Sermon Tone Analysis

Here is our theme verse for the series.

Read it with me.

So far, in our Names of God series, we have looked at three names of God.

Elohim - God is the Mighty Creator God

El Roi - God is the God who sees me

El Shaddai - God is the Almighty God

This morning, we are going to look at a name for God found in the book of Daniel.

Open your Bibles to .

Nebuchadnezzar was king at this point in history and his kingdom was in control of all of the fertile crescent.

<show picture of Babylonian Empire>

His empire stretched from Israel in the east, through modern day Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait.

Nebuchadnezzar was powerful.

No one could stand before his military might.

Whatever he said happened.

He was a very powerful person.

At one point, in the previous chapter of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar set up a 90 foot high golden statue of himself to be worshipped as a god.

If anyone did not worship him as god, they would be killed.

If you remember, it was the three Hebrew boys Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah or as they are know by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who would defy the king’s commands and be thrown into the blazing furnace of fire.

Then, Nebuchadnezzar looked and instead of seeing these three men screaming in agony as they burned alive, he saw four men, untied and walking around in the furnace.

He thought that the fourth looked like a son of the gods.

He released the 3 guys and made this declaration,

Daniel 4:28-

Daniel 3:

Now, you might think

He even glorifies God in the beginning of chapter 4.

You might be tempted to think, “Well, Nebuchadnezzar has had his coming to Jesus moment.”

You know that moment when our lives are turned around.

However, it is amazing how quickly our hearts can deceive us and how quickly we can return to our old ways.

12 months later, just 1 year after having this encounter with God, Nebuchadnezzar is walking around and surveying the impressiveness and majesty of his kingdom.

Daniel 4:28-

Nebuchadnezzar was very proud.

He attributed all that he had to his own power and abilities.

Now before we start thinking that this problem of pride is unique to Nebuchadnezzar, to authority figures, or leaders, we need to remind ourselves how easy it is to stumble into pride.

Some have thought that at the root of every sin is pride because it is a failure to obey God.

It is thinking you know better or are better.

Some have said that pride may be the original sin.

In pride, Lucifer attempted to overthrow God.

He became proud of his beauty and splendor.

He failed to give glory to God and wanted to keep the glory for himself.

12 months later, just 1 year after having this encounter with God, Nebuchadnezzar is walking around and surveying the impressiveness and majesty of his kingdom.

At the heart of sin is pride.

It is no mistake that mankind celebrates sexual sin and immorality in a month called pride month.

One of the quickest ways to fall to pride is to think that you aren’t susceptible to falling to sin.

You think that you are immune to certain temptations; therefore, you are better than the ones who messed up.

Pride thinks that you are better than someone else.

Pride thinks “I will do it my way”, instead of submitting to God’s will.

Pride thinks “I am in control”, when really, only God is in control.

One of the quickest ways to fall to pride is to think that you aren’t susceptible to falling to sin.

You think that you are immune to certain temptations; therefore, you are better than the ones who messed up.

Pride thinks that you are better than someone else.

Pride thinks “I will do it my way”, instead of submitting to God’s will.

Pride thinks “I am in control”, when really, only God is in control.

Here are some

Early indicators of pride:

- Frequently putting all of the attention on yourself

- Struggling to empathize with the sorrows of others

- Feeling self-pity when you’re not praised

- Constantly considering what others think of you

- Avoiding people who are better than you at something

- Easily finding flaws in others

(https://bethanygu.edu/blog/guidance/pride-will-kill-10-practical-ways-kill-first/)

We need to remember this important truth.

God humbles the proud.

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God is El Elyon.

He is God Most High.

He will not allow anyone to take the glory that belongs to him.

We may not be the ruler of a powerful nation, but pride can affect us as well.

We can so easily take our eyes off of God and put them on ourselves.

We can so easily think that we are in control.

We can so easily think we can make it on our own.

We can so easily think that we are better than others.

Remember, God humbles the proud.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

We all need God’s grace.

Therefore, we need to be humble.

Do you remember the history of Babylon?

It is found in .

Perhaps you know it by another name, the Tower of Babel.

God had commanded the people to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.

Man thought he knew better and began to congregate in a city.

Look at what they said,

Genesis 11:4

“Let us make a name for ourselves.”

Let’s build our kingdom.

Let’s build our legacy.

We don’t want our name to be forgotten.

Let’s build a tower and put our names on it.

This type of thinking even gets into the church when we think this is our church.

This is not our church.

This local body of believers belongs to God because we belong to God.

He is El Elyon.

He is in charge of it all.

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

God humbled Nebuchadnezzar.

God struck him with a mental disorder known as boanthropy.

Literally, the person thinks they are a cow.

The once powerful ruler of the mightiest nation on earth, is reduced to thinking he is cow.

For seven years, the perfect amount of time, we might say it this way, “until he gets it” - until he gets that God is El Elyon; he will live with wild animals thinking he is a cow.

How utterly humiliating.

This is a stark warning for us.