Our pride, as delicate as it is, can be content to feed upon that stench and corruption which a little humility makes us nauseate…The character of man is, proud sinner. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Throughout the Scriptures we see person after person and event after event that demonstrates to us that the character of man is that of a proud sinner and in reality nothing more. We see this in open sin and we see this in professing religion as well. The devil was lifted up against God by pride and this is true in the heart of all his (the devil’s) children. Those children are all those who are not born from above by the sovereign grace of God.
In the story of Nebuchadnezzar we see a man proud of what he had done and yet he had not seen the hand of God in giving him what he had, so Nebuchadnezzar reflected on things and looked to his own might and power. “The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’” (Daniel 4:30). While the Westminster Shorter Catechism had not been written at the time, it is still the case that he should have known that his purpose in life was to glorify God and do all for His glory rather than his own. The pride of man puts him at war with God and God will bring down the pride at some point and time. Nebuchadnezzar was indeed a proud sinner. A person with even a small degree of true humility is sickened at the thought of doing what Nebuchadnezzar did.
Belshazzar was the son of Nebuchadnezzar and was throwing a great party after his father died and he was not king. He had the vessels from the Temple of God brought out and they were using them to drink from. This was when the hand appeared on the wall and wrote a message. No one could read it so Daniel was brought out to interpret it. His words to Belshazzar were about his father” “But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him” (Dan 5:20). The words of Daniel were quite clear and to the point. When Nebuchadnezzar was proud, God brought him down and took his glory from him. He continues in verse 21: “He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes.” Daniel set out the history of Belshazzar in a pointed way and left no room for doubt as to whom the true God is.
Daniel then pointed directly at Belshazzar and spoke to the king directly: “Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, 23 but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and your ways, you have not glorified” (5:22-23). The point was and is very clear. Belshazzar was a proud sinner and he had ignored what had happened to his dad and instead had lived for pleasure and for his own glory. In doing so he had exalted himself against the Lord of heaven. A person with a small amount of true humility would indeed be sickened at the thought of that Belshazzar did.
In one sense the Bible is a record of proud sinners and then a humble Savior saving some of those proud sinners from their pride and self-exaltation. No one is truly saved that is not saved from the reigning power of pride and self-exaltation. The desire for glory and honor drives many professions today, perhaps as much as greed. The desire for honor drives some people in virtually all they do. Yet the Christian is to deny self and seek the glory and honor of God in all s/he does. The difference is not small, but perhaps so great that it cannot be truly measured other than in the eyes of God. The unregenerate proud sinner can seek self and the glory of self in the world or in religion. The regenerated person with some true humility is simply nauseated by self being praised or honored instead of the Lord of glory.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment