Episode Transcript
Daniel chapter 4, verses 32 through 33.
The title of the message this morning is The Judgment of God and the Ideas of Men.
And if you haven't noticed, what God does and what man thinks are often contradictory, right?
Man is uh uh man just can't learn his lessons, and he one day he'll get it figured out when Jesus comes again, all those who oppose God and his kingdom will be gone forever, and those who accept God and His King Jesus as their Savior will live and reign forever.
King Nebuchadnezzar now was not one of those people at this time.
He was someone who ruled the world from the godless empire of Babylon about six hundred years, five or six hundred years before.
Jesus was born.
And uh and he was warned by the prophet Daniel and warned by God in a dream, two dreams actually, that he, because of his pride, Was going to be driven out of his palace to eat grass in a field like a cow for seven years. until he learned that it was God, not him, who ruled the world.
Now that's a rather fantastic story, isn't it?
And I'm glad it is fantastic.
I I'm glad it it reads like a fairy tale.
In a sense it does.
You think, oh, I eat and grass like a cow for seven years.
Same thing they do with Adam and Eve.
Oh, yeah, they ate this fruit and suddenly, yeah, that's it.
That's all Christian made-up fairy tale.
Well, it's not.
In the previous verses last week, God waited a whole year before he executed the judgment that he warned Nebuchadnezzar would happen to him in that dream.
The prophet Daniel advised Nebuchadnezzar to get his life right with God, but instead of humbling himself to obey God, Nebuchadnezzar lifted himself in pride.
And with his mouth, as we read last week, he boasted that he, not God, but he built Babylon by his own power.
And for his own glory.
The Bible says in Daniel chapter 4, verse 31, While the word was in the king's mouth, There fell a voice from heaven saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee Now the time has come for the terrifying and very strange judgment that God had warned him about to come to pass.
But it's not simply the fact that God's judgment came to pass, but how the Holy Spirit teaches that judgment came to pass.
In our scriptures this morning.
Now remember, Daniel is a book of prophecy.
So what we see coming upon the king of the godless world in days gone by. is a picture of what we shall see come upon the people of this godless world in the days that lie ahead.
And if you're taking notes this morning, we're going to see four ways that God's judgment came to pass upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
And thus four ways that God's judgment will come to pass upon this godless world.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
We thank you for the Sunday school class we had this morning and those who came.
I pray, dear Lord God, for those who are sick and unable to be here.
I pray, Lord, most especially for those who are here.
And I pray, dear Lord God, that your word will be taught to us in the power of your Holy Spirit this morning. who only you, Father, can teach your word.
They can open the eyes of our understanding, and I pray you'll help us to understand your scripture this morning.
May all eyes be on you and may you receive all honor and glory.
We ask it in Jesus' precious name.
Amen.
Four ways that God's judgment will come upon this wicked world.
Four ways that God's judgment came upon the wicked king Nebuchadnezzar.
First, God's judgment came if you're taking notes consistently. consistently.
God told Nebuchadnezzar in verse 32, and they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee.
Notice that what God told Nebuchadnezzar a year earlier was consistent with what God told Nebuchadnezzar a year later.
A year earlier in Daniel chapter 4 verse 25, if you look back in verse 25 A year earlier God told Nebuchadnezzar that through the prophet Daniel that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
And they shall make make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee.
Till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
And now a year later, in verse thirty-two, God is telling Nebuchadnezzar the same thing.
Our God is unchanging, therefore his word is unchanging.
When God said a year earlier that he was going to drive him out in the field and make him eat grass like a cow for seven years, that's exactly what God said a year later So listen, that being the case, what God said he would do 6,000 years ago is what God will do 6,000 years from now.
Isaiah chapter 46 verses 9 and 10.
Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10.
God says this.
Remember the former things of old.
Now that's what we're doing this morning, isn't it?
While we're reading about what happened in Babylon We're remembering the former things of old.
That's why God wants us to study the Old Testament.
He says, for I am God And there is none else that is no other God at all.
I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end.
From the beginning.
Oh man, I tell you what, I like that.
This morning when I was in the teaching the Genesis to Jesus class next door, we are in the book of Genesis.
And in the book of Genesis, there is this man named Nimrod.
