WEBVTT 00:00:00.900 --> 00:00:05.120 We've got quite a large Bible reading this morning, so I'm going to read the first half. 00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:09.820 ! Then when Corey comes up to preach, he's going to read the second half of our reading. 00:00:10.620 --> 00:00:13.540 So I'm going to read from Scripture now in Daniel chapter 4. 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:17.940 The words will be on the screen. The words are in your bulletin. 00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:21.539 There's also Bibles at the back. If you'd like to get up and get a Bible at any point, 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:24.260 feel free to get up and do that. 00:00:24.260 --> 00:00:31.940 Now, Daniel chapter 4, I'm going to read verses 1 to 16 and then 20 to 27. 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:36.420 This is God's holy word. 00:00:37.380 --> 00:00:42.920 King Nebuchadnezzar, to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, 00:00:43.460 --> 00:00:45.160 peace be multiplied to you. 00:00:45.960 --> 00:00:51.600 It seemed good to me to show the sign and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:55.899 How great are His signs! How mighty His wonders! 00:00:56.439 --> 00:01:02.100 His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endures from generation to generation. 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:07.320 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace. 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:09.540 I saw a dream that made me afraid. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:14.439 As I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:18.500 So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me, 00:01:18.500 --> 00:01:21.680 that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:26.420 Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers came in, 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:30.079 and I told them the dream, but they could not make it known to me, 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:31.920 make known to me its interpretation. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:35.099 At last, Daniel came in before me, 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:37.500 he who was named Belteshazzar, 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:39.319 after the name of my God, 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:42.299 and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. 00:01:42.299 --> 00:01:44.200 And I told him the dream, saying, 00:01:44.619 --> 00:01:46.659 O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:49.420 because I know that the spirit of the holy God is in you, 00:01:49.620 --> 00:01:51.579 and that no mystery is too difficult for you. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:53.439 Tell me the vision of my dream, 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:56.519 that I saw, and their interpretation. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:00.299 The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these. 00:02:00.679 --> 00:02:03.539 I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, 00:02:03.799 --> 00:02:04.979 and its height was great. 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:07.659 The tree grew and became strong, 00:02:07.759 --> 00:02:09.079 and its top reached to heaven, 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:11.680 and it was visible to the end of the whole earth. 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:14.580 Its leaves were beautiful and its fruits abundant, 00:02:15.140 --> 00:02:17.439 and it was food for all. 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:20.520 The beasts of the field found shade under it. 00:02:20.880 --> 00:02:22.820 The birds of the heavens lived in its branches, 00:02:23.040 --> 00:02:24.860 and all flesh was fed from it. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:28.260 I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:30.580 and behold a watcher, a holy one, 00:02:30.880 --> 00:02:31.880 came down from heaven. 00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:34.380 He proclaimed aloud and said thus, 00:02:34.900 --> 00:02:37.400 Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.860 strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.319 Let the beasts flee from under it, 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:44.939 and the birds from its branches, 00:02:45.420 --> 00:02:47.680 but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:50.540 bound with a band of iron and bronze, 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:52.319 amid the tender grass of the field. 00:02:52.980 --> 00:02:54.620 Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:58.000 Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. 00:02:58.379 --> 00:03:00.439 Let his mind be changed from a man's, 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:02.939 and let a beast's mind be given to him. 00:03:02.939 --> 00:03:07.359 And let seven periods of time pass over him. 00:03:08.500 --> 00:03:11.939 The tree you saw, which grew and became strong, 00:03:12.079 --> 00:03:13.759 so that its top reached to heaven, 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:17.199 and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:19.479 whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:21.400 and in which was food for all, 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:23.819 under which beasts of the field found shade, 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:26.000 and in whose branches the birds of the field lived. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:29.579 It's you, O King, who have grown and become strong. 00:03:29.580 --> 00:03:32.719 Your greatness has grown and reached to the heavens, 00:03:33.100 --> 00:03:35.480 and your dominion to the ends of the earth. 00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:38.400 And because the king saw a watcher, 00:03:38.720 --> 00:03:41.340 a holy one, come down from heaven, 00:03:41.520 --> 00:03:43.939 saying, chalk down the tree and destroy it, 00:03:44.140 --> 00:03:46.439 but leave the stump of its roots in the earth, 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:48.640 bound with a band of iron and bronze, 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:50.780 in the tender grass of the field, 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:52.960 and let him be wet with the dew of heaven, 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:55.340 and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, 00:03:55.460 --> 00:03:57.740 till seven periods of time pass over him. 00:03:57.740 --> 00:03:59.939 This is the interpretation, O King. 00:04:00.900 --> 00:04:02.560 It's a decree of the Most High, 00:04:03.040 --> 00:04:05.140 which has come upon my Lord the King, 00:04:05.659 --> 00:04:07.439 that you shall be driven from among men, 00:04:07.780 --> 00:04:10.780 and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. 00:04:11.320 --> 00:04:14.480 You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:16.740 and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, 00:04:16.960 --> 00:04:19.759 and seven periods of time shall pass over you, 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:23.319 till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men, 00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:25.079 and gives it to whom he will. 00:04:25.079 --> 00:04:29.180 And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, 00:04:29.539 --> 00:04:32.060 your kingdom shall be confirmed for you 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:34.500 from the time that you know that heaven rules. 00:04:35.479 --> 00:04:36.379 Therefore, O King, 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:38.800 let my counsel be acceptable to you. 00:04:39.419 --> 00:04:41.639 Break off your sins by practicing righteousness, 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:44.639 and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, 00:04:45.180 --> 00:04:46.579 that there may be, perhaps, 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:49.539 a lengthening of your prosperity. 00:04:50.500 --> 00:04:50.959 Amen. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:51.039 Amen. 00:04:51.919 --> 00:04:53.919 This is God's own holy word. 00:04:54.859 --> 00:04:55.500 All right. 00:04:55.579 --> 00:04:57.939 Well, we're going to read together one more time 00:04:57.939 --> 00:04:59.439 from our sermon passage, 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.859 and one of our deacons, Colin Armstrong, 00:05:02.039 --> 00:05:03.120 is going to come and read for us. 00:05:06.279 --> 00:05:11.279 So this is Daniel chapter 4, verses 28 to 37. 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:15.099 This is God's word. 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:18.720 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. 00:05:19.320 --> 00:05:20.640 At the end of 12 months, 00:05:20.780 --> 00:05:23.420 he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 00:05:23.780 --> 00:05:25.600 and the king answered and said, 00:05:26.020 --> 00:05:27.560 Is not this great Babylon, 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:29.840 which I have built by my mighty power, 00:05:30.140 --> 00:05:31.200 as a royal residence, 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:33.400 and for the glory of my majesty? 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.280 While the words were still in the king's mouth, 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:38.200 there fell a voice from heaven, 00:05:38.700 --> 00:05:39.960 O King Nebuchadnezzar, 00:05:40.040 --> 00:05:40.960 to you it is spoken, 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.199 The kingdom has departed from you, 00:05:43.599 --> 00:05:45.359 and you shall be driven from among men, 00:05:45.620 --> 00:05:48.079 and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. 