Be a scripture today. I want you to turn with me to Daniel chapter four, all right? Daniel chapter four is where we're gonna hang out today, and it is a great passage. We're in a series that we're just calling thriving in Babylon, to where we're looking at Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo, and we're watching how they stood for God in a culture that did not represent God, how they stood for the King of Kings in a culture that had nothing to do with God. And it's showing us as believers in 2026 how we can stand for God in a culture that is not built around him. There's been so much similarity. I've loved the hallway conversations around it. So many ideas of how they stood to where, how we can stand. Well, today in chapter four, chapter four is one of the most applicable and one of the most unique passages in all of the Old Testament, all right?
It is. That's where we're going today. To, to which you would ask just, okay, Matt, I, I'll bite. Why is it one of the most unique? Here's why. A couple of reasons. Number one, it deals with pride. All right? It deals with the universal struggle of pride. You say, Matt, I'm not prideful. Okay. Uh, all right. There it is. Uh, number two, all right? Number two, it deals with this idea that God is in control and God wants to give us life. And God wants to shower us with his love. All right? And number three is so unique because actually, unlike the rest of the book of Daniel that was written by Daniel, Daniel chapter four is written by none other than King Nebuchadnezzar himself. Here's what makes that so odd. It is a chapter that is written by a former, you're gonna see this in a minute, by a former evil, Gentile king that has been the, the antagonist, right?
There's a literary word for you. In the first three chapters of the book. Daniel four is written by Nebuchadnezzar. You know, that's the same Nebuchadnezzar in chapter one that kidnapped Daniel, Shadrach, Meshek and Abendigo after he ransacked Jerusalem and brought him into Babylon to indoctrinate him. He's the same one in chapter one that these guys flourished because they stood for God and he saw their God, but he didn't bow down to them. It's the same. Nebuchadnezzar that in chapter two had this dream and none of his guys, none of his wise men could interpret it, but Daniel, because God blessed him and God gave him the knowledge, came in and interpreted the dream and literally told him, Nebuchadnezzar, your kingdom's gonna fall. All kingdoms will fall, but God's, the king of kings, his kingdom is the only one that can last. And if you remember right at the end of chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar even said, Daniel, your God is a powerful God.
But in chapter one, he didn't turn to God. In chapter two, he didn't turn to God. And then we got to last week, because this is the same Nebuchadnezzar that last week that had so much gold and so much pride, right? He built a 90-foot golden statue, a Washington monument, if you would, in the plain of Dura in Babylon. And he said, everybody's gonna bow down and worship this. Well, last week we showed that not everybody did, right? Shadrach, Mushak, and Abenigo, they didn't bow. So this same evil king, Nebuchadnezzar threw them into the furnace. God delivered them out of the furnace. And at the end of last week in Daniel chapter three, we saw that this is the same Nebuchadnezzar that saw God's power, saw his promise, saw these guys stand. And he literally said last week in one of the last verses, there is no other God that can save like this.
You know, you would think all of these things would've been pointing Nebuchadnezzar to God, right? But he kept fighting inside. He kept standing in his ways. He recognized that there was a God, but he never trusted God. One off of this week, I though this was particularly a great, a mental picture in my mind. Went off of this week said it's almost like Nebuchadnezzar has been in a three ring MMA fight, right, with God. And every time God is like, I'll show you. He stands back up and pops his chest out a little bit. And then God says, I'll show you. And he stands back up again and he keeps fighting. Let me ask you something. Does this represent your life? Maybe just a little bit. Nebuchadnezzar just doesn't bow. He keeps fighting. He's charmed by God, but he's not changed by God. He keeps his personal way and not God's way.
