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A pomp is brought down to the grave in the noise of thy vials. The worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? But thou hast said in thine heart, 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 clouds. I'll be like the most high. Yet, thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, as the raiment of those that are slain thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under feet. Thou shall not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land and slain thy people. The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities. For I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the Lord. I will also make it a possession for the bitter, and in pools of water, and I will sweep it with the bosom of destruction, saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? In the year that King Ahaz died was this burden. Rejoice not thou, whole Palestine, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken, for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety, and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. Howl, O gate, cry, O city, thou whole Palestine are dissolved, for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. What shall one then answer of the messengers of the nation, that the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it? Let's pray. Dear Lord God, just thank you for this church and for our pastor. I just ask that you would be with him now. Please strengthen him and fill him with your Holy Spirit now as he preaches your word unto us. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. OK, we're in Isaiah chapter 14 this morning. And look down at your Bibles in verse number 12. It says, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast set in thine heart 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 clouds. I will be like the most high. Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. And the title of my sermon this morning is Main Character Syndrome. Main Character Syndrome. This is actually something that you'll see quite often on social media when it comes to people making their influencers or they're making content. Or I see this a lot in the gym, where people walk around like they're the main character. And you'll see this a lot on social media. Let me give you a definition from the internet of what main character syndrome is. Main character syndrome is defined by a series of behaviors in which you see yourself as the main character in the story of your life. You are the protagonist, and everyone else is often a sidekick or a villain. You often see yourself as the most important person in the room. And you act according to the narrative of your plot, however you define it. Main character energy is perhaps the more appropriate term for this set of behaviors. And with this kind of energy, you often present to the world as if a camera is on you at all times. Now you say, what is main character syndrome just in a nutshell? Pride. Arrogancy, pride, just a self-absorbed, self-centered individual. Now let me read to you from Romans chapter 12 and verse 3. The Bible says, for I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, listen to this, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. So what is this verse telling us? Well, it's telling us first and foremost that we do think highly of ourselves to a certain extent. And in fact, God, to a certain extent, expects us to kind of value ourselves to a certain degree. This is what we would commonly refer today as having dignity. And God wants us to value ourselves. He doesn't want us to just have this self-hate towards ourselves. He understands that no man ever yet hated his own flesh, yet nourished it and cherished it. And in fact, the Bible says to love your neighbor as yourself. Why did God command that? Because God knows that we love ourselves. And there's actually nothing wrong with having dignity and valuing yourself to a certain extent. But the Bible tells us not to think more highly than you ought to think. It's when you begin to surpass the barriers and go beyond dignity, you start delving into pride and arrogance and having this superiority complex where you're the main character in this world. Let me continue reading here in verse 16. The Bible commands us and says, be of the same mind one toward another, mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. What is conceit? Well, conceit is just another way of saying pride. The reason I'm familiar with that word is because of the fact that in high school, they used to say, oh man, that girl's conceited. That guy's conceited. Basically, they think they're all that or something. And the Bible tells us here to not to be wise in your own conceits. In other words, don't build an opinion of yourself of what you think yourself to be. And that's what a lot of people do. They build this opinion and reputation in their mind about themselves and what they think themselves to be, but it's not really them. Let me continue reading here in Proverbs 26 verse 12 says, see a style man wise in his own conceit. There is more hope of a fool than of him. And let me just say this is today, more people than ever have main character complex or main character syndrome. And one way you can kind of see that and evaluate that is the lack of spatial awareness that people have. You guys know what spatial awareness is? You know, kids lack spatial awareness, right? It's just they kind of just don't know what's going on around them, okay? This is why like after church, they'll run around and just knock into everybody and scream and it's just like you're having a conversation and then you just run through, because they don't have spatial awareness. And you know what, that's completely normal because they're children. But the problem is when grown people don't have spatial awareness. Now why don't they have spatial awareness? It's because they have this main character syndrome. They think the world revolves around them, right? And this is why some people will just stand in the middle of a walkway, you know? And I'm gonna call that one out first because that's probably the most annoying one to me. When you're in a public setting or something and someone's literally, you're trying to get through and they're just like, you know, they're just there. Answering a text message or something like that. And they can't seem to understand that there's other people that exist that also use that pathway and that walkway. And you know what, they're not your sidekick. They're not an extra in the story of your life. They're just as important to God as you are. You're not the main character of your story. Get over yourself, have spatial awareness, have self-awareness, right? But this shouldn't surprise us because the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3, this know also that in the last days, perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, and of course the list goes on and on. But the first thing he mentions there is that they shall be lovers of their own selves. This is what commonly is referred today as having main character syndrome. They think they're all that. They think it's all about them. They think the world and their family and their job, yay, sometimes even their church is all about them. And this is not an appropriate attitude for us as Christians to have. We need to be aware of others. We need to recognize that really, it's all about Jesus, right? But even then, it is all about others and we're