This morning I want to start in Psalm 10, and I want to preach on the subject of pride.
This is a chapter that talks a lot about the subject of pride.
Pride is something that is mentioned in the Bible over a hundred times.
And when we look up all these scriptures on pride, there are certain things that you see
coming up over and over again in some of these references.
Now look down, if you would, at Psalm 10, verse number 2.
The Bible reads, the wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor.
Let them be taken in the devices which they have imagined.
For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, which is, of course, another aspect of pride,
boasting, bragging.
For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God.
God is not in all his thoughts.
His ways are always grievous.
Thy judgments are far above out of his sight.
As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity.
Now one of the things that comes up a lot with pride in the Bible is this attitude that
judgment is not coming, that God is not going to punish their actions.
Because here it says, you know, the prideful, wicked person that's boasting and bragging,
what does he say in his heart in verse 6?
I shall not be moved, for I shall never be in adversity.
Jump down to verse 11.
He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten.
He hideth his face.
He will never see it.
Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up thine hand.
Forget not the humble, which is the opposite of the proud.
Wherefore doth the wicked condemn God, meaning he has contempt for God.
He hath said in his heart, thou wilt not require it.
So over and over again in this passage, the prideful person says that God's not going
to see it, God's not going to require it, God's not going to punish, I'm never going
to be moved, I'm never going to go through adversity, I'm going to keep on continuing
just like I am right now and getting away with it.
It talks about all the wicked things he's going to do, oppress the poor, hurt innocent
people, and you know what, he's never going to face any consequences for his actions.
That is the spirit of pride in this passage.
It says, I will not be punished.
I'm not going to see any consequence for my actions.
Go to Psalm 12, just a little bit over to the right in your Bible, Psalm 12, look at
verse number 3.
The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things.
So what are the proud things?
Look at verse 4.
Who have said, with our tongue will we prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us?
So it's the exact same attitude here that basically says, who's Lord over us?
God doesn't see it.
God's not going to punish.
And then it even says, we will prevail.
Do you see that?
He says in verse 4, with our tongue will we prevail.
This attitude that says, I'm never going to be moved, I'm never going to go through adversity,
I'm going to prevail, God's not going to punish me, God doesn't see it.
Who's God?
I have contempt for God.
I hate God.
That's what they're basically saying here in the pride and arrogance of their heart.
So we see from these passages that pride comes from an attitude that does not acknowledge
God, doesn't acknowledge God as our authority, doesn't come to grips with the fact that God
is the judge and that God will punish us for our sins.
Go to Psalm 73, Psalm chapter 73, and we can see another scripture on the source of pride
and this attitude of pride.
It says in Psalm 73 verse 1, truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean
heart.
But as for me, my feet were almost gone.
My steps had well and I slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity
of the wicked.
For there are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm.
They're not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men, therefore
pride compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than heart could wish, they're corrupt.
They speak wickedly concerning oppression and these last three words, they speak loftily
and again that's a sign of pride when you're high minded, arrogant, speaking loftily and
why is it that these people are proud?
See whenever you see the word therefore in the Bible, you know I heard somebody say when
you see the therefore, see what it's there for, okay?
Because right before that, he explains why they got that way and he says, this is what's
going on, therefore they're proud.
Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain, it says in verse 6.
So what's the therefore there for?
Well what are verses 4 and 5 explaining?
There are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm, they're not in trouble as
other men, neither are they plagued like other men.
Right after that he talks about how their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more
than heart could wish.
So the Bible is explaining that when people don't go through adversity, they don't go
through hard times when things are going really good for them and they're not going through
adversity then that will cause them oftentimes to become proud.
Isn't that what it's saying?
He says, hey their strength is firm.
The wicked are prosperous, therefore pride.
See those two words at the beginning of 6?
Therefore pride, okay?
Why do people become prideful and arrogant and think that they can get away with anything?
It's because things are going good for them.
They're not going through suffering or hard times.
So they get this attitude that God's punishment is never going to come.
But God's punishment is going to come because the Bible says very clearly, pride goeth before
destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
You see, this attitude that says God's never going to punish me, I'm getting away with
it.
It comes right before the hammer comes down and God will judge.
Now there's often a delay to God's judgment.
There's always a time of waiting but eventually God's judgment does come and when it comes
it's like a ton of bricks.
See in 1 Thessalonians the Bible talks about this.
It says that the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night for when they shall
say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with
child and they shall not escape but ye brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake
you as a thief.
You see, we as Christians can also be susceptible to the sin of pride.
It's not just unsaved people who are proud but Christians can often be infected with
pride as well.
This is sin that everyone needs to beware of.
Now where does it come from?
Again, one of the reasons why people become proud is when things are going really good
for them and it's sad but often God will have to bring adversity into our lives to stop
us from getting too proud.
This is what the Apostle Paul talked about where he said, lest I should be exalted above
measure.
He said that he was given a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him.
He said just to make sure that I didn't get too proud I've had to go through suffering
to keep me humble and lowly of heart because when things go too good for us often we can
become proud.
None of us is immune to this and so that's what the Bible's talking about here.
Now for the unsaved person it's different than for the saved person.
See the unsaved person goes through life committing all kinds of wickedness and sometimes the
punishment never comes in their lifetime, isn't that true?
I mean that's what Asaph is saying in Psalm 73.
He talks about them growing old and seeing their children's children and you know there
are some very wicked and ungodly people on this earth right now that are living into
their 80s and 90s and are healthy and prosperous and so they get proud because of that too.
Say look, if God was going to punish me wouldn't he have done it by now?
I mean look at this.
But here's the thing, hell awaits.
Now when it comes to the Christian though, when it comes to the Christian, a Christian
will never get away with living a wicked life and not receiving punishment because the Bible
says whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth and
the Bible says if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards
and not sons.
He said look, if you can go out and live a life of sin and the punishment never comes,
he's saying you're not a child of God because God will punish all of his children and I
often explain it to people this way that you know I would never spank my neighbor's children.
You know if I saw the neighbor kids disobeying I wouldn't say alright, you're getting a spanking
because obviously that's not my place, they're not my kids.
But if my kids are disobedient, I'm going to spank them, okay.
Well it's the same thing with God.
God's going to discipline his children.
Some people are without chastisement because they're not children of God.
