Recognizing Pride

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. Good morning. God is good. And all the time. Um, for the last while I've been talking about humility. [00:00:36] And, um, it's an awesome thing to know nothing about. You know, we read a lot of verses. You know, we could read Philippians, the first part of Philippians, where it talks about Christ and how he humbled himself and how Christ was our example. [00:01:07] I'm going to run down a bunch of verses just to refresh our memory of what we talked about a little bit. Matthew 11, 29 says, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 18, 4 says, Whoever shall humble themselves as this little child is the greatest in heaven. Luke 10.21 says, God reveals truth and gives understanding to the humble. [00:01:50] Philippians 2.7 says, But made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was in the likeness of men. And Matthew 23, verse 12 says, Whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for being with us here today. Lord, we want to have our hearts open to what you would have for us. [00:02:25] Lord, I pray that you would speak to us. Help us to know what you have for each one of our lives. Help us to hear your word and help us to know how it fits into our lives, Lord. Again, I pray, speak to us. In Jesus' name, Amen. So, we know what the Bible says about humility. But, what do you do with that? How do you humble yourself? [00:02:57] How do you do that? That's my blaring question. How are you supposed to do that? I can't think of the reference right now, but I was just now reminded of the verse where it says to be clothed with humility. A couple of other verses that I wanted to look at was in Psalms 138, verse 6. Though the Lord be high, yet he hath respect unto the lowly. [00:03:30] That word respect, in Hebrew I think it said something about looking. He looks unto the lowly. He has respect unto the lowly. But the proud he knoweth afar off. So even though the Lord is so high, do we see Him high? I talked about that once before. Do we see Him as high and lifted up, but yet He looks unto us, those of us that are lowly. [00:04:03] In Luke 22, verse 27, the last part of the verse says, But I am among you as He that serveth. Christ came down to serve us. He humbled himself. How are we supposed to do that? His theology was that, his teaching was that we are to serve. [00:04:34] We are to humble ourselves. And in John 13, he stooped down and washed people's feet. So there was no difference between his teaching and what he actually did. He taught to be humble, and he humbled himself. There was no gap between, I had to think of the word that Keith Daniel used a lot, and that is reality. You know, vital reality with God. And theology and reality rhyme, and so I thought, his reality and his theology were the same thing. [00:05:12] In James 4, verse 10, it says, Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord. I'm screaming, how do you do that? How do you humble yourself? Maybe for the children it's, maybe Peyton says to Davis, Davis, I know you broke my car. And maybe that happens sometimes, but Davis didn't do it. Or maybe Davis did it and Davis says, yeah, but you did this. [00:05:43] You know, I think we know all about humility and how all that works. But a couple of things I had to think of on humility are like a picture of humility. If you think of someone on their deathbed and they're just slowly dying and they know that they can barely breathe, They know, they can think, that in minutes or an hour or seconds, they will be face to face with the God of creation. [00:06:22] You know, that just humbles you. Or if you think of Adam, when he was formed out of dirt and God breathed into him. The Bible doesn't say that when he took his first breath that he saw God. But I like to imagine him waking up or becoming alive and there's God standing there knowing that that was his creator. And then Adam and Eve in the garden, Satan told, not in so many words, but Satan told Eve, you will be as God, you know, like God is keeping something from you, you will know what is right, you know, you will be as a God, I think is the exact words. [00:07:10] You know, and that there is pride. When we think ourselves, maybe we really don't say it, but we think of ourselves as God or higher than God. I also thought of, if I'm sitting in the crowd, or maybe I'd ask Justin. Justin, I'm going to sit down right now, and you come up here and you preach. You know, that can be real humbling. [00:07:42] Humbling in the way that, are you going to depend on yourself? That really wouldn't be humbling. You're going to depend on yourself, be proud, think of what people are going to think of you because you may say something wrong, you don't know what you're going to say and all this stuff. Or are you going to totally depend on God? Look, I don't know what I'm going to say, but Lord, I trust in you from my quiet time, from everything. I'm leaning on you to give me something to share with the church. So how do we humble ourselves? [00:08:16] The first thing that I thought of was that we need to recognize our pride. So today I was going to try and talk about pride and how to recognize pride. and