1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,900 That's where we are heading over the next three weeks. So we're gonna go ahead and pray. You can also follow along with the screen, and additionally, with the handouts there in your bulletin. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and for grace and for hope, and we thank you for this vision that you have given to the prophet Obadiah. We just ask that as we take a look over 2 00:00:29,900 --> 00:00:59,800 the next three weeks at these 21 verses that you would help us to see the reality and the danger and the deception of pride. That you would help us to see that if left unchecked, pride will harden our hearts. It will take us to places we never thought that we would go on our own. And that you oppose pride and that most of all, you would help us to see that your kingdom is the 3 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:29,700 only true kingdom. And all the little kingdoms we try to set up and we try to control and we try to find hope in them in your presence. So we ask that you would put our feet on the rock. Like Moses, you would put us in the cleft of the rock and cover us with your hand. Be with us this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So growing up, I grew up in a family full of church people. 4 00:01:29,700 --> 00:01:59,600 The unfortunate side effect of that is whenever you do something dumb, there is a verse for that, is what I found out. I remember once I was swinging on the swing set, and I think actually Uncle Brian and Aunt Becky were there as well. We had this really cool set of swings underneath our fort, which was up in the air, maybe 10 or 11 feet. And so I realized that I could jump off the swing and grab one of the support beams and hang off it. 5 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:29,500 I was really cool, and probably the words that my mom hated to hear growing up was like, "Hey mom, watch this." And so of course I do it. I've done it successfully like a million times before that. She turns and looks, and immediately I fall on the ground and crack the growth plate in my elbow. And now my mom had the grace to not say anything at the emergency room. She did later on, and we talked about this, go, "Pride goes before fall, and the haughty spirit before 6 00:02:29,500 --> 00:02:59,400 destruction." And there was a lesson from the book of Proverbs, and my sort of broken arm, and from my mom. Now if we had to summarize the book of Obadiah, Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 18 is really the place for us to go. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. This is the reality of the book of Obadiah. It's about pride, and it's about 7 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:29,300 the oncoming destruction, and the haughty spirit being opposed by God. In fact, let's begin with just verse one. "The vision of Obadiah, thus says the Lord God concerning Edom. We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations. Rise up. Let us rise up against her for battle." And I just want to start at the very beginning with Obadiah. In Scripture, there's a lot of Obadiahs. I think there's 8 00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:59,200 13 Obadiahs in total. The name means servant of God. And what we find in verse one is he received a vision from God. And in terms of Obadiahs, this is all we know about this Obadiah. None of the other 12 that are found in Scripture, their time periods don't match up. And so all we know about the guy who records the vision from the Lord, this Obadiah, is that his name means servant of the Lord. God came to him in a vision. 9 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:20,200 He wrote it down, and that's all we know. And the reality is, for a vision that concerns God opposing pride, it doesn't get more perfect than that, that the messenger sort of just disappears into the background, focusing us on the Word of God. 10 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:29,100 And so Obadiah records this vision of God concerning Edom. Edom is a nation that traces its lineage backwards. 11 00:04:29,100 --> 00:04:41,100 Back to Esau, the grandson of Abraham, son of Isaac, brother of Jacob, and his name means red. And we'll talk about that a little bit. And this nation is a brother nation to Israel. 12 00:04:41,100 --> 00:04:52,100 And so in terms of the nation of Israel specifically, in this case, the tribe of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, when we talk about the nation of Edom, 13 00:04:52,100 --> 00:05:01,100 we're not talking about some random nation that lived along their borders or they had heard of or diplomatic relations were established with another country. 