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00:00 ful passage. Um let's start with a word of prayer. Lord, we ask that you be with us this afternoon that we understand the
00:08 writing on the wall that the end of this sermon we will understand uh what this means for us and for our community. For
00:15 we ask for Jesus sake. Amen. The writing on the wall is a very common uh English
00:22 phrase. Something written in the Bible found its way. A lot of writings from Daniel finds
00:29 its way into English literature. For example, clay feet that comes from Daniel. Writing of war comes from
00:35 Daniel. So we are now drawn to this episode uh in the middle of the kingdom
00:40 of Babylon. And it's the last day of the kingdom of Babylon. All right. So it's
00:47 very momentous. Um there are three lessons I like to draw from it. It's very simple. I made it all peace so that
00:54 you remember very clearly. It's the party, it's the pride, and it's the power. Three things. All right, you can
01:00 draw any way you like, but this is what the way I'd like to cast it this morning. The first thing is that we
01:05 learned you need to get to the right party. Pride we need to get out of it. And last power we need to recognize is
01:11 true source. First thing is getting the right party. Here you actually have the last day of the kingdom,
01:19 October 12th, 539 BC. Well established. Um, and if it's the last day, King
01:26 Belshaja makes a great feast. Imagine it's the last day of your life. And what
01:32 you do is you organize. Of course, he didn't know it was the last day, but it was close to the end. He makes a big feast. The first thing we notice King
01:39 Belshazza for years and years, um, non-Christian historians have been
01:45 ridiculing Christians and saying, you know, your Bible is totally, uh, inaccurate. There's no such thing as
01:50 King Belshaza. All right? There's all these there's Devil Naza we know we've we've got uh Amal Marduk we've got Negla
01:58 Labashi Marduk and then you got Nabonidis this is unquestioned all right and then one day uh we they found in the
02:06 19th century in of the Calaldanss in the 6th century BC plaque which actually
02:12 talks of Belshazza and now we actually have evidence and this is in the British Museum if you
02:17 ever go to London and we know that Belshazza is the son of Naboditis.
02:23 Naboditus didn't like to rule. He was an archaeologist and he spent a lot of time in Saudi Arabia digging around and he
02:30 had a fallout with the priests because he used to worship other gods the the moon god called sin and they worshiped
02:37 Marduk. So Marduk and sin bogam not right. So they they didn't like him. He was banished uh and and basically his
02:44 son took over as co- region as a second king. And if you can look in the book of uh Daniel, the Bible's very accurate. It
02:51 says, "If you can read the writing on the wall and make known to me his interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold
02:58 around your neck and shall be the third ruler." Why would you make him the third ruler? He's third ruler because
03:04 Nebonitis number one. Number two is Belshaza. Number three would be Daniel. He's historically totally accurate. Now
03:12 they have a party, but the problem is it's a wrong time for a party. Okay?
03:18 Because right outside uh Babylon, you have a big army and has totally defeated
03:24 Nebonitis army, which is the army of Babylon. And now they're outside the walls of Babylon waiting to come in, a
03:32 whole bunch of people. And basically, what do you have? You've they're almost defenseless. Uh
03:39 this is the last day of the kingdom. So you have a party. Why would you throw a party? Well, you might throw a party
03:46 for several reasons. One, you think the walls of your of your Babylon is so
03:51 high, 327 ft high. Nobody can scale that. It's so wide you could put three
03:56 chariots to run across it. 87 ft. They could not penetrate it perhaps. Or or
04:02 you could throw a party so that your members of your political party don't join the other side. They keep jumping
04:08 ship windows. got cut out also. All right. So they got cut out because if your kingdom is going to go down, your
04:13 party is going to go down. People are going to join the other side. So so you need to instill confidence that my party
04:18 still has got traction. Um but look at what they do at this party. And King
04:24 Belshaza had a great feast uh for a thousand of his lords and he drank wine.
04:31 Uh they had vessels of gold and silver, all the wedding silver, all that he brings out. And he brings together his
04:38 wives and his concubines that he might drink from them. Uh you usually have a party. You never bring wives and same
04:45 party is concubines. Huh? You know why? Yeah. They the two don't mix. So right.
04:51 You never bring your wife and your mistress the same party. Uh so so he brings everybody. This is like wow. One
04:58 last fling, you know. Uh and then they they they worship their gods of gold. They they they basically um drink. So
05:05 you what you see here is an intensification of sensual pleasure. Why are they doing this? Ern Ernest Becker
05:13 is a non-Christian author uh who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning uh book called
05:19 The Denial Death in 1973. He actually died a few three or four months uh after he wrote this book. But let's take it
05:26 from a non-Christian. Why would non-Christians have party before when they see the shadow of death looming
05:31 around them? He says that to fully to live fully is to live with an awareness of the rumble of terror that underlies
05:38 everything. What is the rumble of terror that underlies everything? You see, you can't really live unless you deal with
05:45 the rumble of terror that belies everything. And that rumble of terror is the fear of death. Every single person
05:51 has to deal with this. And he says that the basic motivation for human behavior is our biological need to control our
05:58 basic anxiety to deny the terror of death. So every single person's days are
06:04 numbered. Everyone who sits here are numbered. You don't think about the day you die. You don't think about that
06:11 moment you die. We managed to suppress it. But off and on the anxiety will come
06:17 up and you have to deal with it. And how do we deal with it? If you die and
06:22 there's nothing and this take a look at what Epicurus says, life is good. Make
06:27 sure you enjoy it. So you are on death row. Tomorrow you will be executed. We give you lobster to Makana. You can
06:33 makana. I don't know why they have the last meal before you die. Because nobody can
06:40 really enjoy the lobster before they die. If death is all there is, Epicurus
06:45 says death doesn't concern us because as long as we exist, death is not here. And then once it does come, we no longer
06:51 exist. So nothing to worry about because you won't be able to worry then. But the problem is if what Epicurus is true and
06:58 a lot of people who are outside society are believing this that that death is all there is
07:04 then what happens after death doesn't matter anymore then what I do now whether I slap you or I kiss you does it
07:10 make a difference it doesn't because it's all gone it's all finished and
07:15 that's a human dilemma the human dilemma is that we don't know what's beyond death and so therefore we try to deny it
07:21 because if it is true there's nothing beyond death then life is actually purposeless This is the words of the Ecclesiastes
07:27 chapter 1 and the and and and then the preacher says the words of the preacher the son of David Solomon king in
07:32 Jerusalem says vanity or vanity says the preacher vanity of vanities all is vanity what does man gain by all the
07:39 toil at which he toils under the sun so whatever you do under whether you're the king of England or whether you're the
07:46 treasurer of the federal reserve bank does it really matter because everything is vanity the word translated vanity is
07:52 habel which is vapor Can you remember the last time there's vapor? It doesn't stay. It is the stain.
