The Pitfall of Pride — Aaron Hurst

Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem and God’s Gathering Mercy

Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that stonest the prophets, thou that killest those that I sent unto thee. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered thee together, even as a hen gathers her brood.

Under her wing with great mercies will I gather thee. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom. And he shall gently lead those that are with young. Let's kneel together for prayer.

Father, we come in the name of Jesus this morning to bow down, to worship you, Lord, to call upon your name, O God. Asking that you would pull back the veil, open our eyes of our understanding of our heart, O God.

Father, we ask in the precious name of Jesus, O Lord, Father, that your Holy Spirit will have free course here today. Free course in my heart. O God, deliver me from every evil, from vain glory, vain ambition, pride.

Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that you would grant grace to your servant to declare the Word of God with grace and truth. And Father, I pray for this congregation, O Lord, I ask, Father, O that you would minister life and truth and grace to every heart.

That you may be glorified, Lord. That your bride may be beautified, prepared for our worthy Lord Jesus. So, Father, we just commit this time to you. And trust you, Lord. Thy Kingdom come, Father, and Thy will be done as we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

God’s Invitation to the Estranged

Oh, the revelation of the heart of our Father. As Jesus spoke those words, how oft would I have gathered Thee together. And then He gives a beautiful example of a hen gathering her brood under her wing.

But, oh, the cry of His heart, but ye would not. Oh, this morning I believe I can say of a truth. It's the heart of God here this morning that if there's anyone estranged from Him, if there's anyone outside of the fold, His heart cry is to gather you together.

To bring you nigh unto Himself. To bring you in under the shadow of His wing of the Almighty. Into that secret place. Into that communion and fellowship with Him. Even as a hen gathers her brood under her wing and protects her little chicks there under her wing.

Oh, today hear the heart cry of God. I will gather them. With great mercies will I gather Thee. He shall gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom. He shall gently lead those that are with young.

Where are you today in your relationship with God? I want to preface the message this morning with those loving invitation of the Lord Jesus. The longing heart of God. Oh, that all would be saved. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

Jesus died to save sinners of whom I am chief. The message today is the pitfall of pride. The pitfall of pride. Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly. But the proud He knoweth afar off.

Yea, these six things does the Lord hate. Six things does the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination unto Him. A proud look. Just even a proud look. That haughty, superior attitude. Open your Bibles to Proverbs and we will walk through a few Scriptures together concerning this matter of pride.

Proverbs on the Hatred and Consequences of Pride

Proverbs 8 and verse 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride, and arrogancy. And the evil way and the fervent mouth do I hate. The fear of the Lord is to hate pride. Think of the thing that in all of your life you've hated the worst.

The fear of the Lord is to hate pride and arrogancy and the evil way and the fervent mouth. The psalmist said, Lord, my heart is not haughty nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters or things too high for me.

Pride is often expressed in a fervent mouth, arrogance, a high opinion of oneself, a know-it-all attitude. Sometimes it's been said, He's too big for His britches. Proverbs 11, verse 2. When pride cometh, then cometh shame.

But with the lowly is wisdom. When pride cometh and the heart is lifted up in pride, then cometh shame. Oh, how ashamed I've been of those deeds and those words spoken in pride, those attitudes of the heart in pride.

Oh, how ashamed. When pride cometh, when pride cometh into fruition and begins to bear fruit and attitudes and actions begin to come out of the life, it won't be long till cometh shame and we'll be so ashamed.

Have you ever been ashamed for someone when they behaved in prideful ways? Proverbs 13, verse 10. We'll just look at a few Scriptures here. To hear the Word of the Lord. Proverbs 13, verse 10. Only by pride cometh contention.

But with the well-advised is wisdom. Only by pride cometh contention. I have wanted to argue against that verse many times. Say, surely there's other reasons for contention. But as I've wrestled with that verse and I've wrestled with God on it, I have to say, I believe I see it more and more that out of pride, self-will...

You see, I'm proud in my own wisdom and in my own intellect and my own understanding and my own way and I'm right. So I begin to contend with other people. I contend with them and their viewpoint and their understanding.

And I contend. And when I get honest with myself, I have to admit it's pride. It's pride in my own intellect. It's pride in my own wisdom. It's pride in my own understanding. It's pride in my own smartness, you know, and my own abilities.

