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Alright, we're here in Isaiah chapter 14, and we're going to finish up our series on worldliness. And you don't have to turn there, but in 1 John chapter 2, the last thing that was mentioned was the pride of life. We talked about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the ears, the lust of the eyes. And now we're going to talk about the pride of life, and in Isaiah chapter 14, we see a great section that kind of explains to us what the pride of life is. We see this with the devil, okay? Now notice what it says in verse 13, where it says, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. Now look, a throne indicates something that's very valuable. Don't kings sit in thrones? A throne is something where if you get, I mean, I sit in chairs every day, but I've never sat in a throne, okay? Maybe I'll become famous one day and get to sit in my own throne. But when Satan says, I will exalt my throne, he's basically saying, I'm going to be the king. I'm going to be the top dog. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation. The mount means the top. He says, I'm going to be the top dog in the sides of the north. And the first point with a pride of life is this, what is the pride of life? Well, life teaches you that success is money, fame, and power. The Bible teaches you success is serving God, okay? These are very contrary to one another. Now you could have a job and make good money, and there's nothing wrong or sinful about that, but look, if you do not make a lot of money, that does not make you a failure at life, because success is based on are you serving God, okay? Turn to Luke chapter 12, Luke 12. Now part of the Bible teaches us that especially as men that are husbands, we need to provide for our families. The Bible teaches us not to be lazy. So I'm not saying that you can sit around and not do anything, and then that makes you spiritual or whatever because you're reading the Bible. No, but here's the thing, money, fame, success in this world, that does not make you something special, okay? That's what life will teach you. Your goal is to become very successful at your job and make a lot of money. The Bible teaches that success is serving God. Luke chapter 12 verse 15, and he said on to them, take heed and be aware of covetousness, for a man's life consisted not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. I've heard it said before that the things that you own end up owning you. The things you possess end up possessing or controlling or owning you. And that's the truth, okay? I mean, if you have a lot of possessions, you got to take care of those possessions. I mean, if you had all the money in the world to buy a big house, nothing sinful or wrong about that, but you got to keep that house up to date. You got to make sure it's cleaned, you got to make sure all those possessions are okay. The things you have in life, they end up owning you, okay? That's a true statement. And look, your life is not about the abundance of the things that you possess or that you own. And he spake a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully, and he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. This is a big problem. You have too much stuff is what he's saying. He's like, what am I going to do? I bought all this stuff and I have nowhere to put it. It's like, yeah, just don't buy or own all that stuff. Just get rid of it. If you can't have a place for it. Verse 18, and he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto them, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou has provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. And see the Bible speaks about that you can basically get a lot of stuff in this life. You can work a job and make a lot of money, go on all these nice vacations, have all these possessions. And then one day you're going to die and it's like, what's the purpose? You're not bringing those possessions to the next world with you. Okay. I'm not preaching it's a sin to have possessions. I'm not preaching it's a sin to go on vacation because the Bible doesn't say that. But what I'm saying is if that is what your life is about, you're going to be very disappointed one day. When you die, you're going to realize you wasted your life on things that really don't matter. Turn to Luke 16. Luke 16. You know, before I moved to Verity Baptist Church, I was at a job where I was in the actuarial field and I was kind of more at the beginning stages and you might not know what an actuary is and most people don't, but it's a very lucrative, very good paying career. I was in the beginning stages, so I wasn't rolling in the bank by any means. You know, God provided, but here's the thing, if I decided to stay down that career course and just stay in the actuarial field and move to a big city, you know what, I would have probably made quite a lot of money. But is that what my life is about? I mean, is my life about just trying to make as much money as I can and just say, you know, well, I'll just kind of go to church when I can or go to some city where there is no good church and just somehow I'll serve God. Look, that's not going to work out. It's like your life is not about making money. And look, there's people in this room that you do have good jobs and you do make good money. Don't allow your job to stop you from serving God though. And many people in this world, many Christians, they live their lives for money and they think that's what life is about. In reality, that's the pride of life. Because the reason why you like to have a lot of possessions is so people can see it usually. Isn't that true? I mean, people are perfectly satisfied. They have their needs provided. But wait a minute, my neighbor has more than me. So I want to have as much as them. Okay. You know, somebody could be a very rich person in this world, but if their next door neighbor has a nicer car than them, they're not satisfied. That's the way it is. Like, why would you be upset when you have everything? A great example is Haman in the Bible. He was the second most powerful man in the world. But one person doesn't bow down and worship him. He's like, it's not enough. People are not satisfied. And look, if you live your life for possessions and money and fame and things such as that, the pride of life, you're going to end up being disappointed. You're never going to be satisfied. Luke 16 verse 13, no servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. Okay. You say, what is mammon referring to? Okay. This is not food. This is not bread. Okay. Mammon here is referring to money. Okay. So what it's saying is you can't serve God and money. It does not say you can't serve God and the devil. It doesn't say you can't serve God and, you know, live a sinful life or whatever. It says you cannot serve God and money and mammon. Okay. It's kind of interesting how it compares those two ideas. And the reality I've seen in life is that quite honestly, money is something that prevents people from ending up living for God. Okay. I know a lot of people in the U.S. that they're in a terrible situation with their church. They don't have a good church to go to. But because of money, that's the reason why they don't move, to go to a good church. And look, people in this room have moved. Like I moved to go to good churches in my past, you know, Brother Matthias moved from another country to come to our church. And it's like, look, when