07:58 It doesn't do anything. So therefore, if we actually have no glory on our own,
08:04 then all culture is basically an effort to glorify ourselves. Every culture is for us to give ourselves meaning to deny
08:11 the fact that we are finite creatures here today and gone tomorrow. If we are actually creatures, we are utterly
08:17 insignificant, absolutely forgettable, totally insubstantial.
08:23 here today like the vapor and gone tomorrow. So what can we do? No human
08:28 being can live like the last meal. None of us can live if this day is the last day and we just have the last meal. So
08:35 therefore what do we do? Ernest Becker says because we cannot live like this. We cannot handle the anxiety of this.
08:40 What we do is we resort to things that will take our mind so that we can cope.
08:45 And what we do is uh you know this is like our ancestors. Many people come to Alpha. A lot of the older people who
08:51 come to know Christ can't convert. You know why the mother is 95 and she says if you convert to Christ nobody will
08:58 lift joystick and I'll be forgotten. It is in our culture. Our culture is a way
09:03 which human beings deal with the fact that we're totally insignificant. And how do we Ernest Becker says there are
09:09 about three ways in which we deal with the fact that we're insignificant. One is the romantic solution. He had a king
09:15 and his lords, his wives and his concubines might drink from brings together wives, concubines, it's sex,
09:21 it's grotesque, you know, having all the enjoyment. It's a romantic solution. Um,
09:28 this is similar to our society. One Direction. Look at the songs that we sing every day. Young people, baby, you
09:34 light up my world like nobody else. The way you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed. But when you smile at the
09:40 ground, it ain't hard to tell. You don't know. Oh. Oh, you don't know that you're beautiful. If only you saw what I can
09:47 see. You understand why I want I need you so desperately right now. I'm looking at you and I can't believe you
09:53 don't know. Oh. Oh, this is this is you find your
09:58 satisfaction in the romantic solution. If I can love someone, then that will have some permanence and significance to
10:04 my life. Is that right? We all buy into that. Well, oldfashioned if your Hindu love song says my lover is like God. If
10:11 she accepts me, my existence is utilized. Isn't it? Now, if you uh you
10:18 know there was a nice uh show a couple of years ago, 2014, called the fault in our stars. I don't know how many of you,
10:24 this is the second service. All of us. Oh, two people at the back, Alex and his
10:30 wife. Very romantic. Mid20s some more. They watch this show. It's called Love
10:35 Stars. It's is a beautiful show. But did you know that this is where uh art follows life is based on a true story.
10:42 The true story is based on Kate Donovan and Dalton Prager. Both of these people
10:48 unfortunately were afflicted with a lifelong disease which you get when you're born. It's called cystic fibrosis. The mucus in our lungs becomes
10:56 so thick that you cannot cough it up. And if you cannot cough it up, it gets stuck in the in the tubes called the
11:02 bronus. And then you get pneumonia. And then many of these people will only live to their mid30s
11:08 and and and Dalton Prager had a particular bacteria in his lung very
11:13 complicated name called Brahamela something we can't pronounce it now uh and and he and Katie met him through the
11:20 internet and they were told by their parents don't touch that fellow you go
11:25 near the fellow he give you the bug you die he die very bad they disobeyed like
11:31 see the worst thing you can do is parents tell them to do nothing. If you say no, they will purposely go and do it. Right? So, they actually got
11:37 purposely got married. At 20 years of age, do Kate Donovan against the parents
11:43 advice and Dalton Prager got married for the honeymoon. They walked the oxygen tanks together
11:50 and uh five years later on and two lung
11:55 transplants later on they died. Uh, she said, "I told Dalton I'd be rather
12:02 happy, like really really happy for five years of my life. I'd rather be happy for five years of my life and die sooner
12:09 than be mediocre happy and live for 20 years." That was something that was definitely something I had to think
12:15 about. But when you have those feelings, you just know. Yeah. Young people, you just live by feelings. You just know.
