The Pride of Life

This is part one of three part series. There's a fundamental set of concepts that are in the Bible that I don't know if we've spent enough time on, but super important. There is an idea of how Satan works to undermine our relationship with God that's outlined in different places. If you're taking notes, if you write down these three scriptures, I'm going to cover these very fast. I've covered them before, and I'll cover them very fast here, and we'll come back to them in a little more detail over the next three sermons. But 1 John 2 16, Genesis 3 and verse 6, and then Jude 11, and then Matthew 4, where Christ was tempted. It's actually four different scriptures.

There is a technique in a way that Satan uses to undermine a relationship with God. So in the Garden of Eden is where he introduced this, and I'll only read part of this Genesis 3 16.

It's because Satan came and he disrupted that relationship that they had with Christ. And so many times I think we think that the way he's going to do that with us is some way that's you know intellectual or you know all these things, but the way he works is very specific. And what I want to do is there's three specific things of the way he works to undermine that have to do with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There's two trees in the Garden of Eden.

Satan came. God said, don't eat of this tree the knowledge of good and evil. It's the knowledge of good and evil, not the tree of good and evil. It's the knowledge of good and evil. He said, don't eat of that tree. You will die. Satan came along and said, oh, he spoke some words and he spoke a language and he got them to look at the tree. And what happened in Genesis 3 verse 6 says, so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate. Now what happened in here too is what was her first response? She quoted God. She quoted the Word of God and said, you know, God said we should not eat of the tree. Satan came along with something else that swayed them. This is how he works. Yes, he plants the ideas and the thoughts and things like that, but there are appeals that he appeals to in the way he works. And there's three things that are listed there. Good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise are those three things. Today we're going to cover the first one of those and the most fundamental one that is underneath so many things. 1 John 2 16 describes this as well. It says, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. If you stack 1 John 2 16 next to Genesis 3 6, you'll see that it mentions the same three things in different language. So the Old Testament, the New Testament, are talking about the same thing. Satan did it at the beginning with man and it's mentioned in the New Testament and we see it today. It's a formula that started from the beginning and he's reused over and over and over again these three things. So when it says lust of the flesh, it's looking at the tree, you know, she saw it as good for food. Lust of the eyes, it was pleasant to the eyes. Those are the same thing. Pride of life, desirable to make one wise, those are the same thing. Now pair that with Jude 11. Jude 11 gives you three examples of where people went wrong. Cain, Balaam, and Korah. If you stack that scripture next to these other two, you'll see that those three examples line up with those three things. So in the Bible, there are three things that are mentioned over and over again. Old Testament, New Testament, start a man, alter a man to today, and examples given. So Cain would be lust of the flesh, Balaam, lust of the eyes, he went after money. Korah went after power, the pride of life, desirable to make one wise.

And if you look at how Satan tempted Christ, there's three primary temptations he did, and guess which ones they are? The same three things. Again, in Matthew 4, lust of the flesh, he tempted him with bread, lust of the eyes, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and said, this could be yours. Pride of life. You can skip out on this. I can make you a ruler now. You're actually probably a pretty good ruler. You see all the suffering going on today? You could take care of that. I know you could. So just bow down and worship me and skip that. And he appealed to us, the pride of life. How did Christ deal with these three things? He fasted 40 days. Let me ask you, are they serious or not? Is it important to talk about these things? Because if Christ had fast 40 days and be faced with these things, what do you think you and I are doing when we face them? I can tell you what I'm going to talk about today. We're not facing yet. And I want to talk about one of the things that puts a wedge between man and God and destroys a relationship more than any other thing. And that is pride. Pride. The pride of life. Desirable to make one wise. I don't know about you. When was the last time you heard a sermon on pride? Recently? Maybe. But I'm not sure we've talked about this enough. But when we look in the Bible, it's one of the sins that's mentioned the most. 121 times at least. Proud pride. And then a whole bunch of examples which you could add onto that more. So one of the sins is called out the most. Let's turn over to 1 Peter 5 verse 5.

1 Peter 5 verse 5. How does this have to do with our relationship with God? Has every single thing to do with our relationship with God? Every single thing. 1 Peter 5 verse 5 says, likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you, be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.