you do that sort of move, let me explain something to you. Actually, there's a little bit of fear when you do that. Because you cannot guarantee on the other side you're going to get a nice job. You're just like, I'm trusting in God. It's somehow going to work itself out. Okay. And many people, they don't do that because they're living their lives for money. And let me tell you something. When your life is about money, it's the pride of life. Because God guarantees He's going to provide your needs. He guarantees He's going to provide your food. But people want a nice life. Not just a simple life. Turn to First Timothy 6. First Timothy, Chapter 6. Look, we need to have a balance on all topics. And I'm not saying that, especially if you're a husband and you have a family, that you can just go out and just say, whatever, I'll just let the government provide for me. I mean, in the US, with the welfare system, you don't have to work a day of your life. At all. And the government will give you money. Right? And Brother Jerry's nodding along. He's like, that's how it works in the US. I'm sure in many countries in Europe, Brother Mateus, the government will pay you to do nothing. Okay? Look, God commanded us to work and provide for our families. So if you want to be spiritual, you have to follow what the Bible says. So I'm not telling you, well, don't work at all and just serve God. Because part of serving God is providing for your family. But what I'm saying is, that's not all of serving God. If you're so busy that you never have time for church or soul winning or reading the Bible or even spending time with your family, there's an improper balance there. And it's the pride of life that's teaching you success is money and fame and power. A great example in my personal life of this is my sister. Okay? And I have one sibling. I have one sister, Isan Kapatidlong. And my sister, she is the smartest person in the world. Okay? And I'm not joking about this. This is my opinion. She skipped second grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade. She skipped three grades. When she was 13 years old, there's like a special program. And I don't remember if it was William and Mary College or Mary Baldwin College. But basically, they took like the 40 smartest girls in the country of the US, and they would get a scholarship. And she almost went to college when she was 13 years old. And so my parents decided she was a little bit too young. So she waited until she was 15. Okay? And she graduated one month after she turned 18. It's like, I went to college at 18. She graduated, you know, at a younger age than when I started college. Okay? And so my sister is very smart. And you know, people that knew my sister in our hometown we grew up in, because she grew up and she wanted to be a doctor when she was young. And my sister's got a photographic memory. She's a genius. She could have done whatever she wanted. And you know, she ended up becoming, she got married when she was a senior in college. And you know, she married, you know, a Christian man who's an engineer, and she became a stay at home mom. And my sister has, you know, nine kids, the 10th on the way here pretty soon. And she's a stay at home mom. And you know, a lot of people from that hometown said, you know, man, she really failed in life. Because she's a stay at home mom. Well, wait a minute. Doesn't the Bible say about moms staying home and guiding the house? And being a smart person, you can teach your kids and educate them. Look, I was homeschooled part of my life. And my mom is a very intelligent, educated person. And because of that, I learned very strong grammar skills at a young age. My sister's not a failure because she's teaching her kids at home and her husband's providing. In fact, it's pretty nice to have a family where he goes out, he provides for the family, and she's able to because they were smart with money to stay home. But you know, the world would teach you're a failure. Why? It's a pride of life. My sister knew what she wanted to do, and it worked for their family. And look, people would look at that and say, well, you failed because you're not making some money. You're not a CEO of some company. You're not a CEO of some Fortune 500 company or whatever. They say that's a failure. But wait a minute. According to the Bible, what is success? Is success lots of money? Being famous, being very powerful, or is success serving God? Serving God. Right? I mean, who is more successful in this life? Kim Jong-un or you? Now Kim Jong-un's got all the money in the world, right? Who's more successful? You or Donald Trump? Okay? Who's more successful? You or some leader out there. Look, if you're serving God, you're far more successful. Why? Because you can get all the money in the world in this life, and then it's over, and you wasted your life. First Timothy chapter six, verse eight. First Timothy chapter six, verse eight. And having food in raiment, let us be there with content. Okay? Content means happy. Okay? In Spanish, the word contento means happy. Okay? This is saying when you have food in raiment, you should be happy. Now look, everybody in this room is wearing clothes, which is raiment. And you're not dead, so you have food. Okay? Look, it doesn't mean you have the food that you want. It doesn't mean that you have as much as you want in life. But I want you to realize the eye is never satisfied. The eye is never satisfied with seeing, the ear is never satisfied with hearing. And you know, if you had just a little bit more money and a little bit better food, you'd want a little bit better after that. You're never going to be satisfied if you're living your life for the things of this world. Be happy with what God has provided. Not just be okay with it, no, be content, the Bible says, with food in raiment. But they that will be rich. Will be rich is basically someone who's living their life chasing after money. That's the goal of their life. I had a friend, he's kind of acquaintance, kind of a friend, someone I got saved in college and his goal in life before Donald Trump was a president, he said his goal was to become Donald Trump. Basically just ringing in the money and living the life of luxury. What a stupid goal. And I don't know what he's doing now. I haven't checked in on him on years, but it's like, what a stupid goal to say I just want to become rich and famous. What a dumb goal. They that will be rich, those that are chasing after money, fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. The Bible says if you're chasing after money that you will be rich. The Bible says you're going to fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts. It's going to hurt you. It's going to harm you. I can't tell you how many people that I've talked to in the US, people that are older and their kids are grown up and you hear them say, my son never has time to talk to me. My daughter never has time to talk to me. And the reason why is usually because those parents live their lives for money. They didn't care about their kids when they were young. And then when they had time for their kids, their kids don't have time for them. You know how hurtful that is for a parent? Do you know how much it would hurt me if little Zef, big Zef, right? If big Zef and I, 20 years from now, never had time to talk to me, never wanted to talk to me at all, never cared about me. And you know, here's the thing, I can guarantee based on what the Bible's promises