Gospel—R. Thonney
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With number six on our hymn sheet.
God in mercy sent his Son to a world by sin and done.
Jesus Christ was crucified. It was for sinners.
Jesus died, O the glory of the grace.
Shining in the Savior's face, telling sinners from above, God is light and God is love.
Number six, God in mercy, said his son.
Oh great.
Your heart is gone.
Let's sing one more hymn #34 under hymn sheet.
Precious, precious blood of Jesus, shed on Calvary, shed for rebels and for sinners.
Shed for me.
Precious, precious blood of Jesus.
And Calvary.
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Cares, for example that forced.
Me.
Precious blood that are pretty love.
Red by a Crimson.
Naked star, let go.
He's our precious.
What can make him?
Fight.
On.
Breath God. Breath God.
One of Jesus.
Every.
Saving.
Care for thee.
Shall we pray? Blessed God our Father, we're thankful.
The Book of Hebrews, the 4th chapter.
Beginning with verse 12.
Hebrews.
4/12.
For the word.
God is quick and powerful.
And sharper than any two edged sword.
Piercing even to the dividing.
Asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and Morrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature.
That is not manifest in His sight.
But all things are naked and opened.
Unto the eyes of him with whom?
We have to do.
The word of God.
Is the basis of our preaching here tonight.
We do not have in our hands a book that is outdated for 1995. It says the word of God is quick. It means it's an old English word that means living.
And powerful this book lives. You can kick against it. You can deny it.
It changes not the fact that it is the living.
The powerful Word of God. You can disagree with me and my thinking.
No problem.
But this book?
Is the truth.
And.
You best receive it as it is the living, the abiding Word of God.
It says it is not only able to Pierce to the dividing of soul and spirit.
But it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I can look at you.
And I might think you're thinking certain things. I may try to judge your motives, which is the wrong thing to do.
I cannot do that, but this book, The Word of God, is a discerner of the thoughts.
And intents of your heart. The story is told of a missionary in China.
Who stood up to preach the gospel 1 evening and in the congregation?
There sat one of the.
Respected.
Educated businessmen of that city.
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Listening as the preaching progressed in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, the 1St chapter, in which he tells of the descent of the Gentile world into idolatry and the sexual perversion that characterizes.
Adopting idolatry.
The well educated gentleman got redder and redder in the face.
He stamped out at the end and was heard to say, how dare that man read in public the list of my private sins.
That preacher didn't know anything about that man or his private life. It was the Word of God that he was kicking against. And I say again, you can disagree with what I have to say, but I ask you for the good of your own soul to seriously consider what God has told us in His Word. This book is living and operative.
In 1995.
But there is something else that particularly.
Was laid on my conscience last night.
So verse 13 neither is there any creature.
Which is not manifest in his sight and God's sight.
But all things are naked and opened.
And to the eyes of him with whom?
We have to do basically that last phrase.
The eyes of him with whom?
We have to do, I say to you, friend, tonight, you don't have to do with me.
You have to do with a God that loves you.
And you cannot escape that responsibility.
No way there are people who deny the fact that they are going to be called to an account that changes nothing. Remember standing outside of town in the mountains of southern Peru?
We were preaching the gospel from city to city, and as we were outside the town these two men came along and we got talking to them. Over Yonder there was a cemetery, and he said We decided when I was in university that the grave ends at all.
I said, who gave you the authority to decide such matters? You can decide those things on your own, but that doesn't change the fact that you are accountable. There is a God with whom you have to do, and I'm extremely concerned.
For those that are present here tonight.
Who perhaps in an outward way, have made a profession of faith in Christ.
Perhaps you have pulled the wool of your parents eyes. Perhaps you have everybody else.
Pretty well fooled that year. A true believer.
But in your own heart, you know you never have made it real in your soul.
You know all the answers. Maybe you can tell just as well as I can.
The story of the grace of God, if you come up here and stand to tell it out, but you know in your own soul you have never made it real. There was such an one amongst the very apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached. He went out with the other 11 and preached. He did miracles as far as we know.
