The Perpetual Problem of Pride

Did God really say? This question led to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden as Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command to not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and instead did what was right in their own eyes. This theme of doing what is right in our own eyes shows up over and over in Scripture largely because people want to fit in with those around them and look good. This is a real problem in our world today as well… should I do what makes me look good in the eyes of others, or should I do what I know to be right? For many the idea of fitting in seems like the way to go, regardless of the cost. What starts with just fitting in, though, often leads to a completely different path. This path looks appetizing - it promises friends, happiness, possessions, and purpose, after all, it’s the path that looks right in our own eyes - it must be good! The problem with this path, and the problem with Satan’s question in Eden, was that it ultimately reveals a hidden flaw that each one of us have… pride.

We like doing things our own way. We like being in control. We like it when people like us. I’ve heard this statement before:

At twenty, we worry about what people think about us.

At forty, we don’t care what people think about us.

At sixty, we find out that people haven’t been thinking about us at all.

Yet, so often we’re stuck on self. We live in a culture that celebrates self and worships self at the expense of virtually everything and everyone else. In this type of polarized world that is full of self, what should we do? In a community and country that celebrates pride, should we go with the flow or should we guard ourselves from this temptation? In a world that mocks the Creator and crown ourselves as King, what should our response be? Enter Psalm 2. This morning, as we continue our Summer in the Psalms series, we’re going to see what Psalm 2 has to say about our need to align with the Word of God rather than going with the way of the world. On this day, Father’s Day, we need to remember that we have a Heavenly Father who created us and loved us enough to send His Son to save us from ourselves. In many churches today dad’s will be given a stern talking to and be bashed for their failures… At FBC Salem we just let the Bible speak. Dad’s, today you must choose what matters most: Your Creator or His Creation. The trajectory of your family depends largely on what you worship. Let’s see what Psalm 2 has to say about the problem of pride and our need for wisdom.

Psalm 2 CSB

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the Lord and his Anointed One: 3 “Let’s tear off their chains and throw their ropes off of us.” 4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord ridicules them. 5 Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath: 6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.” 10 So now, kings, be wise; receive instruction, you judges of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with reverential awe and rejoice with trembling. 12 Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.

This is a Royal Psalm that was penned for the King. In the midst of a world gone mad, this Psalm represents hope as we know that there is a God who rules and reigns over His creation. He has already won. This Psalm will point us to Jesus, our Lord and Savior, and as we look to Jesus there is no room for pride. There is no room for pouting. There is no room for pointing the finger. There is only room for praise. This morning, let’s praise Jesus as we study His Word - let’s pray.

Pride Exalts Man and Devalues God (1-3)

Last week we kicked off our study in Psalms with Psalm 1 and we saw how we are supposed to be people of the Word rather than people of the world. We noted how we are supposed to meditate on God’s Word and to rest in God’s Word and to produce fruit as we study God’s Word. Psalms starts out with a call to be a Word-centered person and FBC Salem is a Word-centered church and we always will be because the Word exalts our God. This past week was the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans and there were just about 19,000 people present to discuss what God is doing in our convention of churches. Next Sunday evening after our business meeting I’ll give more of a report from the week, but y’all, it was amazing to be able to worship Jesus with people from big churches and small churches, men and women, young and old, black and white, city and country, American and international… We gathered and we sang and we sang songs in a lot of different ways, songs with a full praise team/choir/and orchestra, songs completely acapella, and songs with just a praise team and the whole congregation, songs I knew, songs I kind of knew, and songs that were completely new to me… but it wasn’t about the songs and it certainly wasn’t about my preference - and it’s the same today, we don’t just sing the songs and the styles we prefer because that’s a pride problem… the reason we sang in New Orleans at the Convention and the reason we sing today is to humble ourselves and exalt the name of Jesus. As we did this last week, I saw such a contrast between what was taking place in the convention center and what was going on outside of it. A few days before the convention, New Orleans made a big deal about a pride parade taking place in its downtown district because it’s “pride month.”

