Sermon Transcript — September 30, 2006
Well brethren, what stands between us and God? There are several biblically correct answers to that question, but I'm going to focus in on one of them. What stands, or can stand, between us and God? What hinders us, or can hinder us, in serving God? Individually and collectively, the church of God, what in effect is our lifelong enemy?
God gives us many specific, but the one I'm going to focus on, I can say He gives us a specific answer to those questions quite clearly in the Bible. The "sermon on the mount" which is recorded in Matthew 5,6,7 has appropriately, I think, been called the constitution of Christianity, the constitution of the new covenant, and it contains foundational material for those who would serve God. And in the "sermon on the mount," Matthew 5 where we'll begin today, Jesus pronounced a blessing, actually some of the first words out of His mouth in His public ministry, one would think, and I think in this case one would be correct in thinking of foundational and highest importance, Matthew 5:3, Jesus pronounced a blessing.
Matthew 5:3 - He said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I think you could summarize the life of a Christian as being one who is desirous of entering the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, of being made by God into a new creation that can inherit the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. And the first description of such a person who will be in the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God out of Jesus' own mouth in this constitution of the new covenant is the description of somebody who is poor in spirit. And then two verses later:
Verse 5 - Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. So the flip side of the coin of the answer to my question is meekness and humility. The first side, the front side is pride.
What is it that comes between a person or can come between a person and God? Pride.
Now the opposite of pride is to be poor in spirit and to be meek. The apostle Paul warned the church in Corinth, and we'll see also in his other writings, the church in Colossae and other places, but he warned specifically against pride and he used the analogy of leaven. I think it was mentioned earlier on that we hear things seasonally, and we hear about pride and those sorts of things that a little leaven leavens the whole lump certainly in the spring of the year, but we're coming up now on another holy day, the Day of Atonement, which has to do a lot with the personification of that which comes between God and man, and Mr. Welty, I know, is going to talk at some length about Satan personally on the Day of Atonement. But the sermon today is about pride, and Paul talked about it in terms of being puffed-up.
Let's look at a few verses here in the book of ICorinthians in that regard. He warned against what he called a leavened spirit, a puffed-up spirit. Puffed-up with pride or as a manifestation of pride. There were puffed-up attitudes in the church at Corinth, a reflection of pride, a manifestation of pride, and it caused some very bad fruits among the brethren in that congregation. It caused selfishness; it caused or was manifested in divisiveness in that congregation and toleration for sin.
I Corinthians 8:1 - Now concerning the things offered to idols; We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. Now Godly knowledge properly absorbed, properly utilized doesn't puff up, but a person's sense of being knowledgeable, perhaps more knowledgeable than others, and of being very full of a sense of self-importance and of self- brilliance is what is being described here. Not all knowledge, not Godly knowledge properly, as I say, absorbed and properly utilized, but there's a sense in which knowledge, of being full of the awareness or appreciation of how brilliant we are, that's a manifestation of pride and that does puff up, but on the other hand, love edifies. Now love builds up, but knowledge puffs up.
Back in I Corinthians 4, Paul had something else to say:
I Corinthians 4:6 - Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. That comes real close to being the best definition, either biblically or from any other source of pride that there is. . . .to think beyond what is written. . . Now what is written about man? Man is of the earth. Man is earthy in his natural state. Man is of the dust and will return to the dust. One man of God said, "I'm a worm and no man."
Another man said, "I have been corrected by You far less than my sins deserve." What is written is a sense of how little we are in and of ourselves and of how totally we owe everything about us to God, our very existence to God. That's what is written, and to think beyond that is pride, is being puffed up.
Any sense of self-sufficiency, any sense of self-worth when compared to the greatness of God is pride, is being puffed-up. And it leads to contention. That's one of the fruits as we're going to see as we examine in the Bible about pride today, that it does lead to contention and strife. That's one of the chief fruits or manifestations of pride is contention and strife between and among people that should be close.
Now later in I Corinthians 4:18:
I Corinthians 4:18 - Now some of you are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. This theme over and over again as it relates to the Corinthian church, but it was written and recorded and preserved for the edification and the education of God's people throughout the ages. So we should not sit back and click our tongues and think how awful these Corinthians were. This should be a mirror that we can turn on number one, on self. Again, I Corinthians 5:2:
I Corinthians 5:2 - And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be take away from among you. Again we see a manifestation of pride, of being puffed up, and that is toleration for sin, of sometimes being more tolerant even then God and replacing His judgment for what seems right to us using carnal or human or fleshly wisdom and we end up tolerating sin in a way that God is not pleased with.
I mentioned that Corinth is not the only congregation to whom Paul wrote about this matter. Over in the book of Colossians Paul exhorted the Christians at Colossea not to succumb to the pride manifested in a different way, pride of trying to earn their own salvation by some method other than the one perfect way that God had designed and that was through Jesus Christ. But instead through a philosophy that found ways to be reconciled to God in their own minds other than through the blood of Christ and trusting God through Christ as a living Savior, not as a dead one, but through His blood reconciling and His life sanctifying us from within. Colossians 2:18, there was a lot of difficulty in this congregation of being infatuated with Greek philosophy and ways other than the simplicity of Christ as the way to salvation. And that again is a manifestation of pride, of finding an alternate way in our own minds, a better way than the simplicity of God's plan.
Colossians 2:18 - Let no one (cheat) defraud you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. Again, de-emphasizing the centrality of Christ as a reconciling sacrifice and a living Savior. There really isn't that much even though it's profound, there really isn't that much complicated about the plan of God, the centrality of Christ as a dying, reconciling sacrifice and a living, sanctifying Savior, but the human mind is capable of coming up with all kinds of add-ons and appendages to the point where philosophy nudges the truth of God off to the side, and that's what Paul was warning against here in this passage in the book of Colossians.
