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Pride - The Particular Sin of Rulers

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• So open your Bibles, if you would please, today to the book of Daniel chapter 4, and we're going to very quickly read the first five verses and then skip down and read some others. So Daniel chapter 4, verse 1: "Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace."

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• "I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me." So if you'll skip down now to verse 28, the Bible says, "All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. And at the end of twelve months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and

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• giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation."

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• "And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me."

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• "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase." So the title of the message not only is "Pride," but also "Pride: The Particular Sin of Rulers." Let me begin by saying that pride is a root sin of all men, and it is especially the root sin of what you and I would call rulers or politicians or those who have any authority whatsoever. Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4 and Belshazzar in chapter 5 are excellent examples of this particular evil of pride in rulers. So we're pretty well knowledgeable at least concerning two verses in the Bible that deal with pride. The first one, of course, is Proverbs 16:18, when the Bible says, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." The second one is Proverbs 29:23: "A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit." Now I do want you to turn very quickly, holding Daniel 4, to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 29, and look if

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• you would please at verse 18, because there is a warning here that we need to heed and I'm going to expound upon. So in Deuteronomy chapter 29, if you will look there at verse 18, Deuteronomy 29:18, look what God says: "Lest there should be among you"—now watch—"man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood." So the Bible does indeed talk about root sins, and certainly pride is one of those root sins, because pride turns you away from God and His Word and leads you to trust in yourself and in your will. All one has to do to be destroyed and to receive destruction is to walk in pride, arrogancy, haughtiness, headiness, high-minded.

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• These things are completely condemned in the Scripture. And I call pride a root sin, and so does the Bible, because a root sin is a sin that produces other sins. It blossoms and produces fruit, multiplying itself over and over and over. Now, sins such as theft and fraud stem from pride. A haughty man thinks that he may do any or all of these things and simply escape God's judgment. In fact, pride gives a man what he believes to be the right to steal because he thinks he deserves everything, and certainly these are sheep and they just simply need to be shorn at his will and at his pleasure. Now, when you stop and think about this as well, such sins as fornication, adultery, sodomy, whatever, also stem from pride because a haughty man thinks that he should please himself and satisfy his flesh above everything else. He believes and thinks that others exist merely for his pleasure and his satisfaction. They are his sheep, and he may shear them.

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• They deserve to be used in any way that he decides. Now, this is an attitude of pride. This is also, I believe, evidence in our modern-day politicians. So if you can explain this to me, how is it that someone who is making $175,000 Federal Reserve notes per year, at the end of four to eight years happens to now be worth 50 to 60 to 100 million bucks?

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• I just, you know, that blows my mind in one sense of the word. And then if you will recall all of the scandals in Washington and the state capitals that deal with fornication and adultery, and it's prevalent among our modern-day politicians. So we may ask, then, two very leading questions. The first one is, why do they act in that manner? Why are they willing to deceive, defraud, steal? Why are they willing to be corrupt, and why are they willing to be what you and I would call just absolutely immoral?

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• And the answer is because of pride. Pride is a root sin. And from that root sin, many other sins blossom and flourish.

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• Now, the second question you would have to ask is this: What makes them think that they can escape God's judgment? What makes them think that they can get away with it? I've often thought about this, and I thought about it again this week in light of this message. I thought about Bill and Hillary Clinton. I thought about George Soros and some of these other people. I have enough sins to answer for; I surely would not want to have to answer for their sins when you think that murder is acceptable and fornication and adultery—all of this is acceptable unto them—and fraud and theft. I mean, it does not bother them at all. So what makes them think that they are going to escape and they're going to get by with all of this? Well, God gives us the answer in the book of Obadiah chapter 1 and verse 3. He's now talking to Edom, and here's what he says: "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?" So Edom then was placed in a very rocky cliff, and he had the high point of

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• advantage over any enemies. And so the pride of his heart deceived him, saying that no one's going to bring him down to the ground. No one can conquer him. God says, "You're deceived. You will come down to the ground. You will be conquered." So root sins are sins that produce an abundance of fruit. Now, let me give you very quickly some other root sins before we progress. Bitterness happens to be a root sin. I've seen people absolutely destroyed through bitterness. But the Bible says in Hebrews 12:15, "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." So bitterness does not just simply trouble the individual; it defiles a multitude of people as well. So bitterness along with pride is a root sin. Another root sin is the love of money. The Bible tells you in 1 Timothy 6:10, "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after,

