Now in Daniel chapter 4 we have Nebuchadnezzar the king of course at the end of chapter 3
he had basically been impressed by the fact that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were unharmed by the fiery furnace that he had thrown them into
but he still did not believe on the Lord, he did not call upon the name of the Lord, he still wasn't saved, he was still talking about other gods
he was still a pagan, he was impressed by that but he still hasn't gotten his heart right and he is still filled with pride
and so God is basically going to judge Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4
in chapter 3 Nebuchadnezzar was persecuting God's people, threw them into the fiery furnace
they were miraculously spared and he was impressed by that but now Nebuchadnezzar's judgment is coming upon him
he is going to be punished for what he has done to God's people
Nebuchadnezzar the king unto all people, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied unto you
I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God has wrought toward me
how great are his signs and how mighty are his wonders
his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and his dominion is from generation to generation
now that's what he should have understood back in chapter 2 because all those things are what he dreamed in chapter 2
about Jesus Christ setting up his everlasting kingdom and all the different things that were exposed to him
but he still didn't get it, well he is writing this letter in chapter 4 to the whole realm of his kingdom
all the different provinces, all the nations and peoples and languages that he rules over
writing about how he finally figured this out and how he finally turned unto the Lord
and he is going to explain what happened in the story here
now what's interesting here is that it was written to all languages
now part of the meaning here that we need to get is that God's word can be manifest in all languages
Daniel chapter 4 when it was originally written was written and sent out in all languages
and of course God's word is to be translated into all languages
when we get to heaven there will be people there the Bible says of every kindred and tongue and people and nation
every kindred and tongue you notice
and so there will be people that speak all different kinds of languages in heaven
and faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God
they are in heaven by faith because they heard God's word in their own language
because God's word the Bible has been translated into every country's language in the entire world
that is a fact
now there are some languages that don't have the entire Bible in their language
but in every language in the world portions of God's word and in most cases all of God's word
have been translated into that language
and God's word theoretically could be perfectly translated into any language of this world
many people will say things like well you always lose something in the translation
who's ever heard somebody say something like that
well whenever you translate between languages you're always going to lose something in the translation
that is simply not true
I speak several languages I speak German with my wife every day and I speak Spanish almost every day
and he preached in the gospel door to door
and I speak Norwegian very rarely but I still know how to speak Norwegian and I can speak and understand Norwegian
and the bottom line is that you don't always lose something when you translate
because number one God is the one who divided up the languages in the first place
because until the tower of Babel the whole earth was of one language
God is the one who confounded the languages of mankind
separated their languages not so that he could only give his word to one elite group
and they would be the only ones who would have God's word
but rather that they would be divided into nations
because he did not like the fact that they were all united and banded together at that one city of Babel
he wanted them to overspread the earth and to be divided and he gave them different languages
but he speaks his word in all those different languages
let me give you a perfect example
the day of Pentecost
17 languages are mentioned and if you remember that at the day of Pentecost
when the apostles were speaking it says that they spake with tongues as the spirit gave them utterance
so God's spirit miraculously allowed those men and women
because there were actually it says there were 120 of the disciples there including the women
they were speaking the gospel and you say I don't think the women were speaking the gospel
he said this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel
he said your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams
and upon my servants and upon my handmaidens
did you get that? handmaidens
I will pour out of my spirit in that day
he said your young men will prophesy
he said young women will prophesy
and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
so we see that at the day of Pentecost these men and women were speaking as the Holy Ghost gave them utterance
they were speaking a language that they didn't know
they were born and raised Galilean
yet they spoke foreign languages and it was God's spirit that gave them the ability
so let me ask you something
if it was God's spirit that was guiding them as they spoke God's word
was there something faulty about that translation?
or was it were they losing something?
no, it was God's spirit speaking in 17 different languages through man
17 that are listed and others that are not listed
so therefore God can speak his word in various languages
don't try to limit God and say no God only speaks this language
and anytime you translate from that you're losing the meaning
that is a lot because the Bible itself is written in at least three languages
at least
so that right there should tell you that God's not limited to one language
if you even would have thought such a thing
Matthew chapter 4 verse 4
but he answered and said it is written
man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God
Jesus Christ was quoting the Old Testament
which was originally given in what language?
Deuteronomy 8 3, Hebrew
he was speaking Aramaic
or Syriac or whatever you want to call it, Chaldean
he was speaking Aramaic
and it was being written down by Matthew in what language?