00:05:49.039 --> 00:05:51.259 And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, 00:05:51.419 --> 00:05:53.899 and seven periods of time shall pass over you, 00:05:54.259 --> 00:05:57.199 until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.000 and gives it to whom he will. 00:05:59.959 --> 00:06:02.979 Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. 00:06:03.560 --> 00:06:05.079 He was driven from among men 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:06.799 and ate grass like an ox, 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:09.219 and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:11.520 till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.140 and his nails were like birds' cloths. 00:06:15.060 --> 00:06:16.520 At the end of the days, 00:06:16.820 --> 00:06:18.340 I, Nebuchadnezzar, 00:06:18.700 --> 00:06:19.920 lifted my eyes to heaven, 00:06:20.260 --> 00:06:21.780 and my reason returned to me, 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:23.340 and I blessed the Most High, 00:06:23.700 --> 00:06:25.900 and praised and honored him who lives forever. 00:06:26.840 --> 00:06:29.200 For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 00:06:29.440 --> 00:06:32.180 and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. 00:06:32.880 --> 00:06:35.740 All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, 00:06:35.740 --> 00:06:39.160 and he does according to his will among the host of heaven 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:41.060 and among the inhabitants of the earth. 00:06:41.620 --> 00:06:44.620 And none can stay his hand or say to him, 00:06:44.780 --> 00:06:45.699 What have you done? 00:06:46.519 --> 00:06:47.379 At the same time, 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:48.660 my reason returned to me, 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:50.500 and for the glory of my kingdom, 00:06:50.960 --> 00:06:53.060 my majesty and splendor returned to me. 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:55.740 My counselors and my lord sought me, 00:06:56.079 --> 00:06:57.780 and I was established in my kingdom, 00:06:58.300 --> 00:07:00.259 and still more greatness was added to me. 00:07:00.259 --> 00:07:02.579 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:05.379 praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:07.139 for all his works are right, 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:08.339 and his ways are just, 00:07:08.599 --> 00:07:10.039 and those who walk in pride, 00:07:10.459 --> 00:07:11.279 he is able to humble. 00:07:11.860 --> 00:07:12.339 Amen. 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:14.000 This is God's word for us today. 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:16.779 We're in Daniel 4 today, 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:19.759 and every week in Daniel we're asking, 00:07:19.939 --> 00:07:21.379 how does a believer in the Lord 00:07:21.379 --> 00:07:24.620 live a life of faith in the midst of exile? 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:26.620 So what we mean by that, 00:07:26.980 --> 00:07:27.379 exile, 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:30.660 exile is living in the city of man, 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:32.379 as Augustine put it, 00:07:32.840 --> 00:07:34.420 as a citizen of the city of God. 00:07:35.060 --> 00:07:36.439 So it's being a believer in the Lord, 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:39.180 but not yet living a life, 00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:42.280 not yet living in the new heavens and the new earth. 00:07:42.780 --> 00:07:44.160 Anytime you're in that situation, 00:07:44.280 --> 00:07:44.800 you're in exile. 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:45.680 So we're all in exile. 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:47.720 And objectively, 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:50.160 what exile means is that you're surrounded by idols. 00:07:50.259 --> 00:07:51.840 We live in a city that's full of idols, 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.659 and subjectively what it means is you're still tempted by idols. 00:07:54.759 --> 00:07:56.479 You're still struggling with idols. 00:07:57.019 --> 00:08:01.699 And so to live in exile means to be tempted and surrounded 00:08:01.699 --> 00:08:03.519 by the problem of idolatry. 00:08:03.779 --> 00:08:07.239 And idolatry is just anytime we take good things in this life, 00:08:07.299 --> 00:08:07.799 in this world, 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:09.239 creaturely things that God's made, 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:12.779 and we turn them into little gods that we worship and we chase. 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:16.339 And it just really means to center your life on anything 00:08:16.339 --> 00:08:19.259 except the true God that made you for himself. 00:08:19.259 --> 00:08:23.300 And it's when your imagination's consumed by something in this life, 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:26.219 your desires are consumed by something in this life, 00:08:26.259 --> 00:08:27.480 that is not the real God. 00:08:28.219 --> 00:08:29.120 And so that's idolatry. 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:31.360 Last week in Daniel 3, 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:36.059 Nebuchadnezzar made a 90-foot-tall golden statue to himself. 00:08:36.419 --> 00:08:37.759 That's also idolatry. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:42.700 He wanted all the peoples of the world to worship an image of himself, 00:08:42.980 --> 00:08:44.759 and he made them bow down. 00:08:44.759 --> 00:08:48.580 And it's interesting that today in this reading and so far, 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:53.559 you will not ever have come across a single mention of a Babylonian God in this book. 00:08:53.580 --> 00:08:54.659 And if you read the rest of Daniel, 00:08:54.980 --> 00:08:57.939 there is not a single mention of a Babylonian God in this book. 00:08:58.059 --> 00:08:59.639 It just uses the word God. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:00.480 Never Marduk, 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:01.240 never Nebo, 00:09:02.019 --> 00:09:03.419 these famous gods from Babylon. 00:09:03.659 --> 00:09:04.659 And there's many more than that. 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:06.720 And the reason for it is because the author, 00:09:07.019 --> 00:09:07.679 Daniel and others, 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:10.360 are trying to get us to center in on the real problem. 00:09:10.360 --> 00:09:16.320 And that's that underneath the worship of Marduk and Nebo was actually just the worship of self, right? 00:09:16.460 --> 00:09:18.039 Nebuchadnezzar was just worshiping himself. 00:09:18.519 --> 00:09:20.919 And he put a 90-foot-tall golden statue. 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:23.100 And so every week we've been looking at that a little bit, 00:09:23.820 --> 00:09:27.800 and we've been dancing around the main term, 00:09:28.460 --> 00:09:31.480 the real term that describes the problem here. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:34.240 And it's found in this text in verse 37. 00:09:34.779 --> 00:09:36.840 It comes out of Nebuchadnezzar's mouth. 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:37.920 He says, 00:09:38.740 --> 00:09:46.759 The issue that this book is addressing is pride. 00:09:48.280 --> 00:09:49.879 And Nebuchadnezzar's a man of pride. 00:09:50.860 --> 00:09:51.259 And this is, 00:09:51.700 --> 00:09:56.920 I said last week that from chapters 2 to 7 is all in Aramaic, not Hebrew. 00:09:57.680 --> 00:09:59.519 The rest of the Old Testament's in Hebrew, 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:00.960 but this little section's in Aramaic. 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:04.620 And at the center of the Aramaic section is chapters 4 and 5. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:05.519 They're the dead middle. 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:08.319 And both are about the pride of kings. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:13.500 And so the book is really trying to get us to see how much pride is at the center of idolatry 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:16.600 and how much pride is at the center of all that's wrong with this world. 00:10:17.460 --> 00:10:22.340 And so every week we've been talking about some of the principles of living by faith in the midst of exile. 00:10:23.439 --> 00:10:24.720 Be in the world, but not of it. 00:10:25.740 --> 00:10:26.579 Get wisdom. 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:28.500 That was week three. 00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:31.819 Last week, when you enter into the furnace of suffering, 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:33.720 you have to long for God. 00:10:33.800 --> 00:10:35.760 God has to be the apple of your eye more than anything. 00:10:36.379 --> 00:10:41.340 Let's find a fifth principle today for living in an exilic city, 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:44.720 in the city of Babylon or Rome or Edinburgh or New York or London, 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:46.420 by faith. 00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:47.680 How do you do that? 00:10:47.900 --> 00:10:51.240 And let's see it through the lens of hope for prideful people, 00:10:51.800 --> 00:10:53.580 the reality of pride, 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:54.740 the cost of pride, 00:10:54.800 --> 00:10:56.080 and deliverance from pride. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:59.320 So first, hope for prideful people. 00:11:00.300 --> 00:11:03.660 Now if you look down at verse 1 to 3 that Chris read for us, 00:11:04.100 --> 00:11:06.860 you'll see this real shift in tone. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:12.300 Last time Nebuchadnezzar issued an empire-wide mandate, 00:11:12.780 --> 00:11:15.020 it was the empire-wide mandate that said, 00:11:15.500 --> 00:11:18.180 bow down before a 90-foot tall statue of myself and worship me. 00:11:19.040 --> 00:11:22.140 But if you look at this, what does he say in verse 1 and 2? 00:11:22.140 --> 00:11:22.500 He says, 00:11:22.500 --> 00:11:24.340 to all the peoples, nations, languages, 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:25.740 he's talking to the whole empire. 00:11:26.340 --> 00:11:27.120 And then verse 2, 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:27.860 he says, 00:11:28.019 --> 00:11:29.740 peace be multiplied to you. 00:11:30.659 --> 00:11:31.500 It is good, 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:32.039 he said, 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:35.519 I'm writing to you today because it's good that you know what's happened to me 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:36.899 from the Most High God. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:38.980 And he goes on to use language like, 00:11:39.299 --> 00:11:42.620 God's kingdom lasts forever from generation to generation. 00:11:43.659 --> 00:11:44.299 And you see, 00:11:44.539 --> 00:11:45.519 just very quickly, 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:46.159 point one, 00:11:46.580 --> 00:11:49.059 this is a radical shift 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:52.220 from the language we've seen already in the book. 00:11:52.500 --> 00:11:53.980 Where the last time he said, 00:11:54.220 --> 00:11:54.600 all peoples, 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:54.980 nations, 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:55.440 languages, 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:58.179 gather and bow before this golden image of me. 00:11:58.360 --> 00:11:59.259 Now he's saying, 00:11:59.419 --> 00:12:00.659 everyone gather and listen, 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:01.500 I'm writing you a letter, 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:02.220 the whole empire, 00:12:02.820 --> 00:12:04.419 to say peace to you. 00:12:05.419 --> 00:12:07.039 The God of Daniel, 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:07.659 Shadrach, 00:12:07.720 --> 00:12:07.960 Meshach, 00:12:08.019 --> 00:12:08.340 and Abednego, 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:09.000 the Most High, 00:12:09.279 --> 00:12:12.279 is the God who reigns everlasting to everlasting. 00:12:13.220 --> 00:12:15.820 That means what we're reading about here in this chapter 00:12:15.820 --> 00:12:18.860 is the story of a transformed man. 00:12:19.860 --> 00:12:23.840 This is a man who has been transformed from the roots, 00:12:24.139 --> 00:12:25.440 from the inside out. 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:27.560 And he's telling his story here. 00:12:27.720 --> 00:12:29.539 And we learn later in verse 33 why. 00:12:29.639 --> 00:12:31.000 It's because he, 00:12:31.180 --> 00:12:32.100 for seven seasons, 00:12:32.300 --> 00:12:32.840 maybe years, 00:12:32.919 --> 00:12:34.060 maybe seven months, 00:12:34.100 --> 00:12:35.120 he became a beast. 00:12:35.860 --> 00:12:37.440 He was eating the grass. 00:12:37.500 --> 00:12:38.340 He was like an ox. 00:12:38.379 --> 00:12:39.220 He was like a bird, 00:12:39.340 --> 00:12:40.100 the text tells us. 00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:42.720 And you've got to imagine that because of that, 00:12:42.860 --> 00:12:43.220 everybody, 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:44.180 seven years, 00:12:44.300 --> 00:12:46.200 it could have been seven whole years that he's living like this. 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:49.180 I would imagine that on the streets of the city, 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:50.820 all the people were whispering, 00:12:51.220 --> 00:12:52.840 did you hear what happened to the emperor? 00:12:53.740 --> 00:12:53.940 You know, 00:12:53.980 --> 00:12:55.360 who's running the show? 00:12:55.500 --> 00:12:55.900 This guy, 00:12:55.980 --> 00:12:57.520 he's eating grass like an ox. 00:12:57.700 --> 00:13:01.820 So now he's writing a letter to the whole empire and saying, 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:03.460 let me tell you what happened to me. 00:13:03.540 --> 00:13:04.460 Let me tell you the truth. 00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:05.680 Let me tell you my story. 00:13:05.820 --> 00:13:06.560 What are we reading here? 00:13:07.540 --> 00:13:08.600 We're reading a testimony. 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:10.420 This is a testimony. 00:13:10.660 --> 00:13:13.259 This is Nebuchadnezzar's conversion story. 00:13:13.259 --> 00:13:16.120 And what it teaches us, 00:13:16.179 --> 00:13:17.080 the fact of it, 00:13:17.139 --> 00:13:18.399 the very fact that it exists, 00:13:18.819 --> 00:13:27.580 what it says to us is that God saved a man who is entirely consumed by pride. 00:13:27.960 --> 00:13:33.059 God saved a man and changed his life from the fact of his total self-absorption. 00:13:33.059 --> 00:13:37.719 And it simply says to us that God can rescue anybody, 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:43.319 anybody from what J.C. Ryle called the greatest spiritual disease, 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:45.859 the greatest spiritual cancer, 00:13:46.359 --> 00:13:47.239 which is pride. 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:50.459 God can rescue you from pride today. 00:13:51.459 --> 00:13:52.859 If he can do it with Nebuchadnezzar, 00:13:52.899 --> 00:13:53.919 he can do it with all of us. 00:13:54.579 --> 00:13:59.019 And it's the biggest cancer at the bottom of our heart is the problem of pride. 00:13:59.019 --> 00:14:01.000 The reality of pride, 00:14:01.100 --> 00:14:01.419 secondly, 00:14:02.319 --> 00:14:03.399 in verse four, 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:04.460 we learn that Nebuchadnezzar, 00:14:04.539 --> 00:14:05.600 he starts to tell a story. 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:05.960 He says, 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:06.299 I, 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:06.960 Nebuchadnezzar, 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:07.679 he says, 00:14:07.799 --> 00:14:08.960 I was at ease. 00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:09.980 I was prospering. 00:14:10.179 --> 00:14:11.799 I was in a state of rest at my house. 00:14:12.579 --> 00:14:13.500 And then all of a sudden, 00:14:13.620 --> 00:14:14.639 fear grips him. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:17.819 And the way that the fear grips him is through another dream. 00:14:17.939 --> 00:14:22.799 So this is the second dream that he's had where he's become very afraid, 00:14:22.899 --> 00:14:24.019 very fragile all of a sudden. 00:14:24.019 --> 00:14:24.340 Now, 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:28.259 this is a man of absolute power. 00:14:29.199 --> 00:14:29.740 I don't, 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:30.779 I was trying to think about this. 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:31.360 I don't think it's, 00:14:31.500 --> 00:14:36.299 I do not think it's possible to convey in the time we have how powerful he was. 00:14:37.559 --> 00:14:39.659 We haven't mentioned at all in this entire series, 00:14:39.819 --> 00:14:41.779 the very famous hanging gardens of Babylon. 00:14:43.079 --> 00:14:45.179 It's thought that the hanging gardens of Babylon, 00:14:45.340 --> 00:14:47.740 one of the seven wonders of the world were made by Nebuchadnezzar, 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:48.519 that we've never, 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:48.840 of course, 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:49.299 seen them, 00:14:49.620 --> 00:14:50.259 that they all died. 00:14:50.259 --> 00:14:55.720 But the story is that he made the hanging gardens of Babylon for his wife 00:14:55.720 --> 00:15:00.439 because she came from a tropical climate and she hated the arid desert, 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:01.279 the plain of Shinar. 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:05.620 So he irrigated a desert to make it into a tropical climate. 00:15:06.439 --> 00:15:08.600 That's immense power in the ancient world. 00:15:09.539 --> 00:15:11.259 And from our archeology, 00:15:11.379 --> 00:15:12.080 from our records, 00:15:12.379 --> 00:15:16.580 apparently the bridge leading into the city was 400 feet long. 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:18.700 The walls were 40 feet high. 00:15:18.700 --> 00:15:21.740 There were three major palaces, 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:24.520 all of which were his three homes in the city center. 00:15:25.379 --> 00:15:25.560 He, 00:15:26.420 --> 00:15:29.120 if it was a known part of the world, 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:31.340 every part of the world at this time that was known, 00:15:32.040 --> 00:15:32.520 he owned. 