14 00:05:01,100 --> 00:05:13,100 We are talking about family members. Remember, Abraham is called by God. He has a son named Isaac. Isaac has two sons named Jacob and Esau. 15 00:05:13,100 --> 00:05:26,100 And both of these sons, Jacob and Esau, go on to found nations. One, the nation of Israel, which includes the tribe of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, to whom this letter is written. 16 00:05:26,100 --> 00:05:42,100 The other, the nation that comes from Esau, is the nation of Edom. So much so in Deuteronomy, as Moses delivers God's instructions, we find this given to God's people. 17 00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:48,100 You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. 18 00:05:48,100 --> 00:06:03,100 So this judgment that is coming upon Edom, here in this little short vision, 21 verses long, is not really a picture of diplomatic relations, but a picture of a family problem. 19 00:06:03,100 --> 00:06:11,100 And so what happens, the Edomites, they will live in the mountains sort of south and east of the Dead Sea. 20 00:06:11,100 --> 00:06:17,100 They are going to carve their strongholds out of the sandstone of the cliffs. 21 00:06:17,100 --> 00:06:28,100 It's difficult terrain, there's deep gorges, there's narrow passages, and it gave them a level of security because big armies can't march to them because they have to go sort of narrow to get through these gaps. 22 00:06:28,100 --> 00:06:40,100 And so a small amount of men, armed and trained well, can defend their cities, and if they have to retreat to their city, their city is built high in the cliffs and into the rock. 23 00:06:40,100 --> 00:06:57,100 And what we're going to find is the vision that God gives Obadiah. It outlines, first of all, their pride in the first nine verses, which leads to their treatment of Judah in verses 10 through 14, which results in the judgment of God in verses 15 through 21. 24 00:06:57,100 --> 00:07:09,100 And this judgment is not hypothetical. Notice what God says, "A messenger has been sent out among the nations. 25 00:07:09,100 --> 00:07:15,100 Rise up. Let us rise up against her for battle." That's a biblical way of saying that God's already acting on this judgment. 26 00:07:15,100 --> 00:07:24,100 That this judgment that is coming from this vision is not a "Maybe this will happen. It might happen. You better be careful or I'm going to get you" kind of picture. 27 00:07:24,100 --> 00:07:37,100 That this is a judgment that is in progress. Now this vision likely takes place in 586 BC when Jerusalem has been destroyed by the Babylonians. 28 00:07:38,100 --> 00:07:48,100 We'll read from the context of Obadiah that Jerusalem is parallels with the book of Jeremiah. There's references to exiles. 29 00:07:48,100 --> 00:07:59,100 Which leads us to a really big and really important question. Why does this matter to any of us? 30 00:07:59,100 --> 00:08:07,100 Sometimes I say this. Not my clowns. Not my circus. Not my horses. Not my rodeo. 31 00:08:07,100 --> 00:08:16,100 How is this little book of 21 verses, how does this have any impact on my life? 32 00:08:16,100 --> 00:08:21,100 Think about what we just talked about. Just a few introductory moments, right? 33 00:08:21,100 --> 00:08:31,100 We have a prophecy concerning a family conflict between the descendants of two very dysfunctional brothers. 34 00:08:31,100 --> 00:08:36,100 And when we say dysfunctional, we don't mean like the kind of, we put the fun in dysfunctional. 35 00:08:36,100 --> 00:08:49,100 But guys who tried to kill each other at one point, it takes place 2,600 years ago in a place that's far, far away. 36 00:08:49,100 --> 00:08:57,100 How does this little book have any impact on my life? Why would we spend three weeks bothering with the book of Obadiah? 37 00:08:57,100 --> 00:09:04,100 It's a family conflict, doesn't involve me. It's far away, it's a long time ago. 38 00:09:04,100 --> 00:09:11,100 What impact does this little book have on our life? 39 00:09:11,100 --> 00:09:19,100 At the heart of this vision is God's description of and his judgment against pride. 40 00:09:19,100 --> 00:09:23,100 And we go, "Great, that's their pride." 41 00:09:23,100 --> 00:09:28,100 I think God would say, "Well, it might also be your pride." 42 00:09:28,100 --> 00:09:31,100 You see, pride is not a new problem. 43 00:09:31,100 --> 00:09:35,100 The destructive nature of pride is recorded throughout all of Scripture. 44 00:09:35,100 --> 00:09:43,100 Think about Genesis chapter 3, how the serpent in the garden appeals to Adam and Eve about the fruit. 45 00:09:43,100 --> 00:09:48,100 If you eat more than what you are now, and God doesn't want you lifted up, 46 00:09:48,100 --> 00:09:55,100 and he's jealous of this opportunity that you have, and it's their pride calling them to partake of this fruit. 47 00:09:55,100 --> 00:10:01,100 Go a few chapters later, and there's some guys who go, "You know what? We'll build a tower to the heavens." 