Humility Over Hierarchy

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Good morning, CCW.

Alright.

Y'all, this is funny.

I just gotta tell you, I was thinking about it when I walked up here.

Y'all are such church folk.

I saw extra chairs pulled out in the back.

There's nine chairs right here.

Y'all.

Extra chairs in the back, but nobody, I don't know what it is.

We're gonna start eliminating rows.

Happy Sunday.

Hope you've enjoyed being in the book of Daniel.

We're gonna continue Daniel chapter four this morning.

And uh as we jump in, the end of chapter three saw King Nebuchadnezzar, a picture of pride, having his 90-foot tall, 90-foot-wide statue of himself erected, and the boys that would not bow down to that statue.

And we saw the God, the fourth man who came in the fire and who walked with them through that.

Well, it's interesting that you of note that you understand the arrogance of Nebuchadnezzar at the end of chapter 23.

And I want you to go with me to Daniel chapter 4, verse 24 through 27.

Daniel 4:24–27

Daniel, it starts off here, Daniel's brought in because King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.

We see dreams throughout these chapters, and Daniel got gifted with the ability to understand visions.

And so at the end of chapter 3, we left off in chapter 4, there's this awakening to a dream.

And this is, Daniel has been brought in to understand and walk through the dream.

Let me read it to you.

We'll start in verse 23.

And in as much as the king saw a watcher, otherwise known as an angel, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass of the field.

Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass over him.

This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my Lord the King.

They shall drive you from men.

Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen.

They shall wetch you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses.

And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you after you come to know that heaven rules.

Therefore, Daniel cries this to him, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you.

Break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.

Perhaps there may be a lengthening of prosperity.

Let me quickly go over the dream, and then we'll pray.

The great tree that filled the earth in his dream is a picture of Nebuchadnezzar himself and the kingdom of Babylon.

And it says that an appearance of an angel is coming, Daniel says, in this dream, to remove your power, to chop down the great tree, mostly.

And with the chopping down of that great tree, it's also going to remove his mental faculties and rendering him to be like a beast on the fields of the earth for a time.

Seven times, the scripture says, and that word is Sheba, and it refers to a fixed, definite, and lengthy period.

People debate whether this was seven years, seven months, what it was, but it was a definite, lengthy period of time.

And interestingly, the tree that was chopped down, the roots of the tree were left in the ground.

Possibly.

Hopefully, as we go through leaving, Nebuchadnezzar, this person that we have been walking through with, maybe you've had hope for him.

Maybe this rooting in the ground leaves and implies some hope in the dream.

Let me pray.

Father, we love you.

We thank you for the opportunity we have today to meet in your presence.

God, I thank you for the worship of God.

What a worship service, Lord.

We speak the name of Jesus.

God, we're grateful that you heard and you answered.

God, we're thankful for your presence.

God, I thank you for people answering your call and following you in believers' baptism.

But God, I just have to believe there's a work to be done in this service.

So I pray that you would ready hearts.

God, that you would ready them, Lord.

Help us not to leave here being the same.

Lord, help us to meet with you.

We love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I want you to skip over to verse number 33.

The first point this morning is a hierarchy embarrassed.

Verse 33.

That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar.

He was driven from men and ate grass like an oxen.

His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.

Letter A, I want you to see, we're going to go back scripture, but a ridiculous boasting.

There's a ridiculous boasting, and it happens in verse 28.

Read this with me.

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar at the end of twelve months.

That's interesting.

I would highlight that.

We're going to come back to it.

He was walking about the royal palace of Babylon, verse 30.

The king spoke, saying, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty or my glory.

So this ridiculous boasting comes out of King Nebuchadnezzar.

He speaks to himself.

It doesn't get any better.

This start.

We all know of his struggles with pride, but here he goes again.

Is this not great Babylon?

And I need you to understand, it was.

Babylon was unreservedly an amazing thing to see.

And if you go back in history about it, it was entirely extraordinary.

It was the most renowned ancient city of the world.

