THREE STAGES on the JOURNEY to GOD!

God's Heart TV

What stage are you at in the journey of faith? Learn vital and valuable lessons  from the sobering Biblical account of King Nebuchadnezzar in this sermon from Gary at the God's Heart TV Studio titled, 'Three Stages On The Journey To God'.   To join the next Interactive Prayer Service with Brother Chris through Zoom, simply submit your prayer request here - https://www.godsheart.tv/zoom - and the God's Heart TV Team will be in touch with you soon via email at info@godsheart.tv   ➡️ Receive Daily Encouragement on WhatsApp - https://godsheart.tv/whatsapp/ ➡️ Become a God's Heart TV Partner - https://godsheart.tv/partnership ➡️ Information about Interactive Prayer - https://godsheart.tv/interactive-prayer/ ➡️ Volunteer as a God's Heart TV Translator - https://godsheart.tv/translate/ ➡️ Share your testimony - https://godsheart.tv/testimony ➡️ Join our Live Prayer Service on the first Saturday of every month - https://www.youtube.com/godshearttv/live

Transcript

00:00If there is blessing in stage one, there is more blessing in stage two.

00:05But stage three, there is everlasting peace.

00:12There is a blessing that will outlive the universe.

00:17And you and I can have it.

00:21Grace and peace to all of you in Jesus' mighty name.

00:32It's wonderful to see everyone here today.

00:35And now we have the opportunity to listen to the word of God.

00:40What a privilege, what a blessing.

00:43So do you have your Bible with you, please?

00:45We need our Bibles today because we're going to be reading quite a lot of scripture.

00:51And I just want to remind us at the very beginning what the Bible says about itself.

00:59And this is in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16.

01:04All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for a proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

01:25Wow.

01:26Now, who wants to be instructed in righteousness today?

01:32Who wants to be corrected?

01:35Who wants to be reproved?

01:36Who wants to be taught?

01:38I think all of us need God's word.

01:42So let us pray.

01:45Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you once more for your living word.

01:49Thank you that those who wrote it were moved by the Holy Spirit.

01:54They were inspired.

01:56We pray that today as we listen, you will inspire our hearts to receive from your message,

02:04to receive teaching, correction, reproof, and instruction in righteousness.

02:13In Jesus' mighty name we pray.

02:17Amen.

02:19Today we're going to be looking at the book of Daniel.

02:24We're going to be looking at Nebuchadnezzar, who was the king of Babylon.

02:30And we're going to learn from the life of Nebuchadnezzar, three stages in our road to finding God.

02:44In our road to true faith in God.

02:47Three stages.

02:49And as we look at the example from scripture of Nebuchadnezzar's life, I want us to be thinking about our own life.

02:57Where are we in our relationship with God?

03:01Are we in stage one, stage two, stage three?

03:04We can be applying God's word to our own hearts as we listen.

03:09So, we're going to start by turning to Daniel, chapter two.

03:17I would like us to read from verses one to six.

03:22Now, in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams.

03:32Verse two.

04:02Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic.

04:08O king, live forever.

04:11Tell your servants the dream and we'll give you the interpretation.

04:15The king answered and said to the Chaldeans.

04:20My decision is firm.

04:22If you don't make known the dream to me and its interpretation, you shall be cutting pieces and your houses shall be made an ash heap.

04:35However, if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards and great honor.

04:45Therefore, tell me the dream and its interpretation.

04:50Now, Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.

04:58At that time, he was the most powerful king in the world.

05:03And we learn something about his character as we read about these dreams.

05:10He had a cruel and, let's say, impetuous character.

05:19We can see that from what he said.

05:23He placed an unreasonable demand on the people who he called.

05:28He said, I don't just want to hear your wise words of interpretation.

05:32I want you to tell me without me telling you what my dream was.

05:39And if you don't, then you will be cutting pieces and your houses will be made an ash heap.

05:51This is quite an extreme example.

05:55The people who were there responded as we might expect.

05:59And we'll pick it up in verse 11 of chapter 2.

06:05It is a difficult thing that the king requests.

06:11And there's no other who can tell it to the king except the gods whose dwelling is not with flesh.

