Sermon Tone Analysis

©Copyright March 13, 2022 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

In our study in the book of Isaiah we move from a picture of what is the future of all who believe in chapter 11 to the majesty of praise for God’s salvation in Isaiah 12.

The next 11 chapters are filled with words about the judgment on various nations around Israel.

It is a reminder that the glory of our salvation also has a flip side: the judgment of those who turn away from Him.

We are going to fly over these 11 chapters because, in some respect it is reading someone else’s mail.

But it is helpful to look at WHY these nations were being judged.

The indictments leveled against the nations seem to have a consistent theme: pride or arrogance.

Each of these nations believed they did not need to be concerned about the God of Israel.

They believed they or their gods, were as sufficient, or superior, to the God of Israel.

Let’s look at a couple of these indictments.

In Isaiah 16:6 we read: We have heard about proud Moab— about its pride and arrogance and rage.

In Isaiah 17:7-8 we read these words about Damascus and Israel.

Then at last the people will look to their Creator

and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

8 They will no longer look to their idols for help

or worship what their own hands have made.

They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles

or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.

In Isaiah 23:9 God tells Tyre why they were judged

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has done it

to destroy your pride

and bring low all earth’s nobility.

The problem of pride is addressed continually in the Bible.

Proverbs 16:18 has become a saying most people don’t even realize comes from the Bible: “pride comes before the fall.”

Jesus continually reminded us that we should humble ourselves, serve one another as He did, because the servant is not greater than the Master.

Jesus also told the parable about the Pharisee and the tax-collector praying one day at the temple.

The Pharisee read God His resume and expected Him to be impressed.

The tax-collector humbled himself saying, “God be me merciful to me, a sinner.”

Jesus said the prayer of the tax-collector was heard by God.

The message of humility rather than arrogance is one our society desperately needs to hear.

We are living in a day when people have redefined relationships, the value of life is determined by people in the courts, absolute truth has been replaced by personal preference, and everyone creates a god in their own image.

And anyone who doesn’t agree be ostracized or canceled!

In Isaiah 14 we have the most extensive example of pride in the King of Babylon.

Many people feel there is information here about how Satan came to be Satan.

So, let’s take a brief detour and look at this issue of the origin of the Devil.

Let’s start in verse 14

12 “How you are fallen from heaven,

O shining star, son of the morning!

You have been thrown down to the earth,

you who destroyed the nations of the world.

13 For you said to yourself,

‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.

I will preside on the mountain of the gods

far away in the north.

14 I will climb to the highest heavens

and be like the Most High.’

15 Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead,

down to its lowest depths.

16 Everyone there will stare at you and ask,

‘Can this be the one who shook the earth

and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?

If the passage is talking about Satan (and there is much debate on that fact) it would indicate that Satan was an angel in Heaven and believed he could do a better job than God was doing.

His pride caused him to be cast down to the earth.

There are some other passages.

In 2 Peter 2:4 we are told “God did not spare even the angels when they sinned but threw them down.”

In the book of Jude verse 6 we read about “angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place they belong.”

In Ezekiel 28:12-17 there is another passage like this about the King of Tyre.

12 “You were the model of perfection,

full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.

13 You were in Eden,

the garden of God.

14 I ordained and anointed you

as the mighty angelic guardian.

You had access to the holy mountain of God

and walked among the stones of fire.

15 “You were blameless in all you did

from the day you were created

until the day evil was found in you.

16 Your rich commerce led you to violence,

and you sinned.

So I banished you in disgrace

from the mountain of God.

I expelled you, O mighty guardian,

from your place among the stones of fire.

17 Your heart was filled with pride

because of all your beauty.

Your wisdom was corrupted

by your love of splendor.

So I threw you to the ground

and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.

(Ezekiel 28:12-17)

If this is the story of Satan, he is the chief example of the destructive nature of pride and arrogance.

Perhaps this is why he encourages us along the same lines.

The real focus for us is the deadly nature of pride in our lives and in the impact such pride will have on the future of our country.

The Problem of Pride

C.S. Lewis has written,

There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees is it someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine they are guilty of themselves . . .

The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride.

Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites 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.

(A Mind Awake p. 115)

When we make the world revolve around us, we are usurping God’s rightful position.

Pride in our lives is an assault on the supremacy of the Lord Himself!

Listen to some people pray and you hear them telling God what He should do!!

Pride is like going to one of those carnival fun houses.

They have those mirrors that made you seem taller, fatter, shorter or thinner than you really are.

It is not a true image of us; it is distorted.

That’s what happens with pride.

We may believe we are spiritually strong, but we are actually disconnected from God.

We may sense we are on a level playing field with the Lord but we would be wrong!