As we look in Isaiah 14, look at verse 12. 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 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. Yet thou shalt 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 lying glory, everyone in his own house. Thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch. And as the raiment of those that are slain thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit as a carcass trodden on defeat. Father, add your blessing to the reading of your word. Cleanse me of sin, empty me of self and fill me with your spirit. Make a difference in the preach word as you have done so many times. And I pray just another time tonight, would you do it again? Until we meet again in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you for standing. In context, Isaiah is referring to Judah being conquered by Babylon. If you know the story, The nation of Israel was divided. This is after the reign of Solomon. We understand that there are two kingdoms, the Northern and Southern. The Northern made up of 10 tribes, the Southern made up of two tribes. Each kingdom was taken into captivity by two different groups. The Northern kingdom by Syria, the Southern by Babylon. God, hear me now, used the heathen to teach his people a lesson. Corinthians says the things that are of the Old Testament are written for our learning. So let's take something and borrow it for our learning. God can take somebody that does not belong to him. By the way, everything in the world is God's, but I'm talking to belong to him by birth through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. God can take someone that does not belong to him and use him to punish someone that does belong to him. So sometimes you are getting mad at your enemies and telling God to deal with them and truth be told what they are doing to you came from God. So Babylon was raised up and allowed by God to punish Don't think that the despots and the reign and rule of the Babylonian Empire slipped through the cracks of God's security system and somehow Nebuchadnezzar in all of his innovative techniques and strategy managed to get God's people while God was not watching. It is not so. The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good and nobody will ever break through God's infrastructure unless he willingly allows them to do so. So Babylon is a tool of God, if you would, used by him to deal with his people. And by the way, had Judah obeyed God, Babylon would have never ruled in power. But because God's people did not follow the leadership of God, They did not support and serve the governing of God. God had to punish sin, and he still is governed by the same premise, by the same law, by the same modus operandi, and still today, years and years later, you cannot sin and expect a holy God to turn his eye to it, to turn his ear from it, or to revoke his justice accordingly. Listen to me, if God is a God who is holy, he thereby must and shall judge sin. But Isaiah is looking at the reign of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, and Babylon as a whole, and looking past its part in God's providence in judging Israel, looking past that to its demise. And when he saw the demise and really the end of Babylon, he not only saw the fall of a great empire, but simultaneously he saw the fall of Satan. That's the context of this interpretation. In context, he is dealing with a leader whose strong arm is hurting God's people. But in the broader sense, he understands that the evil And the vileness of Babylon did not originate there. It originated in the great leader who influenced Babylon, Satan himself. By the way, this is not in the message, but if you flip over to the end of your Bible, as John the Revelator is speaking of this great Babylonian system, Babylon as a place, as a place of geography, is representative of not just a place, but a system. a system of evil. System of vileness as a matter of fact Babylon is so wicked in heaven I'm sorry so wicked in the eyes of heaven in the book of the revelation that God said their sins had piled all the way up to heaven God had gotten so sick of Babylon's sin and by the way when you think that God is not watching just remember he's always watching and at the exact moment in time when his judgment needs to be meted out he will and he Shell and by the way, this is free too since your minds are wondering about it just because Mankind can bypass the judgment of man He cannot bypass the judgment of God and there is always a day with every man woman boy girl must face their maker God needs no jury to speak for him. He speaks for himself What is Isaiah look forward to the fall, if you would, of Babylon. He gives us a couple verses and he mirrors, he mirrors the gross similarities, if you would, and the very vivid imagery between Babylon and Satan. Did you hear me? Babylon and Satan. By the way, Any system in today's society that is represented by evil can trace its roots back to the devil. And as he mirrors Babylon and Satan, he asked the question, how art thou fallen from heaven Oh, Lucifer. Would you flip over a couple major prophets, if you would, to Ezekiel's prophecy? And glance briefly, if you would, at the beauty of Lucifer. Illustrious and perfect in beauty. choice the creation of God is He ever made Except for man himself Heal us up to some full of wisdom 12 we're closing perfect and beauty Closing verse 12 not closing the message 13 that's been an Eden in the Garden of God. Every precious stone was not covering The most brilliant