And therefore cometh contention. But Dad, don't treat me like a little child. I'm not a child anymore. I have some understanding. Mom, aren't I old enough to make some of my own decisions by now? You know, they said they butt heads.

You know? Pride. I ask us today to examine our heart. Are you having contention in your relationships with your boss, with your spouse, with your parents, with your elder, with your fellow elder? Could it be that pride has been at the root of many church splits, many breakups in the home between husbands and wives?

Oh, hate pride! Run from it! It's worse than leprosy. It's worse than cancer. Pride. Only by pride cometh contention. Proverbs 16 and verse 5. Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.

Lucifer’s Self-Exaltation and the Deception of Pride

Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Turn with me to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14 verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations?

How art thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning? Beautiful cherub, how art thou fallen? Verse 13. For thou saidst in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the height of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. How, Lucifer, son of the morning, art thou fallen?

In pride, in self-exaltation, I, I. It all revolves around me. I will. Oh, brother, sister, hate pride and arrogancy. Hate it. It's worse than cancer. Hate the self-life. Hate the I will, because pride has its origin in the devil.

To allow pride in my heart is to be devilish. It's to align with Satan in his I will. And I will be like the Most High. The pitfall of pride. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee.

Thou that dwellest in the cleft of the rock whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, who shall bring thee down to the ground? You see, pride is deceitful. Thus saith the Lord, the pride of thine heart has deceived thee.

It has blinded your eyes. Now, we never say it out loud, brother Abner. Where are you? We never say it out loud. We never say out loud that I'm dwelling in the cleft of the rock on high and who shall bring me down.

We never say it out loud. But he saith it in his heart. It's an attitude of the heart. And pride is deceiving. The pride of thine heart has deceived thee. It blinds our eyes that we cannot see. God says, though thou exalt thyself like the eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.

Behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven. And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stuffled. The day cometh that shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts. It shall leave them neither root nor branch.

The Pharisee and the Publican: Self-Righteousness Exposed

Luke 18. Turn there with me. Luke 18 and verse 9. And I would like for those who can stand, if you don't have a little child on your lap, to stand with me and we will read Luke 18, verses 9 through 14.

Let's stand together and let's read it together. And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Thank you, you may be seated. He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. This is a very real possibility for any of us, including myself, who desire to walk in obedience to the Lord, desire to keep His commandments, desire to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, desire to keep ourselves in the love of God.

And we do well to examine our hearts, brothers, sisters. He spake this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous. Their trust was in the wrong place. They were looking at themselves, and then they were looking out at others and despised others.

Oh, the blindness, the deceivableness of pride. They trusted in themselves that they were righteous. You see, I am righteous. I am not like other men are. He goes on to list His credentials before the Lord.

The Pharisee prayed thus with himself. His prayer was totally self-absorbed, self-centered, bloating, oozing with pride in himself. God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican.

I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. I am righteous. Oh, the blindness of heart. Pride is self-deceiving, blinding to my own true condition before God. Proverbs 30, 12 says, there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.

There is a generation, oh, how lofty their eyes, trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. You see, I have it understood and figured out. Thank God I am not like those other people that are bound in traditional religion and bondages and they are legalists and they are just all wrapped up in religious exercise.

Oh, thank God I am not like those other people over there that are so worldly and they are carnal and they are just worldly and liberals. But I am righteous and I am right here in the middle. They are way too strict over here.

They are way too lenient over there. Oh, but me, I am righteous. And you know, this can creep into churches where the entire congregation has a stench of pride. We are righteous. And others, they are just steeped in tradition and religion and they are just a bunch of legalists and these over here, they are just giving license to the flesh and living in worldliness and carnality.

But me, I am righteous. And our church, we are righteous. God have mercy upon us. Because when we begin to compare ourselves among ourselves, we are not wise. Because you can always find somebody who is more extravagant in their lifestyle.

You can always find somebody who is more liberal in their expression, if you want to use that term. You can always find somebody who is more strict and austere and religious in their practice than what you are.

And you can sort of pat yourself on the back and say, oh, I am righteous. Well, I am sure glad I am not in that dead legalistic church over there. Or I am sure glad I am not in that liberal church over there.

And we have committed the awful sin of comparing ourselves among ourselves, which is not wise. And we have congratulated ourselves that we are not like they are or we are not like they are. And all the while, I am blind to my own true condition because I am not looking and comparing myself with Scripture and with the Lord Jesus Christ, brother, sister.

Holiness Rather Than Religious Labels

As God looks upon my heart, I want to tell us this morning, we have coined these terms and I think it has caused many people to stumble and trip. We have coined the term liberal and conservative. Do you know that God is neither liberal nor conservative?

God is holy. And be ye holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord. And the only safe place, brothers and sisters, is to look into the Word of God and get on our faces before God and beg God in His mercy to strip away all my preconceived ideas and notions and prejudices and allow God to speak to the heart of Aaron Hurst.

No confidence in the flesh. No... How did Paul say? I don't put any kind of effect that I am of the stock of Israel, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. No confidence in the flesh. No confidence, Aaron, that you're a minister at charity.

Paul said, I bring my body under to the obedience of Christ, lest I myself should be a castaway even after I minister to many others. Brothers, sisters, the only safe place for us to be is to be gazing into the perfect law of liberty.

It's to be gazing into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's to allow Him by His Holy Ghost to search our hearts and to get very real and honest before God and say, Lord, search me. Try me. I'll tell you something.

The closer we get to God, the more we see our sinfulness, right? The more proud and arrogant I am in my past accomplishments and achievements, the more smug and secure and I think I'm it. I'm righteous.

It's these people over here. It's those people over there. And my eyes are blinded to my true condition. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes yet are not washed from their filthiness.

Oh, the sin of pride! We're in Luke 18. Yes, let us go to Luke 16. Just turn back a few pages in your Bible. Luke 16, verse 13. No servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other.

Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. And the Pharisees also which were covetous heard all these things and they derided Him. And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men. But God knoweth your hearts.

For that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. The Law and the Prophets were until John. Since that time, the Kingdom of God is preached and every man presses into it.

That is our place, brothers and sisters, that every man is pressing into God, into the Kingdom of God. And what I wanted to mostly note out of this Scripture is, He says, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men.

Jesus had a lot to say to the Pharisees, the religious of the day. He says also the Pharisees were covetous. They heard these things and they derided Him. Now, maybe just a little bit of comment on verse 13.

No man can serve two masters who either hate the one or love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Now, Mammon we often think is money. It's material things.

It's possessions. It's materialism. And while it is that, it is also anything that will supersede the place of God in my heart. Mammon is that which is in contrast or in opposition to God. And some of the Pharisees apparently were covetous.

They knew how to make money. And they were covetous. It says that. They were ones who loved money and they were lovers of money. But I don't know that they all were. But one thing that Paul said in his testimony in Philippians 3 was that the things that he could have counted in and trusted in as far as his religious genealogy, his lineage and his heritage, he said I count it all as nothing.

As dung so that I may win Christ and be found in Christ not having my own righteousness. And so here this morning, I believe we must be very jealous in our hearts to be honest with God that when God speaks to us that we will not lie against His truth.

Because you cannot serve God and Mammon. And our brother Abner spoke about his box and how that everything in that box, you know, that's my security, my righteousness is in this box. Brother, sister, that can happen to us.

I have cringed at times and felt sorry for the shame that I felt when people made remarks about how now they've come to charity. Now they've come to the Ebenezer. Now they've come to the church. To the true church.

Brother, sister, there's only one true church and it's the church of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the head of that church. I am thankful for charity Christian fellowship. But if we have any pride in charity Christian fellowship, God will bring it down.

So brother, sister, do not put your confidence or your pride in the fact that you are a member of charity Christian fellowship. Because you could be on your way to hell. God forgive me. But I must bear my heart.

Because you're at charity Christian fellowship is not your salvation. If you put your trust in charity Christian fellowship, I have failed as a preacher. You must put your trust alone in Jesus Christ.

He is the only Savior. He is the only potentate. He's the only high priest. He's the only intermediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus. And you must be born again. God doesn't have grandchildren.

You for yourself personally must be born again. And we must not trust in mammon. No man can serve God and mammon. If you're lifting up this church and you're exalting this church in a way that is unhealthy, oh, God have mercy upon us.

We are what we are by the grace of God. The mercy of God. The loving kindness of God. And I am a nobody. And I have so much room to grow and to become more like Jesus. But when I compare myself among ourselves, when I justify myself, then God can't speak to me.