It had colossal walls, 387 feet high.

It had 85 feet wide walls.

And they said four chariots could line up beside each other and run along the walls, the top of the walls of Babylon.

National Geographic stated this.

Greek historian Strabo and Diodorus Sisilus described one of the seven great wonders of the world in Babylon, the ancient hanging gardens.

They said it was a marvel with an array of beautiful flowers and luscious fruit, exotic foliage, impressive waterfalls.

This was something to be seen, a sight for the whole world.

And they said, this is National Geographic, built in 600 BC by Nebuchadnezzar.

So Nebuchadnezzar strolled out on the balcony, gazing at all this, and you know what he didn't say.

The thing that he said at the end of chapter 3, which was, Everyone needs, I now decree that everyone extol and worship the king of these Hebrews.

He didn't call him his king, he said, the king of the Hebrews you worship.

He didn't say, Praise God.

He didn't say the heavens declare the glory of the Lord.

No.

Nebuchadnezzar said, Look at all this that you have built, Nebuchadnezzar.

He said, You did you.

You did this.

You got yours.

And he said, You, Neb, you are so awesome.

I am so proud of me, is what he said.

And he's worshiping.

He's worshiping.

You and I are worshiping more than Sunday.

One could argue that there is not one thing that you do in life that is not worship.

James 4.16 said this: all boasting is evil.

Hear that?

Those are tough words from James.

Paul said, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.

Boasting is a worship problem.

And I want to tell you, this generation is taught to boast.

They're taught that it's a part of their self-confidence, that it's a part of their belief.

And what I want to tell you, it's a spiritual and it's a worship problem.

I read this quote this week, looking through ESPN.

James Harden was on the Philadelphia 76ers and he was traded to the Clippers, and they were talking about why this trade took place.

And James Harden said this that the 76ers wanted to keep me on a leash.

He said, I'm not a system player.

I am a system.

I want you to hear today, church, there's always another rung climbing the never-ending tower of Babel.

There's always another rung.

James 4.10 said this: humble yourselves, I think Dave quoted this, in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.

You'll never, hear me, church, you'll never reach heaven on the ascent upward, but you'll always reach heaven on the descent to your knees.

It's not the ascent upwards of the human life.

Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged God as a Hebrew God.

He decreed even, don't speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

But he wasn't, I believe, a child of God to that point.

Holiday said this pride severs us, you and me, from God's design to live in relationships.

It's hard, don't you know?

It's hard to be around someone who's boastful.

Hard to be against around the haughty, the prideful.

It's hard.

And so it severs our ability to have relationships.

If you're wondering about your relationships today and you feel lonely often, is there a talk about myself problem?

You ever been in that competition with somebody?

And they they say, Well, you know what else?

You know what I did.

You know what I did, and there's nothing you can do.

The belt buckle competition.

You see, pride causes us to assess our lives by accomplishments rather than our God-given identity.

We are creatures made from God.

Our accomplishments aren't us.

I used to teach a series to teenagers on identity, and I would teach them the things that you're not.

I'd say, you're not your trophies, you're not your image, you're not your clothing, you're not the relationship, the boyfriend, girl.

That doesn't make you.

You're not those things.

You're not your occupation, folks.

That's something you do.

But if you ask somebody, hey, how are you doing?

the next question is, what do you do?

We're trying to define a person by the thing that they do.

You're not the sum of your worst mistakes.

You're not those things.

You're not somebody's label that's on you, their opinion of you.

You're not those things.

Genesis 1.27 says that you were made in the image of God.

You are, hear me today, God made, God known, and God loved.

You're God planned.

You've been adopted, you've been accepted, you've been adored by God.

You're a child of the living God.

Your daddy is a king, and that's something that you can praise for today.

Amen.

You see, boasting, pride is an identity issue.

The world around us is telling you you've got to have a big self-esteem.

Pump your self-esteem.

And I'm not telling you not to have esteem, but what I am telling you is have a healthy God esteem.

