Episode Transcript
Daniel chapter 4, the title of the message is When Grace Returns.
When Grace Returns, we'll be expounding God willing, verses uh 36 through 37 Daniel chapter four, verses thirty-six through thirty-seven.
Now remember, Nebuchadnezzar has been out in a field, eating grass like an ox.
He had been dethroned for the time, but God told him he would save his place in the kingdom and he'd raise him back up again.
And he did.
And remember he did when he said when he lifted up his eyes to heaven.
He acknowledged God He acknowledged that God was his creator.
God was the one who was really in charge and not him that whole time.
And when he did, he says in verse 36, at the same time My reason returned to me.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your precious word.
Thank you for each and every person here, Father, this morning.
What an encouragement it is to me to see them here.
And Father, I just pray you'll fill us with your Spirit this morning.
You'll teach your word to us.
Help us to feed on your scripture and to glorify your name, Lord.
We ask it in Jesus' precious name.
Amen.
At the same time, my reason returned to me.
Take your pens and underscore the same time.
The same time.
Well, I tell you we got some good truth.
But you know I hadn't found a verse yet that didn't have good truth in it I love teaching the Bible.
At the same time, his reason returns to him.
His reason now means the human knowledge.
That awareness that a man has that God gives to men by which God is known to men, by men.
We have a different knowledge than what the animals have.
Animals have no knowledge of God.
They are non-spiritual creatures.
But God has given to us a spirit.
The Bible says his spirit bears witness with our spirit.
If you can think of it like the channels on a radio.
Brother Shepherd uh is still uses I still use the radio at work uh when when I'm at work and if you're on the wrong channel You can get on there and you can talk all you want to.
But the person on the other channel, if they don't share that same frequency, they're not going to hear a word you're saying.
God has given us a spirit.
And that spirit is keyed in, there's that frequency, if you will, so that we can hear from God's Spirit.
So that we can have this consciousness of God.
Animals have self-consciousness.
We have self-consciousness.
We can get whopped on the head.
We can be unconscious, right?
So we have the consciousness of ourselves.
We're aware that we're here.
We're aware that we exist.
But we've been given this.
Special knowledge by God to know that God exists.
And foolish men they they they abuse and they set aside this God given knowledge and they die never knowing him.
Wise men, however, they employ this knowledge, this spiritual potential to know God by seeking and finding the God who created them and who loves them.
Reason is our natural capacity to know God.
Sin is the offense. of rejecting that godly knowledge.
Romans chapter 1 verse 21.
Romans 1 21 says this.
Paul explains, because that when they knew God They glorified him not as God.
In other words, they they had the knowledge, they knew there was a creator, but they rejected that knowledge, they set it aside, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
In other words, we have a spirit But when God calls us on that radio, you know what you can do?
You can just reach over there and click it off.
And that's what people do with their spirit.
They reject the knowledge of God and their foolish heart instead of being enlightened with the knowledge of God.
The light goes off.
They click that off.
They won't listen to God.
Their foolish heart was darkened.
Exodus chapter 5, verse 2.
It says, and Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord that I should obey him?
I should obey his voice to let Israel go.
I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.
Now Pharaoh knew God, but he refused to know God.
See how that works?
He knew God, like Paul said, they knew God, they glorified him not as God, therefore their foolish heart became darkened.
Pharaoh, just like every other man, he had a spirit.
But he clicked that switch off on God and refused to know him in Daniel chapter 4.
Verse 34.
Nebuchadnezzar said, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven in mine understanding returned unto me.
And now in Daniel 4. 36 we learn that at the same time he lifted his eyes to heaven is when his return when his reason returned to him.
See how that links together?
The the time he lifted his eyes to heaven is the same time His understanding returned unto him.
There was no delay, therefore, between the time he lifted his eyes to heaven and the time his understanding returned.
When he looked to God, he received his understanding at the same time.
Now we learned in our previous study that Nebuchadnezzar lifting his eyes to heaven was the cause. of his understanding being returned to him.
And thus his understanding returned when he lifted his eyes to heaven.
Nebuchadnezzar lifting his eyes to God was his faith And God returning Nebuchadnezzar's understanding to him was God's grace.
You see, God's grace is always in response to our faith.
That's why the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith.
And the fact that there was no delay.
At the same time.
The fact that there was no delay shows us that God's grace Is given at the same time that our faith is exercised in Him The moment we believe in Christ is the moment we are saved by Christ.
I like that scripture in the book of Ephesians.