06:18For this reason, the king was angry and very furious.

06:25And gave the command to destroy all the wise men in Babylon.

06:33So the decree went out and they began killing the wise men.

06:37And they sought Daniel and his companions to kill them.

06:41We learn something more here about Nebuchadnezzar at this stage in his journey.

06:48He was cruel.

06:49He was impetuous.

06:50He had an anger problem.

06:53And not only did he want to carry out his cruel intent on those who could not answer him,

07:02he wanted to cover it to all the wise men who were in his land.

07:07And this included Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego,

07:12who'd been captured and brought to Babylon at this time in Israel's history.

07:18Now, what we see with Nebuchadnezzar here is an extreme example of something which is perhaps more familiar to us in our own lives.

07:33We can place unreasonable expectations on people.

07:38We can have an unrealistic expectation of what others are able to do in response to us and in their relationship with us.

07:52And when those unreasonable expectations are not fulfilled, there is the root of offense.

08:00It is a direct journey to offense in our hearts, this issue of setting unrealistic expectations on others.

08:14We can expect that others will not make mistakes.

08:20Whereas for ourselves, we give quite a wide allowance for making mistakes.

08:26And just think about it in your own relationships, your own family.

08:31How often is it that we take offense because we misinterpret someone's action,

08:40because we have an unrealistic expectation of them?

08:45As Prophet T.B. Joshua used to often teach us, we should love without expectation.

08:55Because otherwise we're inviting offense.

09:00And what does offense do?

09:02Offense produces anger.

09:04And we see it here in this extreme case in the life of Nebuchadnezzar.

09:10So, he makes this decision, he makes this decree, all the wise men are going to be killed.

09:17Now, Daniel gets to hear about this, so we'll pick up the message in verse 14.

09:24Then, with counsel and wisdom, Daniel answered Ariok, the captain of the king's guard,

09:32who'd gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.

09:35He answered and said to Ariok, the king's captain,

09:39why is the decree from the king so urgent?

09:43Then Ariok made the decision known to Daniel.

09:47So, Daniel went and asked the king to give him time

09:51that he might tell the king the interpretation.

09:55Then, Daniel went to his house and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

10:05also known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his companions,

10:09that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret,

10:16so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men in Babylon.

10:22Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.

10:29So, Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

10:32Daniel answered and said, blessed be the name of God forever and ever,

10:38wisdom and might and his.

10:41And he goes on to praise God, and we'll leave the reading just there.

10:45Daniel did not panic when he heard that the people were coming to kill him and his companions.

10:56Rather, he was calm, he was collected, and he went to his friends to pray.

11:04Then we see that Daniel had such peace in his heart that he was able to rest and hear from God in a night vision.

11:18It must have been really tempting for Daniel to be so anxious, to be so concerned for his life,

11:25that he did not have that peace of heart, to be able to hear God's voice, but he had that peace.

11:33And when he'd heard God, what did he do?

11:36He appreciated God.

11:38He thanked God.

11:40And we'll read on because we're building a picture here, as I say, of Nebuchadnezzar's journey towards God.

11:51So, let's read now from verse 27, where Daniel goes to the king in order to tell him what God has shown to him.

12:03Daniel chapter 2 and verse 27.

12:05Now, Daniel answered in the presence of the king and said,

12:10The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers,

12:17cannot declare it to the king.

12:20But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.

12:25And he's made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.

12:31Your dream and the visions of your head upon your bed were these.

12:37As for you, O king, thoughts came to your mind while on your bed about what would come to pass after this.

12:45And he who reveals secrets has made known to you what will be.

12:50But as for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living.

12:59But for our sakes, you may know the interpretation to the king and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.

13:07It's so tempting, I think, when God does speak to our hearts, that we are tempted to take some of the credit.

13:19Brothers and sisters, it's dangerous.

13:23When God does something in our lives, we give the glory to him.

13:28Not only does Daniel say, it's God in heaven who reveals secrets,

13:35but he even emphasised it and says, this is not about me.

13:41It's not because I have wisdom.

13:44It's because of God's purpose that this has been revealed.