00:15:34.100 --> 00:15:35.520 So by comparisons, 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:37.020 the commentators will say that 00:15:37.020 --> 00:15:39.640 per percentages, 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:42.360 Babylon was far bigger than Tokyo 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:45.000 relative to the population of the ancient areas, 00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:47.020 Tokyo being the largest city in the world right now. 00:15:47.019 --> 00:15:50.740 And his power was something that no other person on planet earth right now 00:15:50.740 --> 00:15:51.500 could say they have. 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:52.199 Not even close. 00:15:52.620 --> 00:15:54.799 Elon Musk is nothing compared to his money. 00:15:55.199 --> 00:15:55.639 Relatively. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:56.399 Relatively. 00:15:57.360 --> 00:15:59.740 So this is a man of absolute power. 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:01.079 And again, 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:04.379 he's shaken in his boots because of a dream. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:08.259 And God here gives him a dream. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:10.600 And the dream is there to expose his pride. 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:15.220 And what we learn here is that no matter how much you have or get in this life, 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:18.980 when pride is at the bottom of your heart and the center of your life, 00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:19.940 you can't sleep. 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:20.940 You can't rest. 00:16:21.700 --> 00:16:23.259 Prideful people cannot rest. 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:26.220 Prideful people are always afraid. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:26.980 And the reason for that, 00:16:27.100 --> 00:16:30.120 C.S. Lewis has a great chapter on pride in his book, 00:16:30.180 --> 00:16:30.759 Mere Christianity. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:31.700 And this is what he says. 00:16:31.700 --> 00:16:35.540 A prideful man gets no pleasure out of what he has. 00:16:36.520 --> 00:16:39.759 His pleasure is only in having more of it than the next person. 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:41.120 So Lewis says, 00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:44.500 A prideful person does not enjoy what they have. 00:16:45.020 --> 00:16:46.240 The joy that they get, 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:47.280 the pleasures they get, 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:50.440 are only that they have more than their neighbor, 00:16:50.540 --> 00:16:51.220 more than their friend. 00:16:51.800 --> 00:16:54.780 So Nebuchadnezzar cannot enjoy these gifts, 00:16:54.920 --> 00:16:57.900 this amazing power and bounty that he's been given. 00:16:57.899 --> 00:17:02.079 Instead, his only concern is that he has more of it than the next person. 00:17:02.899 --> 00:17:03.340 So imagine, 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:04.059 you know, 00:17:04.139 --> 00:17:11.819 a prideful person cannot enjoy their wealth and use it for good because they're 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:16.099 always thinking about how much the next person has that might be more than 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:16.319 them. 00:17:17.139 --> 00:17:19.200 And so pride really struggles to sleep at night. 00:17:20.700 --> 00:17:21.000 Here's how, 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:21.960 here's what Lewis means. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:24.180 He means pride cannot rest because you're always, 00:17:24.259 --> 00:17:24.799 if you're prideful, 00:17:25.019 --> 00:17:25.940 you're always competing. 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:27.859 You're in competition all the time. 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:31.580 And so you're protecting your stuff and you're concerned about what you might 00:17:31.580 --> 00:17:32.080 lose. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:34.300 And you're walking into every room thinking, 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:36.440 who's more beautiful than me in this room? 00:17:37.360 --> 00:17:39.240 Who has more money than me in this room? 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:41.540 Who is greater than me in this room? 00:17:41.600 --> 00:17:43.740 Who's accomplished more than me in this room? 00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:45.759 And so you're never at rest. 00:17:46.580 --> 00:17:47.860 You can never be at peace. 00:17:47.940 --> 00:17:52.240 You're not free because your pride makes you compete 24 seven. 00:17:52.380 --> 00:17:53.780 And so you've got to defend and acquire. 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:54.480 And really, 00:17:54.580 --> 00:17:55.860 I think the heartbeat of this passage, 00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:59.240 the real lesson of this passage is that the opposite of, 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:00.039 what's the opposite of pride? 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:05.539 The opposite of pride in this story is being able to realize everything I have is a gift. 00:18:05.539 --> 00:18:09.799 And to be able to say everything I have in this life, 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:10.859 I don't deserve it. 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:13.019 And even if it's the tiniest thing, 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:14.559 even if I don't have very much money at all, 00:18:14.659 --> 00:18:15.839 even that I don't deserve. 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:16.079 Boy, 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:16.899 it's so anti-modern. 00:18:16.900 --> 00:18:20.400 It's to say everything I have, 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:21.060 I'm not owed. 00:18:21.280 --> 00:18:21.960 I only, 00:18:22.180 --> 00:18:23.340 it's all a gift from top to bottom. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:25.800 And this is the exact thing that Nebuchadnezzar can't see. 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:28.140 And so he has this dream, 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:28.900 verse 10, 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:30.340 and in verse 10, 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:32.140 Daniel comes and gives him the diagnosis. 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:34.740 The dream is a bit like Zootopia. 00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:35.800 If you've seen that movie, 00:18:36.280 --> 00:18:37.700 everybody's an animal. 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:38.640 Everybody's a bird. 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:40.300 There's a big tree at the middle of the city. 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:42.220 Nebuchadnezzar is the tree. 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:43.720 He's the great tree, 00:18:43.919 --> 00:18:45.019 we're told very directly. 00:18:46.299 --> 00:18:49.819 And his branches and his beautiful leaves extend over all the world. 00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:53.759 And all the animals come and the birds come and they feed from his tree. 00:18:54.279 --> 00:18:54.680 So he, 00:18:55.680 --> 00:18:56.220 in other words, 00:18:56.339 --> 00:18:58.940 the dream is depicting what he thinks of himself. 00:18:59.899 --> 00:19:01.019 He's the great nurturer. 00:19:01.399 --> 00:19:03.039 He's the father of the world. 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:04.639 He's the absolute power, 00:19:04.759 --> 00:19:06.700 but also the one who gives to everyone. 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:09.839 He sees himself as this fatherly dictator, 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:10.599 in other words, 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:12.879 this absolute power who is yet nurtured. 00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:15.519 And in verse 13, 00:19:15.579 --> 00:19:19.379 it says a watcher comes down from heaven and chops that tree down. 00:19:20.019 --> 00:19:20.319 Now, 00:19:21.019 --> 00:19:22.899 if you want to know what a watcher is, 00:19:23.619 --> 00:19:25.139 that's mentioned three times in this passage, 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:26.399 come and talk to me afterwards. 00:19:27.019 --> 00:19:27.259 All right. 00:19:28.459 --> 00:19:32.539 Watchers are very specific types of heavenly beings. 00:19:33.339 --> 00:19:35.079 But if I started to talk about them, 00:19:35.459 --> 00:19:36.559 then we couldn't finish the sermon. 00:19:37.220 --> 00:19:38.339 So if you're, 00:19:38.339 --> 00:19:39.220 if you're interested in that, 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:40.059 come ask me about it. 00:19:40.899 --> 00:19:41.899 The watcher comes, 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:42.779 he chops down the tree, 00:19:42.919 --> 00:19:43.859 takes away his glory. 00:19:43.980 --> 00:19:45.019 And then in verse 17, 00:19:45.139 --> 00:19:46.339 we get the main point. 00:19:47.059 --> 00:19:47.419 Nebuchadnezzar, 00:19:47.539 --> 00:19:51.879 this is going to happen so that you may know heaven rules, 00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:53.980 the most high rules overall. 00:19:54.619 --> 00:19:55.059 In other words, 00:19:55.099 --> 00:19:55.559 he's saying, 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:57.679 you think you're in charge. 00:19:57.779 --> 00:19:59.559 You think everything you have is something you made. 00:19:59.619 --> 00:20:00.759 You don't see life as a gift. 00:20:00.759 --> 00:20:03.180 You don't see the kingdom as a gift given to you. 00:20:03.299 --> 00:20:04.539 You're not a grateful person. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.660 This is going to show you that the most high God really is the most high, 00:20:09.940 --> 00:20:11.059 that he's the great tree. 00:20:11.140 --> 00:20:12.299 He's the one that's over everything, 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:12.700 not you. 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:13.379 All right. 00:20:13.420 --> 00:20:14.140 It's very simple. 00:20:14.339 --> 00:20:14.480 Okay. 00:20:14.519 --> 00:20:14.980 It's very simple. 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:15.539 It's very obvious. 00:20:15.619 --> 00:20:16.160 It's very clear. 00:20:17.379 --> 00:20:18.379 So 12 months later, 00:20:19.220 --> 00:20:20.700 he said he's on the rooftop. 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:24.400 He's standing on the highest palace above the whole city. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:27.500 And it says in verse 30 that he looks out and he says, 00:20:27.800 --> 00:20:27.800 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:28.720 look what I've done. 00:20:28.820 --> 00:20:29.380 Look what I've built. 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:30.259 Look at this great city, 00:20:30.420 --> 00:20:30.680 Babylon, 00:20:30.820 --> 00:20:32.920 the great built by my power, 00:20:33.060 --> 00:20:33.740 my might, 00:20:34.180 --> 00:20:35.780 the glory of my name. 00:20:35.780 --> 00:20:37.400 And immediately he was struck. 00:20:37.800 --> 00:20:38.200 Now here we, 00:20:38.360 --> 00:20:39.880 here we learn what is pride. 00:20:40.080 --> 00:20:41.620 And one author puts it this way. 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:46.060 It's so simple to say such a cancer to defeat. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.800 So simple to realize what's going on here. 00:20:49.320 --> 00:20:52.759 So difficult to rip this problem out of the soul. 00:20:53.140 --> 00:20:54.220 And here's what it is. 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:58.840 Pride is saying the good things I have in this life are because of me. 00:21:00.280 --> 00:21:02.519 And my life is for me. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.340 And if there's anything going on that's bad in my life, 00:21:06.620 --> 00:21:07.980 it's somebody else's fault. 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:14.160 Pride says that everything that's good about my life is because of me and my accomplishments. 00:21:14.540 --> 00:21:19.400 Everything bad about my life is because of somebody else's faults and acts against me. 00:21:19.500 --> 00:21:20.860 I've not gotten what I'm owed. 00:21:21.820 --> 00:21:24.280 And that means that my life is all about me. 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:26.240 That's pride. 00:21:26.840 --> 00:21:27.920 And that's what's going on. 00:21:28.300 --> 00:21:29.120 And so in other words, 00:21:29.560 --> 00:21:30.019 again, 00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:34.160 pride is just simply blind to the fundamental nature of our human existence. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:36.460 And that's that everything we have is a gift. 00:21:36.460 --> 00:21:39.440 You do not have anything that you've earned. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.319 Anything that you deserve. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:42.740 Nothing. 00:21:43.539 --> 00:21:45.200 You know, you didn't birth yourself. 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:47.660 You don't supply the oxygen that you breathe. 00:21:48.220 --> 00:21:50.180 If you were born in the 13th century, 00:21:50.180 --> 00:21:53.400 you may have died by the bubonic plague and your life would have been very different. 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:54.900 Everything we have, 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.900 even our accomplishments are obviously products of things we've received all throughout our lives. 00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:01.500 And this is the fundamental issue with pride. 00:22:02.340 --> 00:22:03.440 Jonathan Edwards says, 00:22:03.860 --> 00:22:06.019 Pride is the worst viper in the heart. 00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:08.759 It's the greatest disturber of the soul's peace. 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:13.799 I wonder today if anybody in here can say, 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:14.900 I struggle with pride. 00:22:16.019 --> 00:22:17.160 And say today, 00:22:17.960 --> 00:22:19.639 Boy, pride is making me miserable. 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:22.460 Pride makes us miserable, doesn't it? 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:25.579 Because it makes us think about ourselves all the time. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:27.299 And I don't know about you, 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:28.579 I want to be freed from that. 00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:30.840 I want to walk into a room and not think about myself. 00:22:31.759 --> 00:22:33.700 But what pride does is it walks in a room and says, 00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:35.319 What does everybody in here think about me? 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:37.920 Very difficult for a preacher, in fact, right? 00:22:38.840 --> 00:22:40.759 And we want to be freed from it. 00:22:40.860 --> 00:22:41.279 We want to be, 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.360 it makes us miserable. 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:44.160 And he was miserable. 00:22:44.759 --> 00:22:45.180 C.S. Lewis, 00:22:45.180 --> 00:22:46.480 it's no coincidence, by the way, 00:22:46.620 --> 00:22:50.539 that Nebuchadnezzar is on a rooftop looking down when he says this. 00:22:50.620 --> 00:22:51.920 He's above everyone. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:52.960 C.S. Lewis writes, 00:22:53.360 --> 00:22:56.140 The proud man is always looking down on things and on people. 00:22:56.580 --> 00:22:58.340 And of course, as long as you are looking down, 00:22:58.759 --> 00:23:00.680 you cannot see anything that's above you. 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:05.039 The dream does not just predict this judgment. 00:23:05.180 --> 00:23:06.759 The dream is exposing his heart. 00:23:07.660 --> 00:23:09.300 And it's there to expose our hearts too. 00:23:09.400 --> 00:23:10.800 So thirdly, the cost of pride. 00:23:11.700 --> 00:23:12.600 Now in verse 33, 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:17.019 exactly what the dream said is what takes place. 00:23:17.360 --> 00:23:18.080 In verse 33, 00:23:18.779 --> 00:23:20.800 For seven years or seven months, 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:21.879 we're not sure exactly, 00:23:22.019 --> 00:23:23.079 seven periods of time, 00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:25.019 he becomes like a beast of the field. 00:23:25.139 --> 00:23:26.899 He eats grass like an ox. 00:23:27.059 --> 00:23:28.980 He grows feathers like a bird. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:30.759 This is a real event. 00:23:30.839 --> 00:23:31.680 This is a physical event. 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:34.460 This is a physiological and psychological event. 00:23:34.460 --> 00:23:38.220 After a little bit of study this week, 00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:41.720 I realized that this has happened many times throughout history 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:44.860 and still can happen in the sense of the psychological problem 00:23:44.860 --> 00:23:46.059 of thinking one is a beast, 00:23:46.620 --> 00:23:48.559 an animal of the field and acting like it. 00:23:48.980 --> 00:23:50.460 But let's put all that away 00:23:50.460 --> 00:23:54.039 and realize that this is obviously a supernatural event, 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:57.180 a judgment that's been given by God here. 00:23:57.180 --> 00:23:59.440 And what do we learn here? 00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:02.000 We learn the real cost of pride. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:04.380 The real cost of saying, 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:06.160 my life is for me, 00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:06.759 it's about me, 00:24:06.840 --> 00:24:10.019 that everything I have in this life that's good is because of me, 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:13.759 that anything bad in my life is somebody else's fault. 00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:15.380 Here's the real cost of pride. 00:24:16.019 --> 00:24:18.000 Pride dehumanizes us. 00:24:19.779 --> 00:24:21.019 Nebuchadnezzar becomes a beast. 00:24:21.299 --> 00:24:21.500 Why? 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:23.019 Because God is saying to us, 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:24.120 he's given us a spiritual lesson, 00:24:24.119 --> 00:24:25.019 and he's saying to us, 00:24:25.479 --> 00:24:26.879 pride makes us beastly. 00:24:27.939 --> 00:24:31.819 Pride takes away the fullness of the image of God that we are. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:34.019 Pride dehumanizes it, 00:24:34.099 --> 00:24:36.219 defaces the truth of what we are as human beings. 00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:40.059 And the reason for that is because of Genesis 1 and 2. 00:24:40.159 --> 00:24:43.939 Genesis 1 and 2 says that God made you in his image 00:24:43.939 --> 00:24:45.759 to image him into the world. 00:24:45.979 --> 00:24:47.500 And the real call of that, 00:24:47.539 --> 00:24:48.579 what does it mean to image God, 00:24:48.619 --> 00:24:49.799 to be maximally human, 00:24:50.179 --> 00:24:51.159 to be fully alive, 00:24:51.239 --> 00:24:52.039 to be fully human? 