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All right, we're in Esther chapter 3 but go back to Esther chapter 2 for one second just as we lay a groundwork for this sermon In Esther chapter 2 looking at verse number 21 Bible reads in those days while Mordecai sat in the king's gate Two of the king's chamberlains big fan and Teresh of those which kept the door were wroth and sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus and the thing was known to Mordecai who told it on to Esther the queen and Esther Certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name and when Inquisition was made of the matter It was found out therefore they were both hanged on a tree and was written in the book of the chronicles before the king So we see here in chapter 2 that Mordecai actually he saves the king's life, you know, he steps in he Discovers the plots gonna happen to kill the king He actually saves the king's life and it gets written down in the chronicles But one thing you're gonna notice in the book of Esther he gets zero credit for it. There's no indication He gets a handshake. He doesn't get a job promotion. He doesn't get money. He doesn't get anything for it He gets no credit whatsoever. It was just written down in the chronicles turn to Esther chapter 6 Esther chapter 6 And I'll show you this very clearly that he does not get credit back in Esther chapter 2 because looking at a verse number 1 In Esther chapter 6 the Bible reads on that night could not the king sleep and he Commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles and they were read before the king and it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh Two of the king's chamberlains the keepers of the door who sought to lay hand on the king has aware's then now notice this in Verse number 3 the Bible reads and the king said what honor and dignity have been done to Mordecai for this Then said the king's servants that ministered on to him. There is nothing done for him He got nothing for saving the king's life now I'll be honest with you if I would say I guess the president of the United States is probably the most powerful person I guess In America, I would hope to get something if I saved his life. Not that I really want to save his life I'm not a Donald Trump fan But you would you would expect to get like something if you were to save his life Mordecai got nothing for saving the king's life. He got absolutely no credit whatsoever When that actually took place later on the story we see that he does get credit, but see God has the proper timing He doesn't give it to him right away. He gives it to him later on Sometimes we're waiting for that blessing to come from God and we expect it now We want it now we don't have patience to wait but maybe God is waiting for the right time in life to lift you up to actually give you Something and so you see here that Mordecai he understands this now go back to Esther chapter 3 Esther chapter 3 Now in Esther chapter 3 I want you to notice verse number 1 I want you to remember we went back to Esther chapter 2 to notice when Mordecai saved the king's life Look at the first three words of Esther chapter 3 After these things I want you to notice that Esther chapter 3 like you would assume is coming after Esther chapter 2 That's very important after these things did King Ahasuerus Promote Haman the son of Hamadeth of the Agagite and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that were with him And all the king's servants that were in the king's gate bowed and reverenced Haman for the king had so commanded concerning him But Mordecai bowed not nor did him reverence so Haman is lifted up to being the second most powerful Man in the kingdom. It says that he is above the princes It says that all the servants are bowing down and worshipping this man. That's a pretty great position to have I mean he has a great job. I'm sure he did not have to worry about his finances. He has a wonderful job and Everybody is bowing down and worshipping him except for one man The only man that does not bow down to worship him is Mordecai now, there's a reason why Mordecai doesn't bow down It's not because Mordecai is envious of Haman. Mordecai is perfectly happy with what he has in life You never see him complaining in chapter 2 that he didn't get credit for what he did. He was fine with that He was fine. He saved the king's life. He did his job. He is fine with what he has in life Oftentimes we're upset because of what somebody else has but Mordecai is not envious that Haman got promoted There's a reason why Mordecai didn't bow down and that's because we should never bow down and worship a man. In Acts chapter 10 You don't have to turn there but there's a story of Cornelius and Peter and Peter goes to Cornelius and his whole family to preach them the gospel and once he's going there Cornelius bows down before him and is worshipping Peter and Peter says get up I myself also am a man Because Peter was not going to let somebody bow down and worship him because we should never worship any man You go two chapters later King Herod is preaching and they cry out. He's a god He's not a man and he cried they cry out. He's a god Herod loves the glory He loves to hear that and what happens to Herod? He's struck down dead by God because God is angry that Herod was extremely arrogant instead of being humble You see Peter had this reaction stand up. I myself also am a man, you know, because that's the way we ought to react There was one person in the Bible though that did accept worship and it was the right thing and that's Jesus Christ Throughout the New Testament notice that people bow down and worship Jesus Christ I mean Thomas said my Lord and my God, why did he accept worship? Because he wasn't just a man He actually was God in the flesh. I don't understand how the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses and these religions They obviously aren't reading the Bible because throughout the Bible Jesus is accepting worship because he actually was God in human flesh Peter's reactions was stand up I myself also am a man, but Jesus Christ accepted worship from people because he is God Almighty He was the perfect God that came down and humbled himself and died for our sins Look at Esther chapter 3 verse number 5 The Bible reads in Esther chapter 3 verse number 5 and when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not nor did him reverence Then was Haman full of wrath and he thought scorn delay hands on Mordecai alone for they had showed him the people of Mordecai Wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus Even the people of Mordecai you see this man Haman who has a great job He should be happy with the position that he's been given. He's angry because one man doesn't bow down and worship him He doesn't just want to kill Mordecai He