If you will understand who he is and who you are because of him, you won't have such a pride issue.

You would think that the audacious arrogance of Nebuchadnezzar's self-glory would bring forth the wrath of Almighty God.

You would think, and rightfully so, God is going to come any moment, and he's going to incinerate Nebuchadnezzar from planet earth, and we might cheer him on for doing so.

But Nebuchadnezzar was like you and me, made in the image of God.

And now, when we think it's time to wipe him out, he's warned with a dream.

We think, what how is this arrogant guy is warned?

Why didn't God just wipe him out?

Instead of destroying him, he is warned with a dream.

It is stunning that he gives Nebuchadnezzar yet another opportunity.

He has ridiculous boasting.

Yet God has ridiculous grace.

We humanly know nothing of the type of grace and the type of patience and the type of yearning that God, who is calling for a lost sinner to come home.

That song we sing, the reckless love of God, He chases me down.

We know nothing of this type of grace, ever patient.

He gives Nebuchadnezzar an opportunity again to turn, as God did in your life.

In times when you act like he doesn't exist, he's patient.

When you run from him, student, he's patient.

When you do what you want to do, even when you know it's wrong, he's so gracious.

He is tremendously patient.

When our own desires and our demands take the spotlight and God's on the back burner, he is so patient.

I want you to see again, verse 28.

There's something I told you to highlight that I think it's interesting to note.

All this came upon Nebuchadnezzar, verse 29, at the end of 12 months.

How does that hit you?

Has that hit anybody?

At the end of 12 months.

Since the warning.

It's been 12 months.

Nobody?

Parents, when you reprimand your child, any of you ever said, now you're gonna stop that right now, and you've got a year to fix it.

Anybody?

You've got 12 months.

Your friend who is absolutely wrong, and you're calling on him, and you say, You've got 12 months to get your act together.

Right?

We know nothing of this kind of patience.

We are so easily agitated, are we not?

Heather sends me into the grocery for au jus.

I don't even know how to spell this.

But it's in this little teeny packet.

It's dry au jus, and it's in a different place than every grocery store.

And I go in looking for the stuff, and I'm just dreaming as I go in that the place will be empty.

And I go in, and just as I've got my au jus, and I'm getting ready to walk up into the checkout line, a lady with 140 items pulls in front of me.

And I immediately don't like her.

And I want to share something with her, but it's probably not Jesus.

We know nothing of God's infinite patience, this type of grace.

A 12-month type of grace.

Nebuchadnezzar said, By my power and for my glory has this Babylon been built?

You're building something with your life, church.

To what end?

Is it by your power for your kingdom?

Can you say at the end of your day, at the end of your week, everything that you've built is for the kingdom of God?

In my own hands building things.

I was thinking about this.

One Valentine's Day.

See, guys, you you can thank me for this later because you're gonna look better this year no matter what.

So one Valentine's Day, Heather had spoken to me a few times, mentioning she would like this thing called an edible arrangement.

It's like a bouquet of fruit, right?

And I looked it up because I was gonna do the right thing.

I looked it up and then I saw the price.

And I'm cheap.

And so I was like, oh, you know what?

I can probably just do this myself.

So I go to the Walmart and I pick up strawberries and pineapples, and mind you, I deal very little with things in the kitchen at home.

Some chocolate, and I'm looking for like cookie cutters that cut out things.

I'm like, surely there's some Valentine Hart cookie cutting things and flour cookie.

There's nothing.

There's some leftover Santas.

And I'm like, that ain't gonna work.

I know that ain't gonna work.

I might not know a lot, but if I give her Santa pineapples, I'm in trouble.

And so I get it all together and I come back to the church kitchen and I'm like, I don't got any cookies.

So I get a knife out and I begin carving my hand hearts.

I'm melting chocolate and I'm thinking, putting strawberries in chocolate, this is gonna go great.

I mean, how can you go wrong?

Do you know you can?

You can go wrong.

When you put it in the refrigerator, it doesn't look like the thing that you thought you made.