And old Nimrod in there, he was a mighty hunter before the Lord.
And I was explaining to them, he wasn't hunting deer, he was hunting men.
Because the very next verse explains his hunting expedition.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and then goes on with the different cities that he began to collect and put under his rule And I said, the problem with that is the world was never meant to have man as its king.
It was meant to have God as its king.
This is why he was a mighty hunter before the Lord.
And this is why there was so much rebellion when it came to the Tower of Babel.
That's why there's so much rebellion today, so much infighting amongst the nations of the world.
And the problem will only be resolved. when the governance of this world is taken from the hands of men and put back into the hand of God.
And so there in Genesis, I took them to the book of the Revelation and showed them where it says, the kingdoms of this world.
Are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
And he shall reign forever and ever.
There was the problem back in Genesis.
And the ahead of us in time is the answer in the book of the Revelation.
We are to consider the former things of old, because God is the only God there is, and He is declaring to us.
The beginning from the end.
He tells us how it all began.
He's telling us how it will all end.
From Genesis to Revelation, and he assures us that what he told us back here in the beginning All the millennia of time that this world goes through will not change how he finishes it in the end.
Praise his name.
Lord, aren't you glad?
You don't have to worry about God Slipping something up on us, slipping something and changing something up on us in the end and messing up our world.
Not gonna happen.
He says, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.
That's what we're reading about in the ancient times of Babylon.
By looking at what happens to him in that kingdom, God is declaring what shall happen to the people of the world in the godless kingdom to come.
He says, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
The manner in which God said he would judge unbelievers and save believers in the past is the manner in which he will judge and save them in the days to come.
God does not change, therefore his word does not change.
God is consistent with his word.
What God starts, God finishes.
And what God says he will do, God always does.
God said, You are going to eat grass in a field like a beast.
Look back in your text now in Daniel.
Until thou know.
That the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
God's judgment upon King Nebuchadnezzar would come just like He said.
He said, I'm going to judge you, King Nebuchadnezzar, exactly like I said.
And it's going to come to an end when Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that God was in charge and not him.
So he would go through what God said he would.
And he would continue to suffer that judgment until he acknowledged that God was Lord and King and not him.
God's judgment, therefore, would end in God's glory. as it always should.
First, God's judgment came consistently with his word.
Second, God's judgment came suddenly His judgment came consistently.
Now his judgment comes suddenly.
Look here if you would In verse 33.
You see, after God told Nebuchadnezzar what was going to happen to him, verse 33, the same hour, if you have your Bible open in a pen underscore, the same hour. was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.
Now remember, once again What Daniel is a book of prophecy.
So what happened to Babylon and its king In the Old Testament, in the ancient times, is what's going to happen to this godless world and its king in the times ahead, at the end times.
As God's judgment was consistently and suddenly executed upon Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon and history passed.
So God's judgment will be consistently and suddenly executed upon this wicked world, spiritual Babylon, in history future Listen to what God said about historical Babylon in Jeremiah 51.
8.
In Jeremiah 51.
8, God says, Babylon is what?
Suddenly fallen.
You see that?
suddenly fallen.
That's how God does things.
And destroyed.
Howl for her.
Take balm for her.
If so be, she may be healed.
Now speaking about himself in Mark chapter 13, verses 35 and 36, Jesus said, Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning lest what See the word again?
Suddenly he finds you sleeping.
You see, Nebuchadnezzar is out looking over his kingdom.
He says, Been a whole year.
God hadn't executed that judgment.
He's then put it out of his mind, I'm sure.
And he's, now isn't this the kingdom that I built?
Not God, by my power, not not his, for my glory, not God's glory, and boom, while he's in the middle of speaking, God says, King Nebuchadnezzar, you remember what I told you a year ago It's gonna happen.
It's gonna happen.
And suddenly, at that same hour, it happens When he least expected it, God's judgment was consistent with his word, and it was sudden in surprise.
And that's how God's judgment is going to come at the end of the world.
That's how God's judgment comes upon a lot of people today.
But in the end of the world, this is what's going to happen.
And this is why we're reading about it in ancient times.
Listen now, when Jesus comes in the future He's going to judge the world consistent with what he said he would do in the past.