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• they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Now it's not just money that is the root of all evil; it happens to be the love of money. And it causes a multitude of sins beginning with covetousness. We see it, we want it. I know one man, he told me to my face that his hobby was making money. He just loved to make money because he loved money. The man is now dead. So I'm sure none of his money helped him at all. But pride is a basic root sin because it is in the life of every sinner. And it is pride that keeps us from seeking God. The Bible says in Psalm 10:4, "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."

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• And while I was preparing this message, I thought again of Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again." And of course, I preached on that recently, and I titled a message "Making America Great Again." But as I thought about that slogan, I thought, you know, we ought to define our words. Who is it that defines greatness? What is great according to the Word of God may not necessarily be great according to man. And what is great according to man is not necessarily great according to God and His Word. So just simply because a nation is economically prosperous does not make it great in the sight of God. And just because a nation has a huge military does not make it great in the sight of God. However, when you talk about greatness concerning God's viewpoint, it would be humility and obedience and not necessarily anything else.

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• And I suppose you could include trust and faith in that as well. So clearly then, we have to understand that the word "great" or "greatness" would differ depending upon one's definition.

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• Now we're talking about pride, and associated with pride is what you and I would call boasting. And what we fail to realize so many times is it is our tongue that gets us into many problems, not just with other people but with God himself. And James says this about the tongue. I want you to listen. James 3:5: "Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" So I could ask you this question: Have you ever gotten in trouble because of your tongue? And the answer would be yes. All of us have said things we wish that we had never said, that is for sure. But do you realize that boasting is a sin? Now the Bible said that tongue likes to boast.

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• But let me give you another passage. This one is found in James 4:13-17. So I want you to listen carefully. He says, "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him

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• that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." He said, "All such rejoicing is evil." So pride and boasting go together. We normally say, "I did this" or "I did that," or "Look at me, look what I've done, look what I've accomplished." Pride and boasting go together. That's why in Proverbs 27:1, the Bible says, "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."

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• Now, all men are sinners, but not all men necessarily have the same sins. Not all men have the same propensity, although all are sinners. There are some sins that are more prominent in some men than in other men. A miser is prone to covetousness, hoarding, and selfishness, but a spendthrift is not. And then likewise politicians are prone to pride because of their sense of power and authority and control.

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• And also they believe somehow that God has ordained them to rule and the peasants have been ordained to be ruled over. And they are therefore the politicians benefit because he happens to be at the top of the ladder. So politicians usually view the people as nothing but sheep who need to be shorn, and all you've got to do is look at what is coming out, especially with USAID and all of these programs that demonstrate how much we have been stolen from all of these years.

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• Now, Nebuchadnezzar was such a man that I just described. His pride was unwounded, even when God told him exactly what was going to happen unto him and Daniel interpreted the dream, explained the dream, and told him exactly what was going to happen. And here's what I want you to note: The truth did not affect Nebuchadnezzar at all. The truth did not change him. The truth did not move him. The truth did not humble him. So if you look in Daniel 4:4-5 again, before we skip down, he says, "I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace: I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me." So Nebuchadnezzar admits that a dream not only made him afraid, but troubled him. Yet the truth is they did not change him.

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• Now the word "afraid" means to cause to be afraid or to cause fear. The word "troubled" means to be frightened and to be alarmed. So Nebuchadnezzar was frightened. He was alarmed. He was fearful. And yet he never changed. Before I go on with this, I want you to turn in your Bibles very quickly, holding Daniel 4, to the book of Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter 24. I want you to see the same thing in relationship to Felix. So look in Acts chapter 24, beginning there in verse 24. The Apostle Paul is witnessing to Felix. So in the book of Acts chapter 24, look if you would please at verse 24. Here it is: "And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was