48 00:10:01,100 --> 00:10:07,100 And the picture of this tower, and we read in the book of Genesis, was to keep them from being scattered, 49 00:10:07,100 --> 00:10:13,100 that we can hold it all together by the strength of our own hands. 50 00:10:13,100 --> 00:10:20,100 God calls Abraham, and during a famine, instead of trusting God, Abraham packs up and takes his family to Egypt, 51 00:10:20,100 --> 00:10:26,100 and it turns out he doesn't just do this once, he does it twice, and he gives away his wife each time, 52 00:10:26,100 --> 00:10:29,100 trusting in his own plan rather than God's, right? 53 00:10:29,100 --> 00:10:36,100 The struggle between Jacob and Esau was for primacy and place in the family, a struggle of pride. 54 00:10:36,100 --> 00:10:44,100 Joseph's brothers, their pride's not just present, but it ends up with them looking down on Joseph. 55 00:10:44,100 --> 00:10:48,100 Here comes the dreamer, and they were going to try to kill him, but they end up throwing him in a pit, 56 00:10:48,100 --> 00:10:55,100 selling him into slavery. Pride's not just present, but it's a wrecking ball of destructive force, 57 00:10:55,100 --> 00:11:01,100 and we're not even through the first book of the Bible. And if you follow it through the pages of Scripture, 58 00:11:01,100 --> 00:11:05,100 it's one problem after another, and it's not just a problem that's out there for them, 59 00:11:05,100 --> 00:11:10,100 it's a problem that's in there for us, because our tendency is to look at this and go, 60 00:11:10,100 --> 00:11:15,100 "Yes, I can easily spot pride out there." 61 00:11:15,100 --> 00:11:21,100 Is that we see in Scripture that the problem isn't just out there, but it's in here as well. 62 00:11:21,100 --> 00:11:27,100 In the book of James, it's a book that's written to Christians who are scattered because of persecution. 63 00:11:27,100 --> 00:11:34,100 And James writes them a letter. 64 00:11:34,100 --> 00:11:42,100 And in his letter, you move through the book of James, what you find is that almost every issue he's addressing, 65 00:11:42,100 --> 00:11:49,100 chapters 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 4, all these issues, at the heart of them, there are pride. 66 00:11:49,100 --> 00:11:53,100 And that even sometimes in suffering, pride is the problem. 67 00:11:53,100 --> 00:12:02,100 In fact, take a look at James chapter 4, verses 6 through 10. 68 00:12:02,100 --> 00:12:07,100 He gives more grace, therefore, he says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 69 00:12:07,100 --> 00:12:12,100 Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil. He will flee from you. 70 00:12:12,100 --> 00:12:17,100 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. 71 00:12:17,100 --> 00:12:25,100 Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched, and mourn, and weep, and let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to gloom. 72 00:12:25,100 --> 00:12:30,100 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. 73 00:12:30,100 --> 00:12:39,100 James, writing to Christians who were scattered and often struggling, writes to them, 74 00:12:39,100 --> 00:12:47,100 and in many cases, their struggle and their heartbreak and the conflict they were having within their churches was ultimately pride. 75 00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:53,100 And he'll tell us that God opposes the proud, gives grace to the humble, and ends this section here saying, 76 00:12:53,100 --> 00:12:57,100 "Humble yourselves before the Lord." Let me give you one more reason. 77 00:12:57,100 --> 00:13:05,100 There's a linguistic link between Adam and mankind, right? 78 00:13:05,100 --> 00:13:14,100 When Adam is formed out of the dirt of the ground, the red clay, find his name given as Adam, 79 00:13:14,100 --> 00:13:22,100 also the word that ends up being used for mankind is also the word at the root of Esau and of Edom. 80 00:13:22,100 --> 00:13:27,100 It's not just the name of a guy who is the son of Isaac, 81 00:13:27,100 --> 00:13:34,100 but ultimately this picture linguistically traces its roots back all the way to the beginning 82 00:13:34,100 --> 00:13:38,100 and has a picture of all mankind in it. 83 00:13:38,100 --> 00:13:44,100 So we want to come this morning and begin to think about pride. 84 00:13:44,100 --> 00:13:50,100 And in our section this morning, what we find is both a description of pride 85 00:13:50,100 --> 00:13:55,100 and then a call to hope in God. And what we find is this, very simply: 86 00:13:55,100 --> 00:13:58,100 Pride likes to look down. 87 00:13:58,100 --> 00:14:01,100 Listen to this from Obadiah, verse 3: 88 00:14:01,100 --> 00:14:06,100 "The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock in your lofty dwelling, 89 00:14:06,100 --> 00:14:11,100 who say in your heart, 'Who will bring me down to the ground?'" 90 00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:15,100 And so we start with the physical geography of Edom, 91 00:14:15,100 --> 00:14:18,100 and it gives you a picture of their attitude of pride, right? 