Pride vs Humility

I would like you to try to guess the topic of today's sermon. It deals with the following dictionary definition. It's an emotion which refers to a strong sense of self-respect, as well as joy in the accomplishments of oneself, or something that one identifies with. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the Old English 11th century word for this emotion meant brave and valiant. Sounds like a good thing, doesn't it? The Latin word for it means advantageous, profitable, and to be useful, in a sense of having a high opinion of oneself. So what do you think the topic of the sermon is today?

Well, today we are going to examine a pitfall that separates mankind from God. And sometimes it separates you and me from God, as close as we might think we are to Him. It's a mindset that actually is sinful. It's a major reason why we need Christ's sacrifice every day of our lives. It's a major thing that you and I need to repent of daily and try to see in our life, if we possibly can see it or be shown it by God.

We need to address it before Passover, because Passover is the reconfirming of our commitment to God and pursuing the covenant that we made with Him. The title of the sermon today is Pride versus Humility. Pride versus Humility. Now, you might wonder what's wrong with pride, because pride feels so good. It really does feel good. You know, when you do something and you're proud of it, or you've become something and you're proud of it, or there's somebody maybe around you, related to you, that you're so proud of, I mean, that's a good thing, right?

Seems to be. Well, everyone, it turns out, relishes pride in themselves, and we all tend to think about ourselves, and we're fairly prideful of those things that we're able to do well. The thought process we have, the viewpoint that we have, we're pretty much positive about that. If you ever listen to the El Rushbo program, you know, when the program starts out, I'm not a listener, but once in a while, I love the opening to it, more than anything else, just to hear him talk about himself.

And, you know, the EIB excellence in broadcasting, and the best opinion of anyone on Earth, talent on loan from God, the most accurate, you know, opinion or observation of anyone anywhere on the planet, and you know, I know some of it's tongue in cheek, but at the same time, he never apologized for it. And I just use that as an example, because I know it's tongue in cheek to a degree. I mean, I assume it is. I guess I don't know that it is, but everybody tends to relish pride in themselves, while at the same time hates it in everyone else. And I think he does that just to kind of rile people up, because when somebody is proud of themselves, it just irritates others who are having to listen.

Pride is well recognized as a problem, a deficit, or a lack of positive function in the human character. You know, if you go traveling around the world, there are travel guides to this place and that place. Well, I found a traveler's guide to hell. And in the traveler's guide to hell, it says, pride is the mother of all sins.

Somebody out in society that figures that out should make it fairly obvious to us that there's something wrong with pride. But pride still is something that we, in a sense, relish and appreciate and tend to give some credence to in ourselves, because it's born from reflecting on our talents, it's born from reflecting on our abilities. We reinforce it in our accomplishments, and we stand back and are prideful in that which we are able to do and to perform.

And we take pride in that. The result is me thinking highly of myself. In Isaiah 14 and verse 13, I'd like you to look with me at the author of pride and see what you think. Isaiah 14 and verse 13, it says here of Lucifer, for you have said in your heart, and notice what is the focus of what he says of himself. He is prideful. Here is an angel that evidently was an archangel or one that was over the throne of God.

One was a carob that covered over the throne of God. One who was right there at the throne. Now, this was a created being of God, a sign of God, had evidently great capacity, intellect, and the ability to perform in many different levels, and also be a great leader.

This was quite an individual, and the individual said this of himself, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars or the angels of God. I will also sit in the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north, and I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Now, what is wrong with this thinking? Is this a grandized thinking? Is it really a person thinking more highly of themselves than what they really are? Where does it come from? I'd like to take a look at that today as we look at pride and see that we ourselves often feel this way.

We often feel that we should be given other opportunities, responsibilities, or just the ability to contribute to something, because after all, we are skilled, we are talented, we have a very good frame of mind and things to offer. You'd have to ask the question, and I ask myself the question, are you talented? Is there anybody in here that is not talented in any way? Please raise your hand. No, you are talented. The answer has to be yes. But why are we talented? This is what really is important for us to realize.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 27. It says, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. Oh, that's pretty good. So a person like me, who is not the wise, I don't have the natural born talents and ability, God is now going to use you and me to put to shame the wise of the world.

And guess what? He is doing that, isn't he? You are living and understanding. You are an example of a way of life that is far beyond the wisest people of this planet. Those who win the big awards, you are putting them to shame in the way that you live, in the happiness that you have in the future, in the knowledge and the understanding that you have and know about.

And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. Yes, we triumph in that sense over the 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. We actually are on track to reign and rule with Christ.

Now, aren't you proud of that? Aren't you proud of yourself? For that contribution to raise up and be able to do things that no other human beings can do? And shouldn't Lucifer have been proud that he was placed there and just an angel, but he was able to do all the things he could do?

See, if we think like that, we end up doing what Lucifer began to think to do. To want to be a little bigger, a little more, thinking more highly of himself. But what do we just read about here? We are the foolish, the weak, and we're the base. And the things which are despised, that's really who we are. That's who God called. You could say, well, that's who we were.

We're not supposed to remain that. But in the eyes of others, that's essentially who we have been. Now, if we are able to do something beyond that which is organic to our own self, who should receive the praise for that? Should it be you and me? Should it have been Lucifer who was able to do everything that he was able to accomplish because God put him there and gave him those abilities and the opportunities, and yet he took personal credit for it? We read in the next phrase, that no flesh should glory. You know, we are not the ones to be praised.

After the ordination of Ed Dowd, who is not my son, we don't have any blood relationship. I've never taught him, raised him, I didn't birth him. I, along with a lot of other people, recognized that Christ was calling him to the ministry, but after the ordination, several people came up and said, You must be really proud of your son-in-law. And I wasn't being critical, but I just, I'm like, I would be proud of what? Of what? And I can't even draw breath, and I don't have any, you know, the calling, Ephesians 11, Christ puts people in his church. Not me. The obvious, I was a little slow, in fact, because my bosses at the Home Office were putting pressure on me.

When are you going to ordain him? Just slow down. Slow down. So, are you proud? And what are you proud of? Are you proud of your kids? Are you proud of yourself? Are you proud of your yard? Are you proud of this? Are we proud of that? I'll tell you what. I cannot think, period, without a miracle going on up here, right now. It's called the Spirit in Man. And if you want to know what I'd be like without that miracle going on right now, which I can take no credit for, all you have to do is go to the book of Daniel and see what happened when God stopped the miracle in the mind of Nebuchadnezzar, and he became sort of like a cow.

And he thought it was pretty cool to crawl around and eat grass. And he didn't know anything for seven years. And then you'll find at the end of the seven years, when he began to acknowledge... Well, he couldn't acknowledge because he was just a cow. But after seven years, God gave him his reason back, and then he acknowledged that, other than by himself, he was nothing.

So, here's the point, and please, I don't remember anybody that made that comment to me whatsoever, but I just make that as a point to be proud of something. God says right here that whatever is done through us and by us and in us is done so that no flesh would glory in his presence. Verse 30, But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom of God. You have incredible wisdom. Let me tell you. You've got it wisdom like nobody else on the planet.

And where does that wisdom come from? From God. It's not your wisdom, it's not my wisdom. It is actually God's wisdom, and he became for us wisdom. So when somebody comes up to you and says, wow, you really have your life together. Wow, you really are happier. Wow, you really know how to live. It's because God is that wisdom for us.

And the righteousness and sanctification and redemption, all these things are his. Somebody comes up and says, wow, you are... maybe they tell you, you are really a good person, a good Christian. I admire you, I want to patter my life after you.

What do you say? Well, you say, yep, I'm pretty proud of my life. We would tend to do that, wouldn't we? Because we have fought hard to get rid of our human nature. But actually, it says here, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption is from God. That it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. So there's where we can glory. We can give God the glory. I'll tell you a little secret. I probably shouldn't, but I will.

Anything that I am able to do in the ministry, or in my family, or in my personal life, anything that I am able to do well, I'm not smart enough to have figured it out. I just wanted to lay that out for you. Any message that I preach, any thought that I think, any deed that I do, that comes across as good, and I'm sorry there aren't more of those, because sometimes I get in the way, and I do, but anyone that does come across good is not from me because I'm not that smart.

And I know that next week I don't have a sermon prepared for you. Well, actually I do. I don't have one for Yuma, but I gave one there last week that you're going to get next week, some one up for you. I don't have a sermon prepared next week for me. Yeah, I do. This one. Okay. Yeah, I'm done. All right. And here's the thing. It doesn't bother you, but it scares me to death because what if God didn't inspire the next sermon that I haven't been inspired with yet? I realize that would be the end of it. Okay? That would be the end of it because that's where the sermons come from, and I'm not smart enough to come up with them on my own.

I tried that once or twice. I really did. Didn't want to be there. That was when I was young, and wonderful people like Pat Nelson were members of the audience then when I was young and single and trying to learn how to preach. And I thought I had something to give, but I didn't. And it drove me to my knees and made me realize, God, help! If you don't have something to feed these people, I sure don't. We're going to waste a whole bunch of time. And so it is. When it comes to almost anything in life, we can say, well, I take pride in that.

Or we can say, I give glory to God for that. And that's not just being nice. That's not sort of being Christian and saying, well, you know, give God the credit. Sounds kind of gushy and nice.

That's the truth. That is the absolute truth. When we fail to be proud of our provider, what does that say to him? We start thinking, well, I'm gifted. I'm gifted. You know, once in a while people will hear a sermon somewhere around the world and they'll send me an email. And they'll hear one of my sermons. It's either on our website or that I've given somewhere. And they say, you know, I really appreciate your style of speaking.

Or that sermon really helped me or whatever. Well, I could say, well, of course. Or I could say, wow, it's amazing that I could give a sermon in the first place and secondarily that it would help somebody clear around the world on the other side of the world. And what an awesome thing God does when he feeds his sheep. Now, I'll tell you another secret that's very, very sad. And that is, if I died tomorrow, God wouldn't miss a step in feeding his sheep.

You know, they say, oh, well, the last mouthpiece is gone, but here comes another one. And God would provide. He could speak through rocks if he wanted to. He spoke through an ass once. You know? Who am I? And so it is. What about you? If we start thinking that we are something, we begin to replace God. We begin to say, no, I don't need you. I am gifted. And then what would we do when we come up to the Passover? We would say, well, it's a good sacrifice, and I appreciate that and everything, but wouldn't we begin to see ourselves too much in the way?

And wouldn't see the need, perhaps, for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Because, after all, as it says in Revelation chapter 3, you've got pretty much everything. You're good to go. You've got all the rich and increased with goods and the spiritual. You know, I'm pretty good here. I'm in good shape. We wouldn't want to be in that situation. Let's see how easy it is to get in that situation as a Christian. Let's go back to Job chapter 19 and verse 9. In Job chapter 19, we see a righteous man.

Now, how righteous was this man? Don't think he was less righteous than you or me. He was more righteous than me. I don't know about you. Because God Himself says in the opening chapter to Satan, this is a righteous man. More righteous than any man in the world at that time. So we're talking about a really righteous man here. Now, if we look at something he said here in Job chapter 19 and verse 9, he's speaking of God to one of his friends, and he says, He has stripped me of my glory.

Think about that. He has stripped me of my exaltation, my glory, my pride. He has stripped me of that. And he has taken the crown that I have worked for from my head. He's taken this position of respect that he deserved as the most righteous man. Verse 23.

He says, The most important words that anyone can hear, I'm ready to write them. Was he proud? Seems like it, doesn't it? If we go to chapter 23 and verse 3, he wants to contend with God and explain to him that, you know, I'm not just, I wasn't born under a bush. I'm actually able to do things well. He says, Oh, that I knew where I might find him, then I might come to his seat, and I would present my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments, because I see, I have the answer, I could solve this problem. There's a misunderstanding, and I am, I have the solution. I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

Would he contend with me in his great power? No, he would not contend. He would understand, he would see the logic, he would see the wisdom.

But he would take note of me.

You know, that's, that's pretty lofty, isn't it? And yet, that is where I find myself at times, when I think of issues or situations where superiors to me, others that God has placed in, I'd like to step in, I've got the solution, I have the answer, etc., etc.

Let's go to Numbers 16, verse 1. Numbers 16, verse 1. Sometimes people, people, sometimes probably all of us will come up with a doctrinal theory or a new take on something, or we will come up with a new administrative tact, or how to solve this, how to do that. And it rises up within us because we are capable people, but it rises up within us as being something that is maybe above what others are able to think or consider. Here in Numbers 16, we find a very capable group of people, Korah, son of Levi, verse 2, rose up before Moses and some of the children of Israel, 250 leaders in the congregation. Now, this is the established leadership of the tabernacle administration there in the desert. Representatives of the congregation, notice men of renown.

And they gathered together, verse 3, against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of God? One thing about pride is, pride contends about who is right. Who is right? And notice what Korah and those individuals are saying. We have expert thinking. We have expert service and talents, and we're recognized for that. Why do you not let us come in and bring this expert participation?

And notice it's about Moses and Aaron. You take too much upon yourselves. You exalt yourselves. They are contending about who. Who. About people. About who is right. And who is fit. And pride does that. Who comes from pride? If you want to contend about who is right and who is wrong, who is fit and who is unfit, you're speaking from your own vanity and pride.

Humility contends with what is right and what is the fitting thing to do, not about who. It doesn't elevate the self, it elevates the will of God to find out what is right and what is fitting in a certain situation. Did these individuals come as to what is right and what is fitting, or who is right? That was the issue. Did Lucifer come with what is right or who is right and fit? Notice Moses' mentality and his response. He says to Korah, Here now, you sons of Levi, is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to Himself to do the work of the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to serve them? Didn't you get this assignment and the inspiration and the help from God? Verse 10, Now, what's the contention about with Moses? Is it about who? And are you seeking the priesthood also? No, it's about what? They wanted to rise up and now also be part of the priesthood. Lucifer wanted to rise up and also be God or above God. Verse 11, Pride is about who? Humility contends with what is right and what is fit. Again, we can ask, what is the source of your ability? Some of you can play wonderfully at a piano. I can play wonderfully at a piano too, as long as I'm the only one around with an earshot. You'll have to trust me on that one. No, I really can't. Though it's fun to hear the noise, no one else would want to hear it. But some of you can play instruments or some of you can sing. Do you take pride? You say, oh, I can play, I can sing, maybe in your career you can do wonderful things, you can calculate math equations like nobody else. It would make my brain hurt to try to do that. I take pride in that. Or does that appreciation for the talent given you go to God who gives it? Through the miracle of thought, through the translation of some grey matter that comes from your parents and your grandparents who also had similar traits. What is the source of your abilities? The source is, first of all, the Spirit in man. The second source is the Holy Spirit. I dare say that we cannot take credit for either of those. Not at all. Of course, there is life itself, just the physical ability to live, which nobody can create life. We just assume that there is a living body before those things take place. So when we have a gift, and some of you would sing or play or help in some way, those become spiritual gifts in praise to God and service to others. And those gifts are spiritual gifts, but where does it come from? It comes from God. It comes from God, and it's inspired by God at times, as He would lead us and help us as we pray to Him, to help us as we desire to serve. Should a hammer be proud of the palace? You have a palace, a beautiful palace. Should the hammer be proud of the palace? When you have a big crop that's brought in, should the plow be proud of the crop?

Should the shears be proud of the formal gardens? When we are proud of what we do, that is like the shears and the plow and the hammer, saying, I'm proud of that accomplishment, because we are mere tools in God's hands. Of and by ourselves, we can't do anything. We are nothing without God. And when He uses us and we can look back and see what God has done in our families, in our lives, in our congregations, in our character, we should see God and be thankful that we could be a tool in His hands. We can get the big head and admire myself because of what I was involved in. And I know all of us have low self-esteem usually, and we want recognition. We desire recognition. I love to tell you about my abilities, if you want to listen, because it's exciting in life to be able to accomplish some things. And I think sometimes we stand back and think, wow, that's not possible through me, but it happened anyway. I've got to tell somebody about this. And if you do it in the right way, there's certainly nothing wrong with it. But if we stand back and say, I did this, and this is about me, and I and me, and I and me, and you ought to do it my way, and I have all this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, well, that's kind of like the hammer saying, that palace there I made.

Are you proud of your talents and your accomplishments? I am much too often, it turns out. This topic was brought up over at the conference in relationship to the ministry. And in thinking about it, you stop to think about where pride pops up, it pops up in places we don't tend to expect it, in some areas that we actually think it's a good thing. So I've been thinking about this, and am I proud of my talents and accomplishments? Oh, yeah.

And what is that pride speaking to? What was korra and the Levite sin? Well, it's self-glorification rather than glorifying God. That's what it's speaking to. That's to wander out in front of people for self-glorification and try to explain and be proud of what you've been and what you've done, and maybe get a monument carved to you for what you've been and what you've done. But that would be in the face of God. Notice where this can go. In Romans 1 and 20, we see it all around us. In fact, pride is considered to be a strength, a positive trait in human character in our current age. Romans 1 and 20, we'll just jump into the center of this familiar thought here. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. In other words, this creation is all about God, and it really should bring a lot of awe from humans to God. Being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead, the eternal power of God, the Godhead of God, this should just radiate and shine at all humans, and everything that we see and do just should boggle our minds, and we should take the time to look at the systems of the various creations that God has made. But what is a human who is proud of themselves and their accomplishment? Think. Just read on. So that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God. They weren't looking at God. They weren't looking up. They were looking down. They were looking down from their lofty position of, here I am, and here are things around me, places that I've made and purchased and things that I deal with and have fun with, and things on my job that I can make happen. They're looking down. Nor were thankful to God, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools. So that's what can happen to a prideful person who is looking downward, tends to look downward and say, I have, I am, I'm able, I'm capable. And if there's others who are more capable than me, I'm not going to look up, including at God. I'm just going to be concentrating on looking down. And pretty soon, as it goes on to say, that humanity and society has gone into some very foolish and harmful lusts that really are taking the society towards a terrible conclusion.

The President of the United States said this, We have forgotten God, the gracious hand that preserved us in peace. And somehow we have interpreted that all these blessings are things that we have done on our own. That's where you can get.

Abraham Lincoln said that in around 1865. Humanity will quickly, quickly look down, not look up, and will take credit and pride for himself and get himself into a lot of trouble.

Once in a while, I will figure out the solution to the big problem, or the doctrine, or the prophecy. I don't know, do you do that sometimes? You look around the church or your work or somewhere, and you can see it clear as a bell. From Phoenix, Arizona, I can see the situations in the church, in the home office, and I can fix them. Look at it! I got the solution! It's perfect! I don't know why they don't have it, but I've got it. It must be special.

Of course, I'm in Phoenix, and nobody knows me out here, so they don't recognize my specialness.

We get over to the conference, and Mr. Clyde Kylo made this statement. Lots of ministers tell me they have the perfect solution to the problems in the church. They go, oh, there's more of me? They try to convince me of them, but they really don't know what they're talking about.

I have the pleasure of serving as a member of the Doctrinal Advisory Committee for the Council, which means some of the doctrinal papers, all the doctrinal papers that come in that are submitted, would come first to the committee, and then we would work through them and make certain recommendations for the doctrinal committee itself, etc., etc.

I don't say that to pump myself up, because I think they said anybody who asked to be on the committee, they approved. So what does that say? I do get to review the papers, and people often feel that they have a special understanding, and it's only theirs. We all can do this, because we're here, and we're focused, and we read this, and we develop this thing in our mind, and maybe we hear something off the Internet to put it together, and, wow, I've got this, and nobody else got it. If the church understood this, we'd be doing things differently. It might be a calendar issue, it might be a New Moon's issue, it might be Passover, the date of the Passover, Pentecost, it could be postponements, it could be Hillel, it could be all manner of things that are important, and it seems like I've got the understanding. The response that sometimes comes from the doctrinal committee to the writer is, we have been dealing with this question since 1939, and we have a doctrinal paper on it that was written back in 1996, and you're welcome to this 60-page doctrinal paper that covers it. And when that happens, I always think, when that person gets that, they're probably going to be surprised. Surprised. And it's not a put-down, it's just that we can think that this has probably never come up before. This is some unique view or some unique position, only to be surprised that there might be a doctrinal paper on it, or it's been dealt with many, many times, down through time. My point is that sometimes the big problem, the big doctrine, the big solution to that isn't I. It's just not me. And prideful people can resent not being recognized for that expert opinion, that expert advice, that research, whatever it might be, that you and I sometimes have.

Consider these aspects of pride. We each tend to be ignorant of our own arrogance. And that's a funny thing. However, at the same time, we're very aware of it in others, and it drives us nuts.

We're ignorant of our own, and when somebody comes up to you and tries to point it out to you, that you are prideful and arrogant, and you think highly of yourself, and they tell you why, you say, yeah, I'm capable of all those things you just complained about. What's your point? You know? Uh-huh. That's what we tend to respond. I mean, it's telling me that I'm thinking too highly of myself in an area that I'm an expert in. What's wrong with that?

It's fitting for a person as capable as me to have a little bit of recognition, my abilities and my talents, you see? So what's your point? We see ourselves as described. It's okay.

And so the other person, though, the other person we don't recognize that so much in. We're able to critique them. For the past half a century, pride has been considered a positive trait in our society. Take pride in your work. Free and proud. Power of pride. Proud to be American. You should be proud of yourself. We teach our children in school. Constant reaffirmation. You should be proud of yourself and of your abilities and your accomplishments.

Proverbs 16 verse 18 says, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. And we can see this in society around us, even in our own country, where people just push this pride in nationalism. And yet at the same time, it's a pride in sinning and just getting or throwing it right in the face of God. Openly. Pride comes before a fall. This haughty spirit, this lifting up of oneself comes before a fall. In other words, if you don't create the fall through repentance, God's going to create the fall for you. Now, which kind of fall do you want? It is an honorable thing to cause yourself to fall. We call it humility. To repent. To say to somebody, you know, I was thinking to myself, I was just too big for my shoes or my britches or whatever. But I realized, they'll go, yeah, that's very commendable. That's very commendable. But you just get up there to where you're just floating in the clouds and God bursts your bubble and they're going to say, wow.

And that's just the way we humans are. As we come up to Passover, we need to realize that while pride feels like a very admirable point of character because we're doing so well and we're able to accomplish so much, yet it's our greatest enemy and it is sin and it just stinks in the nostril of God the Father and Jesus Christ. In Proverbs 16 and verse 5, it states, everyone proud in his heart is an abomination to the Lord. You see what comes to my thinking now in my life? When I'm feeling prideful about something, it's an abomination to the Lord. It's not just one of the things he doesn't like. It's an abomination to the Lord. Again, it's the hammer saying, I built the palace. It's the plow saying, it was my crop. Where do we get that? It's the weak, the base things declaring that I did it all. It's me. We all carry pride. Men have it bad. Women have it just as bad. We just do it in different ways. Men have to swallow their ego and listen to children and women and others who actually know sometimes more about what they ought to be doing in certain situations than they do, but they don't want to hear it. Women are very vain about themselves and they can be very self-absorbed and very critical, very critical in lack of giving any consideration or appreciation to others because they're not receiving themselves. So we can have these little pride wars. The men with the ego, they're not a woman. The women with their own sense of pride, they're not a man. If you're not careful, you'll end up as two old folks sitting across a table, not talking at a restaurant, when the young people come in to eat and they look and say, I wonder if marriage is really worth getting involved with after all, because some of us young people have done that through our lives. And that's not really living. That's not really life. God doesn't want us to be an abomination to Him or to each other because pride just gets in the way. Proverbs 8, verse 13 through 16 says, the respect, the deep respect of the Lord is to hate evil. We just realize that pride is evil. He goes on, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate, God says. Look how all that goes together. If we think that the pride and the arrogance is a good thing, notice, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. Ouch! So maybe what society is telling us isn't so good after all.

Why is this? Because it comes from God. Verse 14, notice God's perspective on this. You want to take credit? You want to take pride in this? That's evil. That's sinful. That's awful. Because counsel is mine in sound wisdom. You think you've got good ideas to counsel somebody? You think you have wisdom? Those are mine. And if you have them, I gave them to you. I am understanding. I have strength. By me, kings reign and rulers decree justice. By me, princes rule and nobles and the judges of the earth.

In contrast to pride, humility is the best friend of a Christian. Humility will get you everything you want. Pride is trying to get you on your own. I don't have self-esteem, so I'll get some. Watch, I'll start talking about myself. I'll carve a statue to myself. I'll do these things to honor myself. I'll take some courses where I can think better, talk better, impress people. I'll show them. I'll get money. I'll get something. I'll get cars. I'll get houses. I'll get something. I'll show them. I'm going to reinforce that there's something about me that's good. And yet, what do you have at the end of it all? Well, nothing but corruption. And corruption isn't a pretty thing. I don't know if you've ever seen anything living, any animal die and rot that's left unattended to. It's one of the worst, putrefying things you can ever imagine. When the Bible talks about corruption, that's what it's talking about. That's what it's talking about. Yeah, that's all we get in the end. But everything that you ever wanted or dreamed about in life comes through humility. Jesus Christ was our greatest example. Let's go look at Isaiah 53. He was the ultimate example of service combined with humility. It's not just a matter of being humble, but it's about humbly serving and giving of yourself to others. Isaiah 53, verses 1-8. It's talking about Jesus Christ. In the middle of verse 2, he has no form or comeliness. He's not pretty. He's not handsome. That we should desire Him when we see Him. There's no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows. Now there's a lot of things here that we go through during the Passover service that I'm not trying to point out right now. But notice how He comes in a humble state. He created Himself, or the Father created Himself, as a humble man. A short, plain-faced, humble Jew boy that nobody really cared about. That's how He decided to make His entrance. And He didn't come in, you know, in a grand parade, He came in sitting on a young donkey. But in verse 4, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He came to do something. He came to give us the greatest gift of all, access into the family of God. Verse 7, He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth to complain, to criticize, to justify Himself, to raise and inflate Himself, to defend Himself. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and so He opened not His mouth.

In verse 10, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, yet He has put Him to grief, when you shall make His life an offering for sin. He shall see His seed and He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands. We received a wonderful gift from a very, very humble God who set us the perfect example of humility through service. In 1 Peter 5 and verse 5, notice how we are to live and act. 1 Peter 5 and verse 5.

Likewise, you younger people who can think better, solve the world's problems, have all these new gadgets, and have to wait on us old folks, you young people submit yourselves to your elders. Be humble. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed in humility. It doesn't just mean have a little of it, it means be draped in it. Let that be what you are about. Why? For God resists the proud, but He is gracious to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. The fulfillment of all your dreams and aspirations and your desire for greatness will be fulfilled by God, not by yourself. Anything you try to do yourself is pretty much useless, worthless. Solomon came to that and he made a much better attempt at it than you and I ever could. And it just failed. But He is going to exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you. Now, notice the context here. Humble goes with verse 8. Be sober, vigilant because your adversary, the devil, the originator of pride, walks about like a roaring lion. The name of the lion family is called a pride. Seeking whom he may devour, resist him steadfast in the faith. I want you to notice how that goes together. That's not by accident. We often will separate one out from the other. Humility goes with godliness and pride goes with Satan. Like Peter here, James and Paul also use the same context when dealing with fighting Satan. James 4, 6-7, which we'll read in a little bit. And also 1 Timothy 3, verse 6, talks about a person not being puffed up with pride, lest he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Pride in the devil, pride in the devil, pride in the devil. John also uses the same context between the two. 1 John 2, 16, For all that is in society, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, this is not of the Father, but it is of the world, Satan's world.

Pride is a problem. Pride gets in the way of everything. Pride is associated with Satan and the lofty mentality that a human being has.

Pride is a cause of false doctrine. We see in 1 Timothy 6, verses 3-6, where does false doctrine come from? I alluded a little bit to doctrine and sometimes our doctrinal ideas, but it comes from our sense of, I know more, I have more understanding, and I get this thing going. Where do I take it? Do I take it to someone above who has more? No, I will distribute it to others who will look to me. False doctrine goes fast. It spreads very, very fast. It's very insidious. But notice 1 Timothy 6, verse 3, In other words, the doctrines are set. The doctrines have been set. Jesus Christ taught the truth. The apostles established the doctrines. We continue to carry the same doctrines. And if anybody goes beyond that, verse 4, He is proud, knowing nothing but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt mind and destitute of the truth. He concludes, from such, withdraw yourself. We've got to stay away from that. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 5, But know this, that in the last days, perilous or dangerous times will come, for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters full of pride, proud. And you can just read on, all the dangerous things that go on there, boasting of themselves and proud. That is a problem of the end-time mentality that is going to cause this world to be a dangerous place. And even now, it is a very dangerous place. How does pride affect a Christian? First of all, it blinds us to our own self-centeredness. We don't see ourselves as self-centered, we just see ourselves as capable, admirable. It restricts us, secondarily, from respecting and appreciating others, including God. Because we see ourselves as such a capable person, we tend to downplay others. In Isaiah 66, verse 2, I'm going to read this from the NIV. God says, "'Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?' Then He says, He who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word." So we see that rather than the proud that pushes God out of the way, we need to be humble, trembling at God's word, and really giving Him the praise. And the third way that pride affects a Christian is it keeps us from real honor. It keeps us from real honor. Proverbs 22, verse 4, says this profound but short statement, So when I say that pride has nothing of what we're seeking, though that's what we will attempt on our own to create our own form of admiration. And humility is everything that we want. It's because by humility and the deep reverence of the Lord, our riches and honor and life.

So as so many things are in the human existence, the opposite of what we expect is true. It is humility that we want, that we really want, and all that goes along with it. And the pride and the arrogance is what we really don't want, or anything that goes along with it and Satan the devil.

In conclusion, let's go back to James chapter 4.

Here is another writer that brings in the connection between humility and God and pride in Satan. James chapter 4 and verse 4. And we'll go through verse 10. This really sums it up well. Do you not know that friendship with society is the enmity of God? Why is that? Well, just because society in this time is all about arrogance, it's all about selfishness, it's all about a pursuit of things that lift up oneself to haughtiness and pride, and it's against God. Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Because in a sense, you're becoming a little Satan, and you're lifting yourself up, and you're saying, I am the one, I know how it should be, I'm going to be lifted up. You might even be envisioning yourself to be in a big position in God's kingdom, so that with all your abilities and all your knowledge and all your intellect, God will recognize that and He'll put you over something big. Verse 5, do you think that the Scripture says in vain, the Spirit which dwells in us yearns jealously? It wants us to be godly thinking. But He gives more grace or graciousness. Therefore, He said, God resists the proud, but is gracious to the humble. Those who think that they have something inherent in themselves, or they've developed something in themselves, God resists that. I don't know about you, but I don't need God resisting me. But He has been, because I've been proud. I am proud. I'm going to fight that my whole life. You are proud. You're going to fight that, too. God resists that. We need to repent of that and get it out of ourselves. So God is not resisting us. Therefore, notice what He says, gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and He will flee from you. See how all that keeps going together? Humility, resist the devil. He'll flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you're double-minded. This is a good time for us to reevaluate ourselves, find that sin. We've got the double-mindedness going. We've got the obedience and the contrition and some humility. We've got the pride and the ability and the, you know, the adoration of ourselves, kind of going hand in hand. We've got to get rid of this double-mindedness. Lament and mourn and weep and let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. Pride versus humility. That's the war that's going on inside us. Which do you want to win? Which do you want to lose? Brethren, let's take a long look at ourselves and the motives that we have and the attitudes that we have and see where pride is lurking. And once we identify it and begin to repent of it, God will help put it out of us. And only then can we rise to true greatness when God lifts us up.