My purpose today is to examine with you in the word of God the subject of pride. It is the enemy, as I mentioned, of God and man. It comes between God and man. It cuts man off from God and the blessings that God desires to give to those who humbly on the other hand fighting pride, recognizing pride, deciding against pride, coming to Him and growing in His knowledge and His grace. And we are blessed, I was going to say, "lucky," there's no luck involved; I was going to use "fortunate," that's not the best word; we are blessed. Let's put it that way that God has revealed much to us in His word about this enemy called pride.
Now you and I today will benefit from this examination, in my opinion, only to the extent that we come to see first of all what pride is; we come to see a clear, perhaps a clearer concept then just sort of the pedestrian everyday notion we have which isn't totally wrong by any means. As we all came in the building today if I had given you a questionnaire to define pride, I think many, if not nearly all of you, would have come up with a very adequate definition, but if we drill down deeply into the scriptures, I think we'll come to a little bit further biblical definition understanding of pride.
So I think we'll benefit to the extent that we come to see what pride is in a fuller sense, that would be one benefit or way that we would benefit, and secondly, to come to understand how it manifests itself, that is what are its fruits, because sometimes they are very subtle. And thirdly, how greatly God hates pride, to come to a very deep appreciation through this examination today in the Bible of how greatly God hates pride. What a big ticket item pride is, and maybe as important as any of the other three, I think we will benefit, you and I, to the extent that we see it in ourselves.
It's kind of funny phenomenon; it isn't that hard to see pride in someone else. You can do it. I can do it. You can see it in me; I can see it in you. It's not really that hard. I'm not sure why that is so much, but it is more difficult to focus on the existence, fruit, manifestation, deep-seated roots of pride in number-one. That's a lot harder. That takes some effort. And to the extent that we do that, you know, take our focus away from the other guy and onto ourselves in this study, I think we can benefit from this time together looking at this subject.
I would be the first to admit this is not necessarily one of the lightest, easiest things to do, but I think we ought to preach and consider meat in due season. Now again, the author of pride, Satan, will be discussed in due course by Mr. Welty's sermon. We've talked about it. I know what's coming. I look forward to hearing it.
But this is just one of the manifestations of Satan, and there are other things that could be said and I'm sure he will touch on those, but this thing of pride is so easy to see in others but not so easy to see and hate in ourselves.
So let's start off with this statement: Pride, I believe the Bible shows, can be rightly described as the mother of all sins. I think it's the source of all sins. I think you can trace everything that is sin back to pride, pride defined as an exaggerated sense of self and an inadequate appreciation for God and His will. If you'll allow me to define pride that way, I think you could say that all sin is a child of pride. Satan was its first practitioner, that is pride, and he is and always has been its chief, and I would say his relentless promoter and advocate. And he's selling it all the time. And loves to see it manifested in people. He is constantly promoting it. Isaiah 14:12. Pride is the mother of all sins and Satan was its first practitioner, its chief and relentless champion and promoter. This very familiar chapter about this situation, this being:
Isaiah 14:12 - How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How (you are) are you cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
Verse 13 - For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. . . The essence of pride. An exaggerated sense of self-importance, an exaggerated attention to the promotion of self to the detriment of a proper appreciation for God, His plan, His timing, His providence.
It's an interesting little study, doesn't take that long to do, to just go to a concordance or a lexicon and look at the original languages, Hebrew and Greek, and the various words in Hebrew and Greek that are translated into the words pride, or proud or proudly in our English Bibles.
There are actually quite a few of them that are all translated - pride, and when you put them all together and kind of get a composite sense of the underlying, you know, root meanings of the words that find their way into the definition or the translation of pride, I think it helps us at the outset here.
One of the words in the Hebrew language that is translated pride in the Old Testament has as its core meaning - to seethe. You know, we use that term seething with anger, just seething with rage. Well, there is a lot of anger associated with pride. And as we go to this study I think we'll see that. But one of the root notions of pride is that there is anger.
I have on several occasions related a story which I guess you'd have to say is either second or third hand, but a number of years ago it was one of the things that made an impression on me almost like nothing else. I believe it to be true. This story was related by a high official in our former affiliation, and it had to do with the visit on the campus of Ambassador back in those days in Pasadena of an individual who was clearly unbalanced, and one thing led to another, and this individual found his way into the office of this man who was a high official in the church. And he was a minister and it did not take him long to come to the conclusion this person had a spirit problem, a demon problem.
He made a choice, instead of just putting the person out of the office immediately, to interview the person to try to gain additional insights into the evil realm, and what he related was just quite interesting, and I believe it to be true.
In the course of talking to this person, of interviewing him, the person, or the evil spirit that was speaking through the person, recounted this story. He said a long time ago, we went to God, and we had an alternate way. And then as the man tells the story, he said the person just got angry, and there was just this dripping hatred in his voice almost to the point of a shaking trembling.
He wouldn't even listen to us. He wouldn't even give us the time of day because we told Him that there was a better way, and it was called competition. And it would bring out the best in people, and it would force people to their highest achievement. But He just threw us out.
There was a lot of anger associated with that. And I think pride does have a seething element to it of anger because of hurt self that God in heaven does not accept our alternative philosophies and our alternative ideas, but He has this stubbornness, if I can use that term, that he knows that he has not found, but He has communicated to us the best way that it cannot be improved on, and He has very little time for alternate philosophies or plans B, C. and D when we bring them to Him.
He tends to be, as the scripture shows, very short with those alternate plans that we bring forward to Him, and that goes clear back before lightning fell from heaven.
So that's one of the underlying notions behind the word that is translated pride often in the old testament, a seething rage. There is often anger associated with pride, and if we're looking into ourselves, if we see the fruit of unexplained anger; now there is even righteous anger, be angry and sin not, it's possible to have righteous indignation, but oftentimes it says the anger of man does not reflect the character of God, to paraphrase it, does not reflect the spirit of God. Irrational anger, anger that doesn't go away, anger that seems to have no justification is just one of the facets of pride.
