You Should Not Have | Pride Will Bring You Down (Part 2) | Obadiah 1:10–14
2026-05-24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yxRR5G5gxE

Jesus said, "Follow me." Let's pray. Jesus said, "Follow me." Let's pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen.

I think my mic's on. How about now? Good? All righty. Good morning. We are so glad to gather to worship this morning. Just a couple of quick announcements. If you might pick up a bulletin, they are right on the back table there. Inside is a short sermon outline, if you'd like to follow along, as well as communion elements, if you are a follower of Jesus and like to partake with us during communion, those are available there. As well as on the back table, there are some snacks and some coffee and some water, if you do so. We're glad that you are here with us, and we aren't just glad to be here and to gather to worship. We are thankful that we have this opportunity, and we know on this weekend, if we remember those who have lost their lives in service of protecting and defending and obtaining freedom, that we are also so thankful for that.

So, we're going to begin with a word of prayer, and then we will move into our time of worship this morning. Let's go ahead and pray. This morning, we thank you for how you have brought us together. We thank you for how you have prayed for us, and we thank you so much for those who have chosen to stand between enemies and between danger and between struggle, and we thank you for the freedom that we have to gather and worship and sing and pray. So, may we not take that sacrifice for granted. We thank you for what you have done for us. We thank you for Jesus' sacrifice. Be with us as we worship together this morning. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As we're gathering to worship, we are on our second week in the book of Obadiah.

And if you don't know where Obadiah is, you are not alone. It's 21 verses, 444 words in Hebrew. Very, very short. Even if you've done the "Read your Bible in a year" plan, it's generally the part of reading something else. And so it's easy. At the heart of the book of Obadiah is God confronting and judging and dealing with the pride that is found in the nation of Edom. A brother of Israel descended from Esau, Jacob's brother. God comes in judgment and pride. And so as we gather to worship this morning, we want to fix our eyes on the goodness and on the greatness of God because pride in our lives is never controlled through force of will or the ability to sort of rein it in on our own. In fact, that just multiplies more pride. We say, "Look at how great I'm doing at dealing with my pride." And so the antidote to pride is the transformation that is brought in our hearts by the gospel.

And by continually fixing our eyes on the greatness of God. So we're going to begin by reading a little longer passage than we normally do from Psalm 103. We're going to begin in verse 8. We're going to read down to verse 14. And I want you to hear as we read together, I want you to hear these pictures of God's greatness and his love and his forgiveness. Let's go ahead and be standing. Following this, we're going to go right into this is our God. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always shine, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love for those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As the Father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame, and he remembers that we are dust. This is the Word of the Lord.

He came, and he died, and he rose. Those walls are rubble now. Remember those giants we call death and grave? They were like mountains that stood in our way. But he came, and he died, and he rose. Those giants are dead now. This is our God. This is who he is. He loves us. This is our God. This is what he does. He saves us. He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. Remember that fear that took our breath away? Faith so weak that we could barely pray. But he heard every word, every whisper. Now those altars in the wilderness tell the story of his faithfulness. He never once did he fail, and he never will. This is our God, this is who he is, he loves us.

This is our God, this is what he does, he saves us. He bore the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. This is our God, this is who he is, he loves us. This is our God, this is what he does, he saves us. He bore the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. He bore the cross, beat the grave, let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus.

You give life. You are love. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise to you only. You give up. You are loved. You bring light to the darkness. You give hope. You restore every heart that is broken. Great are you, Lord. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only.

All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing praise. Great are you, Lord. All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you, Lord. All the earth will shout your praise. Our hearts will cry. These bones will sing. Great are you, Lord. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise to you only.

In Luke chapter five, Peter has just witnessed something that is impossible. The empty nets, not just his, but those who are fishing with him, are suddenly breaking with fish. And it's interesting because Peter's response at this point isn't gratitude or excitement. There was fear. He fell to his face, and he says this in Luke chapter five. He says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Peter here wasn't confessing a specific sin. He was recognizing the reality that he was in the presence of someone who was far greater than he was. And then in that moment, he was not clean enough, he was not good enough, not worthy enough. When it comes to our time of confession this morning and considering the brokenness of our sin, it has to begin with who God is, and his holiness, and his righteousness, and his justice.