The Bible says, when ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
When ye believed, ye were sealed.
In other words, Paul could have said, at the same time that you believed, you were sealed.
There is no delayed reaction.
When you when a person puts their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior There's no delayed reaction.
There is no divine probationary period.
There is instant justification the moment we lift our eyes to the Lamb who died in our place.
Now, as far as receiving the grace of God matters outside of salvation, it may be hard to believe that God's grace is given at the moment of our faith.
Because sometimes we believe God for something other than salvation, but we don't receive that or experience that grace at that same time.
It may be years later.
Before we experience it.
But God's grace is truly received by faith And God never gives us a measure of faith without giving us a measure of his grace.
God never gives us a measure of faith without giving us a measure of his grace Now let me qualify that Faith is taking God at His word.
So you can't just believe something God doesn't say and then expect God to give it to you.
Faith is believing God.
God gave Abraham the promise of the Savior that would come.
The Bible says, and Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness at that same time.
So God never gives us a measure of faith without giving us a measure of His grace.
At the same time, we don't always experience God's grace when we exercise our faith.
Now, in Daniel chapter 10, The prophet Daniel lifted his eyes to God and he he prayed for understanding And though Daniel didn't experience that understanding at the same time that he prayed, he was still given that understanding at the same time that he prayed.
It was given to Daniel.
It was appointed to Daniel.
But Daniel did not experience at the same time he prayed, even though he received it the same time he prayed and trusted God for it.
Speaking of an angel of God in Daniel 10, we'll be getting there soon in our study in Daniel 10.
But just taking a sneak peek ahead, in Daniel 10, verses 12 through 13, Daniel said Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day Do you see that?
From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
So there had been more than one day since Daniel prayed.
But Daniel's prayer was heard.
That first day that Daniel prayed.
And it was that grace was given to him, though Daniel did not experience it on that first day.
Verse 13 says, But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me. one and twenty days.
But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
So you see this twenty-one day delay He was heard the first day, but he did not receive it until weeks later.
And now God willing, we'll learn more about this when we get to Daniel chapter 10.
But for now, just understand that God heard Daniel's prayer from the first day, or you could say at the same time that he prayed.
Delayed prayer, therefore, does not mean denied prayer.
Delayed prayer Does not mean denied prayer.
Nebuchadnezzar said, My reason returned to me the same hour, look back in your text now in Daniel, and for the glory of my kingdom. for the glory of my kingdom.
Now that word for means for the purpose of, for the purpose of the glory of my kingdom.
God did not only bestow his grace upon King Nebuchadnezzar to save him from his sins But he also bestowed his grace upon Nebuchadnezzar to restore him the glory and the kingdom that sin had taken away.
So when Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes to God, God did not only remove Nebuchadnezzar's sin, but God restored Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom and glory.
That's a big thing.
That because that explains to us and shows to us in the Old Testament how God's grace and our faith work together.
God's grace is never partial.
God's grace is full.
When you look there in the New Testament, when Jesus healed somebody, Jesus would come up somebody, he'd say For example, that man that was that was uh sick of the palsy.
He's paralyzed.
He'd say, rise, take up your bed and walk That man that was lame on his feet, he didn't jump up and then hop off on one foot like that and say, well, he this one's good.
Now he didn't heal this one, but the ball I left is good.
When Jesus healed someone with leprosy, they didn't say, well, at least he got the top part of me.
I can always cover my feet up with socks and shoes.
No, sir.
When Jesus bestowed his grace, it was from head to toe.
It was inside and out.
It was the whole thing.
It was both legs.
God didn't through Jesus Christ heal one man's eye that was blind, but both of his eyes.
And so God's grace is a full restorative grace.
I like it.
He said, he would say, uh He'd he'd always connect it, if you'll remember.
Remember the man with the sick of the palsy, for example?
When they they broke up that roof and they let him down in that house?
He didn't say, son, stand up and walk.
Do you know what he did first?
Your sins are forgiven you.
Now that's nice.
If Jesus said nothing else but your sins are forgiven, that'd have been enough.
But grace just doesn't remove the guilt of sin.
God's grace restores everything that sin took away And so Jesus not only said, your sins be forgiven you, he also said, rise, take up your bed and walk.
Oh man, God removed the guilt, but God restored everything that sin had taken away.
And so the gospel doesn't simply remove our guilt, but the gospel also restores our glory.
The story we're learning about Nebuchadnezzar and his kingdom being returned to him and his glory being returned to him.
Do you see what that is?
That is God through the gospel restoring to us our kingdom.
