Don't Hide Your Pride -- 2/19/12

Sunday, February 19, 2012

DON’T HIDE YOUR PRIDE

Job 40:6-14

            What do you think of proud people?  Doesn’t it bother you when you see someone who is eaten up with pride?  When I think of pride, I sometimes think of boxers.  It is common for a professional boxer to stand before a microphone and enthusiastically proclaim how he is going to beat the stuffing out of his opponent.  How often have you ever heard a boxer say, “Well, this is a big fight coming up.  I don’t know how I will do, but I’ve been training hard.  My opponent is a great fighter, but I hope I am able to beat him”?  I’ve never heard anything like that from a boxer; I have only heard arrogant and proud statements.  That kind of pride turns us off, doesn’t it?  Let’s be clear that such pride also upsets God.  Prov. 16:5, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord…”  To put it in other words, God hates pride.

            I had planned for us to go through Job 40-41 this morning, but plans change.  Instead, we are going to take some time to look at 40:6-14.  You will recall from last week that when God finally speaks to Job, beginning in chapter 38, He says nothing about Job’s plea for a trial before Him.  Throughout chapters 38-39 God does not even mention it.  So what did God do in those two chapters?  He lifted Job’s eyes to look at Him, the Almighty God.  He set the tone in 38:3, when He said, “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”  The message of all God’s questions boiled down to this:  “Job, are you anything like me?  Do you know what I know?  Can you do what I do?”  It isn’t until chapter 40 that the Lord even acknowledges Job’s demand for a hearing.  40:1-2, “Moreover the Lord answered Job and said, “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?  He who rebukes God, let him answer it.”  Even then, the Lord is reminding Job that he is contending with the One who is able to do all the things He has enumerated in chapters 38-39.  “Job, what do you have to say to a God like that?”

            After Job humbled himself and stated that he wouldn’t say any more (verses 3-5), the Lord had more to say.  That is what we are going to begin to look at this morning.  As we focus on verses 8-14, don’t miss the underlying theme of pride.  I have mentioned a number of times that throughout the affliction of Job and his debates with his friends, it seems that pride is building in Job.  Elihu has testified to that fact.  Now we will hear what the Lord Himself has to say about it.

            In order to get a bit of the context, we will being in verse one of chapter 40.  Let’s read Job 40:1-14…

 Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said: 2 "Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it." 3 Then Job answered the Lord and said: 4"Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. 5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further." 6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 7 "Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: 8 "Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? 9 Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? 10 Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, And array yourself with glory and beauty. 11 Disperse the rage of your wrath; Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. 12 Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; Tread down the wicked in their place. 13 Hide them in the dust together, Bind their faces in hidden darkness. 14 Then I will also confess to you That your own right hand can save you.

           

            Notice verses 6-7, “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, ‘Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’”  Do those words sound familiar to anyone?  They should.  Except for the deletion of the words “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge,” it is an exact repetition of what the Lord said in 38:1-3.  Go back and look at it.  Job has now admitted that he said too much, basically acknowledging that he darkened the Lord’s counsel by words without knowledge, so the Lord doesn’t need to repeat that part.  This repetition signals the beginning of round two.  The Lord has questioned Job thoroughly in chapters 38-39, but He isn’t done.  It’s time for Job to gird up his loins and get ready for the second round.

            I am going to outline this section according to the basic statements that God makes, summarizing verses 10-13 in a general statement.

I.  Will You Prove God Wrong?  (8)

            Finally, the Lord deals very directly with Job’s demand for a trial before God.  Of course, the Lord has been aware of everything Job said.  He knows full well what Job wants.  He has heard Job’s complaints, but in His wisdom He determines that only now should He deal with them.  He does so with two simple questions:  “Would you indeed annul My judgment?  Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?” (8).  Those questions may hit a little closer to home when we read them out of the ESV:  “Will you even put me in the wrong?  Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?”

            Think about that first question:  “Would you indeed annul my judgment?”  That is, “Job, will you really say that my judgment is no good?”  Job might protest and say, “That is not what I am saying.”  But then comes the second question:  “Would you condemn Me that you may be justified, that you may be in the right?”  Think about the implications of what the Lord is saying.  The Lord is telling Job that both of them can’t be right.  In trying to put himself in the right, Job is condemning God.  Do you see that?  The only way Job can be right is by proving God wrong.  Surely God is warning Job about the seriousness of his contentions.   “Job, you are not just complaining about your affliction, but you are actually condemning me, your Maker.”
            This is not only a wake-up call for Job, but what about you and me?  Let those words “condemn Me” roll around in your mind for a while.  Is it possible for a human being to condemn God?  Indeed it is, for that is exactly what the Lord said Job was doing.  Bear in mind that in the beginning of the book of Job, God Himself declared this man to be upright and blameless, a man who feared God and hated evil (1:1).  Now that same man is condemning God.  That tells us that we better take notes, lest we find ourselves in a similar position.

            We need to ask ourselves some questions.  What am I complaining about?  Do I believe that God is in control of all things?  Don’t I acknowledge that nothing can happen to me except what God approves?  So if I am complaining about something in my life, I am saying that God has messed up.  Could I possibly hear the Lord saying to me, “Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” 

            What can we do to make sure we never do what Job did?  At this point, let me put it like this:  “Never move past the attitude of Job at the end of chapter 1.”  After losing all his possessions and even his ten children, Job fell down and worshipped the Lord, saying, “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:20-21).  In the very next verse we read, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (22).  The implication is this:  While Job was worshiping God and blessing His name, there was no room for sinful action or sinful thoughts.  May that be a lesson for us.  As long as we are truly worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth, blessing His holy name, there is no room for sin. 

            You might say, “That sounds good, but it isn’t realistic.  No one can worship the Lord and bless His name all the time.”  Wouldn’t you say that’s a pretty good description of Jesus’ life?  Did not David say, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps. 34:1).  You say, “But even David didn’t practice what he preached.”  No, he didn’t, but that was the attitude to which he aspired, and that is the attitude for which we must long.  The farther we get from such all-consuming worship and blessing of the Lord, the more we are in danger of condemn-ing the very God we claim to know.

II.  Can You Do What God Does?  (9)

            Now verse 9, “Have you an arm like God?  Or can you thunder with a voice like His?”  I hear the flow of the conversation going something like this:  “So, Job, if you believe you are right and I am wrong, let me ask you a couple of simple questions:  Do you have an arm like God?  Can you demonstrate the power that I display day in and day out?  Or do you have a voice like God?  Can you thunder as I do?” 

            At first, a person might be inclined to accuse God of teaching that “might makes right.”  In other words, “Since I am more powerful than you, you have no right to approach me; I will crush you.”  First of all, even if that were the Lord’s attitude, there would be nothing wrong with that.  We have to be careful with that “might makes right” argu-ment.  It may be valid when talking about an evil dictator or a schoolyard bully, but bear in mind that some of the most educated people in our society will use the same argument to say that parents have no right to force their religious ideas on their children.  Yes, God is more powerful than every human being, but I remind you that His might is coupled with His righteousness, as we saw clearly in chapter 34.  

            I also want you to remember from chapter 36 that God is mighty in justice.  He uses His power to deal out justice to His creatures (36:5).  God’s strength is not confined to the glorious demonstration of His power in creation, nor to the raw power seen in the destruction of the flood.  It is by the wisdom of that same power that He was pleased to crush His Son at the cross and provide our salvation.

            God is calling on Job, as He did all through chapters 38-39, to demonstrate that he is on a par with His Creator.  If Job can indeed thunder as God thunders, that will be evidence that maybe his arguments should be heard.