Another of the Hebrew words that finds its way translated - pride or proud - in the Old Testament is - to mount up or to rise. Now we just read what Satan did, or Lucifer did. He said, "I will mount up, arise, I will go above my proper station where I was put by the eternal God, and I will ascend above my station. I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven."
Inherent within pride is dissatisfaction with where God has put us, what God has given us, how God has made us, and the plan of God and our place in and a desire to rise above that in a way that He does not endorse or that it's not time for.
Another of the Hebrew words that is translated pride or proud in the Old Testament has as its underlying meaning - to soar. Again - to rise up or to be expanded above that which God wills.
Another one is exaltation or lifting up. Another is to strut, and another is a snare, the notion of tying together to form a net that ensnares people, and that which ensnares people is pride spiritually.
In the Greek language we also see the words that are translated into the English Bible as proud or pride, one of them has the underlying core meaning of appearing to be above others. To be concerned about what others think, to be very concerned, to be above others, or to appear to be above others, or to appear to be exalted. Now that goes beyond the notion of being exalted, but it goes to the notion of coveting the approbation or the praise of others who see us in our exalted state whether it's from God or typically something that we have fought and struggled for ourselves, an unnatural or over-arching concern about what others think of us and craving the approbation, the praise, the high opinion of others. That is an underlying notion or a portion of or component of pride.
I'd really like this one. Another Greek word translated proud or pride has as its core meaning to inflate with smoke. Now hot air or smoke in that sense heated air is how hot air balloons have the ability to rise up above the ground, a lot of hot air, an inflated sense.
Unleavened bread is squished flat; it's just the essential ingredients. You see what you get. But this being inflated with a bunch of heat that is unnatural and puffed up. And certainly another one has to do with braggadocio or boasting.
So as we start to go through these senses of what pride is and how God views it and how it manifests itself, I think it's correct to say that it has to do at core, in essence, with an exaltation of self and a corresponding diminution of the greatness of God in the thoughts of an individual.
Over in Ezekiel 28 there is again, just this key as to what underlies pride.
Ezekiel 28:17 - Your heart was lifted up. . . it was expanded; it was bloated, you know, a lot of hot air, high and . . .lifted up. . .and blown up beyond that which is appropriate. . . because of your beauty; and you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. . . "Where," we should ask, and this being should have asked, but again let's focus it on self. . . If I have beauty; if I have talents; if I have skills; there are really two reactions of self to that self awareness. Where did they come from? What are we to do with our strengths, our beauty, our skills if we have them and are aware of them? Well, by asking the question, where did they come from? Did I create myself? Did I bring myself into existence? If I have natural skills, abilities, anything that could be viewed positively, did I create it myself? Did I create myself? Well, no.
I have two reactions. One is to be proud about it. And the other is to be humbly grateful and thankful to God who gave it to me and to dedicate those skills, strengths, whatever it might be, to God's service and to His honor. Doesn't that sound simple? But those are the two choices and get all puffed up about it, if I have any of those positive things, or I can come to the sort of the—duh—realization, well I didn't create it. If I have it, even if I have it to the degree somebody else doesn't have it, why should I be exalted by that because I didn't create it within myself? It's something God gave me, and I should therefore dedicate that humbly to God's service. Wisdom and saving knowledge begin with the proper and reverential fear of God. Sin begins with pride, where God is not so much in our thoughts, but self and how great we are, and how we covet others' approbation, etc., etc.
Ezekiel 16. This notion that pride is the mother, or the origin, of all sins, it's the root that gives life to the plant with all of its fruits. Ezekiel 16:49 - Now don't read it yet. Look at me. What was the problem with Sodom and Gomorrah? There's probably an answer that jumps to most of our minds. It was sexual perversion. That was a manifestation of the problem in Sodom. Now read it with me. In describing Sodom, what was the underlying problem?
Ezekiel 16:49 - Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride. . . had pride . . .and fullness of food, and abundance of idleness. . . The first thing mentioned in getting to the core of what the problem was in Sodom was pride.
I wouldn't make too much of this, but in recent times, in our culture when those who practice this alternative lifestyle that in an earlier time was looked upon with horror and shame by most in the society. . . something changed here a few years ago, and I think the real essence came out and by what is this renewed self declaration called in the homosexual community? It's called gay pride, and I think they have labeled themselves. Not the that's a worse sin than any other, but it's another fruit or manifestation of pride.
Here's how God created male and female. Here was this God ordained use of this gift of sex. "I'm not going to have God telling me how to use that gift. That's something inherent, and I'm going to use it however I want to, and nobody's gonna make me feel ashamed if I use that gift some way other than the norm. The norm has hang-ups, see, and gay pride, and let's come out of the closet and let's be proud about it and no longer be ashamed." Just like Sodom, pride was the underlying problem. It is the mother of all sins.
A second point - pride is so utterly hateful to God. Proverbs 16:5. When God goes to the extent of telling us that something is just hateful and loathsome to Him, we should take note.
Proverbs 16:5 - Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the (Lord) Eternal. . . Abomination is a religious word, we don't use it that much in everyday language, the underlying meaning is something that is so nasty, it just smells bad. We don't to be in the same presence of it. We just want to get it as far away. It is loathsome to God. Pride. Those who are proud in heart. It is hateful to God. Also, in Proverbs 8:13, a little earlier:
Proverbs 8:13 - The fear of the (Lord) Eternal is to hate evil; Pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate. Says God.
No watering down or making it just a generic sort of low-level problem, no, it's right up at the top; it's a big ticket item because of its terrible fruits and the fact that it does, as point three mentions, as I'm going to give you now, it cuts man off from the blessings that God wants to give man.
