Who Are You | Just Look Up - Daniel 4 | October 05

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This is a really exciting story. So King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples,

nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you.

It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God

has done for me. How great are his signs!

How mighty his wonders! His kingdom is everlasting kingdom.

His dominion endures from generation to generation.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house. This is Daniel chapter 4. Did I say that?

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and prospering in my palace.

I saw a dream that made me afraid.

As I lay in bed, the fancies and the visions of my head alarmed me.

So I made a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before

me. and they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans and the astrologers came in

and I told them the dream, but they could not make known to me its interpretation.

At last, Daniel came in to me before me, he who was named Belteshazzar after

the name of my God and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods.

And I told him the dream saying, oh, Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians,

because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery

is too difficult for you, Tell me the visions of my dreams that I saw and their interpretation.

The visions of my head as I lay in bed were these.

I saw and behold a tree in the midst of the earth and its height was great.

The tree grew and became strong and its top reached the heavens and it was visible to the whole earth.

Its leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant and in it was food for all.

The beasts of all the field found shade under it and the birds of the heavens

lived in its branches and all flesh was fed from it. I saw in the visions of

my head as I lay in bed and behold, a watcher, a holy one came down from heaven.

He proclaimed aloud and said thus, chop down the tree and lop off its branches,

strip it of its leaves and scatter its fruit.

Let the beast flee under it and the birds from its branches,

but leave the stump of its roots in the earth bound with a band of iron and

bronze amid the tender grass of the field.

Let him be wet with the dew of heaven. Let his portion be with the the beasts

in the grass of the earth.

Let his mind be changed from a man's and let a beast's mind be given to him.

Let seven periods of time pass over him. The sentence is by the decree of the

watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones,

to the end that the living may know that the most high rules the kingdom of

men and gives it to whom he will and sets it over the lowliest of men.

So it's over at the lowliest of men.

This dream I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw, and you, O Belteshazzar,

tell me the interpretation, because all the wise men in my kingdom are not able

to make known to me the interpretation. interpretation, but you are able for

the spirit of the holy gods is in you.

Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was dismayed for a while and his thoughts alarmed him.

The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream or the interpretation alarm you.

Belteshazzar answered and said, my lord, may the dream be for those who hate

you and its interpretation for your enemies.

The tree you saw, which grew and became strong so that its top reached to the

heaven and it was visible to the end of the whole earth,

whose leaves were beautiful and its fruit abundant, and which the fruit for

all, under which the beasts of the field found shade, and in whose branches

the birds of the heavens lived?

It is you, O king, who have grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown

and reaches to heavens and your dominion to the ends of the earth.

And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one coming down from heaven and saying,

chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump of its roots in the earth,

bound with a band of iron and bronze in the tender grass field,

let him be wet with the dew of heaven and let his portion be with the beasts

of the field till seven periods of time pass over him.

This is the interpretation, O king. It is the decree of the most high,

which has come upon my Lord, the king, that you shall be driven from among men

and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.

You should be made to eat grass like an ox and you should be wet with the dew

of heaven and seven periods of time shall pass over you till you know that the

most high rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

And as it was commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree,

your kingdom shall be confirmed for you from the time that you know that heaven rules.

Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you. Break off your sins

by practicing righteousness and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed,

that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity.

All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months,

he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon.

And the king answered and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built

by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?

While the words were still in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven.

Oh, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from

you and you shall be driven from among men.

Your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to

eat grass like an ox And seven periods of time shall pass over you until you

know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from

among men and ate grass like an ox.

And his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles'

feathers and his nails were like birds' claws.

At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me.

And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. ever.

For his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And he does according

to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

And none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done?

At the same time, my reason returned to me and for the glory of my kingdom and

my majesty and splendor returned to me.

My counselors and my Lord sought me and I was established in my kingdom and

still more greatness was added to me.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven for all

his works are right and his ways are just and those who walk in pride, he is able to humble.

Hey family, it's very good to be with you all again.

It's hard to believe that it's only been a week since, I guess a little bit

more than a week, but since Friday.

And yeah, I'm just very thankful to be with you full, full confession.

