Sunday, August 22, AM

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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim Pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church OKC

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Good morning, everyone.
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It is good to be together to worship together this morning. Welcome to Sunnyside. A few announcements as we get started this morning.
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Looking ahead at some opportunities here at the church. Come back tonight for our evening service. We'll also have
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Truth Group following the evening service tonight. And then looking ahead to Wednesday dinner at 545 for everyone.
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And then we'll have the TAG children's program at 630. So if you have kids or grandkids that are participating in that, that's always a blessing to be able to listen to them and hear what they've been learning over the course of the past few months in TAG.
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And then Bible study and prayer for the adults as well. Next Sunday being the last Sunday of the month, we'll have morning communion service here at the church.
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And then in the evening, we won't be here. We'll instead have elder flock groups. So if you're not sure what flock group you're in, look out on the church bulletin board in the hallway out there and that will tell you.
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And if you're not sure, even after that, go see one of the elders as well. Jenny has something.
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Yes, ma 'am. Oh, that is a great idea.
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Okay. So she said there's some bookmarks at the back of the church that conveniently list all the flock groups on there.
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You can keep that in your Bible and it'll always be handy there for you. Our fighter verse for this week comes from Psalm chapter 20 or yes,
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Psalm chapter 20 verses six and seven. Now I know that the Lord's saves his anointed.
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He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the
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Lord, our God, they collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright. We're still giving towards operation
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Christmas child for the month of August, things like flip -flops and sunglasses and tennis balls, small things like that.
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If you have any updates regarding the church directory, let Tristan call know as well, and then look for some needs of the sewing ministry that is still going on.
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And then also next Sunday is going to be promotion Sunday for those kids who might be moving between classes.
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So as we get started back in our regular Sunday school routine, we'll have promotion Sunday next
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Sunday. So looking forward to having some new kids in classes next Sunday, any other announcements before we get started this morning?
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All right, we're going to have a time of reflection and prayer, and then Michael will come and open us.
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Heavenly father, we come before you today and we thank you for gathering us together. We thank you for the blessings of Christian fellowship of the love, which you have poured out upon in our hearts through your holy spirit.
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He was from you. We thank you father for sending us your son, Jesus Christ, and by his person and work, we may be in right fellowship with you and one another and be privy to the many blessings that you bring about through Christ as he makes all things new.
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I pray that here today that you would be honored, that you would be glorified, that the worship that we offer to you will be from our hearts, hearts made new by your grace, and that we would not merely praise you with our lips, but with our whole person.
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That we give honor and glory to Jesus Christ, who is king of kings and lord of lords, and it's in his name that we pray.
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Amen. We have something special for us this morning from the children, and Miss Lori DeForest has been leading a class this summer during summer session about various heroes of the faith, missionaries who spread the gospel of Christ to new places, and one of those people was
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David Livingston, and you'll see a quote from David Livingston there on the front of your bulletins this morning, and he helped to write a song that the kids are going to sing, and I think they're also going to quote the
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Great Commission. Is that right? Okay. All right. Well, let's turn it over to the children now.
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Would you stand with me for our call to worship?
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Our passage this morning is Psalms chapter 70. We'll be reading verses one through three.
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Read with me together. Make haste, O Lord, to deliver me.
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O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be put to shame and confusion who seek my life.
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Let them turn back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt.
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Let them turn back because of their shame who say, aha. Our first song this morning is on page 30,
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How Majestic is Your Name, and then we'll also sing page 31, Great is the
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Lord. Sing together. Oh, Lord, our
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Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
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Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
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Oh, Lord, we praise your name.
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Oh, Lord, we magnify your name.
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Prince of peace, mighty God. Oh, Lord, God almighty.
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Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
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How majestic is your name in all the earth.
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Oh, Lord, we praise your name.
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Oh, Lord, Prince of peace, mighty
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God. He is holy and just, by his power we trust his law.
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Great is the Lord, he is faithful and true, by his mercy he proves his law.
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Great is the Lord, he is the
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Lord and worthy of praise. Great is the Lord, now lift up your voice, now lift up your voice, praise.
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Great is the Lord, he is holy and just, by his power we trust his law.