And let me tell you, them pineapple hearts were, listen, they were one of the worst things I've ever created.

But Valentine's Day came.

I wake up, I know I don't have anything else.

I know innately that I'm a little bit in trouble, but I'm like, I'm just, we gotta go for it.

I already did it.

I did the work.

So I go to the fridge, I look at the thing one more time, like, oh no.

So I begin to sort of pray, hoping, Lord, let her be blind for just a few moments.

And when she sees it, let her have that mission's heart and love the thought deep inside me and not what I actually did.

So I bring it out to her, and she looked at it and she laughed.

And she was not blind.

And she said, What is that?

I said, It's an edible arrangement, just like you wanted.

By my power for my glory.

Left to myself, church.

By my power for my glory, does not get me far.

John Piper said this, by my power and for my glory is the slogan of every human heart before the valley of humiliation.

Look at letter B.

Nebuchadnezzar hits a rock bottom.

We said that Nebuchadnezzar in verse 33, that hour it was fulfilled, the dream.

He was on his belly like an oxen.

Rock bottom.

Daniel 4 and Daniel 7 recognize this in parallel, and their pictures.

Uh in chapter 4, it's a picture of Nebuchadnezzar ruling, his empire ruling specifically over the Jews.

In Daniel 7, it represents as earth's empires ruling over the Jews and both ruling like beasts.

People coming against God's chosen people.

In Scripture, he compares it to the act of a beast.

Important that you understand that in these days and times.

So, and I want to say this too as well on the pride.

Sometimes we hear the boasting, but the same type of pride, the same pride issue is the same thing that keeps a man from realizing his need.

See, I'm not I'm not proud, Pastor.

I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not boasting.

Well, the same thing, the same pride issue in the heart of a man goes, I I can't ask.

I can't admit, I can't be baptized after all these years.

What a beautiful display of pushing away pride.

What will so-and-so think?

It's the same pride.

Well, all of it helps Nebuchadnezzar, the world's richest, most famous, powerful man in Babylon, strong, hits rock bottom.

It's a long way from the king of Babylon to an ox eating grass.

As eagles' wings, it said, nails like bird claws.

The proper term for this transformation is lycanthropy or boanthropy, a human that is acting in the form of an ox or like a wolf.

And so this is now the king of known Babylon.

You ever went somewhere and you wished somebody wouldn't have seen you?

Ran out and you looked kind of like an animal, unkempt, hit Walmart at 7 a.m.

hoping nobody was there.

When I was in uh junior high, we would get the paper.

So I loved the paper.

I know kids don't understand that today.

We read and stuff.

It was awesome.

So I got the paper and I would read the sports section and the movie section, of course.

And not that I was into current events.

So it was at the end of a drive.

My door would open, and it was about an eighth of a mile out the door, down the sidewalk, and down the drive towards what was a lane, and across the street there was a church.

Sunday morning was the best paper.

Not only did it have the sports from the weekend, the movie stuff, it also had sales guides that you could look at and dream of stuff.

So I would go out Sunday morning while it was cold out.

And the problem is I wasn't too lazy to get the newspaper, but I was too lazy to get dressed appropriately in the wintertime to go get the newspaper.

So about 7:30 a.m., I went outside in my boxer shorts and I took off running because I knew I needed to get there fast because it was about 25 degrees.

And I got to the underdriver, grabbed the paper, turned around, got back in the house.

Great.

Until Monday morning at school.

When Laura said, I saw you running yesterday.

She said, You kind of look like an animal.

It's like, oh, it's a long way from the king of Babylon now, who's grazing the fields in insanity.

And I want to tell you today, church, when a man tries to make himself God, he becomes an animal.

Pride is an intoxication that makes a man a beast.

God said, Nebuchadnezzar, you want to be in love with pride?

You have no need of anyone but you.

Now you can graze the fields of pride.

Hear me, church.

Whether it's the boasting or the lack of awareness to be able to ask for help, pride makes a person hit rock bottom.

