Robert Morris – The Stubbornness Of Pride – The Kings of Babylon

so we're in a series called the keys a Babylon and we're talking about the four keys that rained during the seven-year exile when Israel was in captivity of Babylon and today we're going to talk about Belshazzar now let me just let you know if you do some study on this that Belshazzar was ruling he's Daniel chapter 5 we read Daniels 1 through 4 last week parts of it but he actually wasn't the key he was the crown prince the king was Nabu nidus let me say the Gihon Nabu nidus nabonidus was actually though traveling most of the time and building altars for the God little got little G of seein that was the that was the name of the God he served seeing and he traveled around Arabia for about 10 years doing that mainly in Arabia but he traveled other places so he put his son in as the king of Babylon he was called the king but actually nabonidus was the key guys ever remember wouldn't follow me okay so the Bible tells us about Belshazzar because Belshazzar from 556 BC to 539 BC was the king seventeen years even though his father was actually key but his mother was never canoes daughter so he's the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar that we started with last week alright so what we're actually going to do is Daniel 5 is so good we're gonna read the whole chapter and I'm gonna make comments throughout it isn't that something though that in church we're gonna read the Bible I was talking to one one of the guest speakers and he said it do you have any requests I said just make sure you read the Bible so just make sure somewhere you get the Bible and I was just joking with him obviously he was a great Bible teacher but I'll make comments throughout and then I've got three points but this first part will take almost half the message and then we'll hit the three points okay all right so Daniel five verse one Belshazzar the key made a great feast for a thousand of his lords so think about that a thousand of his rulers by the way babylon became the leading city in the world and had the-they most historians believe it was the largest seat in the world had a population about two hundred thousand people so sprits pretty big a thousand of his wards and drank wine in the presence of the thousand while he tasted the wine Belshazzar gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem now now before we go on let me come in on that a minute because many people then think well it says his father was never kanessa cultural historical and biblical language will call the grandfather the great-grandfather any ancestor the father I want you to think about all the times that God said your father's plural well it didn't mean they had multiple fathers it meant they had multiple father's grandfather great for him you follow me God would also identify himself even as your father's Abraham Isaac and Jacob okay so and let me just say something because some of your father's but some of you or like I am you've so good at being a father you're now a grand father I mean I'm not just a father I'm grand edit this one's you know and then some of our apostolic elders James Robison pastor Olin and pastor Jack they've been so good at it they've now become great grand fathers okay everyone get this okay so when it says your father never listened to father Nebuchadnezzar it's telling that his grandfather okay all right he had taken from the temple that which have in Jerusalem oh I needed to mention that when Nebuchadnezzar raided the land he took the vessels that had been dedicated to the people and brought them into Babylon and what you think about now Belshazzar gets things that were dedicated to God from the temple and took them for his own use this is the tipping point with God when God said that's it that's enough because you have taken what belongs to me and watch what he does he and his king the king and his wards his wives and his concubines might drink wine from them or drink from them then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple of the house of God which had been in Jerusalem and the King as Lords his lives his concubines drank from them they drank wine and praised the gods little G of gold and silver bronze and iron wood and stone now you could remember that probably gold and silver bronze and iron wood and stone because in a moment you're gonna see that God gives daniel divine revelation like this because daniel is not at this party alright in the same hour they're drinking from the vessels that belong to God by the way I don't have time to develop that but think about that we have this treasure in earthen vessels where the vessels that belong to God now okay alright so in the same hour this is the story you've heard this but this is where it happened the fingers of a man's hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace the King saw now this is a word that jumped out at me and the word see here and no jumped out at me and that's what we're going to talk about in a moment the key saw the part of the hand that wrote then the Kings countenance changed I would I would assume it did and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other I like how God likes to freak people out I did the study idea that was this was the first time knees knocking together had ever been mentioned in any historical document now possibly you might find something I couldn't find any other place but you know how you say you got so afraid my knees knocked together okay we leave and I guess most would believe this is where it comes from all right the King cried aloud to bring in the astrologers the Chaldeans and the soothsayers