Humble Me or Humble Pie

Have you ever felt competent? Competent in doing something, competent in what you know, competent in who you are? The great ruler of the world's first empire felt competent. Let's go and read about that in Daniel 4, verse 28. Jeremiah 4, verse 28, talking about King Nebuchadnezzar. Now, there's no king like Nebuchadnezzar. He was the very first empire ruler. In other words, he collected enough other nations together to be called an empire. And at the end of 12 months, he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. What a majestic palace they had. You can go to a museum in Germany and you can see the Ishtar Gate that archaeologists took apart and hauled and reconstructed back in this museum. And the beautiful gate in its tiles, colored azure blues and all with the lions. And this gate and the walls around it were just stunning. Seen a little bit of that as well in a museum in Istanbul, a section of it. It's just wonderful. And so here with the hanging gardens of Babylon and all the things that they had done in this wonderful city that could not be conquered because it was walled and it had a river running right through it. And so, you know, you could put a siege, but you couldn't stop it from having water and the food from the gardens. It was just spectacular. And so the king says in verse 30, is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty. He certainly felt competent. He certainly felt solid. He had what is called hubris, right? This hubris or hubris that just really encourages him in his personal success. Hubris, as defined from effectivology.com, involves excessive pride, confidence, and self-importance. As we just heard from his mouth, he had hubris, a lot of it. Hubristic individuals, it says, tend to overestimate their abilities, overestimate their knowledge, their importance, and their likelihood of success. Hubris is a problematic trait that can lead to serious negative consequences for hubristic individuals and for those around them. If we look in verse 31, And that, brethren, can happen just like that. And it has happened to individuals globally and in the church. I and you have probably seen this happen, where somebody is flying high, as it were. They are just so, I don't know, talented, capable, important, whatever, and in the next moment, boom, they fall. And it says, in verse 33, That very hour it was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar, that very hour, He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen, Till his body was wet with the dew of heaven, Till his hair had grown like eagle's feathers, And his nails like bird's claws. The highest of the high suddenly is the lowest of the low. Have you ever felt yourself highly skilled, smart, capable, knowledgeable? Are you then proud of yourself? Well, I'm proud of myself. Or you're proud of somebody in your family, your something, and you can have this pride. You can walk around proud, you can dress proud, you can act proud. You know, your team, you can wear your team jersey when your team's going to play, and you can be very proud of your team, right? How does that work out when the final buzzer rings? Sometimes it can be humiliating, can it? Things don't work out the way people who have all this hubris think it's going to.

A person then who dresses proud, thinks proud, is flying high, is doing great. Maybe they're in the church and that's fine too, but they are just clicking on all cylinders, as it were. They're going places. Maybe you feel that way. I'm going places. But have you ever crashed proud? People don't talk about crashing proud very often. Have you ever crashed proud? I think that's part of life at times. We can start thinking too highly of ourselves, whether we're young and we're capable or talented, maybe in a sport or whatever, and somehow you just crash proud.

When you're in that state of hubris and you crash out, there's a term they use for that. It's time to eat humble pie. Humble pie.

What about leaders of global businesses and the businesses themselves that have been so high in your lifetime, like Yahoo? Number one search engine. Macy's. For those who have it all. Nokia, the number one phone manufacturer. GE, General Electric, the flying high American company. IBM, Xerox, Kodak, Radio Shack, Netscape, Hitachi, Blockbuster, MySpace, Motorola, Toys R Us, AOL, Sears, Toshiba, Circuit City, Blackberry, Segway. These are names and terms that were the great, the highest, the first going places that have just crumbled. Today I'd like to examine the relationship between being humiliated on occasion and being constantly humble. There's one that's very desirable, but it's hard for human nature to do, and that's being humble. And there's one that human nature loves to do, but they don't like the results. We don't like the results, and that's being humiliated. In a way, the two are related, but in another way, they're really not. Humility honors God and other contributors to one's success, happiness, prominence, whatever it may be. Very thankful. Another one begins to think more highly of one's self and begins to disdain the counsel, the advice, the direction, the input, the assistance of others, and begins then to think it's me. So let's consider humiliated versus being humble today. Humility versus being humbled. The title of the sermon today is, Humble Me or Humble Pie? And it presents us with a choice, doesn't it? Will I be humble me or will I eat humble pie?

