The Pride Of Babylon
I.
The pride of Babylon vs.
The humility of the Kingdom-1 Peter 5:6-7
A. Casting the care is the
opposite of taking the care or taking thought
1.
Matthew
6:25-33, 1 Peter 5:6-7-“Therefore I say
unto you, Take no thought (care) for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye
shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.”
B. Taking the care or to
“take thought,” is an act of pride
1.
You’re
saying that you can do God’s job and act as the caretaker and take care of this
a. You’ve exalted yourself
to wrongfully high place and you have an untrue estimation of yourself
b. Pride always deals in
deception and lies (If you think you can take care of it, you’re deceived
because the REALITY is that you can’t take care of it-Matthew 6:27, John 15:5)
2.
“Taking
the care,” is you thinking that you can figure this out
a. Pride says I’ll figure it
out, I’ll TAKE CARE of it,
I’ll google it, I’ll ask my friends, I’ll ask an
expert, I’ll do research, I’ll save up, I’ll work hard and that’s all Babylon
C. Casting the care is an
act of humility
1.
Humility
humbles itself and recognizes I can’t take care of it, I’m not the care taker
2.
Humility
says I can do nothing of myself – l can’t TAKE CARE of it myself – John
5:19,30, 15:5
3.
Humility
says I can produce nothing through self effort-Psalm 127:2, Matthew 6:27
4.
It’s not that I shouldn’t
take care of it or that Jesus wouldn’t do anything of himself it’s that I can’t
and He couldn’t
D. Humility leads you into
the process of the Kingdom, while pride will walk you back to Babylon
1.
Because you can’t take
care of it, now what are you going to do?
a. I can’t take care of it, I’m not the care taker, I can’t do
anything of myself, I can’t figure it out on my own, I’m not my own source, I’m
not responsible for doing the works, I’m not the one who manifests the victory
--- There’s only one thing left to do then where this is concerned and it’s 1
Peter 5:7 and Matt 6:33; Cast your care and then God What’s your plan and what
do you want me to say and do
2.
Developed
humility will lead into the Kingdom process
a. Because I can’t TAKE CARE of it I’m going to
have to inquire of the Lord to find out what he wants me to do and what he
wants me to say and then the Father will do the works
3.
When this (I can do
nothing of myself) becomes a revelation to you then you’ll realize the only
thing left to do with a care is the cast it; the only thing cares are good for
is casting
E. ***The Kingdom is you looking
up and relying on God; Babylon is looking to yourself and relying on yourself; Pride
takes the care and relies on itself, humility cast the care and relies on God***
1.
Instances of pride-They
all think that they can meet their own needs without God and they are relying
on themselves and rather than humbling themselves and inquiring of the Lord, in
pride they’re going to take care of it
a. Genesis 11-They are not
inquiring of him or looking to him because they got a plan
b. Numbers 14-They have a
care about getting into the promise land and rather than humbling themselves
and inquiring of the Lord, they’re going to take care of it
c. This is pride, this is them trying to take the care, this is
Babylon and this is how you get destroyed
2.
Instances
of humility
a. John 11:41-43-Jesus
looked up in humility rather than looking to himself in pride
1)
Why
is he looking up? This is him inquiring of the Lord rather than taking the
care; This is him seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness
– What’s the plan what do you want me to do
2)
Matthew
14:19-When Jesus got in a tight spot rather than taking the care and trying to
do something by his own effort, he humbled himself and lifted his eyes (Watch
how I do it)
b. This is humility ---
Lifted eyes, I’m seeking first the Kingdom and not taking the care
1)
This
is Jesus not relying on himself, not trying to figure it out, not taking the
care, but rather humbling himself and seeking first the Kingdom of God (What’s
the plan) and his righteousness (what’s the right thing to do and to say)
II.
The humble, who cast the
care and inquire of the Lord and do what he says will get the grace and see the
Father do the works
A. The humble are going to
get the grace --- How does that manifest?
1.
The
grace of God in manifestation is the Father taking care of it and doing the
works
2.
“Works”
is you trying to make it happen and take care of it; Grace is God taking care
of it
3.
If
the Father took care of it and did the works and you didn’t then it was by
grace
B. Who is going to get this
grace? Who is going to see the Father do works?
1.
“The
Father does the works” in the life of the humble person who doesn’t take the
care, but who rather seeks first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness
2.
