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Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording, including sermon titles, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these sermons. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and/or quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
KINGDOMS OF THE HEART
Daniel 2:31-35, "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces."
King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, or should I say a nightmare. He awoke the next morning to a troubled spirit. All during the long night he had tossed and tumbled upon his bed. Perhaps he even woke up a few times in a cold sweat. The Bible doesn’t describe that night in great detail except to say that Nebuchadnezzar’s heart was troubled because of the dream he had dreamed. The worst part of it was that even though he knew that this nightmare had some great significance, he could not remember what the dream was and this troubled him ever the more.
Being king of a vast domain with absolute power over men, he determined to force his soothsayers and wise men to ease his troubled heart. He wanted answers and he wanted them now so he called forth his wise men and gave them an ultimatum. The demands that he made of them were impossible for men to carry and the penalties for failing to do them were death, not only for them but for their families as well. This meant that every living member of that family and the family tree would cease to exist.
King Nebuchadnezzar commanded them to do two things. The first command was that he wanted them to tell him what he saw in his nightmare. The second command was that they give him the right interpretation of what he had seen in that dream. Can you imagine the panic in the hearts of those wise men? Who can tell another man what he has dreamed. This was one magic trick that they couldn’t perform. Pulling a rabbit out of a hat or doing some trick of illusion with smoke and mirrors wouldn’t help them now.
In Daniel 2:10,11 we can read the desperate answer that these wise men gave to the king after he had stated his demands.
Daniel 2:10-11, "The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh."
Then Nebuchadnezzar grew angry and commanded that every wise man in Babylon would be put to death.
I want you to know that Satan has no mercy upon those who allow him to rule over their hearts and lives. He is like Nebuchadnezzar who held sway over his kingdom with absolute power. There was no one on earth at this moment in history that could challenge his authority and no one who could stop him from doing exactly what he wanted. His reign was not pure in the moral sense, but in his power to rule, his reign was like pure gold for there was no power over him.
Among those wise men that were condemned to die were four captured men from the tribes of Israel. They are names that familiar to everyone who has any knowledge of the Bible and its stories. Along with Daniel there were three of his fellow slaves who were named Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, better known as Shadrach, Mechach and Abednego who were to later defy Nebuchadnezzar and be cast into the fiery furnace.
It seemed that being a wise man under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar wasn’t a very healthy occupation. The wise men were constantly being called upon to sooth the king’s conscience or perform magic spells and when they displeased him, Nebuchadnezzar would have them executed.
In their desperation to save their very lives, the Babylonian wise men told Nebuchadnezzar about Daniel. Even as a slave in the land of Babylon, Daniel was known for his wisdom and understanding. Even though he was forced to live in slavery and a heathen king controlled his life, Daniel found favor because the Spirit of the Lord was with him.
He was called forth to tell the dream and then bring forth the interpretation. Daniel gave God glory for the ability to do these things. He knew that he had not the power within himself. We know that within us there is no good thing. Without Jesus in us we are nothing. It is only by the power of God, only by the Blood of the Lamb, and only by the anointing of the Holy Ghost that we can be used of God.
Daniel went back to Shadrach, Mechach and Abednego and together they called upon God for the answer to the king’s commands. God was quick to answer their prayer because that same night God gave Daniel the same dream that he had given to Nebuchadnezzar and, in Daniel’s dream, God also gave him the interpretation. With great joy, Daniel awoke the next morning to a new, bright and shining day that was filled with new hope. He had the answer that would spare the lives of all the wise men of Babylon.
I want you to know that you have the answer to this world’s nightmare of sin too. If God has placed his Spirit within you and Jesus is living in your heart, you are a people most blessed and honored. Every day should bring to you a new hope of a brighter future. God has not only blessed you in this life and provided for your every need, but he has given you an eternal, glorious and blessed future.
Should we not be like Daniel and give God glory and praise for all he has done? Should we not be excited to tell others what God has revealed in our hearts? Should we not be excited about the fact that we have the message of the Cross to share with all people so that those who will accept it can escape the penalty of death?
God has given us so much more than the power to save the lives of men – HE HAS GIVEN US THE POWER TO POINT THEM TO ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST.
Daniel went to Nebuchadnezzar and began to tell him what his dream had been, then proceeded to interpret that dream just as God had revealed to him.