What I was gonna say originally last week I sort of rewrote and then this morning

was reading through both and decided I'm just gonna kind of smash them together,

so this is we'll see how it all goes but I think there were there's some things

that I don't want to not say and then but there's also some things that are

more relevant now that the week has passed,

But thank you all to everyone, as Eric said, who was able to make it yesterday.

And also to all of you who've been helping out in your community,

in your neighborhoods over the past week.

I know that sometimes it seems like what we can offer is insignificant and it

doesn't really do much, but every little bit does help.

So thank you for all of that.

And as Eric said, again, much more will be needed in the months to come for

sure. So, this is not a pat ourselves on the back and let's move on with life kind of situation.

It's going to be months and months and the weather's going to get cold and there's

going to be more needs as that happens.

So, we're just going to be responsive to what our needs are in our community.

For now, I know that there are also many of you who just need a time to refresh

and recharge and just like not have to think about what needs to be done and just be with each other.

The Bible says over and over again, it uses the word beloved,

especially in the New Testament when he uses it, it's referring to us.

And so there's lots of us who we just kind of need this time to be together and to just be loved.

So that's what we're going to do today. We're not going to, obviously there'll

be words that are relevant to our season of life, this situation,

but we're going to, we're going to stick to Daniel chapter four again,

because the Bible is relevant regardless of what we're going through.

And so I believe that God has some words for us through this chapter that he

had placed on our hearts to teach even last week are relevant for our situation today.

We're going to look at, continue to ask the question that we've been asking

over and over again. That question is, who are you?

The truth that we've been seeing in Daniel, which is all about identity.

Daniel as a book is all about identity. The truth that we've been seeing over

and over again is this idea that if you know who God is, you will know who you

are and you'll know what to do. You'll know your purpose. And we're going to

continue to see that today.

We're going to see another truth in Daniel chapter four that adds onto that idea of identity.

There's these themes that happen in the Bible. So any theme that we see in the

new Testament even has already been established in the first few pages of Genesis.

So it's like the Bible introduces all of these themes within the first few pages.

And then the rest of the book, the rest of all the books are just unpacking

these themes over and over again.

Daniel's written in a similar way in the such that the themes

for the book are established in the first few pages

and then they're unpacked over and over and

over again there's this common thread this common idea this this

common line that goes through it and even though we're already in chapter 4

in many ways we're kind of just now coming to the conclusion of what you might

call like the first part the first movement of Daniel has been all focused on

Nebuchadnezzar and now in this chapter it's the culmination the resolution revolution,

Nebuchadnezzar is writing these

words by his own hand, or at least he's dictating them by his own voice.

It's almost to add like a signature onto the first third of the book.

Daniel chapter four is written in a different language.

I don't know if you all knew this, but there's actually three languages that

the Bible is written in, Hebrew, Greek, and then a couple show up as Aramaic.

And so, this is written in Aramaic, presumably by Nebuchadnezzar.

It's not written by Daniel. It's not written by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

This is his testimony, his story of faith.

Like I said, what we'll see in chapter four is another truth that yields to this idea of identity.

And that is not just the question, who are you?

But even more applicable is, in a way, who do you think you are?

But even more specific than that is this idea that that what you look at,

you worship, and what you worship, you will become.

So that we become like what we worship.

And what we worship can be most readily identified and determined by what our

attention, what's grabbing our attention, what we're looking at.

So this idea is presented in Daniel chapter four with identity,

that we become what we worship, whatever that is,

And we can tell what we are worshiping by what our attention is most directed towards.

Matthew chapter 6, you might be familiar with this. Jesus says that the eye

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?

So, what are you looking at? Are you looking down at created things?

Are you looking down at people, at desires, at achievements,

at passions? or are you looking up?

That's the question for us today is where are you looking?

These verses in Matthew that we're familiar with that are in the Sermon on the

Mount have every bit of the reality that what you're looking at is what you're trusting in.

They have to do with money and not just money, but the things that we put our

trust in is what these verses are about.

So what you're looking at is what you are putting your trust in.

So where is your faith? Where are you looking? That's the question for us today.

And it's times like these, times of tragedy, times of hurt, times of suffering

for so many people around us that remind us most obviously that we are not in Eden.

We're no longer in the garden. Like Daniel and his friends, we are in exile.

But rather than trying to escape exile, trying to escape suffering,

like so many people do, we have a friend that has used that phrase before.