God can't show me my true condition of my heart because of my pride. And I am clean in my own eyes. But God says there's areas in your heart, Aaron, that are not Christ-like. Let us go over to James.

Submission, Repentance, and the Grace Given to the Humble

I love you, brothers and sisters. I am not upset or angry with you. James 4, verse 6, part B. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. I think it would be such a blessing if we could just open our hearts to the Lord and say, oh God, search me, try me, see if there be any wicked pride in my heart.

Because you see, God resisteth the proud. Have you had a besetting sin and an overwhelming sin in your life and you just can't conquer? You just can't get rid of it? I ask us in the name of Jesus to examine this very foundation.

Is there pride in my life? Have I pointed the finger at others when God is so longing to gather me into His fold under His wing? But pride keeps me distant. The proud He knoweth afar off. It keeps us from God.

It separates us, that pride. God resisteth the proud. He is opposed to the proud. He stands against the proud. But oh, look at the next verse. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Give up your own prideful life, my way, the big I, and submit yourself unto the mighty hand of God.

God is mighty. He is powerful. He is all-powerful. There is nothing too hard for the Lord. What do you need from God? Submit yourself. Surrender yourselves to God and then resist the devil and he will flee from you.

But you can rebuke the devil all day long if you don't submit yourself to God. He doesn't have to budge an inch. Amen, because he's got a place in your life that pride is devilish and you're aligned with the devil if you're cuddling pride and harboring pride.

But when we submit ourselves to God and we resist the devil, he has to flee from you. I urge us today, draw an eye to God and He will draw an eye to you. What a promise! You find yourself estranged from God.

There's a distance. There's a separation. Draw an eye to God with a sincere, true heart, asking God to reveal any sin in your life, that sin of pride or whatever sin it is, and He will do it. Yes, He will.

Draw an eye to God and He will draw an eye to you. Oh, but you have to be ready to cleanse your hands. You have to be ready to cleanse your hands. Ye sinners, cleanse your hands, ye sinners. That would speak of acts that I've done in the body by my hands, by my feet, by my eyes.

Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Oh, yes, Sunday I want to be so pious and holy and righteous, but on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday I want to dabble in sin a little bit.

Double-minded. I want to serve God. I want to have a good reputation. I don't want anybody to find out what I'm doing in the dark and in secret, but I want everybody to think I'm this holy person and I'm righteous, but then I dabble in sin a little bit over here on Wednesday or Friday.

Double-minded. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Purify your hearts, ye double-minded. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot serve holiness and sinfulness. Can't do it. Impossible. Be afflicted and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up. We have a promise today. Hallelujah! We don't need to stay there in sin of pride and aligned with the devil.

Today you can submit yourself to God and you can humble yourself and cleanse your hand and your heart through repentance and confession and acknowledgement. I have sinned. It is I. It's not my dad's fault.

It's not my mother's fault. It's not my brother's fault. It's not the preacher's fault. It's I that have sinned. And oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. And as Jesus gave that example, the publican, he smote upon his breast and said, oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

And he went to his house justified. But the Pharisee went home with all his self-righteous rags and robes hanging on him, estranged from God. All he had was a shell. All he had was a form. He had no power of godliness.

All he had was a form. That's all he had. A little bit of padding on the back. A little bit of pride. And a lot of pride. Not like other men are, but oh brother, sister here today, God is calling us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand.

God is calling us to wash our hands and purify our hearts so that He may be glorified and that charity Christian fellowship may be a pleasing apple of His eye. Oh God, please have mercy upon us and spare us and deliver us from the pride that says I'm not like other men are and we compare ourselves and we are not wise.

Because you see, I can always find somebody who's a little worse than me. Right? I always say, well, I'm not like him. Thank God I'm not like him. I'm pretty good. But brother, sister, we must look into the perfect law of liberty.

The Lord’s Commendation and Transformation Into Christ’s Image

Brother, we must look into the face of Jesus. I think I'll do one more Scripture here. 2 Corinthians 10 is where that's found about comparing themselves. And maybe we should go there. We'll just take a look at that one and walk back then to earlier Scripture in Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 10. I want us to get the conclusion of 2 Corinthians 10. He tells us, we dare not, in verse 12, we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves.

See, there it is. They commend themselves. They commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. Now let's go down to the last verse.

Verse 18 of 2 Corinthians 10. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Glory to God! Oh, I want the commendation of the Lord. And I believe you do too. We need to live our lives in the light of His presence seeking the approval of God and the commendation of God because when we commend ourselves, that's not the man that's approved.