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was concerning a fearsome statue with a Head of Gold, Breast and Arms of Silver, Belly and Thighs of Brass, Legs of Iron, and Feet and Toes of Iron and Clay mixed. It was interpreted as being a dream that depicted all of the history of man from the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire, through the rise of the Medio-Persian Empire, then the rise of the Grecian Empire under Alexander the Great, then the rise of the Roman Empire under the great Caesars. Then the Roman Empire would split into the two divisions shown by the legs and the Iron Fist of the Roman Juggernaut would forever influence the governments of this world until time is no more. The final earthly kingdom would be represented by the feet and toes of mixed iron and potter’s clay to show just that while there is strength and power in this final kingdom, there is also much weakness and impurity.
We are not going to go into detail concerning these kingdoms very much because of time and space limitations. Let it suffice to say that there is no doubt, according to the Word of God that we are now living in the days of the Iron and Clay mixture of the feet. We are living in the last days of Satan’s evil rule over the earth, and in the last days of man’s self-centered and sinful reign over other men.
I would like to compare for you for a few minutes the condition of the hearts of men who are under the rule of Satan in this world. In many ways the condition of their hearts are characteristic of the different kingdoms that Daniel described to Nebuchadnezzar.
Men who are born without God; and have no knowledge of him; nor have any desire to know him; are somewhat like king Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom of Babylon and the Head of Gold.
A man whose heart is ruled by his own head is a proud, haughty individual who gives no thought to doing whatever he desires. He doesn’t care if others suffer. He doesn’t care if he has to destroy the lives of other people, just so he can have what he wants and can climb the ladder to social acceptance and success in building the life that he wants for his own.
It is as though he is his own god and has ultimate power over his own life. His every demand is for self-gratification, self-indulgence and self-empowerment. He condemns all others to a place of irrelevance unless they are useful in making his life better. He flaunts his self-endued power in the face of God and other men and blindly bullies his way through life with no thought that there is an eternity and a Day of Reckoning that will come.
Does that seem like a lot of people you know? There are a lot of people in this world who live according to the dictates of their own heart and mind. They think that they are God’s gift to this world. The kingdom that rules over their heart is their own mind and power to reason. It is as though they were made of Gold and the rest of us are nothing but dirt for them to tread upon.
Then there are those whose hearts are reigned by their Chest and Arms of Silver. They trust their own heart to decide what is right and wrong. They don’t look into the Word of God because they think that they have all the answers to life’s questions already.
Each man’s ability to use his own head to solve all of his problems and provide all that he needs for life soon comes to an end. As John Donne, a famous Renaissance philosopher once wrote, “No Man is an Island”. That means that we soon discover that we need once another and that no matter how self-sufficient and independent we would like to believe we are, there comes a time when we have no choice but to admit that we need the help of others.
When this kind of thinking begins to develop we begin to lose that belief that each of us is absolute in our own power. Just as surely as the Kingdom of Babylon was overthrown and conquered by the Medio-Persian Empire, so is the Kingdom of the heart of Man overthrown by the belief that all men, combining their knowledge, ability and power to reason, can and will find the answer to all of man’s problems. They don’t want to acknowledge that there is a God in Heaven who has control and they certainly don’t want to give him control.
One of the greatest lies that is being spread with such great influence in our world today is that man will one day create his own Utopia. Some false religions teach false doctrines that give men false hope. They teach that things will get better and better and better until one day, we will step into a perfect world without war, without death, without pain or sickness.
Man has ever looked for such a place. Ponce de Leon searched for the Fountain of Youth; only to die in a mosquito infested swamp after being wounded in a battle with the Calusa Indian Tribe in what is now the State of Florida. Many explorers and conquerors have search for the “perfect kingdom” only to find that it doesn’t exist except in their own mind.
My Bible still says that mankind will never find that kind of peace in this world without God. Without God there is no peace. Without God there is no joy. Without God there is no life worth living. Without God man has no hope for a better world and a brighter future. Don’t be fooled, the only hope we have is to surrender the Kingdom of our Heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and allow him to rule and reign over us. That’s the only way to a perfect life and that life won’t be on this present world but in the world to come.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that men, as a collective group, will ever find the answers to all of his problems, so that belief must give way to the rise of another. What does man descend to once he finally discovers that he cannot rule his own life successfully?
He then turns to the God of his Belly and Thighs of Brass. From believing that he can rule within himself, mankind turns to self-satisfaction and living a life that is totally self-indulgent. “Whatever feels good do it”, becomes his motto for life. Life for today and don’t worry about tomorrow. Go for the gusto. Get all you can and can all you can get. Don’t worry be happy. Have you ever heard these sayings or any others similar to them?
