Sermon

Pride Again

March 7, 2004PM

Practical review of this horrible sin – its symptoms and its cures.

“Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, 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. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

James 4:5-10

 

“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

I Peter 5:5-7

Introduction:

  1. I received many responses about last Sunday evening, so I am trusting the Holy Spirit to consider pride again.
  2. May the Lord Jesus Christ be praised for the young people gathering and discussing the matter another hour!
  3. We studied I Corinthians 7:1-16 this morning, where we reviewed duties of marriage that lead to pride again.
  4. If we aim to maximize all our relationships in 2004, with marriage an important one, we must eliminate pride.
  5. James 4:5, The Scriptures in general teach about envy and pride in men that lead so wars and fighting (4:1-2).
  6. James 4:6, Man’s spirit lusteth to envy, but God’s grace is greater, and He will reward the humble (Pr 3:34).
  7. James 4:6, The warning is clear; God resists the proud, which should cause all man to tremble (Luke 14:11).
  8. James 4:7-9, So get down first before God, resist the devil, seek God, and pursue holiness with sober zeal.
  9. James 4:10, Get your heart down in the omniscient sight of God, and the omnipotent God will lift you up.
  10. I Peter 5:5, Here the same Scripture is applied to covering with humility and submitting to others (Pr 3:34).
  11. I Peter 5:6, So get down in the face of the omnipotent power of God, for He will exalt you in His timing.
  12. I Peter 5:7, If any lust of self-preservation remains, cast your personal care on Him; He will take care of you.

What is it?

  1. Pride. A high or overweening opinion of one’s own qualities, attainments, or estate, which gives rise to a feeling and attitude of superiority over and contempt for others; inordinate self-esteem.
  2. Bible synonyms for pride include arrogancy, conceit, haughtiness, loftiness, highminded, glory, stoutness of heart, a lifted up heart, and being puffed up.
  3. Consider a wonderful verse like Jeremiah 48:29, which combines several of these synonyms to help.
  4. It is deceitful to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think (Romans 12:3; Galatians 6:3).
  5. Bible antonyms for pride include humility, humbleness of mind, meekness, and poverty of spirit.
  6. Humility. The quality of being humble or having a lowly opinion of oneself; meekness, lowliness: the opposite of pride or haughtiness. Humble. Having a low estimate of one’s importance, worthiness, or merits; marked by absence of self-assertion or self-exaltation.
  7. The first sin was Satan’s pride. We know it from I Tim 3:6; we read Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezek 28:12-17.
  8. How severe was the punishment of the devil? He and his are reserved for everlasting torment in hell.
  9. Pride is one of the devil’s principles tricks to lead us to sin (I John 2:16 cp Luke 4:9-13 cp Gen 3:6).
  10. You avoid visual stimulus to fight lust of the eyes; you create limits for things for lust of the flesh.
  11. But the pride of life is carried with you all the time in all your thoughts and can cause sin instantly.
  12. The LORD gave Nebuchadnezzar a severe lesson to reject pride and learn humility (Dan 4:28-37).
  13. Pride is the constant thought and worry of what others think of you, with the desire of vainglory.
  14. Pride is the constant thought of self-preservation and self-defense in the face of the least criticism.
  15. Pride is the constant envy of the advantages of others, for you feel you deserve what they have.
  16. Pride is the constant comparison of yourself to others and finding those things in which you surpass.
  17. Pride is the constant expectation from others of what more they could or should do for you.
  18. Pride is the constant selfishness that hinders and limits you from being a true servant to others.
  19. Pride is the constant pleasure you receive at hearing of another experiencing evil or doing evil.

What are its symptoms?