And right along with this concept, it says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

God resists the proud. Do you know what that means? That means that his face is not for them, he is against them. He resists being with them. He resists the proud person.

He is not having a relationship with a person who has pride. Pride has every single thing to do with our relationship with God. In this scripture, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble, is the one formula that we need to understand so deeply, because it is what comes between us and our relationship with God. Satan came and made it, and this is a tool that he wedges in to people, is to stir up their pride. We always think it's intellectual or this or doctrine, but what he does is behind so many of these things is pride, and it's a tool that he uses to devastate our relationship. God resists the proud. God resists the proud. He may resist them, even their prayers, etc. He was around a being, Satan, who was pride. He is not going to be and stay around that type of a thing.

Grace is freely given. Those who humble themselves, God lifts up. There's a fundamental concept, and we talk about pride, and pride has to do with you lifting you up.

Pride has to do with you lifting you up. God and humility. Humility has to do with God lifting you up. You see that's there. We'll see this phrase used throughout the Bible. Pride is you lifting you up. Humility says, I will let God lift me up. But this is critical in our walk with God. Pride is at the heart of so many sins. It's one of the most deceptive things, because you can be religious and be what you think is so right, and you could be so wrong, because pride is at the heart of these things. It has to do with exalting yourself, promoting yourself, doing things in your own, your own power, your own ways. Pride is actually the precursor to so many sins, because it says, I give myself license to not do what the Bible says. I feel like I should be able to, or I feel like I'm better than, or I feel like because I'm fired up that I can't... You give yourself license to not obey what the Bible says for us to do. Pride is behind so many sins. It's a precursor. It's a gateway drug. It's the... If you've ever seen and tried to light a campfire, it's the kindling and the match. It's the thing that's underneath. It's the thing that makes things flame up. That thing is pride behind it. Satan knows this. This is why one of the core things and how he works against God's relationship, and he did in the Garden of Eden, is to insert pride into anything. It's the opposite of every way that God is, if you want to think about it. It's the opposite of the way that God is. God is not full of pride. And so, how are we devoured by Satan? One of the ways is by pride. Devour and we devour other people when pride enters in. But it's a gateway. It's a precursor to things, and it allows us and permits us to take liberties with God's law, is what pride does. Not even obey it. You cannot have a relationship with God if there is pride involved. Let me just state that as plainly as I can. You cannot have a relationship with God when pride is involved. God resists the proud person. In fact, there's a Psalm already later. Oh, I'll read it here. Psalm 138.6. Just write it down. It says, Though the Lord is on high, he regards or pays attention to the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. What kind of relationship does that sound like to you? Do you want God to stand back and look at you at a distance and be like, nope, I know what pride is about. I've had that in my throne. I am not coming near or going to be near when pride is involved. So that's scripture. Just two simple sentences. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. It has everything to do with our relationship with God. And pride is one of the biggest things that comes in and destroys that. Now, where does it come from? You've already seen in Genesis where it comes from.

But let's turn to 1 Timothy 3.6. 1 Timothy 3.6. 1 Timothy 3 and verse 6. This is going through the characteristics of a leader, spiritual leader. And it says, breaking the middle of the thought, it says, there can't be a novice lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same combination as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside lest he fall into reproach. So the same combination puffed up with pride, it was the same thing, the same combination that the devil was condemned under, was having pride. The devil thought himself to be more important than he was. He thought himself to be more beautiful than he was. He thought himself to be slighted and not in a position that he should be. And what did he do with that when that entered in? You can see where pride takes you. This is a qualification for a spiritual leader.

And it's very important. It's one of the primary things called out here. And in fact, I sat when I was out with my dad, Victor Cuba came by, and we had it. We sat down for a long time talking about the training of the ministry and the next generation and a lot of things like that.

It was a very, very good conversation. And this is one of the things that is so critical. And we were talking back and forth, and he said, and I said, I said, I would rather have somebody who is, doesn't have a whole bunch of talent and looks and put together a certain way in a bunch of things, but is humble, serves the people, digs into God's Word, has the right attitude towards people, even if they aren't the best speaker, and all of the rest of it. I'd rather have that than the most talented person who has pride, because one is destructive and the other one produces the fruits of God.