These are people who have given the Kingdom of their Hearts over to the rule of self! They are sensual, carnal and earthly minded, party animals that live their lives only for the pleasures of sin with no thought of tomorrow.
Brass is used in the manufacturing of musical instruments because it gives off a clear, concise and beautiful tone to the ear. It can also be polished until shines like pure gold to give a beautiful appearance.
So it is with the life of a man whose heart is surrendered to self. He will polish his life with the finest education from the best universities; dress up his exterior with Bill Blass, Izod, Gucci or any other famous name brand that you can think of; and associate only with the elite of society who will be just like him. He will wear only the best of clothing, the finest jewelry, and the most expensive shoes, drive the finest automobiles and live in the best homes that money can buy. There is nothing wrong with desiring and having the best unless those things become your gods and keep you from the once True God.
Brass is also often used in scripture as a symbol of judgment for sin. The “Brassy” attitude and lifestyle of the man whose heart is ruled by sin is destined to face the fires of judgment. All of those sins and attitudes will be burned forever in the Lake of Fire.
The Heart of Brass soon becomes hardened against sin and against the call of the Spirit of God in the life of a sinner. His conscience is seared so that conviction for sin becomes less of an influence in his life.
The Kingdom of this Heart is described in similar fashion to the Legs of Iron that Nebuchadezzar saw.
On one side of his nature this man is totally sold out to sin and living for the devil while attempting to make an outward show of being a “good man” and relying on good deeds to give him the way to his perfect life. On the other side of his nature is his own deceived will of iron to never surrender his will to any higher power. He is obstinate, hard and unreachable because his is convinced in his own mind that he is good enough. How much harder is it to reach someone with the gospel message when they believe that they are good enough already? They don’t care that the Bible says these words in Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
This Iron Willed Kingdom of the Heart will stand for a while but it won’t take long until the weaknesses of this way of life begin to surface. That’s when we see the final step down in the heart of man.
The Iron Kingdom, with its divided nature is soon seen to be just what it really is. Our self-righteousness is mixed with glaring faults, glaring weaknesses, and impurities fill the heart of a man who is in rebellion against the righteousness of God. The Kingdom of the Heart that is Iron and Clay Mixed is a life of paradoxes.
While we appear to be strong and absolutely able to conquer our sinful habits, we are filled with secret sins. No matter how much we think we can control our thoughts we are still filled with impure thinking. No matter how much we think that we can abstain from evil, it seems that every day sin enters our heart in one way or another.
The alcoholic thinks that he can control his drinking. The drug addict will never admit that they have lost control to their drugs. Those caught in traps of pornography will never admit that they are trapped even when they begin to commit murder, rape, incest, and all sorts of perversion.
We might appear to be strong on the outside but inside we are as impure as dirt. We need to submit our lives to the Potter’s hand. We need to be cleansed of the sin that binds us but we have no power to deliver ourselves and the more we attempt to make things right within ourselves, the deeper we get into sin.
What hopeless picture the Statue of Nebuchadnezzar gave to the government and kingdoms of this world! It all seems to be for nothing until the last part of that dream was made known. Let us look at the story in Daniel again.
Daniel 2:34-35, "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."
Thank God for the “Stone” that came down. All the governments, kingdoms and mighty men of this world will be utterly destroyed when that stone, “cut out without hands”, falls on this world. Jesus Christ is that Stone! His coming will put to an end all of the sinful reign of man and the influence of the powers of darkness upon this world. God’s power will crush the power of men and his government will be forever.
The entire statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was crush and crumbled into dust as the stone fell upon it.
Matthew 21:44, "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."
Now we see the hope of mankind. Now we see the answer for those who seek the perfect life. Now we see the source of joy, peace and eternal life.
If we will cast ourselves on that stone, that Rock, Jesus Christ, and seek his forgiveness and allow him to reign over the Kingdom of our Heart, then shall we see the real meaning of why we are here. Then will we see the true righteousness that only comes through his precious blood. Then will we see the real “Fountain of Youth” for in his eternal kingdom we will never grow old.
Who reigns over the Kingdom of your Heart? Are you still holding that control in your own hand? Have you been deceived by Satan into allowing him to reign over you? Or have you surrendered your Heart to Jesus?
Jesus is your only hope and the only hope of all mankind.