We're just trying to get out of Babylon. on.

They haven't read Daniel and they haven't read Jeremiah because they're supposed

to stay and they're supposed to work for the peace and the rest and the welfare

of the people while they're in exile.

And it's the same call for us. And we're not supposed to flee,

but we are called to stand and work for peace and rest and welfare of those people around us.

God has appointed us for times such as these.

God has appointed us for times such as these. I know that some of you have been

listening to the Bible recap with Tara Lee Cobble. I think that's her name.

I happened upon an interview. If you're not familiar, she does like a daily,

Bible reading and an explanation kind of thing you follow through a year.

And I guess she's been doing it for a while, but when she first entered into

ministry, full-time ministry, she hadn't read the Bible all the way through

and the pastor challenged her to do that.

And it's interesting because her testimony is that when she read the Bible through

for the first time, by the time she got to the end, and even though she had

a deeper understanding of the story,

she found herself not not liking God because what she was doing when she read

it was, and this is her, her pastor friend that he was walking this journey

with her and was able to help her identify what was going on.

She was reading the Bible, looking for herself.

She was reading it as if it was a story about her, about us.

And so she said, I wanted God to tell me what I could do so that I could be

a good Christian and earn his approval or figure out what promises I could use

to back him to a corner to get what I wanted from him.

She was reading it as if she was the main character.

And she didn't like the God she met there because God is not this transactional God.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn't change.

And so what God desires doesn't change based on what we desire.

And we can't strong arm him into getting what we want, right?

The Bible is not about us.

So her friend challenged her to read through the Bible again for a second time.

And she did it. And she says that he challenged her to look for God. Who is God?

This is a story about God. So who is it teaching you about God?

How is it teaching you about God?

And her testimony is that by the time she got halfway through the Old Testament,

which is probably the least likely place you would expect to happen.

She had already fallen in love with the God she met in his word,

the God who he reveals himself to be because she was looking then for who he

was. and that changed everything for her. It changed the way that she lived.

It changed the way that she approached her relationship with God and approached

the way that she related to the world around her as well.

Because it's not about us. It's not about you.

The Bible is about God. And so I was going to ask the question,

who is the main character in Daniel?

Which I've sort of given you the answer, but if the answer is not God,

it is God. But if we just ignore that for a second.

Who is the main character in the book of Daniel?

You would assume that it's Daniel. I shared this with our group last week,

I guess, or the week before.

Everything is merged together at this point. But Daniel has always been a book

that there's been a shadow over for me.

Not because I don't like it. Not because it's full of words that are hard to

understand. It is hard to understand.

But because it's called Daniel, you. But it seems like,

it's not really about Daniel. He's not the main character in most of the story.

In these first four chapters, the main character is Nebuchadnezzar. This is his story.

This is his testimony from death to life, from pride to praise. This is his testimony.

And this is his signature to the end of these four chapters that are about him.

So, this is a book about Nebuchadnezzar, but we also know it's a book about God.

The Bible is a book, or as a collection of books, is about God.

And that's the way that Daniel chooses to refer to God most often,

or whoever's writing this, is actually the Most High God.

This is the way that the book of Daniel refers to God most often.

We see this over and over again.

In fact, every chapter seems to have these summary statements that clues you

into the flow, into the way that the story is going out, to building this picture

of the Most High God, a picture of God's sovereignty, you could say.

So, let's just read through a couple of them real quick. You have your Bibles,

follow along. I guess they're going to be on the screen.

Katie's going to do her best to keep up with the randomness of what today holds.

But if you have a physical Bible, I just always encourage you to flip through

the pages. It gives you a better understanding of how the story works.

There's some at the end of each row if you don't have one with you.

But Daniel sings in chapter two.

Daniel starts this off by singing, praise the name of God forever and ever,

for he has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events.

He removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to scholars.

He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness,

though he is surrounded by light.

So here's one of our first summary statements, that God is in control of all

things. We've talked about this, that all of human history is in God's control.

God is sovereign. It means that he is in control. At least one of the things

that the sovereignty of God means that he is in control, that he is the king

of kings. He is the Lord of Lords.

And it's so important for us to remember that in times like these.

It's easy for us to say and remember that when things are going well,

that when things are less than ideal, there are implications involved when we

make the claim that God is in control.

