Pride is a besetting sin of people from all walks of life, that manifests itself in almost countless ways. It is a pervasive and deadly sin that so easily creeps into the heart and is so difficult to identify and repent of. But God has given his Word to not only help us to see the sinfulness of pride, but also to identify its many forms and to give us help in the war against this ubiquitous evil.

I Hope you had a great lunch. I got to have lunch with a bunch of my old interns. Boy, that was fun. That was so nice. Real blessing to see how they're doing and be together again.

Well, my subject here this afternoon is the tragedy of seeking your own glory. And I would like you to find 1st Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 that's where we're going to end up now there are many there are many tragedies of pride pride Pride is your greatest enemy swimming around your system and there's danger to your soul as John 5 44 says when the Lord Jesus Christ said how can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God there's a danger to your your very life as it's spoken of in Proverbs chapter 16 verse 5 everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Assuredly he will not go unpunished. Or Proverbs 16 verse 18, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. By the way, if you want to get a nearly complete theology of pride, it's in the book of Proverbs.

I was tempted to just give a message about humility and pride in the book of Proverbs, and it's on every page. And it's a remarkable testimony. Pride is dangerous, it is the most dangerous serpent swimming in our souls and this is why Richard Baxter said that one of the dangers of pride is that you can actually speak against pride with a proud heart and That would be true of today as well With what you're experiencing now Pride is a danger to the church and 1 Timothy chapter 2 speaks of this. I want to give you an illustration from 1 Timothy chapter 2. And there are really two types of danger that we'll observe in this passage.

There's a danger in the spread of the gospel. And secondly, there's a danger to the culture of a local church. And so I want to bring 1 Timothy 2, 1-10 as a case study of the tragedy and the impact of pride and what it looks like in the church and how and how it expresses itself because Timothy brings distinct examples of what pride can do in a church now pride pride expresses itself in so many ways, and maybe an incalculable number of ways. Stuart Scott in his book The Exemplary Husband gives a long list of manifestations of pride in husbands. Now I've compiled my own list that maybe reflects some of what's on his list but it also reflects my own experience with pride, my own the ways that I have seen pride work in my own life like for example with self pity anytime anytime I fallen into self pity I've ended up discovering usually as a result of the ministry of my wife that it's really the result of pride.

Discouragement. If you're discouraged today, most likely pride lies underneath your discouragement. And we often think that we have problems and we misdiagnosed them. Lack of thankfulness is a manifestation of pride. Fear of man, boasting, acting like the expert, name dropping, getting focused on your lack of giftedness and your abilities, perfectionism, talking too much, talking too much about yourself, talking too much about other people, independence and lack of submission to authority, being consumed with what others think, sarcasm, a critical spirit, withholding service, lack of compassion, defensiveness, blame shifting, not admitting it when you're wrong, making excuses, lack of prayer, maximizing the shortcomings of others, and minimizing your own shortcomings.

Attention-getting tactics in clothing or speech or social media or whatever tool might be in your hand. Now, I've experienced personally sinning in all of those areas in my life. These are expressions of pride. But when we get to 1 Timothy chapter 2, there are two particular ways that pride expresses it in the church. And what I would like to do is give 1 Timothy 2 as a case study of pride.

And it won't tell you everything about pride, but it will tell you enough about pride to discern various things that are going on in your own heart and maybe even in your own church. And this passage of Scripture really speaks, I believe, of the depths of pride in our lives and how it touches areas that we might not really even think about it. And so I would like to begin with the first verse in 1 Timothy chapter 2, and I'm going to walk us through 1 Timothy 2, 1 through 10. Now we encounter the word therefore in the very first word in 1 Timothy chapter 2, and I hope you have your Bibles open and are looking at these words. Now, with that word therefore in verse 1, we find ourselves at the beginning of this instruction, and it's instruction particularly to men in the church, but the broader context here is the spread of the gospel.

