Pride is an improper distorted focus on ourselves, making us insensitive to God and others.

When we are insensitive to God, we live our lives independently of both His will and grace, resulting in distance, discipline, and despair.

When we are insensitive to others we use them and ignore their needs, resulting in isolation, discipline, lack of  relationship and blessing.

1. Pride tripped up Satan.  Do we really think that we are smarter, stronger  wiser than God, or can do a better job of  running our lives?

2. Pride results in the futile pursuit of power (security, significance), pleasure and possessions independently of God  (the essence of sin).

3. Pride prevents or ruptures relationships, and prevents their restoration, rendering us incapable of experiencing real love.

4. Pride cuts us off from God, making us unblessable, causing us to vainly seek worth and value from our efforts and interactions with others.

I. Types of Pride:

A. Self righteous pride: insensitivity to our sins and God’s requirements (unsaved, hypocrite)

Lk 18:9 some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 11...God, I thank You that I am not like other men

B. Self sufficiency pride: insensitivity to our needs and God’s grace and purposes (immaturity, independence, worry)

1Cor 12:21  And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"

C. Self worth pride: insensitivity to our dependence and God’s provisions (greed, deceit, prayerlessness, bigotry, boasting, vanity)

Dt 8:17 then you say in your heart, `My power and the might of my hand have gained me this...

D. Self exaltation pride: insensitivity to our finiteness and God’s plan to bless (indulgence, lust, laziness, lying, unfaithfulness)

Isa 14:13 For you have said in your heart:...I will exalt my throne above the stars of God...14...I will be like the Most High.'

E. Stubborn pride: insensitivity to truth and our need to change (insecurity, ignorance, anger)

Rev 3:17  you say, `I am rich, become wealthy, and have need of nothing' ----and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked---

Ps 25:9  The humble He guides in justice, And the humble He teaches His way.

F. Comparison pride: insensitivity to our faults and the needs of others (envy, jealousy, bitterness, hate, selfishness)

2Cor 10:12 those who commend themselves...measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

II. Consequences of Pride: Alienation, Frustration, Condemnation

A. The proud person is lonely, alienated from God and man

1. Pride is chief among things God hates Pr 6:17  (God hates...) A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,

Pr 8:13  The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.

Amos 6:8 Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, The LORD God of hosts says: "I abhor the pride of Jacob, And hate his palaces; Therefore I will...

Pride is sin Pr 21:4 A haughty look, a proud heart, And the plowing of the wicked are sin.

Not living by faith Hab 2:4  "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

2. The proud don’t seek God  Ps 10:4  The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.

The proud don’t obey because they think they are in charge Ps 119:21 You rebuke the proud--the cursed, Who stray from Your commandments.

The proud don’t have intimacy with God because a relationship with God must be done on His terms Ps 138:6 Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar. (cf Isa 57:15)

Proud scoffers don’t fear God nor accountable Pr 21:24 A proud and haughty man --"Scoffer" is his name; He acts with arrogant pride.

3. The proud put down others with their words to bolster their own worth Ps 59:12  For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, Let them even be taken in their pride, And for the cursing and lying which they speak.

The proud don’t have good relationships with others Pr 13:10 By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom.

Unconcerned with others’ needs Ps 10:2  wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised.

Proud oppress Ps 86:14 O God, the proud have risen against me, And a mob of violent men have sought my life, And have not set You before them.

Ps 101:5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure.

Ps 140:5  The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have set traps for me.

The proud unlawfully oppose the righteous Ps 119:78 Let the proud be ashamed, For they treated me wrongfully with falsehood; But I will meditate on Your precepts.    Ps 119:85 The proud have dug pits for me, Which is not according to Your law.

Eze 16:49  "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

The humble can be falsely accused of pride by the proud 1Sam 17:28  Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle."

Pride’s companions Rom 1:30  backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

2Tim 3:2  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

B. The proud person is unsatisfied, frustrated both in the pursuit of worth, and in the enjoyment of what they attain.

1. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble 2Sm 22:28  You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.

God frustrates to show we are not in control Lev 26:19 I will break the pride of your power; I will make your heavens iron and your earth like bronze.

Don’t learn from mistakes Isaiah 9:9...Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:...we will rebuild (better)

Ho 7:10  And the pride of Israel testifies to his face, But they do not return to the LORD their God, Nor seek Him for all this.

Dan 4:37  I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven...And those who walk in pride He is able to put down.

Dan 5:20 when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him.

Unteachable 1Tim 6:4  he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling...

2. The proud appear to prosper Ps 123:4 Our soul is exceedingly filled With the scorn of those who are at ease, With the contempt of the proud

Malachi 3:15  So now we call the proud blessed, For those who do wickedness are raised up; They even tempt God and go free.'"

The proud foolishly lack wisdom and headed to shame Pr 11:2 When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom.

Pride sets us up for humiliation Pr 16:18  Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.

Pr 29:23 A man's pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.

The proud are deceived into thinking they’re secure Obad 1:3  The pride of your heart has deceived you, You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, Whose habitation is high; You who say in your heart, `Who will bring me down to the ground?'

Pr 18:12  Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, And before honor is humility.

C. God will punish the proud Pr 16:5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.

Jer 49:16  Your fierceness has deceived you, The pride of your heart, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, Who hold the height of the hill! Though you make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there," says the LORD.

Pr 15:25 The LORD will destroy the house of the proud, But He will establish the boundary of the widow.

Pr 14:3 In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, But the lips of the wise will preserve them.

Isa 2:12 the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up--And it shall be brought low

Isa 13:11 I will punish... wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

Isa 13:19 Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Isa 23:9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it, To bring to dishonor the pride of all glory, To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

III. Consequences of Humility: Intimacy, Satisfaction, Blessing

1. God hears our desires Ps 10:17  LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear

Isa 29:19  The humble also shall increase their joy in the LORD, And the poor among men shall rejoice In the Holy One of Israel.

The meek seek Zeph 2:3  Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD'S anger.

Humble are glad for what God has done for others Ps 34:2  My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

Ps 18:27  For You will save the humble people, But will bring down haughty looks.

Better to hang with the humble Pr 16:19  Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

Pr 3:34  Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble. Ps 147:6 LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.

Pr 15:33  The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility.

2. Humility spares us from wrath 2Ch 32:26  Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. 33:23  And he did not humble himself ...

Humble saved by God Ps 9:12  When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble.

Ps 31:23  Oh, love the LORD, all you His saints! For the LORD preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.

3. God rewards the humble Ps 149:4  For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation.

Humility is the door to riches, honor and life Pr 22:4 By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life.

Pr 28:25 He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the LORD will be prospered.

Eze 21:26 says the Lord GOD: Remove the turban, and take off the crown; Nothing shall remain the same. Exalt the humble, and humble the exalted

Questions for Reflection/Discussion/Response:

1. Are there legitimate forms of pride, such as taking pride in your work? What types of pride are most common in the workplace?

2. From where should we get our source of worth and value? When we fail to do that, where are we most likely to look?

3. Why can we recognize pride exhibited in others, but fail to see that both pot and kettle are covered with soot?

4. Are the consequences of pride/humility naturally built into the universe or does God take an active role in enforcing them?

5. How can you develop a Christlike humility that keeps you safe from pride and reaps the blessings of intimacy with God and others?