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THE AWFUL SIN OF PRIDE
Pride is at the very top of the list of things God hates.
"These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an
abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and
hands that shed innocent blood, an heart tht deviseth wicked
imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a
false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord
among brethren" (Proverbs 6:16-19).
The Bible says further, "For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life, is not of the Father, but of the world" (1 John
2:16). Most Christians admit they battle against the lusts
of the flesh and the eyes. They know what lust is, they
hate it and flee from it by the power of the Spirit.
Christians also recognize pride in others because they may
appear to be stuck up, self-centered, ambitious and high-
minded.
But few Christians would consider themselves proud. Most
Christians will admit they have not arrived, that they are
not as Christlike as they want to be and that there are
areas in their lives that need improvement. But few
Christians recognize pride in themselves. Do you recognize
it in yourself? Many Christians would admit, "Well, I may
be self-assured - even confident. At the worst I may see
myself as more talented or intelligent than others. But I'm
not proud! I give God all the credit for what I've
acomplished and for who I am. It's all in His strength.
Proud? I don't think I can honestly admit to that. After
all, I walk in holiness and I open my heart to be searched
by his Word. Surely He would have shown it to me."
Recently the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart about this
hateful sin. I said, "Lord, You mean You want me to preach
a message about pride at Times Square Church, don't You?
There must be pride in the congregation." The Spirit's
answer stunned me. "No, David, I want to speak to you about
pride, about the subtle kinds of pride that you yourself are
guilty of. First you must see it in your heart, then you
may preach it to others. Like most other Christians, I
thought I was at least trying to be humble. We take care
not to boast like Pharisees about being better than all the
rest. But deep within our hearts we think, "I'm not
arrogant, boastful or overly ambitious. So how could I be
proud?"
The Word has been dealing with me, exposing forms of pride I
did not know were so deeply imbedded in me - and a pride
that is the worst kind of all. When the Spirit said, "Pride
in you, David." I replied, "But Lord, I'm not trying to be
somebody great! You know that. I"m not a bragart or a
boaster. I am honestly trying to decrease so Christ can
increase. If there is pride in me, I can't even see it.
Please show it to me. Expose it to me!" And He showed me!
As I look back I tremble at how many times I committed this
hateful sin. I am guilty of it.
***What is Pride?***
God sees pride in an entirely different way than we do. He
showed me that I had too narrow a definition of pride. Yes,
there is a wicked, boastful, arrogant pride, and it can be
seen all about us in these days. But there is also a pride
that is spiritual in nature. It is committed by those who
have walked closely with God and it can be seen in the
holiest among us. The more spiritual you are, the more
revelation you have had, the closer to Him that you have
been, the more hideous this sin is when it is committed. It
is not a way of life, although it could become so. It is a
sin that is often committed even on our knees, while seeking
God.
To understand this message, I want to give you new
definitions of pride and humility. Pride is independence -
humility is dependence. Pride is an unwillingness to wait
for God to act in His own time and in His own way. Pride
rushes in to take matters into its own hands. One of the
greatest temptations true Christians face is getting ahead
of God. It is acting without a clear mandate from God. It
is taking things into our own hands when it appears that God
is not working fast enough. It is impatience.
***Saul Couldn't Wait for God's Time***
Saul committed this terrible sin at Gilgal, as recounted in
1 Samuel 10. When Samuel anointed Saul as king, "Samuel
communed with Saul upon the top of the house" (1 Samuel
9:25.). This rooftop discussion centered with the
Philistines. Samuel was preparing Saul, letting him know
that he was divinely called to break this bondage. When the
time was ripe, when the PHilistines and Israel appoached the
brink of war. Samuel commanded Saul not to act, not to go to
war, until all the people met at Gilgal to seek the Lord for
specific directions. "And thou shalt go down before me to
Gilgal ... Seven days shalt thou tarry, till I come to thee,
and show thee what thou shalt do" (1 Samuel 10:8). This was
to be all God's doing. He alone wants to be in total
control.
Samuel represented God's voice. NOt a word of his "fell to
the ground." God, through Samuel, would supernaturally,
sovereignly, give them direction. "I will show thee what
thou must do." God would make all the plans - He would show
them how to wage war. Saul was directed to do nothing more
than to go to the altar at Gilgal and wait for the word to
come. But war started when Jonathan smote a garrison at
Geba. "And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines
that was in Geba, and the Philistine heard of it. And Saul
blew the trumpet throughout all the land saying, Let the
Hebrews hear. And all Israel heard say that Saul had
smitten a garrison of the Philistines, and that Israel also
was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the poeple
were called together after Saul to Gilgal" (1 Samuel
13:3,4).
Saul waited impatiently. "And the people were called
together after Saul at Gilgal..." Israel was in panic as a
great Philistine army approached with thousands of chariots,
6,000 horsemen and an army that appeared to them as numerous
as the sand on the seashore. Saul's army was deserting on
all sides and it had been at best a motley brunch with not a
single sword among them. All they had were sickles, axes
and farm tools. This is the very war crisis that Samuel had
discussed with Saul months before on the rooftop. This was
meant to be a time of gathering at Gilgal to wait on God for
His clear word of direction. But Saul gave God a deadline.
If the word did not come by a certain hour, Saul determined
to do whatever he had to do to save the situation. "And he
tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel
had appoined: but Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people
were scattered from him. And Saul said, bring hither a
burnt offering" (1 Samuel 13:9).
This was not just to be a matter of waiting, but of waiting
until - until the word came, until direction from heaven was
given. "Wait... til I come to thee and show thee..." Why
was Samuel just a few hours late? Because Saul was being
tested to see if he believed that God could be trusted, to
see if Saul would trust and obey even if things were not
right on schedule, Samuel delayed because God spoke to him
clearly and told him to delay. God wanted Saul to be a
testimony of humble dependence on God in all things,
especially in a dark crisis.
BUT SAUL FAILED THE TEST. He looked at conditions and all
appeared hopeless. An impatient spirit overwhelmed him.
Logic told him that it was getting too late, that something
just had to be done. I can just hear him, "I can't take
this indecision any longer. God sent me to do His work and
I'm willing to die for His cause. But here I sit doing
nothing. There's no guidance, no word from God. I've got
to make something happen or it will be all over. If we keep
doing nothing, we'll be completely out of control." This is
unmitigated pride - the need to be in control of the
situation. Saul really believed things were spinning out of
control.
This is where I have so often failed. I have hated not
being in control of situations. Not that I want to be the
boss or to Lord it over others. It's just that I don't like
the sense of helplessness and dependency. Living in New
York, this is the first time I Have had to live in a high
rise apartment at the mercy of the landlord, the
superintendent, the union, the elevators, and the broken
heaters. When things don't work, I have to wait and wait
and wait. I tell my wife, "I've had enough of this. We're
going to buy our own place so that we can be in control.
This is ridiculous!" I want to be in control.
In regards to Times Square Church, I sometimes feel as Saul
did with impossibilities looming on all sides. We seem so
helpless and the enemy seems so big and powerful. I get
overly anxious about being in control. I don't like having
to rent and be at the mercy of changeable landlords. God
has promised us a permanent place. But I want it now! I'm
impatient! There's so much to be done and so little time.
I think to myself, "How long, Lord?" I don't like to be out
of control. We need some action!"
But God says, "Do you trust Me? Wait! Having done all you
can, jsut stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!"
The hardest part of faith is the last half hour, just before
the answer is about to come forth, just before God is about
to work a miracle. That's when we wilt, we faint, we try to
make something happen. Thiat is sinful pride. "And it came
to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the
burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to
meet him, that he might salute him" (1 Samuel 13:10). As
soon as he took matters into his own hands, Samuel arrived.
Divine direction was right at the door, just minutes away!
But Saul couldn't wait!
