Pride - Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Well, he was called the anointed cherub until he looked in the mirror, metaphorically. He looked at himself and said, look how magnificent I am.

And then from that moment, pride filled his heart. And then you have his great fall. And it was such a great fall in Isaiah 14.

Isaiah writes it five times. He says, I will be like the Most High. I will sit on the holy mountain. There is his pride. You go all the way to the Garden of Eden. The serpent shows up. And what is the appeal that he uses to Eve?

Pride. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again, he shows us how God's word meets our world. Seven weeks ago, I started a series that I called Open Heart Surgery. And I said then that all of us actually need open heart surgery. And the reason for it is is that the heart is such an important part of our lives. It's mentioned almost a thousand times in the Bible about our heart. And I said that the reason for that is we don't see life the way God does. We don't see people the way God does.

We look at the outward. God said, I don't do that. I only look at the heart of an issue.

That was when member Samuel was going to appoint David to be the next king of Israel. The other thing is we underestimate the value or the destructive value of our own heart. Jeremiah said the heart of a man is desperately wicked. It's deceitful above all things. It deceives us. And I think also one last thing when it comes to that is is that we need to understand that everything that comes out of our mouth originates in our heart.

Everything. And there's no such thing as, oh, it just slipped out. No, it started in our heart and made its way to our mouth. So the first week that I talked about, I talked about guilt. Some of us have guilt most of our lives. We feel guilty about just terrible things we've done. And we've tried to make it clear that Jesus Christ not only died for your sin, that your sins are forgiven, but he died for your guilt. Paul said there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

None. You're not guilty before God. You don't have to feel guilty. You acknowledge your sin.

You move on. Steadfast love of the Lord never changes. His mercy has never come to an end. It's new every morning.

New every morning. And you have to think about it that way. Secondly, we dealt with the whole idea of fear.

And that's used about 100 times just in the New Testament. Fear not. Fear not. Fear not.

Fear not. Why does he tell us that? Because we fear.

And it's strange. You think his words would encourage us. We're not to have fear. But you think that would do it, but it doesn't. How many times did he tell the disciples fear not, and were they afraid?

Yes. They continued to be afraid. Every time he tested them, as I said, they got an F. Every time. Every time he tested to see if they had fear, they did. And they'd say, oh, you of little faith. This idea of the disciples. Until he was raised from the dead. Until he was resurrected from the dead.

And they were convinced that he was raised from the dead. From that moment on, no fear in any of them. No fear at all because of the resurrection of Christ.

That should apply to us. You say, what am I afraid of? You say, I say that all the time. The worst thing that can happen to you, can't happen to you.

You say, what am I afraid of? Christ is alive. He wasn't someone who died 2,000 years ago.

He's someone who's alive today for us. Then I dealt with envy, and I said that envy is a consuming sin. It has terrible, terrible consequences. We envy a lot of different things that a lot of other people have. And I said, probably the best way of getting rid of your envy is to live for an audience of one.

If you lived your life for an audience of just one, not others, what other people think, what other people care, you could get rid of the envy in your life. We dealt with anger. That's used 70 times in the New Testament. And I said, Christians often make the mistake that every time we're angry, it's righteous indignation. Like, we get angry just like God does.

No, we don't. We get angry like we do. And you can't say, by the way, the things you love to say. He or she just makes me so angry. No one can make you angry. Anger is an inside job. That's on you.

That's not on them. You see, that's what happens. Anger occurs to us most of the time when we have frustrated expectation. We have an expectation about the system, people, whatever, and we're frustrated. And then we have an outburst with this whole idea of anger.

And so I said, how do we deal with this kind of anger? And I think a couple of the best ways is one, we need to forgive everybody just as Christ has forgiven us. That's what the Bible says. You have to be a forgiving person.

You just have to be able to do that. And I think the other thing is Paul just says that you have to live with heaven in mind. And he says, put aside anger. In other words, it says take your clothes off.

That's the expression in Greek. Just put it aside and forgive, and you don't have to deal with all this anger. Then last week we dealt with worry and anxiety. And I started out by telling you, and almost every survey shows the same thing. Only about 8% of the things you worry about and have anxiety about ever happens. I mean, think of that.

8%. Nine out of the 10 things you're never even going to face. And so what we worry about by it never happening is, but I can't control how I worry. And I said at that time, you can if you really believe in the sovereignty of God.

What do I mean by that? Well, the Bible says this. What is God sovereign over?

Everything. In fact, it said he's sovereign over the universe. Then he said he's sovereign over the earth. He's sovereign over nations.

Isn't that amazing? He's sovereign over everybody, all the affairs of men. Who leads?

Who doesn't? He said I'm sovereign over all of this. He's sovereign over our lives.

In every detail, to such detail that he said I even know how many hairs you have on your head. That's how involved I am in your life. Romans 8, 28 says all things work together for your good. That's God's promise to you. You see, he said I'm sovereign over everything. If you really believe that, then what would you worry about? I know God is sovereign. I know he loves me.

