Hey, podcast listeners! Thanks for streaming today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, you know, one common circumstance we all face in life is how are we going to respond to both our successes and our failures? We can either respond with pride, or we can respond with humility. And today we're going to talk about the importance of choosing humility over pride. We'll introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress? David, I often meet people who tell me that Pathway to Victory has become a welcome oasis in their busy day. Well, in addition to these programs, Pathway to Victory has created another tool that reinforces your Christian walk. I'm referring to Pathway magazine. At great financial risk, our leadership team decided to launch a periodical for our audience, even while other publishers were disbanding theirs. And we've been astonished by the positive feedback we're getting from readers. Pathway magazine contains brief devotional readings, uplifting articles, and a variety of other creative features.
I'm pleased to send you the first three issues as my gift to you when you go to ptv.org and follow the simple instructions. In today's message, we'll discover that success doesn't entitle us to become proud and arrogant. Some of the most successful people I know are the most humble. Their modesty always surprises me a bit, because you'd think that those who reach the peak of their profession would deserve to swagger just a little bit. I mean, their success comes with bragging rights, don't you think?
Far from it. In a moment, we'll address this topic. And in addition, I'll remind you, I've written a book for you in which I tackled this problem with controlling our pride and 10 other common pitfalls as well. The book is called Choose Your Attitudes Change Your Life. I'm pleased to send you a copy when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. After my message, David and I will explain more about my book and the other resources we've prepared for you. But right now, let's give our complete attention to today's message, Choosing Humility Over Pride.
Thank you so much. You know, we think humility or pride, those are kind of secondary issues. They don't rank up there with the really big sins like murder and adultery and so forth.
Isn't this kind of a secondary issue, Pastor? Why in the world do you talk so much about pride and humility? You know, in Proverbs chapter six, God lists the seven things he hates the most.
Do you know what's at the top of the list? Pride. God hates pride more than any other sin.
Why is that? Because of the effects of pride in our lives. I want to mention four sins and they are in order. They're progressive that are the direct result of pride. First of all, the sin of ingratitude stems directly from pride. Ingratitude. The reason God hates pride so much is it blinds us to the great gifts he has given us.
The only reason you are alive and breathing right now is because God has given you the breath of life. And that's why Paul said every good thing in your life is ultimately a gift from God. Pride keeps us from seeing that. Pride leads to ingratitude and ingratitude leads to a second sin and that is independence. When we don't express gratitude, we are prone to live apart from God, to go our own way. That independence from God leads to a third sin and that is intolerance of others. And intolerance for others. You know, you look through the teaching of Jesus. He spoke pretty harshly at times.
Listen to this. Luke 18 beginning with verse 9. And Jesus also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt.
So he told this story. Verse 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, the other a tax gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself.
I love that. He thought he was talking to God. He was really praying to himself. But this is what he said to God. God, I thank thee that I'm not like other people. Swindlers, unjust, adulterers are even like this tax gatherer over here. Thank God I'm not like that guy over there. God hates that attitude.
Absolutely hates it. But notice verse 13. But the tax gatherer, standing some distance away, he felt so unholy and unworthy he backed up as far as he could from the holy place. And he simply looked up and he said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Simple prayer. That word merciful is literally the word mercy seated. God, be mercy seated to me. You remember the mercy seat that was in the Holy of Holies? Once a year the high priest would come in with the blood of an innocent animal and he would sprinkle it on top of that mercy seat, cover it, so that when God looked down he no longer saw the sins of his people deserving eternal death. He saw the blood that covered that broken law. And of course that was a picture of what Jesus, the lamb of God, would do for us one day when he would offer his blood as a covering for our sin.
That's what the tax gatherer was saying. God, I can't save myself. My only hope is that you show mercy and grace, that you pay the penalty for my sin. Look at what Jesus says in verse 14. But I tell you this, it is this man, the tax gatherer, who went down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee. Jesus added, for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted. Pride, an inflated view of our own righteousness, leads to intolerance toward others. And finally, fourth, the result of pride is an inability to accept God's grace.
This is perhaps the most damning of all of the consequences of pride, an inability to accept God's grace. In Luke, chapter 18, verse 17, we find an intriguing verse by Jesus. He said, truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all. You know, I love so many things about First Baptist Dallas, but one of the things I love most is the great children's and student ministry we have here. We don't just babysit kids here. We teach them the scriptures, and regularly throughout any year, we give our children and teenagers a chance to trust in Christ as Savior. One of those times we do it is at Vacation Bible School every summer. We'll have maybe 2,000 kids here, and every Thursday, I'll stand up and give a gospel presentation to the children explaining how they can be saved. And when I give the invitation for kids who want to trust in Jesus to come forward, I mean hundreds of them come sometimes. And you know, every now and then, there are a few adults standing at the back like this, kind of watching all of it, and you can kind of tell they're not sure what they think about that. They won't say it to me, but they'll say to some other people, you know, I think the pastor made it too easy.