See they can live a wicked, horrible life and get away with it, quote unquote, but hell
is going to be worse than anything that could have happened to them in this earth anyway
so they're really not getting away with anything.
Their proud and haughty, arrogant spirit is going to drop into hell and they're going
to receive a punishment worse than anything that they could have received in this lifetime.
So pride comes from an attitude that says hey God's not going to judge and thinking
that we can get away with things.
You know Christians can get proud too and think that they can get away with things.
Now if you would go to Malachi chapter number 3.
Go to Ezekiel 16 also, if you want to kind of stick a finger in Malachi 3 and go to Ezekiel
16.
16, Ezekiel 16 and Malachi 3.
So we're talking about pride this morning.
Now pride has this attitude that we saw in Psalm 12 4 that said who is Lord over us,
right.
Now don't you see how pride could also infect children to rebel against their parents.
See it would be a very proud spirit in a child who said hey you know what, I don't have to
obey my parents.
I'm going to do what I want to do.
Who's Lord over me?
That's pride.
Lifting yourself up higher than you ought to be lifted, not wanting to submit yourself
under the God given authority in your life.
That's pride.
Saying I don't have to obey, I don't have to listen to them and contempt not for God
necessarily but contempt for your parents, right.
Who's Lord over us?
They're not going to punish me, they're not going to catch me, they're not going to do
anything to me.
What can they do to stop me?
That's pride.
Obviously other authorities in our life, wives could be prideful and arrogant toward their
husband and not submit to their husband but be disrespectful and irreverent to their husband.
What is that?
Pride.
You know there was a book written a long time ago, I've never read the book but I thought
the title was funny.
It was called Me Obey Him.
Title of the book is Me Obey Him.
And isn't that pride?
Why should I obey him, I mean I'm every bit as good as him.
Just this attitude that doesn't want to submit to authority.
Who's Lord over me?
And guess what?
What are you going to do about it?
That's pride isn't it?
It's an arrogant haughty spirit.
It's an attitude that says punishment's not coming, I can just keep on doing wrong and
keep on getting away with it because they don't want to acknowledge God's authority
over their life, they don't want to acknowledge their parent's authority over their life,
they don't want to acknowledge their husband's authority over their life, they just want
to basically be their own final supreme authority.
And that's pride, right, lifting ourselves up.
And I'm going to get into other definitions of pride later in the sermon but this is a
definition of pride that we see over and over again in the Bible when we look up these scriptures,
it's a pattern.
Now look at Ezekiel 16 verse 49, behold, and this is a timely message because of the fact
that the Sodomites are taking over our country right now and basically turning us into this,
you know, the united perverts of America here.
So basically it says in Ezekiel chapter 16 verse 49, behold, this was the iniquity of
thy sister Sodom, pride!
Now do you think that's a coincidence?
That God says, well here is the problem with Sodom, here is the sin of Sodom, pride.
And isn't it interesting that today the Sodomites use the word pride as their slogan, don't
they?
I mean they literally use the word pride as a slogan when they have this filthy queer
pride parade in Phoenix, this is what they call it, Phoenix pride.
And that in and of itself is a sinful name and they're exalting sin and saying hey, not
only are we committing a filthy abomination in the sight of God but we're proud of it,
pride.
But the Bible is true once again when the Bible said this was the sin of Sodom, pride.
When they have their gay pride flag and their gay pride parade, it says this was the iniquity
of thy sister Sodom, pride.
Fullness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her.
Now didn't we just talk about the fact that when things are going real good for you, that
leads to pride.
This attitude that says, oh man, we're doing great, God's not punishing us, we've got fullness
of bread, fatness of flesh, everything's going great, we're not in adversity.
So that's what led to the pride in Sodom.
Because remember, they lived in a well-watered plain.
That's why Lot even wanted to live there.
The reason that Lot wanted to live near Sodom was because of the financial prosperity.
He chose the well-watered plain of Sodom.
So it says this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread and abundance
of idleness.
Abundance is sitting around and doing nothing, which is what people do when they have fullness
of bread and everything's going good and they don't need anything.
Was in her and her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
I didn't really point it out, but all throughout, Psalm 10, Psalm 12, and Psalm 73, it talked
about prideful people abusing the weak, abusing the poor, and so forth.
And they were haughty, haughty, verse 50 is another word for pride, and committed abomination
before me.
What's that abomination they committed?
Of course, men lying with other men.
So it says they were haughty and committed abomination before me, therefore I took them
away as I saw good.
So the punishment came.
Pride went before destruction, and an haughty spirit came before the fall, and they were
destroyed.
Look at Malachi chapter 3, verse 15.
Tell me if this is a coincidence.
Isn't it amazing how the Bible is always so relevant?
Because there's nothing new under the sun.
All the same things that we're dealing with today are the things that people have been
dealing with throughout history.
And so all the things that we read in the Bible are so relevant, they're so up to date,
they're perfect for July 2015, it's all right here.
Tell me if this is true in Malachi 3.15.
And now we call the proud happy.
Now what's another word for happy?
Gay.
See, the word gay in the English language used to mean happy.
And you'd say like, you know, dawn we now our gay apparel fall.
Now that means you just took a trip to Urban Outfitter.
That means you went to Abercrombie and Fitch.
But basically, you know, you'd say, you know, Flintstones meet the, you know, we'll have
a gay old time.
They're just saying, hey, happy.
Now, the Bible prophesied in Malachi 3.15 that a day would come when we would call the
proud happy.
And isn't that what they're called?
These Phoenix pride?
What do we call them?
Gay.
I don't call them that.
I don't call the proud happy.
I call them filthy.
But the Bible says here, they call the proud happy.
Isn't that amazing how God's Word just has everything in it?
It says, they that work wickedness are set up, meaning that they're exalted, they're
lifted up, they're promoted, they're idolized, they're heroes, they're wonderful people that
we look to.
He said, they that work wickedness are set up, yea, that they that tempt God are even
delivered.
Talk about the fact that they're getting away with it.
At least in the short term, it seems like they're getting away with it.
Now go to Genesis 9.
Is everything in the sermon kind of coming together for you this morning?
I mean, it all fits, doesn't it?
It all makes sense.
Look at these references on pride.
How it comes from things going real well for you, and then you start thinking, well, if
everything's going good, God must be blessing us.
I mean, God doesn't know.