00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:56.000 It means to love God with all your heart, 00:24:56.159 --> 00:24:56.299 soul, 00:24:56.379 --> 00:24:56.519 mind, 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:57.019 and strength, 00:24:57.139 --> 00:24:58.599 and to love your neighbor, 00:24:58.740 --> 00:24:59.420 love other people, 00:24:59.539 --> 00:25:00.559 and to forget yourself. 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:03.359 That's what it means to image God into the world. 00:25:03.940 --> 00:25:08.019 And so to be maximally human is simply self-forgetfulness, 00:25:08.200 --> 00:25:10.920 the self-forgetfulness of loving God and loving neighbor, 00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:12.200 all the way to the end. 00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:14.859 When Nebuchadnezzar here becomes a beast, 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:15.839 God is saying, 00:25:16.359 --> 00:25:18.500 if you try to be more than human, 00:25:18.579 --> 00:25:19.559 you become less than human. 00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:22.799 If you try to become a God, 00:25:22.899 --> 00:25:24.740 you become less than what you were made to be human. 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:27.519 Pride makes us beastly. 00:25:27.740 --> 00:25:28.859 It dehumanizes us. 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:31.119 Let me show you a couple ways that that works. 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:31.679 Number one, 00:25:31.980 --> 00:25:33.039 really quickly. 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:33.659 Number one, 00:25:34.779 --> 00:25:38.899 dehumanizing pride will steal the joy 00:25:38.899 --> 00:25:41.460 that comes from giving your life for other people, 00:25:41.539 --> 00:25:42.099 to other people. 00:25:43.779 --> 00:25:44.579 So think about it. 00:25:44.639 --> 00:25:45.759 Nebuchadnezzar's a beast of the field. 00:25:45.879 --> 00:25:47.419 He's eating grass like an ox. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:49.560 You think about the ox. 00:25:49.700 --> 00:25:50.039 Think about, 00:25:50.140 --> 00:25:51.900 I was in Glencoe on Monday, 00:25:52.360 --> 00:25:53.620 saw a couple highland cows. 00:25:53.700 --> 00:25:55.420 There's not many in that part of Scotland, 00:25:55.580 --> 00:25:56.200 but we saw a couple. 00:25:56.300 --> 00:25:58.320 And you think about the beast of the field. 00:25:58.539 --> 00:26:00.180 And when you approach the beast of the field, 00:26:00.259 --> 00:26:01.120 one of the things you know 00:26:01.120 --> 00:26:04.019 is that they are not driven by self-forgetful love. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:05.140 Right? 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:08.160 Cats are not driven by self-forgetful love. 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:09.980 We have a cat at our house, 00:26:09.980 --> 00:26:11.560 and I can tell you that that's for sure. 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:13.340 Right? 00:26:13.600 --> 00:26:14.539 Beast of the field. 00:26:14.660 --> 00:26:15.240 Maybe dogs. 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:16.880 But beasts of the field in general 00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:21.420 are not driven by giving themselves away 00:26:21.420 --> 00:26:22.599 in love to another. 00:26:23.700 --> 00:26:24.539 And instead, what do they do? 00:26:24.579 --> 00:26:26.380 They operate by fulfilling their wants. 00:26:26.779 --> 00:26:28.660 An ox, for an ox, 00:26:28.859 --> 00:26:32.900 their god, the ox's god, is his belly. 00:26:33.380 --> 00:26:33.519 Right? 00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:35.819 So he just wants to fill that belly with grass. 00:26:35.920 --> 00:26:37.759 He wants to eat grass like the ox. 00:26:39.460 --> 00:26:41.059 The beastliness of pride 00:26:41.059 --> 00:26:43.139 walks into a room 00:26:43.139 --> 00:26:46.319 and simply wants to receive from everyone 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:48.579 in order to fill up their belly, 00:26:49.059 --> 00:26:51.279 to meet their desires and their pleasures. 00:26:51.460 --> 00:26:52.200 It treats every... 00:26:52.200 --> 00:26:54.339 The beastliness of it is it treats everyone else 00:26:54.339 --> 00:26:56.399 as simply a means to get full. 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:00.200 And so it walks into a room and it says, 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:03.700 what can I get, not what can I give here? 00:27:05.399 --> 00:27:06.460 Let me give you one example. 00:27:06.460 --> 00:27:09.980 We walk into a church as 21st century modern people. 00:27:10.259 --> 00:27:12.620 This is the season where people are looking for churches. 00:27:12.620 --> 00:27:14.220 Every September, October, November, 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:17.819 we walk into a church and we ask in our hearts, 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:19.519 is this the kind of place 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:21.200 that's going to give me what I need? 00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:23.819 Is this the kind of place 00:27:23.819 --> 00:27:26.660 that will get my emotions satisfied week by week? 00:27:27.360 --> 00:27:29.319 Do I like the music? 00:27:29.480 --> 00:27:31.340 And does the worship style suit me? 00:27:31.339 --> 00:27:35.639 Are the programs going to be good enough for me here 00:27:35.639 --> 00:27:37.379 or do I need to try somewhere else? 00:27:37.980 --> 00:27:38.939 And what are we doing? 00:27:39.059 --> 00:27:40.159 We're shopping, right? 00:27:40.699 --> 00:27:42.740 And the church has become a market. 00:27:43.619 --> 00:27:46.099 And the market of the church is a place 00:27:46.099 --> 00:27:46.919 where we say, 00:27:47.099 --> 00:27:48.980 I'm just looking for what's going to fill my needs. 00:27:49.740 --> 00:27:51.220 And what we've done is we've entered 00:27:51.220 --> 00:27:52.559 into the marketplace of the church 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:55.659 and treated it as a storehouse 00:27:55.659 --> 00:27:58.480 where we come to get not to give 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.160 instead of seeing that broken person in the corner 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:01.920 that needs a hug. 00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:03.620 Instead of seeing that person 00:28:03.620 --> 00:28:05.480 that's just suffered a major loss 00:28:05.480 --> 00:28:07.920 and saying, I've come here to give myself away, 00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:09.440 not to just get, 00:28:09.539 --> 00:28:11.039 not to just ask, did I like that song? 00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:14.059 But to give myself away to a family. 00:28:14.180 --> 00:28:16.839 See, pride treats the church, for example, 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:18.460 like Netflix. 00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:21.740 And humility treats church like family. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:23.799 And you know that if you're in a family, 00:28:24.059 --> 00:28:25.640 oftentimes you have to lose, 00:28:25.779 --> 00:28:26.559 you have to give, 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.200 you have to sacrifice. 00:28:30.839 --> 00:28:32.339 Secondly, dehumanizing pride 00:28:32.339 --> 00:28:34.359 creates constant threats in our lives. 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:36.599 If you walk up to the, 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:38.839 well, maybe an ox 00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:40.379 that hasn't been around people very often, 00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:41.899 they're skittish, right? 00:28:42.099 --> 00:28:45.000 If you walk upon a group of stag in a valley, 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:46.179 they're very skittish. 00:28:46.339 --> 00:28:49.139 They run, they bolt as fast as they can. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:52.639 Dehumanizing beastly pride makes us like that. 00:28:52.700 --> 00:28:54.839 We walk into a room feeling threatened, 00:28:55.480 --> 00:28:56.519 feeling skittish, 00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:58.879 we walk into a room and we say, 00:28:59.019 --> 00:29:02.059 again, did the people around here in this room like me? 00:29:02.440 --> 00:29:05.639 We say, what if I'm exposed for who I really am? 00:29:05.779 --> 00:29:08.599 Boy, I felt like that so often when I did studies at New College, 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:10.000 every study space, 00:29:10.139 --> 00:29:11.399 every classroom you walk into, 00:29:11.700 --> 00:29:12.639 what if people find out, 00:29:12.700 --> 00:29:13.700 I have no idea what I'm doing? 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:15.940 And that's what pride does. 00:29:16.139 --> 00:29:16.839 See, that was pride. 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:19.339 I walk into every room and we think, 00:29:19.700 --> 00:29:21.579 what if someone here is better than me? 00:29:22.519 --> 00:29:24.279 What if someone here makes more money, 00:29:24.339 --> 00:29:24.980 is more beautiful? 00:29:26.359 --> 00:29:28.839 Dehumanizing beastly pride makes us skittish people. 00:29:29.460 --> 00:29:31.079 Now, we'll move to the final point. 00:29:31.159 --> 00:29:35.379 That means that pride takes away the truest sense of our humanity, 00:29:35.899 --> 00:29:37.019 which is joy. 00:29:37.779 --> 00:29:38.819 Self-forgetful joy. 00:29:39.339 --> 00:29:43.740 Self-forgetful joy comes from thinking about God and other people far more than ourselves. 