Now we're going to be sort of
surveying in the book of Ezekiel chapters 31 and 32. There's a
lot of history here in this passage concerning God's judgment upon
Egypt and upon Pharaoh. As you know, these passages that
we've been studying beginning back in chapter 25 and going
up to chapter 32 These passages are God's prophecy through the
prophet Ezekiel of his judgment upon the nations that surrounded
Israel and then Egypt, which is a little far off from Israel,
but still one that was so significant in the life of God's people. We know the history of that.
I won't go back over it all. We looked last time at Pharaoh
as a type of Satan. and made those spiritual applications
of how just as the Hebrew children were delivered from the bondage
of Pharaoh, the bondage of Egypt, we who are saved by the grace
of God in Christ, we're delivered from the bondage of sin, the
bondage of Satan, the bondage of the curse of the law. Because
what Christ accomplished, what he did on Calvary's cross as
our substitute to put away our sins. Well, in these last two
chapters of this section, chapters 31 and 32, he's going to talk
a lot about pride. And as I said, I entitled this
message, Pride is a Deadly, Deadly Thing. Pride is a deadly thing.
Pride comes in many forms, and I'm going to talk about that
in just a few moments. Pride is what keeps sinners from
coming to Christ. It comes in the form of self-righteousness. And when God saves us by His
grace, we still have that great enemy within us called pride.
And it's a daily battle. One of the hottest, fiercest
battlefields in the warfare of the flesh and the spirit is the
Spirit of God within us. working with our spirits, the
life given to us within, against our own selfish creature, pride. And sometimes you might be amazed
in what forms it comes in. I know I am. But when I read
God's word, it's right there, and I feel like I'm staring into
a mirror sometimes. And I just have to say, yeah,
that's me. And my only hope My only hope
is that God, by his sovereign power and grace, will humble
me and bring me down in the dust where I belong. Old Brother Scott
Richardson used to say that God brings his people to make their
headquarters in the dust. And that's the way it is, isn't
it? But you know, that doesn't happen just one time. It happens
a lot, especially when we face matters of God's providence.
It's really a problem with us, isn't it? And that's why we're...
I'm so glad, and I know you are too, that our salvation is totally
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. And when I think about
our Savior humbling himself, you can read about that in Philippians
chapter 2, how he made himself of no reputation. I thought about
here, we spend our lives trying to make ourselves a reputation,
but in order to save us, and don't get me wrong, there's nothing
wrong with having an honest good reputation before men but I think
we do it a lot in pride but I think about him to save us he made
himself of no reputation he was not esteemed highly of men he
was we esteemed him not that's what the Bible says so think
about these things as we look at this and I thought about this
you know we read this passage I could go through the scripture
and so you show you so many scriptures that express in numerous ways
God's abject hatred of human sinful pride. And one that we
always think of is in Proverbs chapter 16. And people quote
this, verse 18, Pride goeth before destruction. Pride is a deadly
thing. It goes before destruction. And
an haughty spirit, a spirit that of a person who lifts themselves
up above others and especially above God. That goes before a
fall. And then it says in verse 19
of Proverbs 16, better it is to be of an humble spirit with
the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs
chapter 6 tells us that God hates a proud look. He hates a proud
look. Well, back here in Ezekiel 31,
what the Lord is doing by His prophet, He is now confirming
the prophecy of the destruction of Egypt. And in chapter 31,
what He does, He compares Egypt to another empire that's already
fallen. And that's Assyria, the Assyrian
empire. You see, the Assyrian empire
came before Egypt, came before Babylon, rather. And you remember the Assyrian
empire was the empire that destroyed and took captive the northern
kingdom. And Isaiah speaks about that.
And it was the Assyrian emperor or despot or tyrant who sent
a letter to Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king that he was going to
come down into Judah. Now Judah's destruction was inevitable,
but it wasn't God's time. And you remember what happened,
God sent angels to destroy their army. You remember when Hezekiah
took that letter and read it and had that proud king of Assyria. So what he's going to do here,
he's going to show Egypt that there was a greater empire than
them that's already fallen. So what in the world would make
you think that you can stand against the Lord and his people?
And it's particularly significant in the life of the nation Israel
because Israel kept turning to Egypt for help. You know, that's
uncanny, isn't it? When you read the history of
Israel, how Egypt treated Israel so badly, the Hebrew children,
and they came out and they were always wanting to turn back to
Egypt for help. And I made the point in a message
on that how man loves to wallow in his bondage. You know, that's
man by nature. You know, that's why man loves
false religion. Because he loves bondage. And
the reason he loves bondage, I'll tell you why, it's because
of pride. He thinks more highly of himself. It's just like the fellow that
told a preacher one time, he said, my salvation is in keeping
the Ten Commandments. Well, that's bondage. Now, why
was that fellow, why did he love that bondage? He thought he could
keep the Ten Commandments. That's self-righteousness. That's
pride, you see. That's what God brings us down
off of. Well, here in chapter 31, He compares Egypt and Assyria. He calls them both tall trees. And I'm going to let you just
read the whole chapter. I'm not going to read it all.
But just look at the beginning of it, verse 1. And it came to
pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first
day of the month. You see, God is very precise about all of
this. That the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt,
and to his multitude, that's the nation, whom art thou like
in thy greatness? Who are you like in your greatness?
You think you're great. And then he goes to the Assyrians.
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon. The cedars in Lebanon
were especially known for their greatness, their tallness, and
their beauty. It was some of these cedars out
of Lebanon that Solomon used, imported to help build the temple
of Solomon. He says, behold, the Assyrian
was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, with a shadowing shroud,
leaves and branches spanning out to give shade. And at high
stature, and his top was among the thick boughs, the waters
made him great, the deep set him on high. You see this language
goes all the way through showing the greatness, the physical greatness
of Assyria as compared to these cedars, tall trees. And what
was the problem? Well, it was that the problem
was they became proud of their greatness, proud of their strength,
proud of their beauty, their height. Their power. That's what
happened to Assyria. That's what happened to the king
of Assyria. That's what happened to the nation.
That's man by nature. Proud, proud, proud. And what happened to Assyria?
Well, Assyria perished. God destroyed them. And Egypt
saw it. Egypt saw this happen. You know,
they didn't have the internet back then. They didn't have newspapers
and TV. But when these great empires
fell, the word spread and people heard about it and they knew
about it and they saw it. But how did Egypt react to the
fall of Assyria? Did they humble themselves before
the Lord? Do you know there is an interesting
verse here? Look down at verse 9. Understand what he is talking
about here. He is talking about the greatness,
the power, the vastness of an evil empire. And look what he
says in verse 9 of chapter 31. He says, I have made him fair
by the multitude of his branches, so that all the trees of Eden
that were in the garden of God envied him. Where did a serious
power and beauty and stature come from? It came from God. He said, I've made it so. You
know, the Bible says every good and perfect gift is from the
Father of lights. That's an amazing thing, isn't
it? But did Assyria acknowledge the Lord God, and thank Him,
and worship Him, and seek Him, and serve Him? No. What happened?
Verse 10, look at it. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he
hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is
lifted up in his height, I have therefore delivered him into
the hand of the mighty one of the heathen. He shall surely
deal with him. I have driven him out for his
wickedness." Instead of acknowledging God, instead of humbling himself
before God, what did he do? He lifted himself up in pride. And then he goes on to describe
the destruction, the destruction of Assyria, comparing Egypt to
them. He shows how all beauty and power
and riches are from the Lord, but men refuse to acknowledge
Him. Where do we get our good things from? Where do we get
our bodies, our situations, our opportunities, the breath that
we breathe? Where does it come from? It comes
from God. We say it, we read in Hannah's
prayer, the Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive. The next breath
you take is a gift from God, and if He takes it from you,
it's His work. That's the way it is, isn't it? God's at work
here. God's in control. Everything
good that we have is from God. And what do we do? By nature.
We don't acknowledge Him. We don't seek Him, do we? God
hates pride. And He says here He'll give Egypt
over to the other nations the same way that He gave Assyria
over that's what's in the last part of chapter 31 and the message
is the same message that God has for all without exception
when he brings down his wrath upon on proud sinners and that's
this and it's for us it's for all that except you repent you
shall likewise perish that's the message You say, well, those
dirty, rotten Assyrians, they deserve what they got. Yes, they
did. That's exactly right. But what
if the Lord gave me what I deserved? Where would I be? Would I be
any better off than the Assyrians? Absolutely not. You say, well,
you haven't done half the things they've done. My friend, that,
that sin, sin is within all of us, this pride, the depravity
of man is within all of us by nature we fail in adam we rebelled
in adam and you know what did you see
here how he mentions the trees of eden look over verse eighteen
of chapter thirty one he says to whom art thou thus like in
glory and in greatness among the trees of eden now what he's
doing here literally is saying that assyria he he's making he's
making a point to show how great and how powerful and how beautiful
Assyria was in physical things. Not in spiritual things now,
but in physical. And spiritually they were ugly.
They were lepers, just like all of us by nature. But as an empire,
their power, their government, the vastness of their empire,
it was a beautiful thing to see. Couldn't even compare with the
trees of Eden. That must have been beautiful.
He says, yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden.
The trees of Eden were brought down. Now, who brought them down?
Adam did when he fell. He says, the trees of Eden unto
the nether parts of the earth. Thou shalt lie in the midst of
the uncircumcised. The uncircumcised in the Old
Testament is a way to referring to the heathen. It's a picture
in the New Testament of the unregenerate. And what he's saying is you're
going the way of the lost, the way of the reprobate. And he
says, you're going to be with the uncircumcised, with them
that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitudes
saith the Lord God. So there it is. Pharaoh, you're
going to be just like him. And I think about the trees of
Eden. They remind me of our fallen Adam in the garden of Eden. And
what does that reveal to bring us to repentance? You know, I
mentioned this in a message on Sunday morning. You know how
people, when the Bible teaches us that we fell in Adam, and
a lot of people don't like that. You know, I want to stand on
my own two feet. You know, I don't want to be
represented by Adam. And so they'll say something like, well, you
know, it's not my fault. I didn't have anything to do
with that matter. Adam did that. That's pride. You know that?
That's trying to contend with the all-wise, sovereign God who
assigned and appointed Adam his role as the head of the human
family. Who put Adam in the place that he put him and made him
what he made him? God did. Not you, not me. It wasn't a
vote. It's what God did. And Adam's
sin affected the entire race of humanity, just as As I said
this, a president's action to take the nation into war affects
the entire nation, doesn't it? Well, Adams, we fell in Adam.
But anybody who challenges the fact that we send in Adam, what's
the problem? Pride. Arrogance. It's implying that you would
have done better. That's right. It's like saying
I would have done better if I'd have been in that garden. I would
have done better than Adam. And the fact is, no, we wouldn't,
we wouldn't. That's the Dodds. The fact that we're guilty in
Adam, but it's also really ultimately to dodge the fact that we've
got enough guilt of our own personal sins to sink a world to hell. We do, but you know, this to
deny our fallen Adam is also to deny salvation in Christ.
We fell in a representative. You know what I say to that?
Thank God we fell in a representative. Not just that we fell, but that
we fell in a representative. Because we're justified, saved
in a representative by his grace. Well, chapter 32 is more prophecies
of the destruction of Egypt. Let me just break it down for
you. It starts off by comparing Pharaoh to a large fish taken
in a net, brought to land, and left for prey. He imagines himself
to be something great, like a crocodile, some commentators say. And God
simply says in the first few verses of chapter 32, well, I'm
going to reel you in like a fish and dump you on land, and you're
going to lay there and rot. You're going to be prey. And
then he talks about the ruin of the land flowing with blood. The people are going to see this
and they're going to lament, they're going to see the bloodshed,
they're going to have troubled hearts. The kings of the earth
that admired Egypt, they're going to be amazed. And then he tells
them, beginning at verse 11 of chapter 32, who's going to do
this? Now it's God ultimately who is the prime mover in all
of this, but he's going to use another heathen kingdom called
Babylon to do it. God is sovereign over all things. And then he starts off with the
lamentations of other nations. Kind of like what we talked about
in Revelation 18, when the great harlot Babylon falls all of her
admirers and all who trusted in her sorrow and wail because
they have no hope. And then he calls Egypt a dead
corpse. He uses that term uncircumcised
again. Over in verse 19 of chapter 32,
look at it. It says, Whom dost thou pass
in beauty? Go down and be thou laid with
the uncircumcised. What he's saying there is you're
no better off than those who go to hell. Again, that's a point that God
shows that if he ever gave us what we deserved, it would be
hell. There's nothing else for us but
that if God gives us what we deserve. And then he concludes
this chapter 32 in this section by giving a list of nations Brought
down by God because of their pride. He lists several nations
there. He even lists Edom. He had already
talked about Edom. Goes all the way down to Pharaoh.
And he says these nations are all going to fall because of
their pride. They refuse to acknowledge the
Lord. They refuse to acknowledge their own sin and depravity.
They refuse to acknowledge their need of mercy. And then look
how he concludes chapter 32. Look at verse 31. He says, Pharaoh
shall see them. And this is interesting. He says,
Pharaoh shall see them, all these other nations. Pharaoh is going
to fall. All these other nations are going to fall. Pharaoh shall
see them. And he shall be comforted over
all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the
sword, saith the Lord God. Pharaoh is going to be comforted?
What does that mean? Look at verse 32. He says, for
I have caused my terror in the land of the living, and he shall
be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, there's the unregenerate, with
them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his
multitude, saith the Lord God. Now, what kind of comfort is
Pharaoh going to get out of all this? Well, I'll tell you what
I believe he's talking about. It's certainly not any comfort
of happiness. It's not any comfort of contentment
which we who believe in Christ and who live and die in Him by
God's grace will have. But you know what this is? It's
a statement of a pitiful condition of a fallen sinner judged under
the wrath of God, showing that the only comfort that he's going
to have, and it's a miserably poor comfort, The only comfort
he's going to have is, I'm not alone. I'm not the only one. Is that
the kind of comfort that you're looking for or that I'm looking
for? You know, how many people tell you, you know, you all have
so few and there's so few who believe what you believe, but
there's so many that believe what the world believes. Well,
is that the comfort that you want? You've got the comfort
of Pharaoh. You're not alone. That's not
the kind of comfort I want. How about you? I don't want to
end up in hell having one point of comfort. I'm not alone. What a miserable, miserable existence. I want that comfort which comes
only in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the comfort. That's eternal
comfort. That's real comfort. That's the
peace that passes understanding. Whether there's a million of
us or one, that's what we wanted. And if the Holy Spirit has shown
us our sin and our depravity, I'll tell you what, that's the
only comfort we'll be satisfied with. You won't be satisfied
with anything else. There's old Pharaoh. Now let
me show you just a few things here. Pride is a deadly thing. Now you see how deadly it is?
It's a deadly thing. Thank God that He delivers us
from ourselves. Saves us from ourselves. Saves
us in spite of ourselves. Turn to Luke chapter 18. I want
to show you several ways, and I won't be long, how pride manifests
itself. How does pride manifest itself?
Well, certainly the most common way is found right here in this
parable, Luke 18, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican.
This is the natural creature pride of self-righteousness right
here. And look at verse 9 of Luke 18.
It says, he spake this parable undecertain. And this describes
the basis of the pride. And then he kind of gives a list
of the points of the pride. And here it is. unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others." Now, what is it to trust in yourself that you're righteous?
Well, it can be a lot of different things. It can be just, I believe
in myself that I'm a righteous person. A person can say it that
way. Or they trust in their works as making them righteous, that's
two. But here's how it works up, verse 10. Two men went up
to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a Republican.
Now I want you to notice the Pharisee's prayer. Don't let
this slip by you. Verse 11, the Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself. God, and what that means, when
it says he prayed with himself, it means he was praying silently.
That's what that means. And he says, God, I thank Thee. Now notice the first four words
of his prayer. God, I thank Thee. You know what
that tells you? Whatever he's going to say, he's
not trying to take credit for it himself. He's giving God the
glory. But here's the problem. What
are you giving God glory for? Well, here he tells it. That
I'm not as other men are, an extortioner, unjust, adulterer,
even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I gave
tithes of all that I possessed. He's given God glory for something
that God doesn't want and can't get glory for, and that's salvation
by His own works. I've heard people say, well,
you know, I did this, I did that, and I give God the glory. Well,
God may not want the glory for that. You understand what I'm
saying? That doesn't honor God. That's
what I'm saying. The self-righteous, proud sinner thinks it does,
It's like those in Matthew 7. Lord, haven't we prophesied in
your name? We didn't prophesy in our name.
You see, the problem is this. It goes back to the basic element
of the gospel. What is it that makes a sinner
righteous before God? Now, whatever it is, it must
glorify God. Here's this Pharisee saying,
well, I thank God That the fact that I'm not like other men makes
me righteous. The fact that I'm not an extortioner
makes me righteous. The fact that I'm not an adulterer
or even like that publican makes me righteous. I thank God that
I fast twice a week. That's what makes me righteous.
I give tithes of all that I possess. That's what makes me righteous
before God. And here's what God says. None of that will make
you righteous before God. That dishonors God. That denies
God. That is a denial of the glory
of God in Jesus Christ. And you can thank God and say
you're giving him the glory until you're blue in the face, but
it's nothing but an abomination to God. That which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination to God. But look at that publican,
verse 13, the publican standing afar off. He would not lift up
so much as his eyes into heaven. Now there's humility. That's
God worked humility. But he smote upon his breast,
saying, God, be merciful. And you know the word there is
propitious to me, the sinner. There's the difference between
creature pride and God-wrought humility. Pride manifests itself
in self-righteousness. You see, those who are made humble
before God know that they are not righteous before God based
on anything done by them, or anything done in them or through
them, it's only that which was done for them on the cross of
Calvary, Jesus Christ. He's my righteousness. And that's
what that publican is saying when he says, be propitious to
me the sinner. He's looking to Christ for his
righteousness, not what he does and doesn't do. Not what he does
and doesn't do, that's self-righteousness. Turn back to Luke 12. Here's
another way self-righteousness manifests itself. You know Christ spoke a parable
here about a rich man. Verse 16 of Luke 12. He spake a parable unto them
saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
Now the ground brought forth. Who do you suppose brought all
that, all those crops, all that fruit forth? God did, didn't
he? Well, what'd the rich man do?
Well, he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because
I have no room to bestow all my fruits. And he said, this
will I do. I'll pull down my barns, build
a grater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And
I'll say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many
years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. There you
go. Self-reliance. He said, but God
said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required
of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
So he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward
God. What is that? That's lack of
gratitude. That's self-righteousness. That's pride. As if you deserve
or earned it. As if it was your power. Consider
what we read about Pharaoh. in these chapters in Ezekiel. Consider what we read about Nebuchadnezzar.
Remember Nebuchadnezzar back in Daniel chapter 4, how God
brought him down and put him out in the field and made him
like a wild animal? They were self-reliance. This is mine,
mine. You act like it's yours as if
God didn't give it to you. None of it really belongs to
us, does it? That's why we're told to be good
what? Stewards of the things that God's
given us. But that's self-righteousness,
it's pride. And let me show you another way.
I'm running out of time and I don't want to go through all these
scriptures, but think about, you know that, and this is something
that we all have a problem with, you know even worry and despair
are veiled forms of pride? And don't we all have that problem?
We get into trouble or we don't know the future and then we begin
to act as if it depends on us. As if God will not keep His Word
to His people. What is His Word to His people?
He saves to the uttermost them that come unto the Father by
Him. He will not charge us with sin. He charged them to Christ.
He'll never leave us nor forsake us. Complaining is a form of pride. not accepting God's will in Providence,
not submitting to him, thinking that we know better than God
and everyone else. That's pride. And then lastly, judging God's
goodness and blessings by outward appearance. That's pride. That's
pride. All of it. Pride is a deadly
thing. Now the Lord says that in salvation, what does he do?
It says, those who exalt themselves, what does he do? He brings them
down. Those who go down, he lifts them up. How does he do all that?
Hannah prayed it. He lifts the beggar off the dunghill. He makes us beggars. He shows
us our sin and our depravity only to do what? To drive us
to Christ. And the only way that a sinner
is going to be brought down is to have a Holy Spirit wrought
view of ourselves in the light of God's holiness. And the only
way a sinner is going to be exalted is to have a saving view of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? That's the
only way. Christ and Him crucified and
risen. Other than that, pride is a deadly
thing.