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• a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." Now the word "trembled" is the Greek word "emphobos," and it literally means to be thrown into a state of fear. It means to be terrified. It means to be frightened. So at Paul's preaching and teaching and witnessing, Felix was absolutely terrified. He was frightened. And yet it did not change him. So here's a point that we must learn: Not all conviction is a saving conviction. Someone may be convicted and still remain unconverted. Let me say it another way: Fearfulness is insufficient in and of itself for change. If someone changes simply because of fearfulness, when the fearfulness leaves, so does the change. So here

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• Nebuchadnezzar was frightened, yes, but he did not change. Now go back to Daniel chapter 4 and look if you would beginning there in verse 10. Daniel 4:10: "Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed; I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; he cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and

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• the fowls from his branches: nevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth." Look if you would at verse 16 on down: "Let his heart be changed from man's, and let a beast's heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him." Now "seven times" was just the Chaldean way of saying seven years. "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. This dream I Nebuchadnezzar have

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• seen. Now therefore, O Belteshazzar"—which is what he named Daniel—"declare the interpretation thereof, forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known unto me the interpretation: but thou art able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies. The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth."

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• "And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule." Now before I go any further, let me just clarify this. You've seen the word "watcher." You've seen the word "holy ones." What in the

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• world is a watcher? What in the world is a holy one? Well, not all of Daniel was written in Hebrew. Some of Daniel was written in Aramaic, and the Aramaic word for a watcher happens to be the word "eer," E-E-R is how we would spell it, which would be their word for an angel. So a watcher is an angel; that's why they called him a holy one. And so what Daniel has done now is he has not only interpreted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar, he has told Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation is to his enemies.

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• And what is going to happen to you: you are going to be driven insane for seven years. You are going to live like an ox. You are going to eat grass like an ox. Your hair is going to grow like birds' feathers, your fingernails like birds' claws. It is a condition known as boanthropy, where a man actually lives as an animal. And there have been people like that.

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• It is a form of insanity. Now, I want you to note something. Daniel has told Nebuchadnezzar everything about this dream. But Daniel does a little bit more than that. So if you'll look in verse 27, he says, "Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity." So here basically after he interprets the dream for Nebuchadnezzar, he tells Nebuchadnezzar, "What you need to do is repent. You need to learn what righteousness is. You need to learn to be obedient. This is my counsel to you. I'm telling you what God has ordained for you. If you want to save yourself a lot of heartache, a lot of trouble, you need to just simply break off your sins. You need to stop this wickedness. You need to repent. You need to do that which God requires." So here's my question: Now God has given Nebuchadnezzar this dream. Daniel has interpreted this dream. God has told Nebuchadnezzar what is going to happen.

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• Daniel has told Nebuchadnezzar what is going to happen. Daniel has counseled him to repent and to change his conduct. Did any of this affect Nebuchadnezzar? And the answer is no. So you'll skip down to verse 28. Look at this: "All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" Hmm. "While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee." So I want you to take careful note of what the king was saying. I want you to notice pride. I want you to notice boasting: "Is not this my house? Is not this my kingdom? Is not this my greatness? Is not this my power? Is not this my honour? I've done this.

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• This is mine. I built this." You know what we're told in Scripture? We're told in Scripture that God gave everything into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. And you would hold Daniel chapter 4, but turn back in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 27. This passage, this truth appears at least three times in Scripture. I'm just going to read one passage here, but look at this in Jeremiah chapter 27. And what is said very plainly and very clearly, in fact, we'll begin reading there Jeremiah chapter 27, and let's begin reading about verse 4. God says, "And command them to say unto their masters"—that is those who are representing the kings of these nations—"and command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched

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• arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him." Note, if you would, God says in verse 8, "And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand." Now the question is this: Who made Nebuchadnezzar great? Who gave Nebuchadnezzar all of his dominion, all of his honour, all of his glory? And the answer is, it's God.

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• God gave him everything. And so what he's doing in Daniel chapter 4, he's saying, "This is my kingdom. This is my palace. This is my honour. This is my glory."

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• Now, let me ask you a question. Why did God drive Nebuchadnezzar insane for seven years? What was the purpose of this insanity? I want you to look in your Bibles to Daniel 4:17. I'm going to show it to you at least three times in this one chapter. This is for our benefit as well now, so I want you to pay close attention. Daniel 4:17: "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones:

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• and by the way, angels or spirit beings that wait on God's command and they do as he commands. And why did they order this thing? "To the intent"—here's the reason—"to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men." Now this happened to Nebuchadnezzar that the living may know that God rules in the kingdom of men and God gives it to whomever he pleases and God can set up over it even the basest of men. Skip down to verse 25: "And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will."

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• So Nebuchadnezzar, you're going to learn this lesson. You're going to learn that I'm the sovereign, I'm in control. Skip down to verse 32: "And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will." Rulers, God says, as well as the people, must actually know who is in charge. They must understand that there is one judge and one lawgiver and one king to whom they will give an answer. They are accountable. God is sovereign. God has all power. It took seven years of insanity for Nebuchadnezzar to learn this one simple truth: God is in charge. God gives it to whomsoever He will.

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• Now let me show you. Even before Nebuchadnezzar had this dream, he was already given this truth. So if you look back in your Bibles to Daniel chapter 2, verses 20 and 21, Daniel 2:20, again Daniel is speaking and he says this: "Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he"—that is God—"changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." Wow. God had already told him, "I'm in charge. I'm the one that puts up kings. I'm the one that takes down kings.

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• I put you up, and I can take you down." It's just that simple. Now there's another passage that fits right in with what I'm trying to share with you. That's Psalm 75:5-7. Psalm 75:5-7. I want you to listen carefully. Here's what God says: "Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck." That is, don't be haughty. Don't be arrogant. Don't be prideful. Don't be heady and high-minded. Don't lift up your horn on high. I like the King Rhinoceros. Don't lift up your—don't speak with a stiff neck. Here's why: "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another." Wow. God is a judge. He puts down one and he sets up another. Now I want to give you a truth in relation to this.

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• That you and I need to see, and we're going to actually see it in the next chapter. That truth is revealed in Matthew 21:32. Hold Daniel 4 and go to Matthew chapter 21 and look if you would please at verse 32. Matthew 21:32. Look what our Lord says. He's talking to the Pharisees, and he says, "For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him:

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• and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him." Now look what he said. John, that is John the Baptist, came unto you preaching righteousness, and you didn't believe him. But the publicans, who were notorious thieves—they were tax collectors—and the harlots, impure, immoral women, they believed him. They not only believed him, they changed. You remember even Zacchaeus, the wee little man? What did he say when our Lord said, "Zacchaeus, come down; for to day I must abide at thy house"? He said, "Lord, behold, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." Our Lord said, "This day is salvation come to this house." Wow. In other words, he was changed. The harlots were changed. But look what he said: "And ye, when ye had seen it"—when you knew it—"repented not afterward, that ye might believe."

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• So let me tell you what this verse is teaching us. It's teaching us that we're responsible and we're accountable to learn from the work of God in the lives of others. We're responsible and we're accountable to learn what God does in the lives of the unsaved. How is that? Well, we see God's judgment. We see God's curse upon them. And we see that we don't need to emulate their sins or emulate their conduct. But then we look around and here's the godly man and we see God's blessing upon him, and yes, we are responsible to learn from God's blessings upon him. So we're not to emulate one and we are to emulate the other. We're to learn whatever we can learn from what God does in the hearts and in the works of others. Now with that in mind, look in Daniel chapter 5. Daniel chapter 5, because Nebuchadnezzar has just been dealt with—we're going to come back to him just momentarily—but now we're going to come to Belshazzar. So look at it: Daniel 5:1: "Belshazzar the

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• king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another." Now Nebuchadnezzar has learned his lesson in one sense of the word. Now Belshazzar has not learned his lesson. So he takes all

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• of the vessels that God had in the temple that had been captured by Nebuchadnezzar, and he and his wives and concubines and princes are all drinking wine out of these vessels and they're praising all the false gods until this part of a hand comes out and writes on the plaster of the wall. Well, Belshazzar was absolutely so terrified that his knees knocked together, his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one another. So he was just—he was actually terrified. Didn't change him, but he was terrified.

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• So he called for all the soothsayers, all the magicians. No one could interpret the writing on the wall.