But we have to remember that God is in control. Nebuchadnezzar makes this confession as well himself.

He says, the king says to Daniel, truly your God is the greatest of gods,

the Lord over kings. And he says this in Daniel chapter two as well.

Daniel had already just made the confession, a few paragraphs before,

to Nebuchadnezzar. He had confessed that Nebuchadnezzar, humanly speaking,

was the king over all kings, that he was the greatest king on earth, humanly speaking.

And now we see Nebuchadnezzar himself making this same claim to Daniel's God,

that he is God of gods, that he is Lord of kings.

So, it's an interesting dynamic here. In chapter three, we move on as God rescues

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego through the fire.

We see another powerful confession from Nebuchadnezzar. He says in verse Verse

28, praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him.

There is no other God who can rescue like this.

He alone is God. There is none other.

There is no one like our God. He is, he stands alone. He is unique.

We use that word sovereign again. God is sovereign. It means that there's no one like him.

There is no other God in heaven or on earth. He is God of gods. He is sovereign.

In the words of Sinead O'Connor, the older people will get this.

You already know the song, right? Nothing compares.

Nothing compares. Thank you, Julie. To you.

I figure I should not maybe keep singing this morning, but nothing compares to him.

And in this chapter four that we've just gotten to that that Rebecca read well for us.

We get this final confession of Nebuchadnezzar. This is his last time he shows

up in the book, I believe.

And it's written by his own hand, or at least again, it's dictated by his own

voice. This is, these are his words.

I want you all to know about the miraculous signs and wonders of the most high

God that has performed for me.

How great are his signs, how powerful his wonders, his kingdom will last forever,

his rule through all generations.

If we skip down further, further. I know it's a long chapter,

but he says again, his rule is everlasting and his kingdom is eternal.

All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases

among the angels of heaven and among the peoples of the earth.

No one can stop him or say to him, what do you mean by doing these things?

So not only is God, God of gods, king of kings,

Lord of lords, where it's not only is he able to rescue as he wills,

we see that with Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego, but also his kingdom is

everlasting. It has no end.

And we are getting this through Daniel, these first four chapters,

we're getting this multi-dimensional view of the most high God in the extent

of his height and his breadth and the depth, the extent of his sovereignty,

that he is God, that he does as he pleases, that he's able to rescue as he desires,

as he chooses, that his reign and his power will never expire.

None can hold him back. He is everlasting. And the clear implication here in

all of these terms that are so eloquently spoken about God, the most high God

is that he is the highest object of our worship.

The God is the highest object of our worship. And that title,

most high God, again, which is how the book of Daniel chooses to refer to God most often.

Most high God. There's this idea, right?

And we experienced this, that greatness and authority are used in terms of height, right?

The exaltation, we exalt things to being higher than us, that higher in rank,

higher in title, higher in beauty, higher in position, higher in intelligence,

things that are greater are higher.

We use this as well in terms of authority. We see it in workplaces.

We have of our top level management and then our more common workers like myself, right?

Height conveys this idea of superiority, this idea of authority, this idea of strength.

So God most high, God most high means that there is no God, there is no idol,

there is no created being that deserves worship,

that should be exalted above the most high God, above Yahweh,

way, that he is superior in every way. He is sovereign.

That's a word that Daniel is painting a picture here in chapter four.

He is the highest authority.

He is the highest good. He is the highest power.

He is the greatest desire.

He is the most high God, our God who alone is sovereign.

And these are all powerful confessions. These are all powerful confessions,

not made by Daniel, although he contributes to them, not made by Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abednego, but made by Nebuchadnezzar himself.

Nebuchadnezzar who has seen so many miraculous, wonderful things.

He has seen, but he has not yet believed.

This is his testimony. The chapter four is about a sovereign God who makes all

things new, who changes hearts and minds, even the hearts of the greatest king on earth at the time.

Chapter four is about one man's journey.

It's a testimony of a man who had had a life-changing experience as he encountered the living God.

Sure, Nebuchadnezzar had seen God work. He had seen him move.

Nebuchadnezzar had seen, but he had not yet believed. We see that in Job chapter 42.

Job 42 · chapter mention

Job makes this confession as well. My ears had heard of you,

but now my eyes have seen you.