God's not going to judge.
But here's the thing.
This is the spirit also that's mentioned in 1 Timothy 6, where it says that there are
some who suppose that gain is godliness, right?
They look at financial prosperity, they look at gain, and they say, that's godliness, right?
And he says, from such, withdraw thyself.
It says in Genesis 9, verse 8, and it's funny because here's where their gay pride, quote
unquote, flag, here's the symbol that they choose for their wickedness, right?
They use this rainbow flag.
That's their pride flag.
Well, tell me if this goes with our definition of pride we've been looking at so far this
morning.
Genesis 9, verse 8, God spake unto Noah and to his sons with them, saying, and I behold,
I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you.
A covenant is a promise, a contract, an agreement.
God's saying, I'm making a commitment to you.
Here's my promise to you.
He says, I'm going to establish my covenant with you, verse 10, and with every living
creature that is with you, of the fowl and of the cattle and of every beast of the earth
with you, from all that go out of the ark to every beast of the earth, and I will establish
my covenant with you.
Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood, neither shall there
any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
And God said, this is the token of the covenant that I will make between me and you and every
living creature that is with you for perpetual generations.
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and
the earth, and shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall
be seen in the cloud, and I'll remember my covenant, which is between me and you and
every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy
all flesh, and the bow shall be in the cloud.
I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every
living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
What is the covenant that God is making here?
Not just with man, but with man and every animal.
He says, I'm making an agreement with every animal on the planet.
I'm agreeing with every human being.
Here's my promise.
Here's my covenant.
I will never destroy the earth with a flood ever again.
I will never send a flood to wipe out life on this planet ever again.
Never going to happen again.
That's the covenant, right?
And he goes on and on about that.
Well, that promise has been kept so far, you know, and we know that God's going to keep
all of his promises all the way to the end.
So isn't it interesting that the rainbow that we see, because he says, look, when you see
a cloud coming over the earth and it starts raining real hard, I don't want you to get
nervous and think, it's happening again, you know.
So he says, look, the rainbow is God's symbol that he will never destroy the earth again
with a flood.
And when you see that rainbow, it reminds you, hey, God's not going to wipe us out again
with a flood.
So it's a symbol of God not pouring out his wrath in that way.
So isn't it interesting that the proud, who are the ones that are saying, hey, God's not
going to require it, God's not going to punish us, they pick a symbol that represents God
not punishing us.
Think about that.
It's a symbol about God not punishing us with a flood.
But that doesn't mean God's never going to punish.
He's never going to wipe out everybody on the earth.
And you know, even in the horrific events of God pouring out his wrath on this earth
in the book of Revelation, the seven trumpets, the seven vials, where God's turning water
into blood and he's burning up all the trees.
You know, he never wipes out everybody and he never wipes out all the animals.
Think about it.
I mean, if you study Revelation, over here it'll say, hey, a third of the people are
wiped out, or hey, the quarter part of the earth, or hey, a third of the trees are burned
up and all the green grass is burned up, and then it all grows back, okay?
So God never wipes everybody out on the earth.
Because a lot of people ask this question, like, well, who's going to go into the millennium?
He doesn't wipe everybody out.
They get confused because when they read Revelation 19, and this isn't a Bible prophecy sermon
but I'm just throwing this out there.
In Revelation 19 it talks about how God gathers the armies of the earth together in Armageddon
and everybody in those armies is wiped out.
But here's the thing, not everybody on the planet's in those armies.
So they get the mistaken idea that God kills everyone on the earth, which is not true.
He only kills everyone who's in those armies that are assembled.
It's not like South America just empties out, completely empty, not a soul, because they're
all in Armageddon.
I mean, it's ridiculous.
It's the armies of the earth that gather in Armageddon and are wiped out.
So guess who goes into the millennium?
Lots of people who survive all the events in the book of Revelation.
Very simple to understand.
See God's never going to flood the earth again, he's never going to wipe out every single
person on the planet.
The next time he brings judgment, it's not going to be a flood, it's going to be a fiery
judgment.
He's going to rain fire and brimstone.
See he never promised, he didn't put a rainbow above Sodom, think about this, he didn't
put a rainbow above Sodom and say I'm never going to pour fire and brimstone on homos
ever again.
He put a rainbow saying I'm not going to flood the whole planet.
But I don't think it's a coincidence that the prideful people of this earth would choose
a symbol of God's promise not to destroy, hey, that's what they're hanging their hat
on.
But you know what, they've misunderstood the promise, because he didn't say, hey, I'm never
going to punish anybody.
I'm never going to pour out hellfire and damnation from the sky, because he will.
It's just that he's not going to send a flood.
Now if you would flip over to Isaiah chapter 3, Isaiah chapter 3.
Isaiah chapter number 3, pride is what we're talking about.
What is pride?
If we were to just define the word pride, pride is when you think more highly of yourself
than you ought to think.
And when man thinks that he can be his own authority and his own God and make his own
rules for living, that's pride.
When somebody says, well, I make my own morality, I don't need the Bible to tell me what's right,
I've got my own morality from my heart, I'm just following my heart, that's pride.
Pride is when we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think.
Pride is when we think that we are better than everyone else.
Pride is where we lift ourselves up and exalt ourselves and we take the glory for anything
that we've accomplished in our lives instead of giving God the glory for what he has accomplished
in and through us.
And it's when we think it's through our own strength and our own power that we get anything
done for the Lord.
That's all pride.
Pride is being exalted in your own mind and thinking of yourself more highly than you
ought to think.
Pride is humility.
Being humble, lowly, and understanding your condition as an imperfect person.
A person who has flaws and faults and who is very inferior to God, very inferior to
the Lord Jesus Christ, and one who's ready to listen to what he has to say and obey him
and do things his way because he's the boss.
Honesty is the child who obeys their parents and says, you know what?
I'm not going to sit here and pick apart and criticize my parents and think about all the
things that, you know, make them unworthy of me obeying them.
No, I'm just going to do what I'm told because God commanded me to and I'm going to humbly
submit on my prayers.
Look, who do you think was better, Jesus or Mary?
Jesus, right?
Don't tell the Catholics that, but anyway, but you know, who's greater, Jesus or Mary?
You know, who's greater, Jesus or Joseph?
Okay, but did you know that Jesus submitted himself to Mary and Joseph?