           

III.  Then Deal with the Pride of Man  (10-13)

            Now verse 9 fades into verses 10-13.  The question of verse 9 will become much more specific in verses 10-13.  Let’s read again -- 40:9-13…

Have you an arm like God?  Or can you thunder with a voice like His?  10 Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, And array yourself with glory and beauty. 11 Disperse the rage of your wrath; Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. 12 Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; Tread down the wicked in their place. 13 Hide them in the dust together, Bind their faces in hidden darkness.

            Notice especially the words that come right in the middle of this section (11b-12a):  “Look on everyone who is proud and humble him.  Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low.”  I would summarize this little section like this:  God is saying to Job, “Then deal with the pride of man.”  Understand what is behind this thought.  “Job, I demonstrate my power and my wisdom by humbling all those who are proud.  Now you do the same.” 

            Let’s back up a moment and look at pride.  Let me ask you a few questions.  Has there ever been a person born who did not struggle with pride?  Has a man or woman other than Jesus ever walked through life without being afflicted by pride?  Is pride sin?  How does God feel about pride?  How does God deal with proud people?  As you can see, dealing with those questions might take a little while.  That’s why I decided we should content ourselves with looking at this smaller section of scripture this morning.

            While it might be difficult to give you a single verse that proves pride is a problem for every person, consider Is. 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.”  That’s a picture of pride.  Also, remember that Jesus referred to the devil as the father of the Jewish religious leaders.  Before we came to Christ, we were as much children of the devil as they.  And what was the sin of the devil?  He was bursting with pride, as he said, “I will be like the most High” (Is. 14:14).  I confess that pride is still constantly knocking at my door. 

            Is pride sin?  Absolutely.  Prov. 21:4,  "An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin."  We also know pride is sin because of the way the Lord regards it.  Let me start in Proverbs 6.  “These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to him” (Pr. 6:16).  The writer is getting ready to list seven things that the Lord absolutely hates.  What is the first?  A proud look (17).  So we see that pride tops the list of the things God hates.  Prov. 8:13,  "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate."  Prov. 16:5,  “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD.”  Is. 2:11-12,  "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12.  For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low."  There are plenty of other such passages, but let me come back to Ps.138:6,  "Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off."  I believe that passage is the basis for the New Testament statement that we find in both James 4:6 and I Pet. 5:5, “…God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”  What a tragic truth.  Oh yes, the Lord is capable of bringing the proud down, and He will certainly do that some day, but even now He resists the proud.  He holds the proud at arm’s length.  A proud person cannot draw near to God.  But praise His name that He gives grace to the one who is willing to humble himself.

            We also learn from the scriptures that pride is a very destructive thing.  “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18).  “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife” (Prov. 28:25).  “A man’s pride shall bring him low…” (Prov. 29:23).  Notice how John puts together the pride of life with other sins which are not pleasing to God:  “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (I John 2:16).

            Now come back to Job 40:10-13.  A fresh look at pride helps us to understand why God is so hard on the proud.  Notice again the key words at the end of verse 11:  “Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him.”  The words that come before this in verse 10 and the first part of verse 11 describe how God does that.  The Lord adorns himself with majesty and splendor and arrays himself with glory and beauty.  The proud man tries to lift himself up, just as Satan vowed that he would be like the most High.  One of the ways God humbles the proud is by exalting Himself.  No matter how a proud man may puff himself up with praise, fix himself up with riches, and prop himself up with great exploits, he is still a dirty beggar in comparison with the Lord Almighty.  Not only does God clothe Himself with majesty, splendor, glory, and beauty, but He also disperses the rage of His wrath.  The proud man is never beyond His reach.  When He is ready, the Lord does indeed bring the proud low by pouring out His anger upon him.

            Now look at the end of verse 12 and the beginning of verse 13.  God tells Job to tread down the wicked in their place, but the implication is clear -- I myself am able to tread down the wicked.  And who are the wicked?  They are the proud.  When the Lord speaks of hiding them in the dust together and binding their faces in hidden darkness, who are the “them”?  He is speaking of the wicked, who are the proud.  God sets Himself apart from the proud and He ultimately destroys them, fully demonstrating the truth that He always resists the proud.