92 00:14:18,100 --> 00:14:22,100 High in their safe cities, protected by limited access. 93 00:14:22,100 --> 00:14:28,100 Edom, literally, if you look out the window of your city, right, you're looking down on everyone. 94 00:14:28,100 --> 00:14:33,100 And while it's wonderful, and we want to have a nice view when we look out our window, 95 00:14:33,100 --> 00:14:38,100 we like to be up high and look out over the valleys, and it's a wonderful thing. 96 00:14:38,100 --> 00:14:50,100 The problem happens when it stops being a physical looking, and it becomes a spiritual and emotional looking down on others. 97 00:14:50,100 --> 00:14:55,100 What you find is, in Scripture, this is not a new problem. 98 00:14:55,100 --> 00:15:05,100 Do you remember David and his wife, Michael, as he brings the Ark of the Covenant finally with the Levites into the city of Jerusalem? 99 00:15:05,100 --> 00:15:15,100 And he is just absolutely absorbed in worship, and he's dancing before the Ark of God, just overjoyed that the presence of God is coming to his city. 100 00:15:15,100 --> 00:15:22,100 And what does he do? He gets home, and his wife, who's been looking out the window, goes, "Oh, how the King of Israel has distinguished himself today." 101 00:15:22,100 --> 00:15:32,100 Not in a nice way, but in an absolutely sarcastic, cutting way, looking down on him as he prays God. 102 00:15:32,100 --> 00:15:36,100 Or if you remember, there's a guy by the name of Naaman, and he has leprosy. 103 00:15:36,100 --> 00:15:43,100 His servant girl, likely taken as a slave from the people of Israel, so there's a prophet who can cure your leprosy. 104 00:15:43,100 --> 00:15:50,100 And so Naaman goes to the king, who sends him to Elisha, and he goes up and he knocks on Elisha's door, and Elisha's busy. 105 00:15:50,100 --> 00:15:55,100 So he sends his servant out and goes, "Go dip yourself seven times in the Jordan River." 106 00:15:55,100 --> 00:16:01,100 And Naaman, this very important military leader, jumps back in his chariot, and he's mad. 107 00:16:01,100 --> 00:16:06,100 First of all, he's mad because the prophet couldn't come out and talk to him himself. 108 00:16:06,100 --> 00:16:11,100 He's like going to the doctor, and you have an appointment with your doctor at your doctor's office, 109 00:16:11,100 --> 00:16:16,100 and the nurse just opens the door and hands you out a prescription and goes, "There you go." 110 00:16:16,100 --> 00:16:20,100 "Well, I want to see the doctor." "No! Just go do this." 111 00:16:20,100 --> 00:16:23,100 And then he's mad about the river. 112 00:16:23,100 --> 00:16:29,100 "Don't we have better rivers back home than the muddy Jordan River?" 113 00:16:29,100 --> 00:16:33,100 And he almost turns his back on the healing God provides 114 00:16:33,100 --> 00:16:36,100 because he looks down on how the prophet treated him, 115 00:16:36,100 --> 00:16:40,100 and he looks down on the rivers of Israel. 116 00:16:40,100 --> 00:16:44,100 Think about Goliath and David who looks at David and says, 117 00:16:44,100 --> 00:16:49,100 "Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks and stones?" 118 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:52,100 Well, probably one of the most familiar pictures of looking down, 119 00:16:52,100 --> 00:16:55,100 he told this parable to some who trusted in themselves 120 00:16:55,100 --> 00:16:59,100 and treated others with contempt. 121 00:16:59,100 --> 00:17:01,100 Two men went into the temple to pray, 122 00:17:01,100 --> 00:17:03,100 one a Pharisee, another tax collector. 123 00:17:03,100 --> 00:17:05,100 Listen to what the Pharisee does. 124 00:17:05,100 --> 00:17:07,100 The Pharisee standing by himself prayed this way, 125 00:17:07,100 --> 00:17:10,100 "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, 126 00:17:10,100 --> 00:17:14,100 extorting unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector. 127 00:17:14,100 --> 00:17:18,100 I fast twice a week and I give tithes of all that I get." 128 00:17:18,100 --> 00:17:22,100 And here he is looking over the tax collector 129 00:17:22,100 --> 00:17:25,100 and looking down on him. 130 00:17:25,100 --> 00:17:28,100 What pride does is it causes us to look down. 131 00:17:28,100 --> 00:17:31,100 C.S. Lewis says this, 132 00:17:31,100 --> 00:17:35,100 "A proud man is always looking down on things and on people. 133 00:17:35,100 --> 00:17:37,100 And of course, as long as you are looking down, 134 00:17:37,100 --> 00:17:41,100 you cannot see something that is above you." 135 00:17:41,100 --> 00:17:46,100 And he goes on to talk about how in our pride we can't look and see God. 136 00:17:46,100 --> 00:17:48,100 And pride doesn't always have to be loud. 137 00:17:48,100 --> 00:17:53,100 Right? It can be in our heads, in our commentary about others and their decisions, 138 00:17:53,100 --> 00:17:56,100 and what they're doing, and how they're doing it. 139 00:17:56,100 --> 00:17:59,100 And it doesn't always have to be scornful. 