12:23 He died when he was 25 years old. she se five days later on she also died. But if
12:32 you if it's a romantic solution is to place your significance up by loving somebody else. You die and 5 days later
12:39 on the one you love dies then it all becomes for nothing. Isn't it right? So that's a problem in the romantic
12:45 solution because men are not gods. Men don't persist. So it's very futile to
12:50 live just for your family, you know, or for your spouse because in in the end
12:55 they die. Now the next solution Becca writes about is basically the creative solution. The creative solution is that
13:02 if I stand out among the crowd, if I'm the best father, I'm the best doctor,
13:07 I'm the best lawyer or something in my gong, right? Then I would be significant and I work towards that. Um so King
13:15 Belshaza made the great feast for a thousand people and he drank wine in front of the thousand. So he takes the
13:21 most expensive shardon at VSOP and then the most expensive one and he drinks it
13:27 in front of Why would you drink in front of people? You drink in front of people to boast to them that you can drink, right? So you
13:34 got to stand out from the crowd. And not only that, he he he takes all the vessels of gold and silver that
13:39 Nebuchadnezzar father taken out of the temple in Jerusalem to be brought out. You see, his father only brings out,
13:47 steals 5,000 goblets. The son takes it and drinks it in front of everybody
13:53 else. So, you create a piece of art, you boast, uh you're better than somebody
13:59 else. It's a creative solution. Look at Donald Trump. I have a big great sermon illustration watching the US uh um
14:07 elections because there's so much to learn from there. Uh he tells everybody I'm worth 10 billion because I'm worth
14:13 10 billion. I'm worth more than you, right? Um and look at what you say is I built an unbelievable company. Some of
14:20 the greatest assets anywhere in the world, real estate assets anywhere in the world beyond the United States, in
14:26 the Europe, lots of different places. It's an unbelievable company. and he usually says it's huge or huge.
14:35 Then he says, "And I think I did a great job and a great service not only to the country but for the president getting him to produce his birth certificate."
14:43 And the last line is that well I I have much better in judgment than she does. There's no question about it. I also
14:49 have much better temperament than she has. You know now when you go for a debate the first lesson debate you don't
14:55 tell people how clever you are because you must show how clever that people say how clever you are isn't it if you say
15:01 how clever you are you lost already and that's a fact when you actually find
15:08 that you stand out above the rest it's actually your judgment is not worth anything you see finding significance by
15:15 other human beings is not worth anything we need to find significance outside
15:20 ourselves to matter Now let's say for example better the example than Donald Trump. We'll take um this fellow. Now
15:29 when he says he's something everybody sits up and notices right because he's got 22 or 23 I stopped counting med gold
15:36 medals this entire country not even one and there are 30 million of us running running. We can't get one one gold medal
15:43 and this guy has got 22. So he must be the person who can find significance in
15:49 the fact that he's got all these gold medals and his greatest Olympian time has ever seen. And what does he do? He
15:55 drinks. He got caught with drugs, was banned once, put in jail.
16:01 And then he writes these words very astounding. I have no self-esteem,
16:08 no self-worth. I thought the world would just be better off without me. I figured that was the best thing to do. Just end
16:14 my life. There's so many of us here sitting here. We don't want to end our lives. We don't even have a gold battle
16:19 among us. Here you have got a guy who really stands out among all the rest of
16:25 the world and he wants to end his life. Because if you find significance in just this among our own crowd, it's not
16:32 sufficient. It's not sufficient. It will not fill the empty void in our lives.
16:38 The next way Becca talks about is filling it with the religious solution. religious solutions they drink wine and
16:43 praise the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone. So you may want to add significance in life by by having
16:50 gods if you worship these gods and then therefore they will give you life and you find your your your significance in
16:57 these gods. But the passage betrays that. You know why? Because the passage says
17:03 you have praised the gods of silver and gold of bronze and iron and wood and stone which do not hear nor hear nor
17:11 know. So you have placed your significance on things which are less than yourself. At least you can hear you
17:17 can know you can see right and here you are worshiping the things that cannot see here or know. Isn't that stupid?
17:26 John Paul Sarter who basically is a philosopher and an atheist coins this
17:32 very aptly. I want you to remember these words the that God that does that God
17:37 does not exist I cannot deny because it's atheist but that my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget on one
17:45 hand I'm very stubborn I God doesn't exist on on the other hand inside the depths of my soul I cry out for a god
17:52 that I cannot forget and and human beings all of us are in this horrible
17:57 horrible dilemma we are deeply aware of our insignificance and death comes closer
18:03 and closer. We turn to things like drugs. But there's another party. There's another party which Jesus Christ
18:10 talks about. This is in Luke, uh, the book of Luke. He says, "A rich man came
18:15 and he had a party and he invited everybody in town, but they're too busy.
18:20 I've married a wife. I got five cows. I can't come." And he was upset. And uh
18:26 then the master of the house became very angry and said to his servants, "Go out quickly to the streets and the lanes of
18:31 the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame." So have a party. The only criteria to enter this
18:37 party is what? You must be poor. You must be lame. You about to be crippled. You must be as hen say then you
18:44 can come. If you are standing out among the crowd, if you are rich, if you are
18:49 clever, if you're huge, you cannot come because they don't want to come. And and
18:55 and this is the other party. This is the eternal party which the king
19:00 creator of the whole universe invites all of us to come to this party where all you have to do is to bring batangan
19:07 yourself nothing else. And God will give you the significance. And so here we
19:13 actually have a world where there are two parties. We either go for the heavenly party which we are invited in
19:21 to look forward to or we join the human party which by Belshaza and all our
19:26 workmates and friends they're working towards being standing out amongst everybody else through the career with
19:32 their family everything else to to look for that to give us significance. You know functionally a lot of us say we are
19:38 Christians but actually in our life we working on the other party. The one that
19:44 gives us significance is our job. To give significance is our family. That's
19:50 a fact. Now, I remember realizing this when I went on a trip to New Zealand
19:56 when I was in my early 30s. Big party. Uh family went there to New Zealand.
20:01 We're supposed to stay 10 days. And I was sitting in the middle of a farm there. It was totally quiet, beautiful
20:07 place. And I had to cut short my holiday because I missed my work. Come back one day earlier and my wife never let me
20:12 forget it. Why? Because I'm addicted to my work. Because my work gives me significance.