wants to kill all the Jews and see this is the way it is in the world The the world will always attack God's people we are always going to be hated by the world out there and Haman wants to kill Mordecai and Every single one of the Jews because Mordecai didn't bow down and worship him when you're reading this story You have to think that Haman is just acting like a little kid It's just like you've been given a great job And then you're like really mad because one person's not bowing down and worshiping you It's like what in the world is wrong with you Haman? And here's what you have you have a wicked man Haman and you have a godly man Mordecai Haman did not understand a principle in life a principle that's taught throughout the Bible and Mordecai did understand this principle and that's this principle that the way up is down The way up is down you say what are you talking about brother Stuckey turn to Luke chapter 18 Luke chapter 18 I'm preaching to you this morning on the idea of pride and humility You see the way up is down in life See God does not like the arrogant proud people that lift themselves up You see the way up is down But also the way down is up if you choose to lift yourself up you are going to be a base the Bible teaches that But if you humble yourself the Bible says that God will exalt you look at Luke chapter 18 Starting at verse number 10. We're gonna see two people here We're gonna see a Pharisee and we're gonna see a publican this Pharisee Probably followed the letter of the law a lot better than the publican But let's notice what it says here in Luke 18 starting at verse 10 The Bible reads two men went up into the temple to pray the one of Pharisee and the other a publican The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself God. I thank thee that I am NOT as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this publican I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess does this person sound very humble He's like, you know, thank you God. I'm just such a great person Thank you for just making me to be really great God, you know, I'm such a great person I'm better than this man over here But notice what the publican says in verse 13 and the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto Heaven but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbled himself shall be exalted And see this starts with salvation. You see the people that aren't saved we knock on their door We ask them what does it take to get to heaven and they say well You know, you got to believe and you also got to live a good life and you say well Do you know if you're going to heaven they always say pretty much always? Well, yeah, I'm a pretty good person Every single person thinks they're a pretty good person because when you set the bar on how good you have to be you always set It low enough. So you're good enough to crawl over. It doesn't matter how bad of a person you are You will set it so low. So you look like you're a pretty good person Everybody thinks they're a good person and let me tell you something There's a lot of people like this Pharisee that are gonna split hell wide open one day Because if you are not willing to humble yourself and believe on Jesus Christ You will burn forever in hell and that is the wide majority of people most people most religions They think they're gonna go to heaven because they just think they're really good They think their works are gonna justify where they belong in heaven. Then why did Jesus even die for us? It doesn't make any sense whatsoever. And those people if they do not humble themselves in this life They are going to be a based one day and there will be a day when every knee shall bow Every knee everyone's going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord the glory of God the Father and that's why you know I get mad when you hear these rabid atheists that are out there, but honestly, we don't need to get too mad We need to understand that you know what if they don't humble themselves, they're gonna split hell wide open, you know It's not like they won't be a based they will be a based one day and those that humble themselves in this life They're gonna be exalted so we don't have to worry about that You look at those people like Joe Rogan and you know, Jesse Ventura and these rabid atheists that are out there They're really arrogant. They're conceited they mock God and and these people one day They are gonna bow down Stephen Hawking the rabid atheist one day He's gonna have the ability to bow down and he is gonna bow down before the Almighty God and he's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father every single person is going to one day But here's the thing. I've noticed that there's a lot of Christians a lot of people that did humble themselves They did put their faith in Jesus Christ, but they don't really act that humble in their life See, it's not just one time humble yourself and you get saved and then God's like, well, I don't care what you do Now God wants you to be a humble person He doesn't want you to be a proud and arrogant person that not ought not to be said of people at Verity Baptist Church That if people met us at our jobs and in public that they would say Well, those people are really arrogant at Verity Baptist Church now They may disagree with us about everything But you know Let it be said of us that we're good kind people and humble people that we don't lift ourselves up that we're we don't consider Ourself something special but that we are humble people go back to Esther chapter 5 Esther chapter 5 The Bible tells us that we are to be clothed with humility It says God resisted the proud and giveth grace to the humble. It's interesting when I was writing this sermon I don't believe I've ever preached a full-length sermon on pride and humility and honestly Usually this doesn't happen to me, but I started out and I wrote all my pages out and I was like man I got to cut this sermon in half no matter how fast I preach There's no way I'm gonna get through this in an hour and there's so much there's so many stories so many people I'm using Haman and Mordecai but there are so many different examples in the Bible where you can see people that are arrogant and they get humbled and people that Are humble and they get exalted in Esther chapter 5 look at verse number 9 Esther chapter 5 verse 9 the Bible reads Then when Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart, so we see that Haman is in a good mood this day for some reason But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate that he stood not up nor move for him. He was full of indignation against Mordecai Notice that Haman is having a good day and he just sees one person and now all of a sudden he's angry I mean, this is a little ridiculous that you can be so bitter against one person