Nebuchadnezzar had seen, he had heard in a way, but he had still not yet believed.

And this may seem strange because what Nebuchadnezzar has witnessed is greater

than most of us probably would confess to have witnessed.

In our leadership meeting, we talked about asking better questions, right?

Not just asking questions like, how are you? Or how is your waking?

But asking better questions that lead to God questions.

And one of those questions that I've tried out a couple times is,

have you ever had an experience that made you think that God existed?

And I've tried it out a couple times. I asked some college students this,

and they had already started their journey of faith.

But they did. They had like the most incredible stories, each of them,

about these encounters with the living God.

But it's amazing the people that you will ask that question to,

and they'll tell you the most amazing story. And that story does not end in belief.

And there will be so many opportunities for those kinds of stories in the months

to come in this past week alone as well.

And so Lord, I just pray that they would end in belief. But this was not Nebuchadnezzar's story.

Nebuchadnezzar had seen the most incredible experiences. And true,

he recognizes God. He gives God props.

He gives God credit, but he doesn't put his faith in him. He doesn't believe.

So, believe is not just to understand. It's not just to see,

but it is to act upon that in faith, to put your full weight on.

And so, we've seen this progress of Nebuchadnezzar recognizing God as the Lord of all.

Daniel shared the message of the kingdom. Daniel interprets that first dream for him.

And he comes face to face with God. He encounters God's rescuing power through

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

And all of these things got his attention, but they hadn't yet got his heart.

Nebuchadnezzar's heart was still full of such pride, arrogance, really.

And two things we know, two things we know is that God hates pride.

In Isaiah 2.11, it says that human pride will be brought down and human arrogance will be humbled.

Only the Lord will be exalted on that day of judgment. God hates pride.

We as people are so full of pride. Humans are so proud.

But something else that we know is that God so loves us proud sitters.

That's the story. That's why he sent his son to bear the weight,

the penalty, and the punishment of our human pride.

I read a story, a pretty humorous story, where a grandfather was writing about his grandchildren.

One of his granddaughters pulled a ski cap over her head and she declared loudly

for her whole family to hear, look mommy and daddy, I know our house so well

that I can walk down the hall blindfolded without seeing.

And she literally took two steps and walked head first into a door.

And just the second step. And so her brothers and sisters thought it was a joke,

obviously, because that's very ironic, but they realized soon as she started

crying that it was not a joke. We are so proud.

But God loves us proud sinners. Nebuchadnezzar is full of pride.

He has great reason to be, perhaps more than any of us. In verse 30,

it says that as he looked out across the city, he said, look at this great city of Babylon.

By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence

to display my majestic splendor.

And so, the Greek historian Herodotus writes a lot about Babylon and his words

paint such a beautiful picture of it that it became became quite famous in the

centuries following the fall of Babylon even.

But he wrote that Assyria possessed a vast number of great cities,

where of the most renowned and strongest at this time was Babylon.

So he describes it as a city that stands on a broad plain. It's an exact square,

120 furlongs in length each way, which apparently is big, I don't know.

So the entire city circuit is 480 furlongs, which while such is its size,

its magnificence, there is no city that approaches to it.

So, it must have been a big city, but that largeness is far surpassed by its magnificence.

The hanging gardens of Babylon are so majestic, are known to be so famous and

so majestic that they are counted among the seven wonders of the ancient world.

During Nebuchadnezzar's reign, there's such wealth and expansion,

great building projects took place that they used some 15 million bricks were

placed and thousands of these bricks that they have found, that they've unearthed,

are stamped in the clay with this inscription,

Nebuchadnezzar, the eldest son of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and Mai.

Like, he literally had his name stamped into the bricks of thousands and thousands,

I don't know, maybe millions of these bricks that built this great city.

So, he was full of pride. Pride loves to think of itself as the source,

as the originator, and pride loves to think of itself as well as the as the

recipient, the object, that the origin of great achievement,

Nebuchadnezzar says, by my power, the origin of great achievement,

and also the recipient of great praise for my glory.

So, we have here in Nebuchadnezzar this essence of pride, the enjoyment of self-sufficiency

over God's sufficiency, and the enjoyment of self-exaltation over God's exaltation

by my power and for my glory, I have built this great Babylon, he writes.