140 00:17:59,100 --> 00:18:05,100 Right? Pride can find itself in our attitudes and our words and our thoughts. 141 00:18:05,100 --> 00:18:08,100 "Well, I wouldn't have done it that way." 142 00:18:08,100 --> 00:18:12,100 Pride looks down. 143 00:18:12,100 --> 00:18:14,100 That's the problem with Edom. 144 00:18:14,100 --> 00:18:18,100 It's not just their cities are high up, but their attitude toward everyone who surrounds them. 145 00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:20,100 I wouldn't have built my city there. 146 00:18:20,100 --> 00:18:24,100 I'm a city like that. I'm safe. I'm secure through my strength and my power. 147 00:18:24,100 --> 00:18:30,100 And the rest of you are weak, and you are small, and what you find next. 148 00:18:30,100 --> 00:18:35,100 It's something probably all of us have experienced, maybe not with pride. 149 00:18:35,100 --> 00:18:40,100 Have you ever bought something that turned out to not match with what was advertised? 150 00:18:40,100 --> 00:18:44,100 I remember this was probably 12 or 13 years ago. 151 00:18:44,100 --> 00:18:46,100 It was longer than that because it was back before I was married. 152 00:18:46,100 --> 00:18:51,100 One of my buddies and I were getting ready to grill some food, and we were walking through Walmart. 153 00:18:51,100 --> 00:18:56,100 I don't remember if any of you saw the infomercial for the slap chop, right? 154 00:18:56,100 --> 00:19:00,100 It's like you got this thing, and you put like an onion in it, and you slap it, and the onion's all perfectly diced. 155 00:19:00,100 --> 00:19:03,100 You put a tomato in it, and you slap it. 156 00:19:03,100 --> 00:19:06,100 Tomato comes out perfectly chopped. You put a jalapeno in it, right? 157 00:19:06,100 --> 00:19:09,100 It's like, "Hey, let's make some salsa to go with our steaks." 158 00:19:09,100 --> 00:19:13,100 So I get home, and I like put an onion in it, and I slap it, and nothing happens. 159 00:19:13,100 --> 00:19:15,100 I was like, "Maybe if I hit it harder, right?" 160 00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:17,100 And I just get squished onion. 161 00:19:17,100 --> 00:19:21,100 And then I was like, "Oh, you know what? Well, tomato. Tomato's nice and soft, right?" 162 00:19:21,100 --> 00:19:23,100 And I got tomato juice. 163 00:19:23,100 --> 00:19:26,100 Here is this thing that if you'd ever stayed up late at night watching TV, 164 00:19:26,100 --> 00:19:30,100 this guy's just out there, and he's like, "Tap, tap, tap. Here's a great salsa." 165 00:19:30,100 --> 00:19:35,100 And here I am with like a hammer, and it's just not cutting anything. 166 00:19:35,100 --> 00:19:45,100 And I remember I was like so disappointed over this thing that I got off the clearance aisle because I had such great expectations. 167 00:19:45,100 --> 00:19:51,100 This is what pride does, right? Pride deceives. 168 00:19:51,100 --> 00:19:55,100 It's very clearly stated in our text. The pride of your heart has deceived you. 169 00:19:55,100 --> 00:20:01,100 Who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?" 170 00:20:01,100 --> 00:20:10,100 "Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is among the stars, from there I will bring you down," says the Lord. 171 00:20:10,100 --> 00:20:18,100 Notice that this, in verse 3, takes place in the heart. "Who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground?" 172 00:20:18,100 --> 00:20:27,100 It's not a press conference. It's not a declaration. It's self-satisfaction in the heart. And here is the promise of pride. 173 00:20:27,100 --> 00:20:35,100 I'm safe. I'm secure. I live up high in the rock. Nobody can attack me. I'm too protected. I'm too close to the stars. 174 00:20:35,100 --> 00:20:45,100 And what God is going to do is He's going to expose the reality of the deceit of pride, because in pride we deceive ourselves. 175 00:20:45,100 --> 00:20:53,100 Right? The reason for their safety is primarily their location. It's primarily their geography. Now their building was great, 176 00:20:53,100 --> 00:21:01,100 and it was impressive, but impressive buildings without the canyons and without the mountains don't offer any protection. 177 00:21:01,100 --> 00:21:08,100 And so in many ways, by saying, "Look at how high up I am," they are taking credit for what God has already done. 178 00:21:08,100 --> 00:21:12,100 But it also, pride also deceives us about our ability. 179 00:21:12,100 --> 00:21:19,100 In many ways, what happens in verse 3 and 4 in Obadiah echoes what happens in Genesis chapter 11. 180 00:21:19,100 --> 00:21:30,100 They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower. With its top in the heavens, let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." 