He's never given his heart to the true God even after he's seen all this. But then, but then we get to chapter four, which is actually the last mentioning of Nebuchadnezzar in the whole book. And this chapter four is a powerful chapter for then and for now because it shows us that God's love pursues us. And God's love is worth us laying down our pride and taking him up. Man, I love chapter four because it shows us that God really does want us to trust him. He really does. Now, let me give you a little context here of chapter four before we jump in. Chapter four is actually 20 years later after the fiery furnace. 20 years. So get this image out of your mind that Daniel is still some little rutty 19-year-old. He's not, okay? He's not. In fact, Daniel came into Babylon after being kidnapped, right?
When he was about 16 years old. All right? At 19 years old, he was graduating from the Institute of Babylon, right, in the doctrination program. And that's when he interpreted the dream. 16 years after that, when they were 35 years old was last week when we saw Shadrach, Meshach and Abinago in the fiery furnace. And now we're 20 years later. Hopefully that's kind of helping you and your mind build this little timeline. Daniel at this point would be somewhere at the young age of mid - 50s, right? Young age. He used to be old, but he's not old anymore, right? He used to be. All right? Somewhere in his mid - 50s, which means that Nebuchadnezzar is also getting up there in age. He's getting older. And in chapter four though, we're gonna see that Nebechadnezzar is now wanting to show how God changed his life. At some point in these last 20 years, God stepped in and put Nebechadnezzar flat on his back.
And the only way he could get through life is to look up and give his life to the Lord. Now listen, this is such a powerful text. Let me tell you why. You guys know me well enough. You've been here for a while. You guys know that I love theology. You know that I love teaching the depths of scripture, but what makes this such a powerful text is this is Nebechadnezzar telling his story of how God changed his life. Listen to me, you wanna know how we can change our West Cobalonia? It's when the people of God begin to share how God has changed our lives. How God has radically moved in our heart. And that's what this is. This story or this event in Dan four is his redemption story. All right? So it starts off, let me kinda give you the big picture.
Starts off with him looking back at the mo - like the moment going, man, praise you God. But then Nebuchadnezzar, like in any good movie, kinda rewinds and tells how God has saved him. Right? Something in the text, it'll make sense. Here we go. Daniel chapter four: one. Here's what happens. It says, King Nebuchadnezzar, to the nations and peoples of every language who live in all the earth. It seems like he says something like this in every chapter, doesn't it? But watch this. It changes. He says, "May you prosper greatly. It is my pleasure to tell you about the, about the miraculous signs and wonders that the most high God has performed for me. How great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders? His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion endures for generation to generation." Now listen, if you've, if you've been here the last couple weeks, and if you didn't just play on your phone, you would know, all right?
You would know that this is a completely different outlook in this evil king. Is it not? It's 100% different focus. It's 100% different speech pattern. It's 100% different outlook. King Nebuchadnezzar is not pointing to himself in this. He is pointing to not just a God, but in verse two, it told us he's pointing to the most high God. So what happened? Let's see how God changes him. Let's see what God did in him. If we were writing a movie right here at this point, it would now say on the bottom of the screen, eight years earlier. All right? So get that in your mind. So you're like, ah, now finally, I can understand it. That's what happens right here, okay? Watch, because he goes back and he tells us the story of what happened to get him to this point. Verse four, it says this.
It says, "I, Nebuchadnezzar, I was at home in my palace. I was contented and prosperous. Passed through, uh, uh, content and prosperous. And I had a dream that made me afraid. I was lying in bed and the images and visions that passed through my mind were, they terrified me. So I commanded that all the wisemen of Babylon be brought before me to interpret this dream for me. When the magicians and chanters, astrologers, and diviners came, I told them the dream. Watch this. But they could not interpret it. Does this remind you of any other chapter in the Bible, right? So what's Nebuchadnezzar doing? He starts off by telling us right here, basically, that he was at his peak. All right? He was at his peak. He had been in his kingdom forever. He had been ruling forever. Everything was clicking along. His kingdom was good.