20:18 If I don't do my work, if I'm not Dr. Peter, I'm not anybody. That's a fact. You can say you're a
20:26 Christian. You say you hitch your wagon to the eternal God. But real life, the
20:31 one that gives you significant why we cannot get let go our work. You cannot let go those things is because we find
20:36 our significance there. If I'm not a doctor, if I'm not a lawyer, I'm nobody.
20:42 You see what I mean? These are the idols which we worship. You know, idols are either totally powerful or totally weak.
20:49 They're totally weak. You know why? Because idols can't give you anything. All the idols of wood, stone, hay, and
20:54 whatever, they can't give you anything. You just have a party, you drink to them, they smile back at you. They can't do anything. They can't extend your
21:01 life. They can't give you satisfaction. But they won't let you go. You're not very powerful because even the middle of holiday, I have to quit and I go back to
21:08 my idol, which is my job. All of us are functional bell sazas.
21:15 We've got to be careful. We're defined by by by our jobs. Well, actually, we should be defined by who we are. Let's
21:21 go to the other party. The other party is free. All you have to do is just bring yourself. And this is Michael
21:28 Phelps. He read the uh purpose-driven life. And at the end of purpose- driven
21:34 life, he turned to God and he said these words, I this book turned me into believing that there is a power greater
21:41 than myself and there is a purpose for me on this c planet. See, you only can
21:46 find this purpose and significance if you latched on something that's immutable, that's eternal. If you latch
21:53 that to another person who will pass away, a job that will pass away, a skill
21:58 that will disappear, it will never provide you significance.
22:04 Second lesson from Daniel chapter 5 is pride. How to get out of it, realize it
22:10 and get out of it. Here we have the the uh writing on the wall. Uh suddenly
22:15 uh the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, the king's palace opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the war the
22:22 hand as it was it had wrote and the king's color changed and his thoughts alarmed him. His limbs gave way and his
22:30 knees knocked together. The limbs went way actually is written in Aramaic. It says uh the knots of his joints were
22:36 loosened. Translated into 21st century English means he pissed in his pants.
22:42 Okay. Okay, he pissed in his pants because wow he saw this big hand come out and write uh the words and uh then
22:49 he he he got all the PhDs, the talking heads from CNN to come, the professors,
22:55 the the Harvard grads, the lawyers to come explain to him what these three words mean. But none of them can provide
23:01 him any answers until the queen mother who is the probably Nebuchadnezzar's wife uh came and said there's a man in
23:09 your kingdom whom the spirit of the holy gods in the in the days of your father liked and understanding the wisdom like
23:17 the wisdom of the gods were found in him and king Nebuchadnezzar your father father means grandfather okay the king
23:24 made him chief of the magicians you see see the way in which the queen
23:29 talks about Daniel in glowing terms. He tells him that he's a chief of all the
23:35 CNN people, magicians, enchanter, calaldians, astrologers, excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding,
23:42 interpret dreams, explain riddles, solve problems, and climb tall buildings with single bound. Right? He describes him in
23:49 glowing supernatural terms. And now bring Daniel. So he brings in Daniel.
23:55 And Daniel is brought in before the king. And the king asked to Daniel, you are that Daniel, one of the exiles from
24:02 Judah whom the king my father brought in from Judah. The way he explained you you the the the mate from Bangladesh that
24:09 just came is it on one hand he described it as chief of all the magician. Oh you you're the
24:14 maid. Remember you're you're the maid. My father brought this mate from Bangladesh. This is the kind of spirit he has is a
24:21 spirit of condescension of pride. Okay. And then he says,"I heard you can
24:28 give interpretations. Now if you can read, if you can read." So this is a man
24:33 so full of himself that even on last time, last day of his life, he is so
24:39 proud. And Daniel answered him. He throw him back. Okay? He says, "Let your gifts be for yourself and give your rewards to
24:46 another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make it known to him the interpretation." He said, "Never mind your money. All that you keep, I
24:53 don't need. I got plenty of my own. So this is Daniel. Daniel never talks to
24:58 him. Oh great king like he used to talk to Nebuchadnezzar. He just walks past and say these things. He doesn't give
25:03 him the respect as well. And then and then Daniel tells him the interpretation
25:10 and the first thing he brings up is that he read the words oh king the most high
25:15 God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father. talks about his father. You know, you know, if you are the son and you start
25:22 talking about the father, very upset, you know, because if you look at the psychology of it all, the father builds
25:27 the entire kingdom. Father builds one of the seven wonders in the known ancient
25:33 world, the hanging garden of Babylon. And what is he famous for? Party.
25:41 My father built hanging garden of Babylon. I am famous for party. My predecessor
25:47 built the twin towers. I'm famous for a burkin handbag,
25:53 you know. Ah, which is a better investment? Which is a smarter investment? How many of you vote for the
25:59 twin towers? Okay, how many vote for Birkin bag?
26:04 See, you're all stupid. You know why I tell you stupid? Because the data shows
26:09 Hermes Burkin baguh over the last 35 years has appreciated 500%.
