Unleash the Gospel on Your Pride | Daniel 5 | Rob Hudson

I have a problem with pride, and although I don't

know most of you, I'm assuming you do as well.

I guess you don't come across as arrogant or

boastful, and I hope I don't either. Pride can

look like that, can't it? It can be the obvious

form, loud, in -your -face arrogance. And it

looks like that, I think, for Belshazzar, the

king in this passage. But more often, pride hides.

It lurks in the darkness, hiding underneath other

more noticeable sins, pushing them to the surface

while it stays in the background. And all the

time that pride does that, all the time pride

remains hidden, it is particularly powerful.

In some ways, it is the mother of all sins. And

while we wrestle with pride's children, Other

sins in our life, we can be blind to the matriarch

herself. But do the opposite. Drag pride out

into the light and you find it begins to lose

some of its power. And then as pride loses its

grip on us, all sorts of other sins and struggles

begin to weaken their hold as well. This pride

is the big one. And what this passage does, I

think, is to push our pride into the light of

the gospel to give us hope. So orientation first.

We're in Daniel 5. Nebuchadnezzar, the famous

guy, he's dead. Verse 1 tells us a bloke called

Belshazzar is king in his place and he has set

himself up against the Lord of heaven. That's

Daniel's take on him in verse 23. That's a way

of saying he's proud. And as this chapter shines

a light on his pride, notice first how stupid

it is. First, Belshazzar throws a massive party

in verse one, but later on in the passage in

verse 30, we discover that as he's doing that,

as he's hosting this great gathering party for

so many people, the army of the Mesan Persians

was literally surrounding his city. He is actually

at the crucial moment of a desperate battle for

survival. And at that moment, he decides to get

drunk with his nobles and his army officers,

who probably had better things to be doing. Historians

tell us the Babylonians were overconfident in

the city walls. They thought Babylon itself was

unbeatable. And Belshazzar's pride makes him

act like a fool. on the eve of the turning point

of his kingdom and indeed of history. Then it

gets worse. Verse two, while Belshazzar was drinking

his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold

and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar, his father,

had taken from the temple in Jerusalem so that

the king and his nobles, his wives, his concubines

might drink from them. No matter what your religion,

Belshazzar, bleeding, all sorts of things, to

use the holy temple vessels from a sacrosanct

space for a drunken party is, in anyone's book,

a proud scorning of the gods to whom that temple

belongs. It is also really foolish. Belshazzar's

gods of gold and silver that he praises in verse

four haven't been much use to him or his people

in the... Heavy defeat after defeat he's receiving

from the Persian Empire. Daniel says in verse

23, your gods cannot see or hear or understand.

Belshazzar's pride makes him worship like a fool.

And then Daniel confronts the king about his

pride. What he does in verse 17 to 21 is to retell

the story of chapter four, which I'm sure you're

familiar with. Nebuchadnezzar, the king then.

refused to heed a dream that God gave him, boasted

about how great he was, and was then humbled

by God by being driven mad and driven out of

his kingdom, out from his throne for a period

of time. Now, Belshazzar, his son, knew all of

that. He was, I presume, there when it happened.

The lesson was obvious. Humble yourself before

this God, before the Most High. But unlike his

father, Belshazzar refused to listen. Maybe you

had kids in your class at school who were overconfident,

thinking they're great, don't listen to the teacher,

just mess around. Belshazzar's that kind of kid,

grown up, but not grown up very much. Verse 22,

but you, Belshazzar, his son, have not humbled

yourself, though you knew all this. Instead,

you've set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.

His pride makes him refuse to listen and learn

like a fool. And because he won't turn from his

foolish pride, God's judgment falls on him. God

miraculously writes on the wall of the banqueting

hall. The writing says, mene, mene, tekel, parsin.

The wise men of Babylon, they can't understand

it. There is no true wisdom apart from God. But

Daniel comes in and he can. Mene, he says, God

has numbered the days of your reign and brought

it to an end. Those gods of gold will not keep

you going. Tekel, you have been weighed on the

scales and found wanting. Your rejection of God

means he rejects you. Perez, your kingdom is

divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

Those famous city walls won't guarantee your

future. And that very night, he's killed. Now,

listen, I think it's easy for us to laugh at

this proud and foolish king throwing a party,

showing off his greatness, thinking gods of gold

are going to protect him, ignoring the only God

who could when his city is surrounded and he's

literally about to die. But my guess is at the

time, none of that felt silly to him. It's only

when God's word shines a light on it. That's

the moment that human pride looks and feels ridiculous.