This was the largest kingdom right here, Babylon, when he's saying this. In history, it'll tell you, it was the largest kingdom that had ever existed on the earth up until this time. If you look at Nebuchadnezzar's life right here, he had already built the, the hanging gardens of Babylon. If you remember in history, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. He had built a wall around his city that at some points was 300 foot tall. You could race three chariots on the top of the wall. That's how big it was that encircled his kingdom. He had so much gold. We saw last week. He had so much spare gold that he built a statue of it. Actually, Herodeus, the ancient historian said that even when you traveled in Babylon, the sun hitting off the golden buildings could blind you. To put it in our terms, because it kind of doesn't really make sense in those terms.
His kids were doing great. His portfolio was up. He was good. The Botox was working. Ozempic was bringing him down. Everything in his life at this point was awesome. That was like, don't get in my space, Matt. Okay, there it is. Okay, ready it is, right? Everything was great. By all earthly standards, Nebuchadnezzar was untouchable. But oh, church, remember, no matter how powerful you think you are, God can always get to you. And God can always press into your soul. So what happens at his peak? Nebuchadnezzar has this vision. And he was scared, right? He was scared. He was scared of, of, of, of what God showed him in this vision. And either he didn't really fully understand it or he did understand it and didn't wanna admit it. We don't know in the text, right? So what does a nebuchnezer do? He calls in the wise men.
And his wisemen, they come before him and they're like, "Ah, Nebuchadnezzar, we really can't tell you anything about this dream." To which I have an opinion about that. I really think they could tell him about the dream. It's an easy dream. We're gonna see it in just a minute. I just think that they didn't want the consequences of telling him his dream. So they come before him and they're like, "Eh, we don't know how to tell you. We don't know how to help you." Which by the way, the wise men in the book of Daniel never do anything, right? There must be government officials or something. I don't know, right? So Nebuchadnezzar does what, what he did in chapter two. That really made someone mad. I'll get it. All right, here it is. Okay? In chapter two, when the wise men couldn't do anything, he, he calls Daniel in.
That's what we're about to see here. So at this point, him and Daniel had been walking together for 35 years. You realize that, right? Daniel had been elevated into a position of right behind Nebuchadnezzar and they had been walking together for 35 years. Daniel has faithfully served this evil king for 35 years. There's no doubt that, that Daniel had prayed for Nebuchadnezzar for 35 years. So listen, church, listen, listen, listen. You never know why God has you somewhere. You never know. So keep serving him. And keep praying because God is faithful and God will use your long-term obedience. If I write this principle down, God often uses believers, long-term faithfulness to display God's unending love. So listen, don't give up. You might have been serving an evil king, a.k.a. Boss, for the last years. But don't give up. Anybody can put a quick show on, but Daniel stands as God's man.
Look at verse four, here's the vision. Now Mechanizer has it. Finally, verse, verse four, it says this. Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him about the dream. He's called Balchazar. That's after the God bail of the Babylonians. After my name of my God and the spirit of the Holy God's in him. Verse nine, I said, Balchazar, chief of the, chief of the magicians. I know that the spirit of the Holy Gods is in you and no mystery is too difficult for you. Here is my dream. Interpret it for me. Now I want you to pause right there because in verses 10 through 15, we actually get to see the vision. All right? We're gonna skip Nebuchadnezzar given the vision because Daniel not only gives the vision, but gives us the interpretation of the vision. And we'd be here till three o'clock if we do it all.
There's a lot of verses here, okay? But here's what happens. He tells them, here's the dream. There's this tree that grows in the middle of the kingdom, right? This is the dream. And this tree gave shade to all around it. It had great fruit. It reached the sky. Everybody saw it. Everybody looked to this tree because it provided for everyone. Even the animals. But in the middle of the dream, he said this angel came and angel said, "Cut the tree down. Cut it down to the roots. Cut it down to the stump. Cut all the branches off of it, but leave the stump and leave the roots outside in the grass in the wet dew with the animals and they will all flee." And then we get down to verse 16, and we'll see this in a minute, but what it's telling us in verse 16 is that this tree in the dream is not about a tree.
