May 30th, 2004, Sunday Morning

"Kneeling Before God"
Remembering our achievements are not by our own strength

OPENING: Daniel 4:29-37


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INTRODUCTION:

• Probably the greatest leader of the country of (today called) Iraq was Nebuchadnezzar (pronounced <neba-ka-nezzer>). He ruled Babylon (later named Iraq) for 43 years. During his reign, he defeated Egypt, destroyed Jerusalem and conquered Type. But what he is famous for and what is written about him is not his military strategy or might but the buildings he built
  
  
• A deeply religious man, Nebuchadnezzar built many structures to his various gods (but none to the true God):
  
  
  • Temples and shrines to Marduk, Nebo, Zarpinat, Shamash, Sin, Gula, Ramman, Mah and others
  • Laid out and paved with bricks a great street for the procession of Marduk, as well as moats, moat-walls and gates
  • He dug several broad, deep canals and made dams for flooding the country to the north and south of Babylon to protect it from enemy attack
  • Made great bronze bulls and serpents and adorned his temples and palaces with cedars and gold
  • His most famous building was the "Hanging Gardens," one of the Seven Wonders of the World. He also built the Ishtar gate
    Purportedly, the Gardens were built to cheer up his wife, Amyitis, daughter of the king of the Medes (whom he married, politically-speaking, to ensure stability between Babylon and the Medes-Persians); His wife came from the lush, green pastures and valleys to the desolate, barren sands of Babylon

    (Also located in the city at the time was the Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk)

    Nebuchadnezzar exceeded all who preceded/followed him. In all his inscriptions he chiseled on his buildings, there would always be two hymns and a prayer as a dedication
  
  
• Daniel 4:30: The buildings were so impressive, they built up inside of him an outward expression of self-glorification; In other words, he declared to himself and others it was solely by his power these buildings were built, for the purpose of his glorification to others
  
  
  • To say he built all the buildings himself may not have triggered the "pride goeth before a fall" consequences as much as his declaration the buildings were for his glory, and no one else's

PRIDE ALWAYS LEADS TO A DOWNFALL

• Nebuchadnezzar had reason to feel proud
  
  
  • Babylon was such a great city, even Herodotus, ancient Greek historian who visited 100 years after Nebuchadnezzar passed, was overwhelmed by its grandeur
    
    
  • Alexander the Great intended to make Babylon the head of his "world empire"
    
    
  • Daniel 4:22: God's prophet, Daniel, even said Nebuchadnezzar's territory "reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth"
  
  
• Pride normally gets the best of us at the moment when "all is right with the world" and we step back to survey our life-long accomplishments
  
  
  • Pride leads to forgetting God because we are deceived into feeling all our resources--shelters, food and money--are self-sustaining and leads to independence from the help of others
    
    
  • Daniel 4:30: Nebuchadnezzar crossed the line when he declares his buildings were built exclusively by his power for the glory of his majesty--even after being warned by Daniel a year earlier to not let this happen (Daniel 4:27)
  
  
• Proverbs 16:18 & 11:2 and Isaiah 2:17: God hates pride and will see to it you are quickly humbled
  
  
  • Daniel 4:30-33: In the same hour said, Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was taken from him and he was driven out where for a time, he "did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws"
    
    
  • Nebuchadnezzar, in seven years, became the powerful and renowned king in the entire world; In an hour--because of pride--he became a naked, filthy, crazy man in a field, eating of the dirty grass with the oxen

BIBLICAL AXIOM: GOD SHARES HIS GLORY WITH NO ONE

• While man can achieve great things, they are no comparison to God's accomplishments and thus aren't worthy to be compared or shared
  
  
  • Man populated and built all things on earth but God built the earth (and universe) and populated it with man
  • Genesis 11:6-9: Man built the Tower of Babel, to reach to Heaven; But God put a stop to that in an instant
  • Nebuchadnezzar became one of the world's greatest kings in seven years and God turned him to the fields in an hour
  • The famous bronze statue of Apollos was sold as scrap metal years later
  
  
• Daniel 4:34: Man lives for a time (at best about 80 years) but God lives forever; He was before the universe and will continue, the same, after you and I are gone
  
  
• In past centuries, men ruled (no more than) 40-50 years at a time! Today, world leaders rule an average of 4-8 years
  
  
• Isaiah 40:15: Great countries have their moment in time but all have eventually faded away while God's Kingdom and truth have never been fully removed from the world
  
  
  • Mesopotamians and Samaritans (Abraham's time): they used to build great palaces and houses, with an average of 20 bedrooms each
  • Egyptians: an unsurpassed producer of great artifacts, it once was a great empire
  • Greeks: they had great mines and architects
  • Phoenicians: fertile soil and waters
  • Assyrians: they had great and cruel armies before they were brought down
  • Rome: another great empire of 4th century A.D.
  • China/Russia: the great bear which tried to raise a nation of godless people
  • Great Britain: used to rule the seas of the earth
  • United States of America: the current world power ... but our time will soon pass
  
  
• World and military leaders' pass and are forgotten while their legacy is, at best, written in books; God is forever and His legacy goes beyond books, to this day (REFERENCE: BBC, 21 July 2003, "The Most Watched Film in History")
  
  
• Isaiah 40:22: Man came from dust on the earth (not from Darwin's theory of evolution) and is frail; God is omnipotent--we "are as grasshoppers" to Him
  
  
• Philippians 2:13: Yet, while we cannot share God's glory, God's strength works in us to accomplish; Man succeeds so he may give public witness to God's glory and strength
  
  
  • No man can stop God from doing His will
  • Isaiah 45:9: We have no right to question God's intentions and actions
  • Isaiah says, "God acts and no one can reverse it."
  
  
• Romans 11:36 and John 1:3: Only because of God are all of mans creations and actions made possible

GOD GIVES MULTIPLE CHANCES--HIS GRACE IS AMAZING AND DIVINE

• If man is genuinely humbled and returns to God after being brought down for his pride, God will give him another chance
  
  
• Daniel 4:34-37: Just as Nebuchadnezzar's reason (sanity) returned to him and he recognized and declared God is the source and giver of all, Nebuchadnezzar was reinstated and his honor restored as the king of Babylon
  
  
• It doesn't matter how badly you've sinned, God does not discriminate and is willing to restore you as quickly as the most obedient Christian that has backslidden
  
  
  • 1 Timothy 1:12-16: Paul declared himself the "chief of sinners" because he was "a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious" to Christians; Yet, God saved Paul and made him His servant for carrying the Gospel to the world
    
    
  • John Newton was remembered as the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" but he was an evil man in his 20s
    
    
    • A slave trader, a back-stabber, a blasphemer, a man who would do anything to make money
    • He should've died on 2-3 separate occasions but God saw fit to save him and he became one of the great preachers of England

CLOSER

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Only God deserves worship and praise

Those who are successful today are testaments to God's grace in giving another chance because we have all failed in our past

May we never take credit for that which God has truly done; Man is but God's servant and tool, which God works through to accomplish good things