And our glory.
God said, let us make man in our image.
Man was to bestow the glory of God.
Just as the moon shines the light of the sun, but is not the light itself, but it bears that light.
Man was created to bear the glory of God here on earth.
Sin darkened his heart.
The glory was lost.
And because Adam rejected the authority of God, the kingdom of God was lost in the race of men.
But through the gospel, when we lift up our eyes to God and we put our faith in His Son, The sins removed, the glory and the kingdom are restored.
Oh, wow.
Now, God doesn't share his glory with anyone.
When the moon shines the light of the sun, The moon bears all that glorious light, but the sun never loses any light.
The sun doesn't grow dark just because the moon is shining Now what happens is when man tries to steal God's glory.
And man tries to be the glory.
He is trying to shut the light from God so that he can have his own light.
But the way to have light is not to dim God, is to let God have his brightness, and therefore his brightness is seen in you.
Man doesn't figure that out.
Man's always trying to rob God, not understanding that when man gives God everything, then he receives everything from God.
That's how we were designed to be.
Again, just like the the moon and the sun.
And so Isaiah chapter 42, verse 8.
Isaiah chapter 42, verse 8.
God said, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another.
The sun's not going to give up its light just so the moon can shine.
There's a beautiful design that the moon shines brightest when the sun is brightest, see?
And so God says, I'm not going to give my glory to another, neither my praise to graven images.
We were not created to share God's glory.
We were created to bear God's glory.
Nebuchadnezzar had tried to share the glory of God and by taking God's glory from him and him shining instead of God.
But you can't share God's glory without robbing him of what is rightfully done. do him.
Last Sunday, my daughter gave me a big homemade brownie.
Now Sunday before last gave me a big homemade brownie for my birthday.
And it would be impossible for me to have shared that brownie with you without losing the portion I shared.
Right?
If I gave half of it to Brother Shepherd and he ate half.
Then I lose half my brownie.
Previously, before Nebuchadnezzar grazed in the field like an ox, he claimed to have built Babylon himself.
Not God.
He I built this not this Babylon that I built by my power for my glory, he said.
And by making such a claim, Nebuchadnezzar had falsely claimed for himself what God alone had accomplished through him.
Be like the moon saying, Do I not shine so brightly?
And not the sun?
Nebuchadnezzar should have given God the glory for the city God enabled him to build.
But when Nebuchadnezzar gave God the glory of the kingdom, God gave that kingdom glory back to him.
Isn't that wonderful?
When man, when the Adamic race gives God the glory of the kingdom, God will give that glory back to us.
When we give God the authority, God will return the authority back to us.
God said, let them have dominion.
God gave us, God had a kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.
God gave man dominion.
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the earth, the creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
God gave us dominion.
And it's when we try to take dominion from God that we lose dominion.
But it's when we give God the glory and give God the dominion that we gain the glory.
And the authority that God wanted us to have.
We don't get what belongs to God by taking it from Him, but by giving it to Him Say it again.
We don't get what belongs to God by taking it from him, but by giving it to him, by acknowledging his authority.
We act in his authority.
By giving him his glory, his glory is manifested in us.
Nebuchadnezzar learned that faithful men don't steal God's glory.
They manifest it.
Look what he says.
He says back in your text, mine honor and brightness return to me.
My honor and brightness return to me.
Oh, poor old Adam.
Man, Adam had all that glory.
But you know what?
When he sinned against God, he lost it.
Next thing you know, he's hiding naked in the in the in the shrubs.
He's ashamed and he's afraid.
And all that man has to do is return that glory back to God.
And then God. will return his man's honor and brightness back to him.
It's what he told Abraham in the Abrahamic covenant.
I will make thy name great.
It's what he told Abraham.
In other words, I'm going to restore to you the honor and the glory.
Thou shalt be a blessing.
I'm going to remove the curse.
And through Christ give a blessing back to the world.
And all the land you see to you will I give it.
The meek shall inherit the earth, whereby sin we lost it.
Now this is the opposite of what the devil tells us.
Notice the word brightness here.
Have you ever noticed how celebrities in Hollywood call themselves stars?
That's their brightness.
They think, I'm celebrated.
The world celebrates me.
I'm a star.
I'm shining with my brightness.
That refers to their honor and their brightness among the world.
The devil wants us to honor ourselves so that we will be bright in the eyes of men.
But Nebuchadnezzar's honor and brightness were lost. when he tried to shine instead of God.
And it was returned to him when he gave God all the glory, which allowed God to shine through him as he was created to do.
