“Trust God Not Yourself”
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Watch out for Pride!
Watch out for Pride!
It is good to be back with you. Jennifer Jaida and I spent some time with my family over the past few weeks and it was good to be with them, but we missed our church family. So, it is wonderful to see you this morning. Today I want to talk to you about the folly of Pride and its destructive ways.
5 Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
be assured, he will not go unpunished.
I have titled this message, “Trust God, not yourself!” Turn with me to Proverbs chapter 16. We are living in a time where Pride is the norm. We hear catchy phrases like, “follow your heart.” “Be true to yourself.” I am still not sure what that means. “Look out for number one.” Movies and social media scream out to our younger generations that it is perfectly normal to be prideful. We have a month that is dedicated to PRIDE. In fact, we have dubbed it Pride Month. We see actors and actresses who are prideful. We see athletes who are prideful. We see politicians who are prideful and sadly even pastors and christians who are prideful.
The preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “The heart is the den of evil.” Church left to ourselves and our own selfish and prideful desires, we have a tendency to choose wrong because we have sinful hearts. As we come to the book of Proverbs we see the contrast between living a wise life and that of being foolish. Proverbs 16 lays out for us 2 choices. To choose and live wisely by being humble or to choose to live foolishly be being proud. This is something that we all must be on the watch for.
18 Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor
than to divide the spoil with the proud.
20 Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
1. Pride is Destructive.
1. Pride is Destructive.
18 Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
A. Prideful people will have a fall. The wise author of Proverbs tells us about the haughty and arrogant spirit of those who are prideful. These type of people think that they are better than others and look at other people with contempt. They will be brought down either by repenting of their ways or by ruin. Eventually, God’s patience runs out and their lives will come to an end.
25 The Lord tears down the house of the proud
but maintains the widow’s boundaries.
We see several examples of this from the Word of God. There were many men who lifted themselves up because of their pride only to be made low and brought down. The great Pharoah was brought down as the Red Sea covered him up. Men like Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar were brought down. Daniel wrote about King Nebuchadnezzar.
31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you,
B. Prideful people are foolish.
26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
Prideful and haughty people make foolish decisions. They trust in their own ways and do not fear God. This is destructive. Prideful people think that they are always right and do not stop to see things for the way that they really are. They don’t stop to line things up with the Word of God. The root problem is that the world’s logic is tainted by sin, folly, and pride. Many people are not even aware of their pride or see the error of their ways. In fact, the wisdom of this age will make more sense to the ungodly because they are so deceived by Satan. This is why so many people in our world today live however they desire because pride leads people to think that their view is the correct one. Here are just a few examples to show you what I am talking about.
-The world says sleep around before you get married. And yet God tells us that this is destructive behavior. Sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, a lack of commitment.
-Our world says go out and get what you want and pay for it later. Spend money that you don’t have. God tells us that this is foolish because it leads to worry and anxiety over paying off debt. Many folks choose to ignore the wise and godly instruction from God’s word because their hearts are sinful and prideful. Be content with what the Good Lord has given you. God tells us that we can be a lot happier with less.
16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord
than great treasure and trouble with it.
Church, do not follow your heart or the ways of this world or the advice of your ungodly friends. Submit to godly counsel. Listen to your godly parents and your pastor. Why??? Because we are always going to point you to the wise instructions found in the Word of God. And God’s word never leads us astray or down a wrong path.
Here is where the foolish and ungodly path leads.
12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice.
A wise person will listen to advise and seek godly counsel. Don’t trust in yourself, trust in the Lord.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
If you are here today and you have walked down the foolish path of pride and found that it has lead to destructive ways look up. Get your eyes and heart focused on Jesus. If your plans have failed, if you feel like this life has been a failure, maybe it is because you have been so focused on yourself and prideful that it has led you there. The good news is Jesus can set you free from pride. So, how and where do we look for wisdom as we journey through this life??? Let me give you 3 answers.
2. The Answer to Pride is Humbleness.
2. The Answer to Pride is Humbleness.
19 It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor
than to divide the spoil with the proud.
A similar verse is also found in Proverbs.
23 One’s pride will bring him low,
but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
The author’s point here is that it is better to be poor and humble than to be rich and proud. The men who divide the spoil are commonly known as soldiers who would go off to battle and win and take their enemies possessions or spoils. They would divide these up and value themselves better than others. What would happen is that because they now had more possessions, their minds and egos would become haughty and arrogant because of their new condition or wealth. Church, we must not look to ourselves or even our possessions for purpose and meaning in this life, but we must look too God and remain humble. When it comes to wisdom we need to be reminded that we are not wise. We are not always right. Wisdom is being humble enough to admit that we don’t know everything and then submitting to God and wise counsel.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
The contrast here is that it is better to take our stand with those that are poor than to covet what others have and become prideful in what we have or in what we have accomplished.