  1. Pride has little use for God, because of intense feelings of self-sufficiency (Psalm 10:4; Hos 7:10).
  2. Pride causes picking on those below you, because of intense feelings of superiority (Psalm 10:2).
  3. Pride causes haughty speech of presumption and disrespect of honorable things (Ps 59:12; Pr 14:3).
  4. Pride causes contention and fighting, for the proud cannot forgive or overlook (Genesis 37:11; Prov 13:10; 21:24; 22:10; I Cor 6:6-7; James 4:1-2).
  5. Pride causes excessive talking, because a person is in love with hearing himself (Eccl 10:12-14).
  6. Pride causes men to slip in a few little tidbits about their ability or difficult life (Prov 25:27; 27:2).
  7. Pride causes men to resent correction, because they are stubborn in their own conceit (Prov 26:16).
  8. Pride causes men to move toward public limelight and only serve those with means (Luke 14:7-14).
  9. If you take the time to think about sins, you can allocate them to the three categories (I John 2:16), but most of them will flow from the pride of man that is ready at an instant in every human heart.
    1. Why does a person backbite, bear tales, or whisper about others? It is not lust of eyes or flesh!
    2. Why is a person discontented to whine about circumstances? They think they deserve better!
    3. Why do some have a difficult time forgiving others? They honor themselves by others’ faults.
    4. Why does a spouse wait for the other spouse to make-up first? Pride keeps them from going!
    5. What is the root cause of covetousness, ignoring the sight of the eyes? Pride to be the best!
    6. How can a person actually despise a good person who does what is right? Pride to be the best!
    7. How can a person remember the smallest personal offences from the ancient past? Pride!
    8. Why does a boy grimace/complain at a foul on him, but commend a ref for a foul on another?
    9. What causes a person to have a grudge and want to exact punishment for “principle”? Pride!
    10. What causes a person to be selfish and hardly think of others? Pride that makes self, central!
    11. What causes a person to ask for a church to do more for them, for friends to love them more?
    12. Consider vile thoughts at another getting a new car. “It isn’t anything,” “I don’t want to see it,” “He doesn’t deserve it,” I would have one better, if,” “I hate my old car,” “Did you get the good engine? No?” “He was dozing in church, wasn’t he?” “But I have more marbles than he does.”

What are its consequences?

  1. You are going down. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Pr 16:18).
  2. And, “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility” (Prov 18:12).
  3. And, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit” (Pr 29:23).
  4. And, “Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly” (Proverbs 3:34).
  5. And, “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
  6. The LORD cannot stand pride in a man, who is but a worm, so He will fight (Da 4:37; Ac 12:21-23).
  7. God resisteth the proud (James 4:6-10; I Pet 5:5-6). These words should strike fear in your souls!
  8. It steals caution and tempts to foolish and unnecessary risks (Pr 25:8; 26:12; Ob 1:1-4; I Cor 10:12).
    1. Discretion and prudence are what slow a man down enough to see danger ahead (Pr 22:3; 27:12).
    2. But it is foolish pride that causes men to rage confidently and rush forward (Prov 14:16; 28:14).
  9. It steals prudence and tempts to men to ignore wise counsel and do things their own way (Pr 26:16).
  10. It steals prudence and tempts men to continue pressing a situation where they have already lost.

What are its cures?

