Obadiah chapter 1, there is only one chapter, verses 1-9 for a sermon I've entitled, The Pride of Man and the Power of God. I'm going to read from the NIV and here's what it says. I flipped over a couple pages. I did memorize it, so there we go. Work with me here. You have to fill in the gaps that I leave. Those of you who have done my Bible studies know that. Alright, here's what it says in chapter 1, starting with verse 1. It says, The Vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom. We've heard a message from the Lord. An envoy was sent to the nation saying, rise up and let us go against her for battle. See, I will make you small among the nations. You will be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rock, and make your home on the heights, who say to yourself, who can bring me down to the ground? But when you soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. If thieves had come to you, if robbers in the night, oh what a disaster awaits you, would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? But how Esau will be ransacked, how his hidden treasures pillaged, all your allies will force you to the border. Your friends will deceive and overpower you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it. And that day, declares the Lord, will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your warriors, O temen, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau's mountains will be cut down. in the slaughter. On 9-15, February 27, 1933, a Berlin fire station received a call stating that the Reichstag, that is the German parliament, was going up in flames. Though the Nazis may not have been responsible for it, Hitler, who was then chancellor, used the event to consolidate his power. He had the German president, von Hindenburg, declare martial law and place Hitler himself in temporary charge of the nation. And yet in the next month, Hitler, through fear and intimidation and threat, convinced a majority of the members of the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act, which gave him the right to rule as dictator. The work of transforming Germany into the Third Reich, which means reign, which he claimed would last for a thousand years, had begun. The goal was German domination of Europe, the elimination of the Jews, and the subjugation of inferior people to the East, like Russia. It was a plan that had been clearly laid out by Hitler as he wrote it in his cell, the book entitled Mein Kampf. Influenced by the writings of Darwin and Nietzsche and a mystic named Chamberlain, Hitler believed in the supremacy of the Aryan race. blonde-haired, blue-eyed Nordic people he believed were physically and mentally superior to all others. And that's why Hitler was incensed when Jesse Owen won the gold medal over a German. He simply refused to shake the black man's hand. Now many still wonder how it is that a man who proved to be so evil had such support among the people. Historians point out to the fact that at that time Germany was experiencing among its population a lot of resentment and discontent. and Hitler exploited this. It was a time of hyperinflation. It really is true that it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. Unemployment was sky high and there was much resentment over the peace terms that were imposed upon them after the First World War. And another popular belief that was spread among the people were that the Jews were the ones responsible. They had stabbed Germany in the back as it were. Hitler spoke often of this and he promised that he would make change and many believed that he alone could do it. You know that on one occasion he was introduced as Germany's young messiah. Now I think The rise of Hitler to power had much to do with his appeal to German pride. The sense that Germans were the master race destined to rule fed the ego of many young boys who would make up the ranks of the army and the dreaded SS. What is pride? Well, it's that sense of self-importance, that lifting up of a person, people, or nation that makes us smug and self-confident, feeling we don't need God. It's the most primal of sins. It's the sin that caused Lucifer to become Satan. Adam and Eve to fall in the garden. It's the sin that we always see in others and very seldom see in ourselves. And it's the sin that brings the judgment of God. For the Bible says that God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Well, that's what Obadiah is all about. It's an announcement of judgment against Edom, the descendants of Esau. This neighbor of Israel had taken advantage of God's people during a time of national calamity for Israel, and they remained unrepentant and unconcerned about God's judgment, convinced they were safe, trusting in their own resources and abilities. And while this book has to do with a specific people at a specific time, people that no longer exist, the principles and truths found here apply to any nation or person who trust in themselves rather than God. For all who do will find that the pride of man is no match for the power of God." And so today as we start this new book, and we're going to take two weeks in, we want to look to this God of power to ask and open up our hearts and to fill us with his thoughts. Our Father, I do pray for grace and mercy and I pray that you would use your Holy Spirit to prepare us for your word and then transform us by it. Thank you for the truth of your word. Thank you that though it was written hundreds and hundreds and even thousands of years ago, the truth doesn't change. So give us grace and help. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. A little history and geography might help to understand this book that we have before us. As I mentioned before, the people of Edom were descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. You recall that Rebecca was pregnant and she felt something wasn't quite right. Now, women feel the baby kick inside of them. Occasionally, they say to their husbands, feel this? Baby kicks and all that. Well, she felt not one baby kicking, not two babies kicking, but babies kicking and fighting inside her. A real turmoil. Hardly sleep at night. And so she inquired of God what this was all about. And the answer came back to her. Two nations are in your womb. and two peoples within you will be separated. One will be stronger than the other and the older will serve the younger. Now you remember Esau was born first and he was red and all hairy. By the way, that's where they get the name Edom from. Edom, or Adam, means red. And so it was a nickname for him. Of course, Jacob came out afterwards grasping the heel of his brother. That's why he was called Jacob. And you know the story. Despite the fact that Esau was the firstborn and the oldest entitled to the birthright, God in his sovereign plan had Esau sell his birthright to Jacob. And then later Jacob tricked his father Isaac into giving him the blessing instead of Esau. And this rivalry between two brothers really became antagonism between two nations, between Israel and Edom. And you may recall when we were studying through Exodus, when the people came out of the land of Egypt being delivered, they wanted to pass through the land of Edom. And they reminded him, you know, we're brothers in a sense, you know, relatives. They said, we want to pass through, we'll stay on the highway, we won't steal anything from anyone, we'll pay even for our water. And yet, the Edomites refused passage through their land. Later on, David conquered the Edomites, and they were subjugated to Israel, both under his reign and that of Solomon's. And then after that, they were able to break away. Well, the land itself was rocky and mostly desert. but it was easily defended and it received a fair amount of money from the trade route that passed through it. The people were known for their wisdom and they were self-reliant and they were sharp. The first thing I see in this text as we look at it is a declaration of war. Verses 1-2, listen to what it says. This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom. We've heard a message from the Lord, an envoy was sent to the nations to say, rise up and let us go against her for battle. See, I will make you small among the nations, you'll be utterly despised. When I was living in Flalin, I would walk around the block about three and a half miles, and on one occasion when I did, there was a young man who was re-insulating his house on Highway 70, and as I walked up to see what he was doing, he was tearing out old newspapers from the wall. And I saw that, I thought it was interesting, I picked one up, and the one that I picked up was a newspaper from 1935, October of 35, and the headline said, Italy attacks Ethiopia. That was interesting. I remember when I first picked that up thinking two things. First of all, I thought it was odd that it was a colored newspaper in 1935. I thought that came with USA Today in the 80s. And the other thing I remember thinking was, I wonder how many people, when they read this paper, realized how much more was yet to come. That was a time of war and rumors of wars, wasn't it? Here there was a declaration of war against Edom, not ultimately from Egypt or Babylon or Syria, but from God. God himself is against Edom. It's God who aroused the nations against Edom. It's he who puts it in their heart to say, rise up, let us go against her for battle. Here's the first megatruth that comes out of this. God is absolutely sovereign over the affairs of nations and individuals. God is absolutely sovereign over the affairs of nations and individuals. The invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the rise of China, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Bin Laden, Putin, Castro and Bush, it says in Daniel 4, all the people of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does what he pleases with the powers of heaven and the people of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say, what have you done? All things move by his unseen plan, whether it's the collapse of a bridge or a parasite in the stomach of a honeybee. As it says in the Westminster Confession, quote, God, the great creator of all things, does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things from the greatest even to the least. And folks, that's good to know in a time of national or personal calamity, isn't it? He's in control of your marriage, your health, your children's future, your finances, all things that concern you and keep you up at night. And our confidence as Christians is in his promises. Promises like, I will never leave you or forsake you. Therefore, I can say, what is man that I should fear him? Promises that say, and we know that God causes all things to work for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. If you're trusting Christ tonight, what I'm telling you is sleep well. He's still on the throne. If you're running from God or thumbing your nose at God, I would say tremble, fool, for how can you escape an all-seeing, all-powerful God? No one is outside of His sovereign control. No one can escape his judgment. The nations will rise up and go against her for battle. God says, I will make you small among the nations. You'll be utterly destroyed. But Edom was blind to all of this, and she thought she could escape. And that's what we find next in the text. A denunciation of their pride in verses 3 to 5. Pride. That center of sin. That core of corruption. That attitude of arrogance. That self-conceit that makes us most like the devil. Do you remember what was said of Lucifer before he fell, or as he fell and became Satan? It says in Isaiah 14, 12-15, how you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the dawn. How you've been cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low. You said in your heart, I will ascend to the heaven. above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north. I will ascend above the clouds. I will make myself like the most high, but you shall be brought down to shield the depths of the pit." You see, the idea of being high and lifted up above the stars, above the clouds, is often used as a metaphor of pride in the creature, whether demons