supposed to esteem others better than ourselves, the Bible says. Whereas the person who has main character syndrome is themes himself better than everyone else. When you start believing that it's all about you, you play the main character and everyone around you is simply playing a role in the storyline of your life. This is very common. And the reason I say it's very common in the gym is because I go to public gyms and everyone walks around with that attitude, just this really arrogant, prideful attitude and they kinda just don't have awareness of the people around them. And I saw this video on social media earlier this week where some girl was doing a gymnast move where she's spinning on, I don't know, Brother Jordan, what is that? A high bar, that should have been really easy. They're just going around and then another guy just walks up and she's, mind you, you know, she's, this is very visible, right? So you can't miss that. And the guy walks up and she's spinning and he's getting his stuff ready and he's looking and then he's like kinda stretching out and she's spinning and then he just kinda gets in her way and he's about to start, then he gets hit. Well yeah, serves him right, exactly. Because he's lacking self-awareness because he thinks he's like the, he's probably got his music playing in his ears and he has a certain theme song playing for him and the credits are rolling and you know, the title, the time card is coming up, starring so and so and he's about to hop in and then boom, like the end, as soon as he gets hit. Reality hits, hey buddy, it's not all about you. There's other people exercising here too and spinning on that high bar. You better be aware of what's going on and not have this main character complex. And the Bible tells us in First Peter chapter five or six, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. You know, the main emphasis for Christians when considering themselves is that we should be humble, right, we should be meek and humble and we'll get into that specific point in just a bit. But I wanna go through some of the Bible characters in the word of God that were guilty of this main character syndrome. And the first one is the most obvious and that is Satan. Satan had main character syndrome. Now here's the thing, people who have this type of disposition and mentality, often they do have very good qualities. They're talented in a certain way, they're gifted in a certain way, but they kinda let that go to their heads, right? And a perfect example of that is Satan. Because of the fact that Satan was a cherubim but the Bible says that he was the anointed cherubim. And when you look at the description of your average, for lack of a better word, cherubims, and compare them to the physical attributes of Satan, they're different, okay? Go to Ezekiel chapter 28 if you would, Ezekiel chapter 28. Let me read to you once again from Isaiah 14 in verse 13. Here's the main character complex of Satan. He says, for thou hast said in thine heart, 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 clouds. I will be like the most high. What is he saying? I wanna be the main character, okay? Now look at Ezekiel chapter 28 in verse 13. Ezekiel's preaching against an earthly ruler but as we know according to the Bible, many earthly rulers, especially the very wicked ones, have some sort of demonic influence behind them, right? And so as he's preaching to this particular ruler, he's addressing the satanic influence behind him which at this point is referring to Satan himself. Says in verse 13, thou hast been in Eden the garden of God. So that's the dead giveaway that it's referring to Satan because obviously this particular ruler wasn't in Eden. Satan we know was in Eden. It says, every precious stone was for thy covering. The Sardis, the Topaz, and the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle and gold, the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. So that's a lot different than what we see with the cherry bims. Cherry bims are very frightening to look upon and they are very angelic and celestial. However, this description of Satan who is a cherub is very much distinct from the other ones. And the point that I'm making here is that, you know, Lucifer was special. He was made in a special way. Verse 14 says that thou art the anointed cherub that covereth and I have set thee so. Thou was upon thy holy mountain of God. Thou was walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee. So when you look at this created being known as Lucifer before he fell, we see that he already had great qualities. He was created with tabrets, with pipes, implying that he was very musical in nature. He was probably beautiful to look upon because of all of the emeralds and stones that God decked him with. He was obviously very special, very different, but you know what, it wasn't enough for him, now was it? Because it says in verse 17, thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. So Satan had his main character complex. He wasn't satisfied with how beautiful he was. He wanted to take the place of God, right? He wanted to be the main character and be like the Most High, but what was the repercussion of that? He's gonna be cast down to the lowest hell. So his pride lifted up his heart to the point where he wanted to be in the throne of God, but the result of that is that he would be brought, he would be abased and brought down to the lowest hell. That is what he deserves for wanting to be that main character. So what's a result of having this main character syndrome? Pride, and pride is an ugly thing, my friends. It's an ugly characteristic. It's an ugly disposition to have. It is not attractive at all, and in fact, God resisted the proud, the Bible says, and giveth grace unto the humble. If you want God to not bless you and not have his hand upon you, just be an arrogant, prideful person, and he will resist answering your prayers and blessing your family and blessing your life. That's how it works. And it's no surprise that the Bible tells us that he is the king of the children of pride. And so we see here that because Satan had this main character complex where he wanted to be like the Most High, he wanted to be great, he wasn't satisfied with how he was created, he ended up being punished very severely, and now obviously his fate is to be in the lake of fire for all of eternity. Let me read to you from 2 Chronicles 26 and verse 14. This particular passage is referring to King Uzziah, and Uzziah was a godly king, but he began to do some great exploits and possess men who invented cunning works and really began to do just a lot of great things, and he let it get to his head, okay? And it tells us, let me read to you from verse 15, it says that he made in Jerusalem engines, referring to war engines, invented by cunning men to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks to shoot arrows and great stones withal, and his name spread far abroad, so he has fame now. He's becoming popular. For he was marvelously helped till he was strong. And at this point we would say, you know, God's helping him. God is blessing him. He's blessing him with popularity and favor, with the surrounding nations. They're helping him so he can be strong, but obviously we know it's for the glory of God. It's so that he can rule the earthly kingdom for the glory of God. But let me read to you verse 16. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, listen to this, to his destruction. For he transgressed against the Lord his God and went into the temple of the Lord and burned incense upon the altar of incense. So we see here that when he became prideful and lifted up, it ended up being to his destruction because now the rules don't apply to him. And you know what, people who have main character syndrome, some of these people are so narcissistic, they think the rules that apply to everyone else does not apply to them. You know, they often say this, I didn't write it down, oh, I did write it down. Narcissist, rules are for thee and not for me. That's a common statement by narcissists when they feel, well, you know, I'm just built different. How many times have we heard something like that? I'm just built different. No, you're built like everyone else. You came from the same factory. You will die like all men die. You will die like every beast of the field. You're not built different, okay? Jesus is built different. You are not. Just because you got a little more muscle, maybe you got a little more money, maybe you got a little more smarts doesn't mean you're built different because guess what, there's someone who's stronger than you, smarter than you, and richer than you. You're not built different. Don't think the rules don't apply to you just because you're some sort of anomaly in this world. You know what? There's been people like you throughout the centuries, sin nature has not changed. You are not without sin. You are not without transgression. You're a sinner like everyone else. And when you start thinking, well, I'm built different, therefore the rules don't apply to me, this is why I'm successful, then you know what, you're gonna be cast down, you're gonna be a base, you're gonna be humbled because God resists the proud, and after pride comes destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall, the Bible says. So be humble and don't have this arrogant attitude that you're just some sort of special anomaly that God created. You're just God's gift to this world, God's gift to this church or something like that. Like this church is so lucky to have me. Where would this church be without me? We would be in church on Sunday. Where would this church be? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. These people, they just don't know. What a blessing they have here. But you know, when you start thinking like that, it's to your own destruction, okay? And you know what, if you have some strengths, if you have some wisdom, if God's decked you with emeralds and gold and sapphire and all these wonderful precious stones, give God the glory for that, use it for God's glory, and if someone praises you for it, deflect the praise to God and others who are responsible for your success. There's no such thing as a self-made man. We are the compilation of other people's investment in our lives, my friends, whether it's your parents, it's your church members, it's brothers and sisters, it is whatever influences you have outside of you, they're the ones responsible for helping you be successful and to achieve things, not yourself. And obviously, I'm not promoting being lazy and you're just like, well, I'm not gonna do anything. Obviously, there's a principle in the Bible to put effort into things, and whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, but at the end of the day, in order to keep a humble disposition, you also have to remind yourself, other people are responsible for my success as well, okay? The Bible says in Proverbs 6, verse 16, these six things that the Lord hates, ye seven and an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood, the first one that he mentions there is a proud look. Don't have main character syndrome. Quit with the attitude that everything's about you and you're the main character and you should be the center of attention and you're a lover of your own self. Be humble before God has to abase you and humble you to remind you that you're not all that you're cracked up, that you thought you were cracked up to be, okay? Go to Esther, if you would, chapter three. Esther chapter three, we're talking about main character syndrome and main character syndrome is simply having this view of yourself where you think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, you're prideful, you're being arrogant, you think you are the center of attention, you think you're in your own blockbuster movie or whatever where you're the main character and everyone else around you is just playing a role in this movie in your mind, you know? Don't have this attitude. So what does main character syndrome do? It produces pride that eventually leads to your destruction. But let's look at someone else and this is probably one of my favorite stories in the Bible because of the fact that it just makes me laugh every time I read it, okay? And that is the story of Haman. Now Haman for sure had main character syndrome. It was all about Haman, okay? And what main character syndrome produced in Haman is discontentment and delusion. He was a very delusional person. Look at verse one, it says, after these things did King Ahasuerus promote Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that were with him? Now right off the bat we're looking to see here that man, Haman, he's got a maid. He's promoted, he's advanced, you know, he set his seat above all the princes that were with him. I mean, you would think to have such a promotion it's just like, you know what, this is awesome. You know, like I should be happy where I'm at. 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. So he's like, you know, not only does he get this position but he's also commanded other people to bow before Haman when they're in his presence. To kind of just like inflate his ego or whatever. Already, more than it's already inflated obviously. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. Then the king's servants, which were in the king's gate, said unto Mordecai, why transgressest thou the king's commandment? Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand for he had told them that he was a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. So when he saw that Mordecai didn't respect his position, Mordecai just, this Jew, is not respecting his position, this guy doesn't have any authority, he's angry about it. And this is how main characters act. Everyone needs to fall in line with how the main character thinks. And if someone is out of line, it just ruins their whole day. He's upset because Mordecai isn't, you know, Haman should have just been like, this guy's, you know, this guy's got main character issues. Mordecai's, whatever, you know, I got everyone else bound to me, I got all this position, so, you know, that guy just has an issue. But he obviously has a problem with not being reverenced by every single individual. He can't handle that other people have a different opinion about him, you understand? And it's bothering him and it's causing him to be angry and wrathful. He says in verse six, and he thought scorn to lay 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. So, man, he just like campaigns, he's just like, all right, here's the idea then, if Mordecai's not gonna bow, I'm just gonna kill all the Jews. It's like, what? Get over yourself. Look at chapter six and verse six. Look at chapter six and verse six. So the reason we went there is to kind of show you that this man is powerful. He has clout, so to speak. He is a man of importance. And obviously he even has the king's favor because the king is commanding people to reverence him when he passes by. He should be