13:48So Daniel explains the dream, how there's a statue with a head of gold and chest of silver and bronze and feet of clay.

13:56And the whole vision.

13:59And he explains that in this vision, Nebuchadnezzar himself is the head of gold.

14:07And then there are kingdoms which come later, which are ever more fragile.

14:11And he goes on to explain that.

14:14Let's read the last part of this chapter now.

14:18Chapter two, from verse 46 to the end.

14:21King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him.

14:37The king answered Daniel and said, truly, your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets.

14:48Since you could reveal this secret.

14:51Then the king promoted Daniel, gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the province of Babylon,

14:59chief administrator of all the wise men of Babylon.

15:03And Daniel petitioned the king and he set Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon.

15:10But Daniel sat in the gate of the king.

15:14So, Daniel had given testimony to Nebuchadnezzar of how God had revealed this.

15:23He told him the interpretation, he told him the dream.

15:27And Nebuchadnezzar, let's say, he admitted God and he admired God.

15:35He saw something of the greatness of God and he confessed it.

15:40He said, truly, your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings.

15:46And he blessed Daniel and his companions by giving them a promotion in their work.

15:54I'm going to describe this as stage one in Nebuchadnezzar's journey to God.

16:02He admitted, he admired God.

16:09But we'll see that he did not put away his other gods.

16:17And he did not see a change in his heart, in his character.

16:24So, let's move on to the next chapter, chapter 3.

16:30Now, this, historically, we believe, is 10 or 15 years later.

16:36Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made an image of gold, whose height was 60 cubits and its width 6 cubits.

16:43He set it up in the plain of Jura in the province of Babylon.

16:48And I'll finish the reading there.

16:51I think we know the story.

16:53He set up this idol and commanded that everyone should worship this idol.

16:59He may have accepted God, but he hadn't put away the other gods.

17:07So, let's just jump down to verse 6.

17:09So, I think we can see here that Nebuchadnezzar's cruel and impetuous character had not changed.

17:31He may have admitted and admired God, but he hadn't put away the other gods, and he hadn't changed in his character.

17:42I'm going to jump to verse 13.

17:46This was after Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had refused to worship his gods.

17:54Verse 13, Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

18:03So, they brought these men before the king, and Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them,

18:07Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you don't serve my gods or worship the gold image that I've set up?

18:17This is making it very clear.

18:20His anger problem is still there.

18:22He was furious, and he referred to this idol as my gods.

18:31Yes, he'd admitted the true and living God.

18:34He'd admired the true and living God.

18:38But God, to him, was just one of those things.

18:43Perhaps he thought this, perhaps he thought, well, I've acknowledged your God.

18:50Why can't you worship my God?

18:54He was putting God on a level with other things.

18:59And we'll pick it up again, where Nebuchadnezzar is speaking.

19:04And I'll read from verse 24.

19:07King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counsellors,

19:15Didn't we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?

19:19They answered and said to the king, True, O king.

19:23Look, he answered, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they're not hurt.

19:30And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

19:35He saw a miracle.

19:38Jesus himself was with these three men in the fire.

19:42Now, Nebuchadnezzar saw this miracle, and he moved to stage two.

19:52So let's read what he says now, in verse 28 of chapter three.

19:59Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying,

20:02Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

20:07who sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him.

20:15And they frustrated the king's word and yielded their bodies,

20:19that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own god.

20:24Therefore I make a decree, that any people, nation, language,

20:28which speaks anything amidst against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,

20:33shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap,

20:37because there's no other god who can deliver like this.

20:42Now, I think we can see Nebuchadnezzar's character here again.

20:48His cruelty and his impetuosity is still there.

20:52He's directing his passion towards the living God,

20:59but his character has not changed.

21:03At this time, he's recognising that there is one God,

21:08and he's making a decree, people should recognise and worship this one God.

21:13He's convinced about God now.

21:17If we say that in stage one, he admitted, he admired God,

21:24now he's convinced, but he's still not converted.

21:34In the previous chapter, where he admitted and admired God,

21:39the interpretation that he just heard was quite favourable to him.