Greek
so right there that one verse went through three languages
because he's quoting in Hebrew
saying in a different language is being recorded in Greek
and yet he said it's every word
every word of God
man shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God
so don't get confused into thinking that God is so limited
and people will say that we're limiting God
by saying we only use one English version
the King James Bible only
and they'll say we're limiting God
no, they're limiting God
because they really believe that none of the English versions are right
I mean at least we believe in one of them
you guys are so limited
did you know that one is less limited than zero?
zero is pretty limited
because they believe in zero that are the word of God
they just say well they're all just kind of in the ballpark
the best we've got
well you know what?
I just believe that this one is right
because I believe that God can speak in any language
okay
and this is the English Bible
I believe that this Bible is God's word in the English language
and I believe that God's word can be brought into any language
without losing something
and when I get to heaven I don't think
you know God's going to need a translator or something to speak with me
I believe that God will be able to speak with me in English if he wants to
because he speaks with me in English right here every time I open his book and read it
so that's what I wanted to say about the first verse
and if you extrapolate out the length of time that I just spent on that first verse
and multiply it times 37 verses
that's how long we're going to be here tonight
no I'm just kidding
but anyway
just kidding
unto all people
nations and languages
and this is symbolic also that God wants to get the gospel out to everybody
you know
and this is the good news here
this is God's word being proclaimed by a heathen man
who has basically found the truth though
finally he's finally found out who the real true God is
and he wants everybody to know about it
and so he's sending out this message to everyone
he says in verse 2
I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God
the high God has wrought toward me
how great are his signs
and how mighty are his wonders
his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom
and his dominion is from generation to generation
I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my house
and flourishing in my palace
I saw a dream which made me afraid
and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head
troubled me
therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon
before they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream
now for sake of time tonight
because there are so many verses in this chapter
I'm just going to basically tell the story to you
because we already read the whole chapter before the sermon started
I'm just going to explain the story to you
then we're just going to hit some of the highlights and make some applications
but basically Nebuchadnezzar has a dream
Nebuchadnezzar has a dream
and in the dream there's this great big giant tree
and all the fowls of heaven and the animals are lodging in it
they're enjoying the shadow of it
and it stretches all the way to heaven
and it stretches out as far as the eye can see
this great and mighty tree
and then of course these angels come down from heaven
and basically command that it be chopped down
okay
and the tree is chopped down
and only the stump of it is left
Nebuchadnezzar wakes up very perturbed and disturbed by this dream
and he's upset and he wants to know what it means
and so he calls in all the wise men of Babylon
and he still hasn't figured out these guys in verse 7
then came in the magicians, the astrologers
he still hasn't figured out that these guys are just idiots
you know what I mean?
he keeps calling them in, calling them in
they never know anything, they never do anything right
but it's just people believe what they want to believe
isn't it amazing how you could go to somebody's door sometimes with the Bible
and try to show them how to be saved
and you could show them the truth point blank
but yet they'll just want to stick with whatever religion they're into sometimes
because they just don't care
I mean you could sit there and prove it to them
but they're just going to stay a Jehovah's Witness or a Catholic
or whatever false religion they're a part of
because they just don't care
and sometimes people just believe what they want to believe
and some people want to believe a lie unfortunately
and that's the way Nebuchadnezzar was at this point
I mean he knows that these guys are lying
he was already almost to the point of killing them all in chapter 2
but now he's just comfortable with his religion though
so he brings them all in
because probably these guys are really permissive to his wicked lifestyle
you know the God of the Bible has all kinds of commandments and laws
and right and wrong and morality
these wicked heathen religious guys are probably just going to come in
tell them what he wants to hear
condone of anything that he's doing
and so he just keeps calling them in
but it says but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof
but the last Daniel came in before me
of course Daniel comes in
we're going to come back to that verse
but Daniel comes in
and he basically is in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar for an hour
and he's astonished and his thoughts trouble him
he hears the dream
thinks about it, prays about it
God reveals unto him the meaning of the dream
and he explains to him
he says you know this dream is actually a bad dream
he said I wish that this dream basically would be under your enemies
and under those that hate thee
because he was a loyal subject of this king
and he said basically it's bad news
because of the fact that you represent that tree
I mean you've been given this great kingdom
and you have all this power over all these different nations in the world
and he says you basically are going to be the one who's cut down
you are going to be driven from men
and given the heart of a beast
and you are actually going to live as a wild animal
until seven times pass over
and we'll talk about what that means
so Daniel explains that to him
and then he says in verse 27
he says wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee
so he's going to give him some advice
he says here's the dream
let me give you some advice
break off thy sins by righteousness
and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor
if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility
he said look this is what God said is going to happen
but if I were you
I would break off these sins
I would stop doing the wickedness that you're doing
