OPEN BIBLES TO Daniel 3 & 2 Peter 3:9 (Lot’s Scriptures Today)
1. UNREACHABLE. IMPOSSIBLE. NO WAY. NEVER!
2. Whether we admit it or not, there seems to be those in our lives that are just way out there. They just seem SO unreachable!
a. Oh I know God loves the world, but some to them… no way!
b. Terrorists in a foreign country. Criminals.
c. Those that cause the headaches & heartaches in life!
d. An aunt? A cousin? A boss. A friend… NO WAY!
NOTE: It’s an interesting thing isn’t it?
• With all of our love for God & all of our faith & all of our hope
1 John 4.19 We love Him because He first loved us.
Romans 2.4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
AND STILL there lingers that renegade thought… NOT THEM!
• No way, he’ll never get saved. Can’t happen. Not her!
NOTE: Not only that, but we’re here! Yes US!
1 Cor. 1.26-27 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
We’re the unreachables of the 50’s or 60’s or 70’s or 80’s or 90’s.
• Each one of us with a story to tell, a testimony to share!
The whole movement of Calvary Chapel was birthed through, “Gang Members, Drug Addicts, mental patients, society’s rejects. The amazing story of Calvary Chapel and the unlikely leaders God called!
• And in each generation God has reached down to the ‘guttermost’ to change & transform lives. You get the picture!
• I’m glad He did. I’m glad He does. I’m glad He will!
Nebuchadnezzar certainly fits the profile of an UNREACHABLE!
• Of all the people in the Word, he is the least likely candidate to encounter God.
• He’s so POWERFUL & PROSPEROUS, so SELF-SUFFICIENT & SUCCESSFUL. A world ruler who’s Pompous & Prideful!
• No way would this guy even consider God let alone have a life transforming experience… but he did!
NOW TAKE the person that’s in your mind… that man, that woman.
• And consider this truth: they are not out of reach. (PERIOD)
• As a matter of fact, they are probably closer than you think.
• We serve a God who is not only willing, but is also able to save anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances.
2 Peter 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
2 Peter 3.9 (NLT) The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise to return, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent.
A PATIENT GOD? A LOVING GOD? A SAVING GOD? Oh YES & YES
Hebrews 7.25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
Nebuchadnezzar found this out!
I. (4:1-3) MY TESTIMONY
1. (1) Peace Be Multiplied to You.
a. These are the words of a changed man. No longer in fury, or rage, or threatening… Peace be multiplied to you!
b. How do we know of God’s great power? Look around!
c. Your testimony goes right alongside of this King’s!
NOTE: Our testimony is a powerful tool to reach those around us.
• It’s our story, really it’s God’s story through us.
• We could call it the “Chronicles of God!” as he moves in a life.
• Every single one of us has a past & an encounter & a change.
• Remember that young man in John 9? LET’S TURN THERE.
• Pharisees are enraged over miracle… but he doesn’t back down.
• Key verses are 9:11-12, 18-20, 24-25! I know what I know!
NOTICE, Nebuchadnezzar went from a ANGRY ANTAGONIST to a WILLING WITNESS. Daniel, a regular man was used to reach him.
APP: That’s our calling… to reach the lost.
• How does God save the kings & rulers & pompous & proud?
• Through us! Let’s jump back to 1 Cor. 1:26ff
• God has chosen the foolish things of the world. What?
• He’s going to use regular folk just like (ME & You) to take the message to those who are strong & mighty & of nobility.
NOTICE in v26… the words ‘are called’ are in italics.
• Those are not in the original Greek text but added by the translators to help bring some sort of clarity.
• But I think they missed it here big time.
• They ARE ALL CALLED. Every single person listed there.
Matthew 22.14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."
NOTE: That’s right, they are called, they just don’t come.
• I think it’s more our responsibility than anyone.
• They will never come, we think, so we just don’t ask them!
• Oh, but they will, and God wants to use us to invite them!
• So what we have to do is become that WILLING WITNESS and begin looking for & searching out those opportunities.
• You might just find out that that person was just waiting for you!
• SO Nebuchadnezzar, the man who was changed… declares.
II. (4.4-9) I CALLED DANIEL
1. (4-5) I was at rest.
a. The king had it made. He was in cruise control.
b. All the money. All the power. All the prestige. It was his!
c. He was at the top of the corporate ladder. He was #1 one the FORBES 500 list. He met ALL his goals and was at rest.
d. But he was also afraid & troubled. Really?
e. In his rest, there came these dreams… again!
Afraid: Lit: ‘full of dread and terrible fear.’
Dan. 2.31 "You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.
Troubled: Lit: frightened & alarmed & nervous.
NOTE: It’s true, a person can have it all, but still be afraid about the future. Nobody is at peace apart from God!
• God sent yet another dream to get the attention of this ‘unreachable’…
• Ahh, now you see he’s not that unreachable after all.
2. (6-7) I issued a decree.
a. He was humbled. He wanted to know the answer and called out to those in his kingdom… come tell me the dream.
b. So he did what was natural. He called his wise men, his psychic friends, his magicians, the soothsayers.
c. But, at the end of v7, they came up empty. AGAIN!
NOTE: There’s a wrestling going on the heart of this man.
• Just as there are wrestling’s going on in your friend’s hearts
• Here’s how Nebuchadnezzar would explain it:
• “I went to all trusted friends and men and wisdom but they just couldn’t help me. I chose to talk to Daniel last!”
You SEE back in CH2 I had a dream and went to my friends first then too but they couldn’t help me at all!
• Then Daniel had the answer, and well, I didn’t like it at all!