that it destroys your entire life And there are people that are like this Haman is in a good mood and he sees Mordecai and he's just like oh I'm so mad. I can't stand to see this guy. He needs to be killed It's ridiculous when you see this the way he's acting he's acting like a little kid throughout the entire story of the book of Esther Haman reminds you because I mean foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and Haman looks like a six-year-old. He acts like a six-year-old throughout the entire story Notice in verse number 11 skip number 10, but in in verse number 11 It says Haman's coming home to tell his friends and his family about what happened and it says and Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children and All the things wherein the king had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king Haman said moreover Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with a king under the banquet that she had prepared but myself and tomorrow am I invited all under her also with the king yet all this availeth me nothing So long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate So you notice here Haman is going home and he's telling his friends and family. Hey, I'm rich. I have lots of children I have this I have that all he's doing is going around and bragging about how great he is You know, have you ever met people like that that they just want to brag about every single thing in life I mean people aren't like that are not fun to be around You don't want to always hear about how great somebody else is and yes This is something that we can all fall into the trap of from time to time But there are certain people you meet that just everything they just talk about. I'm really great. I'm good at this I'm good at this I'm good at this people like this are not fun to be around when I read Haman Not only do I think he's a six-year-old but you know who he reminds me of he reminds me of Donald Trump You know, this is exactly like Donald Trump. He just goes around he says look I'm smart. I'm rich. I have this I have that he's like I would never apologize I have no reason to ever ask for forgiveness and it's just like and people claim this guy is a born-again Christian And he doesn't even ask for forgiveness. He doesn't believe in the true God of heaven, but Haman reminds me exactly of Donald Trump You know I heard a preacher say this story one time and I'm gonna do my best not to butcher this story because this was a long Time ago, but he was he worked in a tall building and he was on the street and he saw this street performer Who was trying to make money and the guy I think was dancing and trying to collect money and he thought oh this guy's Pretty good at dancing and he said he went to his job and he was really really high in the air and he looked At that same person and the guy looked like a grasshopper to him He just looked extremely small and he said it just looked really ridiculous when I was that high up in the air Looking at the same man He looked like a little ant or grasshopper just dancing around trying to impress everybody and he said I wonder What God thinks about us when we go around trying to brag. I mean, we're so small compared to God I wonder what God thinks about us when we go around bragging about how great we are and how foolish we actually look to God That that might be something we want to remember the next time we feel like bragging or telling people how great we are it's something that we probably look pretty foolish to God when we're doing that and You know when you act like Haman or you act like Donald Trump, you know what you're gonna develop You're gonna develop a bunch of yes-man friends They're not real friends that Haman has and you can prove that through the Bible and I will prove that here in a second But when you act like Donald Trump or Haman, you don't have real friends I guarantee you that Donald Trump his friends aren't really real friends They're friends because he's rich and famous and it's cool to be Donald Trump Trump's friend right now It was the same with Haman in the Bible Haman did not have real friends and I'll prove that to you. Look at verse number 14 verse 14 So Haman has just bragged about how he's rich and famous and how he's really successful and then it says in verse 14 Then said Zaresh his wife and all his friends on to him Let a gallows be made of 50 cubits high and tomorrow speak thou on to the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon Then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet and the thing pleased Haman and he caused the gallows to be made So his friends and his wife their suggestion is to have Mordecai killed. Now is that good advice or bad advice? It's bad advice now, here's the thing about this Why did his friends give him that advice because they wanted to please him as it says in verse 14 It did please Haman the thing pleased Haman and he caused the gallows to be made They are giving him bad advice because the only thing they care about is getting Haman to like them because it's cool to be Haman's friend right now So they're trying to get him to like him now. Here's the thing about this though real friends They don't always give you nice words Sometimes they have to rebuke you Sometimes they have to show you when you're wrong and see Haman did not have good friends and he had friends that gave him terrible Advice, I'm glad that I have godly friends that you know when I ask him for advice and stuff They don't always just try to make me happy Sometimes I've had friends that have told me things that kind of hurt a little bit and they helped me make good decisions in life And you know what if I had friends like Haman then you know what my life would have probably been destroyed by that and Haman Had terrible friends and that's the reason why you ought to invest in this church in Verity Baptist Church You ought to make the people of this church your friends because the people at this church that love the Lord They're the ones that have the ability to give you good advice and you're gonna have times in life where you need friends to give You good advice and not just to pretend to really care about you But actually care about you because sometimes when you give people bad advice, they might not want to hear it They might get mad at it But if you really care about that person you'll give them good advice even if you know, it could hurt your friendship temporarily See Haman had a bunch of yes-men friends and they gave them terrible advice turn to Esther chapter 6 Esther chapter 6 Now if you remember at the beginning of this sermon we went from Esther 2 to Esther chapter 6 and We read the first three verses How Mordecai had not gotten any credit for what he had done and then the king noticed that and then he read that night See God had the very