So when you read that word therefore, he's been talking about the spread of the gospel and he's going to continue to talk about the spread of the gospel through the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he uses this word to continue the previous thought in the context for the behavior of the church in relation to their public life and their attitude toward unbelievers Paul is calling the church to humility in these verses for the sake of the gospel that's why he says therefore I exhort first of all that supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and all who are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved." That's the heart of it right there. "...who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying a preacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

So the Apostle is laying this foundation for what he's going to say in verse 8. And what he has said is that everything that he is going to say is for the sake of the spread of the gospel because he's going to speak about two things in the church that hinder the spread of the gospel. Okay? So that's the context. So when we get to verse 8, we encounter a matter of pride in men when we get to verses 9 and 10 we get to a matter of pride in women now if you look at verse 9 you'll notice that verses 9 and 10 speak of that classic doctrine of modesty in the New Testament.

Now most most of us would just go straight to the modesty text and start talking to the women. Guess what? Paul doesn't do that. He begins with the men. And he says, I desire therefore that men everywhere pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.

And then he turns to women in verses 9 and 10, in like manner also. Do you see how they're connected? What he says to men, what he says to women, they are connected. He's not just dialing in on women. He's actually including the men in this matter of pride and immodesty.

In like manner, the women ought to adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation. Well, I'll go more deeply into those verses in a moment. But he first of all exhorts men in the danger of pride in the midst of their religious activities in the church, specifically prayer. Now he's been speaking about this. He's been speaking about supplications and prayers and intercessions being made and how the spread of the gospel is the issue that he's really concerned about.

And so we ought to love our neighbors by praying that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior." Now after stating this, the Apostle Paul states the reason why he's writing these things, And he's writing so that men would come to the knowledge of the truth, because he desires all men to be saved. So the spread of the gospel is at stake in this matter of humility and pride in the church. And so what Paul is saying here is that men are to pray and women are to dress in a particular way that displays the humility of those who follow Jesus Christ. And for women it's done in a spirit of modesty, for men it's done in a spirit of modesty in their prayers. Now this narrow context that we find ourselves in, Paul is expanding his instruction and he's addressing the implications of humility and pride in men and in women.

And he's implying that men may hinder the spread of the gospel by their immodesty in the way that they conduct themselves in prayer in the church. Secondly, that women do the same in the way that they dress. It's out of pride that they deal with it. And so he says to the men, he addresses the men first in verse 8, I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. He's calling the men in the church to examine their hearts in the way that they actually pray in the church.

When they stand to pray and they're lifting up their hands, there's something going on in that man's heart, and it has to do with his pride. And the point that Paul is making is that men can lift up their hands in prayer, they can be involved in religious activities in the church, and be devoid of humility and doing it in a spirit of vain glory and in pride. And it hinders the gospel. And what we find with the men is that they are lifting up their hands, but they're pridefully harboring anger. The women, on the other hand, are dressing to get attention, and as we'll find at the end of the chapter, they're vying for leadership in the church, and Paul says women should not be teaching in the church.

So both are postures of humility. Men praying, and women dressing. And Paul speaks of lifting up holy hands and he's speaking about holiness in terms of purity there are two biblical words for holy in the New Testament And one is to be set apart, that's not this word, this word is the word for purity and he's focusing on purity. There's an impurity in the hearts of men when they conduct themselves publicly in the church. There's something going on in their hearts.

They're lifting up their hands, but they're not holy hands. Their hands are stained, and So he's telling them to pray without wrath and dissension. Some translations say without wrath or doubting. But he's referring to a particular kind of sinfulness in the heart of men. Men whose hearts are lifted up above other men and they have dissension in their hearts even though they're praying in the church.