And he's going to do it suddenly. taking the world by surprise, just like he did with Nebuchadnezzar.
Verse 33 says, the same hour Was the thing fulfilled?
You listen to that?
The same hour the thing was fulfilled.
Now, keep that in mind.
Look with me in Revelation chapter 18.
Remember, the book of Daniel is a book of prophecy.
What we're reading about Babylon in the past is a picture of the godless world in the future.
That's why in the book of the Revelation, the godless world in the future is referred to as the Babylon in the past.
You follow me?
Revelation 18, 9 through 10 says this.
And the kings of the earth Who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall bewell her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning. standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, Babylon That mighty city, watch this now, for in one hour is thy judgment come.
God's judgment comes consistent with his word.
God's judgment comes suddenly With the surprise of man.
The judgment of God takes the enemies of God by surprise.
Had a young man tell me once that he planned, he had it all worked out in his head.
He said that that he knew uh in his mind that uh how long he would live.
He he says, I think That I'm going to know w when I'm about to die.
And so my plan is that I'm going to live the way I want to, without God, right up in the time when I know I'm about to die.
And then I'll be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Then I'll be saved.
Felt like he's going to somehow trick God.
Live for himself.
And right at the end, trick God and be saved.
No, God's judgment takes the enemies of God by surprise.
That was a foolish statement for that young man to make.
Don't ever think that you can outsmart God because you can't.
And don't ever think that you can time.
God's judgment and avoid it because you can't.
His judgment comes suddenly, which means it will come unexpectedly.
So God's judgment will be executed consistently by his word.
God's judgment will be executed suddenly by surprise.
Third.
God's judgment will be executed forcefully by his power.
Forcefully by his power.
Look back with me in verse 33.
The Bible says, and he was driven from men.
You see that verbiage?
Not guided from men.
Not escorted along from men, not led from men, driven from men.
Reminds me of the language in the book of Genesis, doesn't it, you?
When God drove out the man from the Garden of Eden.
He wasn't asked to leave.
He wasn't invited to come out to the field.
He was driven out. from man.
Man cannot fight against God and win.
On judgment day, this rebellious world won't be able to force their way into heaven.
And they won't be able to stand in God's way to stop his judgment from being executed.
As Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men, So this unbelieving world will be driven from God and his kingdom.
Matthew chapter 25, verse 41.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me.
Ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
Now don't think they're going to receive an invitation to hell and just voluntarily go.
No one's going to voluntarily go to a place of everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
They're going to be driven out.
From the sons of God and from the God the Son.
Notice the word everlasting fire.
You see that?
Everlasting fire. prepared for the devil and his angels.
People have a hard time with hell Now, the people who have a hard time with hell, I've noticed something about them.
They have no problem with the concept of heaven.
Y'all ever notice that?
Even unbelievers.
I saw that woman that got shot there in Minneapolis.
They had a picture of her, a memorial of her, on the internet.
And it had a picture of her with angel's wings.
Angel's wings.
Now, she rejects what God's word says, or else she wouldn't have been uh uh uh have left her husband and been married to a woman.
She wouldn't have been a lesbian.
She did not embrace the word of God.
She opposed the word of God.
Yet in all that opposition to God's word, suddenly we have the idea of angel's wings being placed on her.
Do you know where the concept of angels comes from?
God's word.
And people who.
Who don't believe in God or who are not Christians, suddenly when someone dies, they've got the concept of them going up to this heavenly place and being reunited.
Where does that heavenly place come from?
God's word.
Yet if you speak to them about everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, They'll say, oh, that's just something you Christians made up to scare people into following your religion.
Jesus said That he's going to say, Depart from me, ye curse, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Not only will God will God's judgment be done consistently with his word, Not only will it be done suddenly in surprise, and not only will it be done forcefully by his power, But God's judgment will be done, last point, precisely as he said.
The Bible said Nebuchadnezzar was driven from men.
Look back in your text.
And did eat grass as oxen.
Isn't that what God said he was going to do?
And guess what happened?
Exactly like God said.
And his body was wet with the dew of heaven.
That means he lived out in the field, not under shelter, till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.
A year earlier.
Nebuchadnezzar was told in Daniel 4 25 that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
And they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
And I can just imagine some liberal Bible scholar back.
