Sunday, August 8, 2021 AM

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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim Pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church OKC

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Good morning. Welcome to Sunnyside this morning. We're glad that you have joined us to worship together, to read the word together, to pray together.
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It's always such a blessing and a privilege. So we get started this morning with a few announcements. Come back tonight for our evening service.
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I'll be kind of closing out the ministry that we've been doing this weekend with John Mishner. Tonight's ministry to magistrates in the fellowship hall together.
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So if you can come, appreciate that as well. And then looking ahead to Wednesday, we'll have dinner for the church.
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And then also just a reminder, if you're interested in helping out with the TAG program for our kids on Wednesdays, there will be a meeting for those
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TAG workers during the meal there. And then a Bible study and prayer at 630 afterwards.
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And then in just a few Sundays on August 22nd, we'll have truth group for the young adults after the evening service that evening.
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And then Wednesday the 25th, the TAG program will officially get kicked off for the kids on Wednesday.
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This week's Friday verse comes from Romans. Romans chapter 1, verse 16 and 17.
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For I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
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To the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.
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As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. We still need a few volunteers for scraping the floor in the women's restroom in the gym.
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So if you can help out with that, please reach out to one of the elders.
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Also, if you have any updates to the church directory that you need to make a change of address or you're just new and you would like to be included in the directory, please see
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Tristan call their sewing ministry still has a few needs. And then as well as Operation Christmas Child, the giving for that is still going on school supplies and things.
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Those are on sale right now. So take advantage of those sales. All right.
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Any other announcements before we get started, Michael? Okay, we'll be in here tonight and not the
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Fellowship Hall. All right. Well, we are going to have some time to prepare our hearts for worship quietly.
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And then after we're done with that, Dwight will come and open us in prayer. Our father, how majestic is your name and all the earth.
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We've come together to worship you. Help us to do so.
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Help us to sing with our whole heart, to pray in spirit, to preach and teach your word and help us to grow in the grace and knowledge of your son, the
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Lord Jesus. I pray that Satan have no part.
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I pray that you bring his works to naught. I pray that you keep us from the distractions of this world and focus our minds on Christ, your son, the
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Lord Jesus, our savior, the one who gave us life that we might have life, who shed his blood on our behalf, that we might be forgiven.
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Thank you for your grace, how you've so richly, richly blessed us through your son, the
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Lord Jesus. May his name be exalted. May it indeed be the name that is above every name, king of kings and Lord of lords.
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May we be better witnesses for your son, the Lord Jesus, to spread the good news, to further your kingdom and to accomplish your will.
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In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Would you stand with me for our call to worship?
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Our passage this morning in Psalms chapter 69.
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We'll be continuing on in verses 6 through 9. Read with me together. Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
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O Lord God of hosts. Let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
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O God of Israel. For it is your sake that I have become reproach.
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Dishonor has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's son.
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For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
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As you turn to page 29, I have a question for you. We were asked a lot of questions in the
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Job Sunday School class this morning. The question is, if you had to tell the wonders of creation's king, what would you say?
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Would you tell of the vast stars and galaxies that we see in the nighttime sky?
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Would you tell of the rays from the sun, our own solar system? Would you tell of the water that is on the earth?
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Would you tell of even snow and the individual snowflakes? Would you tell of plants, insects, animals, people?
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Would you tell of the one who lived a perfect life and died on the cross for our sins to reconcile us to God?
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Would you tell of all these glorious things that the Creator has created and provided for us?
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Sing and worship the Lord with me together. Page 29, Creation Sings.
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His fingerprints in flakes of snow. His breath upon the spinning globe.
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He chalks the eagle's flight and blends the newborn baby's cry.
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Alleluia. Let all creation stand and sing. Alleluia.
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Fill the earth with songs of worship. Tell the wonders of creation's king.
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Creation gazed at Father's face. The ageless one in time's embrace unveiled the
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Father's plan of reconciling God and man.
