tells the whole world, peace be multiplied to you.
Do you know what that means?
That means, no matter who you are, no matter where you live, in all the world, God has the offer of peace for you.
There is peace that you can have.
Those of you who've been studying with us from the beginning, do you notice a change in Nebuchadnezzar's demeanor all of a sudden?
What about the demands, these threatening demands to worship the image?
What about that big, strong, tough Nebuchadnezzar?
Peace!
This doesn't sound like the same man.
It's because it's not.
Where are the threats of the burning fiery furnace?
Remember, he had an anger problem when we first started reading about him in the book of Daniel.
What happened to all the anger that he had in the beginning of this book and his desire to slay everybody?
The least little thing happens, off with their heads, slay them, kill all the wise men.
Is this the same Nebuchadnezzar?
Well, it's the same king, but it's not the same man because of Jesus.
Because of his knowledge of the Son of God, who he first saw in the burning fiery furnace, and because of the salvation that Jesus brings, Nebuchadnezzar tells the world, Peace be multiplied unto you.
What happened to Nebuchadnezzar?
What can so radically change such a powerful, proud-hearted, and angry man like that?
The Lord Jesus Christ can.
The grace of our Savior and God can.
Here's the kingdom truth for you this morning.
When the grace of God is experienced by men, Then the peace of God is extended through men.
I'll repeat that again.
When the grace of God is experienced by men, The peace of God is extended through men.
Why do I write books to tell people about Jesus and the peace He brings on the cross?
Only for one reason, because I first experienced God's grace for myself.
Why do you invite people to come to church?
Why did Brother Billy want his family to come to Genesis Jesus class this morning?
Put up sticky tracks and tell people the gospel when you can.
Why?
It's because you first experienced peace and now you want to extend that peace to others.
It is a natural reaction.
Somebody that looks at somebody else and wishes that person to die and go to hell, that person has not experienced the peace of God.
That person has not experienced the forgiveness of God.
God's grace experienced by us will then be extended through us.
When we praise God, the Bible calls that praise the fruit of our lips.
The fruit of our lips.
Now, keep that in mind as I read Isaiah 57:19.
I'm sure he'll have that up on the screen.
Yep.
In Isaiah 57, 19, God says, I create the fruit of the lips.
Did you know what he's saying when he says, I create the fruit of the lips?
He's saying, I make people praise me.
I do good things that when they experience my grace in their lives, they just come out and say, Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
Isn't that right, Brother Doug?
He says, I create the fruit of the lips.
Oh man, that's whoo, let's stop there just a moment.
Do you realize that when you realize what Jesus has done for you and you go, God, thank you, thank you for sending Jesus to die, do you know what that is?
That is God creating the fruit of your lips.
That is the creation and work of God Himself.
That's how close and near the Holy Spirit of God is to you when you think upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, I create the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace to him.
Listen to what God's saying.
This is something for the fruit of our lips to thank God for.
God says, Peace, peace to him that is far off.
Far away.
Nebuchadnezzar said, To all nations under heaven, all nations in the earth, wherever you are.
I send you peace.
I desire you to have peace.
I want you to have peace.
And God says, This is what I say: peace.
Peace to him that is far away.
And then he says, and to him that is near.
Saith the Lord, and I will heal him.
It doesn't matter how far away you are from God.
You may have been living so terrible.
I read something from a preacher last night who's been struggling with some issues.
And he said, I'm so glad God is the God of second chances.
It doesn't matter how far away a person has wandered from God.
I've had so many people tell me, Oh, I've lived so bad, I've done so many bad things, God doesn't want me anymore.
God says, Here's what I have to say: peace to him that's far off.
Peace to him that's near.
Peace to him that lives in Israel.
Peace to him that lives on the other side of the earth.
Peace to him that is close to God.
Peace to him that is far away.
God says, I will heal him.
I'll fix it, God says.
I'll heal that problem.
I'll fix that hurt.
How?
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Nebuchadnezzar was someone far off from God.
Anyone that wants to build a statue and have people worship the statue and kill them, even though they're the servants of God, that person is far away from God.
But you know what God did?
God healed the man who was far off.
God calls Nebuchadnezzar to praise him.
God gave Nebuchadnezzar the fruit of his lips.
As we'll see in coming weeks, God healed Nebuchadnezzar.
The gospel offers peace to all people, nations, and languages, to those who live far away and to those who are near.
Speaking to the Gentiles.
The Bible says in the book of Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 13 through 17.
But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off, isn't that good?
Are you made nigh, you're made near.
How?
By the blood of Christ.
That's how God heals.
That's how God can speak peace to him that's far away and to him that's near and heal that person.
He says, For he is our what?
Peace.
Isn't that good?
See how the Bible just all fits together.
What we're reading in Daniel is in Isaiah is in Ephesians.
He says, For he is our peace, who hath made both one, that is, those who are far off and those who are near, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh that is on the cross the enmity.
Even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself of twain one you man, so making peace.
The enmity.
What does that mean?
It means at one time God's commandments were against us.
They condemned us.
But now that we have the righteousness of Christ credited to our account, the commandments look at us and no longer see us.
They see Jesus and they go, well done.
Well done, you obeyed me well.
Because now we're judged through what Jesus did instead of what we did.
And so then he says, he goes on in verse 17, he says, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off.
And to them that were nigh.
That's what Nebuchadnezzar is doing.
He's preaching peace to all people.
Do you remember how Nebuchadnezzar was when we first met him?
Look back with me in Daniel 2:1.
Daniel chapter 2, verse 1.
It says, In the second year, Of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep broke from him.
Nebuchadnezzar was a troubled man before he knew Christ as his Savior.
Nebuchadnezzar couldn't proclaim peace.
Nebuchadnezzar didn't even know peace.
Nebuchadnezzar was a troubled man.
He had no peace to enjoy, so he had no peace to offer.
That's the way we are until we find peace with God through the gospel.
But when we find the peace that Jesus made for us on the cross, we can't help but want to share that peace with others.
Like Nebuchadnezzar, we turn from being troublemakers into being peacemakers.
That's why the Bible says, Blessed are the peacemakers.
That's what we become.
We become peacemakers instead of troublemakers.
We preach the gospel of peace of Jesus Christ.
Like Jesus, we want everyone to know the peace that we now have.
And God willing, next week we'll continue into the next verse and learn what happened to Nebuchadnezzar that caused this great change in his life, and what a story it is.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Thank you, God, that you have, since the very beginning of creation, since the very beginning Of the existence of mankind, you have dealt with man on a global basis.
You began by dealing with us on a global basis.
You continued by dealing with us on a global basis.
Through your church and the evangelists spreading the good news all over the world today, you are continuing to deal with the world on a global basis.
And when Jesus comes again, you will once again deal with the world on a global basis.
I thank you, Father, that you preach the good news of peace to those who are far, far away.
As well as to those who are near.
In Jesus' name we pray and we thank you.
Thank you for the fruit of our lips.
Amen.