21:44He was the head of gold in that.

21:46And perhaps at that first stage, his focus was more on what God was doing for him.

21:51Now, in this second stage, he's listening to a testimony.

21:57He's testifying of what God is doing in others' lives.

22:01He's looking outside of just himself.

22:04He's moving forward.

22:05And he's recognising that he doesn't just take this God like any of the others and add it.

22:12But this is different.

22:14This God is different.

22:15We're going to move to chapter four now.

22:19And this chapter is written in a different way.

22:24This chapter, chapter four, is Nebuchadnezzar,

22:28after he has changed, looking back and recounting what happened.

22:35The Nebuchadnezzar we're reading about in chapter four is a different man.

22:44Let's pick it up, should we, from verse two.

22:49The Nebuchadnezzar we're listening to now has a reverence for God.

23:14Read on in verse four.

23:17I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house and flourishing in my palace.

23:22I saw a dream which made me afraid.

23:24The thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

23:28Therefore, I issued a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me.

23:32They might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

23:36The magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, the soothsayers came in,

23:40and I told them the dream, but they didn't make known to me its interpretation.

23:45This is a similar scenario to what we saw in chapter two.

23:51He had a dream, it troubles him, he calls in the wise people.

23:55But here we don't read about his cruel threats.

23:59We're just hearing the testimony of a man who has been humbled.

24:03The dream on this occasion, we'll not go through it in detail now,

24:07but it was all about God humbling him.

24:12And Daniel explained to him, explained the interpretation.

24:16And for time, we're going to jump all the way now to verse 24,

24:22where Daniel kind of sums up the interpretation of this dream.

24:27This is the interpretation, O King, and this is the decree of the Most High,

24:33which has come upon my Lord, the King.

24:36They shall drive you from men.

24:37Your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field.

24:40They'll make you eat grass like oxen.

24:42They'll wet you with the dew of heaven.

24:45Seven times shall pass over you till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdoms of men

24:53and gives it to whomever he chooses.

24:58And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree,

25:02your kingdom shall be assured to you after you come to know that heaven rules.

25:09Therefore, O King, let my advice be acceptable to you.

25:16Break off your sins by being righteous and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.

25:26Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.

25:31It's moving forward now, and Daniel is presenting the message of repentance to King Nebuchadnezzar.

25:42He's not making allowance for the king's cruelty and impetuosity.

25:50He's telling that he needs to seek mercy, that he needs to repent of his sins.

25:57Now, the way that this happens, the vision comes to pass.

26:28And while the king is still displaying his pride, the word is fulfilled.

26:37And he's driven as a madman into the fields.

26:41And let's read the final section now, the last part of our scripture, in Daniel chapter 4 from verse 33.

26:50And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven.

27:15And my understanding returned to me.

27:19And I blessed the Most High and praised and honoured him who lives forever.

27:25For his dominion is an everlasting dominion.

27:28His kingdom is from generation to generation.

27:31All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.

27:35He does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

27:42No one can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done?

27:47At the same time, my reason returned to me.

27:50And for the glory of my kingdom, my honour and splendour returned to me.

27:54My counsellors and nobles resorted to me.

27:57I was restored to my kingdom.

27:59An excellent majesty was added to me.

28:01Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth and his ways justice.

28:14And those who walk in pride, he is able to put down.

28:20This is stage three.

28:23Reading Nebuchadnezzar there is like reading one of the Psalms or reading the prophet Isaiah.

28:29This is a different man.

28:31As he has truly encountered the living God.

28:36But how did it happen for him?

28:39He had to be humbled.

28:42Now, pride stands in the way between us and a true relationship with God.

28:52And God loves us enough that if his word alone will not humble us,

29:00then he will bring situations to humble us.

29:07To bring us to that place where we truly surrender to God.

29:13So I would define this third stage in our journey to God as surrender and conversion.

29:24Now, the heart is still in the process of change.

29:30But instead of going firmly on in our pride in the way we've always gone,

29:37like Nebuchadnezzar, we're seeking righteousness, we're seeking mercy and seeing the miracle of a changed heart.

29:46I want us to look to ourselves and think, what stage are we in?