This month is a bombardment of pride. Have you seen this photo from the White House a few days ago? I don’t care who you vote for, as a Christian, this is wrong. Why is it wrong? I’m not talking about flag etiquette - I’m talking about the exaltation of human pride - which is sin. We’re not talking about the acceptance of sin, we’re talking about the normalization and exaltation of sin… Just because something is popular, though, it doesn’t mean that it’s right. Prov 14:12 tells us this

Proverbs 14:12 CSB

12 There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.

This might sound harsh to our ears… but this is what Hebrews 10:26 reminded us of several weeks ago if we continue to live in unrepentant sin, we will not be happy with the outcome

Hebrews 10:26–27 CSB

26 For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.

Why is this such a big deal? Because whenever people live in opposition to God’s Word and God’s way, they will be destroyed. They are living in opposition to the God of the universe and this isn’t a good place to live in as Psalm 1 reminded us of last week. Pride exalts man, and God’s Word shares that there is only one person worthy of our praise and it’s not self… It’s God! We look around our world and we look inside our own hearts and we wonder why there is confusion, calamity, and chaos and it’s because the way of this world is in direct opposition to the way of God. The nations are raging because they are standing against the Lord.

Ever since last fall we’ve been studying the book of Hebrews the majority of our Sunday mornings here at FBC Salem and we have 3 amazing chapters left that we’ll cover this fall. I’ve been praying for guidance as to where God wants us to go after Hebrews. This will be our 5th book down as a congregation, so we have 61 more to go, right? In praying about that, I keep coming back to Daniel and I believe that’s where the Lord wants us to go next as we’re living exile today, just as Daniel was thousands of years ago. Daniel and his friends were taken away from Jerusalem and to Babylon - the epicenter of power, idolatry, and worldly wisdom of its day. So many today think that we’re living in Jerusalem, the city of God and the country of God… but in actuality we’re in Babylon as well. We’re living in the city of man, not the city of God, as Augustine coined over 1500 years ago. We live in a place that hates the Word of God and the God of the Word! Why does our world hate God so much? Because God’s way doesn’t align with our way.

Think about this question: Whenever God’s Word doesn’t line up with your feelings, who wins? In our world, the vast majority would say that their feelings win in the end and that God’s Word must bend the knee… This is the world in which we live. A world in which people of all shapes and sizes conspire against the Lord and His Word due to pride. Because we think that we know best. Because we make the mistake that the Israelites did thousands of years ago and do what is right in our own eyes and according to our own hearts and whenever we find something that opposes us, we’re tempted to ask the age old question of the Garden… Did God Really Say?

Why ask this? Because of pride.

Why do we do what is right in our own eyes? Because of pride.

Why do the nations rage against the Lord? Because of pride.

Why is pride such a big deal? Because it puts ourselves above the God of the Universe, which is idolatry. Pride is a serious deal - and the rest of this chapter brings this truth the limelight as we see that we aren’t as big as we might think that we are. 2nd, we see that

Prideful People Mock God While God Mocks Prideful People (4-9)

Psalm 1:1 told us last week that there is a person in this world who sits and mocks the God of the universe. How do people mock God? For one people believe that God does not exist. They disrespect God to the point of believing the lie that says that He doesn’t exist in the first place even though every single human knows inside their heart that there is a Creator God. Others disrespect and mock God by valuing their view above God’s view, as we’ve already talked about this morning. Others still openly defy and rebel against what God says in His Word. Not only do they disagree with Scripture but they celebrate a life that is contrary to God’s Word. They mock God by living a life of rebellion… Douglas Moo once shared that, “Mockers do not so much reason against the truth of God as they disdain and belittle it.”

What becomes of these people? We see in our text that God laughs, ridicules, speaks, and terrifies these people. This is a frightening thought, isn’t it? To the leader who thinks that he is the most powerful person in the world, God laughs at him. To the person who thinks that they know better than God, God laughs at them. To the father who boasts in the accomplishments of his hands and who thinks that he’s a self made person, God laughs. To the person who thinks that they are in control, God laughs. Why would God do this? Because God mocks the prideful, just as the prideful person mocks God. So many people celebrate their sin and they do so publicly and in rebellion to God, and God ridicules these people and speaks to them out of righteous anger and coming judgment. Think of the pride of the Pharaoh’s of old in Egypt. They had the mightiest of armies and the most beautiful of palaces. The Israelites were their slaves for generations… In fact, one Pharoah gave the order to slaughter all the Israelite boys. He does this to mock them and demonstrate his power over them… What does God do in return? He mocks him by his own daughter raising up an Israelite boy named Moses. He mocks him by Moses being taught and trained by the greatest educators in his day. He mocks him by Moses being raised in the palace, under his own nose. God mocks those who mock Him and His people. He laughs at them. That might not sound very nice, but it’s the truth - whenever people think that they know better than God, God has a way of humbling us real quick.

Matthew 23:12 CSB

12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Think of a time that God humbled you real quick… Now, I’m not really a pie person in the first place, but I think we can all agree that humble pie doesn’t taste good at all even though we’ve all had to eat it a time or two, myself included! You know the moments whenever you see someone do something silly and they get in trouble for it and you start off your comment by saying these words, “I would never…” That is a dangerous statement, friends! It’s easy to think that we’re a lot wiser than we really are - because often whenever we think that we’re safe and wise and smart is whenever we lay our cards on the table that reveals that we’re due for some humble pie. Romans 1 tells us that people claim to be wise but they in actuality are fools because God mocks worldly wisdom.

How does God mock worldly wisdom? Chiefly with the cross of Jesus Christ! Paul shares this in 1 Corinthians 1:18

1 Corinthians 1:18 CSB

18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.

To one who is prideful and who mocks God openly, the cross makes no sense because they are in need of no assistance. They believe that they are their own Savior… but to those who realize their desperate need for help as the Word of God makes clear, Jesus Christ and His cross is the best news of all. Notice what this Psalm says that God does to this wicked, prideful person… He laughs and ridicules them and speaks in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath. This is serious stuff because it leads to a tragic end for the enemy of God. Even though the powers and peoples of this world plot and rage against the things of God, aren’t you thankful that God still reigns in the heavens unopposed as King?

Why would God mock these people? Our world says that this doesn’t sound very inclusive and nice of God. This doesn’t sound like the love and acceptance and celebration and affirmation Jesus that many believe Him to be exclusively. We see 3 times in Psalms that God mocks or laughs at people in a negative sense (Psalm 37, Psalm 59, and here in Psalm 2). Why? Because the Lord, not us as humans, is in control. The Lord watches over His people. John Newton shared this years ago, “There is one maxim that comforts me, the Lord reigns.” In Babylon, in a nation that mocks God, and in a society that is full of pride and empty of God, we are assured that God hasn’t left His throne and He hasn’t abandoned us. He isn’t powerless. He has a plan and He will judge those who oppose His rule and He will deliver His faithful servants. The conclusion of this section talks about the promise that God gives to His Son, we know to be Jesus Christ as Hebrews 1 talks about this very text. In our world there is a fight for superiority and we boast in our accomplishments and achievements… but all of those things will fade away. Jesus is promised the nations of this world. Even though there is evil on the rise and it seems as though darkness will win the day, Psalm 2:7-9 promises us that Jesus wins and Jesus will destroy His opponents. Doesn’t that give you some hope with all the nonsense we see taking place around us?

That truth should also convict us to ensure that we’re aligned with Jesus. That we’re on His side and following His way. Rather than going with the flow of a godless world that mocks God and rages against Him, we are to align ourselves with God’s Word because if we don’t, we won’t stand too long on our own.

Pride Leads to Destruction, Praise Leads to Devotion (10-12)