Okay? It's an image of a tree, but it's actually speaking about a person that does what this dream is describing. But this person's gonna be driven away from its power after it is cut down and it's gonna live like an animal for seven years. But then the moral of the story is in verse 17. And actually it shows us the purpose, purpose of the dream. Watch, here's what it says. It says this, "The decision is announced by the messengers. The holy one declares the verdict so that the living may know that the most high is the sovereign over all kingdoms of the earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people." What's the dream about? The dream's about, hey, you may think you're something. You may think that you are the person that everybody looks to and everybody depends on you, but he's saying this.
Listen, it is only by God's grace you are there and God can take you down whenever he wants to. In fact, I want you to write this principle down because I think we need to think about it, especially with November right around the corner. And it's this. It's that God is in charge of who is in charge. Do you realize that? That the Bible is very, very clear that God is in charge of who's in charge. In other words, sometimes God puts God honoring men and women into leadership positions that He wants them there to be a light, to be sought and to display God's glory. But also sometimes, and we don't like it, but He does it. Sometimes God puts non-God honoring pagan people in authority to show us what it looks like to be in a place that doesn't worship God and honor God.
And then what our text today is showing is sometimes God puts people into positions of authority to show what it looks like for God to invade their life, to radically save their life, and to give us hope that no one is too far from reaching. Man, listen, God's the God of authority. He's the one that steps into life. He's the one that's in charge to us. I can feel it. I can feel it in the room. So Matty, you just tell me not to vote? No, that's not what I'm telling you to do. Not at all. I'm saying yes, vote. Yes, go work for your candidate. Go pick somebody who has the convictions that you have. But I am saying this ultimately, trust God because he's in control. That's what I'm saying. So oh, believers, when we come around in November this year, remember this in uncertain political times, don't panic about elections.
Don't panic. Why? Daniel just told us that God is in charge of who is in charge. Not only don't panic, but pray for your leaders. Whoever they are, wherever in the faith spectrum they are, pray for them. And remember number three, that all power is temporary except for God. Remember number four, trust God's timing and know that according to Revelation 19, that God in his kingdom is the only eternal authority ever. It's what we're seeing here, right? Now, back to the dream. That was a little side piece for you. There you go. Right. Here it is. Daniel is about to tell us the interpretation of the dream. Verse 18, it says this. This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar had. Now, Belchizar, that's Daniel's name, right? Tell me what it means. For none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me, but you can because the spirit of the Holy God is in you.
Then Daniel, also called Belchizar, was greatly perplexed for a time and his thoughts terrified him. So the king said Belsizar, don't let the dream or its meaning alarm you. He an - Belsizar answered, My Lord, if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries. What's going on here? What's going on here is you're seeing the level of respect that Daniel has for Nebuchadnezzar. You're actually seeing both guys in the story here has this level of respect. Are you seeing Daniel really does have a concern for King Nebuchadnezzar? He really does want Nebuchadnezzar to come to know who God is. We should challenge us as Christ followers and just saying, do we have this? Do we have this level of concern for others? Do we have a concern for the loss like this? Or am I just a judgey person who judges him and walks out and doesn't have anything to do with him?
Remember this. Remember, Daniel has been trafficked. He's had his manhood physically and emotionally taken away from him, right? All of that. He's been forced into indentured service. Not only that, he's been made a vegetarian for 35 years for goodness sake. And now he still loves the king. Why? Because he wants Nebuchadnezzar to know his God. He knows it. Let me ask you something. Do you pray for your rulers, your neighbors, your employers, your enemies like this? Keep going in the dream because Daniel explains it in verse 20. H says, "The tree you saw which grew large and strong with its top touching the sky, visible to the whole earth with beautiful leaves on it and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the wild animals and having a nesting place and his branches for the birds." Oh, look at this in verse 22.