Maybe you've been here today and you've hit rock bottom before.

I have.

Do you remember where you were when you said, God, I'll never, I'll never do this again.

God, if you just, if you'll get me out of this place.

God, if you'll help us financially, God, if you'll help this health problem.

God, I'm so sorry.

Maybe today you're here and you need a self-examination.

Where are you today?

Well, that's what happens, point number two, the heavenward examination.

Look down at verse 34, just the first part we'll look at.

And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven.

And my understanding returned.

It says, He lifted his eyes to heaven.

He looked up, that word is not all, and that is to bear up, to lift something up that was heavy.

Psalms 121, verse 1 says, I will lift up mine eyes into the hills, for whence comes my help?

Psalms 121:1

My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

Have you lifted up your head to look up?

The picture of the tree trimming is a picture every man must walk.

It's a beautiful portrait of a theological term, soteriology.

Soteriology is the doctrine of salvation.

Hear me.

If you're a Christian today, you've walked the walk of the tree trimming.

It says the doctrine of soteriology, who is saved?

By whom are they saved, and from what are they saved?

It begins with a drawing of the Holy Spirit on a man who's fallen from his depravity and is able, in his depravity, to look up unto the help.

Have you been able to do that?

Every saved man has to.

Realizing our eternal need and the saving from ourself.

In ourself, in our own sin.

This is what we get.

Well, he said that he looked up, and then it said his reason came back to him.

Look at letter A.

A rational understanding of mortality.

My understanding.

Understanding came back.

That word is manda.

The place of knowledge.

The place of your knowledge.

And another word for mandal is the soul.

The Hebrew word for soul is nefesh.

Genesis 2.7 says, and God breathed into man and became a living nefesh.

He became a soul.

Deuteronomy 6.5 says the greatest command was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, your nefesh.

And so he was belly down for a season, and Nebuchadnezzar sprung up with Nefesh.

With soul.

And you know what?

He sang a new song.

Y'all want to hear the song?

This is Nebuchadnezzar's new song.

Listen to it.

He returned to reason.

Listen to me.

He was now the soul man.

He wasn't just an animal grazing.

At this moment, hear me.

You and I are eternal beings living in a human experience.

It is that soul that's inside this shell that's being carried one day out into eternity.

He realizes he's a soul.

Romans 6.23 says this about the understanding of mortality, for the wages of sin is death.

You see, when sin was conceived in the garden, it diseased the world, it polluted the world, it brought death to the world.

That is, mortality came to the world.

And Hebrews 9.27 says there's a mortality date.

It's appointed unto man once to die.

Every person here has this.

This life, though, is just the physical show.

Understanding mortality will help you live right now better.

What do you mean, Pastor?

Help me understand this.

Well, Jesus said some things that are really difficult.

He told us some things that almost seem like this is countercultural to do.

It seems like a little bit close to impossible, but why are they not?

Let me tell you some of the things.

He says, you can go the extra mile.

Somebody asked you to go one mile, you can go two.

He said to turn the other cheek.

He said things like, bless those who persecute you.

And you go, What?

He said, Bless those and bless those who despitefully use you.

Bless them.

Bless them and do not hurt them.

He says to do that.

He says to forgive 70 times seven.

Forever and ever and ever the same thing.

He said, I like this verse.

Be joyful in tribulation.

How?

How?

A rational understanding of mortality is how.

When you figure out that this is just the taxi, when this is just the show, and one day we're going to live together and worship for eternity with this God.

It changes your purview.

It changes what you do on the day-to-day.

There's an old hymn that said it this way: This world is not my own.

I'm just a passing through.

My treasures are laid up way beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me from heaven's open door.

And I can't be at home in this world anymore.

This is just the show.

Now listen to me, it matters what you do here for eternity.

This life matters.

But how can you do those things?

When you come to the point that you're humbled and say, it really doesn't matter.

I tell our staff all the time, listen, people say different things about leadership, but I said, listen, we are the lead servants.

I'm not the leader, I'm the lead servant.