***Implications of Not Waiting for God to Work***
We charge God with deception. By impatiently acting on his
own, Saul was saying, "God semt me out to do this, but now
He's making me sit and wait. If God won't answer, He can't
judge me for doing what I have to do>" Playing god is
terrible pride. It is charging God with neglect. We are
commanded, like Saul, to wait on the Lord, to stand still
and see His salvation, to trust in Him at all times so He
can direct our paths. But when the deadline we set has
passed and there is an anger against God and we can't wait,
we run off and make things happen. We are saying by our
actions, "God doesn't really care about me. God has let me
down. Prayer and waiting doesn't work. Things just get
worse. I can't just sit here being walked on." We really
don't trust His Word.
Samuel's command was, "Go to Gilgal and wait... I will come,
you will get directions." Before God, all Saul was
responsible to do was to wait for the word! God wanted to
hear Saul say, "God keeps His word; never once has a word
from Samuel's lips fallent to the ground. God said wait for
directions and I will wait. Let the whole army desert. Let
every Israelite be a coward. Let every man be called a
liar. If God has to, He will send me an army of angels.
This isn't my war, I don't have the slightest idea of how to
go after this great enemy. It's al in His hands. All I
have been commanded to do is wait for the word."
BUT PRIDE REASONS, "GOD MUST NOT HAVE MEANT IT. MAYBE I
HEARD IT WRONG. THE PROBLEM IS IN MY SEEING AND HEARING."
Instead of standing on God's Word, we start figuring things
out. In bed in the late hours we say, "Lord, here's how I
see it can be done." It is wicked to do something very
logical and reasonable when it is not God's clear word of
direction. It may be the conclusion of wise men and logical
minds, the only option open. But it is sin if it is not the
word that comes from waiting only on God. We need totake
the pressure off to perform, to do something. You dont'
have to do anything but stand on God's Word. If you want to
prove anything to God, prove you will patiently wait for Him
to act. Do you really believe God means what He says? It
is dangerous to get ahead of God! It is independence.
"And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said,
because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and
that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the
Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash;
therefore said I, the Philistines will come down now upon me
to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord; I
forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering. And
Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast
not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he
commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established
they kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall
not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own
heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over
his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord
commanded thee" (1 Samuel 13:11-14).
Saul waited seven days, but that wait was unholy. He was
impatient angry, fearful and pouting, We must wait with
faith, believing that God cares for us and loves us, that He
will be there on His time. This matter of waiting is so
important that I must show you some Scriptures to prove it.
"And is shall be said in that day, Lo, there is our God; WE
HAVE WAITED FOR HIM, AND HE WILL SAVE US; this is the Lord;
WE HAVE WAITED FOR HIM, WE WILL BE GLAD AND REJOICE IN HIS
SALVATION ..." (Isaiah 25:9).
"For since the beginning of the world men have not heard,
nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God,
beside thee, WHAT HE HATH PREPARED FOR HIM THAT WAITETH FOR
HIM..." (Isaiah 64:4).
Compare the impatient pride of Saul to David's waiting on
God for direction. How beautiful! And how clear!" And the
philistine came up yet again, and spread themselves in the
valley of Rephaim. And when David enquired of the lord, he
said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them,
and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And let
it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of
the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself:
for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the
host of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord had
commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until
thou come to Gazer" (2 Samuel 5:22-25). The enemy was
spread out before him, but David must have the word of God!
Only then will he bestir himself.
***Servanthood***
Pride is repelled by the idea of servanthood. Today
everybody wants to be everything but a servant. The big
children's game in America is called "Masters of the
Universe!" But that is also becoming the theology of many
Christians. We quote this Scripture, "Thou art no more a
servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God
through Christ (Galatians 4:7). What Paul is really saying
is that a son who has been tutored correctly knows that he
is legally the king's son with all rights, but he so loves
his father he chooses the role of a servant. Paul, in the
same book, said he was "a servant of Jesus Christ (Romans
1:1). James called himself "a servant of the Lord Jesus" (2
Peter 1:1). And Christ, the Lord, the very Son of God "made
himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men... He humbled
Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross? (Philippians 2:7-8). Let this mind be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus. A servant has no will of
his own; his master's word is his will.
