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Unleash the Gospel on Your Pride | Daniel 5 | Rob Hudson · Chapel Talks

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I have a problem with pride, and although I don't
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know most of you, I'm assuming you do as well.
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I guess you don't come across as arrogant or
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boastful, and I hope I don't either. Pride can
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look like that, can't it? It can be the obvious
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form, loud, in -your -face arrogance. And it
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looks like that, I think, for Belshazzar, the
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king in this passage. But more often, pride hides.
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It lurks in the darkness, hiding underneath other
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more noticeable sins, pushing them to the surface
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while it stays in the background. And all the
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time that pride does that, all the time pride
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remains hidden, it is particularly powerful.
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In some ways, it is the mother of all sins. And
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while we wrestle with pride's children, Other
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sins in our life, we can be blind to the matriarch
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herself. But do the opposite. Drag pride out
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into the light and you find it begins to lose
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some of its power. And then as pride loses its
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grip on us, all sorts of other sins and struggles
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begin to weaken their hold as well. This pride
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is the big one. And what this passage does, I
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think, is to push our pride into the light of
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the gospel to give us hope. So orientation first.
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We're in Daniel 5. Nebuchadnezzar, the famous
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guy, he's dead. Verse 1 tells us a bloke called
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Belshazzar is king in his place and he has set
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himself up against the Lord of heaven. That's
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Daniel's take on him in verse 23. That's a way
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of saying he's proud. And as this chapter shines
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a light on his pride, notice first how stupid
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it is. First, Belshazzar throws a massive party
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in verse one, but later on in the passage in
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verse 30, we discover that as he's doing that,
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as he's hosting this great gathering party for
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so many people, the army of the Mesan Persians
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was literally surrounding his city. He is actually
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at the crucial moment of a desperate battle for
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survival. And at that moment, he decides to get
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drunk with his nobles and his army officers,
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who probably had better things to be doing. Historians
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tell us the Babylonians were overconfident in
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the city walls. They thought Babylon itself was
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unbeatable. And Belshazzar's pride makes him
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act like a fool. on the eve of the turning point
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of his kingdom and indeed of history. Then it
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gets worse. Verse two, while Belshazzar was drinking
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his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold
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and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar, his father,
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had taken from the temple in Jerusalem so that
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the king and his nobles, his wives, his concubines
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might drink from them. No matter what your religion,
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Belshazzar, bleeding, all sorts of things, to
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use the holy temple vessels from a sacrosanct
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space for a drunken party is, in anyone's book,
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a proud scorning of the gods to whom that temple
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belongs. It is also really foolish. Belshazzar's
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gods of gold and silver that he praises in verse
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four haven't been much use to him or his people
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in the... Heavy defeat after defeat he's receiving
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from the Persian Empire. Daniel says in verse
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23, your gods cannot see or hear or understand.
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Belshazzar's pride makes him worship like a fool.
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And then Daniel confronts the king about his
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pride. What he does in verse 17 to 21 is to retell
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the story of chapter four, which I'm sure you're
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familiar with. Nebuchadnezzar, the king then.
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refused to heed a dream that God gave him, boasted
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about how great he was, and was then humbled
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by God by being driven mad and driven out of
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his kingdom, out from his throne for a period
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of time. Now, Belshazzar, his son, knew all of
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that. He was, I presume, there when it happened.
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The lesson was obvious. Humble yourself before
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this God, before the Most High. But unlike his
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father, Belshazzar refused to listen. Maybe you
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had kids in your class at school who were overconfident,
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thinking they're great, don't listen to the teacher,
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just mess around. Belshazzar's that kind of kid,
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grown up, but not grown up very much. Verse 22,
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but you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled
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yourself, though you knew all this. Instead,
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you've set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.
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His pride makes him refuse to listen and learn
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like a fool. And because he won't turn from his
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foolish pride, God's judgment falls on him. God
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miraculously writes on the wall of the banqueting
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hall. The writing says, mene, mene, tekel, parsin.
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The wise men of Babylon, they can't understand
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it. There is no true wisdom apart from God. But
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Daniel comes in and he can. Mene, he says, God
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has numbered the days of your reign and brought
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it to an end. Those gods of gold will not keep
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you going. Tekel, you have been weighed on the
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scales and found wanting. Your rejection of God
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means he rejects you. Perez, your kingdom is
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divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
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Those famous city walls won't guarantee your
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future. And that very night, he's killed. Now,
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listen, I think it's easy for us to laugh at
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this proud and foolish king throwing a party,
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showing off his greatness, thinking gods of gold
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are going to protect him, ignoring the only God
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who could when his city is surrounded and he's
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literally about to die. But my guess is at the
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time, none of that felt silly to him. It's only
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when God's word shines a light on it. That's
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the moment that human pride looks and feels ridiculous.