content with that. But he's discontent when this one dude chooses not to. Look at verse six of Esther chapter six. It says, so Haman came in and the king said it to him, what shall be done unto the man whom the king delighted to honor? Now, let me give you a little bit of a background of what's going on here, okay? The king finds out that Mordecai essentially destroyed this plot against the king and it was recorded in the book of Chronicles but the king didn't know about it. So one day the king couldn't sleep so he had the book of Chronicles, not the one that we have in our Bible but just the book that records events to be read before him and he finds out about this particular story that Mordecai basically saves the king's life. And the king is overwhelmed with gratitude and he wants to bless Mordecai. He wants to honor him but he's not really creative. So he decides to bring in Haman and ask him, what do you think should be done to someone whom the king wants to honor? You know, this is kind of a brainstorm here. What can we do to honor a person? Now keep in mind, King Ahasuerus is thinking about Mordecai. Who do you think Haman is thinking about? The main character. It says in verse six, so Haman came in and the king said unto him, what shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor? Now Haman thought in his heart, to whom would the king delight to honor? More than myself. He's like, this is 30, 40 minutes into the movie and he's thinking he's gonna honor the main character because that's how every movie is. You know, every movie ends this way. You know, two hour and a half in, two hours in, you know, the underdog gets honored by the king and so in his heart he's just like, oh, so what do you think he's gonna do? He's gonna lay it on thick with the honor. I mean, he's gonna just lay it as thick as possible because he's gonna expel some of the things that he wants to be honored with, right? Verse seven says, and Haman answered the king, for the man whom the king delighteth to honor, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear. Okay, now that's just, what is he saying? He's like, you should put your clothes on him. Why, because he wants to be like the most high. He wants everyone to kind of see that he's like a king too, okay? And the horse the king that writeth upon and the crown royal which is set upon his head, he's like, do you want the kingdom too? And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honor. This guy should be embarrassed. Because let's just hypothetically say that the king was referring to Haman. Wouldn't you be ashamed to just ask for all this in so detailed, because he's like, you should give him all these things and then you should, don't just give it to him in person, you should deliver it to one of the nobles of the princes and have them deliver it. Make this whole ceremony and this whole, just kind of do it out in the open. He says that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honor and bring him on horseback through the street of the city. So it's not enough that he's gonna be wearing all the king's clothes and the crown and he has the horse, but he wants to be carried through the city so that everyone can see that he's the main character. And proclaim before him, thus shall it be done to the men whom the king delighteth to honor. He's like, this is what should be done to the main character. So he wants the king's clothes, he wants the king's crown, he wants the horse, this guy's like an anti-Christ. And he wants people to deliver the clothing, he wants to be brought on horseback through the streets and he wants it to be proclaimed, like he wants everyone to know about this. This is severe main character syndrome here. Verse 10, then the king said to Haman, make haste and take the apparel and the horse as thou hast said and do even so to Mordecai the Jew. And it's just like I wish I just could have seen Haman's face at that point. Because people with main character syndrome wear their emotions on their sleeve. They'll let you know if they're angry or not, okay? I mean what a let down that was for him, right? That sitteth at the king's gate, let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. He's like, make sure he gets every single thing that you mention there, he gets it all. Then took Haman the apparel and the horse and, so the prince that he wanted to carry all those materials to him, he ended up being that prince. The wealth of the sinners laid up for the just. Then took Haman the apparel and the horse and arrayed Mordecai, I mean how humbling is that? Because he hates Mordecai and Mordecai knows that. Now his job is to like put the coat on him and brought him on horseback through the city of the street and proclaimed before him, thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighted to honor. So not only did he have to do all that, he's the one also proclaiming about Mordecai, thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighted to honor. This is what he had to repeat as Mordecai is going through the street. I mean a very humbling experience to say the least. But this is what happens when you have main character syndrome, you have an unrealistic expectation of the honor that you think that you deserve so that when you don't get it, you're actually humbled and obviously you're embarrassed. You lack self-awareness, he's not talking about you. He wasn't referring to you, he's talking about Mordecai. So what we see here is that when you have main character syndrome, you do lack self-awareness. You have a higher opinion of yourselves than the people around you. And let me say this, obviously it's important to have a good reputation, right? It's rather to be chosen than in silver, it's very important. But and obviously we need to make sure that we're right with God, we need to have both. But you need to kind of know what is your reputation before people and not just go off of what you think your reputation is before people. You understand what I'm saying? And here's how you can tell what your reputation is before people. What do people say about you? And if A, B, and C are all saying the same thing and they're all negative, then you probably don't have a good reputation. Now here's the best way to get a consensus of what your reputation is. Ask people who are outside of your little circle. You know, your little best friends that you got in church. You know, the closest people to you who just basically inflate your ego as you inflate theirs. You know, both of you who have main character syndrome. You know, go about to other people in church and see how you operate, see if you can play well with others. You know, yeah, you're the main character in your little trio and your little quartet that you got going on there, but it's a little different when you have to step outside of that group and actually go talk to someone else. Let's see if you're a main character there. And so let's not lack self-awareness. Let's seek to have a good reputation before all people. Be a person who's above reproach. Be an individual who doesn't think it's all about them. They realize it's all about the Lord. I gotta put others before myself. Don't be a Haman because the result of being a Haman is you're gonna be embarrassed. You're gonna be ashamed, and we're reading about this story thousands of years later and still laughing at Haman for having such a dumb attitude and not being aware that he was referring to Mordecai, okay? Go to 1 Kings chapter one, 1 Kings chapter one. Talk about main character