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• Finally his queen said, "You know, I remember there was a man by the name of Daniel. He helped Nebuchadnezzar, your father, and he can probably help you, so you need to call Daniel." So let's look at it beginning now. We're going to skip a lot of it, but come down to verse 17. Watch this: Daniel 5:17. By the way, let's go back to verse 16 just to see what he said to Daniel. He said, "And I have heard of thee, that thou canst make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom. Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation." So Daniel said, "I don't want your gifts." Verse 18:

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• "O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour: and for the majesty that he gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: and he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will. And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou

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• hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified: then was the part of the hand sent from him; and this writing was written. And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom."

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• Now, I want you to note something, if you would please. Daniel has rebuked him thoroughly, and he interprets this writing that's on the wall. I'm going to give you a quote by John Gill, the great Baptist theologian, and he said this concerning these words, "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." He said it may be literally rendered, "He is numbered, he is numbered"—that is, God is certainly, perfectly, and exactly numbered. "He is weighed"—that is, God had weighed Belshazzar. "And they shall divide the kingdom"—

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• that is, the Medes and the Persians. So this was basically the interpretation.

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• Now the reason I read this was not to tell you about MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. The reason I read this was to show you the truth in verse 22. So I want you to go back to Daniel 5, look in verse 22. After Daniel tells him all that happened to Nebuchadnezzar, he says, "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this." You know what happened to your father Nebuchadnezzar. You knew the pride, the arrogance, the haughtiness that was in his heart, that's in your heart, that's in the hearts of all those in positions of power. You know this.

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• It did not change you. It did not move you. Let me point something out, folks. I want you to think about this. When you have someone that is hardened in pride, truth does not shake them. Experience does not convince them. History does nothing for them. And confrontation and rebuke are useless. They must learn the hard way. Nebuchadnezzar had to learn the hard way. Belshazzar had to learn the hard way. If you look back in Daniel 4 and verse 37, when God got through with Nebuchadnezzar, here's what Nebuchadnezzar confessed. Look at it. Verse 37, Daniel 4: "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase."

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• He can bring you down. I learned that the hard way. I learned that from seven years of eating grass. I learned that from seven years of not having a haircut or my nails trimmed. I learned it the hard way. Well, let me show you something. If you look in Daniel chapter 5, Belshazzar learned it the hard way as well. In verse 30: "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old." So just the time he saw the hand in that afternoon or morning whenever it was, and God had said, "Your days are numbered. You've been weighed in the balances and you've been found wanting. I've divided your kingdom; the Medes and the Persians are getting it." The same night he was slain.

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• So let me ask you a question. If God has judged the greatest, shall he not also judge the smallest? When you think about it like this, a man that steals two cents is just as much a thief as a man who steals two million. A man who has a little pride is just as guilty of pride as a man who has a lot of pride. Because pride is an abomination to God. Pride is a stench in God's nostrils.

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• Now, Nebuchadnezzar had to learn the hard way. Belshazzar had to learn the hard way. You would think with what is going on in our land today, with all the corruption being exposed and all the theft and fraud being exposed, you would think somebody would be born to say, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I need to repent. I need to make things right. I need to give back what I can give." You would think that. But it doesn't happen. Now do you think that God is going to allow the petty thieves to escape? And the answer is no. I want you to turn in your Bibles. I could quote this but I want you to see it in Isaiah chapter 23 and verse 9. Look, if you would, at the purpose of God specifically. Isaiah chapter 23, look at verse 9. Look, if you would, look what the Bible says concerning pride and concerning these rulers who are proud, haughty, arrogant, heady, high-minded, who will not listen to God. Isaiah chapter 23, look at it.

