Now this evening I'm going to do something a little bit different from what we've been doing. We've been starting to look at the subject of the spiritual disciplines using material by R.C. Sproul and we've also been continuing our series through on Satan's strategies to cause us to sin or to draw us away from the spiritual disciplines. But in this time of not being able to meet together, I wanted to use some material that I've used before that I thought I'd be able to adapt to this particular kind of setting. So we're going to be looking over the next few weeks at the subject of humility and of pride. and really looking at why humility is important as a prerequisite for honour. And really to think through the issues that are common to us all in a temptation to pride and away from humility and how that is contrary to the way of Jesus Christ. And as we begin, I want to read a few verses from Daniel chapters four and five Reading from Daniel chapter four, verses 30 through 37, we're thinking about the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the dream that he had received in which he had been warned of his humiliation. And we're told in verse 30 that the king said, is not this great Babylon which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? While the words were still in the King's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you and shall be given from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will. Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles' feathers, and his nails were like birds' claws. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honoured him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or say to him, What have you done? At the same time my reason returns to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and splendour returned to me. My counsellors and my lords sought me, and I was established in my kingdom, and still more greatness was added to me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, for all his works are right, and his ways are just, and those who walk in pride he is able to humble. And a while later, we read in chapter five and verses 18 through 22 concerning a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar, the King Belshazzar. O King, the most high God gave to Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive. Whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind, and set over it whom he will. And you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this. Well, there are two instances of men who were full of pride, and the one was taught humility by the mercy of God. and the other received the justice of God for this sin that he was engaged in. Now, this sin of pride, as I have said, is a common sin to many people, and it's a sin that we need to grapple with in our own hearts and minds. And as we follow this series through, I'm really taking as my text, if I have a text at all, the passage in 1 Peter chapter 5 and verses 5 through 6, where Peter writes, Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you." So it's this thought of the exaltation that comes with humility and the judgment that comes against pride that occupies us. And this evening, we're going to be setting the scene and considering the problem of pride. what it is and how it affects us. And then over the next three sessions, we'll be thinking about how we display humility. I want to introduce to you what humility is, why it's important, and to focus in on what humility looked like in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in the third session, we'll be looking at how we are to be humble before God And then how we are to be humble before others will move on in the next set of three sessions to consider how we are to develop humility, we find that we are. made humble by the renewing of our minds, by thinking the right thoughts, by having the Word of God work in our lives, and it produces the fruit of humility. And then we're taught humility also by God through providence, through his dealings with us in which he refines us and humbles us. And we are also to engage in self-discipline as we produce this fruit of humility in our lives. There's the purposeful application of what we know concerning the Word of God and the ways of God. And then we'll conclude, Lord willing, with a final session. in which we will consider the relationship between humility and honor. So that's where we're going in these studies over the next eight weeks or so. And hopefully, before we come to the end of this series, our circumstances will have changed and we will be able to meet face to face. But in this first session then, we're considering the problem of pride, And you may think, well, I'm not so sure that this is really a problem. And maybe it isn't a particular problem for you, but it has been a problem for many people. Let's consider some quotations from saints who have gone before us. George Swinnock, a Puritan, said, pride is the shirt of the soul put on first and put off last. Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian, said, Another Puritan, Richard Mayo, said, Robert Murray McShane, famous for the saying that he preached as a dying man to dying men, said, I know I am proud, and yet I do not know the half of that pride. Martin Luther, who needs no introduction, said, I am more afraid of Pope self than of the Pope in Rome and all his cardinals. And another of the Puritans, Henry Martin, said, Men frequently admire me, and I'm pleased, But I abhor the pleasure I feel. And Cotton Mather said, I endeavoured to take a view of my pride as the very image of the devil, contrary to the image and grace of Christ, as an offence against God and grieving of his spirit, as the most unreasonable folly and madness for one who had nothing singularly excellent and who had a nature so corrupt. And finally, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, that demon of pride was born with us and it will not die one hour before us. It is so woven into the very warp and woof of our nature that till we are wrapped in our winding sheets, we shall never hear the last of it. And so you see that Through the ages of history, people have struggled with pride. In the Old Testament, in the New Testament, in the period of the Reformation down to our present day, pride has been