by Pastor Bill Parker
This salvation knowledge is revealed in the preaching
of the Gospel -- God's promise to save sinners and give them the whole
inheritance of eternal life based on the righteousness of Christ. Sinners
are commanded and fully warranted by God to believe this promise, seek
salvation in Christ, and expect salvation and everything included all based
on the one righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Herein we see how God
can be just to justify the ungodly; we see God's redemptive glory and learn
to fear Him savingly with the reverence and respect that comes in this
saving knowledge. Apart from knowing this, no sinner has eternal life,
no sinner is saved. As long as sinners are either ignorant of or not submitted
to the righteousness of Christ revealed in the Gospel as the only ground
of salvation, they are lost, guilty, defiled, condemned, and their deeds
are no more than fruit unto death and acts of open idolatry, no matter
how they appear, no matter what their reputation, no matter how much
else they know.
We are going to look at the example of man who came to
a lot of right knowledge about the true and living God, but whose knowledge
fell short of salvation knowledge. He came to an understanding of
the majesty, wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God. He came to understand
that God is sovereign, all-powerful, and that men were nothing compared
to God. But in all this knowledge, there is no mention of the God of redemption,
the God who justifies the ungodly, the God of promise. In all his knowledge,
there is no mention of Christ and of His righteousness as the only ground
of salvation. His name was Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia. He was the
most powerful and prosperous king of his day. He was the king of Babylonia
who conquered and captured Judah and brought them to his country.
I. CONSIDER NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S CASE --
Nebuchadnezzar was an idolater who worshipped many gods.
He had soothsayers, magicians, seers, astrologers, all who advised. He
was tyrant who had complete control over his empire. His word was law.
He had taken God's people, Judah, into captivity. This was God's punishment
upon Judah for their sin and rebellion. Nebuchadnezzar was the unwitting
instrument of God's judgment against Judah. But remember, God had promised
to preserve Judah, to keep them pure and together, and to allow them to
worship Him even in captivity, as it was His purpose to bring them out
of this captivity eventually, and all by His power and for His purpose.
We know that it was God's purpose to bring the Messiah through this nation
at His appointed time, hundreds of years later.
To accomplish His purpose through this nation, even in
captivity to an idolatrous king and nation, God providentially and progressively,
taught King Nebuchadnezzar some things about Himself as the God of Israel
and to acknowledge God's superiority over the gods of Babylon. God did
this through the prophet Daniel and his friends --
Daniel 1 -- Daniel refused to eat the meat
provided by the king. It was forbidden under the Mosaic law for him to
eat such. But this would offend the king, so God gave Daniel and his friends
great knowledge and skill and wisdom. He gave Daniel the ability to understand
and interpret dreams and visions. This impressed Nebuchadnezzar so that
he appointed Daniel and his friends to sit among his wise men. The king
did not know Daniel's God, but he recognize the superior wisdom of Daniel
and his friends.
Daniel 2 -- Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's
dreams when his other advisors could not. The king learned here that Daniel's
God is all-wise and able to reveal the future of men.
Daniel 3 -- The other advisors became jealous,
and they had an image of the king made. They got him to issue a decree
that when a trumpet was blown everyone would bow down and worship it, and
those who refused would be cast into a fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego refused and they were cast in the furnace. The Angel of the
Lord protected them and they did not burn. This caused the king to reverse
his requirement of the Jews to bow down. By this God preserved His prescribed
way of worship among the captive people. So the king here learned that
God is not only all-wise but that He is also all-powerful and able to deliver
those who trust Him.
Daniel 4 -- Nebuchadnezzar was greatly lifted
up with pride and arrogance. This is always a threat to people under a
tyrant. So God took away his understanding and senses and set him out away
from men to act like an animal (4:33). When this was done
and the king came to his senses, he learned -- 4:34ff. God
did all this to preserve and protect His people while under this idolatrous
king and nation.
II WHAT DID NEBUCHADNEZZAR LEARN, AND WHAT WAS LACKING?
A. THAT GOD IS ETERNAL AND SOVEREIGN.
Nebuchadnezzar recognized God's eternality and His absolute
sovereignty in creation and providence. We see here how God can and does
reveal much truth even to lost sinners, and this for His sovereign purpose
and to accomplish His purpose. But Nebuchadnezzar recognized here no more
than a Moslem, for example, recognizes about the one God -- that He is
absolutely sovereign and in control of all things.
The knowledge of redemption and salvation was lacking.