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The second Adam walked the earth. Whose blameless life would break the curse.
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Whose death would set us free to live with him eternally.
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Alleluia. Let all creation stand and sing. Alleluia. Fill the earth with songs of worship.
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Tell the wonders of creation's king. Creation longs for his return.
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When Christ shall reign upon the earth. The bitter wars that raged are birth pains of the coming age.
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When he renews the land and sky.
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All heaven, the sea, and earth reply with one splendid theme.
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The glories of our God and King. Alleluia.
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Let all creation stand and sing. Alleluia. Fill the earth with songs of worship.
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Tell the wonders of creation's king. Today's scripture reading is found in Jonah.
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We'll be getting that book this morning. Jonah chapter 1, the first 17 verses, the complete chapter.
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This is God's word. Now the word of the
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Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it.
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For their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the
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Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the
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Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was to be broken up.
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Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried out to his God and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load.
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But Jonah had gone down into the lowest part of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
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So the captain came to him and said to him, What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God. Perhaps your
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God will consider us, so that we may not perish. And they said to one another, Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.
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So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, Please tell us, for whose cause is this trouble upon us?
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What is your occupation, and where did you come from? What is your country, and what people are you?
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So he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.
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Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, Why have you done this? For the men knew that he had fled from the presence of the
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Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm for us?
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For the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them,
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Pick me up, and throw me into the sea, and then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that this great tempest is because of me.
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Nevertheless, the men rode hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.
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Therefore they cried out to the Lord, and said, We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not charge us with innocent blood.
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For you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. So they picked up Jonah, and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.
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Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered up a sacrifice to the Lord, and took vows. Now the
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Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
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This is God's word. Would you pray with me? Father, we thank you for this day.
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We thank you that you are a sovereign and a righteous God. And we thank you,
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Lord, that you are near, and that we cannot go from your presence.
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And while it is a dreadful thing for sinners to be in the presence of a holy God, because of Christ it is a joyful thing.
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And in Christ we stand in righteousness, not our own, but His righteousness. And we thank you,
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Lord, that you are with us. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
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You are with us in the fire, Lord. You are with us in the trial. You are with us, Lord, everywhere we go, so that we may not go to a mountain to pray, or go to a specific place, but we may always pray to you wherever we are at.
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We thank you for being with us, Lord, and that Christ is with us, and we are in Christ.
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And it's in His name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.
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Our next two songs are going to be in our blue hymnals. So if you would, turn to pages 203 and 503.
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We'll sing, And Can It Be, and Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting.
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And on Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting, we'll be singing the first two verses together, and then the third and fourth verses together.
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And can it be that I should rest in the
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Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused
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His pain? For me, He hath risen from the dead.
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How can He die for me?
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He left His bosom for me, resting in the joyous sea.
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Lavished all for me, as I rest in Thee.
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Beloved Lord, what wealth of grace is this?
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I am resting, resting in Thee.
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I am lying, simply trusting
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Thee. Lord Jesus, I behold
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Thee. Sadness, mercy, and unending blessings.
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Lying as I work and wait for dark shadows to leave.
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Brightness of my Father's glory.
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Sunshine of my Father's face.
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Keep me ever trusting, resting.
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Fill me with Thy grace.
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Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what
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Thou art. I am finding now the greatness of Thy loving heart.
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Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what
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Thou art. I am finding now the greatness of Thy loving heart.
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Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Father, I thank You for gathering us together on this day.
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You've been so gracious and good to us this last week, answering so many of our prayers, providing for us in ways that we did not even anticipate having those needs.
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You've shown us to be a very good Father, not just this last week, but throughout our lives.
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And throughout all of the history of Your creation, You have shown
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Yourself to be faithful and true and generous and kind. And You remind us every day, as we awake from our sleep, that Your mercies are new every morning.
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And we thank You, especially on this first day of the week, for Your perfect manifestation of Your fatherly love in giving us
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Your Son, Jesus Christ, not only as the sacrifice for our sins, dying upon the cross, but raising
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Him from the dead on this first day of the week and bringing about new creation through Him.