syndrome. When you think it's all about you, you think it's all about your success, you determine what you do in life, you determine how you treat others based upon how is it gonna elevate yourself, your resources, your reputation. Main character syndrome. Let me talk about a third person here. So we talk about Satan, we talk about Haman. But how about Adonijah? Adonijah is someone in the Bible who definitely had main character syndrome. And one thing that I want you to notice about all of these people is the fact that they had something going for them already. They already had something going for them. They had position, they had resources, they had something that was of value that they could have reveled in and been proud about and just be thankful for and just be content with that, but it just wasn't enough, okay? And Adonijah is no exception to that rule. And we're gonna see that with Adonijah, main character syndrome produced a presumptuous behavior, okay? And who's Adonijah? Well, he's the son of David, but he's not the firstborn of David. He says in verse five, then Adonijah the son of Hagath exalted himself saying, I will be king. And he prepared him chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. So what's the issue here? Well, King David is about to be off the scene. And right off the bat, Adonijah becomes presumptuous and thinks, well, of course I'm gonna be the king. I mean, who else? I'm the main character. I should be the king. So he has this presumptuous attitude that causes him to prepare him chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. So essentially he displays himself as being the most important person. He is the king. And I want you to notice that in verse five, it says that he exalted himself. And herein lies the issue every single time. And here's how you can expect destruction and chastisement from the Lord is when you exalt yourself. When you begin to lift yourself up instead of having God and others lift you up, he's lifting himself up. His dad's not lifting him up. His dad's not putting him in a place of position of authority. His dad is not handing over the kingdom to him. He's handing the kingdom to himself. He's exalting himself. Verse six says, and his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, why hast thou done so? And he also was a very goodly man. And his mother bare him after Absalom. So I think verse six is telling us, you know, Adonijah was very goodly, either meaning that he was a good looking person, he was a handsome individual, or he just had a good reputation. He was a goodly man in the kingdom. He's obviously one of the sons of David. And maybe that just kind of got to his head. It says in verse seven, and he conferred with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest, and they following Adonijah helped him. So it becomes a little surprise that Joab is helping. Okay? Because Joab is a military scoundrel, okay? And I preach many sermons on Joab. The guy is trash. And he basically did David's dirty work. And when you study the life of Joab, you come to the conclusion that the man has zero integrity. So he'll go wherever there is job security. So in his mind, if Adonijah's gonna be king, well, I'm gonna back up Adonijah, because David is about to pass off the scene. Verse eight says, But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Reih, the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. And Adonijah slew sheep, and oxen, and fat cattle by the stone of Zohaleth, which is by Enrogel, and called all his brethren the king's sons, and all the men of Judah the king's servants, but Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the mighty men, and Solomon his brother he called Nah. Now we're not gonna read through the whole story, but we know what takes place. Solomon, who is the rightful heir, becomes king. And then Adonijah has to step down in a very shameful way. And of course, later on, Adonijah, because he's such a main character, he wants Solomon's, you know, or excuse me, he wants his father's, I wanna say concubine, but I don't know if the wording they use there, the maid that was used to warm him in his older age, he wants her to be his wife, and basically, you know, he ends up getting killed for that, okay, later on. So he is a base of the point that he's brought down to the grave, so to speak. So he exalts himself to be the king, he's not deputized to do so, and then he is debunked. Look at Luke chapter 14, if you would, go to Luke chapter 14. Now what is the principle that we can learn from Adonijah having main character syndrome? Don't exalt yourself. Don't be a person who's constantly lifting yourself up, speaking well of yourself. You know, the Bible says, let another man praise thee and not thine own lips, right? If you are a person of great talent, of great gifts, of great accomplishments, don't constantly talk about it. Okay, and here's the thing, if they're really great achievements, other people are gonna talk about it for you. But this is a New Testament principle that we see. Look at verse seven. He says, and he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief room, saying unto them, when thou are bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man that thou be bidden of him. And he that bade thee and him come say to thee, give this man place, and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room, that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meet with thee, for whosoever exalted themselves, like Adonijah, shall be abased, and he that humbledth himself shall be exalted. Now, what is the principle that we can learn from this New Testament passage as well as Adonijah? You know, it's better for us to not place ourselves in a high position, the highest position, for example, because what if a more honorable individual comes than you, and the only place to go is down? Whereas, if you place yourself in the lowest position, the lowest of the lowest position, guess what? The only place for you to go is up. So therefore, whatever minimal promotion that you get, whatever recognition that you receive, however you are exalted, you'll always be grateful because it's better than just being all the way down there. You understand what I'm saying? So it's better for us as Christians to abase ourselves, to sit in the lowest seat, figuratively speaking, to not have a high view of ourselves like Saul did. You know, Saul, when he first started, he was little in his own sight, even though he was head and shoulders above everyone else, he was still little in his sight. It was later on that he became prideful and arrogant, and obviously, he thought he was a main character too, because the rules didn't apply to him. But the point that I'm making here is that it's important for us as Christians to abase ourselves, to humble ourselves in our sight, because at that point, when you are exalted, when you are promoted, the only direction you can go is up. You understand? Don't be this individual that's constantly blabbering about how good you are at a specific thing, or how much you've achieved, or how much money you have, how many resources, how much knowledge. I find that the people who talk the most about those things are often individuals who are deficient regarding those things. You're deficient of it. You give me a person who's constantly spouting off knowledge, I'll tell you a person who's probably not that smart, and a person who just has main character syndrome. Because a person with a lot of knowledge isn't really interested in just