00:29:44.579 --> 00:29:46.980 That's what it means to image God into the world. 00:29:47.460 --> 00:29:49.099 And pride rips it away from us. 00:29:49.720 --> 00:29:52.539 We can't be grateful for the things we've been given. 00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:54.200 We don't see life as a gift. 00:29:54.200 --> 00:29:55.759 We think we're owed everything. 00:29:56.099 --> 00:29:58.599 And it rips our joy away. 00:29:58.879 --> 00:30:01.240 Can anybody today in here relate to this? 00:30:01.659 --> 00:30:03.180 Can anyone here today say, 00:30:03.639 --> 00:30:07.899 I'm suffering from spiritual cancer called pride, 00:30:08.119 --> 00:30:10.339 and it's making me sad and miserable. 00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:12.319 Can we be delivered? 00:30:13.980 --> 00:30:16.180 Let's look finally at the deliverance we need. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:18.920 Let me show you something surprising here in this passage 00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:22.800 that's really a surprising feature throughout the whole book of Daniel so far. 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:27.240 In verse 19, when Nebuchadnezzar tells Daniel the dream, 00:30:28.360 --> 00:30:32.100 Daniel is very clearly concerned for Nebuchadnezzar. 00:30:32.700 --> 00:30:34.440 Daniel does not come in and say, 00:30:34.860 --> 00:30:37.380 you deserve this, though he does. 00:30:37.740 --> 00:30:39.000 Daniel does not come in and say, 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:42.160 I cannot wait to see you like an ox in the field. 00:30:42.259 --> 00:30:43.920 That's exactly who you are and where you belong. 00:30:44.259 --> 00:30:45.779 Daniel's a slave to Nebuchadnezzar. 00:30:45.779 --> 00:30:49.299 Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Daniel's life and home 00:30:49.299 --> 00:30:50.559 and took him into slavery. 00:30:51.139 --> 00:30:54.339 And when Daniel comes to give this dream interpretation, 00:30:54.799 --> 00:30:56.740 we're told in the text he shows compassion. 00:30:58.339 --> 00:30:59.920 And he says, Nebuchadnezzar, 00:31:00.059 --> 00:31:02.599 I don't want this dream to destroy your life. 00:31:02.660 --> 00:31:05.220 Instead, would you just break off your sin, 00:31:05.440 --> 00:31:07.539 repent, and let God restore you? 00:31:07.619 --> 00:31:09.039 And one of the surprising things, I think, 00:31:09.079 --> 00:31:11.579 throughout this book is the shocking reality 00:31:11.579 --> 00:31:13.940 that the slaves of Nebuchadnezzar 00:31:13.940 --> 00:31:15.680 who believe in the Lord love him. 00:31:17.059 --> 00:31:20.299 And the second shocking thing that we read in this passage 00:31:20.299 --> 00:31:22.519 is little language like verse 21. 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:24.900 In the dream that God gives, it says, 00:31:25.259 --> 00:31:27.340 the leaves of his tree were beautiful. 00:31:28.320 --> 00:31:30.519 Meaning that God is not suggesting, 00:31:30.740 --> 00:31:32.100 this book of Daniel is not suggesting 00:31:32.100 --> 00:31:35.160 that Babylon is all rotten top to bottom. 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:36.799 No, it says the leaves were beautiful. 00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:39.539 It says the city of Babylon had a lot of great, 00:31:40.180 --> 00:31:41.100 had a lot of good. 00:31:41.099 --> 00:31:43.599 Imagine living in a wonderful city 00:31:43.599 --> 00:31:46.599 that's full of a tropical environment, 00:31:46.779 --> 00:31:47.559 a green city. 00:31:47.619 --> 00:31:48.679 We have a pretty green city. 00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:49.359 It's great. 00:31:50.379 --> 00:31:52.559 And Babylon had a lot of good in it. 00:31:52.819 --> 00:31:54.639 And what we see here throughout the story, 00:31:54.719 --> 00:31:55.919 it's been building up to this, 00:31:56.299 --> 00:31:57.759 is the shocking reality 00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:01.599 that God and his servants continue to give gifts 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:04.039 to a city consumed in idolatry. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:07.279 God loves Babylon. 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:09.059 God loves Nebuchadnezzar, 00:32:10.299 --> 00:32:12.619 a man who is utterly set against him. 00:32:12.759 --> 00:32:14.539 Think about the end of the book of Jonah 00:32:14.539 --> 00:32:17.519 where God sends Jonah to Nineveh, 00:32:17.619 --> 00:32:19.799 that wicked city where crucifixion 00:32:19.799 --> 00:32:21.139 was first invented in Nineveh. 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:23.680 And at the very end of the book of Jonah, 00:32:23.859 --> 00:32:25.980 what does God say to Jonah who's mad about it? 00:32:26.059 --> 00:32:27.139 He said, God says, 00:32:27.299 --> 00:32:30.319 should I not care for 100,000 people 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:31.759 who don't know their right hand from their left 00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:33.779 and also the cattle too, much cattle? 00:32:33.779 --> 00:32:36.980 Meaning God loves every facet of Edinburgh 00:32:36.980 --> 00:32:39.200 and New York and London and Babylon. 00:32:39.940 --> 00:32:43.000 The question, one of the questions of this book is, 00:32:43.720 --> 00:32:46.200 do you, does the believer in the Lord 00:32:46.200 --> 00:32:49.680 in this room today love idolatrous cities 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:53.019 and idolatrous people as much as God does? 00:32:54.500 --> 00:32:55.720 God loves Babylon. 00:32:55.899 --> 00:32:56.539 He's for her. 00:32:56.799 --> 00:32:58.399 He wants to rescue Nebuchadnezzar. 00:32:58.779 --> 00:33:00.000 He doesn't want to come against, 00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:01.960 he wants to save him from himself. 00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:04.880 And so he lets Nebuchadnezzar hit rock bottom. 00:33:05.779 --> 00:33:08.819 And when we read about him becoming a beast, 00:33:08.940 --> 00:33:11.319 we realize Nebuchadnezzar has truly hit rock bottom. 00:33:11.840 --> 00:33:16.460 And rock bottom, rock bottom in God's providence 00:33:16.460 --> 00:33:20.360 is not merely there as a statement of utter judgment. 00:33:20.620 --> 00:33:23.480 Rock bottom is what has been called a severe mercy. 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:26.319 It's God saying, I'm here. 00:33:26.519 --> 00:33:27.779 You couldn't see it any other way, 00:33:27.840 --> 00:33:30.579 so I sent you here so that you might finally see, 00:33:30.579 --> 00:33:31.980 so that I could save you. 00:33:33.079 --> 00:33:33.639 And you could be, 00:33:33.819 --> 00:33:35.839 there could be people in this room today, 00:33:36.539 --> 00:33:37.399 in a room this size, 00:33:37.460 --> 00:33:39.159 there probably are somebody that's at rock bottom. 00:33:41.399 --> 00:33:43.759 And it's not a statement 00:33:43.759 --> 00:33:46.159 that God wants to condemn you forever. 00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:47.559 It could very well be a statement 00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:49.220 that God loves you and wants to rescue you. 00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:50.819 And that's what he did for Nebuchadnezzar. 00:33:51.460 --> 00:33:52.419 And so what do we learn here? 00:33:52.639 --> 00:33:53.439 How do you come up? 00:33:53.919 --> 00:33:56.099 How do you get out of the cancer of pride? 00:33:56.199 --> 00:33:58.220 How do you seek deliverance? 00:33:58.220 --> 00:33:59.360 How can you be rescued? 00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:02.000 And in verse 34, this is what happens. 00:34:02.100 --> 00:34:05.960 It says that Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes up to the heavens 00:34:05.960 --> 00:34:07.920 and he was restored. 00:34:08.740 --> 00:34:09.800 And so the answer we're given 00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:12.639 is that you've got to lift your eyes up to the heavens. 00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:15.440 This is metaphorical language 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:17.220 for the fact that Nebuchadnezzar repented. 00:34:18.360 --> 00:34:19.679 He saw his need. 00:34:20.360 --> 00:34:22.059 He saw the pride at the bottom of his soul 00:34:22.059 --> 00:34:23.980 and he repented and he said, 00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:26.500 woe is me, I'm a prideful beast 00:34:26.500 --> 00:34:28.900 and only the God of heaven can rescue me. 00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:31.019 In other words, listen, friends, 00:34:31.659 --> 00:34:33.980 if you go today and you say, 00:34:34.179 --> 00:34:36.559 I don't want to be a person of pride anymore. 00:34:36.679 --> 00:34:37.579 I want to be self-forgetful. 00:34:37.659 --> 00:34:38.659 I want this out of my life. 00:34:38.739 --> 00:34:41.139 And you try to will yourself into that. 00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:42.320 And you try to say, 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:44.219 I'm going to stop walking into every room 00:34:44.219 --> 00:34:45.940 and asking, what does everybody in here think about me? 00:34:46.299 --> 00:34:46.820 Try it. 00:34:48.199 --> 00:34:49.900 You can say, I hate my pride, 00:34:49.900 --> 00:34:51.740 but you cannot rescue yourself from it. 00:34:52.200 --> 00:34:54.000 You can't will yourself out of it. 00:34:54.420 --> 00:34:55.039 It can't be done. 00:34:55.119 --> 00:34:55.720 And what do you need? 00:34:55.960 --> 00:34:57.480 In other words, you've got to lift up your eyes 00:34:57.480 --> 00:34:59.760 and you've got to look to the God of heaven in repentance. 