June 2, 2024
The Price of Pride, Daniel 5

Now I, King 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. —Daniel 4:37

Big Idea: # Pride has a

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.

1. Pride says, “Look at

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.”

King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. —Daniel 5:1

• A warning light for all of us is when we have an appetite for
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  .

2. Pride says, “Look at what I’ve

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.”

• Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem be brought, that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them…They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. —Daniel 5:2, 4

• A warning light for all of us is when we must
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  our accomplishments.

3. Pride says, “Look what I can

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you.”

Immediately, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” —Daniel 5:5-7

• Belshazzar promised status, stuff, position/power.
• A warning light for all of us is when we are more
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  than relational.

Then Daniel answered and said before the king, “Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another.” —Daniel 5:17

O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. —Daniel 5:18

4. Pride has

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results.

Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old. —Daniel 5:24-30

5. Pride has been

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.

• The story of Belshazzar is also our story. We all have been weighed and measured and found wanting.
• Our pride has a price.
• Jesus paid the price for our pride.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. —Philippians 2:8-11

Now What?

1. Go Pride Hunting
2. Get free
3. Go low