or men. Look what God says about Edom and their self-conceit. He says, the pride of your heart has deceived you. You who live in the cliffs of the rocks and make your home in the heights, who say to yourself, who can bring me down to the ground? Now this is where our knowledge of geography comes in helpful. Edom was on the southeast of Israel, in an area with high cliffs and narrow passageways. Like Tibet, they built their cities in the hills. And like Switzerland, the people counted on the mountains as a defense. Suzanne and I and Jeff and Dina were in Switzerland a number of years ago. And because they haven't been involved in wars for hundreds of years, I thought the Swiss people were all pacifists and didn't fight. Well, no, they have a national militia. As a matter of fact, almost everybody has an assault rifle or machine gun in their house. Did you know that? We saw jet fighters landing and taking off while we were there. They have long tunnels, some of them 6, 7, 8 miles long through the mountains and all the tunnels are mined with explosives that can be detonated to seal it off at any given time should the country need it for national defense. The mountains are a national defense for Switzerland and they've known years of unbroken peace and it's become a banking center for the world. One of the wealthiest countries on earth. And that's the way it was for Edom. It was not a great farming country, but it had money made from the trade routes charging tariffs for all the goods that passed through. They literally made their houses in the cliffs. Up on high, they would dig caves in them. In an area what is known as Petra today, there's a narrow passageway. It's not much narrower than the opening of this side of the room. And they said that 12 men, archers, sitting up in the top of these cliffs could hold off a whole army because there was only one short way that you could get through there. But what does God say about their impregnable defenses? He says, though you soar like an eagle, though you make your nest among the stars, from there I'm going to bring you down. God is saying, no matter how high you go, I will bring you down. No matter how strong your defense is, I will shut it. And those of you who know something about history, what about Babylon? Babylon the Great, the ancient empire city. Do you know the walls in Babylon were so large, they were a hundred feet high. And they were so wide and so solid, they said four chariots could run abreast, racing around the top of them. How in the world could you attack a city like that? How could you, whatever offensive weapons you use, how could you take, you know what they did? The Persians simply diverted the water that ran through underneath the city and then went through on the riverbed. They opened up the gates and flooded in and Babylon fell in a night. What about Persia, the country who replaced Babylon? They had 300,000 soldiers and yet they were routed by 30,000 soldiers of Alexander the Great. Rome, a city that lasted for almost 1,000 years, fell to the barbarians. Constantinople, a remaining part of the Roman Empire in the East, fell to the Muslims. The Spanish Armada, a large fleet that was sent against England, and if England had lost, England probably would have become Catholic, and we would be having a different faith most likely even right now. As they came up against the smaller British Navy, and they were better armed ships, and the wind came up and blew a good portion of those ships into the Irish coast. They foundered and were destroyed on the rocks. Just the shifting of the wind caused a turn in the battle. How about the French with Imagine All Ine? After the First World War, they were determined Germany was never going to invade again, so they built a defensive perimeter around one side of their country, almost the whole of the country. And it cost them massive amounts of money. They had underground restaurants and gyms and everything else, because they were used to tunnel warfare. And this was the ultimate, this was going to stop them. The Germans simply went around it. And the Maginot Line meant nothing. What about the Germans? At one time, Hitler proclaimed that Stalingrad was almost completely taken. Oh, there were a few pockets that we have to take yet, but it's pretty much done. Well, it was only a few months after that that the 6th Army under von Paulen, I believe it was, simply surrendered. 90,000 men left of about 800,000. What about Japan after World War II? Or at the end of it, two bombs and it was over, wasn't it? Sometimes it happens to individuals. Mussolini hanging upside down from a balcony next to his wife. Hitler shot himself in a bunker. Saddam Hussein ends his life swinging from a rope. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. How foolish it is to place our confidence and our security in ourselves and our own devices. And how thorough will their destruction be? What does God tell them? God says, if thieves had come to you, if robbers came at night, oh, what a disaster awaits you. He jumps right in the middle and says, oh, it's going to be such a disaster. He said, would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? But oh, how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged. Burglars don't take everything. When they come, they don't have time. Grape pickers leave some behind, at least the ones that aren't ripe. But Edom will come and find that God has stripped them bare and left them with nothing. Maybe a few illustrations that are more pertinent to our time. If the stock market collapses, do you lose every single penny? If a tornado comes to a town, is every house destroyed? If a fox gets into the chicken coop, he doesn't eat every single chicken. By the way, that's the difference between a weasel and a fox. A weasel will kill just about everything in there. Take a little bit of blood out of their neck and leave them. That's why they're called weasels, because they're weasels. If the Packers have a bad season, does that mean every game is going to be a blowout? We can only hope. And we can only hope. But