another awesome subject to know nothing about. As I studied this, [00:09:05] I could see more and more areas where I have pride. But I think the first step in humbling ourselves is to recognize it, to pray, Lord, open up my eyes, to recognize it and renounce it in the name of Jesus. That's a very difficult thing. It's difficult to even see it sometimes when we're so proud. [00:09:38] Can't even see it. We're blind. Had to think of Revelations 3 where he's talking to the church at Laodicea. I should turn to that. We all can turn to it, I guess, if you want to. I'll read verses 15. Well, when I think of that we can't see it, [00:10:11] verse 17, because you say I'm rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. It's not the same thing as being poor in spirit, you know. Totally different. Here it talks about being poor. It's a different kind of poor. It's not poor in spirit. Are we blind this morning? Am I blind? [00:10:42] That's what I kept having to think to myself. We are born proud. And in this land of plenty, it's even easier to be proud. We have what we want. How often do we need to go to God for different things? Food, clothing. 2 Timothy 3, verse 2 says that, reminds us that there will be pride in the last days. [00:11:15] Among a bunch of other things, but pride is listed there. Pride, what is pride? Focus. It's a focus on yourself. A focus on yourself. And believe in that one is above others. You have an exalted view of yourself. I'm going to be going to quite a few scriptures again. There's so many scriptures and it's just one and two verses. [00:11:45] I'd like for us to realize and look at how pride affects our different areas in our life. What all does it affect? Think of it. It affects how we talk. It affects our disposition. You know what I mean by disposition? I had to think of that word for a while. What is a disposition? What is your disposition? It's the way you come across to people [00:12:18] It's who you are to people And you don't even know what it is sometimes If you know what I mean, I don't know how to explain it any further It's who Dustin feels like I am, but I don't even know how I come across Do I come across him as arrogant or humble? It's how people view us. How do people view you? See you? How do you come across to people? [00:12:48] That's your disposition. And pride will affect that. Pride affects our attitudes. Pride can make a difference in the decisions that we make. Our priorities, our choices, and our relationships. 1 Samuel 2, verse 3 It says, Talk no more so very proudly. [00:13:19] Let no arrogance come from your mouth. For the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed. And the other one was in Psalms 12. 12 verse 3. A man is not established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous cannot be moved. Is that the one that I want? No, it's Psalms. Here it is. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things. [00:13:59] Pride affects our speech. Let's turn to Deuteronomy chapter 8 for about 10 verses. I've read through this several times. I have the first six verses underlined where verse 6 says, Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to fear Him. [00:14:31] That's always what I focused on. You know, we're supposed to keep His commandments. And I would kind of skip over verses 10 through 20. And probably because I was blind. But look at how proud these people are. He's warning that we shouldn't be proud. And look at how it happened. This is where pride begins. When we start to think we are self-sufficient, we forget God. [00:15:04] And this pride, it grows in times of plenty. When it seems like there's no need of God. Oh, we will say, yeah, we need God. But how do we really live? What is our disposition? How does that come across to people? How does it come across to God? God, how does God see us? God knows our attitudes and our thoughts. In this time of plenty, I mean the economy is going down and losing jobs, still time of plenty. But look at what it's doing to our view when the things start to get just a little bit worse in the United States. It makes us do what? We go straight to God. [00:15:47] And in a time of plenty, maybe that doesn't happen so much. This is what I'm learning in my life. Verse 10. When you have eaten and are full, when you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you, beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today. Lest, when you have eaten, and are full, and have built beautiful houses [00:16:17] I'm not talking to you, Enos, because I'm getting ready to build one too Sorry Where was I? Oh, verse 12 And have built beautiful houses, and dwell in them And when your herds, and your flocks multiply, and your silver, and your gold are multiplied And all that you have is multiplied When your heart is lifted up And you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage [00:16:48] Who led you through the great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions And thirsty land where there was no water Who brought water for you out of the flinty rock Who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know that he might humble you and that he might test you to do you good in the end. Then