And I know he'll never leave me nor forsake me. So the whole idea now, I can't escape the consequences of living on a cursed planet as a sinful person. There are consequences to that. But I don't need to worry or have anxiety about it.

So often in the scripture, Jesus commands us do not worry. So this week what I want to deal with in the end of this series is simply this. I want to deal with the worst of them all. If I had to say it's the foundation of all the others. The worst thing about your heart and mine. We call it pride. It's the absolute worst thing about me and you. It's our pride.

It's the bedrock of all sin. Think of this, in Ezekiel 28, Lucifer was the greatest single achievement of God's creative ability. And it looked like it was going to go well. He was called the anointed cherub. Until he looked in the mirror.

Metaphorically. He looked at himself and said look at how magnificent I am. And then from that moment, pride filled his heart and then you have his great fall. And it was such a great fall in Isaiah 14, Isaiah writes that five times he says I will be like the most high.

I will sit on the holy mountain. There's his pride. You go all the way to the garden of Eden and the serpent shows up and what is the appeal that he uses to Eve? How does he get mankind to sin? Pride. If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will be just like who? God.

I'd like to be like God. And so we sin. That's pride.

That's how pride works. It's everywhere. It deals with us in so many ways.

We see it all around us but I can tell you this, it's going to get worse before it gets better for all of us. I want you to turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. Paul's writing to the church and he's trying to explain to Timothy what it's going to be like in the last days. It's interesting because the last days go from this time all the way to our time. Because Paul doesn't know when the last days are going to ultimately be the last days. He just knows that they're in the last days. So he says this, realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. And if we listen to Jesus Christ, especially on the Olivet Discourse, you find out that things are just going to go from bad to worse.

And that's why it's always interesting. You know, Christians we get all upset when something's like it's getting worse than it was. The problem here to tell you is I don't know when the last days are going to occur but I do know this, if we're near the last days and we're nearer than Paul was, it's going to get worse and worse. That's a promise. You're not going to change it by wanting a change.

You're not going to go to the voting booth and change it. It's going to be what God wants it to be in the last days. Here's what he said. He said these difficult times men will be lovers of self. We call it narcissism but that means proudful.

Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? Boastful, arrogant, there it is. Revolvers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious, gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

Sounds pretty bad. The word I want to look at is the word arrogant. It's an interesting word.

It's almost like Paul made up the word. It's hoopofanos. It's two Greek words, not just one, and it's interesting. Hoopo means above and phanos means lifted up.

So you're above lifted up. In other words, he's using two words to try to make a point. That's why they didn't translate it proudful. That wasn't good enough, arrogant. See, once I say arrogant to you, it means something different than someone who's just proudful. That's what Paul means.

That's how bad men will be. Now, what's interesting about it is we often think, yeah, you know what, I think it's that way. Look at Hollywood. Look at Washington. Look at Wall Street.

Look how arrogant those people are. That sounds good, except he's not talking about them out there. He's talking about in here. He's talking about the church. That the church is going to be full of people who are arrogant. That the church is going to be full of people who are materialistic, full of people who are narcissists. He's warning Timothy about that. Because notice what he says in verse five, holding to a form of godliness. They claim to be godly, although they have denied its power.

You need to avoid such men as these. These are people who are looking to, in a sense, deceive the church and deceive the church with their arrogance. It's interesting as he goes on with that, but let me just say this, that I have seen in the last 20, 25 years, something that I've never seen in the evangelical church before, since the Reformation. And that is now with what we call the birth of the mega church in America, the mega evangelical church. Churches of 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people.

Something's happening. In many of these cases, the pastors have all forfeited their ministries. All of them that have forfeited. Now that doesn't mean that there aren't tremendous guys out there in large churches. You know, the David Jeremiah's, John MacArthur's, Charles Stanley's, Chuck Swindoll's, wonderful men.

Humble men, though. But what ends up happening is, in every case when you read about it, the board of the church, or the other leaders in the church, tolerated as long as they could, but they couldn't deal with the arrogance of the senior pastor. In fact, in one of them, I actually heard this. It was a video audio thing of him on the Internet, and he was in a sense screaming at his own board, saying no one can question me.

Who could ever question me? I built this church, and he was doing that. I mean, just pure arrogance. Another one I read, the board tried for over a year to convince him that he's got such a pride issue, but he wouldn't change. Why do you think that is?

I can tell you. Because he's so successful. And that's how they measure success. You see, the more successful you are in any field, the more likely you're to be proudful.

That's the problem with a human being. We get proudful the more we succeed. So what I'd like to do now is I want to illustrate two different men who have completely different outcomes, both dealing with pride. The first one I want you to look at with me is in 2 Chronicles 26. It's right after 1 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles 26. That's right. It's the Old Testament.

And we're going to meet a pretty extraordinary man. 2 Chronicles 26. This one as it reads. And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was 16 years old, and they made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. Sixteen. King. Seem young to you?