stones that God created were what comprised the makeup of Lucifer. Sardius topaz diamond barrel onyx jasper sapphire emerald carbuncle gold the workmanship of our tablets and of that pipes Was prepared in thee in the day that thou has created and since I'm in the mood of giving out free stuff Let me give you something else Lucifer is created with tablets and pipes. It gives me the idea He was created literally as a musical instrument and it should not wow us or surprise us that one of his biggest Media to influence mankind is music pipes and tabards, stones and brilliance, a glow and a luster unlike any angel. He had it all, yet he still didn't have enough. How art thou cast down, baptized in 14? How art thou fallen, O Lucifer? How could somebody, king of Babylon, how could somebody, rulers with great army, how could somebody in the greatness of such a illustrious rule, how could somebody go from the pinnacle of greatness to the very pinnacle Hell, how is it possible for someone to be at the top and at the bottom in a matter of moments? And there's only one way that's possible and it's pride The sin that started it all Beloved It is the very seed of pride that Lucifer sowed into the mind of Eve that plunged you and me into sin. It began in heaven, Lucifer with everything he could have ever wanted, yet still not enough. As we look at these brief verses in Isaiah 14, I'd like to give you three principles about pride tonight. The sin that started it all. If you have pride, this will be you. And if you are you, you better guard yourself against pride. Write down number one, pride is an internal attitude. Pride is an internal attitude. Now hear me now. I've heard many messages on pride. I've heard many messages on Lucifer, Isaiah 14. It seems though, that most of the messages, which we'll focus on in just a moment, are about what Lucifer said, I will ascend, I will exalt, I will ascend. I will ascend, 14, I will be like. And a lot of us look at the story of Lucifer and we say, the problem was that Lucifer looked at God and said, this is what I'm going to do. But if we look very clearly at the story, at the story in the word of God, it is not that Lucifer verbalized these words out loud. It is what Lucifer was articulating inside his heart. Thou has said in mine heart. Please don't overlook every word or any word in scripture. Listen to me. Long before you are ever bragging about who you are out loud, you have already rehearsed it inside your heart. Thou hast said in thy heart, Listen, beloved, pride is always a spiritual matter. It is always a heart issue. It is always an internal problem. And that which is inside will manifest itself outside. Listen, you know what the internal attitude of pride says to me? That pride, when it begins, is always concealed from people. See, I can hear you brag, but truth be told, bragging is an outward outpouring of what is already going on inwardly. Concealed. We think we know everybody that's proud. But truth be told, we don't know whether or not someone is proud because the height of their pride takes place in an area we can't see. Concealed. I said in my heart. I said in my heart. Concealed from people. But watch this now. Consuming the person. No, I don't believe I'm speaking by conjecture, but I'll say this. I get the impression as I read the verses of scripture that I said it on heart that long before Lucifer ever got kicked out, it was building up inside. I don't like this. She said, this ain't fair. I know I got it good, but it ain't good enough. See, what you don't realize is in heaven, he never had to say it out loud. If it was going on in his heart, God was all up in there. See, by the time you and I find out somebody's proud, excuse my grammar, God been new. And sometimes we say to ourselves, I didn't know he was like that. Guess what? God did. See, what happens is you get to watching stuff so long and inside your heart, you complain. Smiling at everybody, but you're complaining inside. Clapping, but you don't really like the person. Amening, but you really don't agree with the message. Shaking the person's hand, but you can't stand them. Had to alter, but you ain't praying about what was preached. And little by little, little by little, it's eating at you. Eating at you. Eating at you. Tabards and pipes, excuse me if you don't agree with me, but it almost gives me the impression that when the angels got together for worship service, Lucifer was leaving. Thou art the anointed cherub. I mean, you're top dog in heaven. But in his heart, top dog isn't enough. starts in your heart. Wait a minute. You know what that says to me? It says to me, it's not enough for me to comfort myself by saying, I'm not a bragger. You never hear me complimenting myself. That doesn't mean you're not proud. It just means you choose to hide it so that you won't be guilty of the accusation. But eventually, Pride is going to make you say something. It's going to make you come out. Have you ever got unloaded on by somebody and responded in something in some way that said, where'd that come from? You ever gotten to a little issue with somebody and sat down to discuss it only to find out that they have a whole file of issues that they've yet to release? And while you're dealing with this one little instance that you thought was a little glitch that was very minor, the person has a whole State of the Union address that they have rehearsed, coerced, prepared without cue cards. And at the drop of a hat, they are ready to unload it on you. Where did that come from? I'll