you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gained me wealth. [00:17:23] And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. Then it shall be, if by any means forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve them and worship them I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish [00:17:54] Because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God When he's talking about serving idols and follow other gods and serve them and worship them. When we're proud, what is our idol? Who do we worship the most when we're proud? It's ourselves. Never thought of myself as being an idol before. [00:18:25] But when there's plenty, it's so easy to forget God. We have what we need. We don't really say it, but why do we need to go to Him for anything? So that's where pride begins. When we forget God and we come across like there is no need for God [00:19:01] And then pride invades our hearts When our hearts are set on things Or when our hearts are set on a position of importance rather than on God Turn to Mark chapter 7 I was going to read most of chapter 7, but I think I'll move on. [00:19:41] Jesus is talking about The Pharisees and the scribes asked Why do your disciples not walk according to the traditions of the elders but eat bread with unwashed hands? They had their minds focused on things doing things And verse 21 says For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, laudness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. [00:20:24] All these evil things come from within and defile a man. So we can see that our heart, pride gets into our heart and these things come out. Then pride develops when we focus on how much we know and ignore God's knowledge. In 1 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 1 through 3, [00:21:06] Now concerning things offered to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing, yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. So as soon as, you know, we see where it starts, we see how it invades the heart, And we see that it develops even more when we ignore God's knowledge and we think we gain knowledge. [00:21:42] And then it even increases even more when we are successful, as we read in Deuteronomy. And we even believe it was because of something we did, our own abilities and our own actions, that we can advance. 2 Corinthians 12 Talking about Paul, very familiar. I'll read verses 1 to 7. [00:22:18] It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions. Now, look at Paul's humility here and how God helped him to be humble. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago, whether in the body I do not know or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows, such a one was caught up in the third heaven. [00:22:53] Now, it's pretty obvious about his humility here because he's talking in third person. But if you look down in verse 5 and 6, you can tell that he's talking about himself. But he chooses to make it look like he's talking about somebody else. I know a man in Christ. He doesn't say, look here, you know, this is me that I'm talking about. And I know such a man, whether in the body... Oh, I already read that. Verse 4. How he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. [00:23:32] Of such a one I will boast, yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will speak the truth. But I refrain lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me [00:24:05] Lest I be exalted above measure My mind right away went to Luke 18 where he talks about the Pharisee and the tax collector going to pray together. And this Pharisee thought he was somebody. I had to think of spiritual pride, which I think is the worst pride of all. Here he says, And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations. So we can get revelations and we can be proud of that, can't we? [00:24:37] We think we're really up there. We get these revelations and great thoughts. God gave him a thorn in the flesh. And then he asked three times that it would depart from him. And Jesus said, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. So, I don't know where, that's a whole other subject of how we recognize our weaknesses [00:25:11] and God can, you can be strong, God can be strong, He can show Himself strong in that weakness. But that's a whole other. Pride may also develop, may get into someone's life when they are given too much responsibilities before they're ready for it, before they're spiritually mature enough. In 1 Timothy 3, verse 6, when he's talking about bishops, the qualifications of bishops, [00:25:49] not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. I didn't know, you know, there's many different ways we can apply that, But I wondered about our children, when we give them responsibilities when they're not quite ready for it. Didn't know how all that applied, but we need to be careful with that too. As we get responsibilities, sometimes it can puff us up, as it says in 1 Timothy. Okay, there's a bunch of little scripture here. [00:26:25] We know in Proverbs 8, verse 13, that God hates pride. In Proverbs 16, verse 5, it is an abomination to him. Psalms 10, verse 4 says, The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek God. God