Pride cuts a man off from the blessings of God, the blessings which can only come to those who trust God enough to live His way in the midst of a world which is going the way of the devil and pride. Pride cuts us off from the blessings God wishes to give us. But He channels His blessings to a greater extent to those who are humble enough to trust Him to live His way in a world that is surrounded or consists of pride.
Psalm 138:6 - Though the Lord is on high, yet He regards the lowly. . . Yeah, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God. He regards the lowly and that's where His greatest blessings are directed. . . .But the proud He knows from afar.
So even those of us who believe that God's word is true, and we are associated with the Church of God which is the pillar and ground of truth, the first fruits, if we examine ourselves honestly at certain times and it seems that we are more distant from God, and He is regarding us from afar off, and it just seems like we're not as close to Him nor He to us as we have once experienced, or that we desire to be now, a real early place to look for the solution is pride. How is it manifesting, how are we choosing the way of pride rather than the way of humility because it is a choice as we'll see as we go on.
Pride isn't something that goes away at baptism, we repent of once and then it's gone. It's something that we must fight; we're swimming in an ocean of pride in this world of the devil, and it's a real early place to look when we don't seem to be as close to God. Well, how is pride manifesting itself in my life would be a real good question to ask.
This point again, pride cuts a man off from the blessings of God, the blessings which can only come to those who trust God enough to live His way in the midst of a world which is going the way of pride of the devil. Over in Psalm 31:19 -
Psalm 31:19 - Oh, how great is Your goodness, which you have laid up for (those) them that fear You; which You have wrought for them that trust in You before the sons of men! Now it takes courage to be a Christian, to be a sheep in the midst of wolves, to live openly a Godly life when it is often going to be greeted with ridicule and sneers and the pride of those around us.
Verse 20 - You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the (plots) pride of man.
Verse 19 - Those who trust in You before the sons of men. . . .who are not ashamed of the truth that we have been called to lead.
Oh, yeah, anybody who would humbly live God's way and exalts Himself and humble the self, exalt God and humble the self, is swimming upstream, and is going to be surrounded by the ridicule, or met with the ridicule of the pride of that stream we're swimming up against.
You know, Jesus said the same thing. Mark 8. His special blessings come to those who are not ashamed of Him and His truth before other people. It takes courage.
Mark 8:38. You see one expression of pride, one manifestation of pride is shrinking back in spiritual cowardice from what we know to be true.
Mark 8:38 - (For) whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man (also) will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. One manifestation or facet of pride is hiding our light.
Now a whole other sermon can and probably at some point will be given on this notion of going to excess the other direction, of being obnoxious with God's truth. He also says don't cast your pearl before the swine. There is balance in this. So one extreme is to be obnoxious and in people's face with the precious truth of God, a pearl, and throwing it before the swine and they will just trample it.
But the other extreme is to be ashamed of God, His truth, His laws and of the holy way of life He's called us to and of shirking from ever even letting it be known that we don't participate in evil. And those are pretty hard words right there. Pretty sobering words. Whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man (also) will be ashamed when He comes with the glory of His Father (with) and the (holy) angels.
II Timothy 1:8 - The apostle Paul said this, right along the same lines. There's balance, and it takes discernment, and it takes wisdom which itself is a gift from God to find the middle ground in this, but one manifestation of pride is shame of God and coveting the approbation of people and their acceptance more than that of God.
II Timothy 1:8 - Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner. . . What if the headlines in tomorrow's paper was "Clyde Kilough Arrested." Well, you know, we would hope it would be for the right reason. What if it were? What if many leaders of the United Church of God were arrested? We haven't seen that. We haven't experienced that really in our last fifty, sixty years, seventy years of the Church of God, but what if it happened? It happened then. So you're leader, huh? He's a jailbird. He's spending time behind bars. What if it was for the truth? What if we got to the point where somebody who publicly spoke the truth ended up being persecuted. And what if our church leaders were in prison, and you go to work, "Is that the same church your associated with?" Would we be ashamed? Well I guess that was something that was happening. He said:
II Timothy 1:8 - . . . do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings (for) of the gospel according to the power of God. One manifestation of pride is a refusal to suffer adversity for truth. But instead to always seek the easy way out and to avoid suffering or hardship that may come according to the will of God because it says many are of the afflictions of the righteous. "If the world has hated Me, it will hate you," Jesus said. And the disciple is not greater than His Lord.
A fourth point - pride does not have a very good future. Pride does not have a good future. God eventually will crush it and eliminate it from the earth.
Isaiah 2. Pride is a temporary phenomenon. It doesn't have a very good future. So we shouldn't really hitch our wagon to that star.
Isaiah 2:12 - For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up - and it shall be brought low - The timing of when pride will be crushed is the day of the Lord. So, we have to be patient. Well, God why don't You deal with these things now? For the most part it isn't time for God to deal with pride in an overt crushing manner now. According to God's plan it's a time for pride to have sway on the earth. And for God's people to have to actively fight against it, for the God of this world to promote it, and promote it, and fill the earth with it.
There's a few other verses of this notion about how God is eventually going to crush pride. Over in Isaiah 23, interesting the way it's worded here. Isaiah 23:9.
Isaiah 23:9 - The (Lord) Eternal of hosts has purposed it, to bring to dishonor the pride of all glory. . .The old King James says: . . .He will stain the pride. . . Stain, from a word that means to defile it, to destroy it. Eventually, pride will be destroyed. It doesn't have a good future.
Daniel 9. Even the first head of the first manifestation of the beast power, Babylon being the earliest stage of what we know as the prophetic beast and Nebuchadnezzar being the first head of that power, even that individual, certainly we don't expect to see this individual in the first resurrection, Nebuchadnezzar, but he did come to the point where he would utter the following words, and it was recorded for all time in the scriptures.