26:14 Which means if you bought the Hermes Burkin bag 35 years ago, today you could sell it at 500% profit. All right? So
26:20 don't look down on Burkin bag. People buy Burkin bag are very clever. All right. So that's my advertisement
26:26 for Hermes. Let's read this. Very important how what he indictes him. King of most high. It
26:34 says Nebuchadnezzar, your father uh gave your father kingship, greatness,
26:40 glory, and majesty. And because of your greatness that he gave him, all peoples and nations languish tremble and feared
26:46 before him. Whom he would, he killed. Whom he would, he kept alive. Whom he would, he raised up. Whom he would, he
26:51 humbled. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened, so that he was so that he dealt proudly. He was
26:58 brought down from his kingly throne, his glory was taken from him. He was driven from amongst the children of the
27:03 mankind. His mind was made like that of a beast. And his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an
27:10 ox and his body was wet with a dew of heaven until he knew that the most high God rules the kingdom of mankind and
27:15 sets over him whom he will. A huge indictment. Um but you
27:22 son Belaza have not humbled your heart. Although you knew this, you lifted up
27:28 yourself against the God of heaven, and the vessels of his house have been brought in before you. You, you and your lords and your wives and concubines have
27:34 drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold and bronze and iron and wood and stone, who do not
27:40 see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and who and
27:45 whose are all your ways you have not honored. The indictment is very, very clear. The writing was on the wall and
27:53 the writing is basically manet man tackle Paris. Many means your days are
27:59 numbered. Weighed means your actions, your knowledge is all weighed. Divided means
28:09 your kingdom is divided among the me and the Persians. Just three words. Days are
28:15 numbered. You will be judged and your kingdom will be taken. Many numbered,
28:23 weighed and divided. That very night, Belshazar, the Calaldian king, was killed. Darius the meid received the
28:30 kingdom being about 62 years of age. You look into history that day. The
28:35 Euphrates rivers runs through Babyong. And what this army did of Cyrus the
28:41 Great was they diverted the river over here. When they divert the river, the
28:46 volume of water drops and all the Calaldid, all the uh Persian soldiers
28:52 went through the gates under the water because they went down to knee height. So they're able to go underneath and it
28:59 was captured without a single shot being fired. They killed Belshaza. Do you know
29:04 there are parts of the city that didn't even know new party had taken over for three days. That's how bloodless it was.
29:10 A very clever man called Cyrus the Great. And this lesson that God wants to
29:16 impress us this morning is this pernicious problem that is our problem. Not just vshaza. It is us. It is us just
29:23 the same as we find significance in so many other things in our life. It is also pride that is the poison of our
29:30 soul. Not seeing that everything you are or everything you have is a gift of
29:35 grace. That is pride. Um you what is the
29:41 Danielic interpretation of pride? Chap chapter 4. You will be made to eat like
29:47 an ox, grass like an ox. You will be wet with the due of heaven. Seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know
29:53 that the most high rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he wills. That
29:59 is the definition because you see as Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 4 says it came all this came to neb Nebuchadnezzar at
30:06 the end of 12 months. He was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. And the king answered and said, "Is this
30:13 is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal
30:19 residence for the glory of my majesty?" The moment he says these words, "It's mine. It's my majesty. It's my glory."
30:26 Then the voice from while the words were still on the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven. Oh king
30:32 Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you. The moment he said these words, the kingdom
30:39 was taken from him. So pride is basically putting yourself as a man-made
30:44 man. All the gifts that you have are your own. Let me ask you a question. How many of us here struggle with pride in
30:51 your life? Put your hands up. Tell me honestly only one, two, three, four, five, five
30:57 fellas. Okay, six. Okay, maybe 10 fellas. Okay. How many of you here honestly
31:04 don't like proud people? You say kaki really don't like proud people. Put your hands up. Wow. Much more. Isn't it
31:12 fantastic? We all don't like proud people, but we're not proud people, right? Um, mere Christianity. Uh, CS
31:20 Lewis writes these words. There is no fault that makes a man more popular and no fault which we are more unconscious
31:28 of in ourselves. So, the rest of you did put your hands up. You all have pride, but you don't know. And then you know
31:34 what he writes? And the more we have it in ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.
31:42 So all of you who put your hands up that you don't like people with pride is because you have pride. Because you've
31:47 got competing pride, isn't it? It is a very pernicious disease. Uh uh there's a
31:53 story I told of a a very successful salesman, real estate agent. You know how he sells it? He just takes a man to
31:60 the various house. You know this house your neighbor said you couldn't afford it. It takes him to another house you know all this your neighbor say you
32:05 cannot afford it the moment you say that the fellow quickly buy right because pride I is is basically
32:13 competitive isn't it it is absolutely competitive uh CS Lewis writes it he says pride gets in gets no pleasure of
32:21 having something only out of having it more than the next person I must be
32:27 richer cleverer more beautifuler than somebody else then is worth it. But
32:35 if I'm rich and I'm the only person in the world, then that's not pride. Story was told of a woman who was basically in
32:41 church and he called the pastor for a meeting. He said, "I've got a terrible besetting sin. I don't know how to get rid of it. I I every time I come to
32:47 church, I'm aware of this sin I can't control. Every time in church, I look around the whole congregation and all the women, they're not as pretty as me.
32:55 They all look like dogs, you know, compared to me. I I every time I go in and I just keep on looking at them and I
33:01 just can't help feeling, you know, they cannot compare my beauty. What can I do about this sin? Pastor set it down, took
33:07 a hand in his hand and says, you know, that one is not a sin. That's just a mistake.
33:15 Anyway, so pride is competitive. Uh let me look at uh here.
33:23 Nebuchadnezzar attacks Jerusalem and he steals 5,100
33:29 golden goblets from it's recorded in Ezra in in the treasury of the temple.