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And so, Father, we thank You for Your Son. We thank You for bringing us into relationship with You through Your Son, by Your Holy Spirit, whom we have from You, that we may be afforded this time of worship today.
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Please help us understand Your Word and to rejoice in its truth. Submit to Your authority, revealed here through Your Son, Jesus Christ.
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And it's in His name that we pray. Amen. I invite you to open your
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Bibles to Daniel chapter 4. Daniel chapter 4. We have been considering God's resistance to the proud,
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God's resistance to, particularly, Nebuchadnezzar's pride. Clearly, in chapters 1 through 3 of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar is very proud.
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We can't read a section about Nebuchadnezzar without getting a big whiff of his arrogance.
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And we can anticipate, then, that there is going to be a confrontation between the
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Lord and God of the universe and this king who thought he was
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Lord and God of his universe. And this confrontation has occurred. And in the very beginning of Daniel chapter 4, reading verses 1 through 3, it is clear that something has changed.
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Nebuchadnezzar suddenly does not sound like he used to. He doesn't smell the way that he used to smell.
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Something has happened to Nebuchadnezzar because it is like it's
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Wednesday night testimony meeting and Nebuchadnezzar is the first one out of the gate, bursting with joy, testifying about how good
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God is. And he begins to tell on himself and declare his own folly, confessing his own pride, and showing how good and patient and true
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God is. So we are reminded in this chapter that God resists the proud, as we hear throughout
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Scripture, that he gives grace to the humble. But even more than that, we see that God resists the proud and his grace makes us humble.
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It is by his grace that we are delivered from pride ever as much as Nebuchadnezzar was delivered from his.
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The good news is that we have a story here that is about God's resistance to the proud, but it's not like the story of Haman.
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It's not even like the story of chapter 5 of Daniel with Belshazzar, where God's resistance to the proud rightly and praiseworthily ends in the absolute destruction of the proud.
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God is right and good in doing that. But here we see
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God's grace at work in taking a very proud man and humbling him and then restoring him as a vessel of mercy, one who would give praise and glory to God for his grace.
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How God resists the proud unto salvation is both encouraging and instructive to us.
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God conquers the proud by his grace. We see this in verses 1 through 3. And then in verses 4 through 17, last time we talked about how
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God confronts the proud in his word. The word of God came through Daniel as Daniel begins to confront
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Nebuchadnezzar in his pride. Something of an extension to that here in our passage this morning.
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I'm going to read verses 18 through the end of the chapter, verse 37.
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I encourage you, if you're able, to stand with me as I read this passage. Daniel begins to respond now.
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Verse 18, we'll begin in verse 18. This is the word of the Lord. This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen.
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Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its interpretation. Since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation, but you are able, for the
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Spirit of the Holy God is in you. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonished for a time and his thoughts troubled him.
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So the king spoke and said, Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation trouble you. Belteshazzar answered and said,
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My lord, may the dream concern those who hate you and its interpretation concern your enemies.
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The tree that you saw, which grew and became strong, whose height reached to the heavens and which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely and its fruit abundant, in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and in whose branches the birds of the heaven had their home, it is you,
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O king, who have grown and become strong, for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens, on your dominion to the end of the earth.
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And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze and the tender grass of the field, let it be wet with the dew of heaven and let him graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass over him.
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This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king.
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They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen.
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They shall wet you with the dew of heaven and seven times shall pass over you till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses.
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And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you after you come to know that heaven rules.
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Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by being righteous and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.
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Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity. All this came upon Nebuchadnezzar.
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At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, Is this not great
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Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?
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While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven. King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken.
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The kingdom has departed from you, and they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
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They shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever he chooses.
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That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen.
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His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws.
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And at the end of the time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the
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Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.
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All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth no one can restrain his hand or say to him,
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What have you done? At the same time my reason returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom my honor and splendor returned to me.