Daniel 4:37 - Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, that's how it should be, all of whose works are just (truth,) and His ways (are) justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase. And eventually, that is the future for all pride and its practitioners.
Very briefly, a fifth point about pride - pride is like a diamond with many facets; we're just looking at different facets of pride. Pride leads to something. It leads to destruction; the very opposite of that which people who practice it want. If we go back to our seminal notion of what pride is, it's an over- exaggerated sense of self, self-worth, self- approbation, office for self. We want that and yet it leads inevitably to having those things taken away. It leads to destruction which is the very opposite. God exalts the meek in due time, and then He crushes the prideful.
Proverbs 16:18 - It says: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. What's the end result of pride? It's the one hundred eighty degree opposite of what pride makes us think we're seeking when we follow pride. It is to be crushed.
Proverbs 29:23 - A man's pride . . .will not exalt him in the final analysis, but it will do what? . . .(it) will bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.
There's a seething, hot impatience that is pride that wants "this," well, now it has "this," and God says if you're patient and humble, eventually, I'll not only give you "this," well, exaggerate it a hundred times higher. But pride wants "this" now when "this" is what God wants self to deal with, and eventually even that will be taken away. Pride leads to destruction, and it will cause a person to be brought low.
Well those are points on what pride is, and how God reacts to it. What about your and my relationship to pride? If we can think of it as a "thing" out here that we can observe at arm's length. God hold each of us responsible as free moral agents to choose meekness and humility and to reject pride. Well, "That's just the way I am. I can't change." No, the whole essence of our lives is to look at these things as God does, and if it's hateful to God to make the choice, us, day by day, to reject "this" and its fruits and on the other hand to choose humility, the thing which leads to eventually being exalted by God. God holds us responsible as free moral agents to choose meekness and humility and to reject pride. And with the help that He makes available, that is not impossible, that's not a pipe dream.
James 4:6 - If it were, we wouldn't find this in God's word. "Oh, you don't understand. You don't understand my genes. You don't understand how my grandpa was." Well, yeah, God does understand all that. God gives grace - Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, Yeah, But He gives grace to the humble."
Verse 7 - Therefore submit to God. Make a conscious choice, if God's gotten real small, and our appreciation for God and His sovereignty and His unique wisdom, if that's been diminished over time in our lives, it's time to exalt God, it says: . . .submit to God. . .exalt Him, get these things back in proper perspective, make that choice. . .Resist the devil and the pride that he promotes, and he will flee from you. Now that wouldn't be there if that was just a pipe dream or theoretical. That's what God expects us to do, not on a one-time basis, but on an on-going basis, and yeah, I slip up and fall many times. So do you, if you see yourself in the light of God's mirror, but as a way of life, this is what we want to choose; we ask God to help us choose, and we get more and more practice in choosing the one and rejecting the other.
Verse 8 - Draw near to God on His terms, you see, that's the key, on His terms, not coming to Him, "Well, God, you know, I've come to You because I," - just like that other conversation - ". . .there's a better way - had You thought of this?" The one scripture says, remember, God's in heaven and you're on earth; you know, zip it. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands. . .and you go ahead and read the rest of it there, but:
Verse 10 - Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. . . That's a choice that must be made, and it's something God expects because it's possible with His help.
Back in Isaiah 66, the one thing about the human creature that God made that impresses Him, that He takes great delight in. I mean, individually or collectively, we can do what we think in the human realm, looking through our human eyes, judging by our human standards is great. None of it impresses God, but the one thing that God looks to is this. Isaiah 66 - And He says, "Now, that's something. That's what I can really appreciate."
Isaiah 66:1 - Thus says the (Lord) Eternal: "Heaven is My throne, (and) the earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build me? . . .that I'll be impressed by, is the thought. Where is the place of My rest? . . .as if I needed it from anything you could offer.
Verse 2 - "For all those things My hand has made. . ." And in the context of this sermon, you look in the mirror, you say I like what I'm seeing. That's not bad looking. You go to school; you go into a career; you have success after success, you make a ton of money, you're looked up to, where did the talent, where did the health, where did the energy to even do those things come from? Did you create that yourself? Those are all gifts from God. Where is boasting? Paul says it is excluded. There's no point in boasting, because when we look at it in that way, we did not create ourselves or the talents that allow us to excel to the degree we think we excel in any facet of human endeavor.
Verse 2 - "(For) all those things My hand. . . not the self's hand, but God's hand. . .has made. And all those things exist," says the Lord. "But on this one will I look. . ." This is the thing that I look with great pleasure. ". . .on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, (and) who trembles at My word. . ." Who is choosing humility and rejecting consciously pride and its fruits.
All right. What are some of the additional signs that pride is at work in my mind, in your mind? The rest of the sermon, we'll look at those things. Things that if we see them, and we're capable to see them and not blaming them on somebody else, but we see them in our lives, in our thoughts, in our words, evidence that pride is motivating us, not the love, fear and adoration of God. First, I would say pride lifts up the self, and feels superior to others, is very judgmental of others, and thus cuts itself off from God's mercy.
If I see that I'm being very judgmental of others, you know, again, you can misunderstand this. We are to have Godly discernment in our lives, my life and your life. It's not wrong to have Godly discernment, and it's not wrong to see pride or its manifestation in others. I kind of cautioned us away from that as our focus today. Well, what are we supposed to do, go around with our eyes shut? If God calls something wrong, it's not impossible for those who have God's spirit to also see it as wrong.
But it's this exaggerated sense of always finding fault with others, of always being judgmental and harsh with others, of having that dominate our thoughts; that's a manifestation of pride.
Luke 18:10 - Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one was a Pharisee, and the other (was) a publican.
Verse 11 - The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, aren't You lucky to have me? I thank You that I am not as other menare, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this pathetic publican over here.