is not in all his thoughts. Psalms 101, verse 5, he will not tolerate pride. [00:26:56] It talks about the haughty look and the proud heart. And James 4 verse 6, God will resist the proud. I don't know if you know what it feels like to be resisted. Has anybody resisted you? Hold you at arm's length and says, don't come close to me. Imagine God, you feeling that from God, God doing that to you because you're proud. And then, as I said before, pride causes problems in relationships. [00:27:35] Proverbs 13, verse 10, Only by pride cometh contention. So if you think of that, your contentions, your fightings, whether it's whatever relationship you're talking about, work, or husband, wife, or brother, sister, Any relationship, husband, wife, here in the church, or brother, sister, mom, dad, only by pride cometh contention. [00:28:15] And then in chapter 28, verse 25, he that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife. So, how do we humble ourselves? Number one, get rid of pride. That sounds easy. How do you do that? It goes on and on. We need to recognize it. We need to see it. [00:28:46] Ask God to show it to you. Pray. Go to God in your quiet time. I used to, I remember using the illustration of going to God, being a beggar, asking, seeking Him as a beggar. But what about begging Him for enough food to get you by for the next half a day? If you think of a beggar, if you think of a beggar, he, he, you know, down in Jamaica we'd give him five dollars or ten dollars. [00:29:31] He gets a little bit of food, you know, with that. Or maybe he saves up enough money, then he can buy some food. But if I were to give him a thousand Jamaican, which would be like $15, he wouldn't have to beg anymore for a while, would he? He wouldn't be out on the street. And think of a beggar, most of the times they would be on their feet, I mean on their knees, sitting down, laying down on the sidewalk. I'm sure you've all seen a beggar. You won't see any around here. [00:30:04] But they're on their feet looking up. And there we are, whether we're walking or in our car, we're looking down at them, you know. But this beggar is looking up, begging for just something. You know, I need something from you. And we go to our quiet time as a beggar. Lord, I cannot go on without you. Or do we make our Bible reading a law? [00:30:37] You know, it's what Christians do. I'm going to read my Bible. I need to read my Bible. I have to read my Bible. That's what Christians do. Is it a law? Or are you a beggar? Am I a beggar? Now, we've talked about force-feeding yourself when you don't feel like reading your Bible. And I think there's a place for that. But I'm talking about me, time after time after time [00:31:07] Going, reading my Bible, okay, time to go to work I did my time, you know That's not being a beggar And, you know, sometimes we expect God to give us a whole bunch of food for the day, you know So I can go and great revelations and stuff But see, if God would give us a thousand Jamaican right at the first, we're not going to go back to Him and that's what we have to be careful what's talking about in Deuteronomy 8 when God gives us a whole bunch and there's a land there's time of plenty do we go to God [00:31:40] it almost be better to go without food you're you know it's always green on the other side that's not what I'm saying but just think of your time with God as you're going to Him begging for something And when he gives you a little morsel to last you until 10 o'clock And 10 o'clock rolls around and you're saying Man, here's another temptation Lord, I need you now [00:32:11] I need another little morsel of food To get me through this temptation Or do we say I've had, I ate this morning And then we go and give in to temptation by 10 o'clock Why do you think God's Word says to meditate on His Word day and night? It's because He's only going to give us a little bit to get us by for the next three hours. [00:32:44] Because if He'd give us a whole bunch, He knows we ain't going to come back to Him for a while. It's when we are so proud that we can get through life without it. That's why we don't go to Him as a beggar. Because we can get by without Him. I got this list. [00:33:18] It's really hard for me to read it. I don't know. I don't even know where it came from. It's kind of like it's describing proud people. And if you hear one, that's you. In your mind, put a little check by it. And it's kind of neat because, you know, [00:33:49] There's obvious pride. I remember at that John Regeer thing, he talked about obvious pride and hidden pride. And there are things that are quite obvious. Me, who loves to talk about myself and what I'm doing and building and doing this and that, and you love to talk about yourself. Or is it hidden pride where you feel sorry for yourself when you feel left out? There's still pride. So there's obvious pride and there's hidden pride. [00:34:19] And these things will help us to see that. But my main thing, I want this to be a time of self-evaluation, which needs to happen every day. But it really, not saying that I got rid of all my pride, I'm not saying that. But it really helped me to see the areas where I'm still proud. Do I focus on the