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My counselors and nobles resorted to me. I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me.
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Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and his ways justice, and those who walk in pride he is able to put down.
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These are the words of the Lord. Praise be to God. You may be seated. Dale Davis and Walt Kaiser tell of the funeral of King Louis XIV.
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He was a very arrogant king of France, and he knew his time would come, and so he gave instructions about his funeral, and he only wanted one candle lit for his funeral at Notre Dame.
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He wanted one candle lit in the whole of the cathedral, and it was to be placed on top of his casket, and so the instructions were followed, and the court preacher
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Massione arose from his seat to go and give the oration, but first he went by the casket and snuffed out the candle.
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He then began his message this way, Only God is great. Only God is great.
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That lesson, too late for the king to learn, was pressed upon the audience there.
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Only God deserves that kind of attention, that kind of honor and exaltation.
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What we have here in Daniel 4 is a lesson, a similar lesson, that only
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God is great. This is a lesson that God renders by his spirit in the light of Christ, showing his greatness and our lowliness and our need to repent from pride.
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May it not be too late for any of us. Proverbs 29 verse 1 says,
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He who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
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But that doesn't have to be the story. God resists the proud, and his grace makes them humble.
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In verses 18 through 27, we see that God compels the proud to repent.
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God compels the proud to repent. There's a clear word, a very clear word on pride's condemnation in verses 18 through 19.
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In all of this engagement with Nebuchadnezzar through Daniel, God is absolutely clear.
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He does not leave the symbols of the dream to be left to someone's imagination. He makes it clear what he means, and this is grace.
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That God clarifies his condemnation of pride, the character of pride.
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He makes it clear the consequences of pride, and the need for its correction. He does not leave this to be in question or in doubt.
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He makes it clear, and that is a very loving and gracious thing for God to do.
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So there's a clear word on pride's condemnation here in verses 18 and 19.
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This dream I, Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare his interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation.
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But you are able, for the spirit of the holy God is in you. Then Daniel, whose name was
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Belteshazzar, was astonished for a time, and his thoughts troubled him.
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So the king spoke and said, Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation trouble you. Belteshazzar answered and said,
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My lord, may the dream concern those who hate you, and its interpretation concern your enemies.
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So Nebuchadnezzar has, he's telling his personal testimony about how God saved him from his arrogance, from his folly, from the darkness of his pride.
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So he's telling on himself, and he's related the details of the dream, which had come to him and troubled him.
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And in this dream there is a massive, abundant, fruit -filled world tree.
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And it gives sustenance and shade to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air.
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And suddenly it is cut down, and it's stumped left in the earth.
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Indeed, it is a man. And this man is relegated to the field like a beast for seven periods of time, until all the living, including the man, will know that the
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Most High God rules. Not any regular man, not any other god.
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The Most High God rules. So Nebuchadnezzar finishes relating this dream to Daniel, and then confesses,
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None of my experts are able to tell me what it means. We've been down this road before, if you remember Daniel chapter 2.
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None of my experts are able to tell me what this means, but I have confidence in you, Daniel, because you have the
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Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Most High God living in you. And I know that you're not troubled by these kinds of secrets.
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I know that you'll be able to tell me what it means. But it's bad news.
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On the front end, this is bad news. It's obviously bad news for the king, and if it's bad news for the king, then that means it's bad news for the whole kingdom.
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Daniel has received the meaning from the Holy Spirit. He knows what this dream means, but he is so appalled and stunned and horrified by the prospects of what it means, he can't find a way to say it.
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Everything is dependent on this state, and the exaltation and power of Nebuchadnezzar.
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If he's cut down, if he is relegated to the field for seven periods of time, what's going to happen to the nation?
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What's going to happen to the empire? What's going to happen to those who are so dependent on this structure being in place?
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What about the beasts of the earth? They've got to flee away. Where is the sustenance going to come from?