a constant companion. of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it has been a constant battle to keep on top of its influence and its effects in our lives. Well, why is pride such a bad thing? Why is it that pride is to be considered an evil that is to be put to death? Well, I want to give you six reasons why pride is a bad thing. And the first of those reasons is that it is because of God's attitude toward the proud. God looks upon the proud as they really are, as those who are elevating themselves above their condition, as sinners before him. In Proverbs chapter 16 and in verse 5, the compiler of the Proverbs says, Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured, he will not go unpunished. So there, the writer of Proverbs makes it very clear how the Lord views those who are arrogant or prideful. They are an abomination to Him. And they're an abomination to Him because they're not considering their lives soberly and seriously. They're thinking more of themselves than they ought to think. to use the words of the apostle. And in doing so, they set themselves in opposition to God, who says that there is nothing good in us and that every good thing comes from Him. And so as we become proudful and boastful and arrogant, we are actually stealing from God the thanks and the praise and the glory that is due to Him. In two New Testament passages, one of which we already read from 1 Peter 5 and verse 5, and then in James 4 and verse 6, the same quotation is given. James says, God gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And Peter has said, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And so what Peter and James are saying is that those who are full of pride are at war with God and they cannot expect a blessing from God, that he is opposed to them, he is acting against them. Whereas the humble receive his grace, they receive his blessing, they receive his help rather than his opposition. So pride is a bad thing because of God's attitude towards the proud. He is working against the proud. He is working for the humble. Now a second reason why pride is a bad thing is because we have nothing of which to be proud. And I've already hinted at that as I've spoken to you of the reality of pride. But we have nothing to be proud of. Anything that we have that is good and praiseworthy, we have received from the Lord God. And it is not something that we can attribute to our own wisdom. or our own goodness. And the reason then why we ought to be humble rather than to be prideful is because we've got nothing to be proud of. In the book of Isaiah, in the 40th chapter Isaiah writes, it is he, the Lord, who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. The writer there is telling us the greatness of God. And the greatest of men are in his hands. And it is he who controls their destiny. And everything that they have has come from him and is to be attributed to him. For who sees anything different in you? Asks the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 7. What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? You see, everything that we have comes from God. Every gift comes from God. Every grace comes from God. Every act of goodness has been worked in us of God. And there is nothing then of which to be proud in our own selves. So pride is a bad thing. because as we glory in our achievements we are stealing glory from God rather than acknowledging God's hand in our lives and giving glory to Him. A third reason why pride is a bad thing is because of what pride produces. There are many fruits that come out of pride. And in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 11 through 14, we discern one of these fruits. There it says, take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. that Moses is warning the people of Israel before they enter the Promised Land, that they need to take care that they don't become proud in what they have, in the possessions that they have, in the homes that they have, in the land that they have, in their crops, in their herds. They are Not to think that these are things that they have gained by their own strategy, by their own power, by their own achievement. These are things that God is going to give them. But pride will rise up in their hearts. and caused them to forget the God who delivered them from slavery, to forget the God who brought them into the promised land, to forget the God who has given them all of these things. And in forgetting God, they will forget his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which were to guide them and to govern them and lead them in a way of righteousness. So pride produces this fruit of forgetfulness, forgetfulness of God and what we owe to God. Pride also produces the fruit of ingratitude towards God. Hezekiah experienced this fruit of ingratitude. It's recorded for us in 2 Chronicles, chapter 32, and in verses 24 and 25, we're told that in those days, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And he prayed to the Lord, and he answered him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefits done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. Hezekiah was sick. He cried out to God. The Lord answered him and gave him years of life again. But he did not return according to the benefit done to him. In other words, he didn't acknowledge God. He didn't glorify God. He didn't give thanks to God. He used his life that God had restored to him for himself. And as a result, judgment came upon him. Because the fruit of pride is ingratitude towards God, a failure to acknowledge God and to give thanks to him. Another fruit of pride is foolishness in our choices. One who is wise, the writer of Proverbs says in chapter 14 and verse 16, the one who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil. But a fool is reckless and careless. Now, in Proverbs chapter 14 and verse 16, there is no mention of pride or humility, and yet wisdom and folly are bound up in the thought of Proverbs with pride and humility. And so in Proverbs 11 and verse 2, when pride comes, then comes disgrace. But with the humble is wisdom. And so the wise make good choices and the foolish make bad choices. The humble will make good choices. The proudful will make bad choices. Choices that turn them away from ways of righteousness and