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Great is the Lord, he is faithful and true, by his mercy he proves his law.
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Great is the Lord, he is the
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Lord and worthy of praise. Great is the Lord, now lift up your voice, now lift up your voice, praise.
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Great is the Lord. If you would take your
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Bible in hand and turn to the book of Jonah, back in the latter part of the
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Old Testament, Jonah chapter 3. Be reading verses 1 through 10, which is the entirety of the chapter.
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I'll be reading from the English Standard Version and follow along as I read.
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Jonah chapter 3, starting in verse 1. Then the word of the
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Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.
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So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth.
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Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he called out,
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Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed
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God. They called for a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
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The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
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And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, By the decree of the king and his nobles,
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Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God.
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Let everyone turn from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows?
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God may turn and relent, and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.
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When God saw what they did, how they turned away from their evil, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
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This is the word of the Lord. Would you pray with me? How gracious are you,
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God, to forgive our sin, to relent from disaster and judgment.
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Lord, we praise you for your kindness, your mercy. We, like the people of Nineveh, deserve your wrath, and yet in your grace and mercy you poured out your wrath, not on us, but upon your
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Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might be forgiven by faith in him.
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And we don't have to guess about that, like the king of Nineveh who said, Who knows? We know, for we have your sure word, that all our iniquities were laid upon Christ at the cross, and there he paid our debt, that we might be clothed in righteousness, the righteousness of Christ.
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Lord, we thank you for your goodness and mercy, for your steadfast love and kindness toward us in Christ.
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May we look to Jesus and be saved. We ask these things in Jesus' name and for the glory of your name.
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Amen. You may be seated. Our next song is a very familiar hymn,
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Jesus Paid It All. And as Brother Kim was just praying,
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Christ is the one who took our sin on the cross, and he paid the penalty for our sin, which was death.
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And so, let's sing in praise to our Savior, Jesus paid it all. Let Savior's name thy strength indeed install,
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Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine all in all.
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Jesus paid it all, all to him
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I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
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He washed it by desert dew.
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Lord, now in thee I find,
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Thine power and thine alone, Can change the lumber spots,
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And mend the heart of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to him
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I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
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He washed it by desert dew. For God, Jesus paid it all, sins and stain,
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He washed it white as sand in him complete.
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Jesus died my soul to save,
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My lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to him
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I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
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He washed it white as sand in him complete.
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Jesus paid it all, all to him
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I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
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He washed it white as snow. Let's go to the
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Lord in prayer. Father, I thank you for gathering us here today. What a joy it is to be in your presence, gathered together in the name of your
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Son, Jesus Christ. And we thank you that he is King of kings. And we thank you that he is Lord of lords.
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We thank you that you have given all authority in heaven and earth to him. We thank you that he reigns from your right hand, and that he will do so until every enemy is put as a footstool beneath his feet.
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And we thank you, Lord, that we have no one and nothing to fear except for you. And that you have called us into this life of fearing you, of thinking of you first, and thinking of you most, and weighing everything that happens in our lives and all around us, weighing it in view of who you are and what you have said.
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And Lord, I pray this morning, as we look at your word, that you would give us wisdom from your holy text, that you would show us your
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Son, Jesus Christ, that we would rejoice in his name. And I pray that you would arrest our affections so that they would be rightly ordered and directed towards you.
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And Lord, I pray that you would give us courage for today and remind us to pray for courage tomorrow.
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And that we would stand in joy upon the truth of your word.
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We pray these things, we ask for these graces in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.
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Amen. Please open your Bibles to Daniel chapter 4.
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Daniel chapter 4, verses 33 through 37. We'll be reading verses 33 through 37 this morning.
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God resists the proud. That is a major theme in the word of God.
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You can't hardly go through a book of the Bible without dealing with this theme. God resists the proud.
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So in the Lord's providence, we are coming to the conclusion of Daniel chapter 4.
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And everything in this chapter has been building to this moment, the culminating moment of Nebuchadnezzar's conversion.
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His initial praises in verses 1 through 3 pointed toward what we now have here in full.
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And as we look at the life of Nebuchadnezzar and what has happened to him in his boasting and in his madness, really these things serve as black jeweler's cloth for some sparkling gems of praise here at the end.