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Where will the birds be able to land? What's going to happen to the way that the economy works and the authority works and the structure?
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What happens when God humbles the proud apparatus? And so he's concerned.
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He's appalled. Daniel has the same mindset as Jeremiah, filled with the same
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Holy Spirit. This is near the end of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.
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Years and years before, a message came from Jeremiah, who was the prophet serving in Jerusalem while there were exiles out in Babylon.
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And he sends word to them by the authority of the Holy Spirit. He sends a letter to them in Jeremiah chapter 29, and he tells them, you know, you're there in exile in Babylon.
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Don't listen to these false prophets out there who are telling you, oh, you know, just a little while, we're going to be going back to Jerusalem and Judea, and then we're going to kick out the
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Babylonians, and everything's going to be fine. Don't listen to those false prophets. God has a purpose for you out there, and it's this.
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Build houses, live in them. Have families, grow them. Plant gardens, get food out of them.
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And in addition to all of that, he gives them this other instruction in verse 7 of Jeremiah 29.
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He says this, and seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive.
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What city was that? Babylon. Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the
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Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace. Dear God, please bless
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Babylon. That's what he told them to pray. And we pray for our king,
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Nebuchadnezzar, that you would bless him today. That's what he told them to do.
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And Daniel, of course, he's been praying about that. That's been a part of his famous prayer life.
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And now this vision comes, and he's like, oh, this is not the peace of the city.
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This is not the flourishing of Babylon in its shalom.
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This is going to be the opposite. This is the cutting down of the world tree. This is going to be chaos.
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This is going to be great disruption. Daniel is a godly man.
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He does not desire the tearing down of his country. He's not angling for the tearing down of his country.
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He is not passive concerning the destruction of his country, even though it is the great oppressor of his people.
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So he answers. My Lord, may the dream concern those who hate you, and its interpretation concern your enemies.
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It does concern Nebuchadnezzar, though, and there's no getting around it. Daniel goes on to clearly identify
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Nebuchadnezzar as the one who will be cut down, the one who is going to be banished to the field.
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He's the man given over as a beast, the stump bound by iron and bronze, abandoned in the field.
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His reign and his prosperity is the tree which is cut down. And so Daniel stands like the child
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Samuel before Eli. He stands like Nathan before David. The word of the
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Lord is judgment, and Daniel says, O king, thou art the man. God resists the proud, and his grace makes them humble.
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Think about Daniel. He had several reasons to be proud. None of the other experts could tell what's going on, but Daniel can.
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Daniel is filled with the Holy Spirit. He's unique amongst all of these other counselors who couldn't help the king.
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Nebuchadnezzar is given power and authority and respect and a name to Daniel. But notice
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Daniel fears the Lord, which means he believes the word of the Lord, and he takes it seriously, and he does not rejoice in his oppressor's fall.
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He does not rejoice in the fall of his enemy. It is clear that God condemns
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Nebuchadnezzar's pride. Daniel's sentiment here, O king, may this pertain to your enemies.
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That's no joke. How did the enemies of Babylon fare? How did the enemies of Babylon do?
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When Daniel says, may it concern your enemies, this is a diplomatic way of telling the king, you know, the things that happen to your enemies, that's what this dream is about.
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But ultimately, it is about the king. So what does that mean? It means that what was typical of happening to the enemies of Nebuchadnezzar was going to happen to the king himself.
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To borrow the language from Jeremiah 25, Nebuchadnezzar himself would become an astonishment, a hissing.
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He would be desolated, as God promised that the enemies of Babylon would be.
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So also now Nebuchadnezzar. He would drink the wine cup of the fury from the hand of the
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Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar would drink and stagger and go mad. Indeed, he did.
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And so we have an instructive approach in Daniel's humble, God -fearing approach to Nebuchadnezzar.
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He informs the king what's going to happen to him is fitting for his own enemies. Do we hear the rebuke there?
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Daniel tells the king, O king, in your pride, in your arrogance, in your folly, in your rebellion before God, you are an enemy unto yourself.
