This morning, I've just got a
couple of points I wanna make, and I think they're real simple. One is I wanna talk for just
a minute about pride, and the consequences of it, and where
it comes from. And then I wanna talk to us about
the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, God has made a way to
forgive us for our pride. in the Lord Jesus Christ. So
let's begin by turning over to Ephesians chapter 3. And as you're turning over there,
let me make a few quick statements about modern religion and I did something this week I don't
ordinarily do. Most of these televangelists
and so-called preachers on TV are not worth watching because
they don't tell the truth. But I forced myself to watch
a little bit in order to see how long it would take for them
to mention the love of God. And it takes anywhere from about
eight seconds to at the most three minutes. Modern religion tells man that
God, listen carefully to how I say this, that God is a God
of love. Now that sounds good, but it's
really not true. You see, God is not a God of
love as in God loves everybody and God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life. What about folks in Noah's day
when it started raining and they're out there sloshing around and
all of a sudden it gets up to about right here? And that ark
comes by. What if it had the bumper sticker
on the back of that ark saying, God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life? I'll tell you what, they know
now it's a lie, don't they? That's a lie. What about on TV? ISIS people, tying the hands
of people, and they got them on their knees, blindfolded,
and here's this guy with a black mask, draws this big scimitar,
this sword, and he's about to behead them. I'm telling you,
those folks on their knees, God loves you, has a wonderful plan
for your life. They know it's a lie, don't they?
They know it's a lie. You see, God is not a God of love. Listen to me now. God is love. He is love. There's a difference.
And the best way I know to explain what I'm talking about in that
God is love is to say it this way. God the Father loves God
the Son. God the Father loves God the
Spirit. God the Son loves God the Father. And God the Son loves
God the Spirit. And God the Spirit loves God
the Father. And God the Spirit loves God
the Son. You know what? In that, Trinity is love. Outside of that, I'm sorry, there
is no love. The good news is that when Adam
sinned, He separated himself. He knew God the Son. God the
Son came walking in the garden. The Lord came walking in the
garden. He knew him better than we know each other. And then
Adam sinned. You know what? God came one more
time and then he departed from Adam because he was now outside
of the love of God. But the good news, the gospel
is that God did make a way for man, for his people, to be inside
or part of that Trinity. And the way he did it is in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Noah's Ark is all
about. The whole reason it happened,
it was recorded in God's Word, is to teach God's people. Don't
you know in Noah's day that Noah and his family were so glad that
when Noah got the blueprint from God, when God the Spirit came
and put in Noah's head how to build this ark and whatever,
don't you know how glad they were when it started raining
that there was a door into that ark? You know what I'm saying? He
didn't just build an ark and say, well, hope you get in there.
No, it was by design When the design of the boat was made,
it had a door in it, which was an entrance for who? Well, Noah
spent hundreds of years saying, I'm building an ark. There's
going to be a door. Come on in. Nobody would come
except Noah and his family. You know why? Jesus Christ is
the door. to the Trinity. He's the door
to the love of God. There's no other way in. Other
than that door, once it was sealed, the only way in and out of that
ark was this little window. And nobody could fit into it
and nobody could fit out of it. By design, God loves his people
and made a way into the love of God, into Christ. He's the
door. Now, these fellows teaching that
health and wealth is the way in, that if God loves you, you
know, you're going to have a healthy and prosperous life. It's just
not true. They're telling a lie on God.
God's people will have trouble in tribulation. We do not prosper
our way into heaven. We don't work our way into that. I don't care how much money you
make. I don't care how much money you give. I don't care how much
you do for your fellow man or do in the service of God. It
will not get you into the love of God. It won't get you in the
Trinity. Christ is the door, the only door. And therefore
God's people will have tribulation. And the reason is in Ephesians
3 here. Ephesians 3 verse 13, this is
the Apostle Paul writing to God's people and he said, wherefore
I desire that you not faint at my tribulation for you, which
is your glory. For this cause, he said, I bow
my knee unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, even
though, even though I've got trouble in tribulation, he said,
I bow to that. Why? Because it's the way God
ordained it. The father ordained it through
his son. And he said, of the whole family,
in verse 15, in heaven and in earth is named. Why do you suppose
they call God's people Christians? It's because we're like Christ.