Do those children really know what they're doing? Don't they need to be older? Well, we don't do it with the youngest children, but we do it when they're old enough to know, but people say, well, don't they need to be older before they can be saved? What did Jesus say? He didn't say children need to become like adults in order to enter the kingdom of God. He said adults need to become like children to enter the kingdom of God. There's a reason 80% of Christians are saved before the age of 15.
You know why that is? It's a lot easier for a child to be saved than an adult. A child doesn't have all that baggage with him that keeps him or her from entering in the kingdom of God. A child isn't filled with all this pride that makes it difficult for him to acknowledge that he is a sinner and that he does need a savior. That's why we need to become like children, but when we are filled with pride, that pride is the baggage that keeps us from being able to experience and accept God's grace. This is why God hates pride, not because of what it does to him, but because of what it does for us, ultimately robbing us of eternal life. Look, pride is an attitude that credits us for our successes and blames others for our failures.
Humility is an attitude that causes us to view both of our successes and failures from God's point of view. It helps us to see clearly the truth about ourselves. Now, I admit, seeing clearly can be painful at times.
I just thought of this this morning. I thought about the story of the snake that went to the optometrist for a new pair of glasses. The optometrist said, I can't put glasses on you.
You don't have a nose or ears on which to hang them. How about contacts? Snake said, okay, I'll try the contacts. So he fitted him for two contacts.
He slithered out of the office. About two weeks later, he came in for a checkup. The optometrist said, how are your contacts working out? Can you see clearly? He said, oh, yeah, I can see. I've got 20-20 vision, but I've been so depressed the last two weeks. The optometrist said, well, why have you been depressed? He said, I discovered after all these years, I've been living with a water hose.
I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. Clear vision can be painful. That is the point of that story. But that's what humility is. Seeing yourself and others as God sees them. How do you know what genuine humility looks like? In the closing minutes today, let me just share with you four characteristics of genuine humility. Number one, humility is willing to credit others for our successes. Remember 1 Corinthians 4.7, what is it that you did not receive, but if you did not receive it, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it?
A truly humble person doesn't have problems acknowledging that good things have come into his life from other people, and he doesn't have problems acknowledging the contributions others have made. You know, I'll never forget the first time I went into the Oval Office, it was when Ronald Reagan was president. But it was much different back then because Amy and I went at midnight one night with a small little group that was taking a tour. And Reagan wasn't in the Oval Office, he was upstairs asleep. But I remember a little plaque that was on his desk.
I wrote it down after I got back to the hotel because it made such an impression on me. He had a little plaque he kept on his desk the eight years he was president that said, there is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit. In fact, that made such an impression on me when we were last year at the Reagan Library, they had a replica of that plaque and I bought it and put it on my desk as a reminder that humility means not caring who gets the credit. Let me change that saying a little bit.
There is no limit to what a company can do if they don't care who gets the credit. There is no limit to what a church can do and what it can accomplish if it's not hung up on who gets the credit. Truly a humble spirit means willing to credit others for our successes. Number two, humility generates genuine interest in other people.
A truly humble person sees people as opportunities to meet needs rather than opportunities to be used. I think about Jesus in Matthew 2028 when he gave his purpose statement, his reason for living, for coming to earth. He said, for the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. You know, we've read that so many times, I think we've lost the majesty of that verse. I mean, it is an unbelievable thought. When you think that Jesus Christ, co-equal with God the Father, the one who created everything we see according to Colossians 1, that Jesus was willing to leave heaven, give up the perks and privileges of being the co-equal to God the Father, he came to earth for one reason, not to meet his need but to meet your greatest need, my greatest need, the need for salvation.
That is unbelievable to think he was willing to do that. And that's why Jesus said in Matthew 20 verse 26, if we're really his followers, we're going to have that same attitude. Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. You know, that's hard to take in today's culture.
Books like looking out for number one or winning through intimidation, that's kind of the spirit of our age. See people as opportunities to use to help you get where you want to go. But no, Jesus said a true disciple is one who views other people as opportunities to demonstrate service. Have you ever been in this situation before? You've been at some gathering, a party or something and people are standing around mingling and there's somebody who's talking to you but they're looking past you, over your shoulder, looking around to see if there's anybody more important they ought to be talking to. Have you ever had that happen to you before?
You know, you're not somebody they're really interested in, you're just a placeholder until somebody more interesting comes along. That's the opposite of humility. You know, when I look back, I think of two great Christian leaders I've known. One was the late Cliff Barrows who was the song leader for Billy Graham for so many years. The other is Charles Stanley who's the great pastor of First Baptist Atlanta.
The reason I think of those two men is they're the very same in this way. Whenever they talk to you, they look you straight in the eye. They are locked in on you. The President of the United States could walk by and their eyes wouldn't move at all. They're not only listening, they're asking questions about you and what's going on in your life and your ministry and your family.