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I can laugh at this king, but just because my
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pride might not look exactly like his, maybe
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it's less blatant, less on the surface, that
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does not make my pride any less ridiculous. My
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pride can hide behind perfectionism. Of course,
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that's not why I think. I want to get everything
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just right. I think I'm just trying to do a good
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job as my family suffer. But sacrificing others
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in order to achieve a perfect result in my work
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is ridiculous. My pride can hide behind prayerlessness.
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Of course, that's not why I think I struggle
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to pray. I think the reason I struggle to pray
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is because I'm too busy. or too distracted, or
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too lazy. But deep down, I'm too proud to pray
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more than I do. If I felt my weakness, my true
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dependency, desperate need for the Lord Jesus,
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I would pray more. My pride can hide behind anxiety.
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And don't mishear me, anxiety can have many causes,
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including physical ones. It's not simply down
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to sin, but my anxiety can come from acting like
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I need to manage the future. To provide for my
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family in this or that potential imagined future
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scenario, that is God's job. My shoulders are
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not... big enough, broad enough to carry that
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load. And if I take God's job in my pride, it's
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no wonder the weight crushes me into anxiety.
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Pride hides in the darkness of my heart and it
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conceals itself behind other sins and struggles.
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And as it lurks there in the darkness, my pride
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whispers, I'm reasonable. I'm sensible. Other
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sins might be out of order, but looking after
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number one is just sensible. So if I want to
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repent of my prayerlessness, if I want to lose
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my perfectionism, I need God's word to shine
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its light where my pride lurks. Drag it out of
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the shadows. Show me how foolish it really is.
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Daniel 5 does that, but it doesn't only say,
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turn from foolish pride. A bare command is never
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much help for people like you and me. If I'm
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simply told to turn from my foolish pride, I'll
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either be too proud to listen like Belshazzar,
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or I'll try to turn from it through my own willpower,
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tell myself I'm strong enough to do better this
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time around. Well, that's just another form of
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pride. So Daniel 5 says, turn from foolish pride
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by trusting the humble king. Turn from foolish
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pride by trusting the humble king. There's a
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contrast here, isn't there? Between Belshazzar
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and his dad in chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar humbled
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himself. Belshazzar doesn't. What's the turning
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point? What's the difference? What's the moment
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that changes for Nebuchadnezzar? It's not when
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he goes mad. His madness was God's just punishment
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for his mad pride. The turning point comes, if
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you've got a Bible, you'll find it for yourself
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in chapter four, verse 34. What happens there?
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We're told he raises his eyes to heaven away
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from himself. And the scripture says that is
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the moment when his sanity is restored. And what's
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the first same thing he does? I blessed the most
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high. and praised and honored him who lives forever.
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See, Nebuchadnezzar came to a point of realizing
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we can only turn from our foolish pride if we
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turn towards something better. And so Daniel
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5 shows us the most high God in all his power.
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It's easy to miss this. Don't forget what we
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are witnessing in this chapter because The Bible
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almost sort of skims over the historical detail,
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but this is basically the end point of perhaps
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the greatest world empire there had ever been
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up to this point in history. Daniel 5 is where
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it finishes. In verse 30, Babylon is done forever.
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Why? Verse 26, because God has numbered its days
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and brought it to an end. If you know the wider
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story of Daniel, you might remember that's exactly
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what God said he would do back in chapter two,
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that famous dream Nebuchadnezzar has there of
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the giant statue with different chunks made up
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of different elements. He said then, God said
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that he would break the Babylonian empire like
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the golden head of that statue in the dream was
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broken. And this is him doing it. This is God
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keeping his words. Daniel showing us the most
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high doesn't just rule kingdoms. He rules history
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and there is none that can stay his hand. Well,
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seeing that, seeing the most high, paying attention
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to the way that Daniel elevates and lights up
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the Lord reminds us that we are very low. That
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title for God, the Most High, particular characteristic
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of Daniel and his book, reminds us that we are
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very low. It punctures our pride. But that's
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not quite enough because our pride is so subtle,
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so adept, it can even hide behind low self -esteem.