You should be able to see the leader serving.

Why is it able to do that?

Nebuchadnezzar would never have this portrait.

One day I get to glorify my king and I get to lay down these trophies and crown at his feet based on the way that I lived my life here.

I'm not going to heaven with my trailer full of my trophies.

I was going to say, God, I was MVP on the 1999 soccer team.

Woo! Aren't you excited?

You ain't gonna care.

I could throw a ball in a hoop.

It was beautiful, God.

You remember that last second shot, God?

Do you remember when I built my bank account and I built my business, God?

Do you remember my big house, God?

Do you remember all that that I gave my kids, God?

What did you bring to heaven to lay at his feet?

Nebuchadnezzar was in the valley and received sight.

There's a Puritan prayer.

I recommend they've made a book out of it, but the Puritan prayer is called The Valley of Vision.

Listen to these words.

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights.

Hemmed in by mountains of sin, I behold thy glory.

Let me, O Lord, learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repentive soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.

For some of you, you may have to go through some things.

Some of you may be right there now.

And I want to tell you, I'm not flipping about this.

The valley is not an easy place, it's not a comfortable place, but I can tell you this from truth.

Sometimes it's the best place.

Because without the valley, it's real hard in our own human flesh and our own accomplishments to get our head out of that and look up.

I pray that God would give you vision.

Well, we see a rational understanding of mortality, let it be a reverential understanding of immortality.

Not only does Nebuchadnezzar see his plight and where he's at, look at how the verse finishes.

At the end of time, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted my eyes to heaven.

Where did he look?

And my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever.

So if we're wondering, if you've been holding out hope for Nebuchadnezzar, here's a glimmer, okay?

Maybe not all the way, but at least it's a glimmer.

I blessed the Most High.

Before he said, you bless, I decree that you do this.

I decree that nobody come against their God.

Now he says, I blessed and praised and honored the one who lives forever.

There's a lot of debate about did Nebuchadnezzar surrender.

But I want to tell you, in this moment, he looks up in his season, his time away, his hurt, his pain, his valley.

He went from mountaintop to this place.

Now hear me, he previously understood that the Hebrew God was good for the Hebrews.

And he made two decrees about their God and honoring him.

Now he acknowledges Jehovah God, and he acknowledges him as the one who lives forever.

Nebuchadnezzar, who worshipped Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar who worshiped Marduk, Nebuchadnezzar now discerns from the valley, looking up, the Most High God.

The word is Elaha, and that is sovereign or supreme, the one.

Eli is a word from Elaha, meaning to climb to the top.

Are you hearing this?

Nebuchadnezzar, whose endless task of life was climbing to reach to the top of the towers of Babel, like the gods before him, now was relieved to just look at the one.

Eli.

You might be here today, church, and you're in a dire need to hear of the glorious solace, the liberation that comes from this.

You need to be told you don't have to be on top.

You don't have to keep up with the Joneses.

You don't have to be that one.

All you have to do is hold the hand of the one who is on top.

Get close to him.

That's your identity.

That's why you've been created to be an image bearer of God Almighty.

You don't have to reach that next rung.

I know that everyone's in your ear and they're all at the business place and they're all talking, and you say, Well, it just makes sense.

I've got to this point.

I'm supposed to go here.

And I'm telling you today, you don't have to.

It should be liberating for you to know.

I'm not saying don't be your best.

Don't go out here and say, Pastor Rick, honey said we can be mediocre.

It's okay.

I can take a nap this whole next week.

We're not going to make any money.

That's not what I'm saying.

You be your best.

But for what?

To what end?

Nebuchadnezzar looked up and he said, He is the one who lives forever.

Nebuchadnezzar got preachy.

He called him Olam.

The Hebrew word for God is El Olam, the everlasting one, the only one.

So when Nebuchadnezzar from the ground began to understand the depths of what we call the doctrine of eternity, his perspective changed.

And when you and I can understand that, we can live differently.

But we have to look up.