We're made like Christ. When we come through the door,
there's a new creation. Did Christ have a life of ease
and wealth and prosperity? No, tribulation. We're going
to be just like him. So don't be surprised when it
comes our way. Verse 16, the reason for that
is that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, not
the riches of this earth. It's the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. The prosperity is in here. It's
not out there. Not in this world, it's inside. Verse 17, that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded
in love. The love of God is in the hearts
of his people and God has to open it up and put it there.
And then and only then do we want to go through the door.
Who went through the door of the ark? No one in his family. Why? They love God. And where
did that love come from? Well, they just were better than
the rest of them. Not really. No, God put it there. Do we see the truth about the
love of God is that we love Christ. We love him. We do, don't we?
But you know why? It's not because we do good or
we're better. We love him because he first
loved us. He chose us from the foundation
of the world and said, I love that one. I love that one, I
love that one. And therefore I'll put the love
of God in the heart by the Spirit to love the Son. And then verse
18, we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and the length and the depth and the height and to know
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you might be filled
with all the fullness of God. Folks, all there is to have is
Christ. You can try to get all the stuff
you want here, gather it up, keep it, stock it, store house
it, it won't do you any good. It's only in the love of God,
which is in Christ, that we have any peace or we have anything
really. Now turn back to Proverbs chapter
six. That's right after the Psalms. God is love. That's the simple
truth. God is love. But that does not
mean that God loves everyone, much less everything everyone
does. In fact, God gives a specific
list of what he hates. You say, God hates some things?
Yeah, he does. Pretty clear when the two boys
were born and God said, Jacob, have a love. Esau hath hated. I'm sorry for Esau. I'm sorry. But that's the simple truth.
And it doesn't mean that God loved him less. That doesn't
even make any sense. He loved those on the ark, and
he loved those out there just a little less, or even a lot
less. No, no. It's a total absence
of love. God hates sin, and he hates those
who sin. I'm sorry. That's just the truth
of the scriptures. Look here at Proverbs 6, verse
16. These six things doth the Lord
hate, and then he says, yea, there's seven. Seven are an abomination
to him. That means God hates him. Is
there any other way to interpret that? And he says, number one,
a proud look. Now read these, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that devises wicked
imagination, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false
witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among
brethren. Those are all bad. Now they're just bad, and they're
all sins. But what I want us to see this
morning, what's the first thing God hates? Pride. He hates it. He hates it. Top
of the list is a proud look. Now, God hates pride. Pride in
everyone in whom he finds it, and the sad truth is that every
son and daughter of Adam is full of pride. You say, even you,
Bob? Oh, especially me. I can prove that to you. See
if any of these types of pride fit us. They all fit me. I've
tried them on, preparing for this. How about pride of face? Right of face, any of you ladies
ever look at some other lady who's getting a lot of attention
from the fellas and thought, I'm as cute as she is? You ever
looked at her and thought, just look at her hair. Mine's prettier
than that mop she's got. Any of you fellas ever watch
one of these rock concerts a little bit and this guy's up there just,
and the girls are just going crazy? And you ever sat there
and thought, Man, is he ugly. If I had that
many acne scars, I'd give it up. Pride of face. Anybody ever known pride of pace? If that guy worked any slower,
he'd be a sloth. If that's the best I could do,
you know, I'd give it up. Or flip that around. Man, he
works so fast, he wrecks everything he touches. Pride of pace. What about pride of race? Ooh,
it's a hot button in this country, isn't it? Well, you know, the
truth is, in my lifetime, the Japanese looked down on the Chinese.
The Chinese looked down on the Russians. The Russians hated
the Scandinavians. Scandinavians looked down on
the Germans. The Germans, the Italians. The Italians, those
Africans, they had no room for them. The Africans couldn't stand
the Frenchmen. The Frenchmen look at the British and go, oh. And the British look at the Americans
and go, oh, they're so common. And it goes on and on. Do we
see that? And the Americans look at the
Mexicans now, and the Mexicans look at the Mayans, and the Mayans
look at the Aztecans, and they're all dead. But everybody's just
going, they're not up to us. There's pride of race. There's
pride of face, pride of pace, pride of race. How about pride
of place? Most of the kings and princes
of this world throughout history were in for a rude awakening
when they died and found out that God not only wasn't pleased,
but he hated them for looking down on those commoners. Let the little people eat cake. You know, I'm going to show you
that the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, he never once looked
down on his own, despite what they did. But then there's pride
of face, pride of pace, pride of race, pride of place. How
about even pride of grace? Oh, I hate telling you this one.
This is too revealing about myself. I was a very young believer,
maybe a year or so, I don't know exactly, I don't remember, but
this other fellow in the church and I were going to start a business
and we arranged to take this space and there was a guy in
there and we had to wait until he got out. On a given day by
10 a.m. he was supposed to be out of
there. We show up, he's still moving stuff out. Noon comes,
he's still moving stuff out. One o'clock comes and You know,
we go talk to him again, and we walk away, and my friend says
to me, he says, man, he said, I can't believe you put up with
this stuff from this guy. He said, man, I'd have gotten
upset a long time ago. And listen to what I said to
him. I said, well, you know, there was a time when I'd have
gotten really upset. But since I've heard the gospel,
you know, I seem to be able to control my temper better, and
this kind of stuff doesn't upset me like it once did." And my
friend, bless his heart, didn't say a word. We went on. Three
o'clock came, he's not out. Four o'clock, he comes walking
out and says to me and my buddy with me, he says, you know, I
don't know if I'm going to get this done today or not. I rounded
on him. And I got up in his face and
I said, you got 30 minutes to get everything out of here or
I'm coming in there and throw it in the street and you with
it if I have to. And I immediately turned around
and here's my friend standing there going, who are you? Who are you? Folks, that's pride
of grace and God won't tolerate it. Every time I see that fellow,
or think about him, I think what an arrogant, proud peacock you
are, Bob, for thinking such a thing. I don't think it anymore, or
try not to. That's pride of grace. Turn now
over, and there's so many I don't have time to cover them all,
but turn over just a little further to Proverbs chapter 13. The greatest danger of pride
to us as believers is not that God will forsake us over it.
He won't do that. He won't do that. He will not
forsake his people over sin. Why? The Lord Jesus Christ put
it away. He put it away. He put away that
prideful, arrogant attitude I had in that day. He died for it. His blood was shed for it on
Calvary. And I'm not responsible. God's never going to bring it.
Some of y'all may bring it up to me again and I may need to
hear it, but God won't ever bring that up to me in eternity because
it's been put away in Christ. But the greatest danger of pride
to us as believers is not that God will forsake us over it.
Now he may chasten us sore as he did me in that situation,
but he'll never forsake us eternally over any sin. The danger is what comes with
pride. I had never seen this verse of
scripture, but it sobered me up. Look at Proverbs 13, verse
10. Only by pride cometh contention. And that means just what it says.
Contention means quarrels and debate and strife. And do we
read what it says? The only way it comes is that
way. That's the only way. You know, it may be that I'll
be dead and gone before contention comes to this place. And I pray
it never will come to this place as you do. But if it does, remember
this, the way it came is by pride. That's the only way. Now turn
to Luke 22. I want to show you an example
of what I just read in Proverbs 13. And we must be on guard and
seek God's protection from pride. It can break out anywhere. The
evidence of that is our Lord Jesus Christ had just conducted
the first Lord's table with his disciples. He just established
the ordinance of the Lord's table. And he just warned them that
one of them was going to betray him. This was a fearful and a
solemn occasion. And I want you to look. at what
happened next in verse 23. He just said, one of you are
going to betray me. And in verse 23, it says, and
they, the disciples, the apostles, began to inquire among themselves
which of them it was that should do this thing. Okay. And let me tell you how I suspect
it did not go. It wasn't like the Lord said,
one of you are going to betray me. And Andrew didn't say, it's probably
going to be me. And Thomas didn't say, no, no,
it's going to be me. Let me tell you how this went
down. And I think it'll bear out probably that Peter's the
one who first said, not me. I won't be the one who does it.
And then one of the others, because it says they. Then Bartholomew
says, yeah, well, it won't be me either. It probably will be
you, Peter. That's how this thing went. Do you see how it broke
out? Contention among them broke out this way. Can't you just
feel it? They're having a big argument
about it. And you say, that's bad. That
is bad. Wait a minute. You haven't seen
the worst yet. Look at the very next verse. Verse 24. And there was also a strife. You know what that word is? Contention.
There was also a contention among them. Which of them should be
accounted the greatest? Whoa. Let me bring this home
to you. Let's say we just finished the
Lord's table here and we're all done with that solemn occasion
and we all stand up. I'll, I'll use me and I say,
you know, I'm probably the greatest member of this congregation.
He'd say, I can't believe you'd do that. Could you have believed
the 12 apostles did it? And somebody else here says,
well, now wait a minute. I was here before you ever got
here. And then somebody else says, I've been around longer
than you. I know more than you do. And the young one says, I'm
new, but I got time to do a lot of stuff around here. Do you
see how this breaks out? It happened with the apostles.
It's hard to even imagine. Yet except for the grace of God,
it's exactly what we'll do or worse. This was his disciples. If even the apostles are full
of pride, trust me, we are too. And God hates pride. Do you remember?
Six things I hate. Yay, seven. Does he condemn his
disciples when he finds them? I mean, what they deserve is
a good whipping, right? I tell you, if I ever pull that
stunt and stand up, the nearest one to you, punch me out, do
something, but stop me, please. Let's not be the cause of pride
and contention. It is such a bad thing. Is that
what our Lord did? He said, well, just all of you,
just, I'll just, I'll take care of you. I know where I can send
you. No, that's not what he did, is it? Look what he did. You
know, he told him, look down verse 29. He said, I appoint unto you,
despite what y'all just been saying and doing, I appoint unto
you a kingdom as my father hath appointed unto me. He said, we,
my father chose you from the foundation world and you're mine
and I'm going to keep you despite your pride. Then look, we'll
hold this, uh, and turn, hold this and turn to Matthew 26.
This is another account of the same situation. Matthew 26. Verse 31, then saith Jesus unto
them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night. For
it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the
flock shall be scattered again. But after I am risen again, I
will go before you unto Galilee. And here's Peter, what he did. Peter said, Peter answered and
says, why I think he was the ringleader of this whole situation. Peter answered and said to him,
Though all men be offended because of you, it'll be your
fault if I get offended. He says, yet will I never be
offended. Not me, not me. Oh, it drips
with pride. And Jesus said in verse 34 to
him, Verily I say unto you, this night before the cock crow, you'll
deny me three times, Peter. And Peter doubles down on his
pride. He says, Peter said unto him,
Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. And
listen, I'm going to show you in a minute, he meant it. He
meant it. So much a part of our nature
is pride. We mean it when we say these
things. He said, I won't deny thee. And then look what happened.
By that pride, he drew the rest of men. Likewise, also said all
of them. Every one of them joined and
says, no, it won't be me. It won't be me. Not me. Well, as you know, what happened
is when they took our Lord, buddy, they all scattered. Every one
of them did. But turn back now to Luke 22. And Peter's boast was not without
foundation. When they came to take our Lord,
Peter did step up. Look at verse 50. Verse 50. And one of them, in one of the
other Gospels it says it's Peter, one of them smote the servant
of the high priest and cut off his right ear. Now understand
Peter's goal was not to cut the ear off this man. What it was
is he drew that sword and the This servant of the high priest
saw it coming and ducked so that when Peter swung, he didn't take
his head off, he took his ear off instead. And that's only
at the mercy of God. Let me tell you, if Peter had
cut the head off that man, you know what would have happened?
Peter would have been taken, tried and murdered or killed
or crucified. And I'll tell you what, that
was not the purpose of God for Peter. If you read a little further,
It wasn't long after that Peter's out there preaching at Pentecost
and thousands are saved by this man who was the prideful bragging
apostle in all of this. But the Lord, not only did he
not let him take his head off, you know what the Lord did to
make it right? He reached over to this guy Malchus, the high
priest's servant, and touched his ear and put his ear back.
There was no evidence that Peter ever did a thing. Is that a picture
of redemption and salvation or what? When Christ died on the
tree, you know what? Nobody in glory is going to remember
that prideful Bob boasted about how good he was, or Peter for
that matter. And it's, sometimes we're so
foolish. We think the Lord needed Peter's
little sword. He said, I can call 10,000 angels.
Had to wipe that whole place out if he'd wanted to. But that
was not his purpose. His purpose was to go to the
cross and put away our sin. Put away that awful pride that
we have. And you know the rest of the
story. Peter did deny the Lord three times. And as the third
denial was uttered, look at verse 60. Luke 22, verse 60. Peter was
the third time asked if he was a Galilean and he said, man,
I know not that. I know not what you're talking
about. And immediately while he yet spake, the cock crew.
And then look at this. And the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word
of the Lord, how he had said unto him before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me three times. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Well, I'm running out of time, so I'm
gonna just summarize this. I wouldn't pretend that, I wouldn't,
The Lord is standing there being beaten and smitten and beginning
to pay for the sin of his people. And Peter's out there going,
I don't even know him. And the Lord stops in the midst
of his torment. and turns, and I don't even want
you to try to imagine the look that I'm even imitating at the
way I was those others. Y'all do understand, I'm embarrassed
about this, you understand how good I am at those looks? Have you been paying attention? I do it really good. A proud
look, I'm a champion at it. There's so many millions of those
in here, we can't imagine, and I hope you don't have them like
I got them. They're a plague. But this is evidence when the
Lord turned and looked at Peter. You know what Peter found out?
I'm a sinner. I'm proud. I'm boastful. And you know what he did? He
ran and he wept. Ever happened to you? God ever
show you who and what we are? Tell you what we'll do. We'll
flee. As soon as the Lord came down
and said, what have you done? Adam and Eve were out there making
fig leaves, trying to hide what they were. There's only one way
to hide your sin and that's under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's what will happen when God comes and reveals to us who
and what we are. The Lord turned and He looked
at Peter. I don't know what the look was, but I know what it
wasn't. You know what it wasn't? See Peter? It wasn't an ounce of pride in
it. You know why? The Lord Jesus
Christ was perfect. He was perfect. He never looked
once on anybody else with pride that he was better than you,
even though he was, he was perfect. And that's the second thing that
happens. The first is God comes to us and shows us who and what
we are. And then he comes and let me, let me let you see this.
Turn over to John 21, John's account of this. You know what Peter does after
he's found out who and what he is? He got the other apostles,
and they were all guilty too, and he said to them, I'm going
fishing. I don't know what to do with
myself. I found out what a mess I am.
There must be no hope for me. I'm going fishing. And John and
the rest of them said, oh, we're going with you. Because they
all had it revealed to them who and what they were. And they're
up fishing and catching nothing, and this man appears on the shore.
and says, y'all caught anything? And they go, not a thing. He says, well, throw the nets
off the other side. And they do, and there's so many fish,
they can't get them in the boat. And look what happens then in
John 21, look at verse seven. Therefore, that disciple whom
Jesus loved, that's John who wrote this, said something to
Peter. You know what he said to him?
It's the Lord. It's the Lord. That man on the
shore is the Lord. Now, when Simon Peter heard that
it was the Lord, he put on his fisher's coat and dived into
the water. You say, that's ridiculous. Somebody
who's getting ready to swim all the way to shore puts his coat
on? Yeah. You know what it was? He had
it revealed to him that he was a naked sinner. He wasn't going
to put that up for his righteousness. No, he got his coat on and he
sloshed his way to shore and it wasn't any time, the Lord
said, had the fire built and fish cooking and he's sitting
there and you know who on the one hand is the Apostle John
with his head resting against the Lord's breast. You can read
about this. And you know who's on the other
side? Peter. And they're not fussing about
who's the greatest. The fellows who are still dragging fish to
the, you know, they're not going, well, I'm greater than Peter
and Peter and John and all this. No, no, that's over with. You
know why? They all know who they are now. But they know this too. Despite who they are and where
they were, the Lord Jesus Christ came to them. He came to them. And you know, he asked Peter,
he said, Peter, do you love me? Peter said, I do, Lord. He said, Peter, do you love me?
And he said, yeah, Lord, I do. And he said, Peter, do you love
me? He said, Lord, you know everything. You know who and what I am. And
you know I love you because you put the love in me. Do we see
that? Well, maybe the Lord will prevent
us. God's people do love Him, but
only because He first loved us. There's no place or reason for
pride in that, only devotion and worship. I hope this has
been helpful to you, okay? We'll take our break.