one of the things he brought up was
by showing mercy to the poor
because these kind of powerful authoritarian governments
usually prey upon and abuse the poor
they make money off the backs of the poor
and so basically he's saying
you need to show mercy to the poor
you need to stop being unjust
you need to do right
and maybe it'll be a lengthening of your tranquility
maybe God, maybe, will have mercy upon you
and allow you to live in peace before this comes to pass
or maybe he'll even decide not to do it
well it says in verse 28
all this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar
at the end of 12 months
so 12 months after Daniel explains this to him
he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon
verse 30
the king spake and said
is not this great Babylon that I have built for my house
of the kingdom by the might of my power
and for the honor of my majesty
so you can hear the prideful boasting
saying wow look what I've done
look what I've built
look what I've accomplished
of course if you know the Bible
if you read the book of Jeremiah
read the book of Isaiah
you'll know that God is the one
who raised up the king of Babylon
in order to bring judgment upon the nation of Judah
primarily
but also if you read Isaiah
chapters 13 about through 18
he lists all these different nations
that he's going to use the king of Babylon to judge
he said Nebuchadnezzar is my servant
that I'm going to use to destroy you
and to bring you captive
and to humiliate you
that you might know that God rules in heaven
and he's basically going to bring them down
and bring down the high looks
and the lofty looks he said
and the prideful man
and basically Nebuchadnezzar thinks
that he's the one who's doing it
I'll turn to Habakkuk if you would
keep your finger in Daniel 4
go over to Habakkuk
toward the end of the Old Testament
the minor prophets
Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk
look at Habakkuk chapter 1
Habakkuk deals with the subject of
the Babylonians
led by King Nebuchadnezzar
judging the children of Judah
that's the subject matter
it says in verse 6 of chapter 1
for lo I raise up the Chaldeans
that bitter and hasty nation
which shall march through the breath of the land
and possess the dwelling places that are not theirs
they are terrible and dreadful
their judgment and their dignity shall proceed to themselves
he explains on and on
about how they are going to
destroy everything
they're going to kill young and old
and God's wrath is going to be poured out on the children of Judah
through the Chaldeans
Chaldeans are the same people as the Babylonians
but look what it says in verse number 11
and this is talking about Nebuchadnezzar
in Habakkuk 1.11
he shall his mind change
and he shall pass over
and offend
imputing this, his power
unto his God
now do you see that?
that's talking about King Nebuchadnezzar
because if you remember
in Jeremiah 52 for example
51 and 52
and in other places at the end of 2 Kings
at the end of 2 Chronicles
when Nebuchadnezzar Adan the captain and the host of Nebuchadnezzar came
they explained to Jeremiah
and say God
basically Jehovah the Lord
sent us here to bring judgment
but then he says here
then shall his mind change
and he shall pass over and offend
imputing this, his power unto his God
basically turning away from God
and giving the power unto his false God
now his false God's name is Bel
B-E-L
and that was the God that Nebuchadnezzar worshipped
it's mentioned in the book of Isaiah
in other places
which is why
when Daniel is called in
look at verse 8 of Daniel 4
it says but at the last
Daniel came in before me whose name was what?
you see that?
Bel to Shazzar
according to the name of my God
so his false God's name was
Bel who is mentioned by the name
just the first three letters of his name
represented that name Bel
of the false God, Bel that's mentioned throughout the Bible
and so
basically
where were we? Let me find my place
back in chapter 4
let's go to verse number 30
the king spake had said
is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom
by the might of my power
and for the honor of my majesty
so basically he said
I'm doing this all for my own glory
for myself, it's all me
and so God hears him say that
and the prophecy comes true
and he's basically destroyed
his mind is taken from him
and he's given the heart of a beast
he's basically driven insane
at that moment
and he goes out to live among the wild animals
it says in verse number 33
the same hour
was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar
and he was driven from man
and he did eat grass as oxen
and his body was wet
with the dew of heaven
till his hairs were grown like
eagle's feathers and his nails
like bird cloth
so basically we need to beware of pride
because when things go well
the Bible says the prosperity of fools
shall destroy them
sometimes when things are going bad in your life
your heart is more right with God
because you're running scared
you're praying, you're relying upon him
and then all of a sudden, man, things start going good
you know, you're making all kinds of money
you feel great, everybody likes you
everything's moving right along
that's when it can become easy to be backslidden
actually more than when things are going bad
because when things are going bad
you're looking to God for help
you're reading the Bible, you're running scared
blessed is the man that feareth all the way
the Bible says, but the wicked rage
and are confident, the only one that we should fear is God
but we ought to fear God
and when things are going really well
and when he's flourishing in his palace
is when he just starts getting
cocky and arrogant and pompous
and that's when God
has to take him down a notch
let God bring you down a notch
stay humble, even when you're on top of the world
stay humble
because he will bring you down
I mean, there's one thing God hates
it's pride
pride, arrogance, the Bible says
doth the Lord hate
look up the word pride, arrogance
he hates it
read the book of Isaiah, almost every chapter
just pride is the problem
pride, pride, pride
and God hates pride
God wants us to give him the glory
whether we eat or drink, we should do all
the glory of God, not to increase
our majesty and our greatness
so God takes him down a notch
and gives him the heart of a beast
basically drives him insane, he starts acting
like a wild animal
well because Nebuchadnezzar is acting like a wild animal
you know, he's thrown out
of the palace
picture if Barack Obama
you know, just started acting like a wild animal
you know, he starts foaming
at the mouth and crawling around
on all fours, he's out on the lawn
of the White House eating grass
you know, obviously they're going to
get rid of him and put somebody else in charge
right?
