NEBUCHADNEZZAR, GOD’S SERVANT
April 25, 2010
NEBUCHADNEZZAR, GOD’S SERVANT
Text: Jeremiah 43:8-13
Proposition: Why was Nebuchadnezzar God’s servant?
Introduction
Nebuchadnezzar was God’s servant. He didn’t know that he was, but he was doing what God wanted him to do. God used him to punish the nations. The nations had forgotten God, and Nebuchadnezzar’s job was to remind them that God was in charge of the nations.
Jeremiah 27:1-8
I. The King’s heart is like water in the hand of the Lord
II. People had forgotten God
III. To chastise the rebellious (pirates)
I. The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord (How do we know this?)
A. Proverbs 21:1
B. God Communicated with Nebuchadnezzar
1. Through Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Daniel
a. Daniel 1:17-20
b. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego wouldn’t bow to the king’s 90 X 9 foot statue. They were thrown into the fiery furnace, but they didn’t burn up. The fire was so hot that it killed the men who threw them in the fire.
c. Daniel 3:24-30
d. God made himself known through these young men
2. God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream about the future empires to come.
a. Head of Gold – Babylon
b. Shoulders of silver – Medes and Persians
c. Belly of Bronze – Greeks
d. Legs of Iron – Romans
e. Feet of Iron and Clay – Weakened Roman Empire
f. The stone cut without hands broke the statue to pieces and grew into a great mountain.
g. Daniel 2:44
h. Many have tried to destroy Christianity. It will never be accomplished. Tanks, guns, armies, and the wisdom of man have tried to destroy it, but end up the loser every time.
3. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a tree that reached to heaven.
a. Daniel 4:1-17
b. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the tree. He was going to be cut down because of his proud heart. He gave himself the credit for his greatness. He had forgot that there was a higher authority than himself.
c. God warned him with the dream. Nebuchadnezzar was good for 12 months.
d. Daniel 4:30-37
e. God did with Nebuchadnezzar what he wanted.
C. The hearts of all rulers of the world are in the hand of God. He raises them up and takes them down.
1. Exodus 9:13-16
2. God is the one who put Pharaoh in power.
3. He was a stubborn cruel harsh and ruthless king.
4. He wanted thousands of babies killed. He was merciless to the Hebrew people.
5. He was right where God wanted him.
6. The heart of Barak Obama is in the hand of God. The heart of Mahmoud Ahmadinjad, president of Iran, and every leader in the world is in the hand of God.
7. He has a purpose for them.
8. We are to pray for them, I Timothy 2:1-4
9. God has a purpose for us also. We can be a vessel of wrath or a vessel of mercy. If we let God use us we will be a vessel of mercy.
II. People had forgotten God. (Who forgot God?)
A. The people who dragged Jeremiah to Egypt
1. Psalm 9:17
2. Jeremiah 44:1-18
3. They wanted to burn incense to the queen of heaven, the moon goddess Astarte or Ashtoreth. They thought she was the one blessing them instead of God.
4. After Josiah destroyed idolatry in Judah. God was with them while Josiah was alive, but when he died in battle with Pharaoh Neco and his sons began to reign Judah went down hill fast. They had famine and war. The people didn’t realize God had been patient with them for many years, but finally his patience was over.
5. He sent his servant Nebuchadnezzar to Judah.
6. The people in Egypt were going to see God’s servant again, because they were slow learners. They still hadn’t figured out who blessed them and who cursed them.
7. Daniel knew why the people of Judah had suffered.
8. Daniel 9:1-19
B. Communist Russia
1. More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened. (Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, “Men Have Forgotten God” – The Templeon Address Orthodox America http://www.roca.org/OA/36/36h.htm)
2. Under Stalin’s rule millions of people died. Some were killed by his orders. Millions of people in Ukraine were starved to death. Others were sent to Siberian prison camps and died in them.
3. Communism hates God.
4. Within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, hatred of God is the principal driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions. Militant atheism is not merely incidental or marginal to Communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot. (Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, “Men Have Forgotten God” – The Templeon Address Orthodox America)
C. Many have forgotten God.
1. Less and less people go to church
2. People are so busy with other things in life they don’t make time for God.
3. Being in Church is important
4. Hebrew 10:25
5. Our country is on its way to forgetting God.
6. Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Society appears to have little defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as, for example, misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, motion pictures full of pornography, crime and horror. It is considered to be part of freedom and theoretically counter-balanced by the young people's right not to look or not to accept. (Solzhenitsyn, Alexander at Harvard Class Day Afternoon Exercises, Thursday, June 8, 1978 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/solzhenitsyn/harvard1978.html)
7. Many forget God when they watch TV and movies. They forget God’s laws and are entertained with the devils fruit.
8. A movie available at Wal-Mart is Avatar. It is rated PG-13. It is full of violence. It has many curse words. It is full of sensuality. I read some reviews on it. All of them acknowledge the bad, but they think it is a great movie.
9. The people that make most movies hate God. They want to pollute your mind with the devil’s trash and so does most of Television.
10. Don’t forget God. Get rid of cable or your satellite or however you pipe the devil’s garbage into your house. If you let it in you have forgotten God. He will be patient for a while, but you will pay the price sooner or later.
III. To Chastise the Rebellious (Why does God chasten us?)
A. The Jews in Egypt were rebellious
1. Jeremiah 42:1-3
2. They asked a good question. Ten days later they got an answer. Jeremiah told them to stay in the land of Judah. Don’t go to Egypt. They accused him of lying.
3. They went to Egypt anyway and dragged Jeremiah and Baruch along with them.
4. When they were in Egypt. Jeremiah said to them quit serving idols and worshipping the queen of heaven.
5. Jeremiah 44:16-18
6. When people are rebellious they to be disciplined so that hopefully they will repent.
B. God hates rebellion
1. I Samuel 15:22-23
2. Rebellion is like witchcraft
3. Stubbornness is like idolatry.
4. God won’t tolerate rebellion
5. He will reject you like he rejected Saul if you remain rebellious
C. To bring justice
1. The Somali pirates need justice brought to them. Some countries don’t know what to do with them when they catch them. They don’t know where to try them. Sometimes they just destroy their boats and turn them loose in Somalia. Kenya doesn’t want anymore in their courts. So the navies of some countries just patrol the Ocean catch pirates and take them home.
2. Julius Caesar knew what to do with pirates. When he was a young man the Mediterranean Sea was infested with pirates. They controlled the sea. They had fast ships and the navies left them alone. A ship Julius Caesar was on was captured. The pirates took the cargo and held Julius for ransom. The asked for 20 talents of silver. He laughed at them when they asked for 20 talents. He said, “I am worth more than that. You should ask for 50.” They asked for 50 talents. While they were waiting for the money Caesar treated them like he was in charge of them. If he wanted a nap he told them to be quiet. He was with them for 38 days. He joined them in their exercises. He wrote poetry and speeches and read them to them. He promised them that when he was free again he would return and crucify everyone of them. They laughed at him and thought he was joking. When the ransom was paid Caesar convinced the Roman navy to lend him 3 ships and soldiers to man the ships. He returned and captured the pirates and a large amount of money from the pirates. He took them to Marcus Junctus the governor of Asia. Marcus refused to execute them. He wanted to sell them as slaves. Julius Caesar cut their throats and crucified them on his own authority
3. Julius Caesar went on to rule Rome. He was a servant who brought justice to the rebellious.
C. To remind us where our freedom comes from
1. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (Declaration of Independence)
2. Our rights come from God. When we rebel these rights are removed
3. All individual human rights were granted because man is God's creature. That is, freedom was given to the individual conditionally, in the assumption of his constant religious responsibility. Such was the heritage of the preceding thousand years. Two hundred or even fifty years ago, it would have seemed quite impossible, in America, that an individual could be granted boundless freedom simply for the satisfaction of his instincts or whims. Subsequently, however, all such limitations were discarded everywhere in the West; a total liberation occurred from the moral heritage of Christian centuries with their great reserves of mercy and sacrifice. (Solzhenitsyn. Harvard Speech)
4. Galatians 5:13, freedom isn’t to be used to satisfy the flesh.
5. When we fail to discipline and control ourselves God has to. He has men like Nebuchadnezzar to do this for him.
6. In the United States you can commit adultery and fornication and the authorities won’t do anything to you. You can get drunk and as long as you don’t drive a car it is okay with the law. You can look at pornography. You can do so many things that are sinful.
7. In Dubai you can be arrested and thrown in prison for kissing in public and being drunk.
8. In Muslim countries you will be beaten and thrown in prison for adultery and homosexuality.
9. If we don’t control ourselves God will send someone to do it for us.
Conclusion
Christians are the salt of the earth. We are the light of the world. If we fail to govern, discipline and control ourselves God will send someone who will discipline and control us. I don’t know what the future holds, but if you would have told me ten years ago I would be living in the same town as Muslims I would have thought you were crazy. God can use them to discipline those who claim to be Christians, but don’t act like it. Christianity is freedom. Don’t use your freedom as a license to sin. Don’t reject God’s messengers and tell them we will do what we want. We don’t care what you say. We like our sin and we are better off in our sin. If you get to that point watch out God’s servant is on his way. You will be disciplined because you are rebellious and you forgot God.