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It is in his mercy and it is by his grace that God resisted proud
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Nebuchadnezzar and turned him from a boasting fool into a praising man.
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We are to well consider how God's constraining hand, how his restraining providence brings about such a glorious conversion in the lives of sinners.
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So if you'll stand with me, I'm going to read Daniel chapter 4 beginning in verse 33.
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We'll read through verse 37. These are the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through his spirit and his prophet
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Daniel. That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar.
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He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen. His body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws.
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And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me.
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And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever.
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For his dominion is an everlasting dominion. And his kingdom is from generation to generation.
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All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven.
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And among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can restrain his hand or say to him, What have you done?
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At the same time, my reason returned to me. And for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me.
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My counselors and nobles resorted to me. I was restored to my kingdom and excellent majesty was added to me.
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Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice.
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And those who walk in pride he is able to put down. This is the word of the
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Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. One of the most common tropes in cartoons is that of the air walker realizing the gravity of his situation.
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The coyote's pursuit has once again led him off the cliff. And though he maintains his elevation for a few moments, he looks down and realizes he's not standing on anything.
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Then he looks plaintively at the screen. And he asks the viewer, Why oh why did
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I let this happen to me? And why do you think it's funny? He then descends to make his impression.
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I think that sensation, we resonate with that sensation because all of us are somewhat familiar with what happens when our mouth has kept moving long after it should.
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We suddenly realize that we have no grounds to speak of ourselves or others or God in these particular ways.
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And it is pride that has led us off the cliff. The sinking feeling of our unwarranted confidence or our ungenerous complaining is quite impactful.
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Nebuchadnezzar has certainly gone over the cliff. In his boasting in himself and his giving all the glory and credit to him to himself.
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In Galatians 6 .3 warns, If anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
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He deceives himself. Well, God is good and God is merciful. He is gracious to resist our pride and to humble us.
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He conforms us to the mind of Christ. He has sent to us his son,
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Jesus Christ, so that we may be in fellowship with him. And we do not have to walk in the darkness.
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We don't have to deceive ourselves in destructive pride. We are compelled to humbly confess our lowliness, our neediness, our dirtiness, our sinfulness and turn to Christ.
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For in him we have propitiation. We have forgiveness. We have cleansing by his blood.
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And then as we walk in the light, as God is in the light, our joy is made full.
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And do we not see that Nebuchadnezzar's joy has been made full?
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Here at the end of his testimony, how full is this joy? Look at this praise that Nebuchadnezzar offers up to God.
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For God resists the proud and his grace makes them humble. We've seen this throughout the entirety of the chapter.
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God has conquered the proud by his grace. He confronts the proud by his word. He compels the proud to repent.
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And he constrains the proud by his hand. And in verses 28 -37 of this chapter, we've been thinking about the fact that God's ways are not man's ways.
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And God's thoughts are not man's thoughts. Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9 say,
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For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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That's a humbling thing to consider. Last week we considered how
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Nebuchadnezzar's prideful ways, his words, and his approach to greatness were entirely thwarted by God's words and God's approach.
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In fact, he caused Babylon's greatness to be eclipsed by Nebuchadnezzar's madness.
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As the vision said, so it was, the tree was hewn, the stump was left, and the great man reduced to a beast.
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God's word came to pass in exactly his timing and was triumphant over all of Nebuchadnezzar's prideful boasting and prideful determination.
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And I think we are to now consider man's thoughts versus God's thoughts here in verses 33 through 37.
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When Nebuchadnezzar arrogantly surveyed all of his domain and declared it to be the expression or the evidence of his own personal greatness, his ways were but the expression of his thoughts, how he went about calculating his greatness, his method of achieving glory and greatness.
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His ways were simply the expression of his thoughts. As a man thinks, so is he.
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Jesus says in Luke chapter 6 verses 44 and 45, he says, For every tree is known by its fruit.
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For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.
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A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.
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For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. It was the abundance of Nebuchadnezzar's heart that came forth as these words that he spoke, for which
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God cast him down for seven years to live the life of a wild beast. The madness of man's pride -filled ways proceeds from the madness of his mind, which is why we need
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God's grace. It's only in a gracious humiliation, a merciful breaking of pride, a recentering of the image of God upon Christ's glories, this is the only way that man's reason is recovered from the absurdities of sin which has taken it hostage.