• And now I have another dream and I call my friends, but I call Daniel last because I know he will tell me the truth.
• And I’m just not ready for the truth!
It’s just like the things going on in your friend’s lives!
• I sought out the best selling self-help books, the Oprah show, Dr. Phil… I called everyone I knew and they just couldn’t pinpoint it.
• THEN I called you, because I know you will tell me the truth.
• But I’m just not ready for it… but I’ll hear you out!?!
• Their asking is a sign of humility… a needed ingredient.
James 4.6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
1 Peter 5.5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
NOTE: Ladies, do you know why men won’t ask for directions when they are lost? And they only get More LOST! ((PRIDE))
• Do you know why men won’t go the doctor when their sick to find out what’s wrong with them?
• Ever wonder why husband & wife will go days without speaking to each other… PRIDE. PRIDE. PRIDE.
PRIDE: “a haughty attitude shown by people who believe, often unjustifiably, that they are better than others”
• Because we think so highly of ourselves to actually say, “I’m lost”, or “I’m sorry”, or “I need help”.
• Look again at v8, BUT AT LAST DANIEL came… mark it.
• We are those Daniels… and may the Lord open for us doors!
III. (4.10-18) THE DREAM
1. (10-18) Here it is…
a. Daniel hears him out and listens intently to the dream.
b. There was a tree in the midst of the earth, a strong tree.
c. It was chopped down by a watcher, an angel.
d. And let that man be given the heart of a beast.
e. Wow, this was a heavy dream.
IV. (4:19-36) DANIEL’S CHANCE
1. (19-22) Astonished.
a. Now the Old KJV says he was astonished for ONE HOUR.
b. That’s a long time to be silent.
BUT IT’S A MODEL IN MINISTERING to OTHERS…
APP: Too often we speak before we think. Or worse yet, we speak before we pray & seek wisdom from the Lord.
Proverbs 14.12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
• Our friends are hurting, and struggling, and need help and we want to diagnose and fix, rather than declare the wonderful love of God! Guys, it’s a TRAP FOR ALL OF US!
• Here’s the problem buddy! You’re in SIN man. You’re MESSED UP. You need to REPENT.
• THOSE MIGHT ALL BE TRUE, but look at the TACT & PATIENCE of Daniel here… he’s silent, waiting on the Lord!
NOTE: Christians have a bad reputation of sorts. There is that accusation that we’re ‘shoving religion down people’s throats’.
• You get the picture of holding someone down and just cramming a Bible down their mouths.
• Daniel’s not doing that here. And Jesus NEVER did it, EVER!
• Here is tenderness & tact, patience & pity.
• And Nebuchadnezzar is ready to hear!
2. (23-27) It’s you!
a. The tree is you. You will be cut down. You will be an animal.
b. If your ways don’t change oh King, you will suffer greatly!
c. Notice again v27, Let my advice be acceptable to you…
d. It’s a plea, not a command. It’s from humility not pride!
NOTE: King, if you do what is right, God will bless you.
• If you turn your life around right now, those nightmares will turn into sweet dreams.
• And so Daniels shares the truth with the King in love.
• He provides the solution to him and waits.
APP: One of the wisest things you can do is provide the solution and wait. God’s the one that will change a heart, not you.
• God’s the one that will spark repentance, not me.
1 Cor. 3.6-7 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
NOTE: There is that undue and unnecessary pressure we put on people sometimes. Don’t you feel sorry yet? Come on, get with it.
• Can’t you just repent?! Can’t you just change?!
• Rather plant, water, and Pray for the increase!
Often when I’m sharing with folks, they will say, “What you’re saying Pastor Ed makes sense. You’re right.”
• That’s the beauty of the Word. It is right!
• It makes sense. It makes perfect sense.
• I don’t have to defend this Book, I just have to unleash it.
NOTE: It’s a lot like defending a roaring lion. I don’t have to.
• All I need to is open the cage! Won’t be a here little kitty, little kitty… it’s OH NO! WATCH Out! You’re right, it’s a lion!
3. (28-35) It happened alright.
a. It didn’t take root right away. Nebuchadnezzar walked away from Daniel without changing or repenting.
b. He went back to his ease and his rest and his flourishing life.
c. And it was only a matter of time, before he fell!
Proverbs 16.18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.
Understand something about pride, gang…
Proverbs 6.16-17 These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,
• It will bring us down, every single time.
• Sometimes sooner, and sometimes later, but ALWAYS.
SO Nebuchadnezzar fell and became as an animal, literally.
• This may be an example of a condition they have found today called ‘zoanthropy’ where a person thinks of himself as an animal and acts like one! HE fell hard…
APP: And because pride goes before a fall, the church must be ready to catch. That’s why the Bible calls us fishers of men.
• We’re not to kick... then while their down.
• We’re not to gossip… to destroy them in their sin.
• We’re not to condemn… to overwhelm their broken hearts.
• NO, we’re catch them, restore them, help them!
Gal. 6.1-2 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
APP: There are countless hundreds around us who will either COME TO us when there’s a problem, or RUN AWAY FROM us…
• It all depends upon whether we see ourselves as fishermen?
• As we see the days getting darker, may be provide the nets and the anchors that will help keep folks close to Jesus.
4. (36-37) He is able.
a. Don’t ever forget v37, the hallmark of Nebuchadnezzar’s life.
b. It’s possible to have a large fall, if we’re not careful.
c. But if you will turn right now and give glory to God with your life, with your future, with your job, with your family…
d. Right now… you too will find a testimony to share, a friend to be, a life that is changed!
e. Why? Because God can reach the unreachable… every time!