I can laugh at this king, but just because my

pride might not look exactly like his, maybe

it's less blatant, less on the surface, that

does not make my pride any less ridiculous. My

pride can hide behind perfectionism. Of course,

that's not why I think. I want to get everything

just right. I think I'm just trying to do a good

job as my family suffer. But sacrificing others

in order to achieve a perfect result in my work

is ridiculous. My pride can hide behind prayerlessness.

Of course, that's not why I think I struggle

to pray. I think the reason I struggle to pray

is because I'm too busy. or too distracted, or

too lazy. But deep down, I'm too proud to pray

more than I do. If I felt my weakness, my true

dependency, desperate need for the Lord Jesus,

I would pray more. My pride can hide behind anxiety.

And don't mishear me, anxiety can have many causes,

including physical ones. It's not simply down

to sin, but my anxiety can come from acting like

I need to manage the future. To provide for my

family in this or that potential imagined future

scenario, that is God's job. My shoulders are

not... big enough, broad enough to carry that

load. And if I take God's job in my pride, it's

no wonder the weight crushes me into anxiety.

Pride hides in the darkness of my heart and it

conceals itself behind other sins and struggles.

And as it lurks there in the darkness, my pride

whispers, I'm reasonable. I'm sensible. Other

sins might be out of order, but looking after

number one is just sensible. So if I want to

repent of my prayerlessness, if I want to lose

my perfectionism, I need God's word to shine

its light where my pride lurks. Drag it out of

the shadows. Show me how foolish it really is.

Daniel 5 does that, but it doesn't only say,

turn from foolish pride. A bare command is never

much help for people like you and me. If I'm

simply told to turn from my foolish pride, I'll

either be too proud to listen like Belshazzar,

or I'll try to turn from it through my own willpower,

tell myself I'm strong enough to do better this

time around. Well, that's just another form of

pride. So Daniel 5 says, turn from foolish pride

by trusting the humble king. Turn from foolish

pride by trusting the humble king. There's a

contrast here, isn't there? Between Belshazzar

and his dad in chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar humbled

himself. Belshazzar doesn't. What's the turning

point? What's the difference? What's the moment

that changes for Nebuchadnezzar? It's not when

he goes mad. His madness was God's just punishment

for his mad pride. The turning point comes, if

you've got a Bible, you'll find it for yourself

in chapter four, verse 34. What happens there?

We're told he raises his eyes to heaven away

from himself. And the scripture says that is

the moment when his sanity is restored. And what's

the first same thing he does? I blessed the most

high. and praised and honored him who lives forever.

See, Nebuchadnezzar came to a point of realizing

we can only turn from our foolish pride if we

turn towards something better. And so Daniel

5 shows us the most high God in all his power.

It's easy to miss this. Don't forget what we

are witnessing in this chapter because The Bible

almost sort of skims over the historical detail,

but this is basically the end point of perhaps

the greatest world empire there had ever been

up to this point in history. Daniel 5 is where

it finishes. In verse 30, Babylon is done forever.

Why? Verse 26, because God has numbered its days

and brought it to an end. If you know the wider

story of Daniel, you might remember that's exactly

what God said he would do back in chapter two,

that famous dream Nebuchadnezzar has there of

the giant statue with different chunks made up

of different elements. He said then, God said

that he would break the Babylonian empire like

the golden head of that statue in the dream was

broken. And this is him doing it. This is God

keeping his words. Daniel showing us the most

high doesn't just rule kingdoms. He rules history

and there is none that can stay his hand. Well,

seeing that, seeing the most high, paying attention

to the way that Daniel elevates and lights up

the Lord reminds us that we are very low. That

title for God, the Most High, particular characteristic

of Daniel and his book, reminds us that we are

very low. It punctures our pride. But that's

not quite enough because our pride is so subtle,

so adept, it can even hide behind low self -esteem.