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And we need God to do that. So Nebuchadnezzar, in verse 33, we see his condition.
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It is a wretched condition that he was driven from men, that he was eating grass like an ox.
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He looked horrid. His hair and his nails stood out as features that were especially horrifying.
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No one would want to encounter this man. We're nervous when we see and we're around people who have been reduced, people who are scary looking because of the madness that they carry.
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Nebuchadnezzar was especially mad. He was especially frightening. And yet, when
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God's time was ready, he restored him. We should pay close attention to how this story unfolds.
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When was the king restored? What does the text say? And at the end of the time, and at the end of that time, the time that God had determined, the time that God had promised, at the end of that time,
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I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned to me. Once God's appointed time came, then
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Nebuchadnezzar came to himself. But not as he once was. He was no longer idolatrous and his own idol.
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He was no longer beastly and a beast. In God's good timing, God's goal had achieved in this king a humbling.
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Nebuchadnezzar was restored. Now, that was not the king's agenda. That was not the schedule he had.
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He had not set that up, but God, in his grace, did what he wanted in the time that he had set.
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And when the king was restored, where did he turn his eyes?
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Nebuchadnezzar lifted, he says, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven.
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He lifted his eyes to heaven. His eyes turned heavenward.
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His face turned from the dunghill to heaven. His face turned from the pig's lot to home.
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And this turning is more than a physical orientation. I think there's importance in that. But think about Jonah.
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Good reading about Jonah. He was in the belly of the fish. And in chapter 2 of Jonah, it says that he turned toward the temple and prayed in repentance.
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He didn't know what direction the temple was. He's in a fish.
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He's deep in the water. He's in the ocean. He has no idea what direction the temple is.
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And yet, he had turned to where Messiah was revealed, and he prayed according to faith.
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He prayed in the direction that he was supposed to pray from his heart. So, also,
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Nebuchadnezzar here turns in a joyful, submissive, fearing posture of the heart.
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He was on all fours, but now he is restored. And immediately, here he is looking to heaven.
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His hands come up off the ground, and he's kneeling, looking heavenward.
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The king has turned his eyes to the Lord. And then what did he say with his first words? Just like we would hear the coos and the cries of a newly born baby, hear the first motions, see the first motions, and wonder at the life -giving sounds of grace going on in the life of this newborn.
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Nebuchadnezzar blesses and praises and honors the
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Most High God, the King of Heaven. These are the cries of the spiritually newborn, the spiritually resurrected.
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This is the noise that is made. This is the sounds that come forward. And to think about it, when
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God raised him up from spiritual death, Nebuchadnezzar was wandering around on all fours like a beast, but now he's been given real life as a living man.
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And so, here he is kneeling before his Maker. He's looking heavenward, and he blesses.
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Where once he boasted in himself, he now boasts in God. He used to congratulate himself and seek his own applause, but now he lauds and adores
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God. Where once he was all swole up with self -honor, now he magnifies the name of God.
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What has he learned? What is the lesson that he has learned? When you look in verse 34, it says,
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His understanding has returned to him, and he blesses and honors the Most High, praises and honors
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Him who lives forever. And here's what he's learned. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.
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Verse 35, 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,
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What have you done? That's what he's learned. He's learned the fear of the
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Lord. It's what he's learned. It's what he hadn't had before, but now he does. He has learned the fear of the
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Lord. He gets even more personal in verse 37. At the very end, he says,
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And those who walk in pride, he is able to put down. That's his new life motto.
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I learned this lesson really well. Nebuchadnezzar has learned that God is eternally, globally, cosmically, supremely, directly in charge.
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God is in charge. Nebuchadnezzar has learned out of fear of the Lord. Now, how does this lesson relate to the lesson that was in the promise that he was going to learn?
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Because God's plan, as declared through Daniel, the purpose for the seven -year humbling was that, not that Nebuchadnezzar would be completely uprooted.
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No, the stomp would be left because his kingdom was assured to him. Verse 26 of Daniel 4 says that he would be restored, that Nebuchadnezzar would be restored after you come to know that heaven rules.