And so, Nebuchadnezzar was so proud. We are so proud as well,

but even when we attain to some level of humility, we are proud to have been so humble.

We are full of pride. But this story, in a way, is about pride.

In a way, it's that old adage that pride comes before the fall,

which is from the Bible as well. It's Proverbs 16, 18.

It's a story about pride. It's a story about the eyes. Where are you looking?

Where are you looking? Nebuchadnezzar looked at himself and he looked at his achievements.

The story of Babel, as Jake made the connection for us a couple of weeks ago

now, which is the same city, it's Babylon.

Babel is the same city as what we're talking about now, Babylon.

It's a story of people growing tall and looking down.

It's a story about people growing tall and looking down. It's about the eyes.

Where are you looking? It's about identity. Who do you think you are?

Do you think of yourself as higher, more highly exalted than God himself?

Do you think of yourself as sovereign over your life and your destiny?

Who is sovereign in your eyes?

Nebuchadnezzar spent his whole life looking down until he was made to be one of the lowly.

It says that Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society. He ate grass like a cow.

He was drenched with the dew of heaven. He lived this way until his hair was

as long as eagle's feathers and his nails were like bird's claws.

He thought he was strong, only to discover that he was weak.

He thought that he was utterly self-sufficient until he discovered that he was

dependent on God for life and breath and everything.

When everything was stripped away, when he had nowhere else to look,

what is the biblical opposite of pride? pride.

Humility, you might say. Humility. What is humility? I can tell you what it's not.

Humility is not divine depression. You don't become more humble by thinking less of yourself.

You don't become more humble through self-abasement.

It's in fact, pride has the funny trait of being found at the extremes.

If you think too much of yourself, you fall into pride.

But also if you think too little of yourself, if you're prone to make statements

of, woe is me, I'm the worst,

I don't deserve this, I am unworthy, you're still falling into pride because

what you're doing is failing to measure up to the standards of pride in your life.

There's a standard of, I should be able to know how to be an adult.

I should know how to be a good husband, a good wife. I should know how to be

a good man, a good woman. I should know these things.

Why should you know these things?

We have a pride that we should be able to do it and figure it out on our own by ourselves.

And when we fail to do that, we're just failing to live up to that pride.

So, pride is found at both extremes.

We can look at ourselves, we can look at others, or we can look at God.

But humility is not about being lower. In some ways, we could say that Nebuchadnezzar

thought too highly of himself.

So, in a sense, he was humbled and therefore lowered.

But humility is not necessarily about being lower in reality.

What it is, is about living in the truth of who you are.

So, if you think of yourself too highly, yes, you're going to be lowered.

But also, if you think too lowly of yourself in pride, then that means you will be exalted.

Because pride is about a correct assessment of who you are.

It's about living in truth. It's about living in truth and responding in gratitude.

Responding in gratitude to the one who is with you, who who strengthens you

and responding in gratitude as we live out and love the world around us.

So it's, it's both knowing the depths of your brokenness and it's also knowing

the depths of your beauty.

It's about knowing who God is and all that he has done for you so that you can respond correctly.

In a way it's, it's sort of related to contentment you might say in the sense

that contentment is controlling what you can and releasing what you can't.

And the sad truth is there's not much we can control.

There's really only one thing that we can control. And that is how will we respond?

We can't control our circumstances.

That's God's domain. We can really only control how we persist in those circumstances.

What will we do? How will we respond? And life in exile is not about putting

on a happy face and pretending everything's okay.

It's about living in truth. It's about knowing God so that you can know who you are.

And it's about responding in gratitude that we can look up.

There are two ways we can be humbled. We can either humble ourselves or we can let God humble us.

I don't recommend defaulting to that latter decision.

Nebuchadnezzar was humbled. Time passes, and then he looks up.

Nebuchadnezzar finally looks up. We see in this story, where are you looking?

Nebuchadnezzar looked up and his reason returned to him. It says, D.L.

Moody said, I believe that the moment our hearts are emptied of pride,

selfishness, and everything that is contrary to God's law, the Holy Spirit will

fill every corner of our hearts.

Where are you looking? The opposite of pride in man's achievement is praise for God's sovereignty.

That's the opposite of pride. It's praise for God's sovereignty.

This is Nebuchadnezzar's testimony from pride to praise.

In a way, we can ask the question, how did he get here?

