God’s Power Verses Man’s Pride Series

Text: Daniel chapter 4

Title: God’s power verses Man’s Pride

Introduction

Daniel chapter 4 begins with great news for every believer.

“To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world: May you prosper greatly! It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.” (V1-3)

The great news

1.God desires to bless his people

“To the peoples, nations and men of every language, who live in all the world: May you prosper greatly!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

2.God desires to perform miraculous signs and wonders among his people.

“It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most

High God has performed for me.”

3. God desires to minister his power to all generations

“His dominion endures from generation to generation.”

That’s the great news!

Here is the bad news!

There is a huge obstacle that we all need to overcome in order for us to receive the blessings that God desires for all of us.

That huge obstacle…is Man’s Pride.

1.What is pride?

2.Why is it the #1 obstacle to receiving God’s blessings?

3.How do we overcome it?

What is pride?

To find the answer lets look at Daniel 4:4 and Daniel 4:29-30

(V4) I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, contented and prosperous.”

(V29-30) Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty.”

A.Pride is the worship of self

For we see…

1.Pride’s favorite words are the words “I” and “My”.

2.Pride never speaks of others. Pride never mentions God

3.Pride finds it contentment only in being better than others

Pride is the worship of self

Why man’s pride is the #1 obstacle to receiving God’s blessings (V5-8)

Daniel 4: 5-8

King Nebuchadnezzar said…

“I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. …I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me.

What was it that made the king so afraid?

What was it that terrified the mind of the king?

He asked all the wise men of Babylon but they didn’t know the answer!

•We don’t know what made the king so afraid

•We don’t know what made the king so terrified

“Finally, Daniel came into my presence and I told him the dream.”

Do you know what it was that terrified the king?

God showed him through Daniel the awfulness of Man’s pride!

The Bible has a lot to say about the awfulness of Man’s pride.

Proverbs 8:13 “I hate pride”

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace.”

Proverbs 13:10 “Pride only breeds quarrels.”

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction”

Proverbs 29:23 “A man’s pride brings him low.”

James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 both say that “God opposes the proud.”

Summary: We are to be afraid of pride. We are to be terrified of pride.

We are to be afraid and terrified of what pride can do to us.

•It keeps us far away from the blessings of God.

•It destroys our relationship with God

•It is the leading cause of sin in our lives

Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction”

Every sin that’s committed can be attributed to pride

In the Garden of Eden the Devil got Adam and Eve to sin by appealing to their pride

Genesis 3:5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

The Apostle Peter denied the Lord 3 times not because of fear but because of pride.

“Even if everyone else denies you Lord I will never deny you.”

Pride is so dangerous because we don’t see it in ourselves. We see it in others but we don’t see it ourselves.

The reason we don’t see it in ourselves is because we change its name

Instead of calling it pride we call it self-confidence!

V10-12 “Here are the visions I saw while lying in my bed: I looked and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were beautiful, it’s fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed.”