Let's pray to God in prayer. Father in heaven, we see your greatness as creator and sustainer, one who hasn't just made this world, but the rules of the world. It was designed for this world in just a way, a lot of glory and righteousness. We have chosen to glorify other people, to chase after other people, to seek other people. So we come this morning confessing our brokenness and our understanding. We're seeing our eyes on Jesus, understanding and grateful. I love what happens next. Jesus doesn't depart from Peter. He didn't just simply say, "Peter, you're right, you are a sinful man," and then turn and walk away. Look what Jesus does. And so also were James and John, son of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching him."

That in his grace, he doesn't just leave Peter, where he's confessing his weakness and his brokenness, but rather, he transforms him, gives him a mission and a purpose, and brings him along. And so, what I love is that in the picture of confession and assurance that we are not dispensed, we're not worthy because we're good, but we are worthy because God is gracious. And as we come to the table this morning, we're going to start by singing at the cross. Love, Rabbi.

There's a place where mercy reigns and never dies. There's a place where streams of grace flow deep and wide. Where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in awe of you. I'm in awe of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you, Jesus.

There's a place where sin and shame are powerless. Where my heart has peace with God and forgiveness. Where all the love I've ever found comes like a flood, comes flowing down. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in all of you. I'm in all of you. I'm in all of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. Here my hope is found. Here on holy ground. Here I bow down. Here I bow down. Here I bow down. Here, arms open wide. Here, you saved my life. Here I bow down. Here I bow. At the cross, at the cross, I surrender my life. I'm in all of you. I'm in all of you. Where your love ran red and my sin washed white. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. I owe all to you. Jesus.

I have a very good friend who is, especially when it comes to his tools, very organized. So I like when I have to work on something, whether it's a car or another kind of project, I like going to his house because I know where everything is. Everything is organized. The screwdrivers are all in the same drawer. They're all organized by size. They're all pointing in the same direction. Everything is in its place. And you can tell that he's not necessarily fond of somebody else messing up his organization because when I'm done with the tools and I put them back on the little cart that you take out that he has, he goes, "I'll put those away," because I always put the screwdrivers, maybe intentionally, facing the wrong way, right? Put them in the right drawer, but I'll just, you know, just to poke a little bit. And there is something that is helpful and comforting about having things in the right place.

The problem is some of us are not necessarily put things back in the right place kind of people. Rachel frequently will ask me, "Where is my favorite coffee cup?" And I'll say, "Oh, well, I took it to my office." And she goes, "Is that where it goes?" And the answer is absolutely not, right? And I do that very, very rarely. Debbie, you don't answer that. But what happens? It's like we're really good sometimes at putting stuff in the wrong, absolutely in the wrong place. One of the things that the Lord's Supper does to us and in us and for us is it reorders things back where there's going. And I don't mean our external circumstances. We still might be struggling and hurting and in chaos, but it takes how we think. And it takes what we hold dear, and it takes how we act, and it puts us back in the right order, not through our strength, but through the goodness and the grace of God.

Paul says this in Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 17 about Jesus. He is before all things. And in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. And the problem is, so often in life we are making something else preeminent. We're putting things in the wrong place. It's what happens in Eden. In the garden where our desires are displacing what God has had for us in his preeminent. That's what's happening in the book of Obadiah. We'll see in a few minutes. In Eden, right? Desires and pride displacing what God has for us, what happens in our lives so frequently. We put things in the wrong place. And so as we come to this table, this bread, this cup, to the sacrifice of our Savior, who picks up our sin, who dies in our place, who rises for our victory.

This meal in this moment is to recenter us, to transform us, to remind us that He is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything, He might create Him. For in Him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him, to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven. Just as we tend to put things in the wrong place, Jesus comes, and to His cross, He takes things back in the wrong place. Father in heaven, as we come to this table, with our lives so often out of order, facing the wrong direction, priorities that are out of whack, sin that seems like it so easily entangles and it's pride that lifts ourselves up. We come knowing that you are the one who changes.

