 So last week we were covering in the introduction to Obadiah, some introductory thoughts about the book. We covered the prophet Obadiah, there's little known about him. His name means the servant of the Lord. That could have been his actual name or his title that he bore. We learned about how this is a book towards the Edom, towards judgment against Edom. The Edom is the country that is the descendants of Esau. If you look in your Bible map and you find the Dead Sea, just south and a little bit east of the Dead Sea is the country of Edom. Esau, if you remember from Genesis, means Harry. These are the children of Esau. And Edom was Esau, a nickname given to Esau, which means red. So his descendants took up that name, red, like the descendants of Jacob took up his other name, Israel. And we went over how there's been a long history of contention, rivalry, war with Edom versus Israel. Now in verse two we'll pick up is that this has been, there's been the announcement that this letter is coming and it's judgment of God causing the nations to rise up against Edom for battle. In verse two begins the explanation of this. God says, behold, I will make you small among the nations. You shall be greatly despised. God is saying to this country, God is saying to this people, he's saying that he is opposed to them. He is going to destroy them. He is going to make them a very small, insignificant people. At this time, they're an influential country. They're on the King's Highway, which is a famed highway, a trade route in which it intersects Africa, Asia, Europe, and the King's Highway goes right through Edom. So they're able to benefit from this trade route and they're able to levy taxes from it and they are a country that has some reputation at this time. But God is saying to them that he's going to make them small. They have numbers now, but soon they're going to be numerically small. They have political clout now, but in time they're going to be despised. They have financial prosperity on their trade route, and soon that will be small and despised. And why? Why? Because of the pride of their heart. In verses three through nine, the prophet Obadiah begins to speak about the pride they have and how it's manifested. It's manifested in pride of their position. You see how they say, we dwell in the clefts of the rock, our habitation is high. Who will bring us down? They're going to be judged by pride because they have pride in verse seven with their friends, the men in our Confederacy, the men at peace and those who eat bread. They have pride in verse eight in the wise men of Edom. They have pride in strength in verse nine because of the mighty men, the Gabor, the elders, but they don't know verse 21 that the kingdom is the Lord's. The prideful person remembers themself and they forget the rule and the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the essence of pride. Under a definition of pride from Stuart Scott, pride is the mindset of self, a master's mindset rather than that of a servant, a focus on self and the service of self, a pursuit of self-recognition and self-exaltation and a desire to control and use all things for self. See how it's a selfish definition? The mindset is for self, the focus on self, the service for self, for self-glory, for self-exaltation. Pride is believing that everything is from you, through you and to you and for you. You believe that Romans 11, 33 to 36 is about you. Everything has been made for you and through you and to you. From your perspective, life revolves around you. You get up each morning and you're there. You go to the bathroom, you're there, you go to work and you're there. When it rains, whether you feel it or not, everything, the focus of your life tends to be about yourself. And pride is the idea that of believing this idea, yes, life is about me and I deserve it. I deserve self-glory, I deserve the attention, I deserve the praise. This is the lie of pride. In May 31, 1911, it's been reportedly said, quote, not even God could sink this ship, employee of the white star line at the launch of the Titanic. When the British ship Titanic steamed out of Southampton bound for New York in April 10, 1912, it was the largest and most sumptuous luxury liner that ever sailed. It was a monument to the promise of technology and to Victorian elegance, magnificently appointed with oriental carpets and crystal chandeliers. It was thought to be unsinkable. Confidence was so high that owners and builders rejected plans calling for as many as 64 lifeboats. Although the number of lifeboats on the Titanic, 20, exceeded government standards, the boats would only accommodate about half of the 2,228 people aboard. One of history's great ironies, the Titanic, sank on its maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberg on the banks of Newfoundland. More than 1,500 people died in the accident. Passenger Margaret Devaney said, I took passage on the Titanic for I thought it would be a safe steamship and I had heard that it could not sink. Another passenger, Thomas, Thomasins writes, wrote, he wrote home, we're changing ships and we're coming home on a new unsinkable boat. When the New York office of the White Star Line was informed that Titanic was in trouble, White Star Line vice president, PAS Franklin announced, we place absolute confidence in the Titanic. We believe the boat is unsinkable. By the time Franklin spoke those words, Titanic was at the bottom of the ocean. So Edom is a Titanic. Edom is a Titanic that God sunk because of their pride. How will you be remembered? Will you be remembered as a Titanic that God sunk? The name Titanic is remembered over 100 years later, almost universally, they make a new movie about it every 40 years or so and it's a monument of pride. You realize that? That's what partly makes