he's not going to continue to be the president
that's where the vice president
will, you know, take command
okay, and he's going to have to be driven
from anywhere, that's what happened
basically they couldn't even contain him
because he was acting such like an animal
that basically he just went out
into the wilderness, into the forest
and just started living with the animals
as a wild animal
now you say, how long was it?
well it says, till seven times
pass over
seven times
okay, well, what unit of time?
you know, are we talking days?
weeks? are we talking months?
are we talking years?
you know, how much time are we talking about?
well, if you read the context
here, we see that his hairs
were grown like eagle's feathers
and his nails
like bird claws
so this isn't seven days
this isn't seven weeks
I don't believe this is seven months
I mean, for your nails to be grown like claws
and your hairs of your body like
bird feathers from being out in the wilderness
I believe it was seven years
the other reason why I believe it was seven years
is that later in the book of Daniel
the phrase is used
until a time and times
and half a time
remember that phrase?
that phrase is used in Daniel
and in the book of Revelation
to refer to three and a half years
a time, right?
a time is how many?
times
so we got three now, right?
a time, times, and half a time
the reason we know that's three and a half years
is because he also relates that as
twelve hundred and sixty days
and he also relates that as
forty and two months
well, forty two months, twelve hundred and sixty days
and three and a half years
all add up to the same length of time
there are, you know
if you go by thirty day months
basically twelve hundred and sixty days
is forty two months, which is three and a half years
and so forth
so write about that amount of time
so that's why I believe that from the context of the book
if times later in the book
is going to mean three and a half years
then our automatic
suggestion is going to think
if times means years here
it probably means years there
and it would make sense
with the fact that his hairs grew like
and really
can you really go much further than
years? I mean that's pretty much
the largest unit that we would deal with
days, weeks, months, years
those are pretty much our four choices
and I would say
that years are what we're dealing with
because of that fact
have you ever seen someone's nails
who looked like
they had bird claws on their hands?
put up your hand
I have seen it, I mean I've seen it in the flesh
there are some strange people in this world
who let their nails
grow like bird claws
I'm not talking about a manicure
sometimes that can look like bird claws
too, you know
I'm not into that
I like my wife's fingernails to be kept short
reasonably
just a bird claw look
but I'm talking about the ones that look like
a dirty bird's claw
I mean they really look like a bird claw
now I'm not going to recommend that for you
because of the fact that
the only time it's mentioned in the Bible
is a guy who's insane, he's living with wild
animals and so
I think an application here is to trim your fingernails
honestly
and I freshly
trimmed my fingernails for the sermon tonight
I was preaching
and so my fingernails are completely trimmed
and tidy
don't let your fingernails grow like bird claws
and people will say
well if God intended men to have short hair
it wouldn't grow long
well you know your fingernails grow pretty long too
if you don't take care of yourself
you'll end up looking like an animal with long claws
and your hair will become matted
like eagle feathers and so forth
and so cut your hair
trim your fingernails
this is part of being a human being
okay and so
you know don't just use this excuse
well I'm just going to keep it natural
you know I'm not going to take a shower
and there are people who won't take a shower
they won't take a bath, they won't wash
they let their hair grow
they get these dreadlocks
where it's just these matted chunks of hair
I mean it's
it's what you're looking at here in this chapter
literally
and a lot of people do a lot of strange things
a lot of heathen people and pagan people
will do very strange things
like these that put
the disc in their lip
have you ever seen this where they put a disc in their lip
and try to stretch out their lip to make it look like a duck bill
who knows what I'm talking about
a lot of people know what I'm talking about
others will put rings around their neck
and make their neck get longer and longer
because they think it's cool to have a really long neck
so it keeps stretching their neck
higher and higher
trying to look like dulcim
those that are exactly my age
will know what that means
they want their neck real long
they want it stretched out real long
others will put the earrings in their ears
and they keep getting bigger
I think it's called the gauge
get bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger
problem is
that once you do that, it can't be fixed
and so I've seen
people, the biggest I've seen