So we ask that you restore, refresh, renew us, and strengthen us in the good news of the gospel. Let's see the eminence of your son. We will see the wonder, the gospel, the sacrifice, the cross, the victory. We ask that you bless this bread in this covenant, proclaiming Jesus in his name, and in his name we pray. He would take the bread with me, as we take the cup, as Jesus said, covenant in his blood. We are going to sing the gospel. On the cross, we are going to sing "Praise the Name." I cast my mind to Calvary, where Jesus bled and died for me. I see His wounds, His hands, His feet, my Savior on that cursed tree. His body bound and drenched in tears, they laid Him down in Joseph's tomb. The entrance sealed by heavy stone, Messiah still and all alone. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our Lord.

Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. And on the third at break of dawn, the Son of Heaven rose again. Oh, trampled him, where is your sting? The angels roar for Christ the King. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise, O Lord, O Lord our God. You shall return in robes of white. The blazing sun shall pierce the night. And I will rise among the saints. My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. Oh, Lord our God. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore. For endless days we will sing Your praise. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. Oh, Lord our God. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord our God. Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

In Obadiah chapter 1, which will say the entirety of this sermon because there is only Obadiah chapter 1. We are in week 2. We looked last week as we began to look at this book and to see what is happening. We see how pride tends to look down, that pride ultimately deceives, it deceives about our own ability and our own goodness. We saw how God ultimately opposes pride but gives grace to the humble and the picture and the hope being that God addresses our pride and confronts it. And He does so not to try to hurt us but to try to save us. So we'll be in Obadiah. We're going to pick up in verse 10 just here in a few moments and move through verses 10 through 14. We'll go ahead and have a word of prayer before we begin.

Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus, and we thank you for grace, and we thank you for hope. We thank you for this word that you sent to your prophet Obadiah. We don't know who he is, but we do know the message that you have for us. And as we see pride in how it moves and how it grows in our life, may you help us to see your glory and your goodness, that you would, with the expulsive power of a new affection, that you would transform us and love you and follow you to walk with you, that you would warn us with this text and teach us with this text that you would move us closer to Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I don't know if you've had those moments where you have looked at where you are and said, "I have no idea how I got here."

Some of us may do that when we're driving. We're just sort of driving along, lost in our own thoughts, thankfully not lost on the road, and we get to where we're going, and I don't remember any of the turns that I took. I had a bit of a bad experience yesterday, is in the rain, I'm sliding down a real muddy hill in a field of horses skirting a flooding pond to go check on a couple horses that don't even belong to me, and to make sure everybody was okay, and at the same time, recording a little bit of a video about Obadiah for the church Facebook page to try to introduce what is happening, and part of my mind is going, "How did I end up like this, in the middle of a field, covered in mud? I've lost three of my fingers to frostbite."

It's like, "How did I get here?" And maybe we've had that experience in life, and sometimes it happens in good things. We look at the things that God has blessed us with, and they're so beyond our understanding. We say, "How did I even get to this place?" And then there's times where it seems like maybe our bad decisions little by little have escalated, and we come to this place where we say, "How did I get here?" And maybe you have a friend like I do who, when you make those dumb decisions over and over again, looks at you and goes, "Man, if only this could have been avoided." If there was only some way that you could have made a better decision and not ended up where you are. One of the fascinating things about pride is that it doesn't always move very, very quickly, but it does continue to escalate.

And it continues to add up. It's a tiny step here and a tiny step there. And the next thing you know, we find ourselves in a place where we look back on where we've come from and says, "I have no idea how I have gotten to this place." And here's the thing we have to understand. And one of the things that the book of Obadiah does so well at helping us to see, especially in the passage that we're in this morning, is that pride cannot be controlled. It doesn't stand still, but it grows and it expands. And in some cases, and in the case in the book of Obadiah, we'll go all the way back to the end of the book of Genesis. And this has been growing, and it finally comes to a head like 1,400 years later. The pride does not stand still.

And if you have the idea that you can control it or that you can unleash it, what you find is that we are so very mistaken. So I'm going to read our text this morning, beginning in verse 10. Go down to verse 14, and we'll talk about it in just a little bit. Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune. Do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin. Do not boast in the day of their distress.

Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity. Do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. Do not stand at the crossroads and cut off fugitives. Do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. Now, if you're following along with me, you'll hear it read like I just read it, but in some other translations, depending on your translation, you will hear in that list, beginning in verse 12 and 13 and 14, instead of "Do not gloat," you might find it translated "You should not have." Or, if you're in the King James, "You shouldn't, shouldest not have." You might say, "Why is there a difference?" And one of the questions about this text is that God says, "Do not do this." Is He warning the nation of Edom, "Don't do this in the future,"

or is He dealing with what they have just done? And the answer is just simply yes. Well, you find in the first two verses 10 and 10. Here is what God says has happened. Right? He's bringing a legal case against the nation of Edom. And He says this, "Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you. You shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them." God is saying, "This has happened." We might say, especially when confronted with the judgment of God, "Is that fair?" So we have verses 12, 13, and 14, eight places where God says, "Do not, for you should not have."

Verses 10 and 11 are the verdict. God reading the guilty verdict. Verses 12 through 14 are the legal basis. The legal basis of what people have violated, as Edom stands in a distance, and then gloats, and then takes pleasure in, and ultimately participates in looting Jerusalem, stopping the fugitives and turning them over to their enemies. And oftentimes, you and I, I think we struggle when it comes to God's justice. And one of the lessons we learn from the book of Obadiah is that God's justice does not happen in a vacuum. Right? Eight times in verses 12 and 14, he says, "Do not." Eight separate charges, each place where Edom had a choice, and they did the wrong thing. What we're seeing here in these verses, first of all, is a picture of God's justice, and it's not just justice for Edom.

Right? God is bringing justice and care for his hurting people. The people who are left over after the Babylonians have come and taken away the captives who are left after Jerusalem has been destroyed, that God's justice against Edom is care and protection and watching over his people. It's a word that is left to those who are left saying, "You are not alone, and you are not abandoned." The purpose of our spending time in this text this morning is not just simply to show you an example of how God legally and rightfully opposes those who do wrong. It's easy for us maybe to look at this text and say, "I'm not like Edom. I'm not standing at the crossroads. I'm not dealing with the captives." But what we find in the book of Edom is a story that goes back, and it's a story that traces the journey of pride.

And so I want to walk through that with you. It begins quietly. And in order to understand what is happening here, we have to go all the way back to the beginning of Israel, Jacob, and Edom, Esau, their brothers, beginning of their story. And what's surprising is the pride that Obadiah, you see in the book of Obadiah, begins with goodness. This is where Jacob and Esau, they have been reconciled, and it's almost to the point where God has blessed both Jacob and Esau so much, they have too many things. And it's like two kids, and they're sharing a room, and they go, "We need a bigger room, not because I'm mad at my sibling, but because we have so much stuff, there's not room for it." And so what happens is that Jacob stays in the land that will become Israel, named after him, and Esau will take his wives, his sons, his daughters, the members of his household, his livestock, his beasts, all the property he had acquired in the land of Canaan.

And he went into a land away from his brother Jacob, for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of the livestock, so Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. So Esau's place, and where he lives, is due to the blessing of God. And I want you to understand the timeline here, because this occurs before Joseph, before Jacob and his family in Egypt, before the captivity in Egypt, before Exodus, before the wandering in the Promised Land, before judges and kings, before the northern tribes are taken away, and before Judah is defeated and Jerusalem destroyed. In fact, using the dates mentioned and times mentioned in Scripture, and the archaeological evidence that goes along with them, between Obadiah and these verses in Genesis chapter 36,

or somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400 years before we get to the book of Obadiah. And if you think about our world, how much has changed in the last 1,200 to 1,400 years, right? Entire areas have risen and fallen. Empires that have seemed permanent and are now just archaeological oddities that we study. Languages have born and died. The map of the world has been continually redrawing. Nobody who lived in 700 AD can picture the world in what you live in now. That's how long Edom has been building. Has been living in the same place and in the same mountains. That's how deep their roots went. Over a thousand years of cities, and of farms, and of livestock, and of trade routes, and of generations, and family weddings, and family births, and family funerals. And what begins to happen over that time is they begin to miss what God has done. God has provided them a place of safety, a place of security, a place that has brought them material wealth through trade routes, a place that has more average rain than any of the areas around them, that has allowed them to grow and to build.

And here is what has happened quietly. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You 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?" Right? The good things that God has blessed them with became my things that I have accomplished. Look what I've done. Look what I've felt. Look where I live. Not look at how God has provided. Not look at how blessed we are. But look at what I have done. And here's the reality. Pride often grows in the midst of good things. The very blessings that should have produced gratitude, ends up producing pride. And you see this warning in the story of pride in the nation of Edom, that it grows slowly and quietly. The next thing we see is that pride separates. Look at what it says.