say never can is urdu that as well when he couldn't interpret something the King spoke saying to the wise men of Babylon whoever reads this writing and tells me its interpretation shall be clothed with a purple have a chain of gold around his neck and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom now just to remind you the reason he would be the third ruler is because Belshazzar was actually the second ruler the first was his father who was out doing these building these temples to the god of Seth okay so that's why now all the kings wise men came but they could not read the right ear or make known to the king its interpretation then King Belshazzar was greatly troubled his countenance was changed and his lords were astonished the Queen so this is his mother who is also just remember his father's actually the key this is his mother who's the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar the Queen because of the words of the keys and his wards came to the banquet hall so she wasn't at this debauchery that was going on the Queen spoke saying O king live forever do not let your thoughts trouble you nor let your countenance change there is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy God she stole not Daniel and in the days of your father think about again she's talking about Nebuchadnezzar his grandfather light and understanding a wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him and King Nebuchadnezzar your father your father the key she's basically saying that because she could have been killed because he had that power to do that and so she's trying to be very respectful but she's also trying to say don't forget who my dad is okay your father the King made him chief that's Daniel of the magicians astrologers Chaldeans and soothsayers in as much as an excellent spirit knowledge understanding interpreting dreams search solving riddles and explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel whom the King named Belle Tisch as art now do you see the similarities between the two names Belshazzar and Belteshazzar kay Belle you most of you heard this Belle it means God in their language because they said when they were many times Israel worshiped Bailes okay so it means God but in this timeframe they felt like that the key was God even though there were the gods he was the main God so Belle means protector of the gods or protector of the key so nabonidus names his son protector of the king so he can go out and do these temples and basically you'll protect my team ship while I'm gone but never canoes er names Belteshazzar Daniel Belteshazzar belteshazzar means protector of the King's wife now think about how God can orchestrate the circumstances because the Queen who's the King's wife comes and she could be killed and yet God has already planned that Daniel who would interpret the dream would be called in Chaldean in Babylonian language and Catholic County and language but in Babylon the one who protects the King's wife and this is kind of amazing how all this stuff fits together she says now let Daniel be called and he will give the interpretation then Daniel was brought in before the king the King spoke and said to Daniel are you that Daniel now watch who is one of the captives from Judah he's basically trying to remind him of his place you're you're a slave so you better remember your place here he's really scared of it one of the captives from junuh who my father the king brought from Judah I have heard of you okay this is another word that jumped out at me the bells Belshazzar had seen the things of God he had heard of the things of God you know what that reminds me I never gave you the title of the message and and I did that on purpose just to get intrigue so the title is the stubbornness of pride so we talked last week about the seductiveness of pride but now we're talking like the stubbornness of pride and we're gonna show you because of Belshazzar I think you represent stubbornness okay alright because he had saw he'd heard and he known but he didn't really believe he'd heard all right so he says I've heard of you that the Spirit of God is in you and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you now the wise men the astrologers have been brought in before me that they should read this writing and make known to me again see here and know or the three words of jump document its interpretation but they could not give the interpretation of King and I've heard of you that you can give interpretations and explain enigmas now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation you shall be clothed purple have a chain of gold around your neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom daniel answer and said before the king let your gifts be for yourself and give your rewards to another yet I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation now I'm just say so basically what he's saying is I'll do this but I don't need you to try to bribe me because God takes care of me very pure here in Daniel you're gonna see later in the passage I'll just go and explain it that he actually takes the the the robe and the the purple robe the gold and and is made third in the kingdom I think he does it because once he interprets it he realizes Belshazzar is about to be killed and a new Kings coming in and he needs he wants the guy to say now why are you one of the rulers why are you the third guy and I really believe he wants to be able to give counsel to this new king for the purposes of God so I think his heart's pure in this I've I'm sure it is obviously verse eighteen O Keating the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty glory and honor and because of the majesty he gave him all peoples nations and languages trembled and fear before you now before I read this next line remember that Belshazzar was kind of sarcastic to Daniel he kind of spoke down to him he said are you one of the captives aren't you just a slave I've heard of you just want to remind you of your place watch Daniel because most people don't pick up on this he comes back at him with some sarcasm he stole not Nebuchadnezzar now he says whomever he wished he executed whomever he wished he kept alive whomever he wished he set up and whomever he wished he put down here's what you've saved you got to remember Belshazzar was not the key he was the crown prince he in essence was reminding Belshazzar of his place one of the reasons that Belshazzar I think was so stubborn was because he wanted to be the key but he never really was and he kept being reminded of that all the time so Daniel I personally believe decides you know never kanessa who was the real king he did what he wanted to do he just kind of throws a little jab in there alright but then he goes on about Nebuchadnezzar but when his heart was lifted up verse 26 and his spirit was hardened in pride that's what we've been talking about he was deposed from kingly throne and they took his glory from him then he was driven from the Sun some men his heart was made like the Beast and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys they fed him with grass like oxen his body was wet with the dew of heaven till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men and appoints over at whomever he chooses but you his son again the word father could be translated ancestor the word son could be translated descendant you his descendant or grandson you his son Belshazzar have not humbled your heart although you knew all this again I'm going to hit these three words you saw it you heard it and you knew it but because of your pride you were stubborn that's what he's saying and you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven they have brought the vessels of his house before you and you and your Lord your wives and your concubines have drunk wine from them now watch the very same statement of earlier and you have praised the gods of silver and gold bronze and iron wood and stone ok how did Daniel know that except by divine revelation because he Daniel wasn't at this party they had to call it and remember so it's amazing he knew what they done then here are these three words and this is the first time they stood out to me in the passage as I went back and read the passage then they stood out to me more he said you praise these gods watch which do not see or hear or know here's what he's saying you have praised gods that can't see you they can't hear you and they can't know you personally but I know a god that can see you that can hear you and that can know you and not only that you can see him you can hear him and you can know him you can see his works and you can hear his voice and you can know him person so that's that's where we're gonna we're gonna focus in on all right and the God who holds your breath in his hand and owns all your ways you have not glorified then the fingers of the hand were sent from him and this writing was written and this is the inscription that was written me meanie Tekel you parson meanie meanie tech or you parson now we're gonna keep reading but let me explain you what these mean okay and this is why most people believe that Daniel easily just saw the interpretation in the Hebrew language there are no consonants I mean no vowels for me there are only 22 constants now let me please please hear me they've added vowels to be able to understand it better but back then there were no consonants so the way you read was simply like meanie you just saw the m and n also hebrew is written from right to left this is probably why the Chaldeans and the soothsayers couldn't understand it and God wrote it right to left and immediately he saw it in M tkl and PRS parsing the U of the last word simply means and that's all it means so it was meaning meaning saying it twice to get your attention Tekel and then it would be and parson are perez actually PRS in the Hebrew okay all right so this is what it means and I'm gonna read it to you in just a moment you'll see it but I want to tell you first M n means minor in Hebrew it means it is it refers to let me say that it refers to 50 shekels but it means numbered that's what it actually means minor means numbered Tekel is the word for shekel tkl means it refers to one shekel and a shekel the if the meaning of it is weighed in other words when you weigh something to see how heavy it is weighed parson or Perez PRS in Hebrew means divided it actually referred to a half shekel half it was a shekel was half in half but the word itself means divided okay so let me tell you what these words again me numbered weighed and divided and the hand is in there in the U numbered weighed and divided now watch now watch as we read on you'll build sis but you might not ever see this if you hadn't studied some Hebrew had someone tell you about this is the interpretation of each word meaning God has numbered your kingdom and finished it Tekel you have been weighed that's what it means remember in the balances and found wanting Perez which is again the Hebrew for parson your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians then Belshazzar gave the command and they clothed Daniel with purple put a chain of gold around his neck made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom that very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain and Darius the Mede Darius but the Medes and Persians have come together Cyrus is a Persian Darius is a Meade Darius the Mede received the kingdom being about 62 years old all right so what are we gonna talk about we won't talk about stubbornness which comes from pride please remember this Babylon many people don't realize comes from the Tower of Babel that's where it comes from Babel means confusion when you put the own on the end of it it means sown like s so w en not like you sow something needle thread but like you plant something soil means so in confusion if you want to babble again means confusion think about have you ever talked about it have you ever said something like that person just babbles on and on Babylon's they're good eaters right there now I'm not calling them a bad person I'm just simply saying you probably won't be able to understand what they're saying it's just like it's a Tower of Babel they just babble on and on all right so that's where it comes from so here's point number one about Belshazzar he saw but he didn't look he saw but he didn't look Moses it said saw the burning bush and turned aside to look Belshazzar saw probably as a little boy all these things that happen to his grandfather he saw that God was at work he saw the true God he knew the true God but he never stopped to look for himself to have a personal encounter with God this uh talks about that he went and got the holy vessels and he brought him in okay obviously this refers to the tithe obviously he takes what he's holy and he brings it in and uses it for himself now I spent four weeks talking about stewardship pastor Jerry spent four weeks talking about other than the last week when he was sick talking about giving I'm not gonna focus on this a lot but I do want to say this okay in my life I have shown people versus straight out of the Bible about tightening and here's what I feel like they do they see them but they don't look it shocks me it shocks me bring the tithe into the storehouse and yet they don't type here's one Jesus himself in the New Testament so this blows the way every argument you could ever have by the way first of all it's in the new because most people say what's in the top anil all right I gotta show people a scripture from the new from the words of Jesus where Jesus himself guess what he says listen to this you ought to tithe that's pretty clear now the non-tithers aren't laughing right now and if you want to know where it is it's Matthew 23:23 so it's easy to remember 23:23 Matt first book of the New Testament you ought to he says you tithe on all these little spices but you neglect justice mercy and faith these you ought to have done without neglecting leaving the others undone so Jesus says y'all - okay now here's the thing though that's been a strength for me for thirty years but I understand if it's not a strength in your life but you could probably say well pastor Robert I've struggled in that area but you struggled in some areas - so I could point the finger right back at you listen to me yes you can't I never feel like that I'm preaching to you never I always feel like I'm preaching to us I feel like God gives a word to me for us it's for us so I struggle in some areas - and I've been honest about that one of the areas I've struggled in is eating right that's one there is I struggled in I I love ribs I love Bluebell I love potato chip I love that stuff and I've had people say - maybe your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and I've seen it but I haven't looked real closely at it so when I talk about tide they don't feel like there he isn't there okay I understand you have some areas here struggling and I have some areas let me say another way we have some areas that were stubborn in we all do follow me so I'm gonna give you a key that's gonna blow you away are you ready I'm about to give you a key to getting over stubbornness that will blow you away I promise if it doesn't blow your way I don't like you any more I'm just I'm time joking this gonna blow you away intimacy intimacy with God and others now I'm gonna give you a definition of intimacy that I don't think you'll ever forget you ready intimacy here it is here's a definition into me see in other words I am giving your permission to see into me you can't imagine what would happen if you got in a group a small group and you gave them permission to see into you here's the problem we don't do it because we think they would think man that's horrible what I see in that guy okay so let me just say by the way if you need if you think that you're horrible because we're all horrible on the inside so nobody thinks that we in the smoker nobody thinks you're horrible actually here's what they think Wow there are other horrible people in the world too we're all horrible do you follow me so when you become learn to be intimate with God and others so I remember in my own eating habits finally being intimate with God it's a mate in other words saying to God you can see into me okay so I said to God one day God I need to tell you something I don't know if you know this or not but when I'm tired I really like Bluebell Dutch chocolate and I like sour cream and onion potato chips together [Applause] it's that dr. pepper and peanuts that thinks that sweet-and-sour and so I told the Lord Lord you've probably never heard anyone say this but I can eat a whole bag of chips and a whole half gallon in one football game just want you to know I have a problem in this area and I want I need to talk to you about it I'll never forget the Lord said to me he said I know you do would you like