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And certainly we see that's the lesson that he has learned, heaven rules. And then also in verse 32, at the very end, it says, that seven times shall pass over you until you know that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses.
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He had to be out in the field for these seven years until he learned this, that the most high rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses.
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God can give all power and all authority to the likes of a pagan, such as Nebuchadnezzar, but God is still in charge.
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God is still in charge. God can thoroughly, horrifyingly humble a man, and then restore him and give him all power and authority when no flesh would ever agree to it.
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He says, my counselors and nobles resorted to me. Why in the world would they?
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He was eating grass like a beast for seven years, this horrifying thing out there.
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Why would they ever go back to him to make him king again? Because it was in the will of the
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Lord. No one can restrain God's hand or protest.
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What have you done? Now, what reason was the king restored?
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Certainly, I think to prove God's own might, that he is the one in charge, but also notice what
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Nebuchadnezzar realized in verse 36. At the same time, my reason restored to me. At the same time, my reason returned to me.
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And for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me.
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I was restored to my kingdom and excellent majesty was added to me.
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So the truth was that Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was indeed glorious. Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was quite weighty.
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This tree in the vision did give food and nesting and shade to a grand variety of peoples.
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And so, although God would be praiseworthy and justice in outright destroying
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Nebuchadnezzar and in destabilizing the entire empire and judging all the peoples involved for their sins, pouring out devastation, even though that God would be perfectly praiseworthy in such justice,
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God freely, under no obligation, chooses mercy.
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And he garners praise for his grace by humbling and converting
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Nebuchadnezzar. And then he sits Nebuchadnezzar back on his throne, clothed and in his right mind, so that all the peoples of his dominion would hear the riches of God's glory sounding from that vessel of mercy.
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God was not required to do that. God was under no obligation from any other force.
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He did that freely for the praise of his name. Now consider what a reminder this would be to the
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Jews who were in exile, who are going through a horrifically humbling time.
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Their country being laid waste, their countrymen being destroyed, their cultural honor, their history being tossed aside, forced to live in this foreign place, that they would rather probably go out in the fields of Judah and eat grass than have to be taken away to Babylon and be told to play their songs.
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They are being humbled. But look what
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God, the God of grace and mercy, does. What a reminder of the promise he has already made to them, that in his mercy and grace he would restore them and bring them back to the place they were supposed to be, but do so and they would be fully clothed in their right minds.
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Now what is the new mindset of the king? Look at verse 37. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice.
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Now, he says in verse 37, now the king's thoughts are in accord with God's thoughts.
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Now reason has replaced madness. At this point, Nebuchadnezzar is only too happy to give testimony to the power and excellence of the king of heaven.
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He has confessed the miserable depths of his own madness. He has laid bare the shame -filled dregs of his life.
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Surely he had been more stupid than any man, and he had not the understanding of a man.
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Time and again he had evaded wisdom, only resorting to the word of God in desperation.
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How often he had contended with the Almighty, but now he knew how vile he was, and he covered his mouth from speaking arrogantly.
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He would proceed no farther in self -exaltation. Nebuchadnezzar had been stripped of power.
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He had been led into madness and exile, but now he comes out of it with joy, and he is led in peace.
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He takes his very small place now in the created order, and he adds his voice to the mountains and the hills, and he breaks forth in singing praises to the
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Creator. Nebuchadnezzar looks to heaven in praise, and he is restored to his position as a humble servant of Christ, who sovereignly rules in the kingdom of men.
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God resists the proud, and his grace makes them humble. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
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Man's thoughts are not God's thoughts, unless God gets a hold of a man.
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When God gets hold of someone, that man or that woman, that child, begins to think
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God's thoughts after him, and who and what we are meant to be sprouts from this germinated seed, the seed of the word of God, bringing about the new birth, and finally the image of God comes into focus through grace.
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When we look at what happened to Nebuchadnezzar, we see first of all the posture of a man. The posture of a man.
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The posture of a man should be with his head heavenward, his knees bowed to the ground, for all of earth is under submission to heaven, and man is to show this and revel in this.