29:53What stage am I in, in my journey towards true faith in God?

30:00Am I still in stage one where I admit and I admire God?

30:05Yes, I've seen something here.

30:07He's done great things for me.

30:10But he's one of those things.

30:12We balance him with the other priorities that we have.

30:16Anything which we put above God in our heart becomes an idol.

30:23It can be work, it can be our own pride, it can even be good things like family.

30:28But if we put them above God in our heart,

30:31then God is just one of those things to be compared with others.

30:37And in that stage one, our character does not really change.

30:41We're not so concerned about a changed heart.

30:44Or, are we in stage two?

30:48Have we moved to stage two in our journey towards God?

30:51Where we are convinced that he is the one true God.

30:56These other things need to be put to one side.

30:59We've seen not only God's work for me, but God's work in the life of others.

31:03And we've acknowledged it.

31:05We're convinced about him.

31:07But still, we haven't made that final surrender.

31:11Still, our character has not been submitted to the work of God to transform us

31:24through humbling us, as it usually happens.

31:27Or, thank God, have we reached stage three where truly we have surrendered to him

31:35and we are committed totally and not partially to the living God.

31:45Let's just imagine for a moment that over here we have the world.

31:54The world where all our emphasis is on the here and now.

32:00What we see with our eyes, our senses.

32:03What the Bible describes as the world.

32:06Over here we have God, we have eternity, where the perspective is not so much the here and now,

32:14but truth, reality.

32:16Let's call it the world of truth, rather than the world of falsehood.

32:22God, the world.

32:25We're making a journey from one to the other.

32:28And there's a bridge between them.

32:33A bridge from the world through to God.

32:38Now, if we're only in stage one and we're admitting and we're admiring God,

32:47but we've not really changed,

32:50then it's like still standing in the world,

32:54but looking over the bridge and admiring God on the other side.

33:00That's stage one.

33:01But our feet are still in the world.

33:04Stage two, we get onto the bridge.

33:09We've made a commitment now.

33:12Yes, we're convinced about God,

33:15but we're still on the bridge.

33:17To put it another way, we've still got a foot in both worlds.

33:22If, as the Bible says, everything is going to be shaken

33:27and this world is eventually going to dissolve and disappear,

33:33then if we're on the bridge

33:35and one end of the bridge is connected to the world,

33:38we're still going to go down.

33:39Or have we made that final surrender to God?

33:49We've left the bridge behind us.

33:51We've left the world.

33:52Yes, we have to live in this world.

33:56Of course we do.

33:58But we live in the world without the world living in our hearts,

34:02without it being part of us.

34:04We've truly surrendered to God.

34:09Our pride has been dealt with by the work of God.

34:18I'm sure we all want to reach that place

34:20because let me tell you, brothers and sisters,

34:23if there is blessing in stage one,

34:26there is more blessing in stage two.

34:28But stage three, there is everlasting peace.

34:35There is a blessing that will outlive the universe.

34:41And you and I can have it in Jesus' name

34:46because that's what he has done.

34:48Do you know something?

34:49You, as a human being created by God,

34:53and more important than all this creation we see around us,

34:59how crazy of us to be subdued to what we see around

35:04when God has placed us next to his heart,

35:11closer to him.

35:13And Jesus has provided the way for us truly

35:17to have a personal relationship with the living God.

35:22So let us pray as we close this message right now.

35:28I'd like you to join me in this prayer.

35:31Repeat after me.

35:34Lord Jesus Christ,

35:37come into my heart.

35:42Come into my heart to be the Lord of my life.

35:46Come into my heart to be my personal friend and my mentor.

36:00Lord Jesus Christ,

36:02I surrender and I commit myself to you.

36:07to be an agent of truth.

36:17To be an agent of love.

36:23To be an agent of peace.

36:27To be an agent of patience.

36:36To be an agent of faithfulness.

36:44Lead me to love others.

36:48Lead me to wisdom.

36:54In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray.

37:00And the people of God said,

37:02Amen.

37:03Amen.

37:05Amen.

37:23Amen.

37:31Amen.

37:32Amen.

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