is that if I basically live my life and try to provide for my kids and spend time with them, when they grow old, they're going to love me. They're not going to hate me. But you see kids that grow up and the parents didn't have time for them and those kids grow up and they despise and hate their parents. And the reason why is because in the back of the mind of those kids, those kids are saying when they're grown up, my parents cared more about money than they did about me. They love money more than me. That's a pretty foolish and hurtful lust that's going to happen to you when you get older, if you don't spend time with your kids. Look, obviously I need to provide for my kids. And you know, for me, a lot of my job, I work on my computer doing work for Verity Baptist Church, and we don't have a huge condo. And so my son is always trying to run into me and wrestle with me. And you know, sometimes I just have to work. I've got to get some work done. And sometimes I just got to tell him no, and then I just kind of close the door so I can work. And like the hurt on his face, okay? He's sad, he's like, I just want to spend time with daddy, okay? Now they don't understand that as adults, you can't just play all day long, okay? You have work that you need to do. But look, if every single day I just didn't have any time for my son, didn't have any time for my daughter or my wife, they're going to grow up and despise you, okay? And the reality is, bringing this to a spiritual level, if you're a husband that never has time for your wife or your kids, because you're serving God, do you realize that you're going to cause your wife to hate God? You're going to cause your wife to despise God because of the fact it's God that's separating you from your family. You're going to cause your kids to despise God and not want to worship and go soul winning. Why? Because serving God is causing you not to have any time for them. We need a proper balance in our lives, okay? The Bible says you're going to fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts if you live your life for money. For the love of money is the root of all evil. So it does not say for money is the root of all evil. Money is not inherently sinful, okay? But the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Sorrow is deep sadness. Great sadness. And the Bible's saying that if you live your life for money, you're going to pierce yourself. Imagine having a sword, this is the image, and you're piercing yourself through with many sorrows. It's like stabbing yourself with a sword. And the Bible's saying that if you live your life for money, it's like stabbing yourself. You're piercing yourself through with many sorrows. And you're going to end up regretting it one day. You're not going to be happy with doing that. Turn to 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 3. Look, this is something I preach on a lot when it comes to money, because it just appears in the Bible a lot. And I know being a husband providing for a family that, you know what, I would look at my bank account all the time when I was in California and you're just paranoid about having enough money and everything, and it's one of the great stresses in life, basically, that God's going to provide your needs. Now, God promised He's going to provide our needs, but it's hard to have that faith sometimes, isn't it? Sometimes you're kind of wondering. Right now, people here in the Philippines and people around the world are scared. People are wondering, where is my food going to come from? Is my business going to even work after this lockdown's over? Once the coronavirus is over, is it going to even work now? Now, we know God said I'm going to provide your needs, but it's hard to have that kind of strong faith. So we need to hear this preached a lot because money is, I've said this before in sermons, that if there was one thing that was going to cause me to quit living for God, in the back of my mind, I felt like it was money because money will stress you out in life, especially as a husband providing for your family. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 18. 1 Corinthians chapter three, verse 18. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. The world teaches you that basically power and money and fame and having a throne and being in the mount of the congregation, that is success. And you know what, that's the foolish attitude. What the Bible teaches is success is serving God. Let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. We're talking about worldliness, right? The series on worldliness and the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain. Turn to 1 Corinthians three. 1 Corinthians three. See, life teaches you money, fame and power makes you successful. And we're talking about the pride of life. And when people have a good job, it makes them prideful. When people have a lot of money, it makes them prideful. When people have a lot of worldly success, it makes them very prideful. The pride of life. One thing the pride of life is is simply this, having worldly success as opposed to serving God, okay? Now, one side point I wanna talk about is this when it comes to serving God. The Bible speaks about how we get rewards in heaven, okay? Because success is based on serving God. So let's see what is success according to the Bible. If you get more rewards in heaven, you're more successful, right? I mean, if you get a thousand rewards in heaven versus 500, you're basically twice as successful in this life, okay? 1 Corinthians three verse 10. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay, then that is lay which is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way to heaven. He is the foundation. Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Now, here in 1 Corinthians chapter three, it's referring to believers. Unbelievers go to what's called the great white throne judgment that the book of Revelation talks about. But in 1 Corinthians three, it talks about getting rewards. Us as saved people, we will never have to pay for our sins or get embarrassed for our sins. There is no purgatory. There is no 1,000 years in sort of temporary hell if you're not good enough. No, as believers, we get rewards, but God's not gonna show up all of our sins that we ever committed because they're as cast as far as the east is from the west, okay? And you have to understand, the east is never gonna meet west. If you start going east on a circular globe, okay, it's never gonna start going west. You're still going east, still going east, okay? And so our sins are not gonna be shown. When it talks about your work being made manifest, it's talking about did you do any good works for God? Is it gonna last in the fire? Gold, silver, and precious stones, that lasts through the fire. Look, when silver is refined, there's a process to basically burn off all the dross, and there's a long process with that, but silver will last through the fire. Does wood last through a really strong fire? It's gonna be burned up. Does hay last through a really strong fire? It's gonna be burned up. Gold, silver, and precious stones, they last through the fire. Wood, hay, stubble, they get burned up, okay? If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. So it's very clear in verse 15, the man is still gonna be saved, okay? People try to go to 1 Corinthians 3, verse 15, and say, man, he barely made it to heaven. No, I mean, he was saved. You're saved or lost. There's