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You are an enemy to yourself. You are deserving of the devastation wrought upon your enemies.
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Are we not all enemies unto ourselves and our pride? Are we not all enemies unto ourselves and our self -word fear of man?
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When we dedicate ourselves to our own preferences, we dedicate our lives to our own pleasures.
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We dedicate our lives to our own priorities and promoting ourselves. Are we not our own enemies?
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Are we not deserving of the judgments of God? Proverbs 16 verses 18 to 20 says, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
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Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.
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He who heeds the word wisely will find good and whoever trusts in the
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Lord, happy is he. We know this memory verse, right? Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
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What's the remedy? Which direction do
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I go? I need to repent away from pride, but repent towards what? He who heeds the word wisely will find good and whoever trusts in the
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Lord, happy is he. We have a Lord who is our substitute.
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We have a Lord who is our Savior. We have a Lord who is our mediator and our advocate.
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We have a Lord who has drunk the cup. What our pride deserves.
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We turn to the Lord and find in him happiness in God. Pride makes you miserable.
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Now, it's unpleasant. I think about Daniel. He's having to tell the king, thou art the man. Difficult thing to do.
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Difficult thing to do when we have to, when we are compelled to, invited to. We have every opportunity to.
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This is our responsibility. This person needs to be told this truth, and oh, so hard a truth that it is, but I've got to say it.
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It's unpleasant to speak the truth to those that we respect. It's unpleasant to speak the truth to those whom we care for, or even to address those who are partially responsible for our welfare, and yet the truth must be said.
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Whether they are civil magistrates, or neighbors, or fellow church members, or family members, we must not shirken our duty to clearly affirm
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God's condemnation of pride. The alternative is to not lovingly warn these folks that they have an enemy, and that this enemy is not on the horizon, not even on the ramparts, but already within, bringing them down into disaster.
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You know what is loving and kind is to be as clear as Christ. You know the expression clear as crystal.
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Christ is much clearer than crystal. When we speak with others about the word of God, let us be as clear as Christ.
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Let us make sure that folks understand what the word of God says, first towards ourselves, and then warning our neighbors.
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Not only is there a clear word on pride's condemnation, but also on pride's character. Verses 20 -22.
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The tree that you saw, Daniel saying to the king, the tree that you saw, which grew and became strong, whose height reached to the heavens, and which could be seen by all the earth, whose leaves were lovely and its fruit abundant, and which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and in whose branches the birds of the heaven had their home.
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It is you, O king, who have grown and become strong, for your greatness has grown and reaches to the heavens and your dominion to the end of the earth.
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This image of the world tree excellently conveyed the sociopolitical situation in this time.
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Nebuchadnezzar was the emperor of a great empire with whom all the known world had to deal with.
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Babylon was the superpower, and you should not oppose them, because if you did, great disaster would befall you.
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God himself had ordained that and arranged for that. Jeremiah 25. So all the beasts of the field, all the other kingdoms of the earth, were under the shade of this world tree.
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They were all accountable to this world tree. They all received their covering and sustenance from this tree.
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The birds of the air came and nested in its branches. Everything flowed through this, politics and trade.
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It all went through Babylon, which was personified in the king of Babylon, the emperor himself,
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Nebuchadnezzar. So yes, Nebuchadnezzar's greatness was great, and his dominion was to the end of the earth.
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He had all power on earth as far as politics went, as far as economics went, and so on.
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Now, is that a sin? No, because Adam and Noah were in the same situation.
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What is a sin is when one who has been given by the hand of a sovereign
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God, when one has been given dominion and authority and power and greatness, it is a sin when one made in the image of God takes all that stewardship and says, this is for my exaltation.
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That's when it's a sin. That is when it's a problem. Greatness and dominion and authority, great power and great wealth in and of itself, in the providence of God given to a person, that person is not thereby sinful because they have all this stuff and all this power.