Matthew Henry comments here, “Humility recommends us to the favor of God, qualifies us for his gracious visits, prepares us for his glory, secures us from many temptations, and preserves the quiet and repose of our own souls, which is much better than the arrogance of honor and wealth of the world.”
3. The Answer to Pride is Trusting God.
3. The Answer to Pride is Trusting God.
20 Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
Wisdom is found in humbling trusting God. God made the world and he made you and I and he alone is ruling and reigning from his mighty throne. The book of Proverbs encourages us to look to God and not ourselves. The fear of Yahweh should be a reverent fear and dependence on God and not in the things of this world. True wisdom comes from Fearing God and trusting in his good plans and ways. But so often we get in the way of things and it can be easy to doubt God or wonder if he will show us what to do so what happens??? We doubt and take matters into our own hands. We doubt in the goodness of God and trust in what we think is best. Those who are proud lean unto their own wisdom and understanding and yet they have no satisfaction or peace. When we lean unto God and trust Him, he will direct our paths and we will have a peace that passes all understanding.
The author points us to the fact that there is a blessing to those who trust in the Lord. Trusting in the Lord prolongs our life, whereas folly and pride can ruin your life and cause serious consequences. Trusting God has positive consequences for your family because it will help your children to see who God is and what he has done. Trusting in God leads to a good reputation, joy and peace and eternal life in the age to come. If you are not following the Lord or have never trusted in Him, humbly confess your sin to Christ and submit your life to Him.
4. The Answer to Pride is Trusting God’s Word.
4. The Answer to Pride is Trusting God’s Word.
20 Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good,
and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.
In order for us to trust in God and fear God we must run to God’s Word and submit to its authority for our lives. In Proverbs chapter 30 Agur acknowledges that he is not wise and that wisdom comes from God. Not only is wisdom found in God, but it is also found in God’s Word. Listen to verses 5 and 6 of chapter 30.
5 Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
6 Do not add to his words,
lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
These verses speak to us about the sufficiency of God’s Word. We have everything that we need in this book for our lives and we do not need to add anything whatsoever to it or take anything away from it. However this is the problem with many churches today. They want to add to the word of God because they want to attract more people or they don’t want to preach on the difficult matters lest they offend someone and people leave their church. So, they take away from God’s Word, again because they don’t believe that it is sufficient or enough.
Church God’s Word is enough. The scripture works because God is at work through His very words.
The author here in verse 20 tells us whoever gives thought to the word will discover good. God and His Words are good. So, we need God’s Word to shape our worldview in order so that we may observe the world through that lens. We need to view the world through the word of God to see how corrupt and prideful the world is around us. We also need God’s word to see the remedy to the sin problem and that Jesus Christ is our answer.
A preacher was packing up to go off and preach at a convention and his son was sitting on the bed with him as he packed. The little boy said, dad you still have just a little bit of space left here in your suitcase, what are you going to put in there? The old man smiled and said son with this space left in my suitcase I still have enough room to take with me bread when I am hungry, fire to keep me warm, a hammer to build with, light for dark places, milk to nourish me, a map to guide me, seed to plant for harvest, and a sword to fight with. Daddy the little boy said, how are you going to fit all of that in this little space. I’m going to put my Bible there. And in God’s Word, I have everything that I need.
Conclusion: We are living in a time where it is so easy to listen to all the wrong voices and outlets screaming at us to pay attention. The world and its ways have rejected the voice of God and His Word. Sadly, many folks today are following their own path and listening to their own voice. This is exactly what happened to Eve back in Genesis chapter 3. She was deceived into thinking her way was the right way and she became prideful by eating of the fruit that God told her not to eat of. She rejected God’s Word and instead listened to the voice of the deceiving snake in Satan. Even the fall of Satan was because of Pride.
17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
I exposed you before kings,
to feast their eyes on you.
When we disregard trusting in God and His Word and follow our own ways we too become prideful. This is sinful and it’s foolish ways lead to death. The good news today is that there was one man who did not give into the temptation of pride. Jesus came and lived a perfect life, a life without sin. As Christ came to his final hours in this life in the garden he said, “not my will be done, but your will Father.” And then Christ gave his life for us by being nailed to a cross. If we are going to live a life that is Christlike and wise, than that means humble submission to Jesus. It means to fear God and humbly walk in wisdom.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
(Pray and Lead into Communion)