kind of giving his knowledge to every Tom, Dick, and Harry. You understand what I'm saying? They just kind of incrementally give that knowledge to people as they ask for it. And here's the thing, a people who's constantly spouting, just kind of spouting off wisdom, or knowledge, or whatever it may be, you know, they have to look for people. Right? They have to look for ears. Whereas the person who actually has knowledge, people look for them. People are asking them for wisdom, and advice, and knowledge, that's how it always works. And so that is a form of having this main character syndrome where it's just like, well I want to benefit people with my wisdom. What wisdom? What knowledge? What are you talking about? Okay? Don't exalt yourself. The formula, see the world's way of getting promotion at your job is to be crooked, to lie, to be like Adonijah, and be like Haman, and be a deceitful person, not have integrity. But God's way of getting promoted at your job is to abase yourself and just be a hard worker and be humble. Okay? God's way of you being promoted in church is to be a humble individual. You know, obviously in our church we have team leaders for example. And if you want to be a pastor, you first have to become a team leader. But even if you don't want to be a pastor, one of the greatest positions you can have in our church is a team leader, is to be a team leader. It's to lead a group of individuals spiritually, teach them how to soul win. I mean, it is a revered position in our church, it's very honorable, therefore it's not just given to anybody, okay? And in fact, most of the time, if not every single time, we've approached the people, they haven't approached us. You know, we kind of pow-wow with the team leaders, and we have our little meetings, and we're like, who's ready to step it up and be like a leader in our church? Okay? You know, think of like, Alex Brasch, you know? Alex Brasch never came, he's the last team leader that we promoted, but you know, he never came to me, and was just like, hey, I just want to let you know, my wife says I'm kind of like a main character, I'm just saying. You know, I just want to let you know that. There's a lot I could bring to the table. I got a lot to offer. I could probably show you some things too, Pastor. I know you're the man of God here, but hey, you know, would to God that all of us were prophets, right? You take too much upon you, you know? He never even mentioned it. You know why we promoted Alex Brasch to be a team leader? Because he was literally just quietly with his wife, just serving the Lord in the background. His actions spoke louder than words. Don't become, you're not even a main character right now, all right? So just, you know. But you know, they just seem happy serving others. He was promoted, and I'm going to get into this at the very end of the sermon, God actually ends up letting you become kind of a main character, when you don't want to be a main character. So he's just like, he's not asking for it. He didn't ask for it. He was just like happy. Him and his wife were just happy, just like kind of being a blessing to others. And it's not like when they did something for someone else, they're just like looking to see who's watching, you know what I mean? You're welcome, you know, just kind of like. They're just happy serving the Lord. Going around, just being a blessing, they have genuine love in their heart. And so, you know, the man is humble, so guess what, the only place for him to go is up. And now he's a team leader, and they're doing a fantastic job. And so it's important that us as Christians, we have this mentality, we don't have to fight our way to the top. Why don't you fight your way to the bottom? Fight your way to abase yourself, and then let God exalt you in due time, in due season. Don't be an Adonijah. I mean, how embarrassing is it for Adonijah? He just had this entire ceremony, where he's like the king, and he's got Joab by his side, he's got the priest there, and they're proclaiming him to be king, and then a few days later, he's not the king. Solomon is. And now he's just kind of like a regular citizen. I mean, imagine having to answer those questions, imagine having to answer all those questions for the next couple weeks. What happened to Adonijah? I don't know. You know, I didn't really want to be king anyways. My brother's stupid, he's just, you know. What are you gonna say? All you can say was just like, you know what, I messed up. I thought I was the main character, but I'm not. And so I was abased. Go to 3 John, 3 John. Let me read to you from Luke 22, verse 24. You're going to 3 John. It says here, and there was also strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest? This is the disciples. So this shows us that this isn't something that's just something that unsaved people do. Obviously Christians, believers, can often become susceptible to this type of behavior. It says there was also strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest? And he said unto them, the kings of the Gentiles exercised lordship over them, and they that exercised authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at me, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at me, but I am among you as he that serveth. So obviously Jesus Christ is explaining here that obviously he's the greatest. He's God, he's the son of God, he is the Christ, yet he is coming to them as one that serves to display unto them that the way you are exalted is by being a servant, is by being a minister, is by abasing yourself. Here's the last verse that I'm gonna cover, and that is diatrophies. Diatrophies for sure had main character syndrome, okay? Look at verse nine of John, or third John, excuse me, third John, verse nine, says, I wrote it to the church, this is John writing here, but diatrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. So we have an issue here where the apostle John has influence over these churches, and he's writing to them, and he's like, I'm trying to write you scripture and doctrine, but the guy who's in charge there, whose name is diatrophies, he doesn't want us to influence you guys, okay? He says he's not receiving them. Verse 10 says, wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth. Now that's like the first time I've ever seen John like, you know, kind of get mad. Because John the beloved is typically very chill, you know, and Paul's more like, you know, I'm gonna come, should I come with a rod? But John's like, when I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, like he's gonna confront him to his face. Praying against us with malicious words, and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. So this guy's got major main character issues. Because he's the leader, but the Bible's telling us here that he's not content therewith. Not only does he want to be the leader, he wants to belittle other leaders, because it says there that he prays against them with malicious words. So he's just talking trash, and he's talking crap about John, he's talking crap about all the apostles. He's trying to belittle them in order to exalt himself. He says, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbideth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. So then anybody who's like a new IFB listener, in his church, if he finds out about it, he throws them out. You know, he doesn't want to receive them, and this is very common, where you have new IFB listeners who don't have a new IFB church to go to, so they go to a fundamental