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So even when we're carrying a load of lumber, or driving a truck, making lunch, changing diapers, or feeding the hungry, or drafting or programming, crafting or organizing, this is to be our inner posture.
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Even if we find ourselves in a fish, this is the posture.
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Eyes heavenward, knees bent, made in God's image, so to mediate his goodness we manifest his glory.
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This is the posture of a man. Consider also the praise of a man. The praise of a man should evidence rightly ordered affections.
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Now is there weightiness, is there glory in a kingdom? Is there glory in accomplishments?
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Is there weightiness and glory in wealth? Yes, yes.
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Abraham was a very glorious man, the scriptures tell us. He was weighty.
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That's what the meaning of the word glory is, weightiness. He was very weighty.
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He was weighty in gold, he was weighty in slaves, he was weighty in livestock, he was weighty in armed men.
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He was a very weighty man. But whatever the Lord in his sovereign providence has entrusted to our care, however weighty it is, is only a stewardship for his glory.
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A stewardship for his glory. Thus says the
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Lord that not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the
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Lord. Right? He's the Lord, we're his servants.
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That I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these
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I delight, says the Lord. That's Jeremiah 9, 23 through 24.
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So that should be the praise of a man. And what about the prospects of a man? King Nebuchadnezzar reigned in Babylon, an ancient city first known as Babel there on the plains of Shinar.
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It was there in Babel on the plains of Shinar, sometime after the flood, that men made in God's image banded together to make for themselves a name.
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Specifically, this was their purpose. To make for themselves a name. This was not to be, for God came down and frustrated their plans.
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Though this is what they began to do, that all that they would propose to do, in all of that, nothing would be withheld from them.
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They had banded together so that there would be no limits upon their abilities and capacities and plans.
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They gathered themselves together to make a name for themselves, so that their prospects would be unlimited.
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But God restrained their pride with his hand. The prospects of a man are not unlimited.
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They are limited. You cannot be whatever you want to be.
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I'm sorry. You cannot be whatever you want to be.
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Your limits are far closer than the sky. And if the world were an oyster, it wouldn't be yours.
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God is the maker and the owner of all creation, determines your prospects, my prospects.
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And as he does so, we are confident that these are far better than our thoughts can allow for or comprehend.
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And far different than what human arrogance would dictate. Also consider the purpose of a man.
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The purpose of a man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Consider the joy that King Nebuchadnezzar has in this, in this grace -given humility.
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He blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. That's now his purpose.
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That's now Nebuchadnezzar's purpose in his stewardship of a most excellent kingship.
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He says, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, I praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his way is justice.
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Folks, that's our purpose. That's our purpose. To give praise to our maker, to give praise to our
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Savior. That's our purpose. Now, as we consider these aspects of God's perfect design for a man, are we not looking at the brightness of Christ?
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Is not his posture ever perfect in his passion to glorify his Father? Are not his praises written throughout the
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Scriptures, and they are the best, the very best of all? Are not his prospects the grandest?
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All authority has been given to him, all dominion and all of creation. Is not his purpose, the exact will of the
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Father, brought about through the power of his Spirit? There is none so human as Jesus Christ, the perfect man.
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His shadows and his reflections among mankind are but graces redounding to his praise.
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The word, the Logos, revealed in humility, resplendent in exaltation, defines and illumines all reality.
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He deserves and receives all glory. From him and through him and to him are all things.
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Jesus Christ is the bright center of the universe, the risen high noon sun of resurrected minds, the light by which we see light.
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Which is why the essence of proper reason is faith.
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The essence of proper reason is faith. It is only when
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Nebuchadnezzar had been brought low and was made to look up to heaven, that then, for the very first time, he had proper reason given to him.
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All his life he had been a fool, but now, now he had proper reason.
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His understanding only came back to him when his focus was upon the exalted king of heaven.
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The essence of proper reason is faith. Believing upon God, trusting in Christ, beginning with the truth revealed by the
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Holy Spirit. Hebrews 11, 1 -3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
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For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand.
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By faith we understand. Listen to it. Verse 3, Hebrews 11 By faith we understand that the world were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen are not made of things which are visible.
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Proper reason begins with faith. How we think about ourselves, how we think about the world around us, how we think about God, how we connect everything in our minds.