Nothing to do with how great you look and speak and other things, and it has everything to do with humility. Pride has destroyed more leaders. Pride has destroyed more people. I would rather have that in a heartbeat. So when we look at leaders, if there is the inkling and the idea of pride, that's not happening. Not going to happen. That is a primary characteristic that's so important for our church to make sure that we are unified in humility, together and servant, as we heard in the sermonette today. So that is one of the primary things that we look at.

Now let's turn over to Ezekiel 28 and see a little bit more of the background of this, because Ezekiel 28 talks about Satan and some of the things that were the problems with him. Ezekiel 28, starting in verse 11, says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son, a man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, thus says the Lord God, you are the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty in earth.

You are in Eden, the garden of God, and every precious stone was recovering, the Sardis, Tillpaz, Diamond, Burionics, Jasper, or Saphra, etc. The workmanship of your timbrels pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You are the anointed carob who covers. So in this chapter, there's talking to two people. One's a human being and the other one's a spirit being. He's talking here, clearly, to a carob that was at the throne of God. Right? And God says, I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God.

You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You are perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. And then down in verse 17, it says, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor, and he cast you to the ground.

What happened here? This being was created beautiful. This being was created perfect, was good looking, etc. And what happened to the person is they were lifted up. Beauty was lifted up beyond what they really are. And physical beauty became a value. God gives beauty to some people. God appreciates beauty, but it's not a value of character that he says is the most important thing. Satan says, beauty is the most important thing, and I am the most beautiful.

And what about that in society today? That is reflected in our world about how beauty is the primary thing. Good looking models and unrealistic expectations is the most important thing. This being is the source of that. And what we see is the phrase lifted up. What is that saying? This is when you see that phrase that's you lifting you up to be more than you are.

And this is where Satan got lifted up because of his beauty. Lifted up, and he thought he should be more. I'm the most beautiful compared to everybody else. I'm better. And he actually assaulted the throne of God to say, I should be God.

I should be God. And if you back up to verse one, the physical king, that's the same type, had the same mentality. He says, the word of the Lord came to me again, saying, Son, a man, say to the prince. So we're talking about the king. Now we're saying the prince. Thus says the Lord God, because your heart is lifted up. And you say, I am a God. I sit in the seat of gods in the midst of the seas. You are a man and not a God. Though you set your heart as the heart of a God. Behold, you're wiser than Daniel. He's, that's actually sarcasm. I won't continue on there, but you can see that this king and this prince, so the king that was at God's throne, thought he deserved more, lifted himself up. This king here lifted himself up to say he's a God. And he's saying, you're not a God. You're a human being. You're a man, not even a God. And so the phrase lifted up us again. When we see lifted up, that is again, you lifting yourself up. You thinking more highly of yourself than you should be thinking. And I won't read this, but I find it very interesting when God goes through Job too. He talks about Leviathan in a chapter.

About a serpent, a dragon, and all these other things. And the last phrase in Job 41.34 says, He, this dragon, who's fierce, it's a study on its own I love to go through one day. I love the Leviathan strikes the imagination, but there's some things that clearly this was in reference to Satan as well. It says, he beholds every high thing, lofty, high, highfalutin thing. He is king over all the children of pride. That's what he's described as, Leviathan. He's king over all the children of pride. All the people with pride, that's their ruler. Let's think about that.

The ruler of those who have pride is not God.

This is Satan. This is Satan. You know, it's something that's so important to understand that this is the very spiritual nature of Satan, is pride. So when you and I have it, think about it, participate in it, we're participating in the very nature of Satan. This has nothing to do with some variation of God's way. This has everything to do with being as Satan was. And this is why God will resist. He distanced himself from Satan. He's cast him down to the earth. He's not going to have him around. He'll be bound eventually. But those who have the same attitude in mind, God keeps at arms distance. Does that sound like a relationship? Sounds like a very bad relationship to me. It's a very bad relationship. So pride has everything to do underpinning a relationship. And we know that it comes from Satan himself is the one who started it, who emanates this. I think we need to think about that a little bit more because this is not an intellectual exercise. When I say that, I mean there's a spirit of pride that influences you, that pokes you, that stirs you up. This is not intellectual. Everybody thinks, if you think you're intellectually immune to pride, you missed the whole thing right there. That's exactly what Satan wants you to think. He pokes it. It's a spirit. And I'm afraid that it's entered our church. I'm afraid that that spirit of pride has come in and is caused in ripples and caused more damage. But this is what he probes. And he's spiritual in nature. This is a spiritual thing. This is not an intellectual exercise. And he will stir somebody up to have pride. What's wrong with pride? Let's look at a couple things. Obadiah 3. Let's turn there.