for me to tell you why that's when I started getting victory he said would you like me to tell you why you eat when you're tired it was amazing so just the intimate okay so here's the second point he heard but he didn't listen he heard about Nebuchadnezzar eating grass he heard about Daniel interpreting dreams he heard about Shadrach Meshach and Abednego but it didn't make him he didn't it didn't do anything for him it didn't change his heart same way I've been stubborn so I can't spend much time on these points cuz I read so I want to get real straight to the point Christians can be stubborn for years I didn't pick up my dirty clothes off the floor I didn't because I was actually mad at Debbie she didn't know it she had noise man the reason I was mad is because for some reason she wouldn't just come right out and say would you pick your dirty clothes up I don't know why women do this but ladies I'm sorry but some of you do this this is what she would do she would say to me are these yours [Applause] you you know I'm not what I said what I said well I hope they are because if they're not I have some questions of my own just say what you won't woman but because she wasn't I just left them there that's called stubbornness well y'all following me here's number three he knew but he didn't learn now remember I said see here and no okay but notice the other three words I used look listen and learn he could have looked into God for himself he could have listened and not just her Debbie says to me many times you you you hear me but you don't listen to my heart listen to me don't just hear me listen to me and you can learn from it he had plenty of evidence so because I spent some a summary of the chapter I'm gonna go straight to the in part the the hell this happened in our I saw this all of our children were strong-willed but one turned his will to the Lord early but two of my children really didn't turn their will to the Lord until they were in their late teenage years and Debbie remember got saved at nine I got saved at 19 but we both made childhood commitments but she turned her will to the Lord so children can get saved but there a lot of times that they don't understand they really don't turn their will to Lord I believe that there are some of you here today that have never truly been saved I think you believe in Jesus but I don't think you ever really turned your will to the Lord and I think today's your day I got this so strong I want to give you my definition of stubbornness okay this is my definition stubbornness is your strong will turned toward yourself instead of God as a matter of fact strongly old is not bad if it's going in the right direction my son James was very strong-willed growing up we actually tried to use the word strong-willed instead of stubborn because we didn't want to speak something naked over but now our minds we knew he was stubborn we there was a time when I remember he had a ball cap he wore ball cap all the time and we said to him son we're going somewhere and you can't wear your ball cap and he said well I'm gonna wear my ball cap he's like eight or nine years old and so I tried reverse psychology okay that's a I don't know I shouldn't say what I was real safe but here's what I said okay then you're not gonna go and he said fine let's just let you us so so when as he got it to be an older teenager who's about a senior in high school I couldn't take anymore and we got into one of those fights one night now here's what I'm doing right now you know one of the reasons people love Gateway they stay tell me all the time I love that you're transparent okay intimacy into me you can see so we were having one of those James and I one of those fights and I finally said to him and I hate to say this but I said to him I really don't even want you live in here anymore because you will not listen to your mother and you won't listen to me and I'm tired of it and I'm gonna try to see if I can find another place for you to live that's how mad it was and he said that's fine with me and Debbie started crying and she said I will get on my knees and begged the two of you to stop being so stubborn because I don't want to lose my family and something happened in my heart as a believer and in James's heart as a person who truly had not submit is will yet and a few weeks later we noticed a change in James we just noticed a change we would go up to make sure he was asleep and his Bible would be open on his chest that he'd fallen asleep reading his Bible he started saying yes ma'am and yes sir he started being nice to his sister that's a miracle that's the miracle so you have to understand when he was a teenager he was one of those teenagers you couldn't fill up you ever had one of those so when we would eat he would just eat like this you know so we said to him at the dinner table one night we said James we are so proud of you because you've really changed in the last few weeks this is what he said it's probably because I got saved [Applause] we said you you got say yeah we said were you gonna tell us about it he said he does like this he reached over he took his drink I figured y'all notice [Applause] we didn't notice you know why because he turned his strong will to God there are some of you here that have never done that and you need to do it today

Channel: gatewaychurchtv

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Keywords: gateway, Gateway Church, gatewaypeople, Sermon, Jesus, God, Dallas, Texas, The Kings of Babylon, The Stubbornness of pride, Robert morris

Id: 3FnENg-Xi0s

Length: 37min 23sec (2243 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 18 2019