Hubris or self-confidence, self-pride, actually becomes self-weakness. We think that's a self-strength. If you really think highly of yourself and if you're really self-confident, well, that's a strength. No, it's not. It's actually a self-weakness. It's a weakness to the advancement or the ability of oneself to actually succeed.

There's great reasons for that in that if you really take a look at your life, your home, what you drive, what you do, what you excel at, you've actually created none of it. You didn't build your home. You didn't chop down the wood in the forest. You didn't create wires out of copper mines and plastic. You didn't create furniture. You didn't create carpets. You may be good at purchasing things and putting them around you like a car or a vehicle. But we tend to say, oh, that's my car and I look good and I'm so smart and this is my home and this is my clothes. When in fact, it really took a whole society to produce those things. And if you're really good, let's say at, I don't know, computing. Next time you look at a computer screen, try to think how all those things even came on that screen or who made that screen. There's lines of code behind just a keystroke. Somebody had to write that code in order to make some images and somebody had to make screens and various technologies in order for us to be so good at, I don't know, gaming or whatever you do at work. You know, it's not one's self then, is it? It is actually more of a community of which we need to be inclusive and be thankful.

Pride feeds the self. It feeds the ego. The self then takes credit, exalts my abilities over others, which then in turn rejects wise counsel. It's like a person on a sports team that thinks he's the superstar. He may make a lot of points, but he doesn't give the team the credit, so he's always working alone. And that team typically loses, and that individual gets blamed for lack of teamwork.

One who exalts his abilities of others rejects wise counsel. And when you reject wise counsel, you are on some fool's errand. Because wise counsel from many sources contributes to good understanding and good planning, but just a fool, wise in his own eyes, is going to fall. When one begins to self-promote him or herself, and you have this self-aggrandizement in one's mind, it inevitably leads to taking things that don't belong to you, but you feel entitled to them. And this has happened within the church, outside the church, happens everywhere all the time. A person who really comes into some position in self-exaltation, even if he's been placed there by God, but he begins to think of himself that way, will begin to feel entitled to things that are not his or hers, such as finances. They'll begin to say, well, I am, and so therefore these things can flow to me, profiteering in ways that are not ethical. But because I'm me, and I'm so important, and I'm so smart, I can begin to work some things sort of off the radar that can help me. Dictatorship. I'll use that in authority. Not a loving authority, a serving authority, but a dictator. One who says, everything will be done my way, and I will make that happen my way. Nobody has that authority over others. Then comes sexual abuse. I not only have what God has given me in my relationship with my wife or my husband, but I am so liked, and I'm so skilled, and I'm so great, that I can actually expand that a little bit. You know, I can have some other little things that go on mentally, physically, online, or actually with other people. This happens to people in and outside the church.

You know, unethical behavior can ruin an individual at all levels, rapidly. And the fall just comes crashing down, like it did with Nebuchadnezzar. Sometimes it can go for a long time, but eventually things will happen. I've seen an individual in the church who was wealthy, you know, just wonderful, whatever, all these things running at the top, go to jail for bank fraud and securities violations. Just felt a little more entitled to more of the pie than what was rightfully his. Seeing individuals in the church who were just so cool and so talented, and you know, all the gals love them, take advantage of individuals that were not his. And fall like a rock just instantly. Boom. Life over, family over, career over, just like that. Boom. I've seen it happen over and over and over again. The expression, eat humble pie, means for one's pride in a manner to end in humiliation. And you can see in the examples I've given you, and some that you know, some that you can see on the news and other places, some of these famous people who, in recent years and recent decades, have just fallen in the news. Have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them.

Historically, the term humble pie comes from an old English term, umbilpie. U-M-B-L-E. Umbilpie has nothing really related to humble. But it means for one who is proud to end up in humiliation.