Third thing this morning is this: we see a humble exchange.

I want you to read verse 35 with me.

He says, All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.

He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can restrain his hand or say to him, What have you done?

Letter A is Nebuchadnezzar's return to reason.

Nebuchadnezzar says, I am nothing.

For every Christian, for every person here.

Maybe you've walked away, maybe you've hit the valley.

This is a place you have to come to.

This is the humbling place, saying, God, I am in need.

There's many in need today.

And when I watch week to week, there's many in need who seem held back by the idea of pride.

I don't want to look a certain way.

He says, I'm nothing.

All of the earth is nothing.

I looked up the Greek word for that and it means not anything.

I didn't really.

No one on earth can restrain, he says.

God acts as sovereign, one with absolute and total control.

It is a grand mirage for you to believe you have any control.

There's some controlling people in here.

It's a pride issue, and you're trying to plan out everything.

And I gotta tell you something scary for the controlled people.

You don't have the next breath.

It is such a big mirage to believe you can control.

God is sovereign.

He said, I thought I was everything, and I've come to my senses in an exchange.

I thought Nebuchadnezzar was it.

And now I finally see, and I believe God in the heavens is going, Yes! Yes, I've been waiting, yes, yes, he's seeing it.

And I was reminded of the great exchange in Philippians 2.

Talk about an exchange.

Philippians 2 says, Jesus, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God made himself of no reputation.

He took on the form of a sermon and coming in the likeness of man, he humbled himself even to the point of death and death on the cross.

Hear me.

For Nebuchadnezzar to have a chance, it had to start with Jesus who exchanged heaven's glory.

Theology in this verse is deep in Philippians 2.

There's a couple of things that hinge here.

There's a big word they use in colleges today.

It doesn't, it sounds better than what it means, but it's called the hyppostatic union.

And the hippostatic union is the personal oneness of Jesus and God.

And it's found in that Philippians 2 verse.

Jesus and God were one, both man and divine.

And there's a word they use called the kenosis, K-E-N-O-S-I-S.

And the canosis was the act of Jesus in Philippians 2, emptying himself of his divinity so that he could walk amongst us as man.

And Hebrew says that he was faced in all points as we are, tempted in all points without sin.

He relinquished divinity to be fully man.

So that there could be an exchange for someone like Nebuchadnezzar, for someone like me, and someone like you.

I've got a dog.

I want you to see a couple of pictures of Charlotte.

If you'll like her, look at her.

What a rough life she's got.

That's my space in the bed used to be.

My pillow.

And her bad breath.

C.S.

Lewis said, imagine exchanging your current position.

You're smart, you're refined, you're wealthy, you're fully sufficient, able to take care of yourself.

Imagine exchanging all that you have to become a dog.

Slobbering, wagging your tail, eating floor scraps, can't sit in a human chair, can't talk.

Just tongue out of your mouth.

And compared to other dogs, oh, you're pretty average.

But compared to you, a human, it's not even close.

Your dog is nowhere near as smart as you, and some of you have really dumb dogs.

The ropers have a dog who eats socks constantly.

Okay.

He who knew no sin became sin.

Jesus became the dog so that you and I, sinners, could one day experience glory for eternity.

He emptied his glory in an exchange that one day we could experience heaven.

He laid down his crown for a crown of thorns.

He laid down his power and was abused.

He laid down his honor in exchange for a prisoner's cross, my cross, your cross.

He was made a mockery because of me, the dog.

And because of grace and patience, Nebuchadnezzar was allowed the opportunity to return to reason.

Look at verse 36 and 37.

At the same time, my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me, my counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me.

Hear that nuance.

He didn't add it, it was added to me.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice, and those who walk in pride.

He is able to put down.

Let her be Nebuchadnezzar, the recipient of rededication.

Now there might be debate leaving here for this, and that's fine if you want to debate.

I got hope one day in heaven after I get done with Moses, Joshua, Gideon, that I'm gonna maybe see Nebuchadnezzar.