If God's greatness just shrivels us, we stay

focused on our shriveled nature. thinking a lot

about how weak and ineffective we are focused

still on ourselves. So as God breaks the kingdom

of Babylon and starts to fulfill that dream from

chapter two, he's pointing us as well to how

that dream ends. If Daniel 5 is the first bit

of the dream coming true, the head breaking,

we're supposed to remember the end of the dream,

what happens. at that moment because it works

like this first babylon breaks and then persia

breaks and then the greek empire breaks and then

the roman empire emerges and in that dream of

chapter 2 we're told in those days the roman

days the god of heaven will set up a kingdom

that will never be destroyed and when jesus steps

onto the scene of history he announces the kingdom

of god has come near Repent and believe the good

news. Repent, turn from your foolish pride. How?

By believing the good news. By believing the

good news that the most high God has used his

power, all the power that we see in Daniel, with

a posture of humility and a purpose of love.

The one king. Who could honestly have said, is

not this the great world which I have built as

the royal residence by my mighty power for the

glory of my majesty? Nebuchadnezzar's words from

chapter four. The one king who could actually

have said that instead says, I have come not

to be served, but to serve and to give my life

as a ransom for many. The one king who could

fairly have grasped equality with God. That thing

that Nebuchadnezzar and his son stretched for,

instead emptied himself by taking the form of

a servant, by being born in the likeness of men,

being found in human form, humbled himself by

becoming obedient to the point of death, even

death of the cross. The fact that God is most

high means that we are very low and should not

be proud. But the fact that God the most high

uses his power to stoop very low in order to

lift us means that we are greatly loved and don't

need to elevate ourselves. Here's the glorious

gospel truth. My pride could never lift me half

as high as God has placed me in Jesus. With a

king like him, we don't need to steal his job.

Sometimes you'll come across the true idea that

pride is us pushing God away. That's real. But,

you know, it's also our way of coping with the

aftermath. It's our way of coping in a world

without God or where we're acting like there's

no God. Because if he's not looking out for me,

if we've, as it were, got rid of him from our

minds, well, then I'd better look out for myself,

right? That's why to our fallen natures. Pride

feels so sensible where other sins might feel

silly quite quickly. Pride feels right all too

easily because in a world without God, it's unavoidable,

essential. But because we don't live in a world

without God, it is deeply foolish, most especially

for God's people. Because God is not only ruling

our world, he's caring for us. All the power

of the Most High given in a posture of humility

for a purpose of love. So, brothers, sisters,

unleash the gospel on your pride. When God's

word shines a light on our hearts, pride is going

to scuttle through a dark corner like a startled

spider. It'll crouch behind some other sin or

struggle and say, look at that one, ignore me.

I think this is held true for me in pastoral

ministry. People come and talk about their sins

and their struggles. The one that we tend to

find hardest to admit is pride. We don't want

to admit that pride lies at the root of our other

sins, our anger, our gossip, our prayerlessness.

I think because in our redeemed nature, we do

sense that our pride is ridiculous and ridiculous

sin feels shameful. Surely we should be better

than this by now. But the gospel came. The gospel

comes for ridiculous sinners like you and me.

Jesus came. to take the judgment and the shame

that our pride earns. His message to all who

receive him is not, I'm king, you're not, so

kneel and knuckle under. It's, I'm king, you

don't have to be. So be free from acting like

you are and killing yourself in the process.

And the turning point for us in our struggle

with pride. And therefore, in our struggle with

a hundred other sins that cover pride over, the

turning point for us is even more potent than

it was for Nebuchadnezzar, because he saw the

most high God in his power. That's kind of all

he saw. We see him in Jesus, using all of that

power in a posture of humility for a purpose

of love, stooping low to lift us high. In the

light of a gospel like that, to a God like that,

you and I, we can safely admit our ridiculous

pride to him. We can admit how it drives other

sins, admit how it plays into other struggles.

We can admit. And then we will admire. We will

admire the Lord Jesus. Praise him, magnify him,

exalt him, delight in him. Ultimately, it's praise

that kills pride. Let me pray. Heavenly Father,

we are ridiculous in our sin. Thank you that

the Lord Jesus moves towards ridiculous sinners

in power and grace. Thank you that he willingly

takes our shameful rebellion and inflation of

ourselves on himself on the cross. And now serves

us remarkably as king so that we don't have to

fake the job ourselves. And we pray for the power

of that gospel to go to work more and more deeply

in our hearts to free us from pride and all that

it breeds. And to make us a people of praise

for the most high God. In his name we pray. Amen.