WEBVTT 00:00:24.799 --> 00:00:36.320 So we've talked about fear, we've talked about the Trinity, we've talked about sin and wrath and gossip, and today I want to uh just talk a little bit about how pride, how it destroys. 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:40.399 Because I said at the start, the fool says in his heart, there's no God. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:47.920 And the thing is, the idea is when you hear these kind of messages, is not to think of someone else as someone else suffering with pride, they need to hear this. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:50.719 Sometimes we need to just say, Lord, search me. 00:00:50.959 --> 00:00:52.319 Is there anything in me? 00:00:52.640 --> 00:01:05.519 But also have to understand that human condition, it's something that before Christ, before Jesus makes us righteous, and that's what I also said at the start our righteousness comes from him, and so his eye is on us to bless us. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:06.159 He's our father. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:08.879 That's a very, very special thing, which I'll finish with. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:25.679 But uh there's this human condition where actually it goes all the way back, if you think about it, to the Garden of Eden, and the Nahash, the serpent, said, You'll be like gods, and there was something in us that thinks, yes, you know, we want to be our own God. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:32.479 It went all the way to Babel, and in Babel, they were like, We we don't need God, we'll get to heaven ourselves. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:47.839 And there's something in us that's rebellious, that's godless, and anti-God, and it's in all of us, and Jesus is the answer and the healer, and he's the one who brings that life of the Holy Spirit where we can submit, surrender before God, and say, Your will be done. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:02:06.079 Isaiah chapter 2, verses 11 and 12, a very powerful verse, and it says in Isaiah chapter 2, 11 and 12, it says, The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:15.439 For the Lord of hosts, Yahweh Savior, has a day against all that is proud and lofty, all that is lifted up, and all that is brought low. 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:18.560 Listen to that, the haughty looks of men. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:20.560 This is this arrogance. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:26.719 You know, Romans chapter one tells us that none of us is without as an excuse when you consider creation. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:30.320 It says in Ecclesiastes, God has set eternity in our hearts. 00:02:30.480 --> 00:02:35.360 No one is without an excuse to not believe or not to seek God. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.360 But actually, why do we not? 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:39.760 Why do we choose to believe there's no God? 00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:44.240 We have this arrogance before the creator where we say, Do you know what? 00:02:44.320 --> 00:02:45.840 We'll be our own gods. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:47.520 We don't need God. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:52.560 We will be the ones who live life our way, we'll do things our way. 00:02:52.640 --> 00:02:59.040 And they ignore that creator, they ignore the evidence of creation, they ignore the evidence of that. 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:04.640 We are made in the likeness and the image of God. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:15.600 But what we do is we turn our nose up at God, and for so many of us, our testimonies are you know what, I used to believe there's no God, and I did life my own way, I did my own things, I did whatever I wanted. 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.040 But when you're confronted with the reality, you know what? 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:23.600 I think everyone has this moment where they just think, you know, there must be something more. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.560 There must be something more than all of this. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:34.800 In Isaiah chapter 3, verses 9 and 10, it says, The look on their faces bears witness against them, they proclaim their sin like Sodom. 00:03:34.880 --> 00:03:36.320 Well, that's a powerful statement. 00:03:36.480 --> 00:03:37.680 They do not hide it. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.159 Woe to them, they brought evil on themselves. 00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:45.600 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:47.360 That's encouraging. 00:03:47.520 --> 00:04:00.560 If you're righteous and we are righteous, if we are if our faith is in Jesus, if we've submitted and surrendered and received that gift of salvation, the cross, and that means that we are have looking forward to good things. 00:04:00.640 --> 00:04:02.560 It says we will eat the fruit of our deeds. 00:04:02.640 --> 00:04:17.360 And I'm looking forward to the just being in the presence of God, but there is something about man in our sinful state, in that pride that says, you know what, there is no God, we'll do things our way, and the root of it is this: they proclaim their sin. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:20.000 Why do we want to believe there's no God? 00:04:20.159 --> 00:04:22.000 Because we want to do things our way. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:25.839 We want to live and do whatever we want without any consequence. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.319 And the absolute arrogance of actually trying to force God to be in our own image. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:46.719 As if, you know, the Bible is wrong and we should be accepting of all, and there is no such thing as sin, and and everything should be okay, and we should celebrate everything unless it's Christian, Jewish, or Israel, and then we'll get really angry and then we'll get against it. 00:04:47.039 --> 00:04:49.359 That is the heart of arrogance. 00:04:49.599 --> 00:04:51.279 And sometimes Christians can do that. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:55.359 We can try and fit, try and make God fit into what we think he should be. 00:04:55.599 --> 00:05:02.079 We try and make the Almighty Yahweh, El Shaddai, Almighty, Ad or Nice, Sovereign God. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:05.439 We try and make him into what we think he should be. 00:05:05.599 --> 00:05:09.839 And and actually, we decide, you know, some of this stuff in the Bible, it makes us uncomfortable. 00:05:09.919 --> 00:05:20.240 So we think to fit in the 21st century in our Western worlds, God should be more like, I don't know, like he's some kind of hippie sitting in Starbucks sipping on a coffee. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:24.240 But actually, our God is mighty, He does as He pleases. 00:05:24.479 --> 00:05:29.279 Isaiah 5, 20 and 21 says, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. 00:05:29.359 --> 00:05:37.919 Doesn't that sound like our generation today who put darkness for light, light for darkness, bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter? 00:05:38.159 --> 00:05:39.599 Woe to those who are wise. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:40.799 Wow, this is stinging. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:46.159 Woe to those who are wise in their own sight, in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:47.599 And that is the thing. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:59.599 When you when you are dead set uh against believing in God or surrendering, submitting to God, shall I say, the Almighty Creator, you decide you are God, you decide my way is the only way. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:02.240 You say you become wise in your own eyes. 00:06:02.479 --> 00:06:19.599 And that's what where you end up with society when they decide there's no God and there's this big vacuum and gap, and we decide to fill it with all kinds of crazy philosophies and ideas and so all kinds of wickedness, actually, because we decide we'll decide what's right and wrong. 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:24.639 We don't need God to tell us what's righteous, we'll decide what's right and what's wrong. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:42.240 What amazes me, actually, when you read the book of Revelation, I mean, literally, the Bible describes there'll be a time when an angel will proclaim the gospel in the sky with a trumpet, or an eagle will warn about coming judgment. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:51.519 And despite everything that's happening in Revelation, the people still curse God because it's all about the heart. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:57.519 God knows those who are his, it's those who will submit and surrender and say, God, I can't do it without you. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:06:59.279 I can't live my life without you. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:01.279 I want to know you, Father. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:04.319 I need your father, not your fatherhood in my life. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:09.599 I need you, Jesus, to save me, and I need you to lead me and to be Lord of my life as well. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:13.680 Not just a ticket to heaven, but to be my Lord and my God. 00:07:13.919 --> 00:07:22.639 Revelation 16, 9 and 10 talks about them being scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. 00:07:22.799 --> 00:07:25.120 They didn't repent and give him glory. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:26.560 Isn't that incredible? 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:34.240 They didn't repent and give him glory despite all of this that was happening, because their hearts were hardened by pride. 00:07:34.479 --> 00:07:35.839 Their hearts were hardened by pride. 00:07:35.919 --> 00:07:38.000 It reminds me of you know Pharaoh in the Bible. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:42.959 He's he was a man who's it said the Bible says God hardened his heart because what was there? 00:07:43.599 --> 00:07:52.319 What was there was a pride that even though Moses was warning and saying, Yahweh says, let his people go, Pharaoh thought he could take on God. 00:07:52.479 --> 00:07:52.639 Yeah. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:54.799 In the book of Joshua, I've just been reading that today. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:08:01.680 I've not given I've not got this scripture for you, but Joshua says it says in the book of Joshua that God hardened the hearts of all of these kings. 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:02.159 Yeah. 00:08:02.799 --> 00:08:13.599 But uh and that's because God wanted to deal with them because they were acting in this pride that says, We're God, there's no God, we'll have our own gods, we'll make gods in our own image, we'll fashion them with our own hands. 00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:15.759 And you know what? 00:08:15.919 --> 00:08:31.120 When I think about actually think about this, between Genesis and Exodus, there's about 430 years, before the last patriarch, before Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, about 430, it's about the same time, uh, about the same gap as the old and the new testament, actually. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:32.000 That's interesting. 