Because when he was 12 years old, the Bible says Jesus went home and submitted himself
to his parents.
He was better than them.
So you might in your puffed up arrogant heart think, well, I'm better than my parents, but
you know what?
That doesn't give you the right not to submit to and obey your parents.
Did I have you turn to Isaiah chapter 3?
Says in verse 8, for Jerusalem is ruined and Judah has fallen because their tongue and
their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory.
To show, the show of their countenance doth witness against them and they declare their
sin as Sodom, they hide it not, woe unto their soul for they've rewarded evil unto themselves.
So this declaring their sin as Sodom and hiding it not, this is a coming out of the
closet, as it were.
And what is that?
Pride.
We're going to just declare our sin, we're not going to be ashamed of our sin.
Look, everybody here commits some type of sin.
Obviously nobody here commits sodomy, but if you do raise your hand and I'll come grab
you and throw you out of here right now, physically remove you from the building.
But here's the thing, obviously we're not talking about such an extreme, filthy, wicked
abomination, but here's the thing, everybody does have some sin in their life, everybody.
And some people have real big, major sin in their life, other people have more minor sins
in their life, but everybody has sin in their life.
The Bible says as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
The Bible says if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us.
The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
So we all have sin in our lives, right?
But you know what the right reaction to sin in our lives should be?
We should be ashamed of the sin in our lives.
You know, when we do something wrong, if we were to tell a lie or steal or think a dirty
thought or whatever the case may be, covet, whatever, we should be ashamed of our sins.
And you know, sometimes it's appropriate to confess our sins, but wait a minute, declaring
your sins?
This isn't a confession.
This is a declaration where you're saying, yeah, I've been sinned and I'm proud of it.
Yes I am a whoremonger.
Yes I am an adulterer.
Yes I did have an abortion.
I mean, there are t-shirts like that, literally.
I had an abortion, I'm proud of it.
You know, I don't remember exactly what the shirt said, but I've seen a shirt that said
something along those lines.
Just a proud declaration where somebody will just say, I'm perverted, I'm, you know, whatever.
And basically they have no shame about it, neither could they blush.
They declare their sin as Sodom, the Bible says, meaning that that was part of the sin
of Sodom, pride in their sin.
Now flip over, if you would, to Isaiah 9.
Well I'm going to finish reading here in chapter 3 too, because he says, hey, they declare
their sin as Sodom and pride in their sin.
Verse 10 says, say ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him, for they shall
eat the fruit of their doings.
Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hand shall be given
him.
So right after this talk of a proud declaration of sin, God follows that up by saying, well,
you know what?
Woe unto the wicked, because their day will come.
Their punishment will come.
Now look at Isaiah chapter 9, here's another scripture that talks about pride.
Isaiah chapter 9, let's start in verse 6, just because it's such a great scripture on
Jesus.
Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Now the humble person reads that and basically wants to give God all the glory and wants
to exalt the Lord and say, hey, we're nothing compared to him.
He must increase, we must decrease.
That's humility, the opposite of pride.
Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David
and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth,
even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
The Lord sent a word into Jacob and had lighted upon Israel and all the people shall know,
even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, watch this, that say in the pride and stoutness
of heart.
So what are these people saying in their pride, in their stoutness of heart?
Verse 10, the bricks are falling down, but we will build with hewn stones.
The sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of reason against him and join his enemies
together, the Syrians before and the Philistines behind, and they shall devour Israel with
open mouth.
For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
So basically prideful man hears the pronouncements of the judgments of God and the punishments
of God, and he basically says, okay, well you know what, the bricks are falling down
because they've had an enemy army come in and basically break things down, chop things
down, and they say the bricks are falling down, we'll build with hewn stones.
The sycamores are cut down, but we'll change them into cedars, and God says no, I'm bringing
more judgment.
It's going to be worse, and I'm going to bring multiple armies against you that are going
to wipe you out.
What is he saying?
God's judgment always comes and it comes down hard, and if we think, oh you know God, is
that all you've got?
He'll just send something even more and worse.
But pride over and over again, look at all these scriptures, we've turned to a lot of
scriptures, over and over again pride is this attitude of God can't stop me.
God can't punish me.
What's he going to do about it?
That's the attitude we see over again with pride.
This lack of fear of the Lord.
No fear of God.
No reverence for him and respect for his judgments and his power.
Now while I'm in this passage I have to bring up this best selling book, The Harbinger by
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn.
Who's heard of this book before?
Put up your hand.
Yeah, hands all over the building.
And I get asked about this all the time.
What do you think about The Harbinger?
What do you think about this guy, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn?
And this guy was exalted lately in the media and all over Facebook, listen to this guy's
great speech where he's preaching about Jesus and this and that.
And you know he's doing it in Washington D.C. in the belly of the beast.
And you know they'll send you some video of this guy preaching at the presidential prayer
breakfast and tell you, wow, he's really ripping some face at that presidential prayer breakfast.
Let me explain something to you.
Anybody who's invited to the presidential prayer breakfast is a false prophet.
If he was really saying something that the powers that be didn't want to be said, he
wouldn't even be invited.
He wouldn't even be there.
Now let me just prove to you in five seconds that Jonathan Cahn is a lying false teacher.
Okay?
Ready to start the clock?
Give me five seconds.
Ready?
Okay.
Jonathan Cahn, done, finished.
Because Jesus Christ clearly said in Matthew 23, be not ye called Rabbi.
That's what Jesus said in Matthew 23.
Listen, anybody who calls themselves Rabbi is not following Jesus, period, end of story,
case closed, done.
Because you can't be following Jesus and say, oh yeah, I'm a preacher and a believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and say, hi, my name's Rabbi Jonathan Cahn.
Doesn't work that way, friend, because Jesus commanded, be not ye called Rabbi.
He said, call no man father.
And he said, be not ye called Rabbi, be not ye called masters, okay?
Now why would anyone want to call themselves Rabbi?
Hmm, I think it starts with a P. What's that word that starts with a P again?
Pride, that's what it is.
Yeah, that's why someone would want to call themselves Rabbi.
But they say, oh, but man, this guy's teaching all this great stuff.
He's got this book, The Harbinger, and it's just amazing.
Let me just debunk for you this book, The Harbinger.
Basically this Harbinger book, it talks about all these mystical mysteries and signs where
God prophesied this stuff in Isaiah chapter 9, and it's being fulfilled in America to
the T, and this ancient mystery unlocks the keys to America's judgment and America's future.
Now I can see why people would fall for it, because he does make what seems to be a convincing
case for one aspect of this.
He has these nine harbingers that he associates with 9-11, okay?
Now first of all, in order to believe in this book, The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn, you'd
have to actually believe the official version on 9-11, okay?
So strike one, you're called Rabbi.
Strike two, you're telling us that God revealed all this stuff to you, but somehow God forgot
to reveal to you that 9-11 was an inside job, okay?
But here's the thing about that, okay?
He has these nine harbingers that he lists, right?
And basically he's saying, there's no way these things could be coincidences.
They all line up perfectly with Isaiah chapter 9 verse 10, and this is God sending us this
signal and 9-11 was this judgment from God, and you know, we've got to change our ways
X, Y, and Z.
So here's the thing.
If you look at these harbingers, only one of them is even interesting, because the rest
of them are just clearly coincidences.
He's just kind of twisting things and exaggerating things.
Like for example, he says, and if you would look at Isaiah chapter 9 verse 10, the bricks
are falling down, but we'll build them with hewn stones.
The sycamores are cut down, but we'll change them into cedars.
He'll take that verse where it says, the sycamores are cut down, but we'll change them into cedars,
and he makes this big deal about how there was this tree near ground zero at New York,
and it was a sycamore tree, and when the buildings came down and crashed and debris is flying
everywhere, it destroyed this sycamore tree, and guess what they replaced it with?
Now if they would have replaced it with a cedar tree, then that might actually make
you think, oh, that's kind of interesting, right?
Except it's not.
They didn't replace it with a cedar tree.
They replaced it with like a coniferous evergreen type tree, but this is what he said, oh, but
if you go back to the Hebrew, the Hebrew word for cedar is kind of sort of similar in the
same family of that type of tree, but it's so funny listening to him talk about it, because
he says, you know, I mean, this is a city, it's concrete everywhere, it's buildings everywhere,
what are the chances that this tree is going to be there?
Okay, listen, have you ever been to a city with no trees in it?
Because every city in America, every city in the world is filled with trees.
Hello.
You know what?
In fact, I got the proof.
I busted out a window in the church van by accident, parking in downtown Phoenix, because
a tree branch went through the window in downtown.
Now what was a tree doing in downtown Phoenix?
Somebody explain that to me.
How about this?
Because we live in the city right now.
Look out the window.
We don't exactly live in a jungle or rainforest.
I mean, we're in the city.
Do you see all those trees?
Because guess what?
Every street, every city, every high rise area, I mean, go to Phoenix and it's just
rows of trees up and down every street.
True or false?
And if we went to New York, guess what we're going to see?
Trees.
It's not really that weird, especially since it's not even replaced with the same tree.
That's two of his nine harbingers, because he splits it into two.
One harbinger is that a sycamore tree got knocked down.
I wonder how many other trees got knocked down when three buildings collapsed and send
debris flying everywhere.
I'm sure many trees were destroyed.
And then he's like, well, it's not even the same kind of sycamore, but, you know, close
enough.
So a tree got knocked down, and you're not going to believe this.
They planted a new one.
Case closed.
Okay, so that's two, but all the harbingers are like that.
They're just dumb coincidences.
Hey, they took a block from the old building and used it in the new one.
Oh, shock.
But here's the one that kind of gets everybody's attention as just, wow, this is so eerie.
There's no way it could be a coincidence.
He points out the fact that the Senate Majority Leader at the time, Tom Daschle, gets up and
makes a speech the next day after 9-11, right?
He gets up and makes a speech and he says, you know, at times like this, the words of
Isaiah speak to us when it says, and then he basically quotes Isaiah 9-10, the bricks
are falling down, but we'll build with hewn stones.
The sycamores are cut down, but we'll change them in its years.
So basically he takes this passage about people defying God and he uses it in his speech
as like, yeah, this is going to comfort us right now.
Now that is creepy and weird, isn't it?
Why would a politician get up and take a verse about defying God and say, you know what,
we're going to take comfort in this right now, and then just like publicly defy God.
Okay.
Well, all that proves is that our leaders don't know the Bible or are just openly defying
God.
Does this really surprise you?
You don't really have to be a clairvoyant or a cabalist or into Jewish mysticism to
figure that out, okay?
But he basically used this defiant speech.
And then three years later, another politician, Jonathan Edwards, fellow Democrat, quoted
the same thing.
You know, probably just getting it from the other guy who quoted it.
So here's what this Jonathan Cahn says, this rabbi, quote unquote.
He says, well, that's just a really weird coincidence because of all the 31,000 verses
in the Bible, why would he pick this verse?
It makes absolutely no sense to pick this verse that's just total defiance of God and
has nothing to do with the situation, so therefore everything in my 300 and some page book is
true.
Okay.
But here's the thing, actually it makes perfect sense why Jonathan Edwards and Tom Daschle
would have chosen this misguided scripture that has nothing to do with, you know, God
just made him do it to fulfill this harbinger, you know?
Well, here's the one year Bible.
Who has one of these?
Do you have one of these or have you seen these?
First of all, it says on the back that millions of people have benefited from this thing.
So it's a hot selling item.
I mean, I've seen this at tons of bookstores.
We have like five of these at our house.
We like this in our family, a lot of our kids and stuff.
They use this as their Bible reading, okay?
So this is a real popular book that millions of copies have been sold.
Well, if you turn to September 11th in the one year Bible, and there are other Bible
reading plans that would follow this same plan, if you go to September 11th in the one
year Bible, guess what passage it has you read that day?
Isaiah chapter 9 verse 10.
So it's like, oh, this is so crazy of a coincidence.
I mean, of all the passages in the Bible, why would you pick Isaiah 9?
Are you nuts?
Well, maybe here's why.
Because it was in the Bible reading for that day of millions of people who own this book.
So obviously one of these people who wasn't very smart or several of these people who
weren't very smart were reading their Bible on September 11th or maybe they don't even
read their Bible that much but they're scared, you know, because they don't know what's
going to happen.
So they grab the one year Bible off the shelf and they're like, okay, let's read today's
portion and in millions of people's Bible right next to September 11th it has this verse.