  1. The fear of the Lord, truly humbling yourself before God, is to hate pride and arrogancy (Prov 8:13).
  2. Chase down every sin as James taught to show true humility; protecting sin is pride (James 4:5-10).
  3. Seek a contrite heart – broken with repentance – to tremble before God’s word (Is 66:2; Mic 6:6-8).
    1. Even Ahab found mercy of the Lord for humbling himself but outwardly (I Kings 21:25-29).
    2. Even Manasseh was lifted up by the mighty hand of God for humbling himself (II Chr 33:11-13).
  4. Get a good view of God and stand in awe of Him (Ps 4:4). It helped Job a lot (Job 40:1-5; 42:5-6).
  5. Pray as a fool, telling God sincerely from your heart you are very ignorant and helpless (Ps 131:1-2).
    1. Remember Solomon’s prayer of being a little child and not knowing what to do (I Kings 3:5-15).
    2. Remember Jehoshaphat’s prayer of no might and not knowing what to do (II Chron 20:1-19).
    3. Never pray as the haughty Pharisee with the self-righteous attitude of superiority (Luk 18:11-14).
    4. Become as a little child without the pompous attitude of self-sufficiency of adults (Matt 18:1-4).
    5. Pray for your enemies, which a man with active pride cannot do easily (Matthew 5:43-48).
  6. Novices and all inexperienced young men should wait their turn to be in any spotlight (I Tim 3:6).
  7. Have a holy hatred inside at anything that even smells like a backdoor compliment (Pr 25:27; 27:2).
  8. Everything you have and are is by the gift of God; do not glory in your accomplishments (I Cor 4:7).
  9. Let your weaknesses out, rather than hiding them, so others will have true knowledge (II Cor 12:9).
  10. Learn to say you are sorry; do it whenever you should; and do it quickly before pride comes.
  11. Appreciate correction and warnings from others and confess your faults (Ps 141:5; Pr 27:6; Ja 5:16).
  12. Avoid striving with any person for vainglory; instead learn to esteem them better than you (Phil 2:3).
  13. Work carefully at making others and their things more important than you and your things (Phil 2:4).
    1. Do you ask about things of others and avoid talking about your own things as much as possible?
    2. Do you listen well? Or are you already thinking about what you are going to say to them next?
    3. Do you compliment freely? Or are you better at criticizing? Or working yourself into the mix?
    4. Do you ask know-it-all questions when someone gets something new, or sincerely praise them?
  14. Consider and learn to emulate the spirit of Jesus Christ in humbling Himself to the cross (Phil 2:5-8).
  15. Settle all differences with others as quickly as you can, contrary to protective pride (Matt 5:23-24).
  16. Be agreeable; be unpretentious; consider the uncomely; think lowly of yourself (Romans 12:16).
  17. Do not compare yourself with others, for you can always find someone that is worse (II Cor 10:12).
  18. Learn true charity, which does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, seeks not her own (I Cor 13:4-7).
  19. Focus on serving others, which is the secret to being the greatest (Luke 22:24-27; Ezek 16:49-50).
  20. Try to be as reticent, reserved, out of sight, and unimportant as you possibly can (Luke 14:7-12).
  21. When serving others, seek to serve those who cannot repay in any way; God sees (Luke 14:12-14).
  22. Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand does in charity and service (Matthew 6:1-4).
  23. True humility does not practice self-denigration excessively. Learn Paul’s balance (I Cor 15:10).
  24. Forgive and forget all personal offences, and hate the proud spirit Peter showed (Matt 18:21-22).
  25. Love to forgive and rejoice in mercy, for it is a mark of humility and will bring mercy (James 2:13).
  26. Humility can never negate or restrict godly authority or confidence in truth (I Tim 4:12; Titus 2:15).
    1. Brother Paul had the gentleness and meekness of Christ, but did not back down (II Cor 10:1-2).
    2. Moses could exert authority when necessary, and so could the Lord Jesus Christ splendidly.

Conclusion:

  1. God hates pride, and He will destroy you and the work of your hands if you have very much of it in you.
  2. In maximizing your relationships, as in I Corinthians 6:7, let things go and suffer yourself to be defrauded.
  3. Be subject to others and put on humility; God resists the proud; God gives grace to the humble (I Pet 5:5).
  4. It is impossible for a pastor to move your heart, but I have taught you enough to go to God and walk humbly.

For additional study:

  1. Commentary on Proverbs 11:02
  2. Commentary on Proverbs 13:10
  3. Commentary on Proverbs 15:25
  4. Commentary on Proverbs 16:18
  5. Commentary on Proverbs 18:12
  6. Commentary on Proverbs 26:12
  7. Commentary on Proverbs 28:25
  8. Sermon Outline: The Lie of Self-Love
  9. Sermon Outline: The Lie of Unconditional Love.
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