no like, I did enough good works. No, you're saved or lost. But he also lost all of his rewards because they're burned up, okay? And look, Christians that live their lives for money, they're not gonna have a lot of good works to show. They're not doing much for God. They're not gonna get a lot of rewards, and they have no real success in this life based on God's standards. That does not mean they're not saved, though. It just means they didn't really do anything for God. Now go back to verse eight, verse eight. Now you say, what is a reward? Because I'm saying you get rewards for the good things you do. Well, I mean, a reward is basically, if you do something good, there's something positive that comes back. Now you have to understand that when we receive eternal life, it is a gift. It means you don't have to pay God back for that gift, okay? Look, if God bought you eternal life and salvation, and you get saved, you received a gift. When you receive a gift from someone, you don't have to give any money in return. Because a gift means, wolang kapelit, right? No payment, wolang bayad, no payment, no money whatsoever. So look, when you receive the gift of eternal life, you don't have to pay God back for it. Every good work you do, you get rewards for that, because at salvation, you got a gift 100%. So any good things you do, God is gonna give you rewards. And the more rewards you get, the more successful you were. The less rewards, the less successful. Now, how do we get these rewards? Well, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 8 gives us a little bit of insight, but it says, now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Your labor is the work you do, and the work you do for God is gonna give you a reward as a saved person. This has nothing to do with salvation, because salvation is 100% based on did you believe. Those that go to hell, they get a bad reward, so to speak, for every sin they commit, okay? Every sin they do wrong, everything they do wrong, they're gonna suffer more in hell. Us as saved people, though, our sins are gone. So every good thing you do, you're gonna get a reward, the Bible says, if it lasts through the fire, okay? Now, here it says it's based on the labor you do, but I want you to understand, I cannot look at you here today and tell you, well, this is how many rewards you have. Brother Matthias has 417, Brother Ehrman has 519. It's like, you can't do that, okay? Now, you can say, well, it's purely based on how much soul-willing you do. Well, that's not true either, because we're in different stages in life, okay? And people do things for the wrong motive sometimes, and the Bible speaks about needing to do it for the right motive. So I cannot look at anybody in this room and say, I'm gonna get more rewards or less. Well, I'm preaching a sermon, so I get all the rewards. It doesn't work that way, because you have different roles you fulfill in a church, and look, if I don't fulfill my role as well as you do with your role, then you could get more rewards than me. It's based on the labor you do, okay? And look, at the end of the day, God's gonna be the one that determines that. We can't necessarily know who's gonna be the best Christian or not, and why do we care? And how good of a Christian somebody else is. We need to worry about ourselves, okay? Now turn in your Bible to Isaiah 14, Isaiah 14. You say, why is that an important thought? I mention that a lot, because there's this attitude here in the Philippines that if you're a pastor, you're more godly than the members. If you're a pastor, you get more rewards, because you're the pastor, okay? That's the attitude here in the Philippines, and it's not a biblical attitude. And it's like, obviously, I'm trying to serve God as much as I can. I'm reading the Bible, I'm memorizing the Bible, I'm soul winning, and aren't many people in this room doing the exact same thing? And so look, at the end of the day, God's gonna determine who gets what rewards, okay? I'm not in a competition with any of you. You shouldn't be in a competition with me or anybody else at this church. Look, we're all fighting our own spiritual battle, and let God to determine one day which works you did that lasted through the fire. And look, there's probably gonna be a lot of soul winners that see a lot of works burned up, because they had the wrong motives, and it's gonna surprise them. It's like, man, I went soul winning for like five hours every single week, and I lost all these rewards. Well, why did you go soul winning, though? What was your purpose? Was your purpose to get more saved than the other member of church? You might lose your rewards then, okay? Let's worry about our own race. But our success in this life is not based on money and power and fame. It's based on how many rewards do you get in heaven one day? And look, we don't know how many we get, so we just serve God as much as we can, and one day we're gonna find out, okay? So the first point of the pride of life is this. Life teaches you success is money, fame, and power. The Bible teaches you success is serving God. Secondly, life teaches you the way up is up, and the Bible teaches you the way up is down. You say, well, that doesn't make any sense, Brother Stuckey. Life teaches you the way up is up. The Bible teaches you the way up is down. Well, let me prove that to you from the Bible. Isaiah 14, verse 13. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. Ascend basically means go up on your own power. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. He's lifting himself up. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north, so the top of the congregation. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. Hey, that works really well if the way up is up. The problem is the way up is actually down, and the way down is actually up. The devil lifts himself up, but what happens? He's gonna fall down and be in hell one day. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. This is something taught throughout the entire Bible that the way up is down. The way up is down. I mean, who's the most humble person who ever existed? Not a trick question. Jesus Christ, right? Not a trick question, guys. Who is gonna be exalted more than anyone who's ever lived? Jesus Christ. Who was the most arrogant person who ever lived? The devil. Who's gonna suffer in hell more than anyone? The devil. He exalted himself more than anybody, and he's gonna suffer in hell more than anybody. Jesus humbled himself more than anybody, and guess what? He'll be exalted more than anybody. See, the more you humble yourself, the more you're gonna be exalted. The more you exalt yourself, the more you're gonna humble yourself. And look, if I fall from this high in the air and hit the ground, it's not gonna hurt me that much, okay? But what if I fall from 50 feet in the air and hit the ground? It's gonna hurt a lot more, right? I mean, you accelerate, it's been a while, what? 9.8 meters per second squared, I believe it is. And so look, if you jump out of a plane without a parachute, okay, it's gonna hurt a lot more. I guess you'll just be dead. It might not hurt. Instant death. But look, you know, the higher you are, the more you fall, the more it's gonna hurt. And so the more you exalt yourself, the more you're gonna fall and be humble. Okay, this is what the Bible teaches. First Corinthians, 1 Kings 1, verse five. First Kings 1, verse five. Then Adonijah, the son of Hagath, exalted