Obadiah. When's the last time we've turned there? It's in the Old Testament. Obadiah, Jonah, Micah. Obadiah, verse 3, has a key characteristic of pride.

It says, The pride of your heart has deceived you. You dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high. You say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground?

One of the most important things, he's talking to the nation of Edom. In fact, when he talks in the Bible, there's a lot of discussion about nations and pride, and the pride that they have. And he talks about what will happen to them because of that. He's talking to Edom here. But the important point here is that when you have pride, it deceives you. And you don't even know it is the problem. It's a very tricky, deceptive thing. It deceives you. Now, what else does it do?

By the nature of it, what it said about Satan was, he corrupted his wisdom.

Satan was given wisdom, he had mighty wisdom. When pride enters in, when you as a church member have pride that enters in, if you have wisdom, it will be corrupted. It will not be straight. You will not see straight. You will not discern things straight. Oh, but I says it deceives your heart. They thought in their hearts. God's not even saying that they spoke with their lips. He's saying, I can see this in your heart, and I know the heart. And I'm saying that it's deceiving yourself if you think this is the case. Satan's wisdom got corrupted. It's twisted. He can quote the same words, but he doesn't get it. When pride is in there, this is what causes that. Remember, it's at the root of so many things. His wisdom was corrupted. Oh, but I have the heart was deceived. There is a self-deception that takes place here. It's a very, very deceptive thing.

God says he'll answer the heart. The heart has its own language, distinct as the language that comes out of our lips. God doesn't need the language of our lips to understand the language of our hearts. He can discern those things. That's what he says. I test you. I figure out what's in your heart. I know these things. You don't even have to say it. You can come here and look like fantastic. But the main thing is that pride does that. It begins with the destruction. It deceives your heart. Once it's deceived, once your heart's deceived, repentance does not happen.

I don't know if we understand. Like, if you start to trace, when I say it's at the root of so many things, it's so important to understand this one. Because when your heart's deceived, you're kidding yourself. You're not repenting. Repentance is everything for us. Repentance is everything for you and I. There's a progression of pride. Let's turn back to Proverbs 6, 16. There's a whole bunch of scriptures on pride, and I won't read them all, but this is a very interesting one. Proverbs 6, verses 16 through 19. These four verses, we always read them and say, hey, yep, God doesn't like certain things. One of them is pride. Do you know what this is describing? Pride is at the root, and it progresses somewhere. Let's read it again. Proverbs 6, verse 16, it says, these six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to Him. The first one is a proud look. Notice what that says. It's not even proud words. A proud look. The countenance. The look. The heart. You're not even speaking to things or the outcomes you said or did. The proud look. A lying tongue.

When we talk about a lying tongue, and there's a deception, part of the lying tongue is you're lying to yourself. Let's start there. Deception. Self-deception happens with pride, but it also goes out to other people, then. Hands that shed innocent blood. A lying tongue is the same as shedding or killing somebody. You assassinate somebody's character. What you talk about them? A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that are swift to running to evil.

Not in humility. Not in repentance. But swift to doing something that is exacting revenge. Taking things out. I've been slighted, etc. And it ends up to be a false witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among the brethren. Do you see the progression there? And it all starts with what? Pride in the heart. In the progression of the tongues and the words. I don't know how many times I've seen this happen time and time again in our very church. Is that pride enters, words get spoken, people get talked about, innocent blood is shed, false witnesses happen, and the brethren is nothing but discord. So when we talk about a spiritual leader, this is one of the most important things to make sure is not there, because that is all happens is sows discord among the brethren. When you see that, trace it backwards. And this is the progression. If you work it backwards, it goes back to pride. Can you see how that's a precursor to so many sins? It's outlined in the Bible over and over and over again. So the pride that we have in the heart is a very important thing for us to look at. And the progression ends up to be talking about people. Discord. This is why God hates it so much. It's the opposite of the way he works. You know, it's God doesn't recognize, you know, just like Satan, his beauty. God didn't tell me I'm beautiful enough and didn't put me above people. It's always lifting yourself up above other people some way. It's always your talents. Oh, my talents aren't being used. Is it important for some of those things? Yes. But I feel like what happens is those talents become a thing on their own for us to make sure how we feel about it.

So pride is at the core of this, and there is a progression that happens.

Satan wanted to be recognized for these things. What does pride cause? Proverbs 1310. Let's turn there. Proverbs 1310. And Proverbs 2825. It says, By pride comes nothing but strife.

Proverbs 2825, He who is proud of heart stirs up strife. Let's get people stirred up. Let's get people stirred up, and let's get people divided. Let's strike, and let's... When you see that, somebody wants something. There's pride involved in here. How does this manifest itself in our church? We feel we deserve more. Satan felt like he deserved more. I should be ordained, or I should be there. I should be up here. You know, I deserve more. They are not recognizing my abilities. I have so many talents, and you're not recognizing that. You know, I feel like I'm not being used. This is pride that Satan talks. That's what Satan said. Are you easily offended?

Like that. Are you easily offended? Your pride is underneath that. That's what's underneath that. I keep the laws better. I'm more diligent at them. You know why? Because you set yourself apart better than the next person next to you. I find religion and pride go together very well. I can keep the... You know, the Pharisees of the day kept the laws great, and you know what? They let everybody know it. If you were to see them, you would be in all of them. Oh, wow! They're just... In fact, humility becomes something about pride. It sounds counterintuitive, but I've seen people who are so humble that it's a badge of honor how humble they are. Right? It's a show of humility. It comes out like that, but it's meant to be, wow! I really think you're amazing. It lifts you up. You show enough humility to God, but you get enough pride out from other people to other people.

This is where legalism is an issue, and if you haven't heard that sermon, go back and listen to it. Because I can keep the law better than you can keep the law, and I am going to let you know, and you're going to feel it. If you're not producing the fruits of God out of his law, you're not keeping the law. It has nothing to do with you keeping it better than the next person and letting that person know. You're not going to let that person know. You're not going to let that person know. And this is where the idea of legalism comes from. It comes from pride, because I can keep the law better than you, and I'm better than you, and I will kind of look down on you. I won't say it openly. I will be very merciful to you, but I'm going to look down on you, and I'm going to separate myself over here. I'm going to be with my group of people who keep the law better than you keep the law. This is pride! It is underneath that. That's what's underneath that. You're doing it better than the next person. It can also come with the knowledge of the truth, how much we know. We can take pride in that. Consider yourself better than the person next to you. You know what? Everything you've been given is by grace of God. He gave it to you freely. Nothing you did. Sorry. Freely gave it to you, and you should remember that. You're not better than the person next to you. God has taken mercy upon you, and you should be very thankful for that.

Another way that pride manifests itself is being critical all the time. Critical.

Church, congregation, how this, how that, how... You know why? Because we think that we can see it, we know it better. Think we have it better. We know how to do it better. Could do it better. Can't believe this. Can't believe I have a better way, better thought. There's a way to get feedback. Can we take feedback? Yes. Can we improve things? Yes. There's a way to approach that, the Bible talks about. But pride only wants to complain and be critical, because you know better. There's an elitistness there. This is what I'm saying. When you start to unravel, a lot of things that we do is not the thing. It's pride is behind the thing that is sparking that. And this is why Satan knows that, and it's a tool that he loves to use, and you don't even know it's happening.

That's why he loves it. Got a smokescreen over here of some issue, but pride is underneath it, and he's got you hooked. And being critical is one of those things. If you have feedback, do it in humility, in love. Let's talk. But also be willing to hear feedback.