So maybe one of them sent it to Tom Daschle and said, hey, here's a great, I was just
reading this today, here's a great verse or sent it to his staff or speechwriters or whatever.
People email these people all the time.
So it's not just this amazing, insane, supernatural coincidence that Tom Daschle just happened
to be led by God to read this obscure verse.
No, it was the Bible reading for that day for millions of people who own this book.
So it's really not, does anybody not understand what I just said because I want to make sure
everybody understands what I just said.
And basically that's the only thing that's compelling at all of these harbingers.
The rest are just silly coincidences or he has to go back to the Hebrew and twist words
and make it say things that aren't even really there.
And this book is this guy's claim to fame that he solved this amazing mystery of the
harbingers.
And then he's got all these other books that he's coming out with now.
And listen, this guy is teaching these heresy and lies of the Hebrew roots movement.
This Judaizing of Christianity and he puts a blanket over his head and you know, Hochflem
and all this stuff where they, you know what I mean, that weird shawl they put over their
head and it's gonna give me power and you know, you feel the, feel the spirit and everything.
He teaches all this Jewish stuff, Jewish fables and this messianic, and listen, when people
talk about messianic Judaism, it's 1% messianic, 99% Judaism.
It's real heavy on Judaism.
You know, we don't need messianic Judaism.
You know, we need Christianity, you know, we need Jesus.
The New Testament, the gospel, but this Zionist, this rabid Zionist, Jonathan Cahn, with his
pro-Jewish, pro-Israel, pro-Judaism, Judeo-Christian teaching, right?
He comes out with one cute thing and then all of a sudden everybody wants to listen
to this guy.
Why do they want to listen to him?
Well, because he found this amazing coincidence that Tom Daschle quoted a verse that didn't
make any sense.
Look, anybody who listened to Tom Daschle and would have looked that up in their Bible
would have said, hey, that verse that he read makes no sense to read because it's a verse
about people defying God.
But really, is that weird that some Democrat senator, majority leader, didn't know the
Bible real well and quoted an irrelevant verse?
I mean, that reminds me of when Bill Clinton said, hey, you know, my favorite verse is
John 16-3.
You know what I mean?
He's like, obviously we all know he meant John 3-16, but he's so biblically illiterate
that he said, hey, it's John 16-3, it's my favorite verse.
What difference is that from Tom Daschle just quoting somebody?
Somebody sent him because they were reading it in their one-year Bible, okay, and then
they said, oh, yeah, this is a great relevant verse.
He's like, okay, doesn't read the context.
He just reads that verse by itself, quotes it in a speech.
So now we're going to go on a tour of New York with Rabbi Jonathan Cahn and his modern
day prophets and they're having all these dreams and visions where George Washington
and King Solomon are like the same guy and everything, you know, they're like parallels
and all, you know, just making up all this weird stuff based on Tom Daschle quoting a
stupid verse that came from the one-year Bible for that day.
Somebody sent it to him or whatever.
Look, the book is a fraud.
The guy is a fraud.
The guy is a gimmick and I'm sorry, I just don't get that excited that some pastor goes
to a presidential prayer breakfast and says, hey, you need to be saved through Jesus, yeah,
we need Jesus.
You know what, there are all kinds of phony lying preachers who will get up and say, hey,
we need Jesus, hey, Jesus saves.
Benny Hinn will tell you that.
Kenneth Copeland will tell you that.
I mean, look, people will say all kinds, not everybody who says Lord, Lord, you know, is
going to enter the kingdom of heaven, people.
So don't be deceived by this guy.
This guy is teaching a bunch of Jewish fables.
He's a Judaizer.
You say, well, I don't know if you're right, Pastor Anderson.
No, you don't know if Jesus is right.
When Jesus said, be not ye called Rabbi.
Done.
See I just wasted the last five minutes of my time because I could have just finished
there.
We could have just said, be not ye called Rabbi.
He calls himself Rabbi, therefore, he's a liar when he says, oh, I'm following Christ.
He's my final authority.
No, he's not.
You are saying Rabbi because you're pandering to a wicked religion called Judaism.
And by the way, don't ever come at me with this thing of Jesus was a Rabbi.
Jesus was a Rabbi.
No, Jesus is the Rabbi.
He's the only Rabbi.
And he said, don't you be called Rabbi, for what is your master, Christ.
Because one Rabbi, it's Jesus.
But I wouldn't even use the word Rabbi today to talk about Jesus because the word Rabbi
has come to mean something different now to where it's only associated with the Pharisees.
The Pharisees are the only people who call themselves Rabbi anymore.
So you know, we should not take on that Pharisee title.
But when you're trying to work toward the anti-Christ goal of merging Judaism and Christianity,
it's perfect for you.
Anyway, that had nothing to do with the sermon.
But go to Daniel chapter number 4.
In fact, it has a little bit to do with the sermon because pride is what causes people
to call themselves Rabbi.
The rest was kind of a stretch to tie in with this sermon.
But you know what though?
People need to be warned about this guy.
And I get emailed about this guy literally every week.
Every single week.
What do you think about Rabbi Jonathan Cahn?
And I just sent him back the verse.
Be nigh ye called Rabbi.
Yeah, but what do you think about the book?
I'm just like, case closed.
All I need to know, done.
Some guy came to me with his collar turned back and said, hi, I'm Father so and so.
This guy's not following Christ.
You know immediately.
Because it's so clear, it's so blatant.
I mean, how much clearer can you get?
Be nigh ye called Rabbi.
Well, but it's still okay for him to call it that.
What other parts of the Bible do you want to just deny and contradict?
Makes no sense, my friend.
But here's a great example of pride in the Bible.
Daniel chapter 4 verse 29, at the end of 12 months he walked in the palace of the kingdom
of Babylon.
The king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of
the kingdom of by my, I'm sorry, by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty.
So what's his problem here?
What's his issue?
He's exalting himself and glorifying himself and saying, look at all the great things that
I've done.
Look at the greatness that I've built.
While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee and they shall drive thee from men
and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field.
They shall make thee to eat grass as oxen and seven times shall pass over thee until
thou knowest that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of man and giveth it to whomsoever
he will.
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.
Why is it that he's being punished?
Because he is not giving God the glory.
He's taking all the glory for himself.
Look what I have built.
Look what I have done.
No mention of the Lord, no acknowledgement of wow, thank you God for allowing me to get
to where I'm at right now.