proper and perfect timing to lift Mordecai up So in Esther chapter 6 verse number 6, this is after that took place in the first three verses, which we read earlier Esther chapter 6 verse 6 So so Haman came in and the king said unto him what shall be done unto the man whom the king delighted to honor Now Haman thought in his heart to whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself So Haman just immediately assumes of course the king's gonna honor me. I mean who else is worthy to be honored I'm just so incredibly great. I mean you look at how arrogant this man is and then in verses 7 through 11 Basically, he's told that Mordecai is the guy his archenemy Mordecai is going to be the one that's lifted up and Haman goes on About how we're gonna put the royal apparel on this person and the king said, all right, that's great It's Mordecai and you're gonna be the one who does it. That's a pretty humbling thing You see this man exalted himself and now he's being abased look down at verse number 12 after this Mordecai has just been embarrassed in front of the earth Haman has been embarrassed in front of the king and Haman seen Mordecai being lifted up and gotten lots of praise and in verse number 12 And Mordecai came again to the king's gate But Haman hasted to his house mourning and having his head covered So Haman basically has been made to look very foolish His archenemy that won't bow down and worship him is now being exalted by everybody Instead of him. He thought it was going to be him and it ended up being Mordecai and I'm going to show you Another proof that his friends were not real friends Because look at verse number 13 Esther 6 13 See Haman has fallen on really rough times and see when you fall on rough times if you have real friends They're gonna be there with you during dark times But look at verse number 13 and Haman told Zarech his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him then said his wise men and Zarech his wife on to him if Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall thou Shall not prevail against him but shall surely fall before him. You notice they don't say we They say thou all the sudden when Haman's fall on dark times They say we're done with you Haman you chose to go against Mordecai. You chose to go against the Jews. You're done They don't want to have any part of him. See they're not there during dark times because they're not real friends They don't want to get killed. They don't want to get in trouble. They realize. Oh, wait a minute. This was a bad idea We gave bad advice They don't mention that they're the ones who gave this advice to kill Mordecai because it's not gonna help them out at all They're their friends. So to speak Haman is in dark times and they abandon him Turn to Proverbs chapter 16 Proverbs check chapter 16 You see real friends are gonna mourn with you when you're mourning and they're gonna rejoice with you when you're rejoicing You know quite honestly the last 48 hours of my life have not been the greatest hours of my life But I'm glad that when you're part of a church like this you have people that are willing to mourn with you When you mourn you have people that actually care with you when you're in tough times and see someone like Haman He doesn't have that and see that's why it's that that's why I would say get involved in a church like this get to know The people become friends with the people of this church because you might need friends like this sometime You know the Bible says as you're in Proverbs 16 Ahab was a very wicked man in the Bible But the Bible says about Ahab and the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me because he humbleth himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son's days why bring the evil upon his house? You see Ahab was a wicked man But because he humbled himself God was merciful and said it won't come during his lifetime It will come in his son's lifetime you see Haman might have had one last hope if he had bowed down on his knees and Prayed and begged God for mercy, but he was an arrogant proud man. He wasn't going to do that He ends up getting killed because of that in Proverbs 16 verses 18 and 19 the Bible reads Pride goeth before destruction and in haughty spirit before fall Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud Turn to Proverbs 29 Proverbs 29 In Proverbs 29 at verse number 23 in the Bible the Bible reads a man's pride shall bring him low But honor shall uphold the humble in spirit once again We're seeing the same thing that the proud are going to be brought low and the humble are going to be exalted This is throughout the Bible the concept of the way up is down is throughout the Bible You know one reason why I'm preaching this sermon is because I heard a very similar sermon to this a long time ago And this phrase has always stuck in my head that the way up is down Because it's so contrary to what you think you're like that doesn't make any sense You say that that doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but see there's a way which seemeth right unto a man But the end thereof are the ways of death you see there's a lot of things in the Bible that might not seem right You might feel like I've got to impress my boss at work to get promoted I've got to impress you know you know my pastor to get opportunities at church I got to impress people and talk about how great I am or nobody's going to know I'm never going to get an opportunity But see God is the one that has the ability to promote us. He sees our actions. He sees what we do We don't have to lift ourselves up and be all prideful if we do that. We will be a based We should be humble people and wait on the opportunities that God is willing to give us in life Turn to the book of Jude turn to the book of Jude second to last book in the Bible And while you're turning to the book of Jude you know one of the other great examples you could use in the Bible besides Haman and Mordecai is Jesus Christ and the devil you notice it not you don't have to turn there, but in Isaiah chapter 14 It says about the devil says I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north I will ascend above the heights of the cloud. I will be like the most high see That's what the devil said the devil wanted to be exalted But the Bible says yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit You see the devil is going to be tortured in hell I understand there's a lot of people confused on this people have seen I think too many cartoons Where you have just porky pig with the pitchfork torturing people in hell acting like he's the devil But you know the devil is not going to be torturing anyone in hell The devil is going to be tortured in hell more than anyone and who exalted himself More than the devil and who's going to be brought lower than the devil nobody but