tell you what it did not come from. It did not come from a hidden gift of extemporaneous speaking. It came from somebody who has not spoken out loud, but has on many occasions rehearsed inside. He said in his heart, You know, that means, that means that not every fool is downtown DC standing on top of a picnic bench saying, there is no God, there is no God, there is no God. But a whole slew of fools are sitting in the house saying it in their heart every day. He's not a fool because he's a publicly professing atheist. He's a fool because of what happens in the corridors of his heart that seemingly are off limits to all of us. So understand, first of all, that pride is an insatiable, I'm sorry, internal attitude. Number two, pride is an insatiable, is an insatiable appetite. And insatiable simply means never satisfied. That's what insatiable means. Never get enough. Never get enough. Now watch this, watch this now. If you have a pride problem, mark it down on your calendar. Your pride will never be full. You will never give pride enough so that it says, I'm good. I'm straight. I've had enough. Pride has a bottomless stomach, a never ending appetite. Listen now, when getting something that's good is motivated by an appetite that's bad, it lands in a place that always needs something else. You missed me. When you are on the receiving end of a good thing, but you wanted it for a bad reason. That good thing lands in a bad appetite that always needs something else. And this is why you can give two people the same thing, and one person says, thank you, and the other person says, that's all? I mean, this all you're giving me? Surely this is just the first installment. What's the difference? Pride says, you never pay me enough. Humility says, I don't deserve anything. Insatiable, insatiable. Let me give you these several things underneath here and I'll get through it. Write down number one, entitlement of status. Our New Testament illustration of this is Luke 15. Father, give me. Wait, wait, wait. Here's what pride says. You owe me. You owe me. Church, you owe me. Parents, you owe me. Pastor, you owe me. Friends, you owe me. People who are proud, but sure don't thank you. Because when you give them something, their pride says, exactly. What took you so long? Entitlement of step I I listen now. What are you talking about devil? I'll tell you what I'm talking about. I Will ascend into heaven Watch this now There's only one direction. I'm going when rides driving and that's up So he thinks Going up. Status. Status. Pride. Pride feeds on attention. Pride feeds on prominence. Pride feeds on power. Pride feeds on promotion. And it never sits still until it gets to another plateau only to be busy for the next one. Now hear me. Hear me now. Pastor, give me a pride test. Okay. Thanks for asking. If you find yourself incapable of functioning in a crowd of people, unless you are calling the shots, you have a problem. Hey Lucifer, what's your problem, man? You're the head angel. Yeah, but the problem is even as the head angel, I still got to answer to somebody. I feel like I'm preaching over your head a little bit, so maybe I need to make it more practical. That means if you can't sing loud unless you're singing a solo, you have a pride problem. That means if you can't enjoy preaching unless you're doing the preaching, you have a pride problem. That means if you can't usher unless you're standing in the spot you want, you have a pride problem. That means if you can't work on the committee unless you're recognized, you have a pride problem. Come on now, you say, man, I'm not making up something. I'm telling you what started with the devil. If you want to look like him, that's not wise. Status. What's in it for me? We're gonna work on this committee. Am I in charge? Hey you coming out Well, I'm sitting you ride with me as long as the shotgun it's proper Get in the picture all up in his life Entitlement Hey, daddy, give me my stuff. I'm your son. I'm in your will. Hand it over. Be careful what you ask for, because some stuff that is due to you, you ain't ready for it yet. Amen. Listen, we got a church full of men called to preach, but not never one of you ready to pastor. And we got some godly young ladies in here, but that don't mean you're ready to be white. Pride always wants what's his prematurely, because there's a craving for status. By the way, the antithesis of that type of an attitude is, I know that my throne is in heaven and it's mine, but I'll wait on it for 33 and a half years in order to redeem mankind. Come on now. It's mine, and I'm gonna get there soon enough, but if I've gotta wait for it so that folks that are on their way to hell won't have to go there, it's okay, because salvation of souls means more to me than status of myself. Elevation above the sun, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. Above the mouth of the congregation and the sides of the mountain. Above the heights of clouds. Wherever God is, I'm going above. Now, this is hard for us to fathom that you and I would actually dare to desire to be above God. We cannot We cannot comprehend even the possibility of our thinking that way because frankly, we've never phrased it bluntly. Nobody in here has ever said, I'm going to be above God. I'm going to tell you that right now. By the way, in my opinion, Lucifer never said it either. He just said it in his heart. So just because you've never stood up in a testimony with the microphone on and said, I'm going to be above God one day, doesn't mean that your