Yeah, 16 years old. It said, and notice the first thing the writer says, he built Eloh and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his father. That's his father died. After he did, it says he built Eloh.

And you think, oh, I don't even know what that means. Well, that was his first feat. Here's what he did. Eloh is a port city right at the northern tip of the Red Sea. It's almost never been under the hands of Judah ever.

It's been under a lot of hands. It's a port. He went and made the port of the Red Sea there, so now he could trade with the Near East. So that means prosperity for his country. And he's young when he does this. He's 16, 17 years old, and he's able to take this port.

And that's why the writer talks about it. And it says Uzziah was 16 years old when he became king. He reigned for 52 years.

How about that? That's a pretty long career there. He has long-term success. And his mother's name is, he says, Jecaliah of Jerusalem. It says he did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father, Amaziah, had done.

You don't see this very often. Kings of Judah, they usually do right. Kings of Israel in the north, not one of them ever did right. Every one of them was against God.

This is the only. But Judah had some who were faithful, and this is one. It says he continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah. Now you know the context, Zechariah the prophet, who had understanding through the vision of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.

Now watch the prosperity. Now he went out and he warred against the Philistines. Sounds just like David. And he broke down the wall of Gath and the wall of Japna and the wall of Ashdod. And he built cities in the area of Ashdod and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in, he says, Gerba El. And he said the Munites and the Ammonites also gave tribute to Uzziah.

And his fame extended to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong. He's the first king really that ever got rid of a lot of the ites. Remember when they got to the promised land, you're supposed to get rid of the ites.

They didn't get rid of all the ites, so the ites stayed. And so he now, Uzziah, is driving the ites out of the land of Judah and Israel. God's prospering him. Then it says after that, moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate. And he said and the corner buttress and he fortified them.

He's making Jerusalem almost an impossible city to attack. He's putting towers in it, you see, so that he can protect it. He built towers in the wilderness. He hewn many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowland and in the plain. He also had plowmen and vine dressers in the hill country and the fertile fields. He loved the soil. He's having success like Solomon. Everything he touches turns to gold.

Everything. So now he has tremendous flocks, tremendous grapes, he has crops everywhere. He has people to do all this. Moreover, Uzziah had an army ready for battle, which entered combat by divisions according to the number of their master.

Prepared, he says, by Jael-el. And he said the scribe, and he says Masaiah, the official, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king's officers. The total number of heads of households of valiant warriors, 2,600. All that means, that's the leaders. He's not talking about an army. He's just talking about his leaders.

Now watch. He said under their direction was an elite army of 307,500. At that time in history, in that part of the world, that army is as big as Egypt. It's one of the biggest armies in the world.

A country like Judah. 307,500 who could wage war with great power to help the king against the enemy. Moreover, Uzziah prepared for the army shield, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and sling stones.

In other words, this army is like an American army. It's very well equipped. What's that take? Money. And he had it. Then in Jerusalem, he made engines of war invented by skillful men to be on the towers and on the corners, he said, for the purpose of shooting arrows, and he said, and great stones. What is that? Catapults.

It's like a nuclear weapon in that day. He said, hence his fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong. That's a pretty great man. 58 years, walked with the Lord, victory over the enemies, tremendous prosperity for his nation.

And then there's that word, but. There it is. After all that, but when he became strong, his what? His heart. There it is, heart disease. His heart was so proud.

Wow. God blessed him with all those blessings for that long, and now he's a man full of pride. And he acted corruptly. He was unfaithful to the Lord as God, and notice what he did. He entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. You say, what's that?

That's about as big an act of disobedience that can exist in the nation. The only people that can go in the temple of God are the Levites, the sons of Aaron. They have a priesthood. No one else can do this. No, not even King can do this. Now, watch what happens. Then Azariah, the priest entered after him, and with him, 80 priests of the Lord, valiant men.

Why is he called valiant men? You're challenging the absolute authority in your world. A king, like a dictator or an emperor, you're going to challenge him. Now, if you know anything about emperors who say dictators, are they easy people to challenge?

No, they're not. But they're going to try it. They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, it's not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God.

But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, there it is, was enraged. No one challenges me ever. Who talks like that? Proudful man. He's enraged. You can't challenge me.

I'm the king. And while he was enraged with the priest, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priest in the house of the Lord beside the altar of incense. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead, and they hurried him out of there.

And he himself also hastened to get out because the Lord had smitten him. Instant leprosy. By the way, the one that you wouldn't want in the temple, which is the presence of the Lord, is leprosy. Lepro couldn't even, lepro couldn't go near it.

Uzziah's in it, and he's got leprosy. Instantly from God. And the priests say, we better get him out of here.

And he even realizes, I better get out of here. Now, when you read the rest of the story, simply let me say, suffice it with this, the God who blessed him is now the God who disciplines him. And the blessing was extreme, and so is the discipline.

Instantly a leper. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called OnePlace.com. That's OnePlace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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