Oh, but the one whom the Lord commendeth. He is approved. I want the commendation of the Lord. And there's much more we could read there as well, but we'll go back now to 2 Corinthians 3. Chapter 3. And verse...

I think we'll start at 18 and then maybe back up and catch a few more. But verse 18. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Oh, this is a beautiful, safe place to be. In the presence of the Lord with an open face, and open hands, and an open heart saying, God, show me. I don't want to stop at anything less than to be Christ-like in every area of my life.

Lord, forgive me where I've looked at others and compared myself and patted myself on the back that I'm pretty good and not like other men are. Lord, forgive me. Remove the blindness of my heart. I want to encourage us here today.

Oh, let us look into the perfect law of liberty. Let us with open face behold the glory of the Lord and be changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. That will deliver us from worldly lusts.

That will deliver us from hankering after fashion of the world. That will deliver us. That will bring Holy Ghost conviction to my own heart where I'm not Christ-like and my motives are not sanctified.

My motives are after self-exaltation. Why do you think there's this whole multi-billion dollar fashion industry and cosmetics industry to paint everything up and beautify the outward? But God says, when I see that hidden man of the heart which is adorned in meekness and love for God, oh, it's of great price.

Brothers, too. Not just sisters. Oh, when I see the heart that is adorned with meekness, free from that awful, hateful pride, oh, that's in the sight of God a great price. It's priceless, brother, sister.

Oh, let's go for that. And yes, I'm thankful for godly examples. I'm thankful that I can follow my brothers as they follow Christ. I can follow sisters as they follow Christ. And that ought to be so in the kingdom of God.

That ought to be so in the house of God. That we are following on to know the Lord and we're leaving a legacy and a heritage and an example that can be followed. But brother, sister, the life of Christ, we must each individually have.

It's not enough, Abner, to just try to pattern myself after some other godly man or some other godly woman and then think I'll have the same results. Oh, no, no, no. Because it comes from within. The river of life from God comes from Him personally to each one of us and then flows from within and bubbles over and bubbles out into a beautiful Christian life.

Hallelujah! The pitfall of pride. I urge you today, along with myself, oh, as God shows us areas in our lives, let us not lie against the truth. There's a temptation when the Holy Spirit of God speaks to me about an area in my life to compare myself with someone else.

And say, but they do it. But God says, what's that to you? What's that to you, John? You follow Me. So I encourage us this morning, escape. Run for your life to God because the proud shall be thrust down into hell.

Oh, brother, sister, run to God. For He that runneth to God, He that cometh to God in humility and repentance, God will receive. And He will lift you up that you shall not go down to hell. But, brother, sister, if you harbor pride in your life, know assuredly that pride is in harmony and agreement with the devil.

And to harbor pride is to be devilish. Brother, sister, run from pride. Way worse than cancer or leprosy. And submit yourself to God. And cleanse our hands and our hearts and be purified.

Prayer of Confession and Consecration

Let's just stand together here for a prayer, please. You've been examining your own heart, your own life this morning. If God has pointed out, the Spirit of God has pointed out to you an area of pride in your life, just join me in your heart as we pray here.

Father, I acknowledge this morning that I do not see myself. Lord, as I examine myself, Lord, I understand, God, that there are some motives of my heart, O Lord, that are not what they should be, God.

Father, it's so easy to just try and cover up our pride and try and hide it, Lord. But O Lord, this morning, I ask You, Lord, to not only show us maybe the outward expressions of our pride and self-interest, but God, would You reveal to us the motivations that are deep down inside for why we do what we do.

Father, I confess this morning, O Lord, that my motivations are not altogether pure at all times, Lord. And I'm sorry about that, Father, and I ask You, Lord, that You would just bring my motivation, Lord, into alignment with who You are, God.

May my motivation be Jesus Christ and nothing else, Lord. May every one of our motivations as we walk through our life, Lord, this coming week, Lord, be Jesus Christ. Lord, that the people we meet along the journey, Lord, would not see us, but would see Jesus.

So God, I thank You for Your Holy Spirit. I thank You for Your Word. I thank You for the examples in Your Scripture of men who walked in humility, men and women who walked in humility with You, Lord. Also the examples of men and women who walked in pride and they were brought down.