The Cross represents the death of all my own plans, all my
own ideas, my own desires, my own hopes and dreams. It is
most of all the absolute death of my own will. This is true
humility. Humility is associated only with the Cross. "He
humbled Himself-to death at the cross..." He had told His
disciples, "My meat, My fulfillment in life, is to do the
will of Him who sent me..." (John 4:34). He said, "I can of
mine own self do nothing: As I hear, I judge..." (John
5:30). In other words, I refuse to take matters into my own
hands. I wait to hear every direction from my Father! He
who is the Light, absolute intelligence, knowing all things,
humbles Himself, makes Himself totally dependent upon the
Father in all things. "I can't do it on My own," Jesus
said.
John wrote, "As He is, so are we in this world..." (1 John
4:17). There is not a true Christian but who can say, "I
really want to do His perfect will." But here is where we
miss it: we set our hearts on something that we want,
something that looks good, that sounds logical, but is not
God's will. We will fast and pray and intercede for it!
Cry a river of tears! Claim it! Bind demons hindering
possession of it! Quote Bible! Get others to agree with
us! One of the biggest traps to Christians is a good idea
which is not God's mind, a good strategy which is not His, a
well-conceived plan that is not His. The question is - can
your desire survive the Cross? Can you walk away from it
and die to it? Can you honestly say, "Lord, maybe it's not
the devil stopping me, but You! If it's not Your will it
could destroy me. I give it up to the Cross! To death!
Do it Your way, Lord."
It is when you go down into the grave of death to all self,
all ambition, all self-will, that you hear His voice. Jesus
said, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God.... All that are in the
graves shall hear His voice" (John 5:25, 28). This is why
thousands of Christians today are getting into trouble
hearing still small voices. There is confusion, things are
not coming out right, because there has been no dying to
self-will. Yes, I believe God does speak to His children.
You can hear His true, holy, unmistakable voice, but only
after crucifixion of self-will and self-desire. Jesus heard
clearly from the Father. So did Paul, Peter, John and
Stephen; but only because they were dead to this world.
They were consumed with doing His will only.
***What is Humility?***
Humility is total dependency on God. It is trusting God to
do the right thing at the right time in the right way. It
is trusting Him to use you in the right way at the right
time. Humility is patiently waiting on the Lord in a spirit
of expectant faith. Pride has no patience. "Rest in the
Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because
of him who prospereth in his way, because the man who
bringeth wicked devices to pass ... fret not thyself in any
wise to do evil" (Psalm 37:7, 8). This tells us, "Don't get
uptight by the apparent success of those who look like they
are passing you up. They take shortcuts. They are blessed
and prospered while here you sit, trusting God, praying."
God says, "Just wait. They are on slippery ground. You
won't be sorry if you do it My way. Patience is doing a work
in you. You are becoming strong by waiting in faith. Let
patience do its perfect work in you!"
The person with godly experience is not the busy-beaver
Christian. Rather, it is the one patiently waiting on God
in faith. He is gaining experience, as we are told in
Romans 5:4. "Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have
spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering
affliction, and of patience. Behold we count them happy
which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and
have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very
pitiful, and of tender mercy" (James 5:10, 11). God equates
"walking worthy before him" with joyful patience and long
suffering. "That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all
pleasing ... strengthened with all might, according to his
glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness" (Colossians 1:10,11).
***Jesus' Promise for the Last Days"***
Jesus has left us a glorious promise to see us through the
dark days ahead! He said, "Because thou hast kept the word
of my patience, I also will keep the from the hour of
temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them
that dwell upon the earth" (Revelation 3:10). Jesus is
saying, "You stayed true when tested by the world. You
joyfully waited for Me to work things out. Now, while there
is confusion all around, while the worldwide test is on, I
will keep you from it. You've proven you will trust Me,
come what may!"
The Lord is right now preparing a humble people who have
proven God faithful. Not only do they say, "God has
everything under control." They actually let Him have
control of their lives. "He shall not be afraid of evil
tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord" (Psalm
113:7).
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