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• If you would please, verse 9: "The LORD of hosts hath purposed it"—what is he purposed?—"to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth." Those who think they're so honourable, they're going to be stained and brought into utter contempt, and many to everlasting contempt. Do you remember that passage in Psalm 2? It's a beautiful psalm. Begins with a question: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed." So it's dealing with the rebellion and the arrogance and the pride of the kings of the earth—that is the rulers, the politicians, the leaders. When you get down to the last two verses of Psalm 2, the Word of God says this, and it's counsel to the kings and to the rulers:

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• "Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." You better kiss the Son. He said you better humble yourself and submit to the Lord Jesus Christ before you perish in the way. You know, there's another passage that I thought about in light of this. When you stop and think of the absolute arrogance of the leaders, not just in America but in the world, who think they can do anything and escape and get by with it. Look how the people have been destroyed, and yet they think somehow they will escape God's judgment. But you remember that passage in Philippians chapter 2, beginning with verse 5: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion

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• as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

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• And when these arrogant, pride-filled rulers and individuals—they don't have to be a ruler—when they face God in judgment, they will kneel. They will confess they should have loved him, they should have served him. It will be too late, but they will confess it. God will stain the pride and bring all their supposed honour into contempt.

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• Now, let me make some applications, and I want you to think with me on this one. Each one of us should be aware of the pride of our own hearts. And we should seek to displace it and to replace it with humility and thankfulness. I can use this for an illustration. I could go to a conference and I could stand up and I could say, "I preached for 60 years." But I have. But if I said it like that, would that not kind of reek of a little bit of pride and boasting? Maybe a lot of pride and boasting.

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• But if I said the same thing a different way, if I said it like this: "I'm so thankful that Jesus Christ saved me and called me to preach and gave me life and gave me health and gave me the ability to study and to proclaim his word. And I want him to have all the honour and glory for the 60 years that I've preached." Wow. Is there a difference between those two things? The point I'm trying to make is it's so easy and so natural for you and I to boast and to brag. It's so easy and natural for you and I to want to claim everything for ourselves when in reality everything we have is of him. So we should be thankful for our successes, that is for sure. We should be thankful for our possessions. We should be thankful for our families. We should be thankful for our lives. But let me put it to you very pointedly: Everything that you have right now, everything that you are right now, God gave you. Everything that you ever will have and everything that you ever will be will be because of God's

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• giving you grace and mercy. And he receives all the honour and all the glory. Now here's what God requires of us. Wonderful verse: Micah 6:8: "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Wow. God says he wants us to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. Hmm. There's another passage I want to call your attention to and that's found in 1 John 2:15-17. Listen to this. God says: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Why? Here's why: "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof:

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• but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." But note in that "the pride of life." The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. So it doesn't matter what we possess now. You may be the richest man in the entire world, but when you die, you're leaving everything. You may own more property than anyone else in the world, but when you die, you will leave that as well. Wow. This world and everything in it, he said, passeth away. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

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• I want to close with this one quote from Jonathan Edwards. I want you to listen to this: "Pride is a person having too high an opinion of himself. Pride is the first sin that ever entered into the universe and the last sin that is rooted out. Pride is the worst sin. It is the most secret of all sins. There is no matter in which the heart is more deceitful and unsearchable. Alas, how much pride the best have in their hearts. Pride is God's stubborn enemy. There is no sin so much like the devil as pride. It is a secret, subtle sin and appears in a great many shapes which are undetected and unsuspected." If pride is God's great enemy, we need to do everything we can to banish it from our lives and from our hearts.

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• And do as Micah said: to love justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. Everything we are, everything we have, He gave us. We are what we are by the grace of God. Whatever we will be two years from now, we'll still be by the grace of God. He gets all the honour and all the glory. And so one word to the world rulers and politicians: you shall not escape the righteous judgment of God. He will stain your pride and bring your depraved honour to the ground. And you will willingly confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

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• The easy way out is to kiss the Son. Submit to him lest he be angry with thee and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. May God help us not to be proud and arrogant but to be thankful and humble. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray today for your help and your grace and your mercy. And Lord, we do pray, especially Father, also today for Joshua, for Felicia, for the children, Lord, that you would help them, supply their needs, take care of them. And Lord, we pray for healing for Joshua. And Lord, we pray that the paralysis would only be temporary. Lord, have your will in your way and Lord, give grace and give mercy there. Thank you for sparing our lives, Father. Thank you for protecting us during the storm. Thank you for protecting us as we travel. And we ask, Father, that you would help us to honour thee in everything we say and do. In the name of Jesus Christ, we do pray.

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• Amen. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T00:28:57Z