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If God's greatness just shrivels us, we stay
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focused on our shriveled nature. thinking a lot
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about how weak and ineffective we are focused
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still on ourselves. So as God breaks the kingdom
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of Babylon and starts to fulfill that dream from
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chapter two, he's pointing us as well to how
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that dream ends. If Daniel 5 is the first bit
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of the dream coming true, the head breaking,
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we're supposed to remember the end of the dream,
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what happens. at that moment because it works
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like this first babylon breaks and then persia
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breaks and then the greek empire breaks and then
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the roman empire emerges and in that dream of
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chapter 2 we're told in those days the roman
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days the god of heaven will set up a kingdom
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that will never be destroyed and when jesus steps
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onto the scene of history he announces the kingdom
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of god has come near Repent and believe the good
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news. Repent, turn from your foolish pride. How?
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By believing the good news. By believing the
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good news that the most high God has used his
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power, all the power that we see in Daniel, with
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a posture of humility and a purpose of love.
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The one king. Who could honestly have said, is
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not this the great world which I have built as
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the royal residence by my mighty power for the
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glory of my majesty? Nebuchadnezzar's words from
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chapter four. The one king who could actually
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have said that instead says, I have come not
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to be served, but to serve and to give my life
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as a ransom for many. The one king who could
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fairly have grasped equality with God. That thing
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that Nebuchadnezzar and his son stretched for,
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instead emptied himself by taking the form of
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a servant, by being born in the likeness of men,
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being found in human form, humbled himself by
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becoming obedient to the point of death, even
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death of the cross. The fact that God is most
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high means that we are very low and should not
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be proud. But the fact that God the most high
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uses his power to stoop very low in order to
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lift us means that we are greatly loved and don't
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need to elevate ourselves. Here's the glorious
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gospel truth. My pride could never lift me half
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as high as God has placed me in Jesus. With a
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king like him, we don't need to steal his job.
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Sometimes you'll come across the true idea that
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pride is us pushing God away. That's real. But,
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you know, it's also our way of coping with the
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aftermath. It's our way of coping in a world
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without God or where we're acting like there's
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no God. Because if he's not looking out for me,
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if we've, as it were, got rid of him from our
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minds, well, then I'd better look out for myself,
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right? That's why to our fallen natures. Pride
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feels so sensible where other sins might feel
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silly quite quickly. Pride feels right all too
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easily because in a world without God, it's unavoidable,
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essential. But because we don't live in a world
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without God, it is deeply foolish, most especially
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for God's people. Because God is not only ruling
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our world, he's caring for us. All the power
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of the Most High given in a posture of humility
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for a purpose of love. So, brothers, sisters,
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unleash the gospel on your pride. When God's
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word shines a light on our hearts, pride is going
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to scuttle through a dark corner like a startled
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spider. It'll crouch behind some other sin or
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struggle and say, look at that one, ignore me.
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I think this is held true for me in pastoral
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ministry. People come and talk about their sins
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and their struggles. The one that we tend to
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find hardest to admit is pride. We don't want
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to admit that pride lies at the root of our other
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sins, our anger, our gossip, our prayerlessness.
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I think because in our redeemed nature, we do
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sense that our pride is ridiculous and ridiculous
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sin feels shameful. Surely we should be better
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than this by now. But the gospel came. The gospel
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comes for ridiculous sinners like you and me.
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Jesus came. to take the judgment and the shame
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that our pride earns. His message to all who
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receive him is not, I'm king, you're not, so
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kneel and knuckle under. It's, I'm king, you
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don't have to be. So be free from acting like
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you are and killing yourself in the process.
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And the turning point for us in our struggle
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with pride. And therefore, in our struggle with
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a hundred other sins that cover pride over, the
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turning point for us is even more potent than
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it was for Nebuchadnezzar, because he saw the
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most high God in his power. That's kind of all
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he saw. We see him in Jesus, using all of that
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power in a posture of humility for a purpose
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of love, stooping low to lift us high. In the
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light of a gospel like that, to a God like that,
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you and I, we can safely admit our ridiculous
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pride to him. We can admit how it drives other
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sins, admit how it plays into other struggles.
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We can admit. And then we will admire. We will
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admire the Lord Jesus. Praise him, magnify him,
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exalt him, delight in him. Ultimately, it's praise
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that kills pride. Let me pray. Heavenly Father,
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we are ridiculous in our sin. Thank you that
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the Lord Jesus moves towards ridiculous sinners
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in power and grace. Thank you that he willingly
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takes our shameful rebellion and inflation of
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ourselves on himself on the cross. And now serves
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us remarkably as king so that we don't have to
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fake the job ourselves. And we pray for the power
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of that gospel to go to work more and more deeply
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in our hearts to free us from pride and all that
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it breeds. And to make us a people of praise
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for the most high God. In his name we pray. Amen.