He cast out demons. He did works of power.
Not one of the other 11.
Knew that Judas Iscariot was not real.
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When Jesus spoke that one of you shall betray me.
They all looked around and they said, Is it I, Lord? Is it I? No one seemed to know. He had the rest of the disciples pretty well fooled.
I don't know where you stand. I don't know the case of your heart. I can only look on the outside.
But I say, you stand tonight in the presence of a God with whom you have to do.
And all things are naked and open before his eyes.
I'm not here to entertain you tonight.
To tell you a bunch of interesting stories. My purpose here is to bring you.
Into the presence of the God with whom you have to do.
It's a serious matter.
No more important question.
Can you ever settle in this life? No more important question.
I plead with you to be real with God. There are too many that I've grown up with in my other Sunday school where I was brought up, sat on the front rows of the sunny school, could memorize the verses and could tell the way of salvation. They could answer the questions from the Sunday school teacher.
That their lives today.
Show that there was.
Not a depth of heart in their belief. It was own way. Perhaps the head. God knows, the Lord knows them that are his I cannot tell.
But the Lord said, by your fruit you shall know them, and by all good intents, right now I do not know that they are saved.
Perhaps you are baptized. Perhaps you break bread. You are at the Lord's Table.
Those are outward things that mean absolutely nothing.
If you have not made it real with God, again, I say you don't have to do with me tonight. God forbid you have to do with the one before whom all things are open and naked and you stand before a God tonight that knows every single detail of your life. I don't know it.
And I'm glad you don't know the details of my life and their entirety.
But I say we stand in the presence of a God before whom all things are naked and open. Please, I plead with you to be real. Don't goof around with these things we're talking about. Be real with God tonight.
Oh, what a kind of a God we have to do with. What kind of a God is he?
Is he a hard God that wants to take away all your joy, all your good times? That's the way a lot of people have him depicted in their minds.
No, I want to tell your friend that God we're talking about is a God.
That is our giving God. We've been talking about that today in the meetings we've had.
Oh, what a giving God he is. People have the idea that God is just interested in all that he can get out of you.
I tell you, that's not the God of the Bible. That may be some other identity that people think they've defined, but that's not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is a God who delights in giving. He's rich in mercy. That's the kind of God we're talking about.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting light. That's the kind of a God we're talking about, a God who loves and loves so much that he gives, and he gives everything he has to give.
Remember one time trying to make this.
Understood down in the state of Durango in Mexico.
It's a place where.
They still sling their pistols.
In that particular River Valley, some of us have gone there to preach the gospel.
And this evening?
A little place called La Sedra.
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Up on the side of the hill, there is a man in that town that has killed a number of people with his pistol. He was sitting there.
And he had his little boy sitting beside him, about 8 years old.
Said Sir, would you be willing to take that little boy of yours?
And let him die for your enemies.
No way, I said. That's how much God.
Loved you. He loved you so much he took his only son.
And gave him.
And he knew the way Jesus was going to be treated when he came into this world.
The Lord Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.
He came.
To pay the price of our redemption.
He came to pay the ransom for all, the scripture tells us.
He paid it.
The end of his 33 1/2 years of life.
Men could not stand him any longer. It was basically the religious that rose up.
Against them, because I say, friend, we're not talking religion tonight. Religion is one of the greatest enemies against God.
If you are religious.
But not how you don't have Christ, I say, my friend, you are not.
Right with God.
Religion does not save anybody.
Doesn't matter whether it's Catholic, evangelical, Protestant, or whatever way you want to call it.
Christ is the Savior. He's the one that saves.
That the Lord Jesus was taken by those religious men, the scribes and Pharisees. Who knew?
The scriptures very well.
And he was led to the.
First of all, to their high priest and condemned unjustly.
And then he was taken to Pilate, the Roman governor in those days, and Pilot knew that he was innocent. Pilot tried to free him, but the people were going to have their way.
You know, sometimes the statement is the voice of the people, the voice of God.