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It's sinful when people with great wealth and great power say, oh, this is for me to make for myself a name.
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You see, Nebuchadnezzar was not operating with the truth. He was not operating as if he were the servant, a deacon of the
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Lord to establish righteousness among the people. He was doing it for himself.
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The knowledge of his greatness puffed him up. He was the Hindenburg bursting with vanity, puttering straight for trouble.
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Verse 30, the king spoke saying, is this not great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?
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As with this Babylon, so with the first Babel, why did they gather around Nimrod in the plain of Shinar to build for themselves a city?
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And they said, come, let us make mortar and make bricks and let us build for ourselves and make for ourselves a name.
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That is the character of pride. When those made in the image of God say, let us make for ourselves a name.
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That is the essential character of pride. It is a distinguishing mark of pride to say,
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I know we're made in the image of God, but we're going to make for ourselves a name. Our society is filled with pride, unchecked, unrepented.
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We live in a most proud society. That's why it's so dysfunctional.
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That's why there's so much folly and absurdity and insanity.
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That's why there's so much division and fighting, because that's what pride always does.
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Oh, here's someone who is proud of the color of their skin. Oh, here's someone who is proud about their ancestry.
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Oh, here's someone who's proud of their nation. Here's someone who's proud of their military.
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Here's someone who is proud of their wealth. Here's someone who is proud of their ideology.
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Here's someone who is proud of their name. Pride, pride, pride.
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And everyone's fighting about which pride is more proud. That's why we have folly in our society.
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God resists the proud, but his grace makes them humble.
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Our pride, like most horrid things, grows best, thrives best, flourishes most in the dark.
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The great antidote to pride is the light of Christ, the excellence of Christ, the exaltation of Christ, the worthiness of Christ, which exposes our own unworthiness, the ugliness of our own self -commitment, the ugliness of our self -promotion, the ugliness of our self -love comes into clarity when
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Christ is exalted. Nebuchadnezzar's words there in verse 30 are sinful.
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They are pride -filled words. Those kinds of words only belong in the mouth of one man, the
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God -man, Jesus Christ. Is this not the kingdom of God that I build for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?
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These are righteous words in the mouth of Christ, for he does it all for his father's glory, to honor him and to give attention to his name.
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Nothing like the glory of Christ to compel us to repent of our pride. We are to be humble before the preeminence of Christ, yesterday, today, and forever.
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A clear word on pride's consequences as well, verses 23 and 24. And inasmuch as the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze and the tender grass of the field, let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass over him.
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This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the
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Most High, which has come upon you, which has come upon my lord, the king.
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This is Daniel's thou art the man moment. Chopped down, abandoned, insane, banished.
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O king, this is your future. You decree things and they happen.
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God decrees things and they're going to happen to you. This is going to happen to you,
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O king. And he has assigned his angels to this task. He has decreed it, and his angels are going to be woodsman, farmer, and rancher for your coming demoralization, your future shaming.
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Nebuchadnezzar looked upon this great empire that he built, this great city of Babylon, as an art museum dedicated to his own personal exaltation.
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And God says to Nebuchadnezzar, yeah, we're going to make that a dumpster fire. And my waste management agents are standing by.
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There should be zero confusion in our souls concerning God's commitment to oppose, judge, and undo pride.
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We must not ignore the consequences of pride. We should have no misconceptions about the unmitigated disaster of living pridefully in God's created order.
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Christ declares through Solomon and his prophets, when pride comes, then comes shame, but with the humble is wisdom.
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Before destruction, the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility. A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.
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The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the
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Lord alone shall be exalted. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, you say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground?
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Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there
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I will bring you down, says the Lord. A message not only to space age technocrats, but to each one of us.
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Let us carefully weigh the words of our Savior and our Sovereign, Jesus Christ. He said to Saul of Tarsus, in a very humbling moment, it is hard for you to kick against the goads.