that's dealing with markets and tornadoes and foxes and opposing teams. Here God, here Edom is dealing with God. And the Bible says it's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Why does God hate pride so much? Why does He hate it in nations and individuals, nationalities? Why does He hate it in you and in me? Well, it's because in pride we're denying that we're creatures dependent on our Creator. That rather than we, He is the final determiner. That's why James said it this way. He said, come now, those of you who say today or tomorrow will go to such and such a city, stay there a year, make a profit. You don't want your life to be like tomorrow. You're just a vapor that appears for a while and then vanishes. Instead, what you ought to say is, if it's God's will, we will live. And do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil. What I'm telling you is this. Yeah, talk about building your house. Plan on going to college, getting married, having kids, starting a career. But know that it's God's will that will come to pass. And your plans will only come to pass if they fit in with God's ultimately wills for you. It's God who determines whether you live another day or not. You may not. You may not. And it's He who determines whether your dreams come true. And our safety can only be found in Him. We're dependent on Him, and to fail to acknowledge this shows both our ignorance and our arrogance. But how prone we are to trust in everything and anything but God. You know, it's really hard to trust in God when you've got $600,000 in your 401k. Which leads to the third thing that's mentioned in the text. The last thing is the failure of those things in which they trusted. That's verses 6 to 9. 6 to 9. People or nations can trust in many things. You can trust in your money. Your wisdom, your leaders, your army, your technology, your intelligence. Edom had four things that we see in this text that it trusted in. First of all, it trusted in their natural defenses. I mentioned that already, the mountains. I mentioned the fact that like Switzerland, they lived among the mountains. But you know, we in the United States have been blessed by our geography as well, haven't we? Not only in having good crops because we live in a temperate climate where you can work hard. If you live where it's 110 degrees, you don't put in 10 hours outside. But also the fact that we're far away from Europe and a lot of the places where the wars have gone on. I mean, other than the Civil War and the Revolution, there hasn't been battles fought on our soil the way there has in other countries. But you know what? Someday we could have a country invade. Someday there could be a Chinese military base stationed in Minneapolis. There could be tanks rolling down Highway 70. You say, well that seems far-fetched. No more far-fetched than the idea that Rome could fall. Second thing that they relied on was their political alliances. Being a small nation, he made treaties with more powerful kingdoms, Egypt and Assyria and Babylon. That's like a mouse making an agreement with a cat to eat the other mice. Eventually he's going to have them done and you're going to start looking pretty tasty to him. Nations give their word, but nations break their words. Today's allies might be tomorrow's enemies. The Soviet Union signed an agreement with the Nazis only to find the Nazis attacking them just a couple years later. The US considers Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt as allies, and yet all three of them support terrorism against the United States. God says of Edom, Edom's trust in her allies, it says this in verse 7, all your allies will force you to the borders, in other words, they'll chase you out of your own country. Your friends will deceive and overpower you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you won't detect it. The third thing that they trusted in was human wisdom. Now, different ethnic groups and nations pride themselves in different characteristics of their people. Americans with their can-do attitude. Americans never face a problem that they don't think they can fix. All right, we can go in there and fix that. Yeah, we can fix that. The Germans with their discipline and their precision. They're an octoon society. The Japanese for their cooperation and innovation. The French for their cooking and romance. The Arab, their great pride in poetry. Edomites were like the Greeks. They prided themselves on their wisdom. They were the wise men of the east that the Bible speaks of. Job's counselors were from Edom. They were the ones of whom Solomon was compared to. But God says, in that day, declares the Lord, will I not destroy the wise men from Edom and men of understanding from the mountains of Esau? There isn't going to be anyone smart enough when God's judgment comes to find a way out of the dilemma. There won't be any answers from the think tank, and there won't be any smart ideas from the top political advisors. And folks, here's what I'm telling you, and this is the second truth you can find in this. God often brings judgment on nations by withholding wisdom from its leaders. God often brings judgment on nations by withholding wisdom from its leaders. I remember George Bush Sr. in an interview after the first Iraq war. He said, boy, we were facing a lot of issues. And one of the big ones was the fact that there was a lot of Americans in Iraq, and Saddam Hussein had threatened to make them human shields. He said, if we had done that, there's no way we could have bombed with Americans there. He said, but inexplicably, he just let them all go. He said, he kept doing one thing after another, just making, he said, me and my advisors would talk, we couldn't believe the decisions he was making. He said, it was almost like there was some force behind it. Or some person. Can't God hold with, Wisdom from the leaders of our country for judgment? Perhaps that's what's already happening. How wise was it to think that a democracy could be established in a Muslim nation? Are there any Muslim nations with real freedom? Now they want