It certainly wasn't in this case. The voice of the people was against God.
And after Pilate wrangled with those Pharisees and scribes for quite a while.
He condemns Jesus to the death of the cross, the worst death he could give him.
Pilate is not innocent, even though for a while he tried to free him.
He pronounced that he found no guilt in that man, and yet he took him out.
And whipped him with that Roman whip.
According to what I have read in certain books, the Roman whip was called a living death.
They whipped those persons until they were just about to go unconscious, and they throw water on them to revive them and continue. Just to not let them go unconscious, but just to give them as bad a time of suffering as possible. That's what they did to the Christ of God, the one who didn't have any sin of his own.
The soldiers, he delivered them him to the soldiers, and the soldiers took a crown of thorns.
They took those thorns. Have you ever taken thorns and tried to weave them into a crown?
It's pretty hard work, you get stuck pretty bad at doing them, but nothing was too much.
To mock the blessed Son of God. And they laid that crown of thorns on Jesus head, and they took sticks, and they hit him over the head. They used his fists, their fists on his blessed face, until his face was so marred more than any man's.
And then they led him outside of that guilty city of Jerusalem.
To the hill of Golgotha, and there they stretched out his hands.
And nailed them to the cross, his feet as well, and they lifted him up to hang on those.
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Nails through his hands and his feet. I try to imagine the terrible.
Agony it must have been to have nails pounded through your hands and feet.
I can't imagine it, not even that suffering. And there he was, hanging.
And those Jewish leaders, religious leaders, passed in front of him to mock him. Generally, when a person is suffering bad people leave him alone to suffer in quietness and peace. They didn't leave him alone. They mocked him. They cast into his teeth jeers, mockery.
12 noon Something changed. The Lord Jesus, according to the way we understand Scripture, was crucified.
At 9:00 AM in the morning, at 12 noon something took place. It says the scripture does that. There was a darkness over the all the land until the 9th hour. 9th hour was 3:00 in the afternoon. For three hours there was darkness on Calvary.
Nobody could see what was transpiring in those three hours, but according to.
The prophet Isaiah. It was in those three hours that God took.
The sins of this guilty Sinner that stands here tonight.
And laid them on Jesus head. Somebody had to pay for my sins.
If I was going to be saved, God is too holy to pass lightly over sin.
Somebody had to pay the price.
And God laid my sins on Jesus.
The scripture says Christ died for our sins.
According to the scriptures, he was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
The Lord Jesus suffered the just penalty of all my sins on that cross.
Before those hours were ended, he said.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God, in all the holiness of His character, was punishing His own beloved Son for my sins.
Oh, my friend, it says in Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.
At the end of those three hours of darkness, he said, it is finished.
All the judgment of God, that was against me, and rightly so.
As a Sinner was completely finished in the work of Christ.
There remains no judgment against the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has accepted the payment in full that Jesus paid.
On that cross.
And then he delivered up his spirit.
To God, the Roman soldier came up that.
Kill some time later, and with his spear took it and plunged it into the side of Jesus.
And out came blood and water, the testimony.
That the price had been paid in full. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission or forgiveness of sins. Absolutely there cannot be any forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. Jesus shed His precious blood for me. Through that sacrifice. I now can know that there is full and free.
Forgiveness for me, for as much as I am a vile Sinner.
Before him.
Jesus rose again the third day.
It was God's Amen to Christ's sacrifice.
God said I accept what Jesus paid.
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In full and now a free and full salvation is offered.
To the worst Sinner upon the face of this earth, and don't try to think that you are different from the rest.
Maybe you have been brought up in a Christian home. Maybe you think I have never gotten out into the messy side of this world.
But I say you're lost, my friend. Until you know Jesus, really know him, you're lost.
Jesus sits at God's right hand right now, a mighty Savior, mighty to save.
But my friend, I want to deal now a little bit with you and your condition before God. How do you stand? I don't know the state of your heart, but I have a book that is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart, so you can come in to the full joy and blessing of the salvation He has for every one of us who will accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Like to go back to the book of Daniel to see a man that God dealt with, dealt with pretty severely, to bring him to the end of himself. This man.
