So you're proud and you want to get rid of it. So you say; "I am proud, pride stinks, therefore I stink. I am dirt. I am proud, pride stinks. I am dirt. I am proud, pride stinks, therefore I stink. And your favorite hymn is, What a Worm am I." That's the recording. Ok, lets all repeat it, "I am proud, pride stinks, therefore I stink. I am dirt. I am proud, pride stinks. I am dirt. I am proud, pride stinks, therefore I stink." Now did that help?
When you put the revelation, the reaction and the recording together, you can't miss. Prides going to heal. Right? Wrong? The Lord knows how to take care of us. We've got pride in our lives and we're unwilling to deal with that pride, the Lord can help us along if He needs to.
God is very gracious to arrange certain circumstances in our lives should we be having difficulties in the area of pride. Sometimes we think that this whole matter of dying to self is really a matter of routine or matter of fact exercise. And we know that it's something we need to do. It's something that needs to be accomplished. Somehow we are aware of the fact that if pride is going to exit our lives. We're going to be done with it forever. We're going to have to get on with this business with dying to self.
Dying to self is not easy. In fact, you cannot die to yourself without God's help. And Jesus says, take up your cross and follow me. And we think, gee, I want to be Jesus' disciple so we go into the garage and we get out some hammers and nails and we start nailing the cross. If you take a good look at this procession of most Christians heading up the Calvary road look at what they are dragging behind them, these self-made crosses. They're amazing devices. I'll show you what they look like. That's what they used to look like. But today, we have designer crosses. Nice smooth edges. Initials. We also have nice padded footrests here. Armrests are nice and padded. Then we have up here, remote control television set, so we won't get too bored while we are there and then we have some of our helpers that offers us a sock dipped in Coca Cola, or Dr. Pepper, to quench our thirst.
Jeremiah 9:23-24, "Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me. That I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgement and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Let's make our boast in the Lord. Let's be proud in God. And if we're going to glory, let's glory in this. That we understand and that we know the true and the living God. And when we start focusing our eyes on him, when we turn our eyes upon Jesus, and we look full in his wonderful face, then the things of this earth will grow strangely dim. And the light of his glory and grace. Humility is a by-product. We cannot become humble by trying to become humble but when we focus on his glory and grace and our attention is riveted on him we automatically receive humility as a by-product. It happens without us even trying to make it happen. Don't try to make humility happen, it will happen by getting your focus. The focus of your attention on Jesus Christ. Let us pray.
Father, we realize as you told us our hearts were deceitful and desperately and who could know them. Father, we need you to reveal ourselves to us. We need to see our hearts as you see them; we need your perspective, because pride is so deceiving. It's so easy to be proud and not know that we are. Oh, God deliver us from this great sin, from this poison that will cause us to miss you're maximum.