to pull out. What will happen then? Maybe that will be even more foolish than invading in the first place. What about the lack of wisdom a nation has in its finances? A debt level that will someday sink our economy and destroy our nation. There is no doubt about it. And yet what? Our leaders continue to promise a car in every garage and a chicken in every pot. They spend like drunken sailors after payday. Fourth thing that the Edomites trusted was their military strength. When Prime Minister Chamberlain of England saw the rise of the Nazis and the growth of the German military, he said, thank God for the French Army. But what happened to the French? They laid down and died after two weeks. They didn't last long. Nations should have armies, but can they save you without God's blessing? God said in verse 90, He said, Your warriors, O Teman, that's a city in Edom, will be terrified. In other words, when the time of battle comes, they're going to run. And everyone on Esau's mountain will be cut down. Failed defenses, failed alliances, failed wisdom, failed military. Whenever we arrogantly rely on ourselves, we find defeat in the end. When all these things should probably take place, security has to be sought, precautions taken, and the final analysis, folks, it's only God who can make you secure. Nobody else. I mean, how can we as a nation continue to sin, mock God's laws, and systematically exclude Him from every area of culture, and then expect His blessing upon our nation? How can you as a family or an individual be safe if you trust in your own abilities, your bank account, or your intelligence, or, or, or, or? The Bible says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and they are safe. The Bible says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. Are you doing that? What I'm asking, what are you facing today? What challenges? Challenging your family? About ready to fall apart. Challenge with your finances? They're calling, they want the bills paid. Your health? Many are facing that. Relationships? Fear about jobs? The economy? What are you trusting to get through those challenges? Are you acknowledging them in all your ways? With your time? With your energy. You know, sometimes we just go home, flop on the couch and watch TV because we're just so worn out from life. Do you show that you're acknowledging Him by obeying Him when you know there's something He wants you to do? By reading His Word, praying, asking for help? If you are, then what I'm telling you is God will make your path straight, so whatever comes into your life. You're still going to have problems, but God will guide you through them and you'll grow because of them. If, on the other hand, you haven't acknowledged Him as Lord and Savior of your life, as the one who has the right to run things as He sees fit, if you're one who's trusting in your own goodness and intelligence or abilities or resources, you'll find those things will fail. And if you continue in your own stubborn, prideful way, you'll find that someday He will take you down and you will have nothing left. God is the only one you can trust. All others are going to fail you. Christ is the only way to God. His cross is the only means to be made right with God. If you're trusting in something other than that, you'll find in the end that your wisdom has failed, your defenses have crumbled. The Bible says, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. It says, call upon the Lord in the day of trouble. Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will rescue you and you shall glorify me. See, God's greatness is shown when he works on behalf of those who call on him for help. It's not the pride of men, but it's the power of God that we need. One of the greatest kings of all time for France was Louis XIV, who's known as the Sun King. I believe his reign spanned some 70 years. Engaged in three wars, of which he was successful, he increased the wealth of the nation. Spent massive amounts, including on the palace in Versailles, which if you ever get a chance to go there, oh, beautiful. I think he's his king. I may have the wrong Louis, but I know the story of his death is true. When it came time to die, he had planned off his own funeral. He had the cathedral lights down. It wasn't lit with candles. One solitary candle was sitting on his casket. The bishop got up and gave his homily. People said all the great things about the king. When it was all done, the bishop looked down at everyone and finished his prayer. As he walked out, he went, and he said, God alone is great. It's not your resources, it's not your abilities, it's not our nation's power, or it's tanks, or it's planes, or nuclear bombs. It's only God who can bring security into your life. And those who oppose him, he will bring down someday. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they will come down. You want to be on the right side. You want to be one who trusts God. May God give you the grace and the mercy because nobody but He can. I will close with a word of prayer. Father, you alone are great. You are the true King. You are our strong tower. But living as Americans, we've learned to become self-reliant. We're a proud people, probably more so than most. We have a can-do attitude, but we also have a think-we-can attitude. And that needs to give way to trust in you. As a nation, we haven't trusted in you. That's fallen by the wayside. Now we trust in everything but you. And as individuals, even in the church quite often, we feel more secure in the events of life, or our resources, our own abilities, than we do in promises that have been given by you. You alone can watch over us. You alone can give us grace and mercy. I pray, Father, that you'd show kindness and grace to your people and that you would be a strong tower to us. Help us to trust you. Help us to turn from all of our sins and help us to live in such a way that we acknowledge that you are God and Lord of our lives. For us these things now in Christ's name. Amen. We'll just stand and we'll close by singing a song. We have plenty of time out there.