How did Nebuchadnezzar arrive to this position? He had seen so many things.

What finally broke through to him?

It's interesting because we know in Romans 10, 17, it says that faith comes

from hearing and hearing through the word, right?

So we have this foundational belief that the word of God must be communicated.

The gospel must be communicated verbally.

And we see that here in this story as well. Daniel had just as much a choice

in chapter four as Nebuchadnezzar did. We know Nebuchadnezzar's choice is more obvious.

Is he going to look up? But Daniel's choice is, is he going to speak and seek

the good of his enemy, or is he going to remain silent and let God's judgment come?

We see in verse 19, there's this countenance shift in Daniel as he realizes

what the dream is about, right?

Upon hearing this, Daniel, also known as Belteshazzar, has overcome for a time,

frightened by the meaning of the dream. and Nebuchadnezzar goes along saying,

don't be alarmed. Tell me what the dream is.

And he says, I wish the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your

enemies, my Lord, and not to you.

That tree, your majesty is you. So this dream of Nebuchadnezzar's is not really

that difficult to interpret once you realize who the tree is.

The tree mysteriously becomes a man during the dream, right?

So if you know who the tree is, you know what the dream's about.

So he makes you wonder whether or not the wise men couldn't interpret the dream

or they immediately could and therefore would not interpret the dream for fear

of what Nebuchadnezzar would do, right? And Daniel had a choice.

Was he going to work for the good of his enemies?

We know what Jonah would have done. We know the story of Jonah.

Jonah runs away and it's basically the same people. It's the same people group.

So, it's like the same people.

Jonah chooses one way, Daniel chooses another path.

Daniel pleads with the king. He begs him. He says, King Nebuchadnezzar,

please accept my advice.

Stop sinning and do what is right. Break from your wicked past and be merciful to the poor.

Perhaps then you will continue to prosper. verse.

So Daniel is faithful in presenting the word of God to Nebuchadnezzar.

He begs for him to repent.

God is patient with us, cheering us on to repentance.

God is patient with those around us, desiring for them to look up and see him.

That's why Jesus came for the sick, for the sinner.

That's why Jesus came for us. That's why Jesus came for the college students

across my street who think they're living their best life.

The Bible is written. It's amazing.

Well, it's not amazing what it is, but it's because of the divinity of God.

It's amazing that the Bible has survived as long as it has, because it is written

from the people, from a minority people group.

And history is written by the winners, right?

History is written by the conquerors. And yet the Bible is written by a minority

people group who, through the entire history are those who are oppressed.

So it's easy for us to believe when we are those people that there is something

better out there. And so we can look up and we can turn to God.

But it is so much just as necessary for those of us who live in the wealthiest

nation that has ever existed to look up.

Because the story of the Bible is not that unbelievers don't have any fun.

That's not the story of the Bible.

The story of the Bible is that God is greater.

No matter what we're going through, if we are living our best life or not, that God is greater.

That He is the one to be exalted.

The message is not become a Christian and you'll be living your best life and

suffering won't touch you.

The message is that God is greater, that God is sovereign and he deserves our praise.

There is nothing higher than him. There is nothing greater than him. He is the most high God.

And yes, the message is that in him, you will find peace and rest,

that you will find a constant companion who will never leave you,

who loves you completely, who rescues you and redeems you.

Yes, that's the truth of the story as well. that if you just take your eyes

off whatever you're looking at and just look up, just turn your eyes to him.

So Nebuchadnezzar had his choice.

Nebuchadnezzar had seen and he had heard, but he had not yet believed.

So Daniel invites Nebuchadnezzar to repent and believe. The word is preached to answer for himself.

King Nebuchadnezzar, who will you be? Who will you choose to become?

What will your life say about you?

Will it demonstrate pride in your own achievements or will it shine light on

the sovereignty of God? What is your testimony, King Nebuchadnezzar? What will it be?

And in the end, we don't know what happened afterwards, but based on his own

words, this seems to be his testimony.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was dead in my arrogance and pride, looking down on everything

and everyone, but God revealed himself to me.

I looked up and saw the greatness of the most high God, and now I will praise

and glorify and honor the King of heaven.

All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud. Those are his words.

It took the loss of everything for him to get there, but those are his words. That is his testimony.