Verse 12 - "I fast twicein theweek, I give tithes of all that I possess." Proving he's not a thief; that's all that proves.
Verse 13 - And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but he smote upon his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" The arrogance of the Pharisee was not foremost in the publican's mind. He was focusing on God's greatness and his own worm-like status.
Now if you caught him in another minute, you pointed out - the Pharisee - I'm sure that publican was capable of seeing the obvious. But his mind was so focused on God's greatness, and how much he needed God's help, and how much he needed God's mercy, that just wasn't foremost in his mind. That's the point of this. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus' conclusion:
Verse 14 - . . .this second man went down to his house justifiedrather than the other one. . . The other one did not go down to his house justified.
Another fruit of pride is how impatient and demanding it is of others, and when I say others, I include God. Pride is very demanding and impatient of others maybe especially of God. It demands of God. It demands to understand all things and for things to be, or to seem to be fair, rather than being willing to live by faith in God's goodness and His sovereignty.
Here's a test, Ecclesiastes 8:11 - Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. That is a manifestation of pride.
A person looks around, and again he is not focusing on himself, his need for God's mercy, his need for God's help in overcoming his own problems; he sees somebody else doing something wrong, and it is wrong. I'm not denying it's wrong. And sentence against that evil work is not executed speedily on his timetable, and what does he conclude? "Well God, count me out of this righteousness game; if You're going to let that go on on a time scale not satisfactory to me, count me out," and therefore his heart is fully set in him to do evil. He chunks the whole thing. He's very impatient with God. He's very impatient with God's mercy to others.
In all of these things there is balance, and there's a right application, but there is also a wrong application. And only with the help of God's spirit can any of us, I or you, see this that I'm describing in ourselves. But are we demanding of God? Do we demand that things get taken care of on our timetable? I'm guilty of that. I confess that before you. I wonder if you are. I wonder if you see that in your life. And then we get upset with God, and we basically chunk it. We say, "I'm out of here," at least in our mind and our spirit. And things have to seem fair.
I've often wondered in the early New Testament church would we read that Diotrephes who loved to have the preeminence among them actually put some of those who were faithful to the last living apostle, John, let's call them "the good guys" for lack of a better term, and they found themselves, "the good guys," getting thrown out of the church by those who followed Diotrephes, following pride who love to have the preeminence, and because of the numbers game, Diotrephes at least temporarily, had the upper hand and he kicked "the good guys" out of the church. Now that's outrageous. That needs to be overturned tomorrow.
I see God letting it happen for some period of time. It's not made clear in the Bible. I find it so easy myself to get so angry when I see those things. In balance I suppose that anger is okay. If I'm in a position to do something through proper channels perhaps even that's okay. But if I say, "I'm outta here; I'm chunking it, I'm checking out for a while," that's not okay. And that's what we're trying to describe here. If I let my frustration cause the - how's it worded again? . . ..the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. . . God help us to see that in ourselves.
But this demanding, "God, you got to let me understand this; I don't understand it," may be not just a delayed sense of justice, but I think we all have our lists don't we? Of things that we really wish we understood about God. It says the secret things belong to God. Not everything about God's doings have been revealed to us. Certainly not to me, and I have questions. I've been in this way of life for over forty years; I have some questions I've never heard answered. I'll bet everyone in this room does as well. Well we shouldn't let that make us angry with God, that He hasn't chosen to give us the understanding we want. Isaiah 45, we don't want to be in this situation.
Isaiah 45:9 - Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Whatever we might think is the provocation, if we find ourselves, if I find myself, in the posture of being angry at God, whoa! . . .Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! See, I'm out of my pay grade, if I'm angry with God and going to the mat with God. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds. . . that makes some sense. But the human clay angered at and fighting the Divine Potter? Un-uh. . . .Shall the clay say to Him who forms it, "What are you making?" "I don't understand this. Make it clear to me. I demand understanding." . . .Or shall your handiwork say, "He has no hands?"
Verse 10 - Woe to him who says to his Father, "What are you begetting?" You know, this questioning, accusative tone of questioning God and His doings. Bad news. That's a manifestation of pride.
Romans 9. Paul picks up on that theme actually quoting that passage of scripture and adds even more to it. There is not a good track record of those who have gone to God demanding anything. We should go to God very humbly asking, "If it's Your will, I'd like this understanding." But to demand? That's ridiculous. That's a manifestation of pride.
Romans 9:17 - . . .the scripture says to Pharaoh, " Even for this same purpose, I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that My name might be declared in all the earth." If there was ever anybody that had a "right" by human logic to be upset with God at how things worked out in his life, it would be Pharaoh. Because God says in words that I think are so clear, how do we misunderstand them? "I raised you up for this purpose to show My power in you. . . and you're going to be on the short end of that manifestation, Pharaoh."
Verse 18 - Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. The human reaction to that is, "That's not right."
Verse 19 - You will say to me then. . . using human reason . . .well, why does He (still) then find fault? For who has resisted His will? That doesn't make sense to me. How, could God do that? You notice how little time Paul gave to a patient explanation of that rhetorical question? He basically said, "Shut up. Don't talk to God like that."
Verse 20 - (But) indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to Him who formed it, "Why have You made me thus?" Yeah, I think we all have our laundry lists of things that we don't fully understand. But we understand enough to have a full platter of what we need to be doing. And full understanding will come to us individually and collectively on God's terms, and let's not be demanding or accusing God of not being fair just because we don't understand it.
Here's another manifestation of pride, another fruit of pride. Pride thinks very highly of its self, so highly that it expects blessings and therefore is unthankful for them. We get blessings. "Well, I deserve blessings. So why would I thank anybody, especially God for the blessings that I deserved?"
II Chronicles 32 - Hezekiah received a blessing, a healing, an extension of life. Why express surprised gratitude for something you receive when you believe you deserved it? Maybe the only emotion or thought you have is, "Why did it take so long?" That's a manifestation of pride.