Umbilpie was the name of a pie made with oafel. Oafel is that which you would not normally eat from an animal. So, let's say, within normal society, if you killed an animal and you processed it, the stuff that was thrown away, that's what is called oafel. It's generally the intestinal stuff. And so, individuals who were just destitute would go and work through this stuff and get some internal organs and all, and they would cook that in a pie. And it was called umbil, meaning an oafel, or the rejected parts, an oafel pie. When I lived over in England, going to college in 1969, I started there. When you're 17, 18, and you're hungry as a young guy, and you say, oh, it's late, and the dining hall is closed and everything, let's go find something to eat. So, you go to the fish and chips place. Fish and chips is, I don't know, a little dive takeout. You go up to the counter and you tell, I like some fish and chips, and they'll take today's newspapers, and they'll throw some fried fish on there and some fries, and they'll roll that in the newspaper and hand it to you. That's what they used to do. You get newsprint all over you while you eat it, and it's a greasy mess. It tastes really good if you're young. It's kind of like an oil change, but it's tasty. Well, they're on the shelf. If you come early enough, they might still have a few steak and kidney pies. And these steak and kidney pies are in a crust, and they're that. I mean, that's pretty tasty. So, you could also order a steak and kidney pie, and you could take it with you. You could sit in the car and you could eat. Now, steak and kidney pie is sort of like an oafel pie or an umble pie, in that it's much better because it has steak in it. And so, you eat in the crust, and that's good, and the sauce that's in there, that's good, the gravy, and you hit a piece of steak, oh, that's good. But invariably, you're going to hit a landmine, and that's the kidney. And ow! That stuff, that is oafel, and it tastes very oafel.

Imagine a whole pie of that with no steak. That's what it was back in the day, and that's what in medieval times, lower class people could have.

So, umble and humble are unrelated, but the caution is against falling from a prideful state down to where eating oafel is going to be your diet. And it makes a pretty powerful analogy. So, in the Bible, we have actually many warnings about this, about a person who is a sinner, who is led with selfish, kind of egoistical pursuit into something that's going to crash. And instead, God wants us to lead a God-directed life that has honor, and it always has honor. No matter what happens, it's always honorable. In Proverbs 11 and verse 2, it says, When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Now, can you see this? With humility and thankfulness and appreciation that I don't know at all, well, God certainly knows a lot. Other people with experience have a lot. Elderly people have lived a long life. Other people in the industry or other people who are living well could teach me. So, with humility comes wisdom from others, including God. But when pride comes, then comes disgrace. Proverbs 29 verse 23 talks about pride ending in humiliation. Well, the humble person becomes honored. Honored not because of the self-thing of maybe money or fame or whatever, but a humble person is honored because of their thankfulness, their appreciation, their dependence, their relationships with other people. Think of it like a family. A husband who is proud, a dictator, kind of taking things that don't belong to him, right? He's walking on thin ice with the family and someday may actually lose that family. That is very typical. But he's so cool, and he'll go off and find another person and another person and another person and another person, you see in the news, in entertainment, all these people, how that goes. But humility brings honor and an honorable, intact family and a humble leader and a humble wife and humble children who are willing to submit to one another and learn from one another and look to God for information and look to others for examples. See, that brings a life of honor.

The Edomites in Obadiah, if we go there, Obadiah chapter 1, will begin in verse 3. The Edomites can provide us with an example here, kind of a classic example, really, of pride goes before the fall. Edomites, you know, that was a fairly strong country there. Obadiah chapter 1. I've got to stop talking and try to remember where Obadiah is.

Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. Getting there. There it is, Obadiah. Chapter 1, verse 3.

Talking here to Edom, the Lord says concerning Edom, the pride of your heart has deceived you. See how we can think is like, damn, the ace. I'm the one who knows. I know what's going to happen. I know what to do. I'm the winner. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high. You can't come against me. I have the high ground. You know, I'll shoot at you if you come up there.

You who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground? Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. So, without God and without godliness, there's another force in play that God wants humans to learn from, and that's Him. And if we're proud, sort of against God, or somehow think we can do it without God, well, He's got a little lesson for us, and it's called humble pie. And it doesn't taste very good. Another way we can look at this is, I'm proud to be, okay, as soon as we start saying that I'm proud, what does that mean? Well, I'm proud of my family, my kids, my sports team. I'm proud to be in my country. I'm proud, I'm proud, I'm proud. You see, it all reverts back to what is an imperial self. It is that same mind that Nebuchadnezzar had. Imperial means an empire, but it's my empire. I mean, I can stretch the self further than just me. I can take me, my town, my state, or my province, my country. I can include anything within that. My family. As long as it has my in front of it, see, then I have this imperial self.

Pride today also gets used proudly as the symbol of the great flood. That symbol of the great flood is used as a banner flown in God's face to say, we are sinning. You know? And we're proud of that. How long do you think that's going to work out for a nation? A nation that's proud of taking things that don't belong to it financially, morally, ethically, sexually. That's what nations and this nation have become banners of. And now we even will come to the place of saying, what God says is hate speech. We will fly this in God's face and we'll say, hate speech. God doesn't know what he's talking about. We know more. In Proverbs 16, 18, it says, pride goes before destruction. Have you seen a time that's more proud? Pride goes before destruction. More proud of itself and its military might and its economy at a time where, at the same time, they are the greatest proclaimers of sin and advocates of doing what God says not to.

It says, and a haughty spirit before the fall. God talks about this fall. Think of the fall. You had the fall of Adam and Eve. They were riding high, weren't they? But they just wanted a little bit more than what was due them. Think of the fall of their children, Cain. Cain thought he was going to have it all. And he fell really badly. The flood before Noah, the population thought they had it all. And then the flood came. Pharaoh thought he really had it. And the military, too. And he marched off into the Red Sea. His troops did. That was very prideful before the fall. And so on and so forth. David thought he was entitled because he was David. He was the king. He had done all these wonderful things. And he took it upon himself to step into things that weren't his. The Bible talks about cutting off many who are striving for personal success. Those who disavow God, disavow the Bible, they denigrate or limit their spouse and the involvement and the appreciation or the ministry or at work, their colleagues, they get set up, even including doctrinal ideas. Let's go to 1 Timothy 6 and verse 3. Sometimes any of us can read something in the Bible and say, oh, I see it this way. So now I am the authority. I am above other authorities like Christ put in the church in Ephesians 4 verse 11. But I see this more clearly now. And so therefore I have risen mentally above others. 1 Timothy 6 and verse 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 accords with godliness, he is proud. See, so even in the church and being religious, we can have a pride and know nothing but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling and evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men, of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such, withdraw yourselves. You know, there are individuals that I've seen through my lifetime in the church who rose up and had doctrinal ideas and they were strong in them and they knew Hebrew and they knew Greek and they were some kind of scholar and they thought of themselves so highly and then crashed out of the church. I mean, crashed out in humiliation. People just said, oh, wow, that person, look how far they fell. And then they drifted off and came up with other ideas and their lives never amounted to anything. Nothing. What results if God blesses strong nations with military, with supremacy, with economic dominance? And then they turn and they reject their Creator. If they say, we created the heavens and the earth, all that's out there, we made all of this through evolution. It was our evolution that made the universe and everything in it. And now call God ignorant in His words to not be followed or spoken. Let's go to Leviticus chapter 26 for the answer to that question. Leviticus chapter 26 and verse 18. And here is what is on its way to those nations. Not just some futuristic event, but it is on its way. Look around. Leviticus 26 and verse 18. And after all of this, God says to the descendants of His twelve tribes, And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power. I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. You see what's going on? The beginnings of this are happening. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its produce, Nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.

And it goes on. But you know, the pride that exists will come quickly. If we go to Hosea 5 and verse 4, you see, God has a consistent process of making this happen rapidly. Hosea 5 and verse 4. After enough warnings, after enough opportunity, then God will act. Go to Joel. I'm sorry, Hosea. Hosea 5 and verse 4.

Hosea 5 and verse 4. They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God. Now, who is he talking about? Verse 1, O house of Israel. Verse 3, I know Ephraim. Ephraim. And Israel is not hidden from me. Ephraim is another name for Israel. Ephraim and Manasseh, brothers, Joseph, to whom the birthright went. Notice, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry. Israel is defiled. They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God, for the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the Lord. The spirit of harlotry is everywhere. It is in the so-called relationships that people have today. It's not marriage. No, it's fiddling around from as soon as a child gets into maturity these days. They start messing around, and they continue to mess around. And then you have these little relationships that pop in and out and livings together, and hopefully one day maybe the woman who's burying the children will actually get married if somebody will do that. But this is just the way it is, along with all the pornography and all the entertainment and the recreation. It's just going the wrong way. In verse 5, The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity. Judah also stumbles with them. That's pretty strong. What's going to happen? With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him. He has withdrawn himself from them. You might claim, oh, and the Lord we trust. They have dealt treacherously with the Lord, for they have begotten pagan children. Now notice this in verse 7, Now a new moon shall devour them in their heritage. In other words, within one month they and their heritage will be devoured. Just fall. Boom. When you look in Bible prophecy, you'll see that there's a king of the north that's going to come against the king of the south, and then kings of the east come into play. You never hear of a king of the west anymore. What happened to the west? What happened to west of Europe, the British Isles? What happened to the United States? What happened to Canada? What happened to Australia? What happened to the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh? They're not mentioned again.

God warns the wise in Proverbs 29, verse 23, I'll just read it to you, Proverbs 29, verse 23, A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor. The humble in spirit will retain honor. To be humble in spirit means you're reliant on others, especially reliant on God, God's spirit, God's messengers, God's way, his words, his way of life, his commandments, his instructions. You'll retain honor. Humility is a consistent element of holy righteous character, God's character. Now we might think, hmm, what do we need to do to be like Christ? Christ is the king of kings, right? And we want to reign with Christ. So we can be not humble. We can be full of hubris. We can be very, very confident, right? Because after all, He's the king of kings. Let's go to the first use of humility in the Bible. The very first time the word humility is used is found over in Psalm 45 and verse 3. Psalm 45 and verse 3.

Psalm 45 and verse 3. And verse 3. Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, with your glory and your majesty. And in your majesty, ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness. Verse 6. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. God has humility. Humility. That is a part of the mindset of God that He wants us to share in. He wants us to use. And when we think of Jesus Christ as the king of kings and the great, mighty God, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom, that follows because of truth, humility, and righteousness.

What's the second use of the word humility in the Bible? Let's go to Proverbs 15 and verse 33 to find it. Right after referring to God in great awe, but one who has humility, we find the next use of this word is in the Proverbs. Proverbs 15 and verse 33. The fear or the reverence of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. And before honor is humility. So this speaks to us now. Before we can have the honor that God has or that Christ has, comes humility. And what is that humility linked to? Back up. The reverence of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom. Humility means I don't have the answers. I need the instruction of the Lord. And with the instruction of the Lord and the humility to use it, appreciate it, then comes honor. Then comes honor. And when we look in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, we find the very first beatitude. The very, very first beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It isn't sort of down the line. It's right at the top. Blessed are the poor in spirit, and that means humble. The poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Not just the rule of God now, but the kingdom of heaven, the rule of heaven, in heaven. The heavenly realm, that is. Now, who are the poor in society? Think of this for a minute. Versus those who live behind the closed, the walled gates and have all that money and all that stuff that goes on behind closed doors that sometimes gets exposed, and we find out, oh, they weren't doing this right. They weren't doing that right. There's lawsuits, and the government's after them, see. Who are the poor? The poor in society, if we want to use the poor in spirit. Who are the poor in society? The common categories might include the poor who often depend on others for assistance. They recognize and realize that they can't do it by themselves. And Jesus Himself said, remember the poor. In other words, this life is about sharing. It's about helping. It's not just one person succeeding or whatever. The poor in society can be those unable with a lack of resources, good wisdom, and therefore need wisdom and resources in order to prosper, as it were, to do well. So they might be reliant on a company. They might be reliant on an advisor or a helper, a mate. Those who are unskilled in performing perfectly, who need training. Where do you just become proficient at something?

You need training from somebody who knows, somebody who's wise, somebody who can show you and teach you how to do that. Or those who are unsuccessful can be poor. They have not succeeded by themselves. They need partnering, a partnering mentor. And I find that many people on earth, really what they need is, instead of being walled out and sort of identified or defined by some term, they're just people with great skills and ability that have not been developed yet. And if somebody will mentor with them, both sides could be helped. Because there's no entity on earth by itself. No culture, no country that has it all. You'll find over here, you'll have one country, oh, they have a lot of wealth. They have no relationships, but they have a lot of wealth. They all live in little box houses, they don't know their neighbors, and they work themselves to death, but they sure have a lot of stuff. Over here, you have a people, they don't have a lot of stuff, they don't have a lot of wealth, but they sure have a lot of relationships. And sort of there goes human society, one ditch and another ditch. But when societies can learn from each other, especially godly societies, can learn from god how to not be so self-focused and give and serve and work together, then you have a body in which all the components contribute. Not everybody's an eye, not everybody's an ear, not everybody's a toenail, not everybody's a hair, not everybody's a liver. But they all work together, and apart, they'll never reach the optimum in life that God would like them to have.

Jesus said in Matthew 11, verse 29, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. That word lowly comes from Strong's G5011, and it means humble. It's otherwise translated humble in the Scripture. He says, For I am gentle and humble in heart. Here's the great one, the one sitting next to God, and he says, I am humble.

So who should be prideful? If Jesus Christ isn't prideful, who on earth really should be prideful? Who really, I don't know, owes it to themselves to be full of self-pride and hubris?

Well, not those who succeed. Following his example, in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5, we have the very same word used. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5.

This word that was translated, he is lowly in heart, or humble. 1 Peter 5 verse 5 says, Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and clothed with humility. For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. There's that word, humble, that was associated with Christ as lowly of mind. Not thinking high in mind, not high-minded, but low-minded, humble.

You know, when Jesus was on earth, if you think about it, he didn't just live independently, did he? He actually ate in people's houses. He went up and stayed with Peter. Mary and Martha were friends of his. People served him. He served them. You and I were called in part because of our ineptness to succeed on our own. Let me just repeat that.

You and I were called in part because of our ineptness, our inability to succeed on our own. Let's go and find this in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. Now, according to the flesh, according to human viewpoint, not many wise or noble are called. It doesn't mean we're all, you know, dumb as a stump, but at the same time, God did not call those who the world things are just great, you know, fantastic, you know, just they've got it all and therefore they know it all.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, of society, the foolish considered by society, to put to shame the wise. Okay, so let's say you and I then become successful and capable and able. Should we take credit for that and be proudful of that and start thinking of ourselves highly?

No, He has chosen the foolish things of the world to put the shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, long sentence, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

So there's no pride, no place for pride or self-glory in the presence of God. But of Him, verse 30, you are in Christ Jesus who became for us. He is wisdom from God. That's where we get our brilliance, our wise, our wisdom to know how to live, to know how to succeed, to know how to have a happy marriage, to know how to be fulfilled in this life. When somebody asks you about the hope of your calling to be hopeful, that's what we tell them. We say, it's not me. It's not me.

It's not because I'm so smart. As verse 31 says, that as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord, and in his spouse, and in the companies that make the products, and on and on and on and on. You know, next time we use the toilet, I know we don't like to talk about that, but it's a big deal in the house, come to think of it. If you don't have one in the house, it's a real big deal. We take them for granted. But you know, you really ought to thank the people who develop things like that, and the underground things that go with that, and be a little more humble about almost everything we have when we turn on the water, or electricity, or turn on a stove, or we cook something.

We didn't make any of that when we transport ourselves. We made nothing. When we watch TV, or use a computer, or a cell phone, we all become so dependent on. We made none of it. And somebody will make a real nice little program where you can take a picture, and you can adjust the picture and say, Look what I made! Yeah, really? These things are very aggrandizing to the self, but in reality, we should not be taking credit, very much credit in life.

We should be thanking people. Thanking people. As you drive down the road sometime, drive a mile, and ask yourself, How much did that mile of pavement cost? How many millions of dollars went into that? Did you notice how many culverts there were? How many underground culverts for water to pass under, little bridges that were made, the structures of those bridges? Do you ever take the time to just think about a single mile when you drive, and all that went into that?

Probably not. We might complain if we hit a bomb. It's like, Hey, somebody ought to fix that hole. Can we take pride, then, in our daily life? Or what should we do in our daily life? Let's go to Colossians 2, verse 6-7. Colossians 2. Here's some instruction about daily living that we can certainly take note of and consider using. Colossians 2, verses 6-7.

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. So if your life, if you want to be successful spiritually, physically, ethically, morally, or respected by any and everyone, then as you have received Christ, then walk in Him, in Him. Where's the me in that? Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. See, that's the mind that God has. That's the mind God wants us to have. Appreciation. None of us even made ourselves. You may look and say, oh, look at me. I just look good. Well, you didn't make that.

You can't take credit for that. You know, you can say, well, I can do this or I can do that. Well, you don't even know how you do that. Just think about it. How can I do that? Did I tell myself to do that?

But I'm doing it. How did that happen? Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7, just back a page in my Bible. Philippians 4, verse 6, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. How many times do we pray and say, God, I need this to happen. I really need this to happen. Help it happen. Help it happen. And then it happens. I did that. Oh, did you see what I did? Oh, let me tell you. How's your week going?

Oh, fine. I did something really, really good. Wait a minute. No, let your request be made known to God with thanksgiving. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. That's our interrelationship dependence on success, is God and Christ living in us. Can we then take pride in, say, modeling a godly marriage? Maybe over time your marriage is developed into a godly marriage, and it's very blessed. And you say, well, I'm not done like everybody else in the world. I've got a marriage that's doing pretty good. Remember? Pride. My marriage. Pride is about me, about my, about mine.

Should we humbly celebrate God working in our marriage, in our family? If we go to Ephesians, just back a couple pages, chapter 4 and verse 9, what's the source of a good marriage, of a godly marriage? Ephesians 4 and verse 9.

Let's do 5 and verse 9, sorry. The fruit of God's Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. So the results, the good results, come from the Spirit of God, right? The Spirit of God. Now, we find in verse 22 through 31, principles of a godly marriage that work. And if we then follow those principles, ending up in verse 33, a man loving his wife as himself and a wife respecting her husband, because he is respectable, that's a very good thing. That's honor, isn't it? Can we then say, oh, ah, I have a good marriage? No, it's dependent, once again, on God.

Now we're approaching the end time. Let's see, as this time begins to go downhill, as it were, do we need to have humility in the future, or should we be prideful then? It turns out that to reign with Christ and his bride, we have to first conquer ourself, our selfishness, and the source of that, Satan the devil, as Jesus said, if you conquer, the term in most Bibles is overcome, but it would be correctly translated in every case as conquer, if you conquer, as he says in Revelation chapter 3, if you conquer as I conquered, then I'll have you sit on my throne as I conquered, and I sit on my father's throne.

But there's a different prideful conquering that's going on as well. Let's go over to Revelation chapter 6 and verse 2, not be tempted by this one, Revelation chapter 6 and verse 2. And I looked and behold a white horse. So this is a religion, just as Christ is going to ride on a white horse in Revelation 19, here is an antichrist. And I looked and behold a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him.

Oh, yeah, this is a ruler. He is really hitting it high. He's doing great. And he went out conquering and to conquer, it says. And that's the exact same word that's translated, overcome, every time in the New Testament. So he went out conquering and to conquer. Now, there's a little more details about the prideful leader here in Revelation 13 and verse 4. Revelation 13 verses 4 through 8. So they worshiped the dragon who gave Thori the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?

This individual is riding high, and he was given a mouth, verse 5, speaking great things and blasphemies. Verse 6, Then he opened his mouth and blasphemed against God, to blaspheme his name, his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome or conquer them. But we find that they conquer him through giving their lives, in some cases, just as Jesus conquered Satan and gave his life. In verse 8, All who dwell on the earth will worship him. So this is big stuff. But you remember, pride comes before the fall. Let's just go over to chapter 18, verse 7.

Chapter 18 and verse 7. In the measure that she glorified herself, all this hubris, self-glorification, and lived luxuriously in the same measure, give her torment and sorrow. For she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I am no widow, and I will not see sorrow. What happens to Babylon and the leadership? It says in verse 8, Therefore her plagues will come in one day.

Boom. Just like God seems to always do. There comes that day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be utterly burned with fire. For strong is the Lord who judges her. Verse 10, Others will stand at a distance, and for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour your judgment has come. You know there's only one way to succeed in life.

Just one way. Do it with God. Live with God. Live it God's way with God. Give God the glory, because success comes from a partnership with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Let's look in Ephesians 6 now as we wrap this up. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong. Now there it is. We just close our Bibles.

Be strong. Self-confident. Have hubris. Is that what it says? Brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Wow. Dropping down to verse 13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Finally, verse 17. Where does all this come from? Where does the mind of this come from the head? And take the helmet of salvation. The helmet goes on the head. We're not the head.

Jesus Christ is the head. The helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. That's Jesus Christ. You just flip over to Revelation chapter 19 and verse 13. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His name is called the Word of God. That's where we get our success. That's how we stand.

We have, as it were, the helmet of Jesus Christ on our head, the head of the church, the sword of the Spirit, who is the Word of God. In conclusion, pride sets every person on an ill-fated course. But the opposite of pride leads an individual to honor from both God and men. I'd like to conclude by reading Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 4, which says, Humility is the reverence of the Lord, its wages and riches, our honor and life. So, brethren, let's live a God-directed life with humility and with thankfulness. And as we do that, we will avoid ever having to eat humble pie.