Again, there is no mention of the God of redemption, who justifies the
ungodly based on the righteousness of the promised Messiah. There is no
mention of any Holy-Spirit conviction of sin wherein a person sees himself
in need of a righteousness he cannot produce and sees himself as totally
dependent upon God to provide it by His Son. Neb. recognized God's sovereignty
in creation and in providence, but not in salvation. What does it mean
to recognize God's sovereignty in salvation? SALVATION IS OF THE LORD --
Most people think it means simply that God is absolutely
and totally sovereign in salvation. Many leave it at that and assume that
any person who agrees that salvation is of the Lord is saved and believes
the Gospel. But this is not the case. Most everyone who names the name
of Christ, from Arminians to Calvinists, will agree that salvation is of
the Lord and not of man. But the question is this -- WHAT SALVATION IS
OF THE LORD? and WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? The fact that salvation is of the
Lord certainly means that God is absolutely and totally sovereign in salvation
-- "For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Romans
9:15). But it goes further than this. It means that salvation is
totally of God's provision based on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The "righteousness of God" revealed in the Gospel
(God's promise to save sinners and give them the whole inheritance of eternal
life based on the righteousness of Christ) is that which God provides for
His people to insure their salvation (Rom. 1:16-17; 3:21-26).
This righteousness is not of man. It is of the Lord as salvation is of
the Lord. God will sovereignly save sinners who come to Him pleading the
righteousness of Christ, the righteousness He worked out and provided for
His people.
Think about this -- Idolatry begins when we attribute to man the things that belong to God alone. The Bible tells us in many, many ways that salvation is of the Lord, not of man. It tells us that salvation is by grace "through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). This means that salvation is not and cannot be conditioned on sinners. All of us by nature are in need of a righteousness we cannot produce.
Any sinner who seeks salvation or any part of it, or any sinner who seeks righteousness, based on
anything proceeding from his person or any conditions he may meet, based on anything other than
the righteousness of Christ, is attributing salvation or some part of it to himself, not to God. This
is idolatry as the only true and living God will not accept this. An Arminian or a Calvinist may
say, "Salvation is of the Lord," but what do they mean
by this?
For example, the Primitive Baptists will say God is absolutely
and totally sovereign in all things. They say salvation is of the Lord,
but what they mean by this is that God is so sovereign that He can save
with our without the use of means. This denies God's sovereignty in salvation.
It denies the salvation that is of the Lord because the sovereign God who
provides salvation has determined to glorify Himself in the salvation of
sinners based on the imputed righteousness of Christ. He has determined
to bring them to a saving knowledge of His glory revealed in that salvation.
An Arminian or a Calvinist may mean that salvation is
conditioned on the sinner, but that God enables us to meet the condition.
They are still attributing to man that which belongs only to God, because
they are saying that salvation is conditioned on something that proceeds
from our persons and not based solely upon the imputed righteousness of
Christ. The salvation that is of the Lord is directly connected to the
righteousness that He sovereignly and justly provides in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Without a saving knowledge of this, and without being submitted
to Christ and His righteousness as the only ground of salvation, a person
does not believe salvation is of the Lord nor that God is sovereign in
salvation.
B. THAT GOD WAS EVERYTHING AND THAT HE WAS NOTHING
--
Nebuchadnezzar took sides with God against himself, but
not savingly. He simply admitted that God was much bigger than he. A person
only savingly takes sides with God against himself when he admits that
God's law can only curse based on his best efforts to save himself, etc.;
when he admits that he is in need of a righteousness he cannot produce;
that while he was either ignorant of or not submitted to the righteousness
of Christ revealed in the Gospel, he was an active idolater and all his
deeds were dead works (Phil. 3:7-10).
Many people believe that they take sides with God against
themselves when they see and admit that God would be just to damn them.
This is what many call repentance. They can even see that they must repent
of their own righteousnesses. But until we see how God can be just to save
us, we lack saving knowledge. A person can naturally see that God is just
to damn him because by nature we know that sin deserves death. What we
don't see is that the righteousness of Christ demands our salvation and
final glory. Salvation knowledge begins when we see that God is both just
and gracious to save us and give us the whole inheritance of eternal life
and glory based solely upon the imputed righteousness of Christ.
C. THAT GOD WAS ALL-POWERFUL AND HIS WILL WOULD BE
ACCOMPLISHED --
Nebuchadnezzar knew that the God of Israel was greater
than all gods. But he did not see God's power and will in salvation. Some
believe they were saved when they came to see, as they would say, that
"God could save me or damn me. God could give me faith or withhold faith."
It is true that God can save us or damn us. He can give us faith or withhold
faith, but this is not salvation knowledge. Again, salvation knowledge
is to see God's will and God's power to save us and give us the whole inheritance
of grace and eternal life, including faith, based on the righteousness
of His Son.
D. THAT GOD WAS TRUTH AND JUSTICE --
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