            Now let’s focus in on the point the Lord is making.  “Okay Job, O man who thinks that he can prove God wrong, do you have an arm of strength like God?  Can you thunder with your voice?  If you think you are any match for Me, then prove it by dealing with the proud.  Set yourself far above them by clothing yourself with majesty and splendor, even as I do.  Set forth your glory and beauty and see how you compare with me.  Go ahead, Job, pour out your wrath on them.  Look on the proud and humble them; bring them low.  Put those wicked people of pride in their place.  Lay them in the dust and bind them in darkness, even as I do.”  Do you see His point? 

            Please hear me.  We all know that Job was no match for God.  He could never deal with the proud as God did.  But why did Job put himself in a position that God would even have to say these things to him?  Was it not because Job himself had become proud?  The ultimate challenge for Job was not to humble proud men around him, but to humble himself, to bring himself low.  Up to this point, Job had not been able to meet that challenge.  But God, in His power and wisdom, knows how to humble proud men, and that is exactly what He is doing with Job.  These very words the Lord is speaking will serve to bring Job low.

            The big question is this:  “How did Job become proud, and why could he not see the pride in his own life?”  The answer is simple -- pride is deceptive.  While that is true of all sin, it is especially true of pride.  Pride blinds the spiritual eyes.  We see this principle all through the scriptures.

            Consider the second time the word “pride” is used in the Bible.  It is in II Samuel 17.  Let me give you the background.  David was out tending his father’s sheep, while three of his older brothers were serving in the army of King Saul.  At the time, Goliath, the Philistine giant, was coming out to taunt the Israelite army every morning.  He would challenge them to send someone out to fight him, but no Israelite had the courage to do so.  Jesse called on his youngest son David to take some food up to his brothers, but more importantly to see how they were doing.  In obedience to his father, David went up to the battle front.  While he was visiting with his brothers, Goliath came out and issued his daily challenge.  The Israelite soldiers fled away in fear.  David saw this and got into a conversation with some of the soldiers.  In the process of the conversation, David said, “What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (I Sam. 17:26).  Now listen to the response of David’s older brother  Eliab in 17:27-28…

And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.  And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

            Notice that Eliab accused his little brother David of being full of pride.  Isn’t that interesting?  There is no indication whatsoever that David’s actions and attitudes were motivated by pride.  Was it not Eliab who was full of pride?  He could not bear to have his baby brother speaking so boldly, while he fled from Goliath in fear.  He accused David of being proud, but Eliab himself was the proud man.  It was that same pride that deceived him and blinded his eyes.

            In the fifth chapter of Hosea, the prophet accuses Israel of spiritual prostitution.  Listen to what Hosea has to say to these people:  “They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.  5  And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face…” (Hos. 5:4-5a).  We understand that God is rebuking Israel for her spiritual idolatry, but what is this statement about Israel’s pride testifying to her face?  How could she be guilty of such terrible iniquity and still be proud?  Because pride is blind.  When we read the rest of Hosea’s message, along with the early chapters of Isaiah, we see that in spite of their idolatry, God’s people still regularly offered their sacrifices, kept the Sabbath, and lifted up their prayers.  They were proud of their outward religion, but they were blind to their inward poverty.

            The classic example of such pride is in Luke 18.  This, of course, is the example of the Pharisee and the tax collector.  Listen again to Jesus’ description of the highly religious Pharisee in Luke 18:10-12…

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11.  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. 12.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

The Pharisees considered themselves to be the most spiritual people in the nation, but they were blind to their pride.  Pride and deception go hand in hand. 