What is our hope to stand strong and not perpetuate the cycle of pride that is all around us? Chiefly, we need wisdom in order to walk this road well. The Bible talks much about wisdom and our need for God’s help in order to gain godly wisdom. Where do we go to gain wisdom in this life? Sometimes we go to wise people who are usually but not always older than us and sometimes they have good wisdom to impart and other times they leave us even more confused than we previously were! Sometimes we go to Google because Google supposedly has an answer for everything… but Google isn’t always wise, even though Google has lots of information. For that reason, sometimes we resort to books - some of you are thinking that sounds crazy and outdated, but books can certainly help us out when we need wisdom and advice. Whenever Lindsey and I found out a little over 3 years ago that we were going to become parents, we did what Millennials do: We got a how-to book on parenting! I’m reading this book on the changes to expect with each month of the pregnancy and how to prepare for the big day coming up… and honestly, I’m feeling really prepared. I set up the crib, we had clothes organized and ready to go, we had the hospital bags packed, I’m thinking that I’m ready for this kid to get here and to hold my boy! And then Gabriel shows up and within a few hours of being moved to the Mother/Baby unit, he poops on me and all of that preparation was thrown out the window and put to the test and I’m going to be straight with you all, I was expecting a brown diaper and I instead got a black diaper and I’m panicking and way out of my comfort zone. A few days later we brought Gabriel home and I thought I was prepared with all of the hard work we had done - but I was humbled over and over again. So what do we do as men in these moments? If you’re blessed to have a good relationship with your father and you need advice, you call dad. Praise the Lord for godly father’s who give godly advice!

I don’t know how Samsung phones work, but this week I was looking at my messaging history with my dad on my MacBook and I asked my dad more questions and called him more times those first few weeks than I ever have in my life because I needed help from someone who had gone through this before. I needed someone with godly wisdom - not someone who would boast in their accomplishments and make you feel bad, you know some people are like that, don’t you? You look on Facebook and some people love to post about the high points that make them look good, but you never see the real person? In our moment of need, that’s not the person we’re going to reach out to. We need wisdom from someone who has been in the trenches and this is what godly dad’s are there for: to provide wisdom in our time of need.

On this Father’s Day, think through Psalm 2:10-11 with me. How do we demonstrate wisdom? By asking God for help, Psalm 1 tells us by meditating on God’s Word, by serving God with joy, and by rejoicing with faithfulness. How do we demonstrate wisdom, all of us, but today especially as dad’s? By realizing who we are and WHO God is. By remembering that God is the ONE that we are created to praise - not self. As we look throughout our world, we see a world of pride, not a world of praise. We see a world that celebrates self-centered pride and this angers God because Human Pride Prevents Godly Praise! Psalm 2 is telling us that we must respond to the work of Jesus, not with self-centeredness but with Gospel-awareness. We must understand that we are separated from God because of our sin and we are called to respond to God’s Word and God’s Work with Godly wisdom and faithful praise - not selfish pride. We see in Scripture that we all deserve destruction, but because of Jesus, we can experience transformation. Look at what Scripture teaches about those who walk according to the way of worldly pride and experience this destruction.

Isaiah 5:20 CSB

20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Obadiah 3–4 CSB

3 Your arrogant heart has deceived you, you who live in clefts of the rock in your home on the heights, who say to yourself, “Who can bring me down to the ground?” 4 Though you seem to soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down. This is the Lord’s declaration.

Proverbs 14:34 CSB

34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Our nation and our world are built around a faulty system that promotes pride. Not just this month of pride - we’re talking about the sin of pride or the exaltation of self and saying “I was born this way and I’m proud of that.” Friends, this isn’t the way. This is what nations who mock God do - and God will destroy such nations and such people out of His anger as Psalm 2:12 tells us. So what do we need in order to break this perpetual problem of pride? Statistics and Scripture tell us exactly what we need: We need God’s Help to do things God’s Way.

God has ordained that father’s play a role in the spiritual development and maturation of their families. Here are some stats

If Mom comes to church regularly, but Dad doesn’t, 2% of children will grow up to be regular worshipers

If Dad comes to church regularly, regardless of what Mom does, roughly 70% of children grow to be regular worshipers

When Mom and Dad come to Sunday School, 72% of children attend Sunday School when grown

When Dad comes to Sunday School, 55% of children attend Sunday School when grown

When Mom comes to Sunday School, 15% of children attend Sunday School when grown

When a child comes to saving faith in Jesus, there is a 3.5% that their family will follow

When Mom comes to saving faith in Jesus, there is a 17% that her family will follow

When Dad comes to saving faith in Jesus, there is a 93% that his family will follow

Dad’s, you matter! We look around our world and see nations raging, pride perpetuating, violence exaggerating, and sin saturating our world and we wander how do we get back to God’s original design for things… the answer is simple if we’re honest with ourselves… We must determine in our hearts for ourselves what we will do and what we will not do. We must determine to be people who find our refuge in the Lord and who serve and worship Him faithfully. This starts at the top down. Dad’s, in the home this starts with you! As a church, this must be the focus of our leadership, that we would serve and worship Jesus alone! As we do this, we pray that others might see something different and instead of being swept away by the wave of pride, they might find refuge upon the rock of praise that stands firm in the storm of confusion.