himself, meaning lifting himself up, saying, I will be king. And he prepared him chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. And so Adonijah, which is the son of David, he exalts himself, he lifts himself up, he says, I'm gonna be king. It's funny, I don't remember Adonijah ever becoming the king in the Bible. Did you guys read that? I mean, unless I missed it, where's the chapter that says he actually became the king? Didn't happen. He exalted himself up to become the king, and guess what? And look, he should have learned from his father. Because if you remember when David became king, weren't all the brothers there when a king's being selected? Everyone was there. Why? They wanted to become the king. Was David there? No, he was just taking care of the sheep, being a humble, hardworking person. And guess what? He humbled himself and he got exalted. Why? Because the way up is down, and the way down is up. And Adonijah exalted himself. And it's funny, I don't remember Solomon really fighting hard to become the king. Didn't it just kind of happen? I mean, he didn't exalt himself, God exalted him. David exalted him, okay? God exalted him through David to put him in that position. Adonijah exalts himself, he gets humbled. Turn to Daniel four, Daniel chapter four. Another great example is Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar's an interesting man in the Bible because I believe Nebuchadnezzar got saved, okay? But before he got saved, boy, was he an arrogant, cocky, confident individual. And you know what? What you see with the pride of life is oftentimes when people have success in this life, they're very arrogant. Look, when I think of a word to describe Donald Trump, the first word that comes to my mind is arrogant, prideful. I mean, he is an arrogant person. He's like, man, he's like, I probably know more about airplanes than anybody else. I probably know more about basketball than Michael Jordan. I probably know more about dancing than professional dance or whatever. It's like, what in the world? Every single topic he's like, it's funny, there's like a video clip, it's five minutes long, of him going on topic after topic saying, I probably know more about this than anybody. And just thing after thing after thing, there's a video online where somebody kind of asks him about spiritual things and God. And they say, do you ask God for forgiveness? And then all of a sudden, Donald Trump says, well, he's like, no, he's like, I feel like if you ask for forgiveness, it's like you're admitting that you're wrong and that you can't do better and I don't like to do that. And when he says that, the crowd starts laughing because they think he's joking. And then all of a sudden you realize like 30 seconds later as he gives more, he wasn't joking. It's like you don't even humble yourself to say, God, I'm sorry, like when you do something wrong, it's like, wow, what an arrogant person. I'm not saying I like the Democrats or I like those candidates like Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders or whatever. But look, Donald Trump, he is a very arrogant, pompous individual. And you know what, it kind of makes sense because he was someone at a young age. His dad was rich. He inherited all of his money. He didn't make that money from ground up. He was born rich as could be, okay? And when you have a lot of success in this life and from a young age, you're taught you're something special and everybody worships the grounds you walk on. And every time you stay at a hotel, you get like the nicest hotel that costs a thousand dollars a night because you're something special and you have all the money in the world, it will cause you to be arrogant. Quite honestly, having less money in this life can actually be a good thing, especially when you're trying to serve God, okay? But in Daniel four, we see Nebuchadnezzar, which is pretty similar. Verse 30, the king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? Nebuchadnezzar says, I have built great Babylon, okay? Not that God put him in a position so he could have power and be successful. No, he says, I built Babylon. That's the reason why I have this golden image where you're gonna worship me. I've got the image set up. I expect you to worship me because I built Babylon. I'm something special. Then it says this in verse 31, while the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, oh, King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. Why is God able to take the kingdom from Nebuchadnezzar? Because of the fact God's the one who gave it to him to begin with. And look, when God gives you an opportunity in life for success and you choose to be arrogant, it's gonna be taken from you. That's what we can learn as believers. Now, praise the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar's in heaven and he ends up getting saved. And look, I would love to have lunch with Nebuchadnezzar and just kind of ask him about his life, you know, like before he got saved and after, and I guess in heaven I will get to one day. But look, you know, he was a very arrogant man before he got saved. Turn to James 4, James 4. Look, this is a simple thought that the way up is down, but it's something that, I heard a sermon from an old IFB pastor a long time ago and the name of the sermon was The Way Up Is Down and I've never forgotten that. I was like, what a simple, amazing thought. And it's very scriptural throughout the Bible that if you wanna be successful in life, this is why you don't self-ordain yourself as a pastor. Because the way up is down, okay? You can't just say, well, I'm gonna exalt myself, I'm a pastor now. And there's a lot of people that do that now and they pretend to be pastors, but according to the Bible, you get ordained by somebody. Why? Because if the opportunity to become a pastor is you just declaring yourself a pastor, it will cause prideful, arrogant people to be in that position. That's the reality. And here's the truth about this. You know, when you're kind of younger in the faith, you feel like you're more ready than later on. I mean, like 10 years before I was asked to become the evangelist here, I felt like I'm ready to do this. I'm ready to run a church or whatever. Then all of a sudden, as time goes by, you realize you're less ready, okay? And see, God's system is a system that requires no pride. Getting saved, you've gotta humble yourself. You admit you're wrong and you learn about salvation from somebody else. Learning to become a soul winner, you learn from somebody else, okay? Getting ordained to be a pastor or evangelist or whatever, you get ordained by somebody else. Why? Because God is not a God of pride. He wants you to be humble in this life. You don't exalt yourself. James 4, verse 7. 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, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Notice this. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. Humble yourself and he shall lift you up. Exalt yourself and he shall humble you. This is throughout the Bible. I mean, you could preach a sermon series just on the way up is down. There's so many passages. The Publican and the Pharisee, okay? So many passages in the Bible. The Bible teaches that the way up is down. The world teaches, the pride of life teaches, the way up is up. So basically you exalt yourself at your company or whatever area of life and you think you're gonna be successful, the Bible teaches the opposite. The way up is down. Turn to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. In Isaiah 14, going back to verse 14, he said, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. I'm gonna be like God. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. The devil lifts himself up more than anybody and he's gonna be humbled more than anybody. He lifted himself up higher, he's gonna fall harder and he's gonna burn in hell worse than anyone. The devil does not own hell. The devil's not in hell with a pitchfork stabbing people. No, actually he's gonna burn in hell more than anyone according to the book of Revelation. He's gonna suffer along with a beast and the false prophet, the Bible says in Revelation, more than anyone because nobody was more evil, okay? And so he's not in hell, he doesn't own hell. You know who sends people to hell? God sends people to hell. Not the devil. God's the one who created hell, not the devil. Why? Because God is a loving God, but he's also a God of judgment. Holy, holy, holy, we're God Almighty, the Bible says. Isaiah chapter 14, the first point we have is this. Life teaches you that success is money and fame and power. The Bible teaches you success is serving God, getting rewards in heaven. Number two, life teaches you the way up is up. The Bible teaches you the way up is down. Lastly, life teaches you to compare yourself to other people. The Bible teaches you not to compare. Isaiah 14, notice verse 13, notice verse 14. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high, okay? Like is something where you're comparing. He's like, I'm gonna be like God. What is he doing? He's comparing himself to God, okay? Why? The pride of life teaches you to compare to one another. That's what it teaches you. Now turn to Luke 18, Luke 18. And you know what? This is something you see all the time. In all areas of life, people wanna compare themselves to other people. I mean, this kinda goes along with the first point because the reason why people want money and fame and nice things is because they're comparing themselves to their neighbors. Our neighbor gets to eat at this fancy restaurant, so I wanna do it too, okay? Our neighbor gets to go on a vacation, so I'm gonna go on it too. Our neighbor gets to do this. Our church mate gets to do this, so I'm gonna do the same thing. The problem is you're comparing yourself to other people. Luke 18, verse nine. Luke 18, verse nine. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. And so the Bible speaks about the same people that are trusting in their works, that they're righteous, that they're good enough to go to heaven. They also despise other people. They look down on other people. Why? I'm good enough to go to heaven, but not Brother so-and-so. That's what they're doing. They're comparing themselves and looking down. Look, the reason why I'm going to heaven one day is not because I'm a Baptist, okay? It's because I believed on Jesus. And that doesn't make me better than Catholics here that are believing in some false god and work salvation. They're trusting in their works because they don't know any better. That doesn't make us better than them. That means they need to hear the gospel, okay? Verse 10, two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a 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. Basically, God, thank you for making me such a great person. Man, I'm such a great person, God. Thank you, God, for just making me better than other people. I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. Now, it's kind of funny because the things he mentions, extortion, adultery, it's like, is that really quite an accomplishment that you're not an adulterer? It's like, man, I've never committed adultery. Good job. It's like, wow, that's really successful. I mean, have you ever lied before? It's like, you know, you haven't committed adultery, good job. You haven't committed extortion before. Extortion is basically you're stealing money from people by force. It's like, good job, you never held a gun to somebody's head and stole their wallet. Good job, you're such a great person. But you know what you see, people that are trusting in their works to get to heaven, the sins they commit are never sins that would prevent them from getting to heaven. It's only the sins that they don't commit, right? I mean, if they lie all the time and they get drunk all the time, well, that's okay because they've never murdered anybody. But you know, you could talk to murderers and they think they're going to heaven. It's like, yeah, you know, I killed someone, but you know, I felt bad about it. It's like, they always think that they're a good person. I mean, 99% of people in this world, they think they're a good person. They think they're righteous, okay? I've never committed adultery. Good job. It's like, I haven't either. I've never committed extortion. Well, good job. I've never stolen money by force from people either. It's like, you're such a great person, okay? I'm not an extortioner, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes onto heaven. He's not lifting his eyes up to heaven because he's almost embarrassed to kind of look up to God, is what it's saying. He's not even looking up to heaven. And I mean, when I pray, my head's down too. I guess this publican's just kind of, thank you, or thank you, God, this Pharisee, I mean. The Pharisee's like, thank you, God. I'm such a good person. I guess that's how he's praying. I'm not sure. He's like, he wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes onto heaven, but verse 13, but smote upon his breast. So basically he beats his chest, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man, referring to the publican, went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbledth himself shall be exalted. Kind of ties back to point number two we talked about. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2 Corinthians 10. But what was the Pharisee doing? He was comparing himself to the publican. So life teaches us not to compare. And look, this is in all areas of life. Even amongst Christians. Christians could compare themselves to other Christians and say, well, I go soul winning more than so-and-so. I don't understand why they only go once a week. It's like, I think that you should go twice a week. And they're comparing versus somebody else, okay? Or they say, man, I read the Bible more than Brother so-and-so. It's like, why do you care what other people are doing? I memorize the Bible more than so-and-so. Or our church gets more people saved than this other godly church. Why do you care about comparing your church to another church? You know, I have a lot of friends that are pastors from the US, people that you respect. And a lot of these people you've watched before. You've watched them preach. A lot of these people I know very well. They're friends of mine. Obviously, being at Verity Baptist Church, Pastor Jimenez is a friend of mine, okay? Pastor Jason Robinson, a lot of you know who that is. I roomed with him in college one year, okay? He's been one of my best friends for like half my life, okay? And there's a lot of other pastors that I'm friends with. And some I know more than others in the US that are great pastors. And look, they're all doing a great job living for God. And you could sit around and compare and say, well, and look, our church, before this lockdown, before people are scared of their own shadow here in the Philippines, we get a lot of people saved