Here's the crux of the matter. "You, your majesty, you were that tree. You've become great and strong. Your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky and your dominion extends to distant parts of the earth. "What's Daniel doing here? This is the confrontation, right? This is the moment that these two guys have to have this talk. Listen to me, believers. There are some times, actually there's many, many times as a believer that you and I, we need to speak up even when it's hard. But oh, we need to follow the Daniel model. It needs to be in relationship with love, with respect and not online. Can I get it on, man? On that one, right? What he's doing is Daniel is looking at Key Nebuchadnezzar and going, Hey, listen, I don't wanna have to tell you this, but I'm gonna tell you this. You're the tree and you are such the tree that your pride is going to be the downfall of you.
Daniel's looking at Nebuchadnezzar and he's going, hey, throughout all these years, what this dream is telling you is that you think that you did all of this and not God. Your heart says it's about you. Your heart says it's not about God. You think all this is you. But oh believers, remember this. Write this principle down. The root of all pride is really just a failure to see that every good thing in life is a gift from God. You see, that's the crux of the matter here. Is it not? The dream describes Nebuchadnezzar perfectly. It's not God being mad at Nebuchadnezzar for being, for being successful. That's not what it is. It's not God being mad at Nebuchadnezzar for having a kingdom. It's God saying this. I want the glory. I want the praise. I want the worship. And when I don't get that, God is saying, don't be descri - don't, don't be surprised when there's divine judgment.
When I don't get what is mine, God says. Now listen, the divine judgment is not a punishment. You're gonna see that in a minute. It's actually a gift. It's actually a humbling gift that brings us back to God. So nebuchadnezzar is only concerned with his glory. Watch what happens to him in verse 23, your majesty.
Saw a holy one. This is Daniel. He's telling him the rest of the dream and interpreting it. Saw a holy one. A messenger coming down from heaven saying, cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump. Bound with iron and bronze in the grass of the field while its roots remain in the ground. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven. Let him live with the wild animals until seven times pass by for him. I think that means seven years. You'll see why in a minute. And then verse 24, Daniel says, this is the interpretation. Your majesty. And this is the decree of the most high has issued against my Lord and King. Watch what happens. You will be driven away from your people and you will live with the wild animals. You will eat the grass like an ox. Be drenched with the dew of heaven.
Seven times will pass until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over all the kingdoms of the earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. Verse 25, the command to leave the stump of the tree with its root means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that heaven rules. Verse 27, therefore your majesty, be pleased to accept my advice. Oh, this is good word. Renounce your sins by doing what is right in your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. And it may be that then your prosperity will continue. Man, this is quite the warning, right? This is quite the boldness that Daniel stands in front of the king and he literally says, Hey King, I know we're friends. I know we've been doing this for a while. I know I've been in your service for a while, but I need to tell you king, you need to turn to God because your time is running out.
That's what he's saying. He's saying you need to turn to God because your time is running out. Or what's gonna happen is God is gonna confuse your mind, send you into the fields, basically make you into a cow. You're gonna eat grass, sleep outside, go from the kingdom to the pastor. And you, hopefully you then, after seven years of being out there on your own, hopefully then you will then come back to your senses and see who God is. Now, before you think, wow, God, that's kinda harsh, right? You gotta remember, for 35 years, Nebuchadnezzar has been seeing God move. For 35 years, Daniel has been in his presence. For 35 years, he saw how God blessed him in chapter one. He saw how God blessed his dream in chapter two. He saw how God delivered in chapter three. There had to be others. But Nebuchadnezzar's time was running out.
To which I would just say with as much pasture, confe - compassion as I can, church, the same might be true for some of you. Some of you might be in this situation right now. You have heard the gospel. You have heard the call of God on your life. You have walked into the church. You have seen God move in other people's life. You have stepped into the so-called good light, but yet you have continued to push down the voice of God in your life. Remember this principle though. Here it is. I put it in your notes. God is patient, but his patience has a limit.
Has a limit. Now, we don't understand or even presume to understand the level of God's patience. For church, listen, God's warning is the same for all of us. Our time may be running out to trust Jesus. So let me just ask you just with pastoral heart, what's keeping you from giving your heart to Jesus? Nobody knows the time or day. Nobody knows what tomorrow holds. But the gospel is this. We were sinners and he is a savior that has offered us life and life abundantly, but it's not automatic. We have to turn to him and take ourselves off the throne and give him the lordship of our lives. What's keeping that from happening in you? Oh, watch Nebuchadnezzar's life though.