On that day, you stood aloof. On the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. This is a deliberate choice to stand at a distance. This is not, "Oops, I had an emergency. Oops, I was busy. Oops, something came up that I forgot about." This is a deliberate choice as the Babylonian armies descend on Jerusalem and on Judah to stand back and simply say, "Not my problem." This is not accidental. And notice that in God's eyes, not getting involved is the same as aiding and helping. You were like one of them. And isn't it easy for us to stand far away and see that somebody else is suffering as their own problem? In some cases, we might even make the case that it's wise to not get involved in the suffering and in the problems of others.

If you think about the parable of the Good Samaritan, and a priest and a Levite go by this man who has been taken by robbers, and he's been beaten, he's been robbed of all his possessions, he's laying there left for dead. It would be very easy to justify, as the priest or the Levite, to say, "If I stop and help him and he dies, I will be ceremonially unclean, and I can no longer perform my duties for the house of God." Right? It's wise for me not to get involved in this situation, because God's people will suffer if I do. It would also be easy in that place, as Jesus recounts in the Gospel of Luke, to say, "This might be a trap." That frequently happens, right? You leave a body out there that's kind of alive, and when somebody stops to help, you jump out and rob them, too?

It would be easy to defend the priest and the Levite by looking at their distance from the man who has been beaten and left for dead, and say, "They're just being wise." And they pass by on the other side of the road. It's not what Jesus says that we should do. It's not what Jesus says love ultimately does. But it's easy, too, for us to become cynical. To look at people's struggles and say, "Well, it's their own fault." They cut themselves into it. They kicked themselves out of it. They did this to themselves, and we stand aloof. And do you see sort of the subtle deceitfulness of pride? It's not bad what I'm doing. I am being wise. I'm not getting involved. I'm doing my God-given responsibility over here, and I don't have time for all the foolishness that is happening over there.

I'm stewarding what God has given me, and pride continues to grow. It starts quietly, then begins to separate us away, oftentimes under the guise of doing what it's been. We see the deceitfulness of pride. And then here's what happens. Pride then moves outward. That's what we find next. Do not gloat over the day of your brother and the day of his misfortune. Do not rejoice over the people of Judah and the day of their ruin. Do not boast in the day of their distress. Right now the progression moves from, "Look at what I've done. This is not my problem," to now pleasure in the suffering of others, right? Edom has moved away physically. They've built in the mountains. They've looked down from afar. They've minded their own business. But now the thoughts in their minds start to move from, "Not my problem," to "Look at how much better I am."

This is not just an Edom problem. It's not just a pride for them that begins to move outward in public gloating over the misfortune of others. What happens when somebody who hurts us suffers? You may not say it out loud, but sometimes there's that flicker of emotions that you know they probably deserve. You know what they did to do? They deserve exactly what happened to them. Our culture has done so well at watching people's lives publicly explode almost gleefully. We treat it as an event that we should watch maybe with some power. Isn't that the premise of so many TV shows? I can feel better about myself because I'm not an idiot like that guy is. Their unlikableness translates to joy in seeing them fail. Floating here is not just simple pleasure taking joy in the sufferings of others because maybe they deserve it.

It's a comparison. Look at how much better I am. Look at how ridiculously bad they are. Edom says, "Their walls fell. Mine are standing. Their kingdom collapsed. Mine is secure. Their failure ultimately is about me being better." They say, "I always knew that was going to happen. I knew they were heading in the wrong direction." Notice that Obadiah's word from the Lord is not just saying, "Is there an assessment?" "Is this assessment of Edom or Edom's assessment of Israel accurate?" "Why are you laughing?" "Why are you gloating about it?" It's gone from quiet growth to separating, but now it's gone to sort of public pleasure. Notice that pride doesn't stop. ...over his disaster in the day of his calamity. Do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. Verse 12 is about looking down, and in verse 13 has changed everything, right?

And think about how easy this would be to justify. Pride doesn't ask permission. It sort of keeps getting bigger and bigger, right? It's like, "I'm not looting. I'm not profiting." Like, all this stuff would have gone to waste. It's only fair that I should benefit, right? There's a direct correlation between the distance of verse 12 and the participation in verse 13. The "do not gloat," and verse 12 is repeated in verse 13, "do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity." And what's happening is they're entering the gates, and they're looting wealth while they gloat. Like, threefold, three times in the day of his calamity. And then look, he estimates that he's participating in taking. "Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives. Do not hand over his survivors in the day of his distress."