00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:01.960 That's the language that we're given here. 00:35:02.940 --> 00:35:06.420 How in the world could God say to Nebuchadnezzar, 00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:10.780 that wicked man who had done so much wrong to this world, 00:35:11.200 --> 00:35:13.200 you're forgiven and you're restored 00:35:13.200 --> 00:35:15.700 and I'm going to take away that spiritual cancer of pride 00:35:15.700 --> 00:35:17.000 and give you a heart of flesh 00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:19.700 and I'm going to say, you're my son. 00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:21.160 That's what's happening here. 00:35:21.420 --> 00:35:22.220 How could he do it? 00:35:22.240 --> 00:35:22.840 On what basis? 00:35:22.900 --> 00:35:23.619 And here's the basis. 00:35:25.160 --> 00:35:27.780 In Isaiah 52 verse 14, there's a prophecy. 00:35:30.139 --> 00:35:32.840 It's a prophecy about the servant 00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:34.559 that is to come in the middle of history. 00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:37.599 And it says that one day when the Messiah comes, 00:35:38.220 --> 00:35:41.340 he will be marred beyond the likeness of a man. 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:45.960 Isaiah 52 verse 14 says that when Jesus was to come, 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:49.480 he would be marred beyond the likeness of a human being. 00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:54.019 And what we're reading in that is that Jesus Christ, 00:35:54.160 --> 00:35:57.380 the way that Nebuchadnezzar could be forgiven from his pride 00:35:57.380 --> 00:35:59.480 and restored the way that any person in this room today 00:35:59.480 --> 00:36:02.579 can be healed of your pride and restored, 00:36:03.460 --> 00:36:04.360 forgiven ultimately, 00:36:04.740 --> 00:36:06.019 is because Jesus Christ, 00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:09.460 the true king of all nations, languages, and peoples, 00:36:09.740 --> 00:36:12.360 the truest human, the fullest human, 00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:13.599 the image of God himself, 00:36:14.039 --> 00:36:16.240 he was made like a beast for us. 00:36:17.700 --> 00:36:19.519 Our pride dehumanizes us. 00:36:19.579 --> 00:36:20.420 It makes us beastly. 00:36:20.840 --> 00:36:24.440 Jesus Christ was marred beyond human likeness for us. 00:36:24.720 --> 00:36:25.640 He became a beast. 00:36:27.860 --> 00:36:30.539 The beastliness of our pride was placed upon him, 00:36:30.579 --> 00:36:33.160 and he became a beast at the cross in our stead. 00:36:34.400 --> 00:36:36.519 He who knew no pride became our pride 00:36:36.519 --> 00:36:40.219 so that we might learn the joy of real humility. 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:44.219 And all of that is grounded in the reality 00:36:44.219 --> 00:36:47.039 that when Jesus Christ went to the cross 00:36:47.039 --> 00:36:48.699 and he was marred beyond recognition, 00:36:49.099 --> 00:36:52.679 he was in that moment pursuing us and pursuing you 00:36:52.679 --> 00:36:54.500 just like God was pursuing Nebuchadnezzar. 00:36:54.679 --> 00:36:56.659 He was chasing you in that moment 00:36:56.659 --> 00:36:57.719 and wanting you to come home. 00:36:58.780 --> 00:36:59.599 Today you've got to, 00:36:59.920 --> 00:37:00.659 let's finish with this. 00:37:00.659 --> 00:37:01.960 You've got to look to Jesus, 00:37:03.500 --> 00:37:05.859 the one who was marred beyond recognition, 00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:09.519 became a beast at the cross for us 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:11.500 for healing and restoration and forgiveness, 00:37:12.019 --> 00:37:15.259 and you've got to then go to him every single day 00:37:15.259 --> 00:37:17.859 in repentance if you're going to get humility. 00:37:18.460 --> 00:37:19.519 So here's the final word. 00:37:20.179 --> 00:37:24.179 The path to real humility is forged in daily repentance. 00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:28.500 Nebuchadnezzar ends this story by repenting again, 00:37:28.500 --> 00:37:32.019 and the path to actually growing out of the problem of pride 00:37:32.019 --> 00:37:34.420 is to wake up every single day and repent and say, 00:37:34.820 --> 00:37:36.079 life is a gift. 00:37:36.460 --> 00:37:37.599 I'm not owed anything. 00:37:38.539 --> 00:37:40.739 All I have has been given by God to me 00:37:40.739 --> 00:37:42.920 in his love and his grace. 00:37:44.260 --> 00:37:45.639 Life is a gift from top to bottom, 00:37:45.699 --> 00:37:46.619 and that's the only way out. 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:48.559 Now, here's the fifth principle, and we'll finish. 00:37:49.980 --> 00:37:50.900 Get humility. 00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:52.880 Pursue humility. 00:37:53.780 --> 00:37:55.059 Humility is joy, 00:37:55.059 --> 00:37:57.719 and the way you do that is through daily repentance. 00:37:59.360 --> 00:38:02.420 I love Luther's small catechism. 00:38:03.079 --> 00:38:06.340 It's a wonderful little catechism on the Christian life, 00:38:06.579 --> 00:38:08.159 and at the end of this passage, 00:38:08.340 --> 00:38:10.420 we read Nebuchadnezzar's catechism. 00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:12.400 He says at the very end in verse 37, 00:38:12.599 --> 00:38:15.340 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol 00:38:15.340 --> 00:38:16.519 and honor the King of Heaven, 00:38:16.880 --> 00:38:18.500 for all his works are truth, 00:38:18.559 --> 00:38:19.619 his ways are just, 00:38:19.960 --> 00:38:21.820 and those who walk in pride he will humble. 00:38:22.340 --> 00:38:24.280 Here's what Luther's catechism did. 00:38:24.280 --> 00:38:27.900 Luther struggled so much with pride, 00:38:28.300 --> 00:38:30.100 and so at the very beginning of his small catechism, 00:38:30.200 --> 00:38:32.180 he asked the question that he read every day, 00:38:32.900 --> 00:38:35.180 What does it mean that God created me? 00:38:35.300 --> 00:38:36.300 And this was his answer. 00:38:36.860 --> 00:38:40.140 I believe that God has created me in all that exists, 00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:43.660 that he has given and still preserves to me, 00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:44.860 body and soul, 00:38:45.220 --> 00:38:46.060 my eyes, 00:38:46.280 --> 00:38:47.000 my ears, 00:38:47.460 --> 00:38:48.360 my limbs, 00:38:48.360 --> 00:38:50.220 my reason, 00:38:50.760 --> 00:38:51.400 my senses, 00:38:51.980 --> 00:38:52.920 my clothing, 00:38:53.099 --> 00:38:53.800 my shoes, 00:38:54.140 --> 00:38:54.780 my food, 00:38:54.900 --> 00:38:55.519 my drink, 00:38:55.840 --> 00:38:57.200 my house and my home, 00:38:57.579 --> 00:38:58.200 my family, 00:38:58.400 --> 00:38:59.000 my chair, 00:38:59.539 --> 00:39:00.160 my land, 00:39:00.280 --> 00:39:00.840 my cattle, 00:39:01.260 --> 00:39:02.640 my possessions entirely. 00:39:03.019 --> 00:39:04.860 He provides me richly and daily 00:39:04.860 --> 00:39:06.860 with all the necessities of life. 00:39:07.120 --> 00:39:07.900 He protects me. 00:39:07.980 --> 00:39:08.720 He preserves me. 00:39:09.039 --> 00:39:10.300 He guards me against evil, 00:39:10.440 --> 00:39:12.340 and all of this out of a pure, 00:39:12.539 --> 00:39:13.079 fatherly, 00:39:13.240 --> 00:39:14.500 divine goodness and mercy, 00:39:14.500 --> 00:39:17.120 without any merit or worthiness of mine, 00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:18.779 I deserve nothing, 00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:21.859 for all of which I am in duty now bound to thank, 00:39:22.000 --> 00:39:22.179 praise, 00:39:22.299 --> 00:39:22.480 serve, 00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:23.099 and obey him. 00:39:23.500 --> 00:39:24.579 This I most certainly, 00:39:25.119 --> 00:39:26.359 this is most certainly true. 00:39:26.559 --> 00:39:27.339 With this today, 00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:28.099 I will agree. 00:39:30.679 --> 00:39:32.139 Daily repentance and saying, 00:39:32.299 --> 00:39:34.579 everything I have as a gift is the path to true humility, 00:39:35.259 --> 00:39:36.219 and it's the path to joy. 00:39:38.940 --> 00:39:39.839 I look forward, 00:39:40.059 --> 00:39:43.679 I hope you look forward today to meeting Nebuchadnezzar in heaven. 00:39:44.679 --> 00:39:45.779 He was transformed. 00:39:45.940 --> 00:39:46.980 This is his conversion story. 00:39:47.519 --> 00:39:47.940 Let's pray. 00:39:48.059 --> 00:39:48.239 Father, 00:39:48.420 --> 00:39:51.219 we thank you for this conversion story, 00:39:51.400 --> 00:39:54.960 a story of a man who was bound by pride from top to bottom, 00:39:54.960 --> 00:39:55.719 and you rescued. 00:39:55.839 --> 00:39:55.960 So, 00:39:56.239 --> 00:39:56.699 we ask, 00:39:56.839 --> 00:39:56.940 Lord, 00:39:57.019 --> 00:39:59.679 that you would rescue us from our spiritual cancer pride. 00:40:00.519 --> 00:40:00.759 Lord, 00:40:00.779 --> 00:40:02.980 we don't want to walk into rooms and think about ourselves. 00:40:03.099 --> 00:40:07.500 We don't want to always be consumed with our achievements and accomplishments, 00:40:08.139 --> 00:40:08.920 and our beauty, 00:40:09.159 --> 00:40:10.199 and our wealth. 00:40:10.819 --> 00:40:12.359 We don't want it anymore. 00:40:12.599 --> 00:40:13.400 Take it from us, 00:40:13.460 --> 00:40:13.859 oh Lord. 00:40:14.820 --> 00:40:15.099 So, 00:40:15.260 --> 00:40:19.519 we want to meet with the Holy Spirit now as we sing and as we celebrate the Lord's Supper. 00:40:20.180 --> 00:40:21.480 Save us and rescue us, 00:40:21.559 --> 00:40:21.980 oh God. 00:40:22.220 --> 00:40:22.920 We repent. 00:40:22.920 --> 00:40:26.019 We ask for this in Christ's name. 00:40:26.019 --> 00:40:26.440 Amen.