Then reading this in Daniel and say, now I don't believe That Nebuchadnezzar will actually literally eat grass in a field like an ox For seven years.
I mean, Brother Doug, rationally thinking, if a man Was out in the field for seven years with the rain on them and the dew on them and all that, eating grass like another.
Our bodies weren't made to digest grass Why, why, he would, he, he would die out there.
We're not we're not cows.
And and living out in the field for seven years Why he'd catch a death of cold, Brother Doug.
So so so I don't believe he's actually gonna live out in the field and eat grass for seven years, out sleeping under the stars.
I believe that he's going to symbolically be doing that.
And it won't actually be that way.
Can you just imagine a liberal Bible scholar just explaining that away, like they do with the resurrection?
I can.
But you know what?
It happened precisely like God said it would.
He actually did go out in the field for seven years and did eat grass like a cow.
And his back was wet with the dew of heaven.
He woke up in the morning, and guess what?
His hairs started to grow till they covered his body like eagles' feathers.
And his nails on his fingers began to grow like claws.
Isn't that something?
Do you know what God did?
I've got chickens at home.
They're not eagles, not eagles, but they're close.
They have feathers, and they can fly.
And my chickens love to go where they're not supposed to roost.
They'll go in my garage and I've got one chicken that loves to get on my drill press.
I don't know what it is about that drill press, but she likes to roost on that drill press.
Well that's no place for a chicken.
And so I'll see little red on that drill press and I'll go over there.
And when I reach out to take her in, she'll peck me.
But when I pull her in, she then seems to love the loving.
I'll pull her in close and she'll and I'll look at her and I just look.
It's amazing.
They're feathers They've got plumage and they've got feathers overlaying each other like shingles on a house.
And when when it's cold outside, I've watched them.
Do you know what they do?
God made them this way.
They can take their feathers when it's cold, puff them up, and create layers of air between the layers of feathers.
And it's like a double-pane window.
It's energy efficient and it keeps the warm in and the cold out.
It's fascinating.
And so what God did, he allowed Nebuchadnezzar's body to change so that his hairs grew to be able to let the dew roll off, to keep his body warm, his temperature preserved, and he allowed his digestive system to be able to digest that grass.
And he allowed and caused his nails of his fingers to grow like claws so he could walk around. in that dirt and claw, maybe somewhat, sometimes like a chicken.
I don't know.
But that's what happened.
Exactly like God said, precisely like God said.
People are always trying to explain away God's word, but God said Nebuchadnezzar did eat grass as an oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, and his hairs grew like eagles' feathers to cover And protect him from the elements.
Listen, God can do anything he wants.
And if he wants to make a man eat grass, then he can and he will.
And if he wants to make a man's hair cover his body, then he can and he will.
And he did.
And if God wants to make a well that can swallow a man and hold him there for three days and three nights, then he can, and he did.
And if God says this unbelieving world is going to be cast into everlasting fire, then He can and He will put them in this place of everlasting fire. recently a popular Christian actor and evangelist Kirk Cameron.
How many all know Kurt Cameron?
I do too.
I love Brother Cameron.
I think I think Brother Carrot Cameron's a godly man.
He's he's done some great work for the kingdom of God.
But unfortunately, I don't know who he was listening to or or what what happened in his thinking where he got off, but I know one thing, he got off from God's word.
I And and and recently Brother Cameron said he didn't believe. that sending people to a place of eternal punishment was in keeping with the character of God Well well listen.
All that we know about the character of God, we don't know anything about the character of God because We've met him and and uh and have been working with him at the workplace.
You know what we know about the character of God?
We know it from his word.
His word tells us about the character of God.
And his word says.
That he will eternally save those who believe on his son, and he will eternally damn those who do not.
If everlasting punishment, therefore, does not mean everlasting for the damned, then everlasting life for the redeemed does not mean everlasting for us.
It is in keeping with the character of God.
Church, don't let anybody tell you that God will not punish unbelievers with everlasting fire.
Because that's precisely what God said he would do, and that is precisely what he will do.
Speaking of God's coming judgment.
Revelation chapter 14, verse 8 through 11.
Revelation 14, 8 through 11.