181 00:21:30,100 --> 00:21:33,100 Here's the reality, right? They're deceiving themselves. 182 00:21:33,100 --> 00:21:38,100 You might be building a good tower. It might be a tall tower there on the plains of Shinar. 183 00:21:38,100 --> 00:21:46,100 But it is not a tower that ultimately has its tops in the heaven. The same is true with Obadiah. 184 00:21:46,100 --> 00:21:53,100 "Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is among the stars, from there I will bring you down," says the Lord. 185 00:21:53,100 --> 00:21:57,100 And what's interesting is God's response. 186 00:21:57,100 --> 00:22:04,100 In Genesis chapter 11, verse 7, it just simply says at the very beginning of the verse, "Come, let us go down." 187 00:22:04,100 --> 00:22:10,100 Here were people in Genesis 11. We're going to build a tower with a top in its heavens. It's going to be tall. It's going to be great. 188 00:22:10,100 --> 00:22:18,100 Nobody can scatter us. And God goes, "Oh, look at that cute little tower. Let me go down and see it up close." 189 00:22:18,100 --> 00:22:22,100 The same is true. 190 00:22:22,100 --> 00:22:31,100 "You soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars. From there I will bring you down," says the Lord. 191 00:22:31,100 --> 00:22:38,100 Pride doesn't just deceive us about what it's able to accomplish. It deceives us about our security. 192 00:22:38,100 --> 00:22:56,100 You see, there is some reality in the security of the Edomites. Real rocks, real canyons, real alliances, real wealth, real approaches that can be defended, but it was ultimately not going to be sufficient. 193 00:22:56,100 --> 00:23:07,100 So many of their advantages were real, and that's what makes it so deceptive. It takes those real things and tells us that they're ultimate things, and we tend to do the same thing. 194 00:23:07,100 --> 00:23:26,100 Here is this good thing that I have, and we hold on to it as if it's our hope, or maybe it's the idea of getting something. If I can do this, if I can achieve this, if I can get this, if I can be here, if I can be there, and we say, "If I get that, life will be good." 195 00:23:26,100 --> 00:23:34,100 And what we've done is the same thing Edom has done, is we've carved something out of the rock, and we said, "This will hold me." 196 00:23:34,100 --> 00:23:41,100 We might not say, "Who will bring me down?" But we might live them. 197 00:23:41,100 --> 00:23:50,100 Verse 4 is a question. God is answering a question that nobody is really asking, but God's going to give them the answer anyway. 198 00:23:50,100 --> 00:24:01,100 Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. Pride doesn't just make promises. 199 00:24:01,100 --> 00:24:20,100 It ultimately deceives us about our security. Pride is deceitful. It deceives us about our security and our ability, and it's so quiet and it's so insidious. 200 00:24:20,100 --> 00:24:28,100 Look at what he says, "I will bring you down," declares the Lord. This is emphatic. I don't need an army. I don't need a plan. 201 00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:35,100 I'm just simply coming to bring you down. And not only is pride deceitful in all these external ways, it's deceitful in our hearts. 202 00:24:35,100 --> 00:24:44,100 Think about this. When we think, for example, that we have conquered our pride and our humility, what begins to happen? 203 00:24:44,100 --> 00:24:52,100 Man, I am so humble. I can't believe how I've conquered my pride and my humility is so great. 204 00:24:52,100 --> 00:24:59,100 And pride reels its ugly head even in the midst of our supposed humility. 205 00:24:59,100 --> 00:25:04,100 I want you to see that God opposes pride. 206 00:25:04,100 --> 00:25:09,100 God has just said, "I will bring you down," and it's easy to hear that and say that. 207 00:25:09,100 --> 00:25:13,100 Why? Why would God do that? Listen to what we read in James. 208 00:25:13,100 --> 00:25:17,100 "But He gives more grace, therefore it says God opposes the proud but gives grace to humble." 209 00:25:17,100 --> 00:25:22,100 I want you to understand very clearly that God's opposition is not the opposition of a bully. 210 00:25:22,100 --> 00:25:28,100 It can be easy to think that, right? I'm doing so well and God has to pull me down. 211 00:25:28,100 --> 00:25:33,100 The reality is that's our pride speaking. You see, God's opposition for us is for our good. 212 00:25:33,100 --> 00:25:39,100 Here's the reality. As a parent, I oppose my kids all the time. 213 00:25:39,100 --> 00:25:43,100 Not because I want to hurt them, but because I want to protect them. 214 00:25:43,100 --> 00:25:46,100 Because I can sometimes see what's coming and they can't. 215 00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:52,100 There's an illustration that I've shared with you, some of you before, that is just stuck in my head. 216 00:25:52,100 --> 00:25:58,100 There was a little boy who lived down at this house, and this was back, before I was married, before I had kids. 217 00:25:58,100 --> 00:26:01,100 And this little guy loved to ride his tricycle. 