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Text Sermons : Chuck Smith : Daniel 4:34

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Learning Important Lessons the Hard Way

I. There are important lessons we need to learn in life.
A. God is determined that we should understand certain truths that
He has set forth in His word.
1. These are the basic truths or laws that will lead you
to the good life that God desires you to live.
2. Basically life is made up of things that will build you
up, and things that tear you down.
3. God has warned you about the things that destroy.
4. He has set forth the things that enhance your life and
lead you on the good path.
5. One way or the other, because God loves you, He will
see that you walk on the good path.
B. There is a easy way to learn, and a hard way to learn.
C. My advice is that you learn to learn the easy way.
D. The story before us is a classic example of these truths.

II. Pride is a terribly destructive thing, God declared that He hated a
proud look.
A. Paul said, "What do you have but you have received? And if you
have received it, why do you act as though you did not receive
it?
1. Any talent or ability that you might possess that is
extraordinary, you have received from God.
2. Of outstanding musicians we say they are gifted, and
that is true.
3. Many people are gifted in various areas, it is
important to realize that these gifts come from God
and He has purposed that they be used to glorify God,
and any other use is to prostitute the gift.
4. It is wrong to boast or brag about your gift, or to use
it for your own glory and enrichment.
B. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a
fall.
C. Nebuchadnezzer was an extremely gifted man. His talents lay in
the field of administration and leadership.
1. He was a tremendous general, and had led the Babylonian
troops in the conquest of the world.
2. Having conquered the world he turned his energies to
the building of the great city of Babylon with its
massive walls and beautiful hanging gardens. There was
nothing in the history of man to parallel the feats of
Nebuchadnezzer.
D. He began to be lifted up with pride, and feel that the
accomplishments were all of his own doing, he felt it was his
brilliance, his skills, his abilities, that brought all these
things to pass.
E. God warned him against taking the glory to himself that really
belonged to God, by speaking to him in a dream.
1. God had spoken to him in dreams before, when he was
wondering about the future of his kingdom.
2. It seemed as though he sought to defy that lesson that
God had showed him in the first dream. The great image
that he saw, had a head of gold, and a chest of silver.
The Lord said that he was the head of gold, but his
empire was to be conquered by the Medo-persians, which
in turn would be conquered by Greece.
3. When he made the great image in the plains of Dura, he
made it all of gold, head to toe, which could possibly
be a statement that Babylon will rule forever.
4. It is interesting that this second dream was to show
that God ruled in the kingdoms of man and gave them to
whomever He willed. vs.25

II. The warning from God.
A. Oh the faithfulness of God, the king was getting on dangerous
ground and the Lord gave him a dream to warn him of that
danger.
1. Oh how faithful God is to warn us when we begin to
tread on dangerous territory.
2. There comes that still small voice that says, "Flee,
this is not the place for you." "Get out of this
relationship, it can destroy you." "Don't do it, it is
wrong."
3. That hesitation, that check in your spirit, it comes
from God and is a warning.
B. God then sent Daniel to interpret the dream and advise him in
taking the right course.
1. Daniel said to the king, "O King, let my counsel be
acceptable unto you, and break off your sins by
righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to
the poor; that you might lengthen the days of your
tranquillity."
2. God often uses the counsel of godly friends to turn us
from our path of folly.
3. He was warned by God that he was on slippery footing,
that he was being watched by the angels of heaven, God
knew what he was thinking and doing. You cannot hide
from God.
C. Nebuchadnezzer did all right for about a year, then one day as
he was palace grounds looking at the splendor of the great city
with its walls and gardens, in spite of the warning of God and
the counsel of his godly friend Daniel, he said, "Is this not
the great Babylon that I have built by my might and power for
the honor of my majesty?"
1. It would seem that he had learned the lesson the easy
way, he behaved himself for 12 months, but what is in
your heart will eventually come out.
2. He must now learn these lessons the hard way.
3. We are told that he went insane. He was driven from
men, and became like the beast in the field, he began
to eat grass, he lived outside at night where his body
became wet with the dew from heaven, his hair became
matted and shaggy, and his nails grew long like claws.
4. Imagine seeing this once great king, who was so gifted
and skilled, and imbued with such glory and power now
bereft of his sanity living like a animal for seven
years.
5. That's what I call learning an important lesson the
hard way.
D. The Bible is a guidebook for life, it is filled with important
lessons that we need to learn to live a happy, successful,
prosperous life.
1. God loves you and desires that you live a happy,
successful, prosperous life, and is thus determined
that you will learn these lessons, one way or another.
E. Throughout the Bible we see illustrations of men who learned
the these important lessons of life, some the easy way, others
the hard way.
1. Jonah learned the hard way that you cannot run from the
call of God on your life.
2. David seemed to learn the easy way not to touch God's
anointed, and do his prophets no harm. He respected the
fact that God's anointing had rested upon Saul, and
would not lay a hand against him.
3. II Kings 2 tells us of 42 young men that learned that
same lesson the hard way. As Elisha, a prophet of God,
was leaving town they began to taunt him saying, "Get
out of here you old bald head." Elisha turned and
rebuked them and two she bears came out of the woods
and tore them up pretty good.
4. Peter learned not to boast in himself by a very bitter
lesson.
F. God called Nebuchadnezzer his servant. If you are a servant of
God, He will not let you get by with doing those things that
can destroy you. Others may do them and get by with them
because they are not His sons.
1. Many times we make this mistake, we see others getting
by with it and we think that we also can get by with
it.
2. The difference is that you are His son, He loves you,
and for your own good He will not let you get by with
evil.
3. We are told, "My son, despise not the chastening of the
Lord, for whom He loveth, He chasteneth."
4. If you are doing evil and getting by with it, that is a
pretty good indication that you are not a son.
5. You will one day learn your lesson the very hard way in
hell, but there will be no possibility for recovery.






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