“Perils of Pride”
Ezekiel 28
Intro: Who are our heroes? Whether it be John Wayne or Billy Graham or zzzzz, normally they are ones who have distinguished themselves by doing great things. But there is often a temptation to those who excel. It is called pride. Now I’m sure that no one here struggles with pride, but we probably all know someone who does, so we’ll talk a little about it this morning.
Let’s think of some sports stars. One of the most famous teams has been the Chicago Bulls. There is one player who has great skill named Dennis Rodman. Now, Dennis loves to show off, from multi-colored hair, to cross-dressing, to posing nude for magazine covers, to questionable relationships. There is another player on the team, though, with greater ability, named Michael Jordan. Now one of the things that is notable about Michael Jordan is his gentle, humble personality. He loves to play basketball, but he doesn’t brag about himself.
Think back a few years to a boxer named Mohammed Ali. I can still remember his interviews with Howard Cosell with Ali grabbing the mike in the interview and shouting, “I am the greatest, I am the greatest.” He was a man of great personal pride. Yet, a few years ago at the Olympics, Ali came to receive a replacement medal for one he had won years before. He was driven out on a golf cart, and was barely able to speak a few sentences: he struggles with a crippling illness. His pride is reduced by his physical health.
We all are affected by pride. This morning we want to take a look at what God has to say about it. Turn with me to Ezekial 28. Read 28:1-10 --PRAY
Background - Ezekiel offers God’s judgment against the city of Tyre and its king in chapters 26-28. Tyre was one of the oldest cities. It grew to be a city of great wealth through its trading. Tyre was a city inside the northern boundary of Israel. In Joshua 19, we see that the city was to have been inhabited by the tribe of Asher. Yet, as the tribes moved in, the city was never taken. It remained in the control of the Phoenecians. As it grew to great wealth, that wealth could have belonged to Israel if the Jews would have simply obeyed God’s command to go in and take the land.
##Often we lose the blessings that God has in store for us because we do not obey him.
We see during the reigns of King David and then his son Solomon, Hiram, King of Tyre, forms a partnership supplying resources for building the temple. A later king of Tyre named Ethbaal had a daughter who married the King of the northern kingdom. Her name was Jezebel. And she and her husband Ahab were more evil than any other rulers before them 1 Kings 16 tells us. During the time of Ezekiel, the king of Tyre is a man named Ethbaal II.
The book of Ezekiel is set during the time of the fall of the southern kingdom of Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel had fallen years before in 722 BC. It now is about 590 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah is falling to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Jeremiah is preaching to the Jews in Jerusalem. Daniel is at the court of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. Ezekiel is with the displaced Jews in captivity in the Babylonian kingdom. The king of Tyre is resisting Nebuchadnezzar, fighting against him. Jeremiah had prophecied the word from God that those who resisted Nebuchadnezzar would be destroyed. And now Ezekiel pronounces a judgment upon this city fo Tyre.
What are the lessons we learn from this chapter?
I. Pride is Prominent. - there are many proud people
The king of Tyre had claimed to be a god (vs.2). This sounds pretty presumptous on his part. But one who is filled with pride will go to the extreme.
A. He saw his deity in his accomplishments - he thought he sat on the “throne of a god” (2). He boasted in the wealth and grandeur of the city of Tyre. He worshipped his possessions.
##There are many who worship their possessions: having a nice house, a car with a special emblem, a poor, living in a neighborhood association with prestige, belonging to the “in” group.
Holding a special “title” before our name -- getting certain credentials for our work
--How do we show our pride by our accomplishments?
B. He saw his deity in his wisdom - he thought himself wise
(4) - he had gained wealth and treasures by his wisdom. If we read through chapter 27 we see his great trading accomplishments. He had gained much through wise trading. Yet, he failed to give God credit for that wisdom; instead he glorified himself.