218 00:26:01,100 --> 00:26:07,100 And one day I look out, no parent in sight. And this little dude is pedaling his trike as fast as he can, 219 00:26:07,100 --> 00:26:13,100 down this little section of double yellow line, heading up the hill, dead in the middle of the road. 220 00:26:13,100 --> 00:26:18,100 And over the hill, here comes a UPS truck, and thankfully the guy was driving slow, and he just stops. 221 00:26:18,100 --> 00:26:24,100 And this little kid just goes, "Ahhh!" and just starts pedaling faster directly at the UPS truck. 222 00:26:24,100 --> 00:26:27,100 And I'm going, "Where are your parents?" Right? 223 00:26:27,100 --> 00:26:30,100 And so with our kids, we're like, "Hey, don't go in the road." Right? 224 00:26:30,100 --> 00:26:35,100 "I want to go in the road. I will oppose you as you try to go in the road." Right? 225 00:26:35,100 --> 00:26:41,100 My opposition to my children is not because I'm trying to hurt them or stop them or steal their joy. 226 00:26:41,100 --> 00:26:45,100 Because I'm trying to keep them safe. 227 00:26:45,100 --> 00:26:52,100 God, in the same way as he opposes us in areas where we're trying to run into danger, and God says, "No!" 228 00:26:52,100 --> 00:26:55,100 He's not doing it to hurt you. He's doing it to save you. 229 00:26:55,100 --> 00:27:02,100 And additionally, especially here in Obadiah, God's opposition is just. 230 00:27:02,100 --> 00:27:06,100 For a minute, remember this situation. Judah has been attacked. 231 00:27:06,100 --> 00:27:09,100 Jerusalem has been destroyed. 232 00:27:09,100 --> 00:27:14,100 The best and the brightest have been taken to Babylon. 233 00:27:14,100 --> 00:27:17,100 And here is Edom in their fortress. They're gloating. 234 00:27:17,100 --> 00:27:19,100 And they're not just gloating. 235 00:27:19,100 --> 00:27:25,100 But you're like going to do something with your brother, and he trips, falls, knocks himself out, and you steal his wallet and run off. 236 00:27:25,100 --> 00:27:32,100 Right? That's what Edom, ultimately, in their pride, is going to seek to do. 237 00:27:32,100 --> 00:27:36,100 And if you are in Jerusalem and you're hearing this prophecy, right? 238 00:27:36,100 --> 00:27:45,100 What's happening is God is promising to protect and to stand up for you and to watch over you. 239 00:27:45,100 --> 00:27:53,100 You see, pride builds a kingdom that proclaims good while destroying everything it touches. 240 00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:58,100 And that's what's happening, and that's what God protects us from as he opposes. 241 00:27:58,100 --> 00:28:04,100 And I want you to see just very quickly how God opposes this pride. I'm just going to read through this. 242 00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:10,100 If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night, how would you, how you have been destroyed? 243 00:28:10,100 --> 00:28:16,100 Would they not only steal enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, how would they not leave gleanings? 244 00:28:16,100 --> 00:28:23,100 How Esau has been pillaged and his treasures have been sought out. And what God is saying here is take a look at your wealth. 245 00:28:23,100 --> 00:28:29,100 It was just an ordinary thief. He's not going to be able to carry everything, but my destruction is going to take everything that you have. 246 00:28:29,100 --> 00:28:34,100 If the harvest comes, they don't always get everything. There's stuff left on the side. 247 00:28:34,100 --> 00:28:45,100 But I'm going to take everything that you have. Your allies have been driven, have driven you to your border. 248 00:28:45,100 --> 00:28:51,100 Those at peace with you have deceived you. They have prevailed against you. Those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you. 249 00:28:51,100 --> 00:28:58,100 You have no understanding. Not only is your wealth going to be taken from you, but your alliances as well. 250 00:28:58,100 --> 00:29:05,100 Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and the understanding out of Mount Esau, 251 00:29:05,100 --> 00:29:18,100 that your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Temin, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter. 252 00:29:18,100 --> 00:29:27,100 The destruction God lifts here. Wealth, alliances, wisdom, and strength. 