            We tend to say, “Oh yes, but that’s the Pharisees.  We know they were bad guys.  Surely there is no danger of a church ever becoming proud like that.”  Yes, there is such a danger, and that danger confronts us today, and it will threaten us as long as we are a church.  Some of you know where we are heading.  Please turn to Revelation, chapter 3.  Let’s read Rev. 3:14-16…

And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 

            Bear in mind that this is the Lord Jesus speaking.  So why is He so intense and so hard on this poor church?  What have they done?  Is one of the leaders guilty of sexual immorality?  Has someone embezzled thousands from the treasury?  Is one of the members guilty of blaspheming God?  What could the problem be, that Jesus would want to spew them out of His mouth?  The answer is in verse 17, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.’”  What do we call that?  It’s pride.  Oh yes, it is self-sufficiency, and self-sufficiency is always rooted in pride. 

            But that isn’t the end of the story.  Read all of verse 17, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’--and do not know that you wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”  What a picture!  How can a person not know that he is miserable?  How can a man be ignorant of his own poverty?  And it gets worse.  How could anyone be blind and not know it?  And even the first two humans created knew they were naked and were ashamed.  But there is no shame in the church of Laodicea.  These people were not only proud, but they were blind.  Because the Lord loved those people, He rebuked and chastened them, calling on them to repent with zeal.  Pride is a spiritual disease that blinds those who are afflicted with it.

            Not only could Job not bring low the pride of others, but he could not even conquer his own pride.   That is exactly why God, before going ahead with his questions which revolve around His creatures, includes this discussion of pride.  Ultimately, it is the pride of Job with which He is dealing.  Pride is a very key component of this section.  Remember that round two of God’s questioning begins in 40:6, where the Lord tells Job to get ready to answer.  Then we have this section which deals with pride.  Now go to the end of the section.  What is the very last word in chapter 41?  It is “pride.”  That is no accident.  Next week we will see how God deals with Job’s pride in the rest of chapter 40 and in chapter 41.

IV.  Then I Will Acknowledge Your Ability to Save Yourself  (14)

            The Lord wraps up this direct assault on Job’s pride with the words of verse 14, “Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you.”  Notice the significance of the word “then.”  Then -- after you have demon-strated that you can humble the proud and bring him low by manifesting your glory, pouring out your wrath, and setting the wicked in their place -- then I will acknowledge your ability to save yourself. 

            Think about it for a moment.  Let that thought sink in.  If Job can do all these things, then God will have to admit that Job is capable of saving himself.  Then he has a right to question God’s wisdom and assert his own.  He might indeed be right and the Lord wrong.  He might be able to take God to court and win.  But all of this hinges on Job being able to humble the proud even as the Lord Himself does.  Again, it is very easy for us to see the point -- Job cannot do it.  He has nothing like the Lord’s ability to humble the proud.

            So if that is the case, then what must be true?  The converse is simply this -- “But, Job, if you can’t humble the proud by manifesting your glory, pouring out your wrath, and setting the wicked in his place, then I cannot and will not acknowledge your ability to save yourself.  Your wisdom cannot compare with mine.  You are speaking out of turn and you are foolish to think you can win a case against me.”  That’s all the Lord is saying, but it is plenty.  It should be enough to bring Job to his knees.  But we will save Job’s response for its proper place and time.

Conclusion

            When we started this morning, I asked you this question:  “Doesn’t it bother you when you see someone who is eaten up with pride?”  Then I pointed to boxers as people who tend to be eaten up with pride.  But it isn’t that simple, is it?  Everyone can see the pride of boxers, but who can see the pride of his own heart?  Does it bother you when pride gains a foothold in your life?  Pride is number one on God’s hate list; how does it rank on yours?  The pride in my life is every bit as ugly and hated by God as the pride in that arrogant boxer.  But do I really believe that?

            Job was afflicted deeply by pride, but he was blind to that truth.  Only the Lord Himself would be able to convict Job of his pride, but praise God that He was able to do it.  We will see move evidence of that when we get to chapter 42.  Ultimately, only the Lord Himself can convict you and me of pride.  For that reason, there is nothing better for us to do this morning than to come before Him who searches the hearts.

            We read it last week and we read it again Wednesday evening.  Let’s read it again now -- Ps. 139:23-24,  “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24.  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  There is nothing more wicked than pride.

Let’s pray…