Says, and there followed another angel saying, Babylon is fallen.
There we go.
Back to Babylon again, you see.
When we're studying the ancient, we're studying the future.
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast in his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, The same shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture.
That means it won't be diluted at all.
They're going to get the full brunt of God's wrath. into the cup of his indignation.
And he that is the person who takes the mark of the beast or worships the image of his name, he shall be tormented With fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb Now watch the duration of that torment.
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up or ascends up for how long?
Forever and ever.
And they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name I can't do anything but preach God's word exactly like it's written.
And let me tell you Eternal life is in keeping with the character of God's grace, and eternal damnation is in the keeping of the character of God's righteousness.
Recently I had the pleasure of paying a credit card bill.
Now Don't ever get in the trap of making the minimum payment.
Because the minimum payment has the effect of the maximum penalty.
You see?
They want you to pay the minimum payment and keep a balance over here.
So well I can't afford to pay $600 or something.
Now I've got a big credit card bill every month. because I ran all my bills through that credit card so I can get miles on my my Southwest credit card so I can uh uh Tammy's in the nursery.
So I can fly Miss Tam there she is.
If I can fly Miss Tammy back to her family.
So I may have two or three thousand dollars on there every month that I have to pay because all my bills run through there And so let's say that I said, you know, I really can't afford to pay $2,000 this month.
Look, there's a minimum payment.
I only have to pay $75.
How about that?
And look what I can do with all that other money that I would have paid.
I can put that on something else.
And so you pay the $75, and you know what happens?
You're gonna get another bill next month for that same money that hadn't been paid for.
And you know what?
What I do, I pay off everything that I owe.
I don't like any interest at all on my credit card each month.
That's what you should do too.
But you know what happens?
Even when I pay it all, even when it says current statement balance, $0.
It's not time to celebrate.
You know why?
Because I still keep spending money the next month.
And so guess what's going to happen at the end of that month?
Now I've already paid my bill this month.
I paid it on January 7th.
January 8th, excuse me.
But you know what's gonna happen?
Next month, I'll have to pay more because I'm still spending.
I used that card this morning to put gas in the card to get to church.
I'm gonna keep spending and spending and spending so I can keep paying and paying and paying because the debt will never fully be discharged.
Now, when a person dies having rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, That person's going to go to a place of punishment.
And it's going to be very much like that credit card.
They're going to go to a place of punishment.
And you know what's going to happen?
The only way that I can stand just before a holy and righteous God is in the merit of God's Son, Jesus Christ.
In the merit of Jesus Christ, God sees my payment paid in full, and God sees all the demands of the law that He's required of me having fully been obeyed through the obedience of Jesus, His Son.
I've got a zero balance for all eternity, Brother Doug.
That's why I have everlasting life. the person in hell is going to have a continuing building up of debt.
Owed to God's law for all of eternity.
Because for all of eternity, they're going to be without the merit of Jesus Christ.
And for all eternity, they're still going to be living in that same old sin nature of Adam.
They're still going to have the knowledge of good and evil.
They're still going to have hate and selfishness and rebellion in their heart for all eternity.
Because the only thing that can take that away is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Is us being crucified with Him, buried with Him, and raised again as a new creature, so that old things have passed away.
As my eternal payment has been satisfied, thus I have eternal life.
Their eternal debt will never be satisfied.
Thus they will have eternal punishment.
Does that make sense The smoke of their torment ascends up forever and forever, and they have no rest day nor night. who worship the beast in his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
We don't worship the beast in his image.
We worship God and his son.
And we don't have the mark of the beast.
We have the seal of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, we have everlasting life, and those without it will have everlasting death.
God judges consistent with his word.
God judges suddenly.
God judges forcefully.
God judges precisely.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Thank you for telling us the things in ancient times. that we might know what lies ahead for us in the future.
Thank you for the assurance that though your word is difficult Father, to embrace for those who are without Christ the surety of their eternal condemnation is also the assurety of our eternal redemption.
In Jesus' precious name we thank you for each and every person here.
Be with them as they go home.
Be with them throughout this week, dear Lord, and bring us back safely together, I pray, next Lord's day or Wednesday night.
We ask it in Jesus' precious name.
Amen.
