Integrity Is Humilty Before God Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: September 10, 2006

Date Preached: September 17, 2006

Where Preached: OZHBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Sermon Series: Living a Life of Integrity

Sermon Title: Integrity is Humility before God

Sermon Text: Daniel 4:1-37

37 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…

Dan 4:37 (NASB)

Introduction:

Illustration on arrogance/pride vs humility (2 Liter bottle filled with ½ water and ½ cooking oil)

Point of illustration is that humility and pride are NOT compatible.

The Bible calls the believer to have the mind and attitude of Christ Jesus who was willing to set aside position and power to die on a cross for us… Therefore the believer is called to live a humble and submissive life in Christ, where there is NO room for arrogance or pride in the heart of the believer.

We can see in our passage this morning that King Nebuchadnezzar was a man of pride and great arrogance.

2 times the King had witnessed the power of God. Once when Daniel revealed a dream to him and interpreted it, and the 2nd time when Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were delivered from the fiery furnace. But the reaction we can see from King Nebuchadnezzar was one of temporary amazement but not true belief and submission.

Neb was amazed at the wisdom and power of this God that the Hebrews served, but he refused to believe that this God was Lord to him. He simply believed that he was the most powerful king and that he was all powerful…

This morning I want to look at the plight of King Nebuchadnezzar and I want us to see how it applies to all who refuse to recognize God as Sovereign Lord of their life!

This morning I want to point out 3 things about humility (2 negative and one positive)

1. Lack of humility fails to recognize God for who He is (v.28-30):

Nebuchadnezzar saw how great Daniel’s God was, but he failed to understand the significance of WHO Daniel’s God was.

Many gods, Daniel’s God was merely one of many, a powerful one but one of many… did not make the connection between the natural and the supernatural…

Today we have many who look at creation will reluctantly admit there must have been some force that created this world, but yet they say that our future… our prosperity… our hopes lie in humanity and what we can do for ourselves.

Nebuchadnezzar was in the same frame of mind. He acknowledged a head knowledge of God’s power, but failed to understand and recognize just WHO God was…this was because he was so focused on his accomplishments and his thinking that he could do anything… that it was all because of HIM!

This lack of humility that we accuse the world of having toward God is rampant in the church today as well. When we are caught up in self-worth we lose sight of who God is…

I mentioned several weeks ago that Self-worth was the idol of choice for today’s church and I stand by that statement still today!

Today in the church we plan programs and we attempt our hand at ministries. And it seems that any success that we have is credited to the one who came up with the program… the hard work of those implementing the program… the faithful stewardship of those supporting the program…

Now all those things are wonderful when it comes to a program in our church, but they are NOT the reason behind why a program or a ministry is successful in the church.

Our success… Any good thing we experience… any church growth… any kingdom advancement… God is the cause and driving force behind it!

When we come to the point where God is NOT getting the credit, we have come to the point where our focus is shattered and we are failing to recognize God for WHO He is… our Sovereign Lord who is all knowing, who is all seeing, who is all powerful… and with whom we cannot sustain ourselves!

We must recognize God for who He is and humble ourselves before Him, but if we have a…

2. Lack of humility will lead to punishment from God (v.31-33):

Nebuchadnezzar was arrogant and had NO humility in him and he did not recognize God for WHO He was, and because of this Nebuchadnezzar was punished.

Neb thought he was untouchable and that he was in total control, as we see him bragging how his kingdom was only great because of him. But we can see that God warned Nebuchadnezzar in his dream and through the interpretation of Daniel.

He chose to ignore that warning and so God brought Neb low and humiliated him before the world to reveal who was in control… but Neb is not alone in his humiliation before God…