253 00:29:27,100 --> 00:29:34,100 Everything is opposed by God. He says, "Everything that you have trusted in and hoped in, I will take away." 254 00:29:34,100 --> 00:29:39,100 And the reason God is doing it is because every single one of these things has become a load-bearing wall in their life. 255 00:29:39,100 --> 00:29:51,100 And when we do that, and we trust those things as opposed to God, it is mercy when God begins to take them away. 256 00:29:51,100 --> 00:29:56,100 Let me direct you to the goodness of God. 257 00:29:56,100 --> 00:30:03,100 But He gives more grace. Therefore, it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 258 00:30:03,100 --> 00:30:08,100 It's easy to separate this out, right? We've got grace over here and opposition over there. 259 00:30:08,100 --> 00:30:14,100 Grace and opposition are both the mercy of God applied directly to our need. 260 00:30:14,100 --> 00:30:20,100 For our proud hearts, opposition is the grace that we need. 261 00:30:20,100 --> 00:30:25,100 God doesn't tear down for the sake of tearing down. He tears down 262 00:30:25,100 --> 00:30:30,100 so that we're not holding on to those things that deceive us, that we had hoped in. 263 00:30:30,100 --> 00:30:39,100 And sometimes the most gracious thing that God can do for you is to not leave you alone, to oppose you. 264 00:30:39,100 --> 00:30:46,100 I want you to understand, Israel was in rubble when the book of Obadiah was written, and they were not innocent, right? 265 00:30:46,100 --> 00:30:54,100 Their pride and their exile came as a result of their pride, their rejection of God. 266 00:30:54,100 --> 00:30:59,100 Their prophets had warned them, they didn't listen. Jerusalem didn't fall because God wasn't paying attention, 267 00:30:59,100 --> 00:31:05,100 but it was intentional, because God was disciplining His own people. 268 00:31:05,100 --> 00:31:12,100 And yet, when Edom comes to exploit them at their lowest moment, when they are experiencing the consequences of their pride, 269 00:31:12,100 --> 00:31:19,100 when their brother who watched them suffer and looted everything that was left, God turned to this broken, disobedient, 270 00:31:19,100 --> 00:31:27,100 humbled people and said this, "I see what was done to you, what is done is wrong, and I will make it right." 271 00:31:27,100 --> 00:31:34,100 That's grace upon grace. God disciplines and defends at the same time. 272 00:31:34,100 --> 00:31:40,100 The goodness of grace is that it doesn't wait for you to deserve it. 273 00:31:40,100 --> 00:31:46,100 It meets you in the pile of rubble that you made from your own bad decisions and says there's a kingdom for you. 274 00:31:46,100 --> 00:31:51,100 It's just not the one that you are trying to build. 275 00:31:51,100 --> 00:32:01,100 And so the opposition to pride is to reveal its deceitfulness and its brokenness and to call us to something better. 276 00:32:01,100 --> 00:32:05,100 Our text this morning has this remarkable choice. 277 00:32:05,100 --> 00:32:09,100 In Obadiah 3, "The pride of your heart has deceived you. 278 00:32:09,100 --> 00:32:15,100 Those who live in the cleft of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, 279 00:32:15,100 --> 00:32:20,100 will bring me down to the ground." I'm hiding in the rock that I built. 280 00:32:20,100 --> 00:32:29,100 I know it's not Christmas time, but they're dwelling upon a throne of lies, and it's going to fall apart. 281 00:32:29,100 --> 00:32:34,100 Maybe some of you already have the connection that's found in this verse, who lives in the cleft of the rock. 282 00:32:34,100 --> 00:32:42,100 They had forged out their own place of protection, and God says it's not big enough or strong enough. 283 00:32:42,100 --> 00:32:53,100 Notice this, as Moses who wants to see God's glory, he can't, but God says, "I will do this. 284 00:32:53,100 --> 00:33:02,100 While my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by." 285 00:33:02,100 --> 00:33:09,100 All right, the choice we have in front of us this morning is to try to scrabble, and with everything we have, try to scrape out a place in the rock 286 00:33:09,100 --> 00:33:18,100 to hide and to protect ourselves and to build for our glory, or we can seek to know God's glory 287 00:33:18,100 --> 00:33:25,100 and to be placed in the cleft of the rock and covered, protected, and cared for by his hand. Let's pray. 288 00:33:25,100 --> 00:33:30,100 Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus, and we thank you for grace. 289 00:33:30,100 --> 00:33:36,100 Help us to see your goodness even in the midst of discipline, 290 00:33:36,100 --> 00:33:41,100 to know that your opposition is not out of cruelty, 291 00:33:41,100 --> 00:33:47,100 but out of the love of a Father who disciplines those who need to be corrected. 292 00:33:47,100 --> 00:33:52,100 Help us to trust in you and to not place our foundation in other things. 293 00:33:52,100 --> 00:33:56,100 Hide us in the cleft of the rock that you have made. 294 00:33:56,100 --> 00:34:01,100 Cover us there with your hand. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 295 00:34:01,100 --> 00:34:08,100 We're going to go ahead and stand, and we're going to sing about God's grace. 296 00:34:08,100 --> 00:34:10,100 We're going to sing by the grace.