on the contrary Who humbled himself more than Jesus Christ the Bible says about Jesus Christ? He made himself of no Reputation he made himself of no reputation. He didn't come in as some conquering hero when he came He came in God was manifest in the flesh he came and he died and paid for our sins and the Bible says wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and Given him a name which is above every name that the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Nobody humbled themselves more than Jesus Christ. Nobody will be exalted more than Jesus Christ Nobody exalted themselves more than the devil. Nobody will be brought lower than the devil Nobody's going to suffer in hell more than the devil will and see this idea is throughout the Bible There's so many characters that you can look at. It's great that you humbled yourself and you got saved I mean the vast majority of people in this room are saved and on on their way to heaven But we need to make we need to be clothed with humility The Bible says this ought to be an attribute about us that we don't go around bragging about how great we are But that we stay humble in life and it's a dangerous thing because you know when you get promoted at work or you get great Opportunities, it's very easy to get lifted up full of pride and think well, I deserve this, you know I deserve to be here But we need to understand that none of us deserve anything we've gotten if we're just saved and on our way to heaven That's better than we deserve if that's all we have in life and life is never that great to us We're still saved and on our way to heaven and we should be thankful for that that we had a loving God that came and Died and paid for our sins. We do serve the living God that paid for our sins and rose again He suffered for our sins on the cross and then he suffered in hell for our sins. He humbled himself for us Can't we be humble for God then in? Jude Jude chapter 1 look at verse number 16 And before I explain this verse let me just say that the book of Jude in 2nd Peter chapter 2 are parallel chapters in the Bible and Probably the reason why that this pretty much the exact same chapters in there is because it's a really important chapter So the Bible mentions it twice and also because the wording is a tad bit different so you can kind of learn things if you compare 2nd Peter 2 and Jude. The Bible always says compare spiritual things with spiritual. That's how we learn Well in Jude chapter 1 verse 16 Notice what it says here. It says these are murmurs complainers Walking after their own lusts. This is referencing someone who's an infiltrator someone who's a really evil bad person Paul warned us that they would be among us The Bible says there's going to be evil people walking among us and they're going to be people that are What the attributes of these people that are bad people? Children of the devil sons of Bela which the Bible talks about over and over again It says they murmur they complain and they walk after their own lusts now these three things are all negative things Murmuring complaining walking after your own lusts. Those are very negative things But I want you to notice look down at Jude 1 16 so you can understand this This can be a bit of a tricky verse, but I'll show you how this relates to this sermon There's a semicolon after the word lusts, okay After this semicolon we are still talking about the same group of people But what we're talking about is a little bit different it says and their mouth speaketh great swelling words Having men's persons and admiration because of advantage So the Bible says their mouth speaketh great swelling words these swelling words are not negative words See murmuring complaining walking after your own lusts those are negative things swelling words are not negative things They're positive things you say well Why would these false prophets these bad people that are pretending to be like us? Why would they be telling us? Positive things speaking great swelling words saying positive things well they have men's persons and admiration because of advantage They speak positive things to people because they want to get people to like them and so they can take advantage of them So they speak great swelling words an example would be like if somebody preached a sermon and they got done And then the person said wow that was the greatest sermon I've ever heard in my life It was so much better than everybody else and they say things that are just way Over the top to try to fill that person full of pride see the devil knows that if he can fill people full of pride They will be destroyed and one of the big Characteristics of false prophets that come into churches is they act just like us, and they're extremely friendly You know I know people that have had you know sodomites in their family and worked with sodomites And they they didn't have the same views about that topic as I do and they would say man I really disagree with their lifestyle, but they are the nicest people I've ever met in my entire life Why are they so nice see in their heart? They're not nice in their heart the Bible says they hate God But they want to get people to like them to take advantage and the whole world is fooled by this The whole world thinks we're crazy because they don't believe the Bible They think these people are just really really nice people and the Bible says they're not they're evil wicked people and false prophets people that are infiltrators They want to fill people full of pride because they know they'll be destroyed They will be overly friendly, and I'll be honest with you sometimes when people give me compliments I always appreciate I say thank you, but sometimes when it's over the top I'm just thinking there's a big red flag in my mind about this person because they are going way overboard I've been at a church before where there is a group of people a family that were the nicest people Everybody said that when they visited the church they ended up being church splitters. They were telling all these people they got their information They got their phone number They would call them and tell them what's wrong with the church During the week then and lots of people quit coming to church because of this family that everybody would have said is the nicest Family that there's they bought gifts for everybody they were so nice They were so friendly, but in their heart they had a goal to destroy that church, and they were successful They got a lot of people to leave and I'm not saying we should go around questioning people or doubting people But what I am saying is that if somebody is giving you all kinds of compliments all the time and Flattering you which the Bible speaks very much against be careful They might be sincere But they might have ulterior motives and we need to be careful about