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It is hard for you to kick against the goads. When the entire universe is in orbit around Jesus Christ, and you're trying to break orbit, good luck.
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It's not going to work. Arrogance before the Creator is a bed of knives upon which you must lay.
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Consider the misery of candles trying to outshine the three o 'clock summer sun.
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Let those who have ears to hear, hear. God, grant us the grace of humility, and deliver us from the hard heart, from the mire of self, the poison of pride.
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Do your work in us through your word. Bring us to our knees and to our faces before you.
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Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways,
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O King of the Saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name, for you alone are holy.
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For all nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested.
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Lastly, a clear word on pride's correction. I have cancellation in my notes, but correction is better.
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Verses 25 -27, Daniel 4. They shall drive you from men. Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen.
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They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses.
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And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you after you come to know that heaven rules.
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Therefore, O King, let my advice be acceptable to you. Break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.
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Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity. Daniel clarifies that Nebuchadnezzar is going to go into beast mode.
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I don't know how that got a positive spin. Because he's going to have his face in the self -fertilized field for as long as it takes.
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As long as it takes for the one true God to be glorified. Causing the king to know, and all the living to know, that the most high rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses.
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And so Daniel has some counsel for the king. Very interesting counsel. He says, break off your sins.
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It's the idea of shredding into pieces your sins. Take your whole prideful agenda, where everything is about you.
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You've got your to -do list, and it's exalt me, please me, think about me, boost me up, so on.
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Your whole pride -filled agenda, and shred it. He says, shred it, and start thinking of others.
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Start looking around your kingdom. Start doing righteousness instead of selfishness. Start giving mercy instead of promoting corruption.
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And he says, do all this. Break off your sins. Pursue righteousness in the ranks of your kingdom.
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And show mercy to the poor. And I really doubt whether or not
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God will give you extra time. Well, that's not very motivating.
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Perhaps. I mean, it's happened before with King Ahab. I mean, that wicked guy,
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God humbled him. And he did break off some of his sins, and so on and so forth. And he humbled himself before the
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Lord, sackcloth and ashes. And he got a little bit more time before God just crushed him, bled out in the back of his chariot.
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So what is he saying to the king? Well, I mean, God has before.
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Maybe perhaps you might get a little extra time on the throne. But no guarantees.
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What God has decreed is that you're going to be facedown in the field for seven periods of time.
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You are going to be humbled. Your tree is going to be cut down. That's for sure going to happen.
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And I don't have anything else to say other than, king, you need to break off your sins. And even if Nebuchadnezzar had done everything he could, you know, just sile -like to establish justice in the courts and promote mercy in the community, he may have gotten a little extra time.
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But the judgment was set, and it was coming. Because God was going to break that man and change that man.
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You can pursue justice in the courts, and you can do mercy to your neighbors, but it will not save you.
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You must be born again. You must be born again.
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You must be utterly humbled. You must be completely changed. You must be brought face to face with the horridness of who you are in your sins, but then made alive in Christ to be a completely new person.
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And that's the only way that you can be saved. Only way.
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So you will come to know the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 8 .13 says, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogance in the evil way, and the perverse mouth
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I hate. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, to hate pride, to hate arrogance.
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May the Lord be so gracious to us and grant us this mercy.
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Let's pray together. Father, we come before you today, and we just confess that we are in need of your grace.
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You give us a clear word in your word about pride. We need your correction in our lives.
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We need you to do your work, your humbling work in our lives, to make us new in Christ, to grant to us the fear of you, that we would truly reverence you, to think of you first and think of you most.
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And so, in your grace, turn away from pride and embrace the joy of humility.
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We pray that you would do this work in each one of our lives this week. Help us to know the joy of humility before you, rejoicing in the exaltation of Christ.
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And we pray these things for his sake. Amen. Would you stand with me for our song of benediction?
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We're going to sing again, Rejoice, the Lord is King. We'll sing all four verses.
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Rejoice, the Lord is King. May the love of the
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Father, and the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.