Pride doesn't want to hear feedback. It wants to tell and never hear feedback. Never take it. Right? If you think about these things, because obviously you know better. Pride is underneath these things. Let's turn over to James 4 verse 1.

Same Old Testament scripture is quoted here. James 4 verse 1.

It says, Where do wars and fights come from? Among you, do they not come from your desire for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and you do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and you war. Yet you do not have because you don't ask. You ask and you don't receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasure.

Adulters and adulterouses. Do you not know that friends of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

A friend of the world. Lust the flesh, lust the eyes, the pride of life. You make yourself like that. You're an enemy of God. It's pretty plain. Or do you think the scripture says, In vain the Spirit who dwells in us yearns to jealousy, but he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. There we have it again. And what we see is when you have strife, it's because people want something. Pride is in there. A position or recognition. How smart you are. How biblically knowledge you are. You should be up. You've been slighted. Anything that it is, pride is inserted itself in. And we have strife. And then we have prayers that are, God take care of them. You know, I'm right, they're wrong, and this is what this is saying. This is all that comes down to pride. Let me quote you some proverbs. I won't turn there. Proverbs 11.2, When pride comes, then comes shame. Proverbs 16, verse 18 and 19, pride goes before destruction, in a haughty spirit before a fall. Have you seen that?

If you do something, admit it. Repentance, admit it. When you hold fast that you've been slighted, you're going for a fall. That's what it says. Better to be of a humble spirit with a lowly than to divide the spoiled with a proud. And in Proverbs 29.23, a man's pride will bring him low. But the humble in spirit will retain honor. A lot of scriptures in Proverbs talk about it. Let's look at one example back in that. Turn back to Numbers 20, verse 7. Numbers 20, verse 7.

Numbers 20, verse 7. This is the story of Moses. First, we read this. It seems a little bit harsh. But what was at play here that God was addressing?

Just think about that before we read it. That was so serious that it kept Moses out of the promised land. Okay? Just let me plant that there because let's read this. Moses was known as a meek or a humble person, right? He was always going on to God on the behalf of the people. But something happened here. He got weary. He got tired. Numbers 20, verse 7. Says, The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take this rod, you and your brother Aaron, gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes. So the command was to do what to the rock? Speak to it. Why? Because it's God doing it. It's not. So speak to the rock. It will yield its water, that you shall bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation of their animals. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron, verse 10, gathered the assembly together before the rock. And he said to them, Here now you rebels. He's starting to, you know, talk about them. He normally hasn't talked this way. Were they being rebellious, grumpy, Israelites? Stiff neck, yes. But he lost it here. And what did he say? Must we bring water for you out of this rock?

What did he just do? He lifted who up? Okay. He lifted himself up.

Then Moses lifted his hand and he struck the rock. Did water come out? Not the first time. He struck it. Oops. May have to strike it harder. Struck it again. You know what? God backed it up at that point in time because he had to strike it twice. And then water came out in the congregation. Ate and drank. But God had words with them after. And a lot of times we think this is so harsh because after all that time, all that years, this one little thing he did, and now he can't go to the Promised Land. But you know what? What was God dealing with here that was so critical for him to deal with? Moses, he said, because you did not believe me to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel. You did not lift me up, hallow me. You hallowed yourself. You lifted yourself up. Therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I'll give you.

Costly mistake. But if you think about this in the context of ultimate salvation and not creating more beings that are like Satan, this is one of the most important things God dealt with, and the criticality of it after 40 years of wandering to the leader was to say, we're going to make sure this is not like that. That's how important it was here. And there's other examples in the Bible. When the people rose up and Moses started pleading, God tested him and said, you know what? Step aside. I'll just wipe them out. If you lift yourself up, what would you say? You know what? These people are grumblers, and you're right. I'm not.

God said this to him if you go back and read the examples over and over again and tested him on those things. And most of the time he came through. That's how important it is to God. If you start to think about pride and how God tests our hearts, you'll see it throughout the Bible in every single example. There's so many examples. Another example. I don't have time to read it, but just write it down. Uzziah 2 Chronicles 26.4. Just read through that chapter and what he did. And he went against. He deceived himself. He went against. And he did things he shouldn't have done. He offered incense he shouldn't have. You know what? When you have pride, you're deceived. You think what you're doing is right. In this case, you religiously think you're doing what's right. Why does Satan love pride? Because you can be in God's church, be converted, say the right things, appear righteous, but you can be so wrong because you're succumbing to pride. It's a tool I don't think we realize. We always talk about doctrine. We always talk about arguing points. Pride is what we need to look at and watch out for. I won't read that example, but Uzziah is another one. Really good example. So what do we do to counter this? 2 Chronicles 32 verse 24. 2 Chronicles 32 verse 24. It's a great example.

2 Chronicles 32 verse 24. It says, In those days Hezekiah was sick and near into death, and he prayed to the LORD, and he spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor, shown him. For his heart was lifted up. See again, the word is lifted up again. He's lifted up. Therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. Then what did Hezekiah do? He humbled himself for the pride of his heart.

Good on him. He recognized he had pride, and he humbled himself, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. But down in verse 31 it says, However regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him in order to test him that he might know all that was in his heart. You know what? And he calls that a problem. Why? Because it was him saying, God gave him all that wealth. And every single one of these kings, God set him up and said, I gave you this and the power and everything. And then they lifted themselves up and said, I've done this. And so he's showing off what mighty things he's done. That's why it's an issue here. And God's testing the heart. What is God testing a heart? All the time has to do with his pride there. In this example too, his pride there. He did the right thing at one time. And that's a very telling lesson. I have pride. I am going to humble myself. Turn over to Philippians 2.3. The mind of Christ is the complete opposite of the concept of pride. We talk about the mind of Christ, but so many times we live the mind of pride. The mind of Christ is completely opposite. Philippians 2, verse 3, says, let not one thing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. So think about the path of pride. I should be more. I should be more. I deserve more. I've been slighted. The path of Christ, he had deserved to be everything. He was completely slighted, and he chose to take no reputation and no...this was not false humility. You know, I'll look humble. He did it 100 percent. He humbled himself. And what's the outcome of that? It says, therefore, in verse 9, God has highly exalted him and given him the name, which is above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. He could have had more. He should have had more. He had been done wrong, but he humbled himself. He did not lift himself up.

God lifted and exalted him. You lift yourself up. God puts you at arm's distance. You humble yourself. God lifts you up. That's what the scripture says. Do you want a relationship with God? Has everything to do with pride. Every single thing to do with pride or not. Isaiah 66.2, I'll just quote this. But on this one will I look, on him who is the poor in a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. This is who God will when he say, look, shine on, look, have a relationship. Take notice of. Romans 12.3, for I say, through the grace given me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. This is not somebody who thinks he should have more.

He thinks I'm right where I should be.

If there needs to be more, God will work that out. But I don't think that.

God has put me and I am where I am and that's all I need where I need to be. And I'm happy with that.

That's what that says. Don't think of yourself to be you. I should be higher. I should be here. I should be somewhere else. For that's the very mind of Satan, what he did at the throne of God, and he did himself. In Nebuchadnezzar, I'll quote him from Daniel 4.37. He says, "'I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose words are true in his ways justice, and those who walk in pride he's able to put down.'" Again, at arm's distance, not a relationship, and he can put down and you will fall. Humility, God will lift you up.

So how do we humble ourselves before God? Deuteronomy 8 verse 3, I won't turn there. But God humbled Israel. You know what? He allowed them to hunger. He fed them with manna. He wanted to know what? What was in their hearts, didn't he? Right? So this is not a technique. This whole topic is not some technique. Humbling yourself has to do with a lot of things. One is fasting. They went hungry. God let them go hungry to test them. The trials you go through are going to poke at your pride. If you don't think you have trials because you're so great, I would watch out. Okay?

Thank God for a trial. What does it say? Rejoice. Thank you for a trial. Because it's going to poke at your pride. It's going to be very hard. They hungered. But when you feel like you deserve more and you've been slighted, when you're easily offended, you start to criticize, you start to think less of people and things, you're going down a path of pride. Do you understand it's behind things that cause us to sin and to say and do the wrong things and to take liberties with what the Word says for us to be like? That's what pride does for us. So humble, let God teach you. Let Him show you. I'm wrong. You know there's peace with that. With pride, there's nothing but angst and stirred up. Are you stirred up? How stirred up are you? Like honestly, ask yourself this. If you're listening to this sermon, by the way, and you're looking at everybody else, you've missed it. Okay, that's a sign. There's a lot of signs of where pride comes in, and that's a sure sign. The first step for us to do is we have to admit it, and we have to humble ourselves. We have to humble ourselves. Interesting. Read this later, Psalm 35 verse 13. Actually, let's read it. Psalm 35 verse 12 through 14. Psalm 35 verse 12 through 14. It says, this is David. He's talking about his enemies and who comes after him.

They rewarded me evil for good to the sorrow of my soul. They desperately did him wrong.

He's doing good to them. They did him wrong. Verse 13, what did he do in response? What would you do in response? What do we do? We get fired up. We get fired up. We're going to right the wrongs, and we're so righteous, and we're... But as for me in verse 13, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled myself with fasting, and my prayer would return to my own heart. I paced about, though he were my friend or brother. I bow down heavily as one who mourns for his mother. That's amazing. And there's other places David talks about pride, and he says, when I'm king, this will not be in my cabinet. This will not be in my leadership team. He says that. But he humbled himself, and humbling ourselves is one of the biggest things we need to do.

It's one of the biggest things we need to do. Humility, not pride. This is one of the core things that are at our relationship with God. So when we talk about a relationship with God, you can't get past this subject. We can talk about techniques all day and how to pray and other things which are super important, and we will. But we missed this, because this is what keeps God at a distance from us. When we lift ourselves up, when we complain, when we grumble, we want to be more. We think we've been slighted. We're easily offended. We start criticizing. We, that's not humility. Humble ourselves. Pray for other people like as if they were your brother when they do you wrong. That's what David did. God will lift you up. You don't fast to be like, I'm still right, I'm fasting. God's going to lift me up. In fact, when we fast, I think sometimes it's easy for us to not fully go too fast. When we fast enough or, you know, nothing wrong with half a day, but I'm just saying half a day where I'm not really hungry, you're still in control. You're still like, you know, I've put in my token fast. When you go hungry and you can't, and the fight's knocked out of you, and you're really, you know, fasting like that, there's a humility there that's very real that we have. So one of the things I like to ask us to do as a congregation is to call a fast for us because I feel like the Spirit can creep in, and we have to humble ourselves. We have to humble ourselves. This isn't a sermon to listen to and go away and say, that was nice. Thank you for lining that up. We have to face this. We have to deal with this, and I feel like pride is something that has crept in to all of our relationships and destroyed it with us and God and destroyed it with us and each other. And there's no other way to fix that except to humble ourselves and to pray for our brother as if they're our brother. So I would like to declare fast. I'd like for us to do it this week. Pick a day that you want before we come to church next week, and let's take what we've learned here about this. And if you can pick a day during the week or however it works, or even next Saturday or sometime, let's fast as a congregation. Let's be humble. Let's go to our God and let's say, we are wrong. We repent. You be exalted. Not me. Not us. I don't want strife. I don't want all these things. I humble myself to put it away out of me, and I am in humility.

And thank you for where I am because you know best, and I am happy with that. Thank you for these things. So God resists the proud. There is no relationship when you have pride. None when you have pride. He'll resist you, distance you, keep you at arm's length, because that's the very nature of Satan. It's something we should recoil in horror when we see ourselves. We see around us. It's the very nature of Satan, and it's a tool he'll use to put a wedge. One we don't even recognize because it's spiritual in nature. And it's a precursor for us to sinning. It's behind so many of the things we do and talk about when we think we're being so righteous we talk about somebody. We're doing exactly opposite of the Bible.

Your relationship with God depends on you putting out pride and you becoming humble so that he can give you grace. So let's fast this week, all right? Let's fast this week together.

I have an article I didn't have time to read. This is from C.S. Lewis, but what I'll do is, on the email list, I'll send this out. It's really two pages, and he goes through pride.

Sometimes people could say it's so much better. This is really nicely done, really nicely done. So I'll send out a PDF of this to our email list. But let's fast it together, brother, in this week.