heart's cry isn't such. You may not say I want to be above God, but you may act that way. Master on that means up. I have my government's gonna be above God my glow is gonna be above God above the clouds in other words What's above the clouds the sun shines above the clouds? I'm gonna glow more than God. I'm gonna govern more than God. I'm going to glory more than God Well, let me ask you question if you've never said that you wanted to be above God. Have you ever stolen something from Him that was His? Have you ever received glory that was God's? Have you ever shined when Jesus supposed to? Have you ever gloated in your accomplishments when it was God that worked within you both to will and to do of His pleasure? Have you ever sought to be in charge of something that God was already in charge of? I'll sit on the throne of you most of the time. The governing passions of pride says, I cannot afford for God to be in charge, for if He is in charge, He gets all the credit. Like the most high, the emphasis on self. I, I, I, I. I will be, notice the word, like. It is always the agenda of Satan to imitate God. Fast-forward again the book of the Revelation and got Satan well aware of the trying God God's father God some holy god the Holy Spirit creates his own unholy Trinity Satan himself the dragon He's in charge the Antichrist picture of Christ and false prophet Perpetrating as the Holy Spirit God's got our Trinity Satan does Here's good worship and here's my worship By the way, let me tell you one of the most innovative uses of pride, false humility. That's when you engage in extra. Extra explanations of how humble you are and thinking that announcing you're humble 17 and a half times Will evade people from discovering that it really is aka pride. Oh No, I don't want to be recognized for what I did as you say it so loud I Recognition self Where's my name Where's my paddle in the back Where's my thank-you call Now wait a minute now Here's where we thought the only proud son was the one that said, give me. And we found out when he came back home that his brother was just as proud as he was at home as his brother was away from home. So watch this now. We thought the rebellious child that left church was the only proud one. And we found out that the boy that stayed at home and went to church was more proud than the one that left. Watch it now, because when his brother came back and got right with God, instead of jumping in on the party and saying, yee-haw, my brother was away from God and he came back home, he got mad because, watch it now, pride says when somebody else is getting clapped for, I start to recall how much lower they clapped when it was for me. They ain't never, they ain't never clapped that long after my song. Why they ain't go to the altar when I preach like that? Watch it now and be careful, even as a pastor. Bring in a guest speaker and folk run to the altar. You say, now I done told them the same thing he told them. Now they up there like, ooh, that was a great message, hush. Who cares why they at the altar, just get them there. recognition, wait a minute, self-righteousness. Now here's what self-righteousness, here's how pride manifests itself through self-righteousness. I'm never wrong. Do you think that Lucifer, that God wouldn't have settled for correcting him if he'd allowed God? I'm out of here. Because I can just basically see you and me cannot work together. Together. Oftentimes it's not a personality issue, it's a pride issue. Let me tell you something. You will hasten your inability for promotion and progress when you lose or abandon your teachability. By the way, that's not just a church principle. That's a life principle. Some of the best assets to jobs get fired because they can't be corrected. Some of the best athletes in America, in the world are sitting at home tonight watching ESPN because they can't be coached. Come on. Some of the smartest people in the world got expelled from college because they landed in a classroom with a degreed professor trying to teach him. Here's what pride says, I'm cool with you till you start getting on me. By the way, As long as we're having a meeting and I'm reporting to you whom you need to meet with, I'm fine. But if you calling me in, we got issue. From me on down to the youngest child in this room today, we better never get to the point where we cannot be corrected. I can't believe you said that to me. All right, let's see. How can I say this? As a pastor, I have learned that it's probably wise when you are receiving another member from another church to check and see how they fared with their last authority. Because if they're not teachable, they wouldn't be a good member with Jesus, pastor. And some folks have bounced around church after church, job after job, situation after situation, with somebody to blame every time. And if you check every file, every employer, the Indian one, the Spanish one, the Chinese one, the black one, and the one who was mixed with all four of them genealogies, all said this person cannot be corrected. There's not a job in the world for you. Self-recognition. self-righteousness and self-reliance. This is what's up. This, in my opinion, is one of the most effective ways of concealing pride. Here it is. I don't need your help. I got this. So you know what you do? You lie. And you lie so much that you got it down without blinking. How are you doing? Great. You barely hear. How's work? Phenomenal. You got fired three weeks ago. How are you and your wife doing? Awesome. They haven't