Thank you for putting me in authority.
Thank you for giving me this great kingdom.
He didn't acknowledge God.
And by the way, what does it say in Romans one about the people who would eventually
become filled with pride and declare their sin as Sodom?
In Romans one it says when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were
thankful but became vain in their own imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened.
So Nebuchadnezzar, because of his pride and self-glorification and not giving God the
glory, God's going to teach him a lesson.
God's going to take him down a notch.
So God takes away his sanity from him and makes him lose his mind.
And it says in verse 33, he was driven from men.
Why?
Because he's so crazy he can't even live amongst men.
He has to be driven into the wilderness.
And it says, he was driven from men and did eat grass as oxen.
So he's out in the wilderness.
Just imagine, let's think about one of our leaders, you know.
And you know, I don't want to insult Nebuchadnezzar by comparing like Obama to Nebuchadnezzar,
because Nebuchadnezzar was I'm sure a much manlier, more powerful guy.
I mean I don't think Obama ever even says, look at what I've done, you know.
Just because he's such a loser, I don't see how you can say it.
But you know, just imagine, I don't know, who's a more powerful leader?
Help me out people.
You know, some, who?
Oh, we have to go to Russia to find a powerful leader.
Okay, great, yeah, let's lift him up.
Okay, well we're stuck with our faggoty President Obama.
So anyway, we'll just talk about him.
So you know, let's say, let's say, just imagine like, let's say Obama, he gets all prideful
and arrogant.
Look at me, look how great I am.
And then he's driven from men.
And just imagine him like on the White House lawn, basically just on hands and knees like
an animal and eating grass like, you know, grass coming out of his mouth and, you know,
anybody tries to stop him and he's like, you know, they're like whoa man, you know.
So he's eating grass, I mean just picture it.
I mean this guy's the most powerful man in the world, Nebuchadnezzar, this man's a great
leader and God just goes like that and takes his sanity.
You know God could do that to anybody he wants?
Think about that.
God could just, whenever he wants, go like that and just boing, make somebody just lose
their mind.
And that's what he did.
He took, he gave him the heart of a beast.
It kind of reminds me of Romans 1 again, a lot of parallels when people start lifting
themselves up with pride, start doing animal type things, right?
Hey, it's okay to be a sodomite, the animals do it.
Exactly.
But anyway, so he's not, you know, so basically Nebuchadnezzar's on, he's eating grass and
hahaha, you know, acting like an insane person and look what it says.
His body was wet with the dew of heaven, meaning he's just sleeping outside, he's not even
looking for shelter.
He's just clobbering around on all fours, eating grass and then he just lays outside,
just exposed to the elements and just sleeps out there.
And it says he did it till his hairs were grown like eagle's feathers, because his hair's
getting dirty and matted and stiff like eagle's feathers, till his hair was grown as eagle's
feathers and his nails like bird's claws.
So I mean, because people have said, what does it mean seven times?
Because it doesn't really tell us what is a time.
Well first of all, when it says a time, a times, and half a time in Revelation, that's
three and a half years because he defines it as 42 months, 1260 days.
So if we kind of use scripture with scripture, times is used to refer to years at other places
in the Bible.
Now some people have said, well it could be weeks, could be months, could be days,
but here's the thing, in order for your nails to grow like bird claws, this isn't seven
days.
This isn't seven weeks, okay.
Some of you haven't cut your nails in seven weeks, no I'm just kidding.
This is seven years, and I've seen pictures of people who have big talons on their fingernails,
because they will keep growing if you don't stop it.
And don't chew them in church, by the way, because I've found a little pile, have you
been finding a little pile?
I found little piles of fingernails in the church, all right, so I'm on to you, whoever
you are.
I'm just kidding.
But you know, they grew like bird claws.
And watch this in verse 34, and at the end of the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine
eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High.
And I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.
And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according
to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can
stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou?
At the same time, my reason returned unto me.
And for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors
and my Lord sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added
unto me.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol in honor of the king of heaven, all whose works
are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
Now this is, I think this is one of the coolest stories in the Bible.
I've always loved this story.
So he's out there like an insane person, eating grass, sleeping outside, fingernails like
bird claws, just matted, just wet, just an insane person out in the wilderness for, I
believe, seven years, okay?
And then just all of a sudden like that, his reason returns to him.
So just imagine, just put yourself in his place, okay?
You're out just eating junk and filth and just out in the wilderness living like an
animal for seven years.
And then all of a sudden your reason returns to you and you remember everything that happened.
And you know where you are and what you're doing and you look down at yourself and you're
like, what have I been doing for the last seven years?
I mean, wouldn't that be weird to just snap out of it like that?
So he just comes to himself and the first thing he does is just drop to his knees and
glorify God and say, I'm not going to make that mistake again.
Now how did he know to just immediately glorify God?
How did he know?
Well because if you read the whole chapter, Daniel had already warned him about this.
Daniel had come to him and told him, look, because he'd had a dream and he called Daniel,
come interpret the dream, the dream is explained to him.
And Daniel says, look, this is going to happen to you.
But he says, look, if you'll straighten up, maybe God will be merciful with you.
But he didn't heed that warning.
Well when he snapped back into it, obviously Daniel told him this was going to happen.
He remembered that and he instantly knows why it happened and he instantly gives God
the glory and worships the Lord.
So then he has to show back up at the kingdom, you know, at the palace and everything.
So here he's been gone for years.
Other people are ruling and everything.
But obviously he's the greatest ruler.
They want him in charge if they can.
You know, this is not a parallel with our leader.
But you know, I mean this is a guy who had brought Babylon to its finest hour and had
taken over and been ruling and doing all these great things.
So obviously they're ready to give him his job back.
But just imagine, he's got to walk up there and he's all dirty and filthy and he's like,
hey, I need a haircut, I need a manicure.
He needed to get cleaned up and straight up.
But once he's cleaned up and straightened up, all of his counselors, all the princes,
they want him back.
They put him back in authority.
And then God says that even more majesty was added to him.
So he actually ends up more glorious and more powerful in the end than he was before.
And then he prays and extolled the God of heaven.
And you know what's really interesting about this is the first verse of the chapter.
Are you there in Daniel 4?
Nebuchadnezzar the king unto all people, nations and languages that dwell in all the earth,
peace be multiplied unto you.