It's not fake. They don't have anything to gain from that. It's because they genuinely understand what it means to be humble. That's what genuine humility does. It demonstrates an interest in other people. A third quality of humility is humility resists the need to always be right.
Resist the need to always be right. Chuck Swindoll tells a story about this Scandinavian couple, Spin and Holda, who had been married for 50 years. They were dedicated Christians. Spin taught in Sunday school.
Holda sang in the church choir. They were wonderful Christians, except for one thing, they couldn't get along with one another. They just fought like cats and dogs throughout their marriage, and they both felt badly about it. And they would pray together every night, and then they'd start fighting again. So one night after their prayer time, Holda said to her husband Spin, Spin, I think I have the answer to our difficult situation. I think we should both pray that the Lord would call one of us home.
Then I can go and live with my sister. That's pride. The inability to even fathom the possibility that you might be wrong instead of the other person. You know, whenever you are in an argument with a child or a parent or a friend or maybe an employer, do you really listen to what the other person is saying?
Or are you so busy formulating your next sentence, your next argument, that you never really hear them out? There was an old preacher one time who was speaking to a group of younger ministers about tips for the ministry. And he said, Men, I've learned to eat crow every way you could prepare it. Baked, broiled, fried, and roasted.
And I don't care how you eat it, it never tastes good. But crow is an item on the menu of those who are truly humble. They don't mind admitting they were wrong. 1 Peter 5, 5 and 6, You younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time. Finally, humility views life's accomplishments and failures from God's perspective. You know, we tend to go to one of two extremes when we try to evaluate ourselves. One extreme is, I am so wonderful, how could God and the world ever get along without me? The other extreme is, I am nothing but a worm, I can't do anything.
Neither is a right, proper assessment. For those who tend to think too highly of themselves, Paul has a sobering word in Romans 12, 3. He says, For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment.
And then Paul launches into a discussion of spiritual gifts. The fact that we are all members of the body of Christ, and each one of us has an important function, and no one function is more important than the other one. We are Christ's body and individually members of it.
But the other extreme is equally wrong, to think I'm nothing but a lowly worm, I can't do anything. It's true, Jesus said, Apart from me you can do nothing. But if you're a Christian this morning, you're not apart from Christ. Christ is in you, the Holy Spirit is in you. And 2 Corinthians 5, 17 says, If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away, behold, new things have come. And that's why Paul said with confidence, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Humility views life's accomplishments and failures from God's perspective. I was reading yesterday about the great Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. And in one of Toscanini's final performances, he and the orchestra performed Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
It was a performance like he had never given before. And when they finished with the great finale, the crowd stood up and applauded wildly. And unlike any other time, the orchestra themselves stood up and started applauding the great conductor who had led them. The applause went on and on and finally Toscanini took his baton and beat it against the stand trying to get their attention. But they wouldn't stop.
He kept beating that baton against the stand and finally they stopped. And he said to the orchestra, gentlemen, gentlemen, it is not me. It's Beethoven. That's what a truly humble Christian says.
It is not me. It is Christ in me. When it feels like our world is spinning out of control, rest assured, God is still on his throne.
And he's still the one who orchestrates every facet of our lives. This truth keeps us humble, doesn't it? Because it forces us to recognize that God is the ultimate conductor of our lives. Remember, we don't get to pick and choose the circumstances that come our way. When hard things happen, the only thing we can control is our response. And that's the major theme of my teaching series. My series is called Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life. And while there's still time, I'd like to send you a copy of my book by the same title. But in order to receive one, it's important that you respond right away.
This is a large book with 11 chapters and nearly 300 pages. So please be generous as you determine the size of your gift. Plus, as you would imagine, today's inflationary trends have placed undue pressure on ministries like Pathway to Victory. We're blessed with multiple channels to distribute this program, such as radio, television, and the internet. And it's given us an unprecedented opportunity to reach men and women who are longing to receive hope. But these outlets come at a price, and we couldn't remain effective, and we can't continue growing without wonderful friends like you who support Pathway to Victory with their voluntary gifts. So, thanks for giving generously today. God will use your gift to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life.
It's the book by Dr. Jeffress that has served as the basis for this series. To request your copy, call 866-999-2965, or online, go to ptv.org. Now, when you give $75 or more, you'll not only receive the book, but we'll include the CD and DVD teaching set for this month's series, Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life.
Plus, you'll get a personal or group study guide. Call right now, 866-999-2965, or go online to ptv.org. You could send your gift by mail if you'd like, P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's P.O.
Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. You know, today more people than ever report feeling lonely. So why has loneliness reached epidemic proportions, and what is the biblical solution?
I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you to join us for a message called, Choosing Companionship Over Loneliness. That's next time on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Embark on the spiritual journey of a lifetime on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. May 5 through 16, 2025. Enjoy 11 days of fellowship, relaxation, and spiritual refreshment while sailing aboard a luxury cruise ship.
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