His testimony is one of my favorites in the Word of God. It is found in Daniel chapter 4.
We're talking about one of the mightiest men in the history of the world.
His name was Nebuchadnezzar.
He was.
You want to call it a real death spot? He was a military dictator, not very popular in our democratic way of thinking in these days. We think that Saddam Hussein was kind of a bad fella. I would think that Nebuchadnezzar was probably more of a despot than Saddam Hussein, but I like to read his testimony. To me, it thrills me to see how God dealt with that man, to bring him down to the point.
Where are we done with himself and turn to God to save him?
Let's read his testimony in Daniel chapter 4.
Nebuchadnezzar.
The King unto all people.
Nations and languages that dwell in all the earth. Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the High God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs, and how mighty are his wonders. His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.
I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house and flourishing in my palace.
I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts of my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. Therefore made IA decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Then came in all the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and I told the dream before them, but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.
But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzer, according to the name of my God, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And before him I told the dream sane, O Balti Shazzer, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troublethe tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and of the interpretation thereof.
Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great, and the tree was grew and was strong in the height thereof reached into the heavens, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth. The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all. The beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heavens of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.
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I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven. And he cried aloud, and said Thus hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit. Let the beast get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches. Nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron.
And brass in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast heart be given unto him, and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones to the intent.
That the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men.
And giveth it to whomsoever he will, and sitteth up over it the basest of men. This dream I, Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now thou, O Belt de Shazer, declare the interpretation thereof. For as much as all the wise men of my Kingdom are not able to make it, make known unto me the interpretation that thou art able. For the spirit of the holy Gods is in thee.
Then Daniel, whose name was Belti Shazer, was Astani for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation thereof trouble thee. Belteshazzer answered and said, My Lord, the dream be to them that hate thee in the interpretation there after thee thine enemies, the tree that thou sawest, which groon was strong, whose height reached into thee heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth.
Whose leaves were fair in the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation. It is thou, O King, that are grown and become strong, For thy greatness is grown and reached into heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. And whereas the king saw a watcher, an unholy 1 Coming down from heaven, and saying.
Hew the tree down and destroy it, yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times Passover him. This is the interpretation, O King, and this is the decree of the Most High which has come upon my Lord the King, that they shall.
Dr. Thee from men and thy dwellings 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 Passover thee.
Till thou know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.
And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots.
Thy Kingdom shall be sure unto thee. After that, thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule.
Wherefore, O King, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness.
In thine iniquities, by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be.
A lengthening of thy tranquility.
All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar.
The end of 12 months he walked in the palace of the Kingdom of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the House of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?
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, and they shall Dr. thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grasses, oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men.
And giveth it to whomsoever he will.
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The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.
He was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen.
And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his feather, his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, and his nails like birds claws.
And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes into heaven.
And mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever.
Whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his Kingdom from generation to generation in all the inhabitants of the earth.
Are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven.
And among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me. And for the glory of my Kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me. And my counselors and my Lord sought unto me. And I was established in my Kingdom. An excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise.
And extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth.
And his ways, judgment, and those that walk in pride, he is able to obey. What a story this is. I really revel in reading the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar. I hope to meet Nebuchadnezzar one day in the in glory, in heaven. I really do.
But here was a man who had the whole known world under his control at that time. The first of the world kingdoms, the Gentile world kingdoms, was the Babylonian World Empire. And not only did he have control over the nations, he had control over the beasts of the field as well. He had special powers given to him. Interesting, this man, Nebuchadnezzar.
No one there was number Court of Appeals beyond him in this world.
But Nebuchadnezzar had to learn that there was a God with whom he had to do.
And there was number way to escape it.
He probably thought.
That there was number one that he had to give an account to.
Maybe you think that tonight, friend, but I want to.
Change your thinking tonight.
