Pride Goes Before Destruction Various Proverbs

 [The LORD] mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. (3:34)  There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. (6:16-19)

 [Lady Wisdom speaking] I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. (8:13)  When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (11:2)  Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. (13:10)  The LORD tears down the proud man's house but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact. (15:25)

 The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor. (15:33)  The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. (16:5)  Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. (16:18-19)  Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. (17:6)

 Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. (18:12)  Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin! (21:4)  The proud and arrogant man--"Mocker" is his name; he behaves with overweening pride. (21:24)  Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life. (22:4)

 Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence, and do not claim a place among great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman. (25:6-7)  A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor. (29:23)  There are … those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth; those whose eyes are ever so haughty, whose glances are so disdainful. (30:12-13)

 Pride is perhaps the chief of all vices. There is no sin that you can commit that does not involve pride.  C. S. Lewis said this about pride: “There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it in ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.” ( Mere Christianity, p.109)

Today we will look at:  What Pride Is Not  What Pride Is  What Pride Will Do to You  What You Need to Do About Pride

 We must be careful not to confuse pride with confidence.  Pride can result in overconfidence, but someone can be confident without being sinfully proud.

 For example, when Saul questioned whether David was fit to battle Goliath, David said:  "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." (1Sam 17:34-37)

 The Bible sometimes uses the word “pride” to describe a warm hearted admiration that someone feels toward another person.  Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children. (17:6)  I [Paul] have great confidence in you [Corinthians]; I take great pride in you. I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds (2Cor 7:4)  Such an admiration is normally not sinful, but virtuous.

 But even this kind of pride (i.e. warmhearted admiration) can be misapplied and therefore become sinful:  A man has his father's wife. And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? (1Cor 5:1- 2)

 Pride is the need to feel better than or superior to other people  Pride is being your own supreme being  Pride is being morbidly self absorbed

Pride is the need to feel superior to other people  Pride causes you to look down on other people in order to feel better about yourself.  There are … those who are pure in their own eyes and yet are not cleansed of their filth; those whose eyes are ever so haughty, whose glances are so disdainful. (30:12-13)  Therefore pride drives you to put down other people or do better than others in order to elevate yourself in your own eyes or in the eyes of others.

Pride is the need to feel superior to other people  Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only having more of it than the next guy.  C.S Lewis points out that, pride is competitive in a way that other vices are not:  The sexual impulse may drive two men into competition if they both want the same girl… But a proud man will take your girl from you, not because he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you. ( Mere Christianity, p.110)

Pride is being your own supreme being  One is the words used for “pride” in the book of Proverbs is the Hebrew word GOAN (8:13, 16:18) which is a word that is often used to refer to the Lord’s majesty (Exodus 15:7; Isaiah 2:10; 2:19; 24:14; Micah 5:4)  When we become proud, we in effect become like the King of Babylon who said in his heart:  "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:13-14)

Pride is being your own supreme being  Possible indications that you’ve become your own supreme being:  You value your own opinions above the Word of God.  You no longer check to see if your view of things squares up with what is written in God’s word – you just go with what makes sense to you  You feel no need to listen to others or get advice. You think you already know all the right answers.  You don’t care what others think of you, not because you value what God thinks more, but because you just don’t care about them.

Being morbidly self absorbed  The proud person is constantly aware of himself, always thinking about how I’m doing, how I’m being treated, etc.  What we call “low self esteem” is often just another form of pride. Someone with low self esteem is feeling sorry for themselves, but they are still focusing on themselves!  Jonathan Edwards in his book on “Religious Affections” points out that even when they speak highly of God, the focus is on what wonderful things God has done for them. It’s all about them!

Being morbidly self absorbed A humorous description of this kind of person is given in a song sung by Toby Keith: We talk about your work how your boss is a jerk We talk about your church and your head when it hurts We talk about the troubles you've been having with your brother About your daddy and your mother and your crazy ex- lover We talk about your friends and the places that you've been We talk about your skin and the dimples on your chin The polish on your toes and the run in your hose And God knows we're gonna talk about your clothes!

 Pride can often be used to beat down simpler vices… Many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity – that is, by Pride. The devil laughs. He is perfectly content to see you become chaste and brave and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride – just as he would be quite content to see your [minor skin inflammation] cured if he were allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For pride is spiritual cancer. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p.112)

 Pride puts you in direct opposition to God:  [The LORD] mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. (3:34 cf. Jas 4:16; 1Pet 5:5)  There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes… (6:16-17a)  [Lady Wisdom speaking] I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. (8:13)  The LORD tears down the proud man's house but he keeps the widow's boundaries intact. (15:25)

 Because proud people have an exaggerated opinion of themselves they often inappropriately seek honor and admiration from others, but instead end up bringing shame and dishonor on themselves:  Do not exalt yourself in the king's presence, and do not claim a place among great men; it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,” than for him to humiliate you before a nobleman. (25:6-7 cf. Luke 14:7-11)  When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. (11:2)

 Proud people are unable/unwilling to listen and receive good advice – they only want to argue with you and tell you how wrong you are!  Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. (13:10)  The “lamp” that guides a proud person through life is his sinful, misplaced self- confidence!  Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin! (21:4)

 Proud people who look down on others and exploit them, may seem to “win” in the short term, but in the long run God will judge them:  Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. (16:18-19)  The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. (16:5)

 Two Part Solution:  You’ve got to get the glory that only comes to the humble  You’ve got to use the joy of the gospel to erode your pride for the rest of your life

 Get the glory that only comes to the humble:  The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor. (15:33)  Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life. (22:4)  Paradoxically, the person who is not seeking glory before God is, in the end, crowned with honor and wisdom

 Use the joy of the gospel to erode your pride for the rest of your life:  [Christ], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! (Phil 2:6-8)  Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11)