Repentance That Lead To Revival Series

Rev It Up pt. 2

Repentance That Leads To Restoration

Daniel 4:19-22

Last week we talked about Resolutions that lead to revival… Resolve Not to defile myself (Daniel refuses to eat the kings food),

2-resolve to daily diet on what is healthy (he determines to eat only what is healthy and biblically sound)

3-resolve to depend on God for the impossible (he believes in God to tell him the kings dream) and interpret it),

4- resolve to display his glory with my life. (before he tell what the lord revealed he gives all glory to God)

Last week we left off with Daniel being taken hostage into Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar.

The king needs someone to interpret a dream but not only interpret it but tell him what the dream was…

As we pick up the story today the king has another dream and this time he tells everyone what the dream was but again he needs to know the interpretation of the dream.

Daniel 4:19-22

1. Bad attitudes/actions Lead to Remorse

“My Lord if only the dream applied to your enemies and its meaning to your adversaries!” Daniel 4:19

Daniel seems to have this, “I regret to inform you” approach to this interpretation… here is the meaning of this, and you’re going to regret asking…

…you’re going to regret what you have done to cause it. Because I wish this was about your enemies and not you…

Here is the simple truth about Nebuchadnezzar that seems to exist in all of us… He was inattentive to protect what he was blessed with…

Daniel 4:22 says your majesty, you are that tree, you have become great and strong; your greatness has grown until it reaches the sky, and your dominion extends to the distant parts of the earth.

We all have the potential to take the blessings God gives us and show enough ungratefulness to operate in that responsibility that we can loose it…

Esau – sells his birthright for what? A bowl of stew… why because he didn’t honor what God had bestowed upon him.

Gen. 25:29-34 – read

Esau trades the lasting benefits of his birthright for the immediate pleasure of food…

He acted on impulse, satisfying his immediate desire, a decision he will regret.

Esau’s life is filled with choices that he must have regretted bitterly. He appears to be a person who found it hard to consider the consiquences.

Reacting to the need of the moment without realizing what he was giving up. How many of us have been there?

Though Daniel is nervous about being the bearer of the bad news… it is exactly what the king asked for and needs to hear..

Sometimes we simply need to hear it like it is… not that what is coming is judgement but as a warning that things will get worse if we don’t watch it.

Esau didn’t have this warning perhaps because he wouldn’t have heeded to it anyway, lets review what Neb does with this warning…

“This is the interpretation, Your Majesty, and this is the decree the Most High has issued AGAINST my lord the king. You will be driven away from people and will and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like the ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven…” Daniel 4:24-25

Daniel 4:25b-27 = read

In the midst of living with regrets God still provides hope… a warning comes in the form of the interpretation

And advice comes in the form of a message to acknowledge and repent…

The problem we

have is even with warnings and advice we still think we can outsmart the consequences…

Watch and pray that you will not enter into temptations. Matthew 26:41

Peter was given this warning from Jesus, and yet he failed to heed to it as when the trails came, Peter denies… you and I have this same problem…

Let he who stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Cor. 10:12

Daniel 4:28-32 – read and expound

2. Regret Leads To Remorseful Hearts

Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails were like the claws of a bird… Daniel 4:33-34

Regret turns to remorse when we are living out the consequences of our actions. When we don’t heed the warnings or take advantage of the advice.

The king knew the consequences yet still chose his Pride filled actions that lead directly to the punishment.

There is a godly remorse and a sorrow or remorse of this world… the remorse of this world leads to depression and death…

…but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Cor. 7:10b