the story so memorable is the amount of pride in that boat and about how quickly on the maiden voyage it sinks to the bottom of the ocean and how many people die because of pride. Edom is remembered not for their worship of the Lord, not for their songs of praise, not for their children serving the Lord, but they're remembered because of their pride. So tonight, take stock and think, are you like Edom? Are you like Edom? Or better said, where in your life have you begun to have the attributes of Edom? How do you deal with it? So in verse three, let's look in Obadiah, verse three, and consider what it says here. The Lord God says, behold, I will make you small in the nations, you shall be greatly despised, the pride of your heart has deceived you. So pride comes and here's the way it comes. It comes with a great deception. When you look at this word for deception, one of the occurrences is in Genesis three, where the Satan deceives Eve. And what does he deceive her about? He deceives her about the nature of God? Has God said, he deceives about the word of God? Has God said, he deceives about judgment? He says, you won't surely die. Do you see that? If pride could have a voice, that's what your pride would say to you. It would say to you, I can have this sin and I won't surely die. One of the first things that pride goes after is the doctrine of judgment. Do you see this in Edom's pride? The pride of the heart has deceived them. And what do they say? You who dwell in the clefts of the rock whose habitation is high, you who stand in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground? They think the answer is an obvious nobody. Nobody will make me fall. Do you hear the pride? You know, we used to say, some guys in Bible say that pride is so bad you can smell it and it smells awful. Pride lies to you, that you're in control of your own destiny. Pride lies to you and tells you, you're safe. Pride lies to you about the future. It makes you think that you're unshakable, you're unbreakable. The sin in this starts in the heart is what makes you believe the lies of pride. Give this essence of pride and humility, okay? Pride is a lie. And humility is the truth. You really are nothing, Christ is everything. And the lie that comes is of pride that you are of something of value that deserves great praise and people should be surrounding you and acknowledging all the things that you've done and people should write songs about you, write you cards that say, well done, good and faithful slave. Pride is a lie and you fight it with truth. Do you see the lie that Edom is believing? They think because of their position that they are safe. Pride comes because of a sinful understanding of God. Do you see that in what Edom says here? Who can bring me down? And what's the answer that every Christian would say? Yes, God. God can bring you down. And this is the way that pride will come in your life. You will have a faulty view of God. You will think because of the good things you've done, because of somehow some sort of position that you have, maybe it's some sort of service that you have. Maybe it's a title like deacon or pastor. Maybe it's because of how the talents that you have. Maybe it's because of what you do at your workplace. Maybe it's because of how much money that you make. Maybe it's because of the respect of your title and your work. Maybe it's because of the relationships that you have. Or the intellect that you have. The wisdom that you have. The strength that you have. The job that you have. You see, any one of these positions, if you're there and you somehow see yourself as exalted as over somebody else, whether it's, well, I'm a customer service person at Burger King instead of the person who flips the burgers, and I'm better than the guy who has to clean the bathrooms at Burger King, however this lie comes, you're going to begin to think, I'm better than somebody else because of something in me, that some skill, some money, some position, I'll never fall. This is what pride will begin to say inside your mind. You've heard this before. You've heard this before. Even when you come to church, that song, I could have picked out a better one. That sermon, yeah, I've heard better. Yeah, the reading, the way that guy did the reading of the scripture, I could have done it with more emphasis. It would have meant more if I had read it. You see how even when we're in church, as we preach a sermon and listen to a sermon, we are battling pride at this very moment. To say, no, those are lies, those are lies, those are lies. What's the truth? The truth is I have the same danger as Edom. I can say to myself the same way they did, I can say in my heart, who will bring me down to the ground? You see this same danger is right near as close as your heart, because it comes right out of the heart. You can't escape it. It's going to chase you around wherever you go. Pride, pride. When pride comes, then comes shame is what Proverbs 11.2 says. Proverbs 11.10, I mean, sorry, 13.10 says pride brings strife, but the well-advised will have wisdom. Jeremiah 50.31 says the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the armies, he's against the haughty one. And in the next verse, it describes about how the proud will fall, and they will be devoured. In Ezekiel 7.10, the prophet warns that when pride buds, then comes judgment and the fall. Pride blinds you to the sovereignty of God, that he is the one who sustains you. He is the one who upholds you. And if he were to take away his gracious hand, you would fall to the ground. Saul disobeys Samuel and God's commandments and goes, and he doesn't kill the Amalekites because of his pride. He thinks he can get away with it. Peter 5.5 quotes Proverbs 3 saying that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. In Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar is a story about his fall where he becomes like an animal. And he starts out the story saying, look at great Babylon that I have built, and he falls and becomes an animal. And then he ends the story saying, what a great God who sustains. Your pride will deceive you. The pride of Edom led them to be deceived about their might and their safety. It led them to be deceived about God's might, God's strength, God's wrath. And so pride will do the same to you. Think with me about 1 Corinthians 13. With 1 Corinthians 13, it describes in verses 4 to 7 what true love is. And John MacArthur says about that passage that only humble people love, only humble people love. If you go there and you go ahead and look in that passage and humility is a part of every one of the aspects of love, think for a minute the opposite and you'll see the fruit of pride there. What is the opposite action in verses 4 to 7? And you'll see the fruit of pride. Love suffers long, 1 Corinthians 13, 4, but what will pride do? Pride won't suffer, pride won't take the time. Pride says give it to me now, I deserve it now. Love is kind, ready to serve. Pride says serve me. Love says love does not envy. But pride says how come he got that thanks? How come he got that praise when I have served even greater? Love does not parade itself, but pride wants to make a parade of self. Let me tell you another story and guess who the hero is, me. I'm the hero of all my own stories. I'll tell you another and another and another until you're convinced about this great hero named me. Love is not puffed up, but pride sits there like a toad blowing its chest out. Pride behaves rudely, love does not behave rudely. But pride is where all rudeness comes from. Love does not seek its own, but what does pride do? Remember that definition of pride? Self, self, self, self is the mantra. Love is not provoked, in other words it's going to have a long fuse. It's not going to get easily angered, but what does pride do? Pride gets an easy, has a quick temper. Humility and love thinks no evil. It doesn't keep a record of wrongs, but what does pride do? It keeps a long list of this person sinning against me. This person did this. Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Pride will laugh at sin and mock at sin and think that it's funny. Humility and love will bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and do all things. But you know what pride will do? I will not bear for another. I will not suffer for another. Pride will not believe the best about another. It will think the worst about somebody else quickly without knowing the facts. Yes, I knew he was in sin and quickly judging. But humility believes the best, hopes the best and endures all things. Let's go back to Obadiah. So now in Obadiah, verse 4, we have the fall. Verse 3, pride comes and then verse 4, the fall. Though you ascend as high as the eagle and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. You know, I love Obadiah. Obadiah is very poetic. You can tell that it's a sermon. The way that he begins his pictures and the way he describes things. Look at how beautiful that picture is and how fearsome. Go ahead, Edom, fly up as high as the eagle. I'll get you from there. I'll bring you down from there. Go ahead, go up higher. Go up higher, go to the stars. If your position, they had arrogance because of their position in their altitude, was very defensible position in Edom. It was very difficult to mount an attack against Edom because of the ravines, because of the rocky terrain, because of their capital city, Timon, in a very safe, secure spot. And God says, oh, you think you're safe because of your capital. You know, America thinks this way. Like, how far are we away from, you know, we have an ocean on either side, Atlantic and Pacific, so that if we get attacked like in 9-11, we get shocked, right? It's that kind of pride and position that Edom has. Who could attack us? We have safety here. And God says, if an ocean were to separate you, I'll cross it. It's not a problem for me. If you were to be an eagle and fly to the top, I'll bring you down from there. If you were to go to the stars, get in a spaceship, I'll bring you down from there. God answers emphatically from verse 3 to verse 4. Who will bring me down to the ground? At the end of verse 4, I will bring you down. You see how God uses the use of their own words? So what will be the story of your life when you're done? Will it be one of pride? Where people will remember you because of how you believe these lies and how God brought you down. Either you humble yourself now or God will humble you in time. Pride makes you like Satan. Pride turns angels into demons. You remember how Satan falls in Isaiah? The pride of his heart deceived him. In this verse, verse 4, God sets the record straight. Pride is like gravity. You know that phrase, what goes up? What goes down? Go ahead, watch someone go up in pride and then watch your clock. It's just a matter of time before they come down. God makes sure that they come down. Thomas Watson said about pride and its deception. He said, it is a spiritual drunkenness. It flies up like wine into the brain and intoxicates it. It is idolatry. A proud man is a self-worshipper. You understand what he's saying? And how just like you drink a bottle of booze and it dilutes your mind to what reality is, in the same way when you believe the lie that you deserve self-praise, self-glory and life is about you. It's spiritual drunkenness to your mind. Vain glory, conceit, boasting, arrogance, loftiness, presumption, haughtiness, being puffed up, high-mindedness, scoffing, self-seeking. Pride causes you Zion, 2 Chronicles 26, to get leprosy. Belshazzar doesn't learn from his father's example in Daniel 