“I bless the Most High, and I praise and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation.” (Dan. 4:35) The man that said these words killed the servants and sons of King Jehoiakim right in front of him, and then led him away captive to die in a strange land, (Dan. 1:2) he completely obliterated from their land the Children of Israel, starving them and killing them by the thousands, leading the rest into captivity, he was a ruler of the entire planet, an image whose head was of fine gold, (Dan. 2:32) and he was brought down to be as a beast of the field for seven years, he was taught that those that walk in pride God is able to abase. (Dan. 4:37)
Nebuchadnezzar was the supreme ruler of the known world in his day, and in my lifetime I have met many people who believe themselves to be the same, masters of all they survey, rulers by the fact of their own existence, prideful, spiteful people who look down on all, and those that agree with their motives and actions are rarely seen as equals, but one that must be bettered. My lovely wife is employed part-time at a place where two of the individuals that also work there live approximately twenty miles from each other, and when it rains they will boast when one of them has received more rain than the other. I cannot think of a more hollow example of pride than that, glorying in something that you have absolutely no control whatsoever over, but then again, maybe I can.
Because you are smarter than, can run faster than, jump higher, pray longer, what is it in your own life that you are fighting in this area of pride. What is it that you believe you have complete control over, not just in ways that make you better than others, but these things in your life that, if we were to put it bluntly, you don’t need God for? I write nearly all of these letters to you by hand, and I just purchased a new notebook, my beautiful wife is the one that types them up for me so that they can then be entered onto the website, she indeed is a blessing, but if I was to give all of the examples of pride, all of the things that we know some do not believe they need our Lord for, I would run out of paper. These in this world that are called “Type A” personalities, the go-getters if you will, the ones that make things happen by the power of their will, persuasion and their intellect are the ones that are usually the most susceptible to the sin of pride, humility is rarely in their vocabulary, and their self-centered conceitedness will only allow them to hear what they want to hear. All ideas given to them, if you want to stay on their “good side” that is, must be suggested in such a way as to make them believe that the idea was actually of their own making. A sort of quasi-subservience, if you will. It does not take very long for some of these individuals to become extremely powerful, and dangerous, for they are saying what a lot of others would like to say, but are fearful to speak, and so these that do not follow them are determined and adamant about the reverence of their new leader.
They will enrich the lives of those that are their most ardent believers, ensuring their loyalty with all they have to offer, the things of the world usually taken away from those who do not adhere to their ideologies, their rule. The masses follow blindly, for the persecutions are too terrible to consider for those who will not. Complete and total allegiance is expected, and all those who wish not to suffer will bow before them. So, does this sound like your boss, Nebuchadnezzar, Hitler? How about the anti-christ, how about Satan.
Oh, what a terrible sin pride is, to actually believe that we are self-sustaining and immortal, how foolish a thought. We would not even exist if it were not for the pleasure of Almighty God, and we think we can rule others? We can’t even rule ourselves, go ahead and stop time for ten minutes if you don’t believe me, make yourself taller, stop breathing and keep living, where God says this world is going is where it is going, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, doesn’t matter if you like it or not. We have been given one of two choices, you cannot do both, but you must perform one, there is no other option, serve the sovereign Lord of all creation, give glory and honor to His Son, or don’t. You’re choice. Depending on how long the Almighty determines your life is going to be, you may get several chances, and yes, that decision is completely in His hands also, nothing you can do about it.
Pride is such a stupid thing when you really stop and think about it, that’s why the account of Lucifer when he fell (Isa. 14:12-15) has always intrigued me. He watched Almighty God create all that is simply by speaking, every bit of reality, even knowing that he himself had been created, and he still said, “I will.” I mean this in no offence, but our Lord had to have just looked at him and thought, “You have got to be kidding me.” One of the things that the lost need to be told eventually in your witnessing to them is that they are going to die, whether they want to admit it to themselves or not, but also that they are going to live forever, and here is where you start to get some funny looks. The latter, the eternal life, must of course be described in detail from the truths of the Word of God, but it is the first one, the truth of their demise that seems to be the most difficult concept for them to grasp.
Many need to have lost a loved one, experienced a near-death encounter themselves before they will come to the knowledge of this truth, the complete acceptance that their life here will come to an end. Until then, pride will rule, and the most you will get out of them will be “I’ll deal with it when it happens.” My answer, which they always see as rude, is, “I hope it comes slowly, because when your done breathing, your chance is up.” (Heb. 9:27) This is no easy subject to them my friends, the epitome of the loss of all pride for the lost is death, no more you, no more pride. I actually know of a man who has been an elder in a church for decades that does not want to be cremated because he thinks it’s going to hurt, go figure.
You know what’s going to hurt, those who die in their sins, those who do not humbly seek the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the lake of fire, that’s going to hurt, and it is not going to stop hurting. That is why the lost should be such a burden for us, we know their end if they do not repent, that’s why we plead with them in great humility, for without Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, that would have been the end result for all. “I will,” pride, means I do not need God, and I do not need a Savior, I can do it on my own. These people actually believe that there is some deed, some works that will find enough favor in the eyes of God, that they were so good that they can just bypass the cross, and this pride can be found in every religious organization, you don’t have to search very far either way for it, the lost or the works people, both are the same. It just astounds me how many people will not believe that it is by grace that we are saved thru faith, (Acts 28:24) how much simpler could He have made it?
He who loved us first (1 John 4:9) has paid the price in full, there is nothing you can do to add onto it, you can’t bypass Him “No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John14:6) One way, period. I don’t think that it is possible to truly understand the word “humble” until you completely understand the word “sovereign,” it just isn’t possible. “And seven times shall you pass over thee.” (Dan. 4:32) I really hope that God doesn’t need to turn you into a grass eating critter for seven years before you decide to throw pride away and walk humbly with Him, but if that’s what it takes, I hope He does, I would much rather have you as a brother or sister in Heaven than the alternative.