has anybody seen bigger than like
a little bigger than a quarter
have you seen larger than that
wow, that's the largest I've seen in the flesh
but you know, this kind of thing
is not of God
you know, I'm not going to condone it
okay, it's abusive to your body
you say, well I've done that in the past
well, you know, forgetting those things which are behind
but the Bible still speaks against
getting tattoos, says thou shalt not
print any marks upon thy body
now you say, what do I do, I've already got the tattoo
you know what, it's too late obviously
but I'm speaking to those who haven't yet
and I'm speaking to young people
who might get caught up
in this culture today of tattoos
okay, young men and young ladies
my own children, you know, and they turn
18 and it's like, hey let's get a tattoo
well, God said no
he said, thou shalt not print any marks
upon thy body
and we shouldn't be doing
these strange things to our body
and really it's just to try to
get attention or to try to be different
if you really want to be different
be like me, you know
I'm considered pretty different
I mean, the guy, hey, you want to know
what different I am? The teacher
down at South Mountain
Community College who's in charge of diversity
for that whole college
you know
he wanted me to come in
because he wanted to bring in diversity
so he wanted me, and the school banned me
from speaking down there
and they've never banned anybody else
I mean, literally
they've brought in transvestites
prostitutes, every weird lifestyle
and he said, well let's bring in
Pastor Anderson
I mean, he's different
you know, he represents like
just Bible fundamentalist Christianity
I mean, that's different
than what we offer
and they're like, uh, that's not what we meant by diversity
we only want freaks and weirdos
and perverts, you know
we don't want, you know, this guy
to come in and represent
a normal, you know, normal man
I mean, look at him
look at him
he's married
you know, he procreates with his wife
like a normal person
I mean, he cuts his fingernails short
he dresses like a man
I mean, he cuts his hair short
he looks human
you know, and it's like
I saw a guy
yesterday
he had like a spike
like this pointy cone
coming out of the bottom of his lip
like it was about two and a half inches long
just coming straight out
like, kind of like
I don't know, I don't even know what to compare it to
but I've never seen this before
I've seen, but this was just like
a pointy little cone sticking
straight out, but you know what
if you want to go ahead and shove a cone through your lip
okay, that's one thing, but if you really
want to be different, God said
His desire is that we be a peculiar people
and if you do right
and win souls and
believe and preach the Bible, you'll be different
you'll stand out
and so, you know, I understand your desire
not to be like everybody else
not to be another face in the crowd
but the cone through the lip
the gauged ears, the rings around the neck
and the tattoos is not the answer
be a fundamental Baptist
and you will be
considered by the world different
okay, and so
that was all out of verse 33
and so
it says in verse 34
and at the end of the days
I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven
and my understanding returned
unto me, and I blessed
the most high, so basically, can you imagine this
for seven years
he's been out living like a wild animal
and then just
in a moment, his sanity
comes back to him
and he realizes what he's been doing
you know, he realizes
I mean, he remembers everything
it says his hair
is all matted, he's dirty
he's filthy, he's been living outside
for seven years
he's just a complete
mess and a wreck
and the first thing he does
is, God
I'm sorry, you know, I mean
he figured it out
he gave glory to God
right away, he said
and I blessed the most high
and I praised and honored him that liveth
forever, whose dominion is
an everlasting dominion, and his
kingdom from generation to generation
and all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing
and he doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can
stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?
we ought to have that
respect for God without him having to put us through
this kind of experience
at the same time, my reason
returned unto me
so just all at once
he's saying, at the same time, I mean my reason
returned unto me, and for the glory
of my kingdom, my honor and brightness
returned unto me, and my
counselors and my lords sought
unto me, and I was established in my kingdom
and excellent majesty was added unto me
so basically, his sanity comes back
and here he is in this messed up condition
physically, but he basically goes
back to the palace and says, alright everybody
I'm back to normal
okay
so for seven years, his other
and you know, there's other places in the Bible that mention this
but his other counselors and
rulers and so forth, they were basically running
things while he was God
so his kingdom was not destroyed
remember how the stump was going to remain?