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:36.240 But we don't know of any prophet between that time, 430 years. 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:52.480 But if there was a prophet in that time, they might be saying something along the lines of we need to get back to the promised land, because right now it's been taken over and ceded by the Anakim, they are giants, by all of these wicked tribes that uh worship wicked gods and do wicked things. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:09:03.759 Yeah, but God doesn't panic, no matter how dark it seems to get in a nation, no matter how dark it seems to get in our land, how much pride and all of that human uh wickedness and darkness seems to take over. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:04.480 Guess what? 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:09.120 Our God can do something in a single moment, in a day, swiftly and suddenly. 00:09:09.199 --> 00:09:11.039 And that's what I love about the book of Joshua. 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:15.439 It says in one campaign, he defeated 31 of these kings. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.960 City after city after city, God took that promised land. 00:09:19.199 --> 00:09:24.799 No panic about the fact that these giants were there trying to take over the land and try and keep the people of Israel out. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:30.960 Nothing can stop God when you submit and you surrender and you trust God, you can always have hope. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:32.639 It's never too late. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:36.319 Our nations are never too far gone. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:37.600 And that's what I love. 00:09:37.759 --> 00:09:45.919 And in Revelation, it describes how the people are naked and there's no robes because they don't resent, they don't want God's righteousness. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:51.199 And the last piece of arrogance I want to talk about really quickly is this is a warning to the church. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:54.639 It's in Romans chapter 11, verses 18 to 20. 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:57.279 It says, Don't be arrogant towards the branches. 00:09:57.439 --> 00:10:00.960 If you are, remember it's not you support the root, but the root supports you. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:03.919 You'll say the branches are broken off that I can be grafted in. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.480 That's true, but they were broken off because they were unbelief. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:10.480 But you should stand fast through faith, so do not become what? 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:12.639 Proud, but fear. 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:15.279 And you know what we've been seeing even this week. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:27.519 There's a document discussed by the C of E called Kairos II, and they want to hear wicked lies against Israel, and they want to hear wicked lies against the Jewish people, a modern-day blood libel. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:30.639 And they want to give it a hearing. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:38.079 And so, uh, Haley, you're gonna share with us at the end how we can get involved and add our names to say we don't want nothing to do with that. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:44.799 Yeah, we don't believe in this genocide lie, we don't believe in all of these lies about Israel being a colonial. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:46.799 I mean, this is the land that God promised. 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:49.679 Don't be arrogant as believers towards his people. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:11:02.079 In fact, we have a heart that says we're thankful, thankful for the apostles that brought the gospel to the Gentiles, and thankful that we are, we belong, we've been grafted into the promises of God. 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:05.600 Pride says, We don't want you, God, we don't want your way. 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:12.720 But actually, the Spirit of God, when he moves on the heart, the heart says, I need you, God, I need you, Father, and what a blessing it is. 00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:17.679 He is the king, and there's only one person that can wake the king up in the night and ask for a glass of water. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:22.159 I can't remember it is who said that, and that is his child, and you are a son or a daughter of the king. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:22.960 Isn't that amazing? 00:11:23.199 --> 00:11:23.600 Tell them. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:27.199 And I'm gonna finish with this Psalm 34, verses 1 and 2. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:29.600 I will bless the Lord at all times. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:34.720 His praise shall continually be in my mouth, my soul makes its boast in the Lord. 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:37.439 Let the humble hear and be glad. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:43.919 Do you know what the the do you know what the answer is to so much pride and wickedness and all of that evil in a nation? 00:11:44.159 --> 00:11:46.639 Let us bless and extol the Lord. 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:48.000 Let us lift him up. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:49.279 And that's what we're gonna do. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:51.120 I think we should take communion now.