that They might have a goal to fill you full of pride and get you to trust them So they can destroy you the Bible warns about it their mouth speaketh great Swelling words having men's persons and admiration because of advantage they want to take advantage of people They want to destroy churches. There are people like that out there the vast majority of us aren't people like that Hopefully nobody's like that in this room And so it's hard for us to imagine why someone would be so evil But there are people like that that are going to try to fill you full of pride Turn to first Samuel chapter 9 for Samuel 9 After this sermon everybody's gonna make it a point to not say anything nice about my sermon just cuz I go brother stuck He's gonna question me if I compliment him And I'll be honest with you, you know Usually you can tell at least I feel like I can tell when someone's being sincere Versus when they're being phony, you know, and I do appreciate when people give me sincere compliments, but let me just say this that For example, I believe we have a great pastor. This is a great church You know, we have a great man of God at this church a Verity Baptist Church We're very blessed to have him and if you're visiting with us today He does not miss church very much this I think only a couple Sundays ever, you know we started that church plan in Vancouver, but he really cares about the people at this church and Sometimes he preaches sermons that I think are great that I learn a ton from But honestly, even if I compliment him even if I say, you know, I learned I you know I hadn't thought of that before I'm very careful not to give him too much of a compliment Because even if it's sincere even if I mean it I could still accidentally fill him full of pride the Bible do a word study On flattery, I don't have time to do that tonight, but the Bible speaks very very much against flattery It's great to tell someone hey good job I appreciate that it edified me but we need to be careful not to do a disservice to people by going over the top Even if you mean it you could be doing harm to that person and not good without realizing that so we need to be careful About that, but I want to show you this because we're gonna look at one last character in the Bible We're gonna look at King Saul and King Saul was a very interesting character. He is actually my favorite character in the Bible He's my favorite one to read about I'm not saying I think he was the best guy in the Bible But I think his stories are more interesting than any other character in first Samuel chapter 9 verse 21 We're gonna see the introduction of King Saul first Samuel chapter 9 verse 21 It says in first Samuel 9 21 and Saul answered and said am not I a Benjamite of the smallest of the tribes of Israel and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin Wherefore then speakest thou so to me here Samuel is speaking to Saul and Saul saying I'm of the smallest of the tribes of Israel Now he's being very quite literal there because the Benjamites were the smallest of the twelve tribes because if you remember in Judges chapter 19 when the one of the two major stories on Sodomites in the Bible how they raped and they killed that woman how she was murdered and how her husband you know took her body parts and put them throughout the entire nation and Basically the Benjamites were defending this wicked sin and eventually God's people they battled them and then they killed most of them and so Benjamin was actually the smallest of the twelve tribes because of what we see in Judges 19 probably the most disturbing chapter in the entire Bible But he also says my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin Wherefore then speakest thou so to me he doesn't even feel worthy to be spoken to by the Prophet Samuel Turn to first Samuel 10 first Samuel 10 And this is at the very beginning of King Saul's life He was actually an extremely humble person when we first see him in the Bible first Samuel chapter 10 notice when they're promoting him to Be the king says in verse number 20 and when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near the tribe of Benjamin Was taken when he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families The family of Matri was taken and saw the son of Kish was taken and when they saw him he could not be found Therefore they inquired of the Lord further if the man should yet come thither and the Lord answered behold yet Hit himself among the stuff so you see here that this is Saul's opportunity to be promoted and look at what he's doing He's hiding. He doesn't want to be seen He's not looking to be promoted now honestly most of us if we got were promoted to be the king We'd probably be jumping up and down say hey take pictures. Take the selfie, whatever, you know, I want to be seen I want to be known that is not Saul though. Saul was an extremely humble person when he started He was little in his own eyes, you know, he thought of himself very lowly in verse 23 it says and they ran and fetched and thence and when he stood among the people he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward and Samuel said to all the people see He him whom the Lord hath chosen that there is none like him among all the people and all the people shouted and said God Saved the king. So King Saul is promoted to being king and he's embarrassed about it. He's very humble turned to first Samuel 15 1st Samuel 15 We're gonna see that a lot changes in a few chapters But while you're turning to 1st Samuel 15, let me just read you a couple verses from 1st Timothy 1st Timothy 3 1 the Bible says this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop He desireth a good work that's talking about being a pastor if you go five verses later It talks about the same person. It says not a novice less being lifted up with pride He fall into the condemnation of the devil you see people wonder why we're not starting all these churches in our movement right now Honestly, there's a bunch of novices people that are not ready to start churches if they started a church They would be lifted up full of pride and the church would end up not working out You know, the Bible says not a novice left less being lifted up with pride He fall into the condemnation of the devil and so us that want to be pastors We better make sure we know the Bible pretty well We better make sure that we are clothed with humility that we don't we don't go around Bragging and being really proud about who we are We better make sure we know the Bible well That we've memorized the Bible that we have an active prayer life that we go soul winning that we're doing our best to bring visitors To church and caring for people and praying about them because if that's not part of our life We're probably going to be lifted up full of pride if we became pastors