Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

The Bible is filled with remarks about the inner man, or the human nature.

The Bible informs us about our flesh and the reality that while we are here in this flesh we will always struggle against sin, to some degree.

Sure we will have victories over certain sins, and throughout the process of sanctification we will find ourselves growing into the image and likeness of Christ but we will always have a battle to fight, against the flesh the Devil, and the world around us.

Over the years you come to know one thing to be true when it comes to people there is no telling what people are capable of.

We see horrendous acts perpetrated on innocent children, murders happening on a daily, and I used to wonder how can people do these things?

But the Bible is clear when it speaks on the condition of the human heart.

Jeremiah

There are things people do and then you wonder “what were they thinking?”

Quite honestly they could not tell you even if you asked them because the human heart is sick.

Our hearts are stained with sin, they are sick to the core though we may not realize it from time to time.

But the natural bend of a person is to want to do whats wrong.

People being to drift in this life and they wonder how they end up places so far away from the Lord but it is because left to our own devices we don’t naturally drift toward God.

If we find ourselves drifting toward God it is because the Holy Spirit is drawing us.

There is no such thing as a seeker.

There are no such thing as a true seeker of the Lord.

Yet entire churches have changed the way they do preaching in order to reach “the lost”.

There is only one problem with this.

The church exists for the Christian to be trained in Godliness that we might go out into the highways and hedges and compel the lost to come into the kingdom of God.

When I say there is no such thing as a “seeker” I obtain this stance from

Romans 3:11

In our humanity we don’t seek out God we seek out things for ourselves, we because of our flesh, tend to be drawn to the forbidden.

which is why Eve ate of the tree she was forbidden to eat from.

I mean think of this God placed Adam and Eve in a garden full of perfection.

Where he Himself walked with them in the cool of the day.

There were undoubtedly thousands of options for her to choose but she had to take of the one tree God had forbidden them from eating.

Why?

Such is the nature of the human condition.

Our fleshly nature when left unchecked, when not daily surrendered to the Holy Spirit will run us off the road spiritually and leave us stranded and ruin our life.

We have to bring our flesh under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

Only Gods Spirit can cleanse us and change our desires to match His will for our lives.

Galatians

At the core of the disease called sin, is the root cause of that sin...... PRIDE

Pride is a restless creature that dwells in every human heart.

Pride is an improper and excessive self-esteem known as conceit or arrogance, it is a high and exalted attitude of the heart and spirit.

What would your beast look like?

If we could strip away all of the good that we are and just see our pride, how hiddeous would it be?

Well we find an instance in where Go reveals this beast on the inside of a man, by allowing him to see it for himself...

If you remember we discussed last time we were in Daniel the amazing courage and faith displayed by Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego.

How they refused to compromise and worship the golden image that King Nebuchanezzar had erected, and as a result they were thrown into a fiery furnace.

yet when they entered the fire there was 3 of them but as King Nebuchanezzar looked on he noticed that there were 4 men standing in the flames.

Jesus Himself protected those men, and as a result the wicked King made a decree that no one was to interfere with the worship of the God of Shadrach Meshack and Abednego.

Now we find ourself in our passage today I want us to examine three things: A false surrender, Another Unsettling Dream, An inner man revealed.

A False Surrender

A false

The King marched forward, he had just witnessed a miracle, and as he stepped forward, he made another announcement:

Daniel 4:1

WOW based on his words it seems as though he has had a change of heart concerning the God of Daniel, Shadrach Meshack, and Abednego.

He begins to proclaim praises to his name..

But the Lord was about to reveal the true nature of Nebuchanezzards pride filled heart.

Another Unsettling Dream

Daniel 4:4

So heres old Nebbie and he cant sleep again, he is terrified from a vision given to him in his sleep.

How many of you believe God can still speak through dreams?

Well he begins to have a conversation with Nebuchanezzar back in the beginning of the book but he never finished the conversation and so God send this dream to him and it is alarming, it is definately not something you would want to be seeing vividly in your sleep.

So he does what he always does.. calls for the wise men.

now you would think that after Daniel already interpreted a dream he would call him first when a dream arose, but no here he goes again calling for the wise men.

who were the same wise men who couldn’t interpret anything the first time.

Daniel 4:6-

We have already learned this lesson Nebbie what are you doing?

Only God can put dreams in the mind of a man and only the man of God, can interpret the spiritual visions he has given.

But apparently he needs to learn this again so he calls on Daniel otherwise known by his babylonian name Belteshazzar.

Daniel 4:8-

The king still does not realize that God gave Daniel the interpretation even though Daniel said over and over again that God showed him the meaning behind the dream.

But another dream meant another opporutnity to show the king that God was the only true God so he began describing what he saw.

Daniel 4:10-

To put the interpretation simply God was telling Nebuchanezzar that he opposes the proud but he gives grace to the humble.

so that all people will know who it is that is Lord over all the lowliest kingdoms of men.

Daniel elaborates on this dream more in verse 24.

Daniel 8:24

An inner man revealed

Daniel 4:28-