and that that represented
the fact that his kingdom wasn't
going to fall apart while he was in this condition
his bureaucracy that was already
in place continued to function during
that time, he didn't lose
any kingdom, everything went forward
and when he came back, they wanted him back
I mean, he was a powerful man
he was an ingenious man, he was a great leader
and so when he came back
you know, he got a haircut
you know, cut his fingernails
took a few hundred baths
and scrubbed himself
and got back to normal
and basically, he became even more
powerful, he was even more popular
and he loved him even more
and he actually had more power, more majesty
and more greatness and so he finished
out his life basically
giving the glory to God
look over at chapter 5 real quick, I got to hurry
but it says in verse 18 of chapter 5
this is Daniel
speaking unto his grandson
speaking unto Nebuchadnezzar's
grandson, Belshazzar
he says in verse 18
O thou king, the most high God
be it Nebuchadnezzar thy father
a kingdom and majesty
and glory and honor
and for the majesty that he gave him
all people, nations and languages
trembled and feared before him
whom he would, he slew
and whom he would, he kept alive
and whom he would, I'm sorry
whom he would, he set up
and whom he would, he put down
and when his heart was lifted up
and his mind hardened in pride
he was deposed from his kingly throne
and they took his glory from him
and he was driven from the sons of men
and his heart was made like the beasts
and his dwelling was with the wild
asses, they fed him
with grass like oxen and his
body was wet with the dew of heaven
till he knew that the most
high God ruled in the kingdom of men
and that he appointeth over it
whomsoever he will and thou
his son O Belshazzar
has not humbled
thine heart, though thou knewest all
this, so of course his grandson
knew about it because remember that, this is a
proclamation that you're reading in Daniel chapter 4
that was sent out unto all nations
all people, all kindreds, all tongues
and so basically he should have
known and feared and understood
what was going on
in his life but basically he had forgotten
the lesson that his grandfather had learned
so the reason I'm showing you this in chapter 5
verse 18 is because it's clear
that Nebuchadnezzar
finished his life giving God the glory here
because retrospectively
when Daniel looks back upon it
it's like hey, your father
meaning your progenitor
your grandfather because actually
there was one man in between named
Evil Merodach that was the son
of Nebuchadnezzar and the father of Belshazzar
he's saying look, your father
learned his lesson
and yet you are still
a wicked heathen and so forth
so that's what I wanted to show you but let's go back
and just hit a few quick highlights, we're almost out
of time but one of the things
I want to talk about is back in verse
number 8
in verse number 8 it says
but at the last Daniel came in
before me whose name was
Belshazzar according to the name
of my God
and in whom is the spirit
of the holy gods and before him
I told the dream saying
now the thing I want to point out about this part right here
is the
capitalization of the word God
right in the dead center of the verse, do you see that?
see how it says
according to the name of my God
whose Bible here tonight is that capitalized
that word God
in Daniel 4, 8
anyone else?
does anyone's
ok, 1, 2, 3, ok a few people
ok now turn to Daniel 11, 38
Daniel chapter 11 verse 38
you'll find a similar thing
this is talking about the antichrist
in Daniel 11, 38
and it's talking about a false god
that the antichrist is going to worship
which is called the God of
forces and look at Daniel 11, 38
it says but in his
estate shall he honor
the God of forces
now notice that God is capitalized
who has God of forces capitalized?
everybody in the room
of course we all use the King James Bible
the God of forces
capitalized but then look at the next phrase
and a God whom his fathers
knew not shall he honor
with gold and silver and with precious stones
and pleasant things
now the a God right after
the God of forces is the same
same subject there
they're both talking about
the false God that the antichrist
is worshiping
now people will say this, well why
would the name of that false God
be capitalized? and they'll say
and why in the world
do a lot of King James Bibles
have God capitalized
in Daniel 4 verse 8
and then some of them don't
and they'll make a big deal out of this
but let me tell you something
there are people out there my friend
their goal is to make you doubt the word of God
their goal is to bring confusion
now let me just start out
by saying this
if a person is not saved
listen very carefully
this is very important
if a person is not
saved
they cannot please
God, they are not fulfilling
God's will
with their life if they're trying to
serve God or do anything for God
without faith it's impossible to please them
and the Bible says that
in time passed when we were not saved
we walked according to the
prince of the power of the air
the spirit which now worketh in the
children of disobedience, Ephesians chapter 2
if there's a Bible
preacher, somebody who preaches
the Bible and they're not saved
okay
that person is not of God
their preaching is not of God
we should not listen to what they have to say
if they're not even saved
why are you saying, you know, it's basic
it's basic but get this down
don't say, oh well I'm going to see
what good things I can learn from him
even though he's wrong on the gospel
if you're wrong on the gospel, you're wrong on everything
what is a man
profited if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own
soul, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God
they are foolishness unto him
neither can he
know them because they're spiritually
discerned, the
unsaved man cannot
understand the things of God
because he has the veil over his eyes
when his heart turns to Christ as his
savior, the veil is removed
so somebody who is teaching a works
salvation is not
someone that I'm going to go to
to teach me anything about the Bible
and let me tell you something
there are a lot of people out there
who are big time
King James Bible only advocates
okay
that are preaching another gospel
a works salvation
a turn from your sins
turn over a new leap
a Christian type gospel
and their goal
with being King James only is to