failure of others? [00:34:57] Do I look down on others? Maybe when they make mistakes. Do I feel independent? Do I have a self-sufficient spirit? Do I seek to control and I have to have my way? Or at least I try really hard. Do I have to prove that I'm always right? I can't give in. [00:35:34] Do I claim my rights, my personal rights? I have the right to this. Do I have a demanding spirit? Am I self-protected of time, my rights, my reputation? Am I concerned about my reputation? So concerned, I'll do anything to protect my reputation. Anything. Do I have a desire to be served? [00:36:06] Do I have a desire to be a success? Or do I have a desire to make others successful? Do I have a desire to advance myself? Am I driven to be recognized and appreciated? Am I wounded and hurt when overlooked? [00:36:41] This is one that caught me. And I didn't, I thought maybe it was a misprint or something. How could this be? Do you think of what you can do for God? Do you think of what you can do for God? I thought, what? Well, I'm trying to. What can I do for Him? Look at the gifts that I have and I try to do my best with what He has given me. [00:37:16] What can I do for Him? Where did those gifts come from? They didn't come from you. Or do we know that we have nothing to offer God? Just us. Or do we have something we can really give to people? Are we confident in how much we know? Or are we humbled by how much we know we have to learn? [00:37:50] Am I self-conscious? Do I keep people at arm's length? Am I quick to blame others? Am I defensive when I'm criticized? Or can I stop and think, you know what, they're right. Am I concerned about being respectable? Am I concerned about what others will think? Do I work very hard to maintain an image and a reputation? [00:38:27] And is it hard for me to say I was wrong? Let's recognize our pride. Call sin what sin is. Call pride what pride is. You know, getting rid of pride involves a lot of proper choices. [00:39:03] Romans 12, verse 3 and verse 16. For I say, through the grace given to 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. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Do not, do not, do not think of yourself more highly. Just don't. Do it. [00:39:44] Oh, 2 Corinthians, where is it first? Maybe I wrote that down. I don't remember. It's 2 Corinthians chapter 5. No, chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 5. [00:40:18] Okay, I'll start at verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Pride is a stronghold. Everybody would agree? Somebody say amen. Amen. It's a stronghold. Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. There's our answer. Hallelujah. [00:41:00] For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 29, that no flesh should glory in His presence. [00:41:31] What is that saying? We always give God credit for everything that is gained. It's a way to get rid of pride. Philippians 2, verse 3. I think I read that earlier. Another way to get rid of pride is the focus on loving others, not ourselves. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. [00:42:09] It is, you know, for me, it is so easy to read that. Yes, that's what I must do. I'm going to do that. I'm going to esteem everybody else better than myself. But as soon as something comes up that goes against my grain a little bit, it's a whole lot harder to live it. And we're never going to be able to live it if we don't go to him every three hours as a beggar looking for the next little morsel of food. [00:42:48] We can't live it. Can't do it. Can't do it by ourselves. Jeremiah 9, a couple of verses there. In closing, I want to read a couple of verses here. Verse 23 and 24. Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. [00:43:21] Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this. You can glory in something. Hallelujah. Glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight. So we can't glory in what we know, in our wisdom. We can't glory in how much we have in our riches, but we can glory in that we understand and know Him, that He is the Lord. [00:44:08] But then we also have to be careful of the most terriblest pride of all, spiritual pride. You know, but if we come to Christ in the morning as a beggar, at break time, lunch time, break time in the afternoon, I really had to think what I do in my spare time. I don't know, I just have been really challenged as I study pride. [00:44:40] and I pray that God will continue working in me. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you again for being with us here today. Lord, I pray that you would stir up a desire to seek you with all of our heart, Lord. To love you with all of our heart. To serve you with all of our heart. Lord, help us to be beggars. To come to you, Lord, and knowing that we can't do it. [00:45:16] We have nothing to give ourselves. Lord, help us to see our pride in all the obvious ways. Help us to see our pride in all the hidden ways. Lord, open up our eyes. Don't let us stay wretched and poor, blind and naked. Lord, open up our eyes. I thank you Lord for your word. I thank you for your Holy Spirit. I pray that you would help each one of us to heed your Holy Spirit and obey your word. In Jesus name, Amen.