In the same way that you can be speaking against pride and still have pride, you can be praying and have dissension in your hearts. He's describing a man's heart exalting himself above his brothers and He's speaking of the man in his pride rises to pray while at the same time he's harboring a critical spirit or divisive spirit, maybe a spirit of bitterness in his heart. He's praying, his hands are lifted up, and he is in one way boasting, and yet he's doing it in pride. And so he's addressing a kind of self-exaltation that's characterized by looking down on others in the church and unrighteously judging others in the church. And I don't believe the Apostle Paul is speaking about the kind of judgment that is necessary in the church and dealing with sin in the church.

He's talking about a man who's exalting himself in the church, but he's praying. He looks religious, everything looks right, but his heart is not right. And his hands are lifted up, and you can't tell by the hands. Only he knows. Only he knows that he's harboring a spirit of exaltation in his heart toward his brothers.

No one knows. It's a secret sin. This is the problem with pride. While there are outward manifestations, it's primarily a secret sin that drives all the other sins in your life. And so there's a self-exalting immodesty in this man's soul that allows him to pray not with holy hands but with impure hands.

And so, you know, just taking a step back from this scene that he's describing, it's really a revelation that men can find it easy to maintain their spiritual life, outward activities, but with strife. And they can even pray while they have ought in their heart toward their brother. And they can operate in a spirit of superiority when they appear to be operating in a spirit of service. And in this case, I think there's the implication that he has a spirit of preeminence. Maybe it's a harsh spirit.

Maybe it's a condescending attitude or a self-righteousness. Maybe a little bit like the Pharisee and the publican. You know, the Pharisee who stands and he says, I'm glad I'm not like that man. And that's the kind of prayer that's being offered here in this in this case study in this example and Well you know The Lord has given us so many commands for how we should think about one another and treat one another. You know, to be tender-hearted and forgiving one another, just as Christ Jesus has forgiven you.

But what we find here is religious activities proceeding on while mental arguments against others are preserved in our hearts. It's pride, it's immodesty in men. And the devil is always pleased, you know, to divide the church in this way even silently. He's delighted to have men continue to pray and lift their hands and serve and let them go untampered with as long as they can maintain their proud divisive judgmental high-minded spirit toward their brothers. So that's what we find here.

And what the Apostle Paul is saying is that this kind of pride in religious activities — and I believe the prayer is just an example that he's giving, this pride in religious activities diminishes the spread of the gospel. It hinders the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the church when men are like that. So he's confronting that common thing in the church where there's unconfessed sin, unconfessed pride, unconfessed bitterness, and broken relationships in the church while the church keeps running. Somebody said one time that often the Holy Spirit just tiptoes out of the church and nobody knows he's gone. This is one way that it happens right here.

So The apostle deals with pride in men in verse 8, but then after addressing the immodesty and pride in men expressed in the internal condition of their hearts, then Paul turns to the women in the congregation of the Ephesian church and he writes, in like manner. You see those words? In like manner. So what he has just said about men is connected to what he's going to say about women. And he says, in like manner, making this connection between the two, the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works." So now Paul has made this connection along with men in matter of public worship.

This is this is a description of life in the church and you have men and women in the church and women of course they have to dress up in something and they are and he's so he's addressing how the church gathers together and how women are dressing in the church and what Paul is gonna say is that their their clothing is actually an expression of their worship And I found it very interesting the way that Greg Nichols explained the context. He explained it this way. He does not want the men to mouth off, and he does not want the women to show off. I think that describes it. And he's addressing inward attitudes and outward behavior and how they're connected together.

You know God in his wisdom and his kindness he addresses the heart but he doesn't just address the heart he also addresses the outward appearance And he does it with both of these. And he's speaking about now how women can disturb the peace and the unity and the spread of the gospel in the church. Now, I think It's very important that we just pause for a moment and just have a hermeneutical moment. When you're reading a passage of Scripture, it's really important to read what's before it and what's after it so that you understand the logic and the flow of that passage. It would be less profitable just to isolate verses about modesty of women and then to forget what God has said to the men.