deceive and to bring confusion
because they are of the enemy
if they're preaching works
they're of the wicked one
if they're preaching salvation by grace through faith
they're of God
does everybody comprehend what I'm saying at that point
now there are a lot of people out there
who pretend to be zealous of the King James
but really their goal is to bring confusion
and what they'll do
is they'll bring up stuff like
there are errors
in all these King James Bibles
they'll say
and they'll pretend like
oh we're just trying to make sure
that you have the right
King James Bible
and so we just want to point this out
and there's like a little checklist where you can test
and see if your Bible is really the right one
and I think
you were the one that was telling me about this
what's the name of the guy that was
what was the name of the website though
it was like
bibleprotector.com
and he has this list
of a test
okay or whatever
to make sure your Bible is right
and they'll bring up things like this
upper case versus lower case letters
or words that mean
the exact same thing
okay
that are just spelled differently
but they're identical in meaning
now obviously
if you have a book that says King James Bible
and the words are changed
as in a different word
that produces a different meaning
well then guess what you have a problem obviously
you know if you're changing the words of God around
but there are certain
punctuation
and spellings
that have nothing to do with
whether it's God's word or not
okay
and so you have to beware here
but the Bible, do you remember at the beginning of the sermon
we were talking about the Bible being translated into all these different languages
well guess what, in different, some languages
don't even have upper and lower case letters
and guess what
Koine Greek is one of them
not that that even matters but guess what
God's word
turn to 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 21
because this is an important point
people will say, oh the King James Bible
has been changed
and like you'll say to people
I'm King James only because I'm King James only
but you'll say to people
hey I'm King James only and they'll say
well which King James do you use
because you know it's been changed and changed
and changed
and they'll say oh there's all these mistakes
one of these that's bringing
confusion is Jack Scott, Dr. Jack Scott
will basically say
oh there's all these mistakes in the King James Bible
and what he's calling mistakes
are differences in spelling
or typographical
errors, you know what a typo is
like where the printer
just accidentally
types something wrong
I mean we're not talking about a difference in translation
we're not talking about a difference in the
we're talking about just a typo
in a particular printing
like for example I've had Bibles
that had a typo in them
but that doesn't mean that it's a perversion
or that it's some wicked
attempt to change God's word
it's just like a typo
it didn't really mean that the King James version
is wrong it just means that
that particular printer that printed it
he had a typo
and those show different places
where things are upper case
spirit versus lower case spirit
and if yours isn't upper case
you're the wrong one
well guess what
God's word was not delivered
as a written word
God's word
was not delivered to man as a written word
God's word was delivered to man
as a spoken word
look at 1 Peter 1.21
I'll show you what I'm talking about
and let me ask you something
when someone speaks to you
can you see punctuation marks or capitalizations
you can't see it
no that was a joke I hope
you can't see
if you can then see me after the service
and tell me what drugs you're smoking
no I'm just kidding
but anyway you can't see
I mean you can't see whether something's
capitalized or not
and God's word was originally spoken
and then later written down
ok
Jesus Christ spoke the Sermon on the Mount
long before it was ever written down
didn't he
the book of Hebrews
the book of Romans
the book of 1 and 2 Corinthians
were spoken to someone else who wrote it down
Romans was penned down by a man named Tertius
because in chapter 16 it says
Tertius who wrote this epistle
salutes you in the Lord
he was the guy penning it down
Paul's the author he was dictating it
unto the person that was writing it down
and of course he would sign the end
he said the salutation of Paul
with mine own hand
which is the token in every epistle
so I write
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen
2 Peter 1.21
for the prophecy came not in old time
by the will of man
the men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost
and I don't have time to preach a whole sermon on this
but God's word was spoken first
the Bible says in Revelation 1.3
blessed is he that readeth
and they that hear
the words of this prophecy
the Bible says faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the word of God
God's word is a spoken word
yes it's also written down
yes spellings and punctuations
and upper lower case letters
can help us understand
what's being said
when we look at something on a piece of paper
you know if there were all just letters
run together it would be more difficult to read
the punctuation
helps us break it down into sentences and so forth
but it was a spoken word
I've showed people
Hebrews 1 where it said
unto which the angels said he at any time
thou art my son to save I begotten thee
saying none of the angels are God's sons
you know we as believers
are God's sons but the angels are not God's sons
and they'll say no no no
that's a capital S
so if I read it
it's not true
if I read it
it's not true out loud but if I look down at it
I mean I'm sorry if I speak it
it's not true then
but if I read it it's true because it's an upper case S
that's baloney
garbage because if the meaning
changes when you're speaking it
versus reading it when you're hearing it
versus reading it then you have the wrong meaning
because it should be the same
meaning when you hear it
as when you read it
are you comprehending what I'm saying?
if you have the Bible on tape
you'll get the same meaning
as reading it with your eyes
does everybody understand that concept?
if Jesus spoke to you
the Sermon on the Mount you wouldn't say
well I'm waiting
what do you think about that sermon?
well I'm waiting to see it in print
whether Spirit's going to be capitalized or not
you know what I mean?