33:35 The fellow is scared you know he keeps it in his treasury never touch it. What for you steal? You don't touch. His son is better than him. He takes it out to
33:41 drink, right? He drinks just to show that he's better. My father can steal but I can drink. What for you steal? Put down
33:47 there. I must enjoy. Ma second generation oil that you must enjoy. Uh so he's a competitive because I'm better
33:54 than my father stupid save all this money I bend the money isn't that isn't
33:60 that the different generation the first generation will save save your father father will never spend right son will
34:05 spend like water actually the son is clever pride makes you vulnerable look at this
34:11 this is the the United States presidential election she says Donald you have paid no federal income tax and
34:18 he says because I'm smart and she says oh you're so smart you
34:24 don't pay for the troops you don't pay for the poor you don't pay for the government you pray how and you want to be president of United States see it
34:31 becomes very vulnerable isn't it pride the center of pride is the center of all
34:38 our evils pride makes you anxious you know why because you believe why are you
34:43 anxious every you wake up today you read oh the yellow shirt fight with the the the the red shirt and you worry that
34:49 that that that something will happen in this country, your children can't earn a living. You know why? Because you think God is not in control. You think you're
34:56 cleverer than God. Because you're cleverer than God, therefore you are anxious. Law, that's a problem. That's
35:02 pride. You wake up morning and you feel, "Oh, I'm very insignificant." All right? Because you compare yourself
35:09 to your neighbor who drives BMW, you drive Proton. So I'm insignificant, but I should be more significant. And that
35:15 is the feeling of your inferiority complex. You wake up in the morning and you find that I've got unresolved guilt.
35:22 When I was young, I hated my mother. Right? And then your the the the psychiatrist will tell it's okay.
35:27 Everybody hates their mother at some stage. So, and then your mother forgives you,
35:33 your father forgives you. Why can't you forgive yourself? You can't forgive yourself. You know why? Because of pride. Because because you must earn it.
35:41 Because you cannot earn it. So therefore, you've got unresolved guilt. We've got pride at the center of
35:46 bitterness. Why are you hating some people in church or bitter against some people in church? Uh why? Because they
35:52 do differently. For example, okay, let's say Basimo went to Steamboat the other day uh at Sunway. There's this beautiful
35:58 place in Sunway. And you go there and you only pay if you're above 60 years old, right? You pay 23 ringgit. You eat
36:05 scallops, whatever you want. 23 ringgit. You're under 60, you pay $46. Our friend
36:11 went and paid 23. I pastor man does that
36:18 horrible you get bitter, judgmental, angry. You know why? Because you would never do that, right? You would never do
36:25 that. You're better than him. See, pride is like that. Pride, your bitterness and judgmentalism comes in because you're
36:31 better than the person. You think you're better than the person and that sets in. We've got superiority complex and and
36:38 inferiority complex because we're so focused on ourselves. Pride is competitive and we're looking at other
36:43 people. You see, so this is pride at the basic core of our Christian spirit. Even we call ourselves Christian, but these
36:49 are the things that that that destroy the church and each other.
36:55 Pride is described as a weed of the soul. You know weeds you pull pull pull, you leave one root behind, it comes back
37:02 again. You find one crack in the ground, the weed will go there. It'll start to grow. And the worst thing about pride is
37:09 that the danger of pride that feeds on goodness. The more good you are, the more money you pay for your steamboat, the prouder you are. I'm so proud of
37:17 being so humble. Isn't it? That's right. It's a disaster.
37:23 It's a weed. It grows everywhere. It pervades and poisons the human spirit. And we need to understand how pride
37:31 works and poisons our souls and relationships and pray. And how do we actually get rid
37:37 of it? Mere Christianity. C. Lewis wrote, "A proud man is always looking down on things and people." And of
37:44 course, as long as you're looking down, you cannot see something that's above you. That's the whole problem with pride. You look at everything, you look
37:49 down on people, you cannot look up. And it causes spiritual blindness. Here, you actually have pride.
37:55 Causes heresy. First of all, you don't like the things that the Bible says. You don't like all these bits about
38:00 suffering, carrying a cross, right? You only like the butts, but about Abraham's promise. You'll inherit the land. You
38:06 have prosperity. And so therefore you have true God but you false worship. And if you engage in heresy the next step
38:13 will be idolatry because then you got false god but true worship. And if you engage any further then you've got
38:19 witchcraft or new age where you got false god but false worship as well. It is a cascade that moves right down
38:24 because you're simply unable to accept that this Christianity is unwieldy. It
38:30 doesn't work. I think I know better. And we will not submit to God's word because of our
38:35 pride. Romans although they knew God, they didn't honor him or give thanks to him but became futile in thinking and
38:42 the foolish hearts were darkened claiming to the wise and became fools exchanged the glory of immortal gods for
38:48 images resembling mortal gods and birds and animals and creeping things. It is our pride that causes spiritual
38:55 blindness. The cure for pride was found in King Nebuchadnezzar. And he said these words, "At the end of
39:02 the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes to the heavens, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the most
39:08 high and praise and honor him who lives forever." He looked and gave honor to
39:15 the only living God. What about us? In the New Testament, Paul writes,
39:20 "Whatever gain I had, I count as loss for the sake of Christ." Indeed, I count
39:25 everything as loss because of my surpassing worth of knowing Christ my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the
39:32 loss of all things and counted them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from
39:38 the law, but that comes through faith in Christ Jesus from God that depends on faith. Which means Paul says, I'm going
39:45 to look back at all my bank accounts. I'm going to look back at all my career. I'm going to look back at all my family
39:51 and I say all that is rubbish. I want to go to the banquet with empty
39:56 hands. I'm I'm poor. I'm crippled. I'm blind.
40:01 That's the only way. The gospel puts all of us at the same field. The gospel is
40:07 not competitive. Maybe you compete to see how ugly you are. But the more ugly you are, the more
40:12 grace you receive. It's the other way around. We should be boasting how ugly we are rather how clever we are. Because
40:20 the the the more ugly you are, the more grace you receive. That's the opposite difference. So the gospel is a cure for
40:26 our pride. So therefore, if you walk around with pride, how do we know that
40:31 we've got this gospel? The gospel has changed our life. We know we have this gospel when we lose our anxiety because
40:39 we're at peace. We don't throw God because God doesn't know what he's doing.