The geography, where Edom is located at the bottom of the Dead Sea, as people are running from Jerusalem and getting to those crossroads in the border of Edom, Edom stands in the way, blocks them, and then turns them over to their pursuers. And notice it's deliberate. How are you going to cut people off if you don't get there first? It's premeditated. And here's the reality. I don't think anybody wakes up one day and says, "Let's go find my brother and bring him harm. Let's loot all of his stuff. Let's sell him into captivity." It starts small, and it starts innocent, and it grows, and it separates, and it escalates into gloating and joy. And then ultimately what you find is that it begins to participate in the active oppression. Nobody plans to end up in verse 14 standing at the crossroads cutting off. That's what happens when pride begins to grow.

Here's what I want us to see. What are we going to do with this? Sometimes our natural response is simply try harder, manage it better, be more aware about my pride. But that's the trap, because the moment we resist pride, we become proud about our resisting of pride. We don't need a better way to control our pride, we need a new heart. Listen to the promise. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules. We need what here at Thomas Chalmers calls the "expulsive power of a new affection."

He says the heart won't release one love unless it has another to take its place. Your heart can't exist in a vacuum. It's going to love something, and pride ultimately can only be its place. It can't be controlled. So as we consider this, and if you are in Christ, if this verse is a reality that I have a new heart and a new spirit, my heart of stone is taken away, and a heart of flesh is given, and that God's spirit lives and walks within me, and he's working in me. Let me share with you three things as Christians we need as we consider our new heart. First of all, thankfulness will turn our heart toward God. Right? Thankfulness transforms our tendency to put ourselves in the center. I think about Edom cities. Their greatness, their security, their provision was all real,

but instead of being thankful to the God who provided, they simply said, "Look at what I have done." And one of the reasons thankfulness is so persistent in Scripture is because it's a continual way of reorienting ourselves to the goodness of God. In fact, being unthankful is the sin that moves us into rebellion for God. Remember Romans 1:21, "For all that they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks." They became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. The road away from God starts when we stop them. Secondly, community fights pride. Think about how close this changes our response. Have you ever watched the movie "Home Alone" in any of its versions? Even in our house, we just really, really love that, specifically because of the traps. It's hilarious to watch somebody fall down the stairs on TV.

They get their hat lit on fire with a blowtorch, and it's great to watch it there. However, like Friday night, getting ready for bed, I was like, "Hey, why is there a rope tied across the hallway at ankle level?" And one of our children, you might be able to guess who, goes, "Oh, that's my trap." And I was like, "Well, that's hilarious in Home Alone." It's far less hilarious when Dad lets the dog out at 4 a.m. and falls and breaks his hip. Take it down." And he goes, "Okay, I'll take that trap down." And I was like, "What do you mean that trap?" And he's like, "It's gonna take me like 15 minutes to take all my traps down." And then from room to room, by going and taking all the traps, and it's funny when it happens far away,

it's far less funny when your bathroom is booby-trapped, right? Let me tell you that. One of the things that community does to us is it removes that distance. He says, "They deserved it. They had it coming." And it puts us right next to them, and it helps us. It's why we have one another passages in Scripture, right? Love one another. Bear one another's burdens. Be kind to one another. Encourage one another. Confess your sins one to another. It's real hard to gloat. Walking with somebody in their struggles and loving them and helping with their burdens. That's the third thing for us as Christians. Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. And that's the difference between Edom and the command for us as God. They stood at the crossroads and walked. And we're called to stand with our brothers and sisters and help them carry their burdens.

If we are so focused on helping and loving and caring, it's very hard to focus on ourselves. My burden here destroys that distance where pride grows. And none of this ultimately begins with our willpower. It begins with the work of God in our life. In Lydia, in Acts chapter 16, it says the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. That her heart was opened. Not "Look what I have done," but God was at work. It was my prayer that God opened your heart, but it's also my prayer that God opened your eyes. Remember Elisha and his servant, Elisha's servant knew God. He served the prophet of God. But in that moment of struggle, he goes, "What are we going to do?" And Elisha prays, "God opened his eyes," and the servant's eyes were opened.

