Pride comes before the fall(Prov16:18)

'Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall..'

Last Sunday I talked about 'wisdom' as first topic in the book of Proverbs. And today I want to talk about 'Pride' as second topic in Proverbs. If you are familiar with Greek mythology, you will remember a father and son named Daedalus and Icarus. They were prisoners on the island of Crete and tried to escape by making wings out of feathers of birds and wax together. Before they left, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. But not listening to his father, Icarus flew too close to the sun, which melted the wax, and he fell to the sea, and died. Of course this is just a story, but Icarus is an example of someone whose pride led to his downfall. He thought... with the wings, he was safe, and he didn’t listen to his father’s instructions.

My sermon title today is a famous saying, taken from the Bible. No one likes people who are proud, especially God. How can we define pride? There are two definitions of pride. The first, is to pursue excellence. For example, when you work, you should take pride in your work. We can be happy for people when they do an excellent job. We say, ‘great job. I’m proud of you.’ But the kind of pride we are talking about today has to do with placing our opinion above God’s and other people’s. Pride is thinking that you are better than others, even God. Pride is doing what you want, because you think you are always right. Pride is not being able to admit that how you are acting, and what you are doing, are wrong. Proverbs reminds us of the dangers of pride as these.

First, We have to know God hates pride. Prov 8:13 says....

'To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.'

The word 'hate' is very strong. If I say, ‘I hate coffee’ then that means I won’t go near it, I won’t drink it, I won’t have anything to do with it. And this is what God says. 'I hate pride. So don't go near it. Don't have anything to do with it.' He calls it evil.

Second, we have to know that God does not leave proud people alone. Prov 16:5 says....

'The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: they will not go unpunished.'

This is the promise. If you are proud, you will certainly fall. When we think that we are so great, He does something to prove that we're not like that. There are many times when I thought, ‘hey look at me, I’m o.k.’ and then something embarrassing happened like tripping and falling on my face in front of hundreds of people. God’s timing is perfect. He will expose the hearts of men when He thinks it is necessary and when it is time. God will do whatever it takes to bring down the proud person.

Some of us can be very subtle in our pride. But some of us are more outspoken. Whether you are a little proud or have great pride, pride is pride, and we must give glory to the God above. I don’t think many of us can handle great fame, and riches. If we are proud with what little we have, imagine how proud we will become when we have too much. When we become too proud, God will not leave us alone. He will make sure that we realize He is greater than we are. only in this way will God be able to use us to do great things.

Lastly, we have to know that nothing good comes from pride. Prov 11:2 says like this...

'When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.'

Pride means thinking highly of yourself, praising yourself, and looking down on others. The opposite of pride is humility. It is considering others better than ourselves, whether the other person is a poor beggar, or a handicapped person, or someone who doesn't have any titles like doctor or professor or elder. Problems are always associated with pride. Pride always lead us to quarreling. Prov 13:10 says...

'Pride only breeds quarrels but wisdom is found in those who take advice.'

Usually people who have a lot of pride don’t listen to other people. If people give us advice or suggestions, we get angry, because we think that advice is not necessary. People who are proud think they do not need any help. People who are proud cannot admit they are proud. Pride is harmful. Pride prevents us from praying properly. Pride prevents spiritual growth. It will kill our soul, and it may even harm us physically. It ruins relationships with others especially God.

Remember that the originator of pride is actually Satan. He was a leader in heaven. He was perfect. And in his pride, he thought he was better than God. Nothing good came out of this. People who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ are blinded by their pride. They believe that they know better than the creator. They believe that there will be no judgment for their actions. They believe that they don’t need God. And we know that this kind of thinking can only lead to spiritual death.

Pride will lead us into other sins. So we need to stop ourselves when we start feeling proud. We have to think of pride as a disease. Actually any sin is like a disease. If we leave sin alone long enough, then it will spread to every part of our lives. So we need to prevent pride from spreading further and further. How can we do this?

First of all we need to examine our hearts often and carefully. We have to see whether we have fallen into the trap of thinking we are worthy, and better than others. We have to remember that if we compare ourselves to anyone, we should compare ourselves to God. And when we do, we will realize that we are not such great as we think and that we are not such smart as we think. And once we face this truth, we need to keep on communicating with God. The more we praise God, the less we will praise ourselves. When we understand the grace of God, we will realize that there is no reason to be proud.

As Paul said in Philip 3:7-8....

'But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ.'

Let our joy not be in exalting ourselves, but in exalting our Lord. Amen.

[Prayer for sermon]

Heavenly Father we thank you for this blessed day. We thank you for our gathering together to worship you. This time we honor you. We praise and lift up your name on high and we knee down before your presence. We know the more we praise God, the less we will praise ourselves. And when we understand the grace of God, we will realize that there is no reason to be proud. So may we always think of your mercy and your grace upon us not to be proud of ourselves. I pray all these things in Jesus' name. A-men.