Verse 28, you think all this would've been enough, but watch what happens. It says this in verse 20. It says all this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. 12 months later. Now pause there. In other words, here's what's happening. God gives him this dream. He gives him the interpretation of the dream, and Nebuchadnezzar keeps pushing it off and pushing it off and pushing it off for 12 more months. Oh, just when you think you have escaped the hound of heaven. Watch. He's still puffed up. He still thinks that he is God. Look at verse 31. It says this even. Oh, wait, no. After 12 months later, sorry, got ahead of myself. Verse 29, as the king was walking on the roof of his royal palace of Babylon, he said, "Is this not the great Babylon that I have built as my royal residence? But my power, mighty power, and for the glory of my majesty." Look, he's getting a little cocky, right?
And then verse 31, it says this, "Even as the words were on his lips, a voice from heaven came down from heaven." Now, look, this ain't the angel n more.This is God like, "Hey, get out of the way. I got business with the boy." Right? Even as his words were on his lips, a voice came from heaven. "This is what is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar. Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from your people. You will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like the ox. Seven times will pass for you until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over all the kingdoms of the earth and gives them to anyone he wishes. "Verse 33," Immediately, what had been said about King Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from the people. He ate grass like an ox.
His body was drenched with the dew of the heaven until his hair grew like feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. "The moral of the story is God keeps his word, right? God does what he said he always does. And now old Neb looks like Tom Hanks in castaway out in the wilderness right here, right? His hair is so bad. His nails are so grown. Seven years, he literally goes mentally mad. There's a clinical term for it. There's bovanthropy. All right? It literally means he though he was a cow. He had gone mad in his mind. It doesn't get much worse than this. For seven years, he went from looking down onto his kingdom to only looking down at the earth and eating grass. God can do that instantaneously when he wants to, even when we think we're untouchable.
But what happened after the seven years? Let me give you the principle. We're gonna read it. Here's the principle. What happened is, is when our true focus changes Our life changes. When our true focus changes, our life changes. Up until this point, Nebuchadnezzar's whole life has pointed to himself as being the ruler. But now, he points outwards. In other words, sanity always returns to us when we don't look at ourselves, but we look to who God is. Now, look, I'm not saying we don't need a medical doctor because you do, all right? Sometimes you need a medical doctor. Sometimes you need counseling. But I am saying this, many issues just need a humble focus change from ourselves to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's what I'm saying. Look at verse 34. Here's the challenge. We've had a key verse every week. Here's the one for this chapter.
It says this at the end of time. In other words, at the end of the seven years, even he's, he's had this moving experience. Getting he's kind of like a cow. He's out there, right? I, watch this. At the end of these seven years, I nebachadnezzar. I raised my eyes towards heaven and my sanity was restored. Oh, listen, that's a message for all of us. To quit looking down, to quit looking horizontally, but when our focus changes to the King of Kings, that's when God can move. Notice He's no longer looking out. He's looking up. It's reminding me of Psalm 121 verses one and two where literally the Psalmist says that I lift my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord. Back to the verse, verse 34, it says at the end of time, I Nebuchadnezzar, I raised my eyes towards heaven and my sanity was restored.
And watch what happens when we become sane again. Then I praised the most high. I honored and glorified him who lives forever. Man, this is such a challenge. We can learn from this. This is such a fresh view of God that Nebuchadnezzar has never had. This should be our language as well. But it only happens when we take ourselves off the throne and we put the King of Kings on the throne. Look at verse 34. The rest of it, it says this. It says his. This ain't talking about himself anymore. It's talking about God. His dominion is an eternal dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples on earth are regarded as nothing. He does what he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. And no one, no one, look at this church. No one can hold back his hand or say to him, What have you done?