and it would destroy us There's a reason why that there's there's certain Qualifications that that our pastor has set for people being sent out because there's a lot of people that are novices and here's the sad Thing about someone who's a novice. They don't realize they're novice See the Bible says knowledge puffeth up when people first start learning new things. They usually get puffed full of pride knowledge puffed up but charity edify if and it's kind of interesting in our movement because so many things that are preached behind this pulpit are Contrary to what you ever hear and it's like, you know For example a lady will first learn about what the Bible says about clothing standards and oftentimes You'll see those same ladies going around telling everybody you need to quit wearing pants You need to do this and that and it's like they have no grace about that person and they don't realize This person is just not aware of what the Bible says They haven't heard this preaching and when we learn something new we have to understand this world is crazy And sadly they do not know they're crazy and if we say some of these things to them It's going to go right over their heads. We have to understand that this was been preached to us We've read it in the Bible and that's what's changed our life We need to be be very graceful with people and realize that when people first come come to church They're probably not going to come with a suit and a tie Sunday morning Sunday night Wednesday night soul-winning Saturday Soul-winning Thursday just always talking about the Lord reading the Bible, you know cover to cover several times during a year That is probably not what someone's going to be like when they first visit this church That's the reason why you need a church That's going to preach hard and edify you and encourage you to grow if I didn't have a church like this I wouldn't be doing that much for the Lord We need a church like this where the Word of God is being preached and we need to be very slow When we learn new things to understand other people might not know those things yet. It's not that they're bad people It's not that they're even rejecting the Word of God. They just literally do not know what the Bible teaches about various topics You're in 1st Samuel 15, but I want to tell you a story real quickly And I'm gonna do my best not to name this person's name but I Think a few of you probably know who I'm talking about a friend of mine Myself and a couple friends of mine. We went to visit a church a long time ago This is probably like nine ten years ago, and we visited this church That was several hours away and the pastor was very famous IFB King James only pastor, you know someone who had done a lot of things for God He has tons of sermons online that people listen to And we visited his church for the first time and we went in and there's four different people before the service started that stopped And talked to us Every single one of those people I'm not exaggerating this every single one said man Have you heard our pastor preach before he is so great. He's like the greatest pastor sermons are awesome His sermons are online every single one of the people that stopped to talk to us said that now That's kind of that was kind of weird to me It's like, you know, I'm coming to visit a church and you're stopping to say man our pastor is so great Nobody asked us whether or not we were saved, but they just said man our pastor is great Have you heard him preach before I hope nobody does that if somebody visits this church Please don't go around and tell people man. Our pastor is so great And it's just really weird if you do that, but four different people stopped and told us that well I was looking around before the service started and this church had a balcony It was a really big church and I was looking around and all of a sudden I noticed that I started clapping And all of a sudden I'm wondering why am I clapping? Everybody in the auditorium was actually clapping as well. This was a normal Sunday morning service and I asked my friend Why are we clapping? He said well the pastor just came in. So apparently Every single service that the pastor came in everybody just gives them a big applause I mean, this isn't like the Red Hot Preaching Conference. This was just a normal service and everybody's just clapping him I mean talk about a place that's filling you full of pride when everybody basically is worshiping you like you're you're a king I mean, this is a very famous IFB pastor it's kind of interesting because I've talked to a few other people that know this pastor and they have similar stories in different ways of Him being a very prideful person talking to him one-on-one that he was just very much lifted up full of pride He was an arrogant person I was thinking about this just a couple weeks ago when I was preparing this sermon because this is a pastor I've listened to his sermons online before you know, I've enjoyed some of his sermons. He had an ability to preach I actually believe that when he started he was probably a very very humble person when I was preparing this sermon I thought about this and that's why I'm talking about this because King Saul is an extremely humble person This man was used by God to some degree. I mean he was getting big opportunities to preach He did a lot of good things for God, but he became at some point in his life He became lifted up full of pride. I haven't talked to the guy in years. I hope he's not now I'm not naming the name But I'm just saying that this is a very big concern that even people that are pastors Even the people that are men of God and actually doing something for God They can start off humble and being lifted up full of pride now I don't know whether he encouraged that culture at his church or whether or not I really don't know You know, it was very weird to just start clapping every single time the pastor, you know walk They had a back entrance for him You know It's not he was walking you like normal people all the sudden like they're waiting for him to come in the back entrance and all He's there it's so exciting. I was just really really weird some point of his life though I believe he went from being very humble to being very lifted up full of pride So, you know no matter who you are in this room It doesn't matter how humble you are You have the ability to possibly be lifted up full of pride It could happen to any of us and honestly if you think you're really humble There's probably a good chance you're not, you know, just to be honest, but any one of us in this room No matter how humble we are We have the ability to be lifted up full of pride, especially once we start learning new things The Bible says knowledge puffeth up and honestly, you know, a lot of people in here probably aren't on Facebook But you