So this is something that everybody heard about at the time.
Isn't that interesting?
So God used this story to actually spread the word of God and spread the knowledge of
God to every person living in that generation.
So people knew who the Lord was because this message went out, this story went out.
It's kind of a memorable story.
Of course we still have the story today in the Bible that's been translated into all
different nations of the world and so forth.
So the moral of the sermon is this, and I just got to finish up very quickly with the
time that I have, is that first of all, pride is of the devil.
And let me just, you don't have to turn to these because we're out of time.
Pride is of the devil.
First of all, it says of Leviathan in Job 41-34, and we know Leviathan is a picture
of Satan in the book of Isaiah and elsewhere.
It says he beholdeth all high things, he is a king over all the children of pride.
So it says the devil is a king over all the children of pride.
Then it says in James 4, but he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he'll flee from you.
So isn't it interesting in a passage where he's saying, hey, be humble, don't be proud,
submit to God, resist the devil.
Because what's the devil want you to do?
Be proud.
The devil wants you to be proud.
And so he says resist that and instead be submissive, be humble, okay?
So first of all, I want to show you from those couple of scriptures that, you know,
pride is of the devil.
Also the Bible says of the pastor that he should not be a novice, lest being lifted
up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
So there we go again.
So pride three times in the Bible is specifically said, hey, pride is of the devil.
The devil wants us to be proud.
He wants to have us infused with pride.
But number two, pride is of the world.
Because the Bible says love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world.
So not only is pride of the devil, pride is of the world.
And thirdly, pride is of our flesh.
Because the Bible says in Mark 7, verse 21, for from within out of the heart of men proceed
evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things
come from within and defile the man.
So basically there are three sources of pride.
The devil will try to get us proud.
The devil will convince us to be proudful, to be prideful, to be proud.
Number two, the world around us is going to try to get us to give in to this thing
of pride and teach us that pride is a good thing.
They might even have parades about it.
Pride!
They might even make a flag about it, you know, and so it gets you to be into pride.
And by the way, some people's patriotism is also just pride, right, exalting our nation
above the things of God.
You know what nation I'm a part of?
The holy nation, the peculiar people, which in time past was not in people, but now are
the people of God.
So my nation is that nation in 1 Peter chapter 2.
That's why you don't see the American flag up in this building, you know, because of
the fact that, you know, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
But we basically need to be careful, and I'm not saying that everybody who's patriotic
is filled with pride or whatever, but you know what, there are a lot of people who cross
the line with patriotism, and it becomes a proud to be an American, where it becomes
this thing of we're better than people who are not.
I don't think that Americans are any better than anybody else in this world.
Some ways they're worse.
Some ways we're better.
Some ways we're worse.
In fact, a lot of ways we're more sodomy than a lot of plays, more abortion, feminism, Hollywood,
dope consumption, et cetera, et cetera.
So pride is of the world.
The world wants to get you into pride, and then also your own flesh is going to lean
toward pride.
It's going to come from within you.
So this is real dangerous, isn't it?
Something that's going to be hard to avoid.
The devil's coming at you with it, the world's coming at you with it, and then it's coming
from within.
It's coming out of your own heart.
You need to be very careful about pride.
And lastly this, pride is what hinders people from getting saved, because why don't people
get saved?
I mean, this is so easy, right?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Why don't they want to be saved?
Because here's what the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
And what's boasting?
Hey, look at me, everybody.
It's a proud person who says, well, I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person.
And yet if we go out and knock doors, someone will tell us that every day we go soul winning,
won't they?
Oh, so what do you think is going to get you in heaven?
Oh, I'm a good person.
Pride.
That's the definition of pride.
Oh, why are you going to heaven?
Oh, man, you know, I forsook a life of sin, and now I'm living for God.
I pray every day.
I read the Bible.
I fast twice in the week.
I give tithes of all that I possess.
You know, it's pride.
And when people say like, well, you know, that just sounds too easy to just believe
on Jesus and be saved.
It's their pride that doesn't want to accept that free gift.
Some people can't accept gifts because they're too proud, like, I'll pay it myself.
I can pay everything myself.
I don't need your money.
I don't need your help.
And that's what people are looking at God and saying today.
So pride is the thing that will damn more people to hell than anything else.
Pride.
You know, we need to start thinking of pride as something that's very dangerous that we
need to stay away.
Don't let it creep in.
And we need to be humble and exalt the Lord and glorify him.
So it's like, hey, why are you going to heaven?
Because of Jesus.
Because of his death, burial and resurrection.
See, that's not very self glorifying, is it?
To go around and say, oh, well, I'm a sinner, I deserve hell.
I'm a sinner that deserves, if I were judged on my works, I'd go to hell.
That's a humble thing to say, isn't it?
Hey, if God were to put me at the judgment seat and get out all my deeds and all my works
and the books are open, I would be condemned because of my works, because they come short,
because I'm a sinner.
That's humility.
Pride says, well, you know what, if my good works outweigh my bad, I'm getting in and
I think I'm going.
Pride.
God gets all the glory for our salvation.
God gets all the glory for anything we accomplish in our lives.
The children that we have are gifts from God.
The job that we have, God gave us that job.
The physical strength and health and sanity to go to that job is a gift from God.
Because any time God wants, he can snap his fingers and make us go insane like Nebuchadnezzar.
So everything comes from God.
God gets all the glory.
Don't let pride become a part of our lives just because our society is exalting pride
in so many ways.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the gift of eternal life, Lord.
And we just want to give you all the glory this morning, Lord, and just praise you for
your mighty acts.
And Lord, this sermon, all the glory goes to you because it was all biblically based
and I would have had nothing to preach if it weren't for your word, Lord.
Any wisdom that has ever come across this pulpit, anything that was ever said where
somebody said, wow, that's an amazing point.
It was always from your word, Lord.
It was nothing that man could devise.
And so thank you for your unsearchable riches of your word, Lord.
You get all the glory for this church, Lord.
You set upon your rock, you build the church.
You built a church here, Lord.
You get all the glory for our salvation.
Help us to go through life humble, meek, lowly.
Earthly authority figures in our lives, Lord.
Legitimate authority figures, we need to respect them and help us not to get puffed
up and think that we're better than the people that we should be submitting to or honoring
or giving reverence.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.