40:44 We actually have no problem with insignificance because people snub you,
40:50 say something bad against you, say how ugly you are. It's okay because God loves me and God finds me beautiful.
40:57 That's changed. Or if unresolved guilt, I don't have that anymore because God
41:04 has forgiven me. I don't have bitterness anymore. You know why? Because what he
41:10 did, Masimo, I'd probably done worse. only thing you don't know. Ah, so
41:17 therefore the bitterness goes away. Superiority complex, inferiority complex, all that goes away simply
41:22 because we don't have to keep on trying to be a self-made man to earn our way to
41:28 justify our lives because it's all done for us by Christ. That's why Paul says,
41:33 "Everything I've done, I count as rubbish except what Christ has done for me." So
41:40 the gospel brings you know what Jesus says to you come to me all ye who are heavy burdened. You know why you're
41:46 heavy burdened? Because you're carrying your own bulock card. You're carrying your all your your your financial uh
41:52 achievements, your intellectual progress, everything. You're carrying your own significance in a bulockart. And it's really really tiring
41:59 isn't it? And the government changed the rules so many times and it threatens your wealth. It's really really tired.
42:04 Come to him you who are heavy laden. The last lesson is from Daniel 5. It says
42:10 power. We need to recognize in this time of political turmoil in our country, we
42:16 really have to recognize the source of true power. And if you look at the book of Daniel, Cyrus the Great comes into at
42:25 AD 12th October AD uh BC 3 539 and he takes over the city without a
42:32 single shot being fired. And then Daniel probably, this is imaginary. Daniel
42:37 being 80 something years of age takes the Bible, a copy of the book of Isaiah,
42:42 and he runs and runs to serious. Oh, you're here. Okay, let me read to you
42:47 this. Hey, this book written once 175 years
42:53 before the Lord, thus says the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus. Hey, your name here. written 175 years ago whose right
43:00 hand I have grasped to subdue the nations before him to lose the belts that make the kings incontinent to open
43:07 doors before him that gates may not be closed. I will go before you and level the exalted places. I will break into
43:13 pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes in secret places that you may
43:20 know that it is I, the Lord of God of Israel, who call you by your name. Amazing, isn't it?
43:27 For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel, my chosen, I call you by your name. I name you, though you do not know
43:33 me. I am the Lord. There's no other beside me. There is no God. I equip you. Though you do not know me, that the people may know that from the rising of
43:40 the sun from the west, and that there's none besides me, I am the Lord and there's no other. I form light, create
43:46 darkness, I make well-being, and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things.
43:51 If you walked into that Babylon and they showed you a letter written on 75 years
43:56 before that and your name is there and everything you did in your life is all there. What would you think? That is power.
44:05 In fact, it impressed him so much that do you know he's one of the few people who are non-Christians who actually
44:11 write in the Bible. The book of Ezra this is what Cyrus writes. Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of
44:19 heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in
44:25 Judah. Whoever is amongst all of you's people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in
44:30 Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, he is the God who is in Jerusalem. Imagine a
44:36 non-Christian king now writes in the Bible that God has given me the mandate
44:42 and he allows 10,000 of the Jews to go back and rebuild and he also give money.
44:48 That's why the proverbs say the king's heart is a stream of water in the hands of the Lord. He turns it to wherever he
44:54 wills. You must understand the source of true power. All too often we get depressed. You read a newspaper, nothing
45:01 can be done. is as if we're absolutely powerless and outside there the red shirt fighting the yellow shirt after
45:07 that no shirt will come you know you know so what what is this because
45:14 you don't understand the source of true power the moment Cyrus comes in he takes the place God tells him hey I already
45:20 planned all this for you you don't know me but I know you the most important thing when is not whether you know thing
45:26 is whether God knows you right and and and and the writing is always in the world all
45:31 of us whoever who we are. It's numbered. It's weighed and divided. And then years later on, greatest king in the area was
45:38 Nebuchadnezzar, right? Years later on, we have a new Nebuchadnezzar, Saddam Hussein. And he actually thought he's
45:46 the new Nebuchadnezzar. He was so obsessed. He rebuilt this uh city of
45:51 Babylon under his own name. He put a palace there, which is this. And you
45:56 know, he printed coins. Look at the coins. Somebody's face. Nebuchadnezzar. Whose
46:01 face is this? Ah, Merryill's face. Closer. Is it Merryill's face? Merryill
46:08 don't have mustache. So, it must be Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein is next to Nebuchadnezzar because he knew that
46:14 he was a new new Nebuchadnezzar. And what happens to Neb to him years later
46:21 on numbered weighed divided. I could put
46:26 you Hitler. I could put you anybody any political figure including ones present
46:32 there will be numbered weighed and it will be divided this is prophetic okay
46:40 nobody escapes the almighty god it will come whatever you think whether cash is
46:46 king or whatever land is king or whatever king is king you'll be weighed you'll be numbered and you'll be divided
46:53 one day why must we know the truth true source of power. We must know the true source
46:59 of power because we apply in our daily lives not to make you feel better. You know why you need to to to the true know
47:06 the true source of power? Because this is a New Testament church in Acts. They were being first gospel being preached.
47:13 3,000 came to know Christ. Everybody's talking about Jesus. The authorities are very upset. They couldn't catch Peter
47:19 and the gang. They threatened them and they are frightened. For the first time in life, they're being persecuted.
