He Must Increase | I Should Die and so Should Pride

Key Scriptures

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

“Mom, when I can’t see myself, I can see Jesus; but every time I see myself, I don’t see Him.’ How true it is that when [self] fills the vision we do not see Jesus!”

God Hates Pride / Haughtiness

Ezekiel 28 & Isaiah 14 – God despises the proud and casts Satan down. Read the account and notice the destruction.

Proverbs 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

Pride is different from other sins as most sins remove us away from God and others whereas pride elevates us above God and others.

A prideful person is Gods enemy, if pride offends God it should also offend us.

Spurgeon: I must try to describe pride to you. I might paint it as being the worst malformation of all the monstrous things in creation; it hath nothing lovely in it, nothing in proportion, but everything in disorder. Pride, the first-born son of hell, is indeed like its parent, all unclean and vile, and in it there is neither form, fashion, nor love.

2 Chronicles 26:1 And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 2 He built Eloth and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. 3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 4 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 5 He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.

14 And Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging. 15 In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.

Uzziah’s Pride and Punishment

16 But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, 18 and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.” 19 Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. 20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. 21 And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king’s household, governing the people of the land.

If Pride is the first-born son of Hell, then Humility is the first-born son of Jesus – Pastor Bob

“For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself,” (Galatians 6:3).

Humility is accepting who you really are at your core.

The Cross is the great equalizer, come to the foot of the Cross and watch Him die. This is where we see ourselves for what we really need – a Savior. We discover how poor we really are, we discover the punishment we rightly deserve. Ah, but alas, we discover his love for the poor and needy…..me.

Revelations 3:17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Key Points

• God hates opposes and will come against pride.
• Pride elevates us above God and others.
• The Cross is the antidote for pride.
• Humility is the opposite of pride and comes by rightly believing and excepting the Cross.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe an area in your life where you have Pride?
2. Are you ready to ask Jesus to remove your Pride?
3. Explain what you take away when you reflect on The Crucifixion of Jesus.
4. Do you notice more of other people’s sins more than your own? Explain.