Man shines the brightest when he walks in the light of God.
Now watch what happens after Jesus returns.
Revelation chapter 21.
Revelation chapter 21.
It's always amazing.
Remember, Daniel's a prophetic book.
So it's always going to tie in with the book of Daniel.
And if you watched us online last week, When I was preaching from home, you saw how Daniel and Revelation went together.
And for those of y'all who do not have internet, we skipped this particular part I taught out of Revelation.
That way when you came back after the snow, you wouldn't miss a thing.
Revelation chapter 21, verses 23 and 24.
And the city had no need of the sun.
Look at this.
My honor and my brightness returned to me, Nebuchadnezzar said.
Now watch what happens.
When Jesus is on the throne, it says, and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it.
For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it.
Remember what Jesus said, I am the light of the world.
He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life So he says here, the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
Don't miss that.
God is returning brightness and glory the same thing, by the way.
God is returning Nebuchadnezzar's glory.
And Nebuchadnezzar's honor to him.
Why?
Because Nebuchadnezzar in his heart put God in his rightful place, and now God can have Nebuchadnezzar in his rightful place like the moon, and now he shines. his brightness through him, and now he bestows his honor to him.
And now in the revelation, what we see is we see kings In the city of God.
You think, well, now how can there be kings in the city of God?
I thought Jesus was king.
Listen, when Jesus is on the throne, everybody rules.
Let them have dominion, God said about Adam.
Adam having dominion on earth did not rob God of his dominion.
It took God's dominion and exercised it here on earth.
And so here are the kings of the earth.
And what are they doing with their glory and their honor?
They're bringing it to God.
And by giving God the glory and the honor.
They will now manifest his glory and honor.
Jesus is going to be King of kings and Lord of Lords.
And everybody's going to acknowledge he is the ruler.
He is the true king.
And now when that happens, the world will receive, the human race will receive its kingdom.
It's honor and its glory.
Back.
Through Jesus Christ.
Giving God the glory didn't make Nebuchadnezzar weak.
Giving God the glory made him whole.
He said, look in your text.
And my counselors and my lords sought unto me.
They started asking me.
For direction again.
The people who once guided Nebuchadnezzar to a field to eat grass are now going to Nebuchadnezzar for guidance.
Nebuchadnezzar lost his pride and gained his dignity.
See how that works?
He lost his pride.
And by doing so, he gained his dignity and respect among the people when he looked to God for help and gave God the glory.
If you want respect, If you want honor and glory, don't promote yourself, humble yourself and lift your eyes to heaven.
He said, Nebuchadnezzar said, look back to the text, and I was established in my kingdom.
Underscore the word established.
Established.
These words are all here for a reason.
Very, very purposeful words.
I was established in my king I wasn't just given glory and honor.
I just didn't have my reason returned to me and my brightness.
But I was established in my kingdom.
God established Nebuchadnezzar.
That means he secured his position in the kingdom of Babylon.
God's grace is never given to God's people without security.
When you are in the grace of God, you are established in that grace Well, that's very important for folks.
I I saw a on on social media the other day I s I saw a man Right on there about how once you believe in Christ as your Savior and you're born again by the Spirit of God, you are saved forever.
And boy, attack after attack after attack after attack, all these so-called Christians getting on there to attack that man to tell them, oh no, you're not.
Oh no, you're not.
You still gotta keep working.
You gotta keep doing, you gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta do the other Old Nebuchadnezzar was trying before he fell.
Now Nebuchadnezzar is trusting, and he was established You see?
Yeah, as long as you think that your establishment is based on your faithfulness, you're going to fall.
But when you realize your establishment is based on God's faithfulness, that's when you'll never fail.
Everybody.
Everybody wants the feeling of security.
Is there anyone here, how many of y'all want the feeling, the knowledge that you are secure?
Everybody wants that.
Nobody would say, oh, I'd rather not be secure.
I work at a bankruptcy court.
We see people coming all the time to file bankruptcy.
They all have different stories.
And uh You know, I I was talking to my mother the other day and and she said, you know, you me and your daddy are older and I sure hope we that you know no tragedy comes upon us.
We ever have to go file bankruptcy.
Now why she say that Because people want the feeling of being secure.
It's nice to think I'm okay, I'm locked in, I'm I'm secure, I've got all this buttoned up, but but security doesn't come by fighting for it Or by trying to be strong.
Security comes by resting our hope in the eternally established God who created us.
Everybody wants the feeling of being secure, but security comes from God alone.