Do you see it? This is exactly how Nebuchadnezzar used to talk about himself. This is exactly the position that Nebuchadnezzar used to have himself in, but he's finally seen God for who he really is. He's finally seen that the God of the universe is the only one to be praised, the only one that can bless, the only one that can give life. And he can finally see that God is in control and he is the king of kings and he is the Lord of Lords, which reminds me of something. It's the last principle. It reminds me that no matter how far you think you are from God, write this down, no one is too far gone to be reached by God. Nobody. Man, I love this. If God can change the heart of Nebuchadnezzar and change him and save him, I got news for you.
I got news for you. He can save you. No matter what your past looks like, I can just about guarantee you it is not as bad as this dude's. No matter what your kid is going through, he can save him. No matter what your family member is going through, he can save him. No matter what your coworker is going through, God can reach down into the depths of a man who literally though he was an animal and radically deliver him and he can bring us back. Listen, child of God, you know all it takes for you to turn back to God is a simple realization that he is Lord and I am not. And we give our heart back to him. Do you realize the number one prayer that God 100% responds to is the heart prayer, the true heart prayer of humble repentance. That's what we're seeing.
Okay, let me read the rest of the verses and we'll close this down. Watch this. It says at the same time, remember he has looked up to heaven. His sanity's resort. Watch this. At the same time that my sanity was restored. Now that would be enough for some of us. Amen? Just Lord, deliver me. Bring my sanity back. Can I get some preschool mamas in the house? Bring my sanity back. Watch this. At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. What does that mean? God doesn't just reach in and kind of go, hey, pat him on the back and give him a bath and cut his nails and hair. No, God is restoring him. Watch this. My advisors and nobles, they sought me out. You realize that? All of a sudden the advisor's like, we gotta go to the wilderness.
We gotta find out which field is he in today, right? We gotta go find Neb. He's out there somewhere. We gotta restore him. Watch this. And I was restored to my throne. You realize this dude couldn't work on a road crew the day before, but now he's back to being the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords because that's what God does. When we turn back to him, I was restored to my throne and I became even greater than before. Now I, nebuchadnezzar. I praise and exalt the glory of the kingdom of heaven. Watch.
Because everything he does is right. And his ways are just and just so we get the point of this whole thing. Watch the last line. And those who walk in pride, he's able to humble. Oh church, beware of pride. Beware of looking out over your kingdom, your platform, your job, your 401K, your family life, your, your environment and thinking that you are the Lord. Now look, we would never say that out loud, but oh boy, do we live it sometimes. And those who walk in pride, he is able to humble. What does it mean? God can humble the proud. Oh, but here's the promise of encouragement of the day. But God can also reach down into the hurting and pull them right back up and make them what? Back where they were? Oh no. Make them better than they ever have been. Man, I love this because Nebuchadnezzar's restored.
He's returned. He is now greater than he's ever been. Why? Because God does what is right. And God moved in his heart. Oh man, I can't wait to see Nebuchadnezzar in heaven one day. I just can't wait. I can't wait. Why? 'Cause I just wanna look at him and go, oh boy. Hey Neb, I can call you that, right? Hey Neb, aren't you glad he humbled us both?
Aren't you glad that he took two prideful boys that thought they may have something and brought us low so that he could reach down and pull us up out of the grass and say, now come on and serve me. You, you, you realize that the worst thing that could ever happen to you and to me is to die unhumbled. You realize that? You say, man, I don't check you. I'm not checking with that one. Here's why. If we're not unhumbled, it means that we're still on the throne of our hearts and God is not. So let me ask you something today, church. What about you? Is God knocking on the door of your heart? Maybe it's not a dream at night. Maybe today is the first day. Maybe today is the day that you finally need to say, Lord Jesus, move in me and give me life.
And save me. Maybe today you're just walking through a moment in life. You know Jesus. But for some reason, you just keep putting yourself back up on the throne. What's keeping you today from God? Lord, your king and your savior.