*There is a new phenomenon called “day trading” - where individuals can buy and sell stocks on the internet. Some people think themselves wise and spend all their retirement funds trying to prove their wisdom and make a fortune. But as has recently happened, sometimes they lose money, and end up killing others and themselves over their foolishness.
Where else do we see the pride of the king of Tyre?
In chapter 26: 2-6 we see him rejoicing in the fall of Jerusalem: "Son of man, because Tyre has said of Jerusalem, `Aha! The gate to the nations is broken, and its doors have swung open to me; now that she lies in ruins I will prosper,’ therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring many nations against you, like the sea casting up its waves. They will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers; I will scrape away her rubble and make her a bare rock. Out in the sea she will become a place to spread fishing nets, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. She will become plunder for the nations, and her settlements on the mainland will be ravaged by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
--The king of Tyre gloated in the fall of Jerusalem, for he thought he would then have free trade to the nations to the South. But God brought punishment for this pride.
In Joel 3 - Tyre is condemned for looting the Jewish cities and selling the people there to be slaves and prostitutes. God’s judgment is against the king of Tyre.
There is another lesson about pride to see. Yes, pride is prominent, but also
II. Pride is Infectious
We can see that the king of Tyre was influenced in his pride. Look at 28:11-19
In verse 2 it mentions a “ruler” and here in 11 it mentions the “king”. In this section we see phrases describing someone not human. This is someone 13 - in Eden, adorned with beauty, 14 - a guardian cherub, 15 - one created blameless, 16 - one cast away from God, 17 - one thrown to earth for his pride.
This is a section talking about Satan. Satan is really the one influencing the king of Tyre to his great pride. Often Satan influences our thoughts and actions. Satan deceived Eve into eating the forbidden fruit; Satan misled Peter so that Jesus said to Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan”. And Satan also misled the king of Tyre into his pride.
##We need to search our lives and ask the question, “Where am I being influenced by Satan? In wrong thinking, in wrong attitudes, in wrong actions, in wrong desires. Don’t give in to the influence of Satan.
##Nova - BSE - spongaforms - not bacterial or viral - don’t reproduce, but bad proteins change good proteins. Satan attacks not by reproducing, by by altering our right attitudes to be wrong ones.
The next lesson we learn is that
III. Pride is Punished
The King of Tyre is told he will face punishment. He is told in 28:10 he would face the death of the uncircumcised -- an allusion to a death of shame and disgrace. He is told in 27:26-27 he would face shipping catastrophes. He had gloried his power to make wealth on the sea. God uses the sea to bring his defeat. Many times God uses the things we take pride in to bring about our downfall. Remember Absalom and his long hair he gloried in? He also died hanging by those same locks.
What is it we take pride in? That may be the area of our downfall.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
The city of Tyre is told it will be destroyed and never again be inhabited in 26:20-21.
As Ezekiel blends a judgment of Satan with the judgment on the King of Tyre, we see some similarities. Satan is cast to the earth for pride; the king of Tyre will be cast down before other kings. Satan’s destiny will be the lake of fire; Tyre is pictured as being consumed by fire in 28:18.
Ethbaal II is removed by Nebuchadnezzar. In 332 BC Alexander the Great comes to Tyre, and sets up a 2 year siege. He literally destroys the town on the coast, taking all the ruins to build a great causeway to the island port of Tyre. The island city is completely destroyed, and became a place where fishermen would dry their nets, just as predicted in 26:14.
Conc: No on is immune to pride.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
Pride is thinking of yourself more highly than you ought. Comparing yourself to others. Thinking you are better than others.
How is your spiritual health today? If we checked your system, would we find any pride there?
-Do you like to play God? Do you like to think that everyone should look to you and do things your way?
-How is your pride in your accomplishments?
Paul said, What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
-Who is on the throne of your heart? Are you there or is God? You can’t both be there.
-Is there any area of your life that is not surrendered to the control of God?
Today is the day to renounce our pride and humble ourselves before God.
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an abomination unto him: A proud look
The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