You see, God is security.
God, I told a man uh years ago his wife passed away.
And I told that man, I said, the only thing sure in this world is Jesus.
That's it.
We're not promised another day.
We're not promised another hour.
We're not promised anything.
It can all change just like that.
You say, well, I got lots of money in the bank.
All it takes is one lawsuit.
All it takes is one tragedy.
For some.
All it might take is one bad diagnosis.
The only thing sure in this world is Jesus Christ.
And that's why our security comes from having our hope in Him.
The people who don't think they're eternally secure in their salvation, it's because their hope's not in Jesus, their hope's in themselves.
If I think my faithfulness is what keeps me saved, then I'm never going to feel secure Because one day I'm up, the next day I'm down.
One day I'm good, the next day I'm bad.
One moment I may be thinking right, the next moment I'm be thinking bad.
And so here you are like this, if you're resting your hope and your security in your performance, in your faithfulness to God.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He's secure eternally.
Therefore, if my faith is in Jesus Christ and what he did for me on the cross, his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection.
If my faith and hope is in him, then my security is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He said, I was established.
In my kingdom.
Remember, all this was returned to Nebuchadnezzar Once he looked to God for his help and gave God the glory.
And that's important to us because it shows us that the gospel, once again, not only removes our sin, not only restores our glory.
That only returns to us our reason and our brightness and the kingdom of God, but the gospel also restores our security.
I guarantee you.
Once Jesus healed that leprous man, he never got leprosy again.
Once Jesus told that man to rise up and walk, he never got paralyzed again.
The gospel establishes us in the kingdom of God by giving us the eternal security of Jesus Christ, who is eternally secure.
What else was given to Nebuchadnezzar when he looked to God as we begin to close?
He said, an excellent majesty was added unto me.
Majesty.
Notice the word excellent.
That means surpassing majesty.
Exceeding majesty was added unto him.
Nebuchadnezzar had greater majesty as a result of his fall.
And return to God.
That means Nebuchadnezzar was better off after he fell than he was before he fell.
He was a more glorious king.
After he ate grass like an ox, then before he ate grass like an ox.
Excellent majesty. was returned to him.
He gained more majesty by God's grace than he lost by his pride and sin.
Do you see what's happening here?
He gained more majesty than By God's grace, then he lost by his pride and sin.
And that means what we gain in the gospel of Jesus Christ surpasses what we lost in the fall of Adam.
You will always gain more in Jesus than what you lost in Adam.
God just doesn't return back to us what we lost.
He gives us exceeding in abundant grace We look to God's Son for our salvation, and excellent majesty is added to us through Jesus.
Jesus said, Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, Jesus said, but seek Ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Nebuchadnezzar said, Excellent majesty was added unto me.
And because of the marvelous grace of God, Nebuchadnezzar said, Now look in verse thirty seven, our last verse.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven.
Extol means to lift up.
Now watch how this works.
When Nebuchadnezzar praised and lifted up the kingdom of heaven.
He was lifted up by the king of heaven.
When we lift up God, God lifts up us.
There is no honor without God.
Thus honoring God restores God's honor to us.
Man is not exalted by trying to pull God down, but by him lifting up God in his heart.
He said, God is the kingdom of heaven.
Look in your text, all whose works are truth.
His works are real.
His works are genuine.
His works are aligned with truth, unlike the works that we see from people today that are always based on lies.
Well, when I watch the news and I see people spin truth and just twist twist what you know you're what you know is true, they just twist it and spin it.
Those are people whose works are lies.
God's works are always truth.
It says in his ways judgment.
That means his ways have been tried and tested and proven to be wise, just pure, and holy.
Look back in your text, what else does he say?
And those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Boy, he knew that from experience, didn't he?
Those that walk in pride, those that think they know better than the works and ways of God, as I once did, Nebuchadnezzar said.
He said, God's able to humble them like he did me.
Show them the error of their way.
That he may lift them to his glory if they will only hear him.
And if they don't God's able to condemn them in their pride, in their stubbornness.
I tell you, I'd rather live in the grace of God than die in the pride of my own sin.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you, Father God, that here in the book of Daniel you show us, Lord. how mankind lost what you had originally given him, and how that is all restored back to man.
When man lifts up his eyes to you again.
Oh Father God, we thank you, Lord, for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Through whom we receive all that sin took away, given back to us, and not only so But exceeding majesty is added unto us.
We thank you so much in Jesus' wonderful name.
Bless the food we're about to receive next door and those who heard this word.
Amen.