47:25 Right? And and then they start to pray. This is how they pray. And they heard it. They lifted up their voices together
47:31 to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made heaven and earth and the sea and
47:36 everything?" And the first thing they start in the prayer is what? Sovereign Lord. They recognize where the power comes from. Number two, for truly in
47:44 this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you appointed both Herod and Pontius
47:52 Pilate along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan has dis predestined
47:59 to take place. And now Lord look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue in to speak your word with
48:06 all boldness. You see whatever happened they conspired and they killed Jesus
48:13 Christ. But as all this was predestined and so therefore because you know the source of true power whatever happened
48:20 what is this to do is to fill your servants with boldness to speak the word. You see knowing the source of true
48:27 power is not just to give you comfort so tomorrow you dare drive to work. knowing
48:32 the source of true power so that we could still share the gospel with all boldness no matter who we seek in this
48:39 land. That's how you apply this. Lastly is a challenge. I'm going to leave you with a
48:45 challenge. Very important challenge. The challenge is a writing on the wall. You go to the wall of our society today and
48:52 it's all written with rubbish. We don't really have a wall. We actually have Facebook. We have Twitter. We got
48:60 Instagram. and you go there, everybody writes all sorts of crap there, right?
49:05 What should we do as Christians? Should we be like some of our predecessors? You take this thing and you go around and
49:11 say the party is going to end. Stop it. The night the end of time is going to
49:16 come. You are going to get it. The canton say later yoke up yet. Just you watch you go and party. You go
49:22 and do all sorts of nasty things. God is going to get you. And the job of every Christian is to go to everywhere to the
49:28 highways and the byways to the Kongs and all and tell them God's going to get you. Is that how we're supposed to do it?
49:36 Well, let's look in the New Testament. The finger of God is only used several
49:42 times in the Bible. In the Old Testament is used in uh Exodus where the finger of
49:48 God is used to talk about the plagues, the 10 plagues. Finger of God is also
49:53 used in Daniel. But there's only one place in the New Testament where the
49:58 finger of God is found. And this is in the book of Luke. In the book of Luke, Jesus sends out his 70 disciples. And he
50:07 sends them out to all the villages where they preach peace between man and God,
50:12 grace for the gospel of Jesus Christ, healing and casting out demons. That's
50:18 where the finger of God is used. And mind you, use finger. God doesn't use his arm you know by the time he use his arm you m he only use finger only last
50:26 fingers or more and and everything is happening and and the Pharisees get very upset and because things are being
50:31 turning around and then this is the words but if by the finger of God that I cast
50:39 out demons then the kingdom of God has come upon you
50:44 and and it's very insightful uh uh Earl Ellis writes in his uh commentary to uh
50:50 Luke that it is the finger of God that actually reveals the coming of the
50:56 kingdom. The finger of God that writes so that the kingdom of God has come upon you. If you actually see lives being
51:02 transformed, you see poor being fed, the sick being healed, demons being cast
51:07 out, societies being changed, then that's the finger of God. And you
51:13 know who is the writing on the wall? It's us. Because when Jesus Christ left,
51:19 he sent the Holy Spirit. They waited 50 days till Pentecost and the Holy Spirit came upon the entire church. And the
51:27 church of Jesus Christ has been the writing on the wall. All the Instagrams, all the Facebook and all the stuff that
51:32 you read in the wall, people don't want to read that. People want to read what you write because it makes a difference.
51:40 You look at a country like Pakistan which is full of strife and terrorism
51:46 and people get mowed down and killed in 2009. Suicide bombers went into a Muslim
51:52 school full of girls. And right at the door just before
51:58 you enter the courtyard where 400 girls were as they tried to enter this man Pas
52:06 M a Christian man jumped in front of the suicide bomber fought with him and they
52:12 both died. 2009 CNN article said Christian man gave his life to save
52:20 Muslim students. Fantastic isn't it? That's a writing on the wall. If you go to Iraq today, this
52:27 is from Gospel Herald published last year. Thousands of Muslim in northern Iraq converting to Christianity after
52:34 witnessing ISIS horror. If you are in northern Iraq and there are more than a million and a half
52:40 refugees, you don't want to read any other writing in the world that tells you all this political crap. You know
52:46 what you want to read? You want to read about love. You want to read about forgiveness. And of all the Christian
52:53 aid organizations who go there who give aid and blankets and food they say why
52:59 do you do this is because of Jesus. And because of that they want give me a Bible I want to read. And a lot of them
53:06 are asking for Bibles. That's the writing on the wall. The challenge to us brothers and sisters in Christ today is
53:13 that God is looking at us to be the writing on the wall. Whether you're purveys mass in front of the schoolyard
53:21 or any part of the world, the world is looking for writing. Are we is our writing clear enough for the world to
53:28 see and read? Because they're just looking for love. They're looking for forgiveness. They're looking for grace.
53:36 Everybody else is selling them guns and we need to tell them about our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
53:46 Father Lord, we just thank you for your word when we go home
53:54 with a challenge that we each of us seek our hearts and
53:59 really find that when the shadow of death covers us, what are we really living for? What do we get up in the
54:06 morning for? What motivates us? What fills us with the kind of satisfaction?
54:13 Is it the party which Belshazza is throwing or is it the banquet which
54:19 we're looking forward to Jesus Christ? Pray oh Lord as we grapple with our
54:25 problems with pride that each of us learn to lay up all that we have in the feet of Christ for his burden is light
54:33 and that we don't have to prove ourselves anymore. We don't have to compete anymore because we are in the
54:39 bosom of our king. And lastly, oh Lord, we pray that as we go home, we will be that writing. Where there is hatred, let
54:46 us show peace. Where there's pain, let us show love. And in that way, the
54:52 writing on the wall will be clear. It'll be bright. And the people in this world,
54:57 in this country, will read this writing and they will find the true God and honor the true God. We pray that we will
55:05 be the writing that points people to the true God. Pray oh Lord that will be our
55:10 significance that will be our pride that will be our destiny. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen.
55:17 [Music] Can I invite all of you to stand to