5, and he's slain. The Pharisee in Luke 18 prays, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. And what does he pray but a song of his own praise? Herod in Acts 12 accepts the praise of men as if he was a God. And that's the nature of pride. Pushing God off his throne and trying to take his place and God slayed him. You don't want to be like Edom. You don't want when it's said and done that your story is like Edom. So what should they have done? What should they have done? What should they have done? What should they have done? They should have said the kingdom is the Lord's. They should have acknowledged the kingdom is the Lord's. He's the one who puts up men and takes them down. He's the one who puts you and giving you every gift that you have. Every good thing about you is from him. He's the one who gets all the praise and the honor and the glory. What should they have done? Think about what they're doing. They're seeking praise for themselves. They're not afraid of judgment to come. They like the glory. What's the opposite of that? The gospel. The gospel is the opposite of that. The gospel teaches you that you are nothing. You are prideful, but there is a God who is not prideful. There is a God who becomes a man and he humbles himself. Read with me Philippians 2 and see the opposite of pride here. Philippians 2-3, let nothing be done with selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out, not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. What's the motivation? How do I do it? How do I do it? Here's how. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, in the form of a bondservant, coming in the likeness of man and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has exalted him and given him the name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, and those in heaven, of those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Do you want to be humble? Do you want to be humble? Look to Jesus Christ and how he humbled himself. Look at the pride of Edom and say, yes, that is me. That is me. But look at the humility of the Savior, that he would become a man, he would leave the praises of heaven and come to this sinful world. When you begin to understand what pride is like, the more and more the more you see, man, everything is prideful. Everybody at work is saying something prideful. I'm thinking so many thoughts that are prideful. Look at that driver. He's cutting me off in a prideful way. Everything, you begin to see it. Everywhere, Satan is prideful. I'm prideful. The baby's prideful. Everyone's prideful. But one's not Jesus Christ. And he's the one who came to save a prideful people. He's the one who deserved the praises. He didn't try and steal them. He deserves them. But then he takes on the shame. What love is this? What humility is this? What goodness is this? This teaches you in the Gospel, when you are saved, you understand humility for the first time. That is not in you, it's in Christ. And that motivates you to be like him. And you seek to obey him. You seek to obey the truth, not the lies that come in your mind. The Gospel then teaches you, like 1 Corinthians 4, another way to buy out pride. The Gospel teaches you, what do I have that I did not receive? So why would I boast as though I did not receive it? What do I have? My money, my position, my suave, do you have an air of good looks? What do I have that I haven't pride in? Well, I received that. The Lord gave that. I have that I did not receive. Nothing. So why would I boast as though I did not receive it? It makes good sense, right? That truth is a Gospel-based truth that you're nothing, he's everything. It should lead you to glorify him and be a humble person. You know how you be a humble person? You, instead of seeking your own glory, you're all about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, some people think I'm going to be humble, but I'm going to consider my life and be introspective naval watcher, and I'm going to always sit at home afraid of pride. And I'm going to walk around in tiptoe like I'm afraid of pride, like I don't want to step in dog poo, right? And you're like, oh, I got some on me after all. That's not how you avoid pride. Pride can just morph and come into self-pity. Oh, poor, poor me when I deserve better. That's pride. I didn't escape it after all. You see how that doesn't help you? Instead, what you do is you run to glorify the Lord. You run to serve the Lord and give him glory. That gets your head up off yourself. It gets your eyes focused on others. And on Jesus Christ, how does Paul say, for I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ? He says, I won't be ashamed. I won't fall to the lie of pride that I'll be shamed about the Gospel. Instead, he says, I won't be ashamed. I won't be ashamed because the Gospel is the power of God. It's for the glory of God. And he sets out to glorify the Lord with all that's in him. And that's humility. Humility is when you see someone giving glory to Jesus Christ for the Gospel. That's what Edom didn't do, and that's what you must do. You must not fall like Edom, but you must trust in your humble Savior. You are not humble, but the Jesus Christ is, and he will help you to grow in humility if you turn in repentance and faith to him. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we need this word. We need your word to tell us that we're a prideful people. We need your word to give us truth. We're not in our positions on our own strength and knowledge and power and influence. We're here because you put us here and you can take us down. We believe your sovereignty. Help us to be drawn to give glory and honor to your Son, not to ourselves. Thank you for being so humble when we were not. We love you and want to serve you. Help us to grow in this. Amen.