II Chronicles 32:24 -In those days Hezekiah was sick to death, and he prayed to the (Lord) Eternal, and He spoke unto him and He gave him a sign. And he was healed. What a blessing. But if I expect it, if I deserve it, I'll forget to thank God for it.
Verse 25 - (But) Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him. . . And about a half a verse later, it tells us why. Why didn't he thank God for that? . . .for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Verse 26 - Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart. . . later. . .both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon him in the days of Hezekiah. He received the blessing but because of the pride of his heart manifested by, "I had it coming why should I be grateful for it?" God was not pleased. So if we find that in ourselves, if we do take the time to take an inventory of our blessings, and we find that we never thank God really out of a grateful heart, that's a manifestation of this aspect of pride.
Now here's another one that's very obvious. Another manifestation of pride is that it leads us to treat others with meanness and oppression. We're just mean to other people. That's a fruit of pride. Look over in Psalm 119. Just meanness or oppressing people, not being kind and gentle; meanness is a fruit of pride. Psalm 119, and oftentimes the humble and the meek are on the receiving end of this prideful reaction. Psalm 119:51, here's a Godly person. It says:
Psalm 119:51 - The proud have had me in great derision. . . They've made fun of me; they've sneered at me; they're mean to me; that's what the proud do. . . .and yet I do not turn aside from Your law.
Verse 69 - The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep Your precepts with my (whole) heart.
Verse 78 - Let the proud be ashamed, for they have treated me wrongfully with falsehood. . . The proud persecute and are mean to others, often the innocent.
Verse 85 - The proud have dug pits for me, which is not according to Your law. Laying a trap, trying to make you fall into it one way or another.
Verse 122 - Be surety for your servant for good; (do not) don't let the proud oppress Me. Because they will, and if God doesn't protect the innocent or the meek, the proud will just jump on them.
Psalm 10 just states this so clearly, this fruit of pride which is being mean and oppressing and persecuting others without any reason. It says in Psalm 10:2 -
Psalm 10:2 - The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.
Another fruit or manifestation of pride - it hardens the mind; it prohibits a man from recognizing the correction of God and repenting in response to it. It causes a hardened mind. It sets man up in defiance against the punitive will of God. "God's correcting me. Well, if pride is dominate in my mind, I will resist the correction. I won't repent as a result."
The humble will say, "Well, God's correcting me. I see my error. I repent."
But if pride is dominate, I will set myself up in a hardened rejection against the punitive will of God when He corrects me. Look at that in Isaiah 9. That aspect of pride is really going to grow as we get closer and closer to the return of Christ, to the point where people suffering the seven last plagues will just shake their fists and curse the name of God. He's correcting them to lead them to repentance, but their minds are set up in hardness to reject his punitive actions, and they will not repent. But in Isaiah 9, as I said earlier, God shows us plenty about this enemy so we can maybe have a greater appreciation for it, how much He hates it, and how we can fight against it and be on the lookout for it, and have a sensitive radar to it with His help. It says:
Isaiah 9:9 - All the people will know - Ephraim and the inhabitant s of Samaria - who say in pride and arrogance of heart. Now what are they going to say?
Verse 10 - Well, the bricks have fallen down. . .God has destroyed what we've built up, in some way or another, He's torn down the evil of our lives, but what are we going to do? Repent? No. . . .we're going to build them up with hewn stones. . .and (we will) we'll replace them with cedars. Huh. God tore down what we've built, we'll built it stronger. See, just insensitive to the punitive will of God and setting up in defiance against it.
Hosea 7, another expression of this in the minor prophets, Hosea 7:9 This is talking about Ephraim, oh, begin in Verse 8 -
Hosea 7:8 - Ephraim has mixed himself among the peoples; Ephraim is a cake unturned.
Verse 9 - Aliens have devoured his strength. . . I thought these were the people of God. I thought Ephraim was my firstborn. I thought Ephraim was the recipient of all God's blessings. Well, that was God's will, God's plan for the most of Ephraim's existence, that has been the case, but at times, God let Ephraim, as well as all Israel, as well as all His people from time to time, be, you know, chastened, be corrected, and so for a while here: Aliens have devoured his strength. . .
Now, what does he do? Does he repent in response to that? . . .but he does not know it. Yes, gray hairs are here and there on him, but (yet) he does not know it.
Verse 10 - And the pride of Israel testifies to his face. . .they do not return to the Lord their God. They set themselves up in resistance against God's correction, and they only bring greater difficulties on themselves. I alluded to Revelation 16:
Revelation 16:9 - It says: (And) men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God. . . God is correcting, big time, you know, just the seven last plagues. Just awful to contemplate. But the pride has set people up so that instead of repenting, they blaspheme God's name, and they will not accept that correction.
Just a couple of more. Pride deceives a person. A person who is, as we say, blinded with pride is deceived and there's a specific aspect of that deception takes. A person deceived by pride thinks that he has no need for God. It leads to this sense of independence. "I don't need God. Why do I need God?" It only compounds the problem.
Psalm 10:4 - A couple of different ways to translate this, but they both illuminate this problem. The wicked in his proud countenance does. . . What? Well, he doesn't . . .seek God. . .He doesn't have a sense of needing God. He feels independent of God, self-sufficient. An exaggerated sense not only of self but of self-sufficiency, rather than, you know, give us this day our daily bread. I'm a worm and no man. I need Your help every day. The wicked in his proud countenance doesn't even seek God. God is in none of his thoughts.
Another way of translating that: In his thoughts thereis no God. So he becomes so estranged from God in this pride, not only is God not to in his thoughts, he loses the conviction that there is a God that he needs to worry about. Oh, there's just so many here. We'll go on, but that point is fundamental to all of this; it deceives a person into thinking that he has no need for God, nor does he need to fear and obey God.