Father’s, your kids need affirmation and they need advice. Point them to Jesus. The only way that you can do that is if you yourself have killed your own pride and found refuge in Jesus personally. On Mother’s Day we looked in Hebrews 10 and we saw how even the best of Mom’s in the world need to find rest in Jesus and repent and ask Jesus to save them from their sins… Dad’s, we’re no exception here. We must find rest and refuge in Jesus and repent from our sins and ask Him to save us. Our families are depending on us following God’s design.

Voddie Baucham once said this, “If I teach my son to keep his eye on the ball but fail to teach him to keep his eyes on Christ, I have failed as a father.” You will not find a pastor who will talk your ears off about sports more than me - I love sports and I could debate with you about them until Jesus returns or calls me home… But I’m forever blessed that I had a dad who first and foremost taught me that there is one King and his name is not “ball” His name is Jesus and my priorities in this life must start and end with serving and worshiping this King and finding my purpose in Him. Wisdom isn’t found in looking like the world… Wise people will worship and work for the Lord

So, now, Dad’s, be wise: Receive Instruction. Serve the Lord. Worship the Lord. Here’s your Father’s Day spiritual-help strategy, are you ready? Put Jesus first in your life and in the life of your family and experience the joy that only Jesus can bring.

Conclusion

What does God’s Word say? This is the question that our world desperately needs to answer. Should we simply do what looks right in our own eyes? Should we follow our heart and our feelings? Whenever we disagree with God’s Word, should we change the Word to fit our feelings or do we have to change in order to align with God’s Word? Should we reject the Word of God and the God of the Word, or should we follow the Word of God and worship the God of the Word? We are living in a world that feels strongly opposed to God’s Word - neutrality is not an option. In a world set on Pride - we must be a people of Praise!

We see in our text that there is a God in heaven - we must live accordingly. There is a Savior who died to save us - we must bow reverently. There is a Spirit who convicts people today - we must respond obediently. We must bend the knee to King Jesus and align ourselves with His Word - let’s seek to do that in the following ways as we apply this text faithfully.

Application:

1. In a world that worships self, Dad, your family needs you to worship Jesus and put Him first

Your family will follow your example and if you are meditating on God’s Word and serving and worshiping Him faithfully, statistics say that your family will follow that example! Your family doesn’t need you to be a perfect Father - because you can’t - your family needs you to point them to their perfect heavenly Father who sent His Son to seek and save the lost like you and me. Worship Jesus well, dad’s!

2. We are saved to serve – if you are saved, are you serving?

We talk about God giving His adopted children a spiritual gift - a gift of grace, or a Chrisma in the Greek. Every time that word appears in the New Testament, it shows up in the context of building up one another in the local church. One of the ways that we worship is by serving. If you are saved, you’re supposed to serve and Psalm 2 tells us that we are to serve with awe and worship.

3. Outside of the God of the Word, there is danger and destruction – if you are not saved, repent and rest in Christ

We see in Psalm 2 a painful but real fact: If you rebel against God, there is judgment awaiting you. So many in our world affirm and celebrate their choices even if they are contrary to the Word of God and their basis for celebrating their sin is that they are “born this way.” The Word of God demands that we must be “Born Again!” We must repent of our sins and trust in Christ as Lord and find rest.

4. Build your life on God’s Word, not the pride of this world

Our world idolizes pride and self-worth that we conjure up inside of ourselves. The Bible shares with us that we are all bankrupt without Christ and in need of His salvation. That is a message that our world wrestles with… but it’s the truth of God’s Word. Build your life on His Word, not this world of present pride… It will fade away, God’s Word endures forever. Trust in Jesus - follow His way - Experience His Joy!

Let’s pray