There is someone you will give an account. You can deny it, but you will give an account to God. All things are naked and open into the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. No getting around that my friend. Sooner or later you must come face to face with Jesus.
Like it or not, believe it or not, that doesn't change the matter. You will come face to face with Jesus.
You can come face to face with Him tonight by faith. Receive him as your Lord and Savior.
Or in a coming day of judgment, you will stand before him.
At a great white throne where he will preside and pronounce your final destiny in the lake of fire. God doesn't want that to happen. No wonder God has blocked the road to hell with the cross of Christ. He doesn't want you to go one step further in that direction. He said to you stop.
And if necessary, he uses drastic means. He had to use pretty drastic means with Nebuchadnezzar because of his position. Perhaps he thought there was no one he had to give an account to, and so God had to talk to him pretty severely.
God sent a warning a year before it all happened.
And God warns, and no doubt you have received warnings.
Just solemnly think that God is warning the United States of America.
All these hurricanes, the disasters that are taking place.
People might mention God for a little bit, then it soon passes and they're just thinking about their own things and doing their own thing. God is warning this world is not going to continue like it's going forever. No, God is going to call you to account.
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And so Nebuchadnezzar has this dream one day. None of his wise men could interpret the dream. Daniel, the Prince of the magicians. Isn't this something? Isn't this tremendous? There was a man who sought God, who purposed in his heart to please God.
And he's called the Master of the Magicians.
God had spoken to Nebuchadnezzar before this. There were marvelous things that had taken place.
In chapter two, he had had a dream.
And he required his wise men not only to interpret the dream, but to tell him the dream.
That was something that they weren't used to. Those wise men were used to people having.
Their dreams told to them and then they would tell the interpretation. But he said no, you tell me the dream and the interpretation, so I'll know that you have the right word from God.
And Daniel and his three friends made it a matter of prayer, and God revealed it to Daniel. Tremendous what God did.
And he's impressed for a little bit, but then he goes right back to his own way of living.
In the third chapter another thing happened in Nebuchadnezzar had raised up a big idol in the praying plains of Babylon, and he had demanded that all his realm bow down to that idol. And when the command was given and the sound of the musical instruments were played, everyone bowed down -3.
Daniels, three friends stuck up like sore thumbs in that multitude, and they were denounced in Nebuchadnezzar and brought to him.
How dare you, he said. Resist my command. He was not used to being disobedient.
But they were obeying a higher power. They were not rebelling against his authority. It's important to see they were. They were obeying a higher power.
And they were thrown into a fiery furnace.
And God overruled the power of the flames, and those men got up in that fiery furnace and were walking around in that fiery furnace.
With the Son of God, because Nebuchadnezzar looked in and saw not three but four walking around. Nebuchadnezzar comes to the mouth of that furnace, and he calls.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hit her.
And they were obedient. They came out.
Was a marvelous.
Occasion of God's intervening power, and Nebuchadnezzar again is impressed.
Maybe God has spoken to you and you have been impressed.
But you really haven't settled anything, and that's the case of Nebuchadnezzar here. But oh, the God we have is the God that doesn't give up very easy.
You can fool me. You can fool around with us too, every anyone of us. You cannot fool around with God. You have to do with him. Sooner or later you're going to be brought face to face with your God. No way of avoiding it. And so this time, Nebuchadnezzar is warned again in a dream.
Daniels brought in. He stole the dream. Can you see?
Daniel's consternation as he realizes what the dream means.
He stands there in Nebuchadnezzar's presence for a whole hour, doesn't say a thing.
Till Nebuchadnezzar says, don't let the dream trouble yours interpretation.
And Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel tells him the dream that that great tree that was cut down was Nebuchadnezzar. God was giving him a further warning. And oh, God doesn't want you to have to be brought low. He doesn't want you to have to have a terrible accident.
To start thinking seriously about these matters we're talking about tonight, the day I was in.
Michigan at the pleasure of meeting a man who has been diagnosed of terminal cancer. I think it's in his throat and his ear and in his lung. It's been given 6 to 8 months to live.
