The bible says that there is a sin that started war in heaven it's the sin of pride
when the devil decided and lifted up himself and five times said I will I will I will
and that pride now has come down to earth
and suddenly the very sin that started war in heaven
has grafted its way in please uh hear me pride was the original sin by which satan fell I'm
going to make a pretty strong statement here you are the most like satan when you walk in pride
another way to say it now again this is going to be strong but I'm just I'm just
using grammar here but this word is pretty strong but it is satanic which means like
satan that's all it means but we know that's a strong word it's satanic to be prideful
pride is the grossest sin the mother of all sins in fact C.S Lewis says this about pride he says
according to Christian teachers the essential vice the utmost evil is pride unchastity or being uh
unpure anger greed drunkenness and all that are mere flea bites in comparison
it was through pride that the devil became the devil pride leads to every other vice it is the
complete anti-god state of mind pride says that I want to be like God lucifer in the kingdom of
heaven fell from heaven with the fallen angels he says God I don't want to worship you I want
to be like you Adam and Eve in the garden says God we don't trust you you say that that's not good
but we want to see what it is we think maybe you're holding goodness from us that's pride
God hates pride this is Proverbs 6 verse 16 these things the Lord hates
yes seven are an abomination to him and the first one listed is a proud look a proud look
an abomination to God see all rebellion stems from pride pride is the seedbed
of all rebellion against God and God hates it now God doesn't hate people
he doesn't hate proud people he hates the behavior he hates the sin it's an abomination
to God an abomination is a very very strong word a proud look and it's just that look we've all
done it we've all seen it it's just that little look that says I'm something I don't need God
God hates that and pride causes a lot of a lot of destruction Proverbs chapter six is this
God hates pride there are seven things listed in that chapter that God hates but number one
is pride now on that list there's also murder which you would expect and lying you would
expect but number one on the list is pride why because pride is the root sin of so many other
sins and so many other struggles and so the reason why murder is committed oftentimes rooted in
pride the reason why we lie the reason why we can struggle with speaking truth is oftentimes rooted
in pride and so and so we're warned about pride we're warned about putting ourselves at the center
now when Jesus enumerated the sins the seven sins that he particularly despised pride made the list
and when pride is in our life oh it gives us a significance
and that's why God says deliver us from evil it's not about my power it's about your power
it's not about my kingdom whatever that may be it's about thy kingdom
and God says I don't want you to get your significance with the pride the sin in your life
I want you to get your significance delivered from evil for thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever father it's all about you
your name your kingdom your power God says I will resist the proud God resisteth the proud
but giveth grace unto the humble the only way to defeat pride is through humility
if you can't exalt humility in your life
then pride will come in and take that vacuum and will handle it
the scripture is clear from this passage it cannot be done in our strength
note what it says God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble it's
God who does it you're sitting here right now saying how do I get rid of the pride in my life
it's humanly impossible Paul said without him you can do nothing
but God says I want to help you but it starts with grace
you know what the problem with pride is
it's so difficult to get rid of that we get comfortable with it
pride makes us think we can do it
pride makes us think we have the ability
and if I just had your help a little bit Lord we could do a lot
and God says stop it
draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you
humble yourselves
in the sight of the Lord and here's the promise he shall lift you up not maybe
God says you humble yourself I promise you I'll lift you up
you want to see what you can do or do you want to see what God can do
now notice it says humble yourself in the sight of the Lord
if we're not careful we play this little game of humbling ourselves in each other's sight
and the problem with that is we can fool each other nobody fools God
what would it take for you to say I don't want to see what I can do I want to see what God can do
I don't know what you're facing but humble yourself and my God has promised he'll lift you
up I'm going to tell you in the bible what's the highest position in the bible the highest calling
that a person can achieve or can walk in the highest calling now most think it's an apostle but
the apostles themselves tell you what the highest position is the highest position for believers
is a servant think about when Jesus came this earth what did he do he said I didn't come to
be served I came to serve Philippians 2 says he took upon himself the form of a
servant he became a servant that's the highest position you could have in the kingdom of God
the problem is that we get so concerned and so fixated on what our position is
what our title is or what we have or what we're supposed to do or what we're supposed
to accomplish or what we've done in the past or we get very very fixated on uh what God's called
us to do and we want everybody know hey this is my calling this is what I'm called to do well
I can tell you what all of us are called to do we're all called to serve we're all called to be
servants I'm going to serve people that's what Jesus did who has the name above all
names he comes to serve that's the title that Paul and Peter and James and Timothy that's the
title that they took upon themselves your identity is not in what you do it's not in your title
it's in whose you are you know what the ultimate prize is the highest prize
is knowing Jesus I think that God loves a humble heart because God has a humble heart
and we see that humble heart just in the way that when he came here he came here to serve us
even with his life and even in his death he came here to serve us what is your prayer life like
because prayer is humility and prayerlessness is pride
when you're praying you're saying to God I need you when you're praying you're saying to God I
submit to you when you're not praying what you're saying is I don't need you
and I'm just gonna do my own thing and prayer is coming to God saying I can't carry these burdens
I don't even know what tomorrow holds God you know eternity you know every event in my future
you know every person that is coming up in my life you know every decision that I'm about to make you
know every event that's going to happen on earth I can't navigate but you if you will guide me Lord
I need your guidance and I need your protection God I can very limited manner protect myself you
can protect me from all evil and so prayer says I need you I need your direction I need your power
I need your protection God I need you prayerlessness says I don't need you
every day you wake up and you clothe yourself with humility and the first
words you say every day is God I need you and I take everything in my life and surrender
it to you and I will use it for your glory and keep me from pride keep me from pride