To actually extract this one thing from its context sort of disallows a deeper understanding of what the writer is trying to say. So their hermeneutical moment over. But when women are immodest, they're wanting to make a statement, they're wanting to draw attention to themselves, and they want to be somebody. And that's what the Apostle Paul is addressing here and so he instructs them that their clothing should be a profession of godliness not self-expression an expression of godliness you know how about that now in verse 9 we get the detail And I want to identify a number of words that are in verses 9 and 10, because what the Lord does in his mercy toward us, He doesn't just issue a command, but he gives you reasons and he gives you details. In other words, he doesn't just say to a woman, don't dress this way, he also says dress this way.

And that's what we find in verses 9 and 10. So they're positive encouragements for how a woman should think through the way that she dresses, so she doesn't end up like the men who are lifting up holy hands, but their hearts are not pure. Their hearts are full of pride. So this is sort of a heart-checking text for both men and women in their life in the church. So the focus of the words here is of ostentation, making a statement, you know, following styles, self-exaltation, and the apostle is, he's addressing a weakness in women.

They want to emphasize their outward appearance. And this is why there's such a massive fashion industry that will never go away, and it will never stop changing quarter by quarter because it plays to the weakness of women. On the other hand, religious duties and activities in the church play to the weakness of a man, and he might sin in a particular way that a woman might not. And so there's this sensitivity that a woman should have toward her inward desire for attention. Now when the Apostle Paul is writing this to Timothy, who's a pastor in the Church of Ephesus, we have to recognize that Ephesus was an immodest city.

These were immodest societies. The Greek culture was highly sexualized. Nakedness was lauded. And immodesty was the norm in that society. Really no different from the society that we live in, but probably way worse.

My guess, it was a lot worse. And we think we live in the worst of times. I'm not confident that's true. Remember, I mean, right now people are trying to figure out whether they're male or female. Remember Nineveh?

They couldn't even tell their right hand from their left. Well, today, people can't figure out what gender they are by looking at their right and their left. But this happens when we get so disconnected from biblical truth that we don't know our right hand from our left, And that was the case in Ephesus. And Paul wants to motivate the women in Ephesus in the church to reexamine their dress, because they lived among the Greeks, who glorified the exposure of their bodies. And this was coming out in the church.

It was happening in the church. And so the apostle is addressing it. So the Lord doesn't leave women in a vacuum. To figure it out on their own, He gives them ways to shape their vision. Now look at the word adorn.

He's speaking of how a woman should think about her dress. The term adorn means ordered and beautiful. It's the Greek word cosmeia, which refers to an ordered beauty. So women should not throw out beauty in the matter of thinking about their clothing. Another word is modest.

And this is a different Greek word that really means appropriate clothing. It refers to appropriateness to the occasion. And then the word apparel. This is a term that means sensible. So it's sensible clothing.

So that a woman understands what her clothing is saying and what her clothing is doing. Now, often you find that women have maybe a difficult time understanding that from a man's perspective, But what the apostle is saying is that a woman should not be clueless about the implications of her dress. She should understand and be aware of how her clothing affects people. And then the next word is the word propriety. And this has to do with reserve in clothing.

This is a feminine reserve and humility. And this word that the Apostle uses literally means reverence or bashfulness. Even downcast eyes. And it's the opposite of if you've got it, flaunt it. It's the other way.

It's to understate, to shrink from passing over the limits, and to exercise reserve in clothing. And then the next word is the word moderation. And this has to do with understatement, soundness of mind, self-control, passions and desires, in control. Not doing whatever you want, but having a real sense of moderation. And then the next word is proper.

And this implies moral judgment. Her clothing should be proper. In other words, what is fitting and what is right for the moment. And then the next word is professing godliness. And this has to do with clothing which actually proclaims godliness and he's speaking of an action and a movement toward an objective and their and their clothes should reflect godliness and literally the Gospel.