He said, My glory, my honor, my splendor, my kingdom, and its majesty was restored.

Now listen to this.

God doesn't waste a word in Scripture.

Now I.

Now I, as in before, I did it this way, but now I.

But now I, in another form of the word, is therefore.

And everywhere in Scripture, if you see a therefore, you have to look.

Why is it therefore?

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, now, after this, after I bend low, after my understanding, my spirit, my soul came back to me, and I looked up and I seen who God was.

Now I, because the roots were kept intact and he didn't cut me totally off.

Now I look up and I praise.

Now, he didn't say I decree that everyone else honors him now.

He said, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, worship the king of heaven who is truth and just.

And then, like I said, he gets a little preachy.

I think Nebuchadnezzar, if he got saved, this might have been his first sermon.

He said, And those who walk in pride, he will put you down.

If Nebuchadnezzar had a tagline after this, it was, and those who walk in pride, he can put you down.

If Nebuchadnezzar got a tattoo, it said, and those who walk in pride, he can put you down.

And every time he walked around, it was creed, his mantra.

That's what he said.

Listen, I know.

I know.

Did you see me when I was out in the field looking like an ox?

Those who walk in pride, he can put you down.

And he saw somebody today taking a selfie.

He said, Those who walk in pride, he can put you down.

I bet he would share this testimony.

I tried my whole life to live up to Babylon.

Americans, are you hearing me?

I tried my whole life to live up to the standard of culture, to the standard of my town, to the standard of my family, to the standard of my work, to the standard of my dad, my mom.

I tried my whole life to live up to the Babylonian way, and the pressure was so great.

And our history was all about bigger and better, and people tried to reach to the heavens.

They tried to build a tower to reach God.

It was a never-ending climb.

I never reached God on that climb.

But he reached me on my knees.

He might not be in heaven, but I might be shocked because that's the story of salvation, church.

Bible says Ephesians 2.8 and 9, for by grace you save through faith.

Faith is not of works, lest any man should boast.

It's a gift, and God is so ever, never-endingly gracious and patient.

Romans 5.8 says, but God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

You and me and Nebuchadnezzar.

Well, it made me look at this letter.

I want to read to you.

It's entitled A Rededication Letter.

It says, Jesus, I'm 17.

I'll be 18 soon, and I've been to camp.

I came for the wrong reasons.

I have been so full of myself.

I have hurt people, and I'm so sad that I've wasted the last three years not once impacting my school classmates.

I'm so sad and confess that I've walked halls with teachers and friends and never really cared about one.

I confess and am saddened that these last three summers at two jobs, I've been around hundreds of lost people, and I've never ever told one of them about you.

In fact, if any of them asked if I knew you, they'd probably say, He sure does not.

Jesus, I've lied, I've stolen, I've cheated, I've fought, I've cussed, I've partied.

And everything I've done looking at something, I've felt like nothing.

I'm sad that I've put my mother and father through really awful times.

I'm sorry for all that you've done for me, and I've only lived for me and hurt you.

Jesus, from here, moving forward, I have no idea what you will want from me.

And it really scares me to think about.

I know I'm gonna have to stop a lot of things, but today marks the day that I'm laying me down.

I'm leaving this old me full of myself right here.

Take my life, it's not mine.

Take me where you want to take me and use me however you want to use me.

My life is yours.

Signed Rick.

Church at 17 years old.

I was running far and fast away from what I knew was right.

God got a hole of my heart, He yanked me onto a bus.

Didn't plan on going there.

I got in this prayer meeting and the presence of God fell.

I didn't deserve it, I didn't earn it.

I was Nebuchadnezzar all over.

I was full of me, loved me, wanted everything for me.

And God in a moment said, the roots haven't been pulled up yet.

If you'll hear me, I can begin to work it out.

But you gotta cry out.

You gotta cry out.

And I said, God, I'm done with the game.

I literally said to God, I'm done with the game.

Whatever you want.

I had zero idea that one day it would land to hear.

God can take your pride and change you.

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