God never promised he would
preserve capitalization did he?
did he ever say he's going to preserve capitalizations?
or spellings?
or grammar?
certain grammatical constructions?
no
and you can see
there's one place where a he becomes ye
but if you read the context
it's just a difference in grammar
talking about the exact same
people
and there's all these different nitpicky things
and I'm all for splitting hairs
when it comes to every word of God
but not a
spelling, a capitalization
a punctuation or a grammar
is not going to be preserved
it's going to change
with the times as language changes
I mean look
the King's English here
it's God's word this is what God said
in English
he's not speaking English
but this is exactly what he said in English
well guess what?
in German, every noun is capitalized
in German, every single noun
you see what I'm saying?
there are differences in language
and in Greek, nothing's capitalized
it's all lower case
see what I'm saying?
so don't get mixed, don't listen to these people
that are bringing confusion by telling you
oh there's all these different
which King James are you?
is it the Oxford or the Cambridge?
and they want to get up and split
you know why?
because they want to get you reading the new stinking King James
which is totally different
totally changing every
they want to get you reading that garbage
so they'll confuse you like there's a bunch of
different King James out there
now look, if somebody's putting out a King James
that's actually changing a word
that's actually like a noun
or a verb
you know there's an actual difference
hey, if it changes one word
that's an issue
but can I explain to you
that betray and be-ray
are the same word spelled differently
with one letter different
and they both mean the identical thing
and they're both the same
it's just a different time
and I don't want to go on and on about it
but don't get confused
why is God capitalized in Daniel 4.8
and in Daniel 11.38?
maybe in your Bible it's just capitalized in Daniel 11.38
the reason that the translators
here have chosen to capitalize it
is because it's a proper name
the god of forces
was a specific god
and it's capitalized
in many editions of Daniel 4.8
because he's talking about
his main only god
that's for him
which is Bell
to separate from just a god
he's talking about his major false god
Bell
the star wars god
the god of forces
because you notice that the god of forces
may the force be with you for example
the god of forces
one line later
is spelled in the lower case
when it's being referred to a god that his fathers knew not
which is known as
capitalized the god of forces
people say
oh, it's capitalized
therefore it's god
no, it's not talking
the force be with you
just because it's capitalized
so don't let it bother you
well, you don't have a real King James
unless your G is capitalized in Daniel 4.8
don't listen to that
because it's the words that matter
it's not the thoughts, it's not the ideas
but it's not the punctuation, the spelling
those are just things to help us
understand our language
but this is an audible spoken word
written down in pen
god said let there be light
long before anybody wrote down the word
let there be light
I believe what's written here is exactly what he spoke
but it's been put into
a modern English
that I can understand here in the King James Bible
does everybody understand what I'm saying?
okay
don't get off on rabbit trails
don't let people deceive you
into getting you to think that spellings
somehow determine the meaning
of the Bible
and the meaning sometimes, right?
oh, okay, I see why this is capitalized
okay, it can lead, that's why they do that
a period or a comma
or a colon or a semicolon
can help us understand the meaning of a sentence
and the translators have put that there to help us
understand
but is that really
part of
what God is saying to us?
no, it's the words
God's word
so I hope you understand that
I'm pretty much out of time
I wanted to point out that at the end of verse 17
it says that he sets up over at the basest of men
and that's pretty much who our leaders are today
the basest of men
pretty much at the bottom of the barrel
and I'll close with that thought
Father, thank you so much for your word
dear God, we thank you that you preserved your word
and that the King James Bible has not
changed since 1611
as these liars and deceivers
Jack Scopp and others
Bible Protector
will try to make us believe
that
that we should be confused and confounded by
differences in spellings
and differences in capitalization
dear God, help us not to be deceived
and Father, help us to read your word
believe your word
speak your word, meditate upon your word
and help us to give you all the glory
in our lives so that we will not suffer the fate
of Nebuchadnezzar and help us even if we are
in our right sane mind
not to go the route of Nebuchadnezzar
and not to take care of our bodies
dear God, help us to live as human beings
and not as animals
and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen