Sometimes when studying the scriptures,
a preacher, I presume others are like myself, will come across
a passage and very quickly grasp a message or some thoughts for
a message from that passage. And then other times you come
to a passage and you know this is one of those texts
that must be weighed and weighed considerably to find the message
that God has in this text. And that's how I have approached
Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 4. I've dealt with the latter part
of this text many times, but the text as a whole I have waited
until now and I believe the Lord's given me something for you. The
title of my message tonight is the greatest evil and the greatest
gift. The greatest evil and the greatest
gift. If God will enable me, I want
to show you and show you from the book of God that which is
the greatest evil in the world and that which is the greatest
gift the most beneficial, the most useful, the most enriching
gift in the world. The greatest evil there is and
the greatest gift you can ever receive. Habakkuk chapter 2 and
verse 4. Behold his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. The scripture speaks here of
those whose soul is lifted up within them, the proud. And the scripture speaks of those
who live by faith, the just. Pride, without question, is the
greatest evil that exists in the world. And the greatest gift
there is, is the gift of faith. Faith. And I'm not just talking
about faith like the politicians talk about faith. I'm not talking
about faith like the good luck religious folks talk about faith. People talk about faith these
days. Even doctors talk about people of faith. People of faith,
they have a better chance of making it than folks who don't.
Well, if you believe that that microphone can do you good, that
might help you to live a little longer as far as medical science
is concerned. I don't know. If you believe
that that pew there is God, that might give you some confidence
in the middle of difficulties. I don't know. I don't know. But
that's not the kind of faith I'm talking about. I'm not talking
about faith in any kind of God or any kind of imaginary God. I'm not talking about good luck
charm faith. I'm talking about faith in Jesus
Christ, God's Son. Oh, may God open heaven tonight
and open your heart and drop faith in your soul. Thus far, my daughter is 40 years
old. I've never asked for anything
for her except that. My grandchildren, I ask nothing
for them except that. God give them life and faith
in Christ. But why not something else? Because
nothing else matters. Nothing else matters. I mean
nothing else matters at all. Nothing else matters. The greatest
evil there is in this world is pride. And the greatest gift
is faith in Christ the Lord. It is ever God's purpose to put
a division between Israel and Egypt, between those who fear
the Lord and those who fear him not, between those who believe
and those who merely profess to believe. Anytime we try to
separate them, we'll mess up. We try to separate the wheat
from the tares every time we'll jerk up the wheat and keep the
tares. Men try to separate sheep from the goats every time, not
most of the time, not some of the time, every time. We'll keep
the goats and hug them up in the fold and run the sheep off
every time. How can that be, Brother Don?
Because you don't know who knows God and who doesn't. You can't
see another man's heart. A note this week from some gal,
been listening to sermons, she said, when I take the bread and
wine at the Lord's table, I just weep and I look and other folks
aren't weeping and she's real hard on them. And I went right
back to her and said, what are you doing looking? That's none of your business.
I want somebody else to do it. None of your business how somebody
else responds to anything. And what makes you think because
you see what comes out of a person's eyes, you can see what's in their
heart. That's not your business. That's not my business. It is
not our business, nor does it lie within the realm of possibility
that you and I can separate the weak from the tares. We can't
do it, but God does it all the time. He is always distinguishing
the weak from the tares. He is always separating the good
from the bad. He is always separating His people
from the world. The Lord God constantly separates
Israel from Egypt. Frequently, in times of trouble,
the trials of providence become searching tests for men and women. God brings trials, one after
another, in his providence. National troubles, local troubles,
personal troubles, domestic troubles, family troubles, God brings difficulties
on people. And by those things He shows
who He is and who we're not little by little. The trials separate
Israel from Egypt. Men who appear strong and patient
when the trial is heavy and long. become weak and wither. And those
who appear to be very impatient and very weak, as the trial lays
heavily upon them, show themselves strong and patient. God sends
the trials, the difficulties, the troubles, and separates the
precious from the vile, shows who are his and who are not,
Simply by the exercise of his daily providence. This is exactly
what happened in Habakkuk's day. Habakkuk tells us that God sent
the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, to take his people into captivity
for 70 years. And do you know when the command
was given to go back to Jerusalem? When the king of Babylon sent
them back to Jerusalem and gave them the money to rebuild the
city of Jerusalem and to reconstruct the temple in Jerusalem? Do you
know some of those Jews wanted to stay in Babylon? Most of them
did. Found it real comfortable in
Babylon. That's where their heart was. They loved it that way. And Habakkuk says that this is
God's rod by which he chastens and judges his people. So it
is today. The Lord God continually separates
the precious from the vile. And as difficulties come, whether
it's in your physical body, or in your constitution, or in your
family, or in your state, or in your nation, as difficulties
come, and trials lie heavy and long upon you, The Lord God proves
the faith of his elect and demonstrates where there is no faith. Demonstrates
where there is none. Behold, his soul, which is lifted
up, is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. All right, let me show you three
things from this passage of scripture. First, I remind you once more
that there are just two groups of people in this world. The
proud, who are not upright before God, and the just, who live by
faith before God. Those who are God's elect and
the reprobate. The just and the unjust. the believer and the unbeliever,
those who are in the broad way that leads to destruction and
those who are in the narrow way that leads into life everlasting.
Notice how Habakkuk was inspired of God to distinguish between
the two. He says that the man who is proud, the arrogant, that
one who is lifted up is not upright in his soul. That one who has
a high opinion of himself, that one who is elevated in his own
mind, that one who thinks highly of himself, he is not upright
in his soul. But the just, that one who is
just before God, justified by God's free grace, made righteous
in Jesus Christ, he lives by his faith. In every age, All
men and women respond to Christ, the message of his grace, the
message of his coming, of his incarnation, his accomplishments,
his coming again, the message of the gospel we proclaim. In
these two ways, the proud are incredulous, mocking, unbelieving,
they scoff, they ridicule, they despise, they trample underfoot
the blood of Jesus Christ. John Gill said this well describes
the scribes and Pharisees of our Lord's day and well it does.
They, the proud, their heads are like bubbles filled with
air and they have a high opinion of themselves. They're full of
air and they soon fall. The proud. will not bow to Christ
the Lord. The proud will not submit to
the gospel of God's grace. The proud will not trust a substitute. The proud do not need the righteousness
of another. The proud, those who have a high
opinion of themselves, vainly imagine that they do something,
that they are something, that they can produce something that
God Almighty will accept and approve of. They're lifted up
within them. They're lifted up, but their
hearts, their souls are not upright before God. The proud, they're
not hard to find. Those who are lifted up, they
may be very religious people. Most religious people, indeed,
are very proud. Habakkuk declares the unbelieving,
religious or not, are lifted up with pride, lifted up in themselves. having high opinion of themselves. That's what God says here in
his word about you who refuse to believe on the Son of God. You lifted up with a high opinion
of yourself. That's what prevents faith in
Christ. Men and women have a high opinion
of their own goodness, of their good works, their good deeds
before men and before God, of their knowledge and their sacrifices,
their devotion and their services. But bless God, there is another
group of people. In every age and in every part
of the world, you will find those whom God Almighty has saved by
His grace. They are called the just. the
just who live by faith. That is, they live by faith in
Jesus Christ the Lord. The just are a people who live
by God Almighty granting them life and faith. We live by the
faith of Christ, by the merit of His obedience God has given
us faith, and we live by faith in Jesus Christ. Trusting Christ
alone for everything. That's what salvation is. It
is trusting the Son of God. It is trusting Him alone for
acceptance with God. His righteousness alone. His
blood alone. Trusting the Lord Jesus Christ.
The just shall live by his faith. The man who's lifted up, who
will not trust Christ, he may have a high opinion of himself,
but his soul is not upright in him. The just, however, those
who are truly just before God, live only by faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord. All right, now here's the second
thing. I want to remind you that pride is the greatest evil in
the heart of man, the greatest evil in this world, the greatest
evil to be found among men. Of all the evils that reside
in and arise from the human heart, pride is the most abominable. Pride is the ugliest monster
out of hell. The ugliest monster that dwells
in this dark den of iniquity called my heart and yours. Pride. It's the root of all sin. It
is the root of all sin. It was pride that destroyed Lucifer. Pride that led one third of the
heavenly host into rebellion against God. It was pride that
inspired Adam to steal the fruit from God's tree. It was pride
that brought the curse of God upon man and upon the beast of
the field and upon the earth which God created. And pride
made the first son of Adam a murderer. Pride. Pride caused Cain to murder
his brother. Imagine that. Imagine that. First two boys live on this earth. Full grown men now. Because one
was horribly enraged with pride, he murdered his brother. Pride,
the root of all evil. Compared with pride, all other
evil passions of our hearts are easy to control. Now I don't
know about you, I do know about you, I'd just be a nice pretending
that I don't. I have trouble controlling the
passions of my heart, and you do too. But morals, they're all
easy to control compared to pride. All of them. A man may control
his sensual lust. I suspect, and I have reason
to think that all of you men do. Otherwise, you would all
be rapists. The pastor included. A man may
control his covetousness. Otherwise, we would all be thieves
and murderers like King. A man may even control his envy. Otherwise, we would all be at
each other's throats all the time. But where is the man or
the woman who can control their pride? There's nothing we detest in
others like pride, is there? Oh, I hate to see somebody act
proud, don't you? And nothing we so quickly cover
up in ourselves. Pride. The most persistent evil
of our own hearts. Nothing could be more inconsistent
than this statement. You find it in Psalm 32.10. The
pride of man. Man, who is a worm. A man who
just sinned, the pride of man. As pride is the root of all sin,
it's the root of all heresy. Men utter false doctrine because
they're unwilling to bow to the revelation of God. I've heard
Brother Todd say this many times and I'm inclined to agree with
him. He said heresy is not really a knowledge problem, it's a moral
problem. Men rebel against God and refuse
to bow to God's truth because of their pride. I once heard
Jimmy Swaggart say, God limited his omniscience. God limited his omniscience.
I wonder how you do that. God limited his omniscience and
omnipotence. so that man could be free. God chose to limit his all-knowing
and his all-power as if all knowledge and all power can be limited
so that man could be free. No, God didn't choose any such
thing, but most people Most people choose to declare that God is
limited and man is omniscient and man is omnipotent because
men refuse to bow to God's truth. Pride causes men to subject God
to his own judgment, God's word to his own reason, God's doctrine
to his own opinion. The religion of this world, be
it papacy or Protestantism, liberalism or conservatism, fundamentalism
or atheism, is all one religion. All of it. I've said it so many
times, I fear sometimes repeating myself, so let me say it a little
different. The doctrine is all one. It's doctrine is the dignity,
supremacy, and goodness of man. That's the doctrine of this world.
The dignity, the supremacy, the goodness of man. Goodness of
man. Oh, how good he was. If everybody
gets to heaven, it should be her, she was such a good woman.
If everybody goes to heaven, it should be him, he was such
a good man. Such talk! Reveals who you worship It's not oh I was a slip of the
lip a slip of the lip generally is exactly what goes on inside
here Reveals who you worship The religion
of this world makes man his own teacher makes man his own ruler
makes man his own Savior and makes man his own God and Man
eats it up because he's proud Men delight to hear that God
is limited and they are free. Proud men delight in hearing
that God's power, His knowledge and His grace, His wrath, His
justice and His fury, all are controlled by the will of mighty
man and not by the will of omnipotent God. I solemnly warn you, beware. Pride goeth before destruction. Pride is the universal sin of
humanity. David prayed that God would hide
him from the pride of man, that universal evil which makes men
mean and cruel and hard. Wherever it's found, You'll find men with high opinions
of themselves and loathing one another. It's universal. It is a strange, strange creature. Pride doesn't care where it lives. Pride lives just as well in a
mud hut as it does in a king's palace. Pride doesn't care what
it wears. Pride wears just as finely the
rags of a beggar as the robes of a king. Pride doesn't really
care about its moral character. No, no, no. Pride lives just
as well with the harlot as it does with the woman of the greatest
exemplary chastity. Pride is universal. Pride's found
everywhere. Pride lives just as well in the
brothel as it does in the temple and just as well in the temple
as it does in the brothel. Pride, something from which no
one is free. All of us live with constant
pride. We struggle with it. If we're
believers, maybe other believers do some, I don't know. Pride,
a face, we like to think we're some. I had to think of something. You catch your children. You learn not to do it yourself
lest you get caught. But you catch your children doing
what you used to do and walk by a mirror and they just can't
help but stand there and look at themselves. Boy's flexing muscles. Oh don't
I look good. So proud. Proud because of the
place we have. The place we have in this world,
the position we have. Proud because of our race. Whether
black or white, it doesn't matter. Proud. Proud. And some even proud
because of their knowledge of God's grace. How proud we show ourselves when
we get upset with folks who don't have the same light that God's
given us. When we become angry with folks who can't see because
they're blind. What foolishness. One's proud
of his strength. Another's proud of his knowledge.
One's proud of natural beauty. Another woman's proud because
of the beauty she purchased, either from a doctor or from
a store. But proud people, being proud
of their strength, their bite, Isn't this strange? Fellows take
pride in that in which dogs and oxen excel them. But we got to
think of something. We got to think of something.
Turn to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. I want you to
look at this. Do you remember how the Holy
Spirit holds up the sons of Zebedee, James and John before us? As
a great example of pride that we ought to avoid. What an ungodly,
disgusting, shameful, sinful, foolish thing pride is. Look
here at Mark 10 verse 35. And James and John, the sons
of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest
do for us whatsoever we shall desire. Whew! That's pretty bold, isn't it?
Master, we would you do for us whatever we desire. And he said
unto them, what would ye that I should do for you? And they said unto him, grant
unto us that we may sit one on thy right hand and the other
on thy left in thy glory. Lord, I don't want much. I'm just a poor, humble fellow,
and I don't deserve anything, but I sure would like for you
To set me and Lindsey Campbell, one of them on the right side,
one of them on the left side, so we can rule over all these
other people. In your kingdom. What a terrible thing. Isn't
it though? Just the kind of pride we exercise
all the time. Just the kind of pride we practice
all the time. Read up. But Jesus said unto
them, you know not what you ask. Can you drink of the cup that
I drink of and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? Pride makes folks talk like fools,
even folks who aren't. And they said unto him, we can. They won't be in trouble. Whatever
it is you can do, we can do. Whatever it is you can endure,
we can endure. Yeah, we can drink that cup,
we can be baptized at baptism. And when the ten heard it, they
began to be much displeased with James and John. How come? Well, probably because they didn't
think to ask it first. or because James and John dared
to ask that they may sit over these other disciples. They became
displeased with James and John and there was a rift among the
Lord's apostles because of stinking pride. You see God's people in this world are still proud
sinners in need of mercy, in need of grace. People with much
ignorance and much sin that only grace can control and only grace
can overcome. God teach me that every day. Every day. So that I may be patient
with the ignorance of my brethren and with the faults and sins
of my brethren. It's always obvious that pride
causes strife and divisions among the sons and daughters of Adam.
What's the cause of division and separation, being one from
another? We separate according to race
and rank and riches, because we're proud. What is it that divides brethren?
Just pride. What is it that divides families
and splits them up? Just pride. What causes war? When all is said and done, not
patriotism, but pride. Nothing else. Yes, even among
God's saints, the greatest problems and difficulties, injuries and
troubles are the result of pride. God forgive us our pride. And that pride shows itself in the strongest character of
each of God's own. That which is the strongest trait,
that for which God's elect are most well known, God shows the
weakness of them in that very thing. Who was ever so patient
as Job? And yet, you read through the
book of Job and you find Job after the trial is long and hard,
appears to be most impatient of all men. Who was ever so meek
as Moses? And yet it was Moses' rashness
in striking the rock the second time when God said, speak to
the rock, which caused him not to sanctify God before Israel
and kept him from the land of promise. What man so strong is
Samson? And what man so weak? Saul never
had a more loyal friend than David, but David showed himself
horribly betraying to his friend Uriah. Solomon was given by God's
grace the greatest wisdom of any man who walked on the earth.
And you read about Solomon and his wives and you discover that
Solomon was in many respects the most foolish and ignorant
man who ever walked on this earth. What's your point brother Don?
We must never be so proud has to trust in our own strength
for anything. Nothing. God's strength is made
perfect in our weakness, not in our strength. God shows His
strength by His grace in us when He makes us to know our weakness. causing us to depend upon Christ
alone. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? One girl born, beautiful, beautiful
young lady, grows up, beautiful girl, beautiful woman, brilliant,
talented, gifted. Another comes from the same womb,
with the same father, with none of those qualities. What's the
difference? One fellow is born in this country
in liberty, with prosperity, with every opportunity, with
health and strength, well educated, well trained, prospering in the
world, and another born in a land of darkness, and no matter what
comes along, He'll live and die in poverty and filth. Quit strutting before yourself
and strutting before God. Whether it's talking about physical
things, material things, intellectual things, or spiritual things.
Who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that
thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? You and
I in this place are given the great treasure of the gospel.
Oh, how God has prospered us. How God has blessed us. Given
us the gospel of his grace, opening doors of opportunity for us to
preach the gospel around the world. But we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. Just broken pieces of clay, that's
all. And he put it in earthen vessels
like us, Bob, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us. So that if anything's accomplished
by what God allows us and enables us to do in this world, it's
altogether God's doing and not ours. The proud man's soul is
not upright in it. The proud man, the one who's
lifted up with his high opinion of himself, will never seek light
and doesn't like for light to shine. A reading today, I read
it years ago, something by Mr. Spurgeon, an illustration, talking
about the missionaries going to India and trying to convince
the Hindus of their foolishness in worshipping different forms
of animal life. They don't dare kill a rat or
step on an ant because, oh, God may be in that. And the missionary
took a microscope. and put some water on a slide
under a microscope to show the Hindu how foolish that was because
every time you drink water, look at the animals you're drinking
and killing. And you know what the fellow did? True story. He
took the microscope and smashed it against rocks. Can't help
that! We'll see the light! Why? Pride. Pride. It's pride that keeps
men from submitting to the word of God and the revelation of
God no matter how plainly and clearly presented. Men would
rather, because of their pride, keep their traditions and keep
their gods and keep their ways than bow to God's word. They'll
tear it up every time unless God intervenes. Pride. What a horrible evil. Now third,
look at our text again. Faith in Christ, faith in Christ
is the greatest, most enriching, most beneficial of all gifts
in this world. Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Oh, gift of gifts, oh, grace
of faith, my God, how can it be that Thou who hast discerning
love should give that gift to me? Ah, grace, into unlikeliest
hearts it is Thy boast to come, the glory of Thy light to find
in darkest spots of hope. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. I'll just touch on four things
and I'll just touch on them and I'll be done. Number one, understand
that faith is God's gift. Faith is God's gift. It is the
operation of God, the Holy Spirit in you. Faith is not something
that is mustered by man. It is not the result of man's
free will. It is not something that men
conjure up for themselves or communicate to one another. Faith
cannot be gotten by going to a confessional booth, and it
cannot be gotten by walking to the front of a Baptist church
and shaking a preacher's hand and signing a decision card.
Faith cannot be gotten that way. Faith is the gift of God. Faith
is the gift of God. It's that same power of God the
Holy Spirit that raised Christ up from the dead that creates
faith in you. Faith. God's gift. Understand
this as well this faith, which is God's gift the operation of
God Causes those who possess it To enjoy the blessed privilege
of being just before God No faith does not justify us. Oh, no,
no, no, no, no, no faith receives justification Faith doesn't doesn't
cause God to give us life, faith is the fruit of life and faith
doesn't cause God to justify us, faith receives what Christ
has done for us in free justification. So that faith takes, it's the
hand God gives by which we take God's gifts. Faith receives everything,
everything. Third, understand this, those
who trust Christ, all of them, live by his faith. Live by his faith. I'm crucified
with Christ, Paul said. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me and gave himself for me. so that we live
in faith by the merit and power and efficacy of Christ's faith
as our obedience charity and substitute who accomplished all
things for us. And fourth, this gift of faith,
this greatest of all gifts, is indeed the greatest of all gifts
because it is the most beneficial, the most enriching, Gift there
is. Faith receives all grace. All grace. Faith receives Christ. And with Christ receives all
things. Faith causes one to walk before
God upright. so that living by the faith of
Christ Jesus and by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord, believers,
being given a new nature, are upright in their souls, born
again by God's spirit, and they walk before him in uprightness. Faith gives us Christ, unites
us to Christ, and gives us all things with Christ. of Him are
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. You are complete in Him, in Him,
in Him in whom resides the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in Him. Receiving Christ, Paul says,
if Christ is yours, all things are yours. For you're
Christ and Christ is God's. Faith, receiving Christ, shall
enjoy forever. All the blessedness of heavenly
glory. I can't even begin to imagine
what I just said. All the blessedness of heavenly
glory. And this faith, where God gives
it, continues. The just live by faith. They live by faith. all the days
of their lives. And when they come to leave this
world, they leave this world in faith. Oh, blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord. They die in faith, believing
God. And faith shall soon turn to
glad fruition. God give you that faith. as only
He can. Amen.