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Proper reason begins with this. By faith we understand God made it all and set it all upon its course and is involved in every moment of it.
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By faith we understand. We need proper reasoning. People say, why are people so crazy today?
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Why are people so foolish? Whence comes all of this madness?
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The essence of proper reason is faith. If you don't reason from the fear of the Lord, you're not going to end up anywhere sane.
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When we need reasoning, we're not going to check in with the algorithm. And we're not going to listen to our hearts.
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Faith is the beginning of reason. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding. Do you believe it?
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Do you actually believe that? G .K. Chesterton warns that the man who thinks without the proper first principles goes mad.
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Thinking of God first and most leads us into true reason. We see that in the testimony of Nebuchadnezzar.
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Also, the expression of proper reason is praise.
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As soon as Nebuchadnezzar's soul has been healed, as soon as he has been restored, and he's looking heavenward, faith in the high king of heaven, reasoning now is operative in his life.
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Now he can properly reason for the very first time. And the first thing that comes out of his mouth is praise.
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Praise. As soon as he believes upon the Lord, proper reasoning begins in his heart.
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And out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks praise. Praise is the expression of proper reason.
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Inextricable from the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar's reason is this flowing of high praise. The best, the clearest, the most significant expression of proper reason is not some cogent, logical argument employing righteous philosophy adorned by high -level vocabulary.
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No, the best expression of proper reason is praise to God Most High.
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That's when you know that someone is reasonable, when they are praising God. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.
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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.
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No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? The king praises
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God. He even praises God's sovereign hand in putting down the proud, because that's praiseworthy as well.
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Praise is the expression of proper reason. There is nothing so reasonable as exalting and magnifying and glorifying
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God. So whatever our work is for Christ involving our expressions, may all of our contending for the faith, our dealing with pagans, our conversations, our protests, our advocacies, our sharpening of iron, let it all be done with the praises of God abundant on our lips, and any other approach would be utterly unreasonable.
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The providence of God, this puts us into a wonderful place considering the praise of this converted man
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Nebuchadnezzar, considering the reasonableness and the wonders of God's grace that we would praise him and worship him.
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Providence of God next week. Please come back next week. Our desire is to share with you a special gift from a beloved sister,
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Jeanette Renfro, who was with us for many, many years and passed away suddenly. Out of her estate, her brother
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Jack, who used to be a pastor here, has made sure a gift was given to the church, and we have used that to buy psalters, hymnals that have the psalms set to meter and rhyme to familiar tunes, and we're going to see those in our pews next week with a reminder in the front about this legacy from our dear sister
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Jeanette. She loved to sing. She loved to sing, sing the praises of the Lord. So next
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Sunday, as the Lord wills, when we have our communion together, we're also going to be focusing on the psalms and singing the psalms.
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I'll be preaching from the psalms, and we're going to practice this reasonableness of praise, and I hope you will do that even this week.
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Let's pray together. Father, I thank you for the time you've given to us. It is a joy to be in your presence.
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It is a joy to consider your truth and to be edified and fed and corrected and led according to your truth.
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Lord, we give you the praise today. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?
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Those of you that knew Jeanette know that she constantly was praising the Lord through song.
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You go over to her house, she always had hymns of worship playing through technology and things.
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She always wanted to praise the Lord in her life. Anyway, let's praise the
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Lord together by singing Rejoice, the Lord is King. ♪
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Rejoice, the Lord is King Our Lord and King adore
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Rejoice, give thanks and sing And triumph evermore
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Lift up, O Lord Lift up your voice, rejoice again
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I say rejoice The Lord our
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Savior reigns The God of truth and love
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When He had purged our stains He took
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His seat above Lift up, lift up your voice
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Rejoice again, I say rejoice
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His kingdom cannot fail
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He rules over earth and heaven The keys of death and fail
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Unto our Jesus give
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Lift up, O Lord Lift up your voice, rejoice again
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I say rejoice Rejoice in glorious song
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Our Lord and Judge shall come And take
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His servants up to their eternal home
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Lift up your heart, lift up your voice
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Rejoice again, I say rejoice
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May the love of the Father and the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all.