here because it's very receptive. That doesn't mean that our church is a better church than Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento. It doesn't mean we're a better church than Mountain Baptist Church in West Virginia. Why would we be comparing their church to our church? For one, we're not in the same position. And why are we comparing and saying, we care about what some other church is doing? This really makes me think about this during this whole lockdown situation because, quite honestly, people around the world and churches around the world are in different situations. We have our own situation here. And to the best of my ability and to the best of getting advice from Pastor Jimenez and praying about it, we're kind of making decisions week by week, okay? Now, some people could look at it and say, well, you guys are kind of watered down. You're not hardcore because you've had a couple live stream services only or you're not doing as much soul winning and everything. And it's just like, why are you comparing to what we're doing? We don't need to compare about some other church what they're doing. To the best of their ability, they're making the decisions they have to make, okay? There's no need to compare what we're doing here to any church in America or any other godly church around the world, okay? Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12. Second Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12. And here's the thing, when you compare yourself to somebody else, they're never fair comparisons. It's like you could say, man, yeah, I read the Bible more than so-and-so. It's like, yeah, but so-and-so is married with nine kids. It's like, and he works 80 hours a week. It's like, I hope, I hope you're reading the Bible more than so-and-so. It's like, whenever we do comparisons, they're never fair comparisons. They're always slanted comparisons made to look us better. Isn't that true? Whenever you're comparing, you're never looking at yourself and saying, man, you know, I'm not doing enough Bible reading. So-and-so is more, no, we always kind of look down on other people when you're comparing. That's why you don't compare at all, the Bible says. Verse 12, second Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12. For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. But they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. Okay? What he said here is when you compare yourself to somebody else, you're basically Bobo. You're dumb. You're stupid. You're not wise. It's foolish to compare yourself to somebody else. It's foolish to compare your church to another church. Okay? It's foolish to compare your marriage to somebody else's marriage. It's like, well, man, so-and-so, you know, their wife is so much more kind than you. It's like, why are you comparing yourself to some other marriage? Especially when you're only seeing the outside. Okay? Everybody's nice to their spouse in public. Everybody's always got a smile on their face in public. Okay? Why are you comparing yourself to some other situation? There's no need to compare. But then it says this, but we will not boast of things. Isn't boasting something that prideful people do? It's the opposite of being humble. And so we're talking about the pride of life. And what life teaches you is to compare yourself to somebody else. It's like, you know, you're trying to make more money, have a better job. It's comparing. And the Bible says, when you do that, you're boasting of things without our measure. But according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. See, the Bible's saying you can boast and compare yourself, but God's the one at the end of the day who really can determine this. We don't even know. And the main context is with saved people that are comparing themselves to other saved people. Look at me and look how much soul winning I do versus somebody else. Yeah, you're boasting. You've got the pride of life, my friend. And we'll see how many rewards you get in heaven because of the fact you get rewards based on having the right attitude, not just the work you do. You don't have to turn there, but in 1 Timothy 3 verse six, the Bible speaks about somebody ruling a church and it says, not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. The Bible says that if somebody basically becomes a pastor and they are a novice, meaning they don't have experience, they don't know the Bible well enough, it's very likely they will be lifted up with pride. That's what the Bible teaches. That's why here in the Philippines, when you get ordained with no kids and no times reading through the Bible, there's a problem. That's a novice. It means you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know what you're doing. I mean, if you've never read the Bible before cover to cover, how is that not being a novice? You don't know anything about the Bible. I mean, do you realize how many mistakes you would make preaching three sermons a week if you've never read the Bible cover to cover? Every pastor makes mistakes as it is anyway because you're up here preaching for three hours and sometimes you say things and you're like, oh man, I didn't think that through or I didn't give a proper example. But if you've never read the Bible cover to cover and then all of a sudden you get up here to preach sermons, you're gonna make so many mistakes. But being a novice is not just with your Bible knowledge but also experience in life. And the Bible says that if you don't have experience, you know what, you will be lifted up with pride. That's what we see here in the Philippines. You have a bunch of Baptist pastors that are lifted up with pride. Turn to Deuteronomy 17, Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy chapter 17. And look, I'll be honest with you in terms of me, like I'm not in any rush to be ordained as a pastor, okay? I'm perfectly happy to preach sermons and obviously that's something I've talked to Pastor Menes about and we'll talk to him about. But look, there's no need to rush yourself into that position because what we see in the Bible is that when you humble yourself, God will exalt you. The way up is down. There's something wrong with someone who just, they've gotta be ordained as a pastor. I've gotta be a pastor. And this is what you see in the Philippines with Baptist churches. These people that are young people, they're like 21 years old, they're not married but they just gotta be a pastor now. It's like why don't you just wait and do what the Bible says? It's like why do you feel the need that you've gotta have that position? The reason why is because they wanna compare themselves to somebody else. It's like look at me, you gotta call me pastor now. It's like you can't call me brother so and so. I demand to be called pastor, okay? Pastor so and so. You know why I don't go soul winning? Because I'm a pastor. I'm above soul winning. I mean that's the attitude. You know why I don't read the Bible? It's because I'm a pastor. I've reached a level that you haven't reached. You just don't understand. That's the, and you know, I'm a pastor so now I can commit adultery and I don't get disordained because God chose me and I'm already a pastor, okay? That's the attitude of Baptist churches here in the Philippines and that's not even an exaggeration. It's like you know, I can't remember. I think it was brother Marlon who told me. Maybe I'm misquoting but one pastor, pastor or whatever, I don't know, pastor