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Through the testimony of some of the Lord's people, He has found the Lord. God doesn't want to have to give you cancer before you start listening, but if you don't listen, He may have to do something drastic to you. And I plead with you, don't fool around anymore. God's not that kind of a God, but He does say return you children of men. He brings men to destruction and says return.
And so if it takes that to bring you back, he may allow something drastic.
Will Nebuchadnezzar after the interpretation of the dream?
Was another 12 months in his palace in the Kingdom of Babylon.
I don't know if anybody hears read the dimensions of the city of Babylon. It's fantastic. It had a double wall around it. I remember right. The outer wall was something like.
100 feet high.
And it was for 88 kilometers around that city, about 55 miles if I remember, if I got the figures right. It was incredible the size of that city.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the wonders of the world.
And so here in verse 30 the king speaks and notice he has eye trouble.
Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the House of the Kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? That's kind of day we're living in, where man exalts himself.
And sometimes we're swept away with the influence of that kind of thinking.
Man's dead is.
And that's what happened in Nebuchadnezzar. And as soon as he said it, as soon as the words were in his mouth, he lost the Kingdom. And he was driven from out, out from him in evidently he lost his reason. And there he is in the grass, this mighty monarch of Babylon. There he's eating grass like an ox. Can you think of a more humiliating thing?
But God wants you to turn friend, and He may allow something drastic to happen so you'll listen.
Again, I say he doesn't want to do that, but if you refuse to listen when he speaks, he may allow something drastic to happen. Please listen to him tonight. We're reading his word.
It says here.
That his.
Body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like Eagles feathers and his nails like birds cloth.
And be a very pleasant person to meet up with in the countryside.
That kind of a man, there he was like a beast, and man that doesn't listen to God turns in that direction. I plead with you to listen to God tonight. Let His precious word penetrate right down into the depths of your heart.
Don't shut your ears against his voice. You can shut your ears to my voice, but not against his. Please, I ask you to listen.
Verse 34 At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes into heaven.
Here is a change.
He is done with himself.
He lifts up his eyes to heaven. He realizes he is accountable to somebody.
There is a God with whom I have to do.
And immediately God gives them back his reason. His understanding returned unto him. And what does he do? No longer singing his own praises, singing the praises of the Most High God.
And it says in the end of verse 36 that excellent majesty was added unto him. Has there ever been a story like this?
In the history of the world, I don't think so. This is tremendous story. A man who was crazy like an animal living out in the woods and now coming right back into the glory of his Kingdom and excellent majesty added unto him. Tremendous story. And Oh my friend, I tell you, God does not want to ruin you. God has your good in view. God wants to bring you into blessing far greater than you have.
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The ability to comprehend, that's the kind of God we're talking about. That's the kind of God with whom we have to do.
And then he says in verse 37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all whose works are truth in his ways, judgment, and those that walk in pride, he is able to abase. What a tremendous ending to the story of Nebuchadnezzar.
But one word more before I close.
That if you continue, my friend, to refuse.
God speaking to you, you still will meet up with your God. One day the cemeteries of this world are going to be all emptied, completely empty, and the dead are going to stand before God naked.
And whosoever is not found written in the book of life is going to be cast into the lake of fire. You cannot avoid this God with whom?
You have to do. I plead with you with all my heart to tonight. Stop. Listen to His voice speaking to you. Don't go a step further in the wrong direction. Turn around. He wants to save you. He wants to bring you into everlasting blessing tonight.
All those who are real believers in here, we plead with you, don't wait a minute longer. Be reconciled to God tonight. Let's just pray. Gracious Father, we thank Thee for Thy precious Word and how it probes.
The depths of our hearts, we ask Thy blessing upon it, as it's gone out tonight wherever it has gone out and here tonight too. Father, we don't know the state of those that have heard it. We pray that Thou it's blessed Thy word in their hearts they might be brought to saving faith in the Lord Jesus. We ask in His most worthy and blessed name, Amen.