Baptist church, which is the same thing, and the pastors there just can't handle that. Oh, you listen to Stephen Anderson, oh, you're a new IFB, oh, you don't like homosexuals or whatever, and it's just like they throw them out of the church. This is very common, unfortunately, okay? But you know, unfortunately, it's even common, it was common even within new IFB churches, where you have these pastors, and unfortunately, you know, their churches closed down. You have these pastors who, you know, joined the new IFB, they had a church, great church, great people, and just couldn't handle the fact that his people are still listening to new IFB preachers. He said, what do you do? Pray it against the new IFB with malicious words, just railing the accusations, you just couldn't handle it, telling his people, don't listen to their preaching, don't listen to the series, and you gotta stop listening to it, it's just like, why? What's the harm in listening to John? What's the harm in listening to Peter? What's the harm in listening to Paul? There is no harm. If he's preaching the same thing that diatrophies is preaching, there should be no problem. But you know what, main character complex syndrome does, it makes people insecure. Because if someone else gets the limelight, they don't like that. Whereas someone who doesn't have main character syndrome are just thankful if they get any light on them. And they rejoice when someone else gets the attention too. We're not like fighting over attention. It's not like, oh man, you know, Pastor Joe Jones, so what if he had a rep or bad over there, you know, it's just like. That's super funny. And you know what? He would get a rep or bad over there. That's something that they would do to a new IP church. And I think it's great. We're not in competition with each other. You know, we all preach the same gospel. We believe the same Bible. And in fact, we're similar, obviously we have differences in certain doctrines, but nothing like a major doctrine. And even some of the secondary or third doctrines that we preach are pretty much similar. We may just differ on what portions of scripture give that particular interpretation. You understand what I'm saying? But you know what, we're independent churches. But even then, I'm not in competition with another church. I want to support other churches. I want other churches to succeed. You know, it's like this, it's like, what if today, you know, I see the guys from steadfast and I'm just like, oh, this is Pastor Shelley's guys over here. Moscafe, you know? What's up now, you know? And then I just like throw them out or something like that because I have some beef with them for whatever reason. It's nonsense, my friends. People take themselves way too serious. Diotrophy's just thought himself more highly than he ought to have thought. Because, who's that? Who's Diotrophy's? I don't know you. In heaven, I'm not going to be looking for Diotrophy's. Who's going to be looking for, no one, the only reason we'll, like, we'll see Diotrophy, we'll hear Diotrophy's and we'll be like, oh. See, you know, because he's not a hero. He's not a main character. You understand what I'm saying? But there's churches even within the new IP who adopted that attitude and it was to their own destruction. And they affected a lot of people because of it. They affected a lot of people. What's the point, you know? Why see yourself so highly as the, you know, oh, you can't listen to other people's preaching? That's old IFB stuff right there. You know, I don't care if my people listen to other pastors. And in fact, I want them to listen to other pastors. Because, you know, preaching ends up creating quality members. And so my church, my pastor friends are helping me create better church members for me. So I'm benefiting from that. But let's just say some of our church members just like other preachers better, then so be it. They're still coming to this church. So I don't really care. You know what, I don't have main character syndrome and I'm not up here like, you can only listen to me and only like me, it's nonsense. That's a diatrophies mentality to have, okay? Because at the end of the day, me and my pastor friends, we will pass off the scene one day. And someone else has to take our place. And so it's always gonna be a different prophet saying God, the message will be the same. And that's the end of it. And so what am I saying this morning? Well, the main thing that I wanna get across here is that Jesus is the main character. It's all about the Lord, right? And in fact, Philippians chapter two verse five says, let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought of not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, even though he's the main character, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also had highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. You know, the entire Bible's about Jesus. Old Testament about Jesus. New Testament about Jesus. Everything is about Jesus Christ in the Bible. All points to him. You know, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. He is the I am that I am. It's the most important person. He is the preeminent one, the Bible says. So he is the main character. So at the end of the day, we as Christians, you know, before you start delving into your little main character scenario, just remember this. The Lord is the main character of my life. And I play a page, if not even just a paragraph, in this book, in his story. Right? We're actually kind of like the extras in his story. We're like the sidekicks of his story. Because at the end of the day, it's all about Jesus. Now, let me finish off with this. And that is, I do think that within every single one of us is a desire to kind of be like a main character. And I think that's normal. You know, you want to be exalted, you want to be honored, you want to be valued as being someone who's important. And I think that's completely normal. Go with me, if you would, to John chapter one, if you would, John chapter one. But I think the way people try to get that position is by just taking on that character or being the main character. Whereas what we actually see in the Bible is that when people just disregard that and they elevate Christ, they exalt him, they end up becoming a main character. Look at John one, verse six, it says, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light. What does that mean? He wasn't the main character, but was sent to bear witness of the light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Go to verse 19, and this is the record of John. Now, keep in mind, he is not that light. He is not Jesus. He is not Christ. He is not the main character. This is the record of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. What is he saying? I'm not the main character. And they asked him, what then? Art thou Elias? You know, that guy's like, Elijah is like a main character. He saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? He answered, no. Then saith they unto him, who art that, that we may give answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet, Esaias. He didn't even give his name. He's like, who are you? He's just like, I'm John the Baptist. Write it down. He's like, I'm one, a voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. Verse 24 says, and they which were sent were of the Pharisees, and they asked him, and said unto him, why baptizes thou then, if thou be not the Christ, nor Elias, nor that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not. He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, who shoe lads, should I am not worthy to loose. Go to John chapter three, John chapter three, if you would, and verse 26. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizes, and men come to him. Verse 27, John answered and said, a man can receive nothing except to be given from him from above. Ye yourselves, bear be witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom. He said, the main character is the one who has the bride, right, I'm not him. He says, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He's trying to like emphasize to them, I'm not the most important one, I'm not the Christ. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom, he's the most important one. And you know what, my joy is fulfilled when he's happy. Now I think of like the wedding yesterday, right? And you know traditionally in America, and I guess in other places, like the bride is the most important person in a wedding. But in the Bible though, like the groom is actually the most important one. Because Jesus is the most important. Now here's the thing is that the bride of Christ is more important to Jesus. Like we're valued to Jesus, but as far as everyone else is like the groom is actually the most important one. Why, because Jesus, because it's a picture of Jesus and Jesus is the main character. And so you know we're looking here and obviously we're looking at Geo and Sarah. And you know I'm thinking to myself like Geo's like the main character right now. And Sarah too of course, you know. But I was thinking about this scripture and I'm just like my joy is therefore fulfilled because Geo and Sarah are happy. Because it's really not about us. You know all of us we got ready and we had our suits and you almost forgot his pants or whatever and all that. You know but you know we were getting, some of you got your hair cut and you got your shoes shined and wore your best to the wedding or whatever. But at the end of the day eyes were not on us. It was on them because they're the main characters right? And you know what, our joy is fulfilled. Like we're happy. And then you know when everyone's walking away who, no offense groups, we're not really looking at you guys. You're the sidekick, you're an extra. Morrie you're an extra in the wedding. All of you are extras. You just played a role in this wedding right? It's when they walked out and everyone's just like, our heart just swelled with joy because they were being exalted because it was their special day right? Well in like manner that's how we need to view Jesus Christ. Our joy is fulfilled when Jesus is exalted. Not when our name is exalted. Not when people think highly of us. It's when people begin to think highly of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in fact look at verse 30. He must increase but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all. Now you say well you know, man so we get no credit? Well later on Jesus says of John the Baptist that he is like the greatest born among women. I mean to have Jesus say that about you, what a great honor to say he's like, what are you on for, to see a prophet? A more than a prophet. He's like exalting the name of John the Baptist. Not John the Protestant, John the Catholic, John the Orthodox, John the Hindu, whatever. Baptist! Catholics are like we gave you your Bible. Yeah and you put John the Baptist in there too? Hey he exalted him. So when you look throughout the Bible, we can all point to portions of the Bible where we say like a person was like a main character during that time. Like we think of the Exodus, who's the main character? Moses. He's like the man there. And we like admire him, we love him, we think he's like awesome because God allowed him to be the main character because he was exalting God, right? We think of even within the history of the children of Israel during the kings, like the main character is like David. Because even after he passes off the scene, they're still talking about David. He's like you did this but for my servant David's sake. You know I'm not gonna do this or whatever. So he like remained like the main character throughout the Old Testament but it's not because he wanted to, it's because he actually loved the Lord. Because the Bible tells us that he was a man after God's own heart. Which means that he didn't, it wasn't about him, he was out there taking care of the sheep when they were looking for the next person to anoint. He was just kind of like happy, just loving the Lord and serving God and therefore God exalted him. And he became like the main character. Hey how about in the New Testament, throughout the book of Acts and then word, who's like the main character? Paul. Paul is. But he's constantly exalting Christ. He's constantly glorifying him. He's constantly seeking to obey him and so forth. And so he basically became like the main character. So what I'm saying here is just like, I'm not saying like you know, we're not gonna thank you, we're not gonna recognize. You know everyone has like their main character moment for an era but it only comes when you stop wanting to be the main character. And don't fake it either. You know you genuinely sincerely want to exalt Christ, you want to exalt the Lord, the word of God. It's one of those things where like when Joshua ended up taking over from Moses, the Bible says that God magnified Joshua on the side of all the people. So let God put the magnifying glass on you, don't put it on yourself. We're not the main characters, Jesus is. And so that's it, let's pray. Father we thank you so much for your word and we're so thankful for all these examples Lord that we can think upon and avoid. We know that the main character of our lives is Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ the hope of glory. And you are the superior one, you're the most, you're the preeminent one, you are the most important Lord and you have seen lives begin and end with people who serve you but yet you're still here. You're the same yesterday, today and forever. And so Lord help us to continuously increase you as we decrease ourselves and bless us as we go on our way. Lord, may we be a church that honors and glorifies your name in Jesus Christ we pray, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Song number 401, Set My Soul Afire. Song number 401, all together, nice and strong on that first verse. Set my soul afire, Lord, for Thy holy Word, Burn it deep within me, let Your voice be heard. Millions grope in darkness in this day and hour, I will be Your witness, fill me with Thy power. Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire, Make my life a witness of Thy saving power. Millions grope in darkness, waiting for Thy Word. Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire, Set my soul afire, Lord, for the lost in sin, Give to me a passion. Help me not to falter, never let me fail, Fill me with Thy Spirit, let Thy will prevail. Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire, Make my life a witness of Thy saving power. Millions grope in darkness, waiting for Thy Word. Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire, Set my soul afire, Lord, in my daily life. Far too long I've wandered in this day of strife, Nothing else will matter but to live for Thee. I will be Your witness as You live in me. Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire, A witness of Thy saving power. Millions grope in darkness, waiting for Thy Word. Set my soul afire, Lord, set my soul afire.