see people that are kind of new to this movement They listen to sermons and you just tell by what they're saying to people that they're just they're they're arrogant They're learning a lot of new things, but they have no charity. They have no love. They're just lifted up full of pride They're arrogant and sadly, you know when we get filled full of pride, we don't really realize that That's another reason why it's good to have good friends to help bring you down say hey, you know I've noticed you're just really conceited right now, you know, we need to change this but look at first Samuel chapter 15 Look at verse number 17 This is after Saul is messed up He sinned and then it says in verse 17 and Samuel said when thou was little in thine own sight Was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel and the Lord anointed the king over Israel See Samuel says you were little in your own sight basically saying you were humble and because you were humble You were promoted to being the king if he was not humble He would have never become the king, but he was little in his own sight then in verse 18 It says and the Lord sent thee on a journey and said go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites and fight against them Until they be consumed wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord But didst fly upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the Lord and drop down to verse number 30 Notice in verse number 30, you know, Saul's basically pleading his case saying oh, hey, I didn't do anything wrong But then notice in verse 30, he finally sort of admits that he sinned it says then he said I have sinned Yet honor me now I pray thee before the elders of my people and before Israel and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord thy God See he admits he sinned but he says honor me in front of the elders He's like make me look good in front of everybody else. He doesn't want to be brought low. He doesn't want to be humble He is still worried about looking good in the sight of everybody else It's interesting that when he started he didn't even want to be seen. He had no interest in anybody seeing him He was very shy. He was very humble. But now look at this. He wants to be honored in front of all of the elders He has been filled full of pride and if you know the story of of King Saul It destroyed his entire life because one thing because he got lifted full of pride Turn to James chapter 4 James chapter 4 we're gonna close in James chapter 4 While you're turning to James chapter 4 Let me just read you were in the Bible says in 1st John 2 verse 15 and 16 Love not the world neither the things that are in the world If any man loved 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 you look at these celebrities that are on TV They're lifted full of pride every single one of them these musicians These these people you see on TV You're the movie stars that you love to watch these people are Arrogant people lifted full of pride if you met them in real life. They probably wouldn't even shake your hand They'd probably be more likely to spit on you than shake your hand. They don't care about you. They don't care about you whatsoever They're arrogant prideful people. Most of them hate the Lord. I mean look at these people in Hollywood these musicians They mock God throughout all their songs and see that's the thing. This world is gonna lift people up There's a pride of life that the Bible talks about and you know what if you allow your kids to watch these people on TV Watch these movies and listen to this music You're gonna have kids that are gonna be very arrogant people That aren't gonna listen to anything you have to say if you let them watch TV and listen to them this music That's what we see in this world. I it's shocking to me in the last several years How when you give the gospel to 12 year olds how some of them will mock Jesus Christ in front of you? That did not happen several years ago But you'll see them blaspheme our Savior in front of you when you're trying to give them the gospel It used to be that kids were respectful in this last 10 years. There's been a huge change I used to give the gospel to kids that were 10 12 14 years old. They never mock God I don't know what they're listening to or what they're watching on TV But it's obviously coming from the rap and the rock and the pop and the movies and the TV shows that they're seeing that mocking God now is something that's funny It is not funny to mock God and let me tell you something God is not happy when he sees these people lift it up full of pride and yet God's people worship these movie stars God's people watch the same movies They listen to the same music and God's people act almost exactly like everybody else in the world That ought not to be you need to renew your mind in the Word of God We need to renew our minds be here for all the church services read the Bible because if we get around this world We're going to become crazy just like them if you watch the same things you're going to end up Exactly like them and you're going to be lifted up full of pride Just like them and remember when you get lifted up full of pride You're going to develop really bad friends in your life people aren't going to want to be around you You're not going to have real friends if you get lifted up full of pride like these Hollywood stars Do you really think that these Hollywood stars have real friends in their lives? Let's say they really did fall on hard times and lost all their money Do you think anybody would be there for them? Do you think anybody would care about them? Nobody would they don't have real friends? James chapter 4 James chapter 4 starting at verse number 6 James 4 Bobberees, 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 will flee from you draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you Cleanse your hands he sinners and purify your heart see double-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turn to morning and your joy to heaviness Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up See this is taught throughout the entire Bible Old Testament New Testament I mean, it's throughout the entire Bible to this concept that the way up is down That's what we see in James 4 10 humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up My goal from this sermon is really just to help you remember this one phrase and and and hopefully it will help change your life When you think about this and that's this the way up is down. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father Thank you for allowing us to be here in the house of God this morning. I ask you to Bless brother Alice. He's leading the song and help us to remember this this this sermon and apply these things to our lives We pray all for all these things in Jesus name. Amen