the glory of God into selfishness and the glory of themselves. We can turn also to 2 Chronicles chapter 26 to the King Uzziah. And we're told in verses 14 through 16 that Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows and stones for slinging. In Jerusalem, he made machines invented by skillful men to be on the towers and the corners to shoot arrows and great stones. and his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud to his destruction, for he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. And so we see that pride has another fruit, it produces the fruit of wickedness. It produces the fruit of arrogance by which people not only are ungrateful towards God, not only are forgetful of God, not only are they foolish in their choices, but they set themselves up above God. He went in to the altar of incense, to burn incense on the altar of God, and yet this was illegal for him. It was unlawful for him to do that. It was only those of the tribe of Levi, only those of the house of Aaron, who were entitled to go into the house of the Lord and to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Uzziah took this upon himself. He decided that this was a task that he could be engaged in and he ignored God. He saw himself as wiser than God and did not bow to the law of God. It produces wickedness in our lives. And not only does it produce wickedness towards God, around us as well, ill will towards others. In Psalm 31 and verse 18, the psalmist says, let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt. And the writer of Proverbs in chapter 11 and verse 12 says, whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remain silent. So we see that pride produces this fruit of ill will towards others. We think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think and we think of ourselves as superior to those around us and we treat them with disrespect because of that. So pride is a bad thing because of the many different kinds of fruit that it produces in our lives both towards God and towards those around us. A fourth reason why pride is a bad thing is because consequences of pride? Well, there are many consequences of pride, but Psalm 31 and verse 18 tells us that the lying lips should be mute against the righteous in pride. Sorry, I'm reading the wrong text. Psalm 31, verse 23. Love the Lord, all you his saints. The Lord preserves the faithful, but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. You see that there are consequences that come with pride. Not only the fruit that it produces in our own hearts and lives towards God and towards others, but it produces consequences in that it brings the judgment of God upon us. The Lord will respond. The Lord will repay those who act in pride. those who produce the fruit of pride will be judged by the Lord. We all know the proverb found in chapter 16 and verse 18, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. This is a A proverb that is known by people who don't even know that it comes out of the Bible. It's such a reality in life, isn't it? Pride goes before destruction. before a fall. And the truth of that is that for those who live lives of pride and haughtiness, whether or not they experience destruction and a fall in this life, they will one day confront the God against whom they have sinned in arrogance and pride. And they will be judged for that. So pride is a bad And then fifthly, pride is a bad thing, because it is characteristic of the wicked. It is a characteristic that belongs to the wicked. It not only produces the fruit of wickedness in our lives, but it puts us in the company of the wicked. And Mark chapter 7 verses 20 to 23 so eloquently speaks of this. Jesus said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting. Wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and they defile a person. And so there we have pride set alongside murder. Pride set alongside sexual immorality and wickedness. This is the kind of company that pride keeps. And because it keeps this company, we see it set in this array of wickedness. This is the characteristic of pride, to bring us into the company of the wicked. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 2 through 5, and he said, People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people. And again, Paul gives us this catalogue of sins. And pride is right there in the midst of it all. So pride is a bad thing because it's a characteristic of those who are wicked and come under God's condemnation. And then finally, pride is a bad thing because it is contrary to the image of Christ. It is not fitting for one who bears the name Christian to have this character in them. Matthew 21 and verse 5 says, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, on the foal of a beast of burden. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, and the kind of man that he was, a man of humility, though he was a king, Though he was the king of kings and lord of lords, though he was the creator of the heavens and the earth, though he had enjoyed the praises of the angels in heaven, he humbled himself and came into this world. And he lived through this world, not seeking to present himself in a position of power and of authority, but presenting himself as a servant to all. And even as he came in to the praises of the people into the city of Jerusalem, he came humble. He came on a donkey, on a beast of burden. And this is the hallmark of the life of Jesus Christ, is it not? And this ought to be the hallmark of every follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is called to bear the image of Christ in their own person. Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 2, verses 6 through 8, that though Christ was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And it is this image of Christ that is to be born in the lives of the followers of Christ. And this is why pride is such a bad thing. It is contrary to the image that we are to bear in this world. Well, that's all I wanted to say this evening with regard to pride. We'll start looking next time at the subject of humility and seek to grow in our knowledge of what humility is and in our ability to put pride to death in our hearts and to clothe ourselves with this characteristic of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.