or pastor but anyways, he had asked about how many times people had read through the Bible. It might have been somebody else at a church but he had never read through the Bible cover to cover and he admitted it with no shame. It's like how could you not be embarrassed? And look, every single person needs to read the Bible but look, if you're the one who's teaching then even more so you need to know what you're talking about, okay? If I never read the Bible, I never memorized the Bible, there'd be a problem there because what am I gonna teach you if I don't know anything, okay? Deuteronomy chapter 17. So we talked about the pride of life. The pride of life is this. Life teaches you success is money, fame and power. The Bible teaches you success is serving God. Life teaches you the way up is up. The Bible teaches you the way up is down. Now look, the Bible said basically become a fool that you may be wise and especially with that second point, the way up is down, that doesn't really make a lot of logical sense but you know, the Bible's not like a math problem like two plus two equals four, okay? The way up is down according to the Bible and you know, number three, life teaches you to compare to other people, the Bible teaches you not to compare. Well, how do you get rid of pride though? This is part of worldliness and I think if we're all honest, all of us from time to time will exhibit a little bit of pride in our lives, okay? I'm willing to admit that you know what, from time to time, you know what, I could get a little bit prideful with things. We tend to get prideful with things that we're good at or at least we think we're good at, okay? For me, if we were playing a soccer game, then I might exhibit a little bit of pride because it's something that I did all my life. So it's something that I feel like I'm good at. The things that we feel like we're good at, we could have a little bit of pride. It's a very bad thing though when we add this to the spiritual realm. It's like you come back from soul winning and it's like a competition, you wanna get more people saved than somebody else and it can become a problem because then you can end up having very shallow gospel presentations because you're trying to get a prayer rather than a conversion, okay? And so look, when it comes to pride, we need to make sure this is out of the spiritual life completely but notice what it says in Deuteronomy 17, how do we get rid of pride in our lives? What's one way? Deuteronomy 17 verse 18, and it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law and a book out of that which is before the priests of Levites. And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life. The Bible speaks about reading God's word every day, that he may learn to fear the Lord as God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them. Notice what it says in verse 20, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren. Basically being filled with pride, basically exalting yourself. The Bible says that if you read God's word, it will prevent you, it will stop you from being arrogant. Look, when you see Christians that are very prideful people, you can pretty much guarantee they don't read the Bible much or they haven't been reading the Bible much, that they're not having much of a personal walk with God because when you read the Bible, it humbles you like on every page. It's like if you feel like you're good, I mean, it's like the songs we sing in the hymnal, I wonder have I done my best for Jesus. Every time we sing that song, I'm like, I feel like it's such a guilty person. I'm like, no, I haven't. It's like I'm not even close to that. And you read the Bible and it says, the thought of foolishness is sin, makes you feel guilty. It's like, man, I think a lot of foolish thoughts. Or basically it talks about pray without ceasing and things in the Bible. The Bible will humble you, okay, when you read it. And when you see people that are very prideful, save people that are very prideful, it shows you, it teaches you that they don't read the Bible very much. Because the Bible says that if you read the Bible, your heart will not be lifted up above your brethren. And so look, to the best of your ability, you might try to hide your spiritual walk with God and how close you are. You're not gonna be able to hide that well in reality. I'd suggest all of us, including myself, we read the Bible because you know what, if you don't, based on the things that come out of your mouth, the things you talk about, the way you talk about things, it's gonna be pretty obvious to people whether or not you have much of a personal walk with God. We feel like we can hide it, but in reality, we're not gonna do that good of a job. The Bible says you will be lifted up in your heart above your brethren and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. That pride will come out, okay? That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. Now let me close with this thought from this series because what we just saw in Deuteronomy 17 is that your heart is not lifted up with pride and based on this whole series, you have to understand it's not you comparing yourself to somebody else, your walk with God to somebody else. When it comes to being a worldly person or having pride, you need to just look at your own personal life and you read something in the Bible and you're guilty or you need to take some sort of stand, just make that stand. Now what's funny is you see this sometimes in churches that somebody's kind of new to church and they kind of get on fire for God, they love the preaching and they make some changes. Let's say they get rid of all their rock music one day. Like two weeks later, they're like preaching to church members outside the pulpit and saying, if you listen to rock music, you're not right with God. It's like you were listening to Led Zeppelin a couple of weeks ago. It's like you just got rid of rock music and now you're preaching to other people. And look, one thing we should never do and something I don't do is I don't go outside the pulpit and basically preach sermons at you of changes you need to make in your life. I don't go and tell you you're doing this wrong and this wrong and this wrong. No, I preach what the Bible says and to the best of my ability, I apply this to my life and our family and to the best of your ability, you need to do the same thing. I don't go outside of the pulpit and tell you you're not right with God because of this. Why? Because it's done through the reading of God's word and through the preaching of God's word. And I don't basically leave the pulpit and just basically preach what I think to you because that's offensive, it's wrong and nobody in this church should. Why? Because worldliness is something you have to determine on the inside based on your life and your situation, not judge other people. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and I ask you to help us apply this sermon to our lives in this whole series. Help us not to be prideful people and this is something I believe we all struggle with from time to time. I know it's something that I could work on and I try to work on God, but help us all to try to be humble people and not exalt ourselves and not think we're something special, that we're just sinners saved by grace, trying to live for God, that mess up every single day, but your mercies are new every morning, God. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.