Now there's a gigantic backdrop, I believe, in what the Apostle Paul is saying here and that backdrop really begins in the book of Genesis where we learn what is the purpose of clothing and in Genesis we learn that the purpose of clothing was to cover shame God gave clothing to people to declare that he has covered their shame that's why we have clothing and so clothing should declare this act of the mercy of God to cover our shame And so that's why he says that your clothing should be professing godliness. John Angel James said it this way, study your profession and thoroughly understand what it implies. Study your profession. Your clothing is making a profession, but what kind of profession? Is it a profession of worldliness?

Is it a profession of sexualization? What is it? But it's going to make a profession of some kind. And that's what he's saying. And then finally, the words, good works.

A woman's clothing, whether at home or church or wherever she is, should not be calling out fashion or sex or pride. It should call out godliness, profession, humility of good works, being sensitive to causing others to stumble. Now, OK, One thing that's really clear from this passage is that while God is interested in the heart, he's not only interested in the heart. He's also interested in the outward appearance. Those who say, well, you can wear whatever you want as long as your heart is right, they are wrong.

Because the Bible actually says the opposite. It actually matters what's on the outside. Well, I think what's on the outside is a reflection of what's on the inside, and what's on the inside actually produces what's on the outside. So it's very difficult for us to separate these two things. It's impossible.

And so this profession of godliness is hindered by what a woman wears. And so a profession of the gospel is either enhanced or it is hindered by the way that she dresses. That's what the Apostle Paul is saying. So you get the picture here. There was a pride problem in the church in Ephesus where Timothy was a pastor.

They were surrounded by an immodest culture, but there were ways that pride was expressing itself in the church through their religious activities, particularly in the example Paul gives of praying that was going on in that church. And Paul confronts the men of their sin and how they were fake in the church. And he calls them to truth and reality and repentance. And with the women, he identifies that there are ways that they dress to show off and to be somebody, and their hearts are just as impure as the men, but it's just expressing itself in a different way. Now, what does this have to do with pride?

Well, immodesty in men and in women is a manifestation of pride. It's an expression of self. It's drawing attention to yourself. With women it's drawing attention to the areas of your body that distract a man from purity. With men, it's drawing attention to yourself and boasting with your mouth when your heart is far from God.

There are many ways that immodesty works its way through pride. Modesty is an outward expression of humility, both in men and in women. It's an external expression of affections. It's a public profession of faith. It's a display of self-control.

It's a display of truth in the inward parts, and that's why modesty is humility expressed in dress. Modesty is humility expressed in the public activities of religious worship. Now it's easy for men to talk about a female in modesty and perhaps you've experienced that, But let's not think for a moment that immodesty is something that men are not capable of. And I think the apostle makes this very clear. Men who want to attract attention to themselves.

Now, female immodesty is more likely to cause lust in men. Male immodesty is More likely to draw women into a relationship and I'll illustrate this Immodesty in men is really the same animal that Women are dealing with but it just expresses it in a different way. Men may want to draw attention to themselves through external means. For example, they may want to display their muscles and they might want to wear extremely tight shirts for a particular purpose because they want to show off their muscles. And you might even find men who who rail against women who dress immodestly around them but they've got the tightest shirt on because they're trying to display their muscles.

Immodesty in men and women works both ways. You might have men even dressing, or the way they look and they talk, their tools and their toys, their generosity, their cars, their hair, their tattoos, whatever it is to draw attention to themselves. And every man knows why he put on what he put on. And every woman knows why she put on what she put on And the Apostle Paul is confronting that. And men should ask, you know, why do I pray the way that I do?

And women should ask, why do I dress the way that I do? What am I trying to accomplish? Am I am I doing such a thing for my own glory? What statement are we trying to make? Now It's very clear that the first sin was a sin of pride when Lucifer made that very succinct statement that expressed what is at the root of all pride.

He said, I will. I will, I will, I will. And out of that, out of that pool comes all the pollutions of our lives. And it speaks of the ways that we that we look at others you know in Proverbs chapter 6 verses 16 and 17 there are six things that are listed that the Lord hates. He says, and the first one that he lists is a proud look.

That's the very first of the six that the Lord hates. We know that God has wired the world so that pride would cause destruction and I believe that he's done that so that when pride is detected and we feel the pain of the destruction that our pride has caused that we turn from our pride. You might just ask yourself what kind of destruction has there been in my life, in my family, in my finances that goes directly to my pride? What kind of destruction is there? You know, it's so critical that we look around at the manifestations of the things that we have experienced and ask, has pride caused this?

But use that as a means to turn from pride there is just pride goes before destruction says Proverbs 16 and a haughty spirit before a fall better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. You know the Bible makes it so clear that pride will suck the life and the joy out of everything you're a part of. It'll suck the joy out of your marriage, it'll make unhappy and sullen children, it ruins churches, it causes distances in relationships. Pride is a destructor from the very beginning. But know that God is destroying pride at the same time he's destroying pride in the life of every Christian sometimes it's through trials sometimes it's through the reading of the Word of God, sometimes it's through the kind appeal of a friend to confront a man in his pride.

Has anyone ever confronted you in your pride? And what did you do with it? The easiest with it. The easiest thing is to run and justify. The Lord says the perverse mouth I hate, pride and arrogance and the evil way.

Proverbs 16 5 says the proud and heart are an abomination to the Lord. You know one of the most difficult periods of your life is when you're young. Young people particularly struggle with pride. They struggle with it in a particular way, but it's critical that they learn those lessons when they're young. The older you get, the harsher the difficulty will fall upon you with undealt with pride.

And this is why the Apostle Peter says, likewise you younger people submit yourselves to your elders. Yes all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble and James says it so beautifully but he gives more grace he's talking about God God gives more grace but he resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble and so the Word of God would call us all to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that he might exalt us in the proper time You know the purpose of this message here today to speak of the dangers of pride, I pray would be used of the Lord to help us all examine our hearts, to see the vestiges of pride that are operating in our lives now, to confess them, document them, and then cry out to God for help. The battle against pride will be a lifelong battle, But God has promised that He will give His children victory. But that victory is often won through many troubles and trials. You know it's interesting, I've been reading biographies of some of the older saints one of the consistent themes I've observed in some of these older biographies is that many times God escalates trouble in men's lives as they get older and there are various theories about why that is.

Perhaps they weren't able to shoulder the trouble when they were younger, but there was remaining pride and they needed more trouble to root out that pride. And I think that it's a plausible proposition that many of us will experience more trouble as the years pass. But He does it because He loves us. He does it because he wants to draw us near. He does it because he wants us to be in his arms.

He wants us to be pulled from the jaws of the devil in every area of our life, and he'll go as deep as seems wise to him. And it's a good thing that he's the one that is discerning what areas of pride to put his finger on well here's the question what areas of pride is the Lord putting his finger on in your life what are they I ask you to consider it and believe me I've been asking that same question of myself and it's a good question it's a helpful question and it's a question that is helpful to the soul to realize that there really is only one true God and his son Jesus Christ to rescue us from all of our troubles. So it's a sweetening thing to examine your pride because it casts you upon God's mercy every time and there's no better place to be. Would you pray with me? Lord I pray that you would give us grace to examine our own hearts, that we would be wise to hear your word, that we would read it, that we would meditate upon it, and that we would receive with meekness the implanted word.

Oh Lord that you would come and fill us with a sense of desire to root out all remaining pride. We know there's so much there Lord and we pray that you would come and have mercy upon us and reveal it to us And we thank you that you've given your Son to sacrifice Himself and to receive all the punishments that we deserve for our pride. Amen. If you would like to learn more about Forge Ministries, or if you want to find out more about our upcoming events, please visit us on the web at forgeministries.org.