And I see this correlation in those words and this story and this dream and

how it played itself out pretty much one-to-one with what Paul writes in the

first few chapters of Romans.

I don't know that we have time to read it. And it's this picture of people who

look to things and other people and God releases them to those desires.

And in the end, when we get to the latter chapters, he does it hoping and praying

and yearning for us to look at him.

In 1 John 2.15, it says, do not love this world or the things it offers you.

For when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.

For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything

we see and a pride in our achievements and possessions.

These are not from the Father, but are from this world. This world is fading

away along with everything that people crave.

But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. It's like God doesn't

force himself upon us. he lets us choose and he cheers us on and he hopes that's

the difference between testing and temptation, right?

God doesn't tempt us, but he does test us. And the difference is,

and we see this in James is that God tests us because he believes that we can

show who he knows us to be.

He tests us because he believes that we can demonstrate who he knows we already

are in his goodness and his righteousness.

Temptation happens to trip us up. James tells us that happens based on our own desires, right?

A temptation happens to get us to fail. God tests us because he knows we can

succeed in his righteousness.

This is not talking about hating the world in the sense that we hate God's creation.

It's not talking about not loving the world in the sense of people,

although those are ways that the Bible refers to the world as people, as creation.

This is not what this is talking about. This is talking about spiritual things.

It's talking about our spirit. Do we desire, do we crave, do we look at the

things around us or do we look at God?

God tells us, don't love the world. Look at me.

And then you can love the things that I've given you. He tells us to look at him.

We've got this messed up picture of love in our country where love is love and

love is good. All forms of love are good. We just read here.

There's some love that is not good. And that's the love that takes us, our eyes away from him.

God wants us to look up. He wants our friends and our neighbors, our coworkers.

He wants those we love dearly and those that we've just met,

those who we have yet to met. He wants us yet to meet.

He wants us all to look up. That's his desire.

God wants to be glorified through our lives.

So we are to give him all the glory through our lives, through our words, through our actions.

And if we continue to live boastful lives, he's not going to force himself upon

us. He's going to let us, he's going to release us to the desires of our heart.

And I just pray that our desires are for him.

So where are we, where are you looking? That's how we're going to round us off tonight or today.

I don't know. It could be night. It's been a long day already.

As long as none of you are falling out of windows, I think I've done a good enough job.

Where are you looking? That was biblical humor for you. High class quality,

biblical humor right there.

What does your life say about the Most High God? Where are you looking?

Who is God in your life? A person's life can say many things about their relationship with God.

Some people look for God in every situation, big or small, good or bad.

They look for God in it, and then they give thanks. They give thanks to Him.

They give thanks for the people that He has placed in their lives.

Some people pray and include God in their thoughts throughout the day.

Some people believe and trust God to lead them and that God's will for their

lives is better than what they deserve.

Some people recognize that God's love for them far surpasses anything that they could had earned?

What is your life going to say about the Most High God?

Some people believe that God's greatest desire is for us to be with Him,

in relationship with Him, and just to become more like Him.

Are we those people? I guess. Has God gotten such a hold of your heart?

Has God gotten such a hold of your heart that you're willing to share it with

everyone? This is how Daniel chapter four starts out.

Nebuchadnezzar says, I want you all to know, every people, every race,

every nation, every language of the world.

This is Nebuchadnezzar's world. I want everyone to know about the miraculous

signs and wonders of the most high God.

Nebuchadnezzar saw God. He heard about God. And then finally,

when God got a hold of his heart, his desire was for everyone to know.

Has God gotten such a hold of your heart? If not, Where are you looking?

What's got your attention? What's holding you back? I guess you could say.

Whatever it is, pride, fear, shame, anger, whatever it is that's holding you

back, just be brutally honest.

Confess that to Jesus and let him give you the courage to be able to share that

story, that testimony that this is my story from death to life.

And we all have, it's not just one story.

You don't just get one story and then you're done. Your life is full of stories

about the faithfulness of God, the goodness of God.

So, what is it? What are your stories?

Who can you tell those stories to?

This is who I was. This is who God is. Now, this is why I give my life to Him.

Thank you for listening to Mountainside Church's podcast. We hope you found

inspiration and encouragement in today's teaching.

To learn more about our church, stay connected or partner with us, visit mcboone.com.

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