And he sees the armies of heaven arrayed around the prophets. May God not only open your heart, but your eyes to see what God has known to do. And God energizes your hands and directs your path. Trust in all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths. This is for God's people, is my prayer. That with new hearts, made not of stone but of flesh, with the work of the Holy Spirit, that God would help us and transform us. God doesn't oppose pride because he's petty. He opposes your pride. It destroys your relationships. It leads you to a place where you begin to destroy others. And when God says, "I oppose the proud," he's not only attacking your pride, but he is saving your soul. Pride is the thing that is killing you.

And God is the one coming to pull it out. It's the same God who says, "Do not eight times to eat them." It's the same God who stands at your crossroad, blocking your path, not turning you over to the enemy, but saving you from your sins. He does so by picking up your burden, taking your sin, and carrying it. What I was saying last week about how the Father's love for us was saying this. What I gave you is to give an answer. Because I know all my heart. God opposes the crowd and does so to the rest of you. Sing. Take away your hard heart.

Jesus said, "Crossroads, where you come." God, in your grace. For your sins. Rise in your hand. Stand between you. Father in heaven. For us who are you, Christ. Will you open our eyes to the glory of your grace. May you make us thankful. Those little seeds of pride that the enemy grows and plants in our mind. May you help us to see all the things that we're thankful for. May you be with the writing for us. May you help us in closing. May you bear one another's burdens. May you also, when we're carrying one's burdens. May you help us not to be proud and say, "I can do it myself." May you help us to be our brothers and sisters and sisters. May you open our eyes and our hearts and energize our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. We're going to stand and we're going to sing, "Yet not I, but through Christ in me."

What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give. He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom. My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace. To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. For my life is wholly bound to His. Oh, how strange and divine I can see. All is mine, yet not a birth through Christ in me.

God, but I am not forsaken. For by my side, the Savior He will save. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing. For in my need, His power is greater. I am not forsaken, but I am not forsaken. For by my side, the Savior He will save. I labor on in weakness and rejoicing. For in my need, His power is greater. His power is displayed. Through this I hope, my Shepherd will defend me. Through the deepest valley He will lead. Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome, yet not I, but through Christ in me. The faith I dread, I know I am forgiven. The future's sure, the price has been paid. To pray and suffer for my part. And He was raised to overthrow the grave. To this I hold, my sin has been defeated. Jesus, now and ever is my plea. All the chains are released, I can see I am free.

Yet not I, but through Christ in me. With every breath, I long to follow Jesus. For He has said that He will bring me home. And day by day, I know He will renew me. Until I stand with joy before the throne. To this I hope, my hope is only Jesus. Oh, glory evermore to Him. When the race is complete, it shall be made. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. To this I hope, my hope is only Jesus. Oh, the glory ever to Him. When the race is complete, it shall be made. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. When the race is complete, it shall be made. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Yet not I, but through Christ in me. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

I'm so thankful that you are here with us this morning. I'm thankful for those of you who are joining us online. We'll be back on Wednesday night, walking through some more of pride and in the desert, taking a look at this topic that seems to be such a difficulty, not just now, but throughout history. And we have struggled with it and continue to struggle with it. So that's Wednesday night, 6 p.m. Also coming up on Wednesday, the 10th of June. That's just three weeks away. We're going to do, we generally do this in the summer. We're going to begin, probably try to do at least once a month, a community activity. So we'll have a, on that Wednesday night, a community cookout. We'll have some more details over this week and next Sunday as well.

But if you want to start thinking about that, that's June 10th on Wednesday night. We're going to go ahead and have a word of prayer. We'll read from Micah, chapter 6. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and for grace and for how you have changed our hearts. May we, as we have fought and prayed in fellowship together, may you make us lights in this world. May you help us to see those opportunities and give us the strength and courage to take them. We thank you so much for Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen. Micah, chapter 6, a very familiar, very familiar verse. Simply this. He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.

So as we leave, and as we consider Edom, and if we consider Obadiah, the call is to walk humbly with God, not in our own strength, but in his grace. To seek justice, not from a position of superiority, but from the one and from people who have been forgiven much. To love kindness, not as a project we manage, but as an overflow of a heart of such great love and kindness, by God. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen. Amen.