spoken in three days. It's pride. Pride. How's your health? I'm doing great. Somebody close to me told you just in the hospital. Pride says, I can do this on my own. Why won't you ask for help? Here's why. Because if I ask for help, then that means that the image that I've been selling you, that I have, won't be as good as it's appeared to be. I don't know this Holy Ghost whispering me to the devil, but I'm just going to go with it. We'll figure out his judgment seat. Some can go so far on the other extreme that they have pride and some will have too much pride and won't ask for help. And then some will lose all of their good pride and ask for help too much. That's a whole nother story. Because there is a good pride and a good pride, the Bible doesn't call it pride, but it's the pride that says, I know who takes care of me. So I'm gonna trust and obey. Watch this now. I am not going to insult God by asking you to do what he can do. Come on now. That's when you lose your good pride and you go running around asking for people to bail you out. And the reason why they're bailing you out again and again and you still ain't out is because you have left your status of trusting in the Lord with all thine heart. And leading not in thy own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path." Let me tell you something today. I thank God for the brethren and for the fellowship of God's people who bear one another's burns and who come through in thick and thin. But I've been young, David said, and now I'm old. But I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor seen begging bread and every once in a while You need to put your list down and quit calling everybody else up and looking for somebody to get you out of your mess and wait on the Lord And it's your pride that's got me to that point That's dangerous Because either way, it's pride. Pride says, I got this, so I won't ask anybody. Self-reliance. But pride also says, I'll ask everybody because I don't trust God. It's still pride. You'll never live the Christian life without faith. And listen to me, everybody who's somebody can come through for you, but if God ain't in your corner, the best of friends will come short. Lastly, and I'm closing, I won't even go deep into it, but pride is an internal attitude, it's an insatiable appetite, but pride certainly involves an inevitable annihilation that should be brought down. Thou shall be. Please don't miss it. Thou shall be brought down. Proverbs 16, 18, pride goeth before. Pride goeth before. Thank you. Pride goeth before and a hearty spirit before. Here we go. And you can then change the words. It just simply says, what goes up must come down. We look at these verses and we see that the annihilation that pride invokes is sure, sudden, and shameful. Here's the danger of pride. Here's the danger of pride. Here it is. Pride is so unfair. Pride is so irrational. Pride cheats you so much. that when you do go down, people will go, what happened to you? You went from signing checks to bouncing. You went from giving orders to asking questions. You went from ruling the world to drowning in hell. What happened? How are now falling? How did you go from the morning star? To utter darkness Right You will go down In every case in the Word of God Where people thought they were beyond destruction God proved otherwise Let's all take a pride check, all of us, for me and everyone else tonight. And let's not excuse ourselves because the favorite symptoms that people look for are not very visibly displayed in our lives. Because the real resonance of pride is in your heart. And watch this now. The stimulus for pride is in all of us. It's called the sin nature. So you don't have to wonder tonight if you have the pride gene. Let me call mama and see. Do pride run in our family? Yes. Adam and Eve. It runs. It runs. And by the way, The best way to get treated properly by the doctor when you go in for an appointment is to be honest about your family history. So don't go in there and tell them, oh, no, I'm fine. A great deal of what doctors do is based on what you tell them. And they can look at all the x-rays and all over the world. Well, family history don't show up on x-ray. But it shows up in your body. And we need to come to God. Even though he's a doctor who knows everything. And when he admits, I got the gene. I just need to do everything that I can with the power of God to make sure that gene is not active. And the only way to combat pride is humility. And the only way to be humble is to let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So where did sin start? Well, that old crazy woman let that devil talk her into eating that fruit. That old henpecked man let his wife convince him to eat that. No. It started before that. It started when in the place where there was no sin, the presence of the Almighty, the one who had everything, still didn't have enough. It got him kicked out of heaven And one third knuckleheaded angels followed him For what we call demons today Sad part about it is Is that the demons aren't the only ones that follow Her father would pray tonight She'd help us in this area. Help me. This message tonight demands honesty. Transparency. Nobody has to walk around here and grab a brother or sister and admit it. We just need to admit it to you. You already know. We're hung up on the wrong things, and because we're hung up on the wrong things, the loss of those things seem to stop us from continuing doing the right things. That's not good. So give us a hunger for your mind.