I'll tell you another manifestation of pride in my life and your life - a loose tongue. Look at Psalm 73. A loose tongue. We know we shouldn't say it, but we say it anyway, and then once it starts running it just goes into overdrive.
Psalm 73:1 - Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart.
Verse 2 - But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. Now what is he describing?
Verse 3 - (For) I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Verse 4 - For, you know, sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Justice wasn't coming down in this person's time schedule. . . . there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm.
We read earlier in the kingdom of God pride will be crushed. Probably for the most part not until then. But this person got their focus on the "now," not on the "then," not on God's timetable. "It doesn't seem like there's any problem with these proudful people. So, I'm observing this and I'm getting pretty worked up about it." That's what this psalmist is saying.
Verse 5 - They (are not in trouble) don't seem to be in trouble like other men (people.) They're not plagued like other men.
Verse 6 - Therefore pride serves as their necklace; and violence covers them like a garment.
Verse 7 - Their eyes bulge with abundance. . . The more this person thought about it, the more envious he was of them and their ease and the more upset he was with God for not executing judgment.
Verse 8 - They scoff and they speak wickedly concerning oppression. . . And we see in the prideful people who are being observed and commented on by the psalmist what pride leads to. They scoff. . .they speak wickedly. . . they speak loftily. . .Yeah, that's a fruit of pride.
Verse 9 - They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. And oh, they know everything; they've been everywhere; they've done everything; they've got an opinion about everything.
Verse 10 - Therefore His people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them.
Verse 11 - And they say, " Well, how does God know?" Challenging Gods ability to do anything about it when God restrains Himself. . . .And is there knowledge in the Most High?
Verse 12 - Behold, these are the ungodly who are always at ease; they increase in riches.
And going on the rest of that Psalm which I won't take the time to do, the psalmist, the person who knew God but allowed himself to get off base here a little bit, or a lot, he began to be envious of them and to begin in his own mind to question God's judgment. But that's a different aspect. What we see here is he's describing what happens to the proud their tongue speaks great, lofty things.
One final fruit or manifestation of pride in me, in you, in all people that we need to come to see, identify, see how much God hates it and then make the choice to reject it; this could have actually been first. Pride leads to, or a fruit of pride is strife and arguing. The need to win every discussion. We can't even talk without there being a winner and a loser. "I've got to win. I've got to have the last word. I've got to appear to be more clever. I've got to let you know that I know that I'm smarter than you are. I can't ever say I learned something from talking to you." No, you've always got to be the recipient. "I'm the source of all wisdom," the final answers.
"I've got to win every discussion because every discussion is a battle." That's a fruit of pride, a manifestation of pride. I Timothy 6:4 describes this. The key is, for me, for you, to hate it when we see it in ourselves and then to choose to overcome it with God's help.
I Timothy 6:3 - If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to (accords with) godliness,
Verse 4 - he is proud. . . And how is that the pride manifested? He knows (knowing) nothing but he is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words. . .There's always strife; there's always arguments; there's always contention. I mean you could view this as some of what we see even in doctrinal matters. There are some of things that just will not go away. People won't let them rest. And every few years we have pet doctrinal differences from what we believe the Bible clearly shows that come up in people's minds, and that they just won't let it go.
Now some people have a very humble attitude. They say, "You know, I've been studying this. I'm just writing up what I've come to see, but I may be wrong," and they send it in through the proper channels. That's beautiful. We don't want to close the door to future discussion. But on the other hand, there are those who are obsessed with disputes and arguments over words . . .from which comes every envy, and strife, and reviling and evil suspicions.
Proverbs 13:10 - Only by pride comes contention. . . It is one of the chief fruits of pride, contention, arguing.
Proverbs 28:25 - He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife. . . They seem to have this need for there to be argument and them to be in the middle of it and to win them. But he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered.
One final thought before we close, I think this is the imagery that might help you, it kind of helps me, imagine you, you're here, and God is back there. And we find that there's a wall between us, a barrier, God, me, a wall, a barrier. Oftentimes that barrier is simply labeled pride, an exaggerated sense of self, a diminished appreciation for God. An exaggerated sense of self-importance, an exaggerated sense of self-value, an exaggerated sense of the self's worthiness, of respect and appreciation from others. And there's that barrier.
I don't think this sermon would be helpful at all just to identify that barrier and to note that it exists. What can be done about it, this barrier that comes between a man and God, or a woman and God? This enemy of God and man? This thing that perverts a proper relationship between the created and Creator. This thing that is of the devil, that is typified by leaven or this wall, this high, strong wall. What can be done about it?
I'd like to conclude with just one passage, II Corinthians 10. Let's apply this exhortation to that wall, that barrier of pride defined as we have, an exaggerated sense of self and a diminished appreciation for God and His greatness. And what do we do about that wall?
II Corinthians 10:3 - For though we walk in the flesh, we (do not) don't war according to the flesh. I forgot to tell you - you don't have any tools to tear down that wall. It's your bare hands against a thick brick or stone wall.
Verse 4 - (For) the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty. . . There is a way to pull down that wall. . . .mighty in God for pulling down that stronghold(s). . .That barrier.
Verse 5 - casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into the captivity (to) the obedience of Christ. The answer is through the spirit of God, as we cry out to Him in a greater sense of self-awareness, and then we see these things in our own lives, or our potential to manifest this thing in our own lives, we cry out to God, and He gives us power far beyond human hands or human tools, like spiritual dynamite, and that stronghold, that wall, it can be leveled, not on a once and for all basis. It's a daily destruction. It's a daily pulling down of that wall. It's a daily decision to want to pull it down, to hate the fact that it's there and the perversion of our relationship with God that it exists.
Pride is our enemy; it's a manifestation of the devil. Now that God had shown us more for what it is, He encourages us to fight against it.