That
tells me the moment you to the TAKE
CARE of it (which is pride-based) and you’re not positioned for God to take
care of it by grace
3.
John 1:14-Jesus’ life was
full of grace because of his humility, not his title
C. 1 Pet 5:6, Psalm 8:6-When
the Father does the works, He does it with his hands; To humble yourself under
his hand is to rely on his hand to do it and not your own hands-Trust my hands to do the work and not your
own
1.
Pride
says I can take care of it; Pride relies on it’s own hands, it’s own effort
2.
If
you’ll humble yourself under his hand, the Father will do the works with his
hand and exalt you
D. 2 Chronicles 20-Humility gets
the grace
1.
2-This
would be a care wouldn’t it
2.
1-4-This
immediate Seeking/Inquiring of the Lord is THE act of humility
a. This is them, not trying
to TAKE CARE of it
b. 3-He just did Matthew
6:33
3.
6-They’re
saying to God, “You can TAKE CARE
of this”
a. 6-They’re humbling
himself under his hand
b. Their focus in on his hands not their own
4.
9-This
is them looking to God to take care of this as their care taker
a. 7-Are you not our God?
--- Are you not our caretaker?
5.
12-This
is them not trying to figure it out, not trying to care of it
a. We don’t know what to do,
but we are inquiring of you
b. They’re not just asking him to do something, they
are inquiring of him what to do
c. Lifted eyes always come
from a humble heart; Therefore only lifted eyes will see the grace
1)
The
position of humility and the position of inquiring are the same; LIFTED EYES
6.
15-17-This is God saying
I’m going to take care of it (Yet they weren’t left to do nothing)
a. Too many Christians the
way they live ends right there with God saying he’s going to take care of it,
but you’ll notice after he said that he gave them instructions of what THEY
needed to do
b. He showed them his plan (The Battle is not yours)
and now he’s showing them his righteousness (their part, what they need to do
and to say)
7.
18-19-When
the light comes, there’s no greater experience
a. Matthew 6:22-They got the
light they needed because their eye was single
8.
This
is the Kingdom: They humbled themselves, they didn’t take the care, they
inquired of him, they obeyed Him and what they needed was added to them without
sweat and it didn’t come by toil or self-effort it came by the Kingdom, not by
Babylon
a. After they humbled themselves Grace showed up and
encourages them, strengthens them, shows them what to do, shows them the plan
and because they did what they were told Grace gave them a great victory
E. Jeremiah 42-Pride gets resisted
(Johanan and these people are afraid of the Chaldeans
retaliating against them for something this wicked man, Ishmael did)
1.
Jeremiah
41:16-18-They have care set before them (Just like Jehoshaphat did in 2
Chronicles 20)
a. The first thing they do
is start heading to Egypt and they did so without inquiring of the Lord
b. They’ve already decided
they’re going to Egypt; In the fear that the Chaldeans are going to destroy
them, they pick up the care of their lives and come up with a plan of what they
are going to do; and they’re going to rely on Egypt for safety; This is not
humility, this is pride, this is Babylon, this is them trying to meet their own
needs
2.
Jeremiah
42:1-6-After they’ve already decided what they are going to do, then they have
the prophet Jeremiah seek the Lord for them and they told him they would do
what the Lord said
a. Really what they want is
they want the Lord to bless THEIR plan and you can see that by the reaction
when the Lord wants to change their plan
b. Pride thinks it knows
best
3.
10-12-God
gives them his plan and their part
a. Their part was to stay in
the land they were in and to not go to Egypt
b. If they would have done
that God would have taken care of them (Same as 2 Chronicles 20)
4.
10-12-The
plan of God always requires faith and that God be your only source (That’s uncomfortable for a lot of people
because they are used to being their own source and using no faith)
a. If they stay where they
are they are going to have to trust God as their source; If they go to Egypt
they can trust Egypt as their source; Beware
of the place that requires no faith (It’s called Babylon)
b. They looked to somebody
else to be their source and went to the place that required no faith
c. 2 Chronicles 20-It takes
faith to go to a battle and stand still and not fight
5.
13-18-The
Lord said if you get your eyes on Egypt and try to take care of this yourselves
by going to Egypt you’re going to be destroyed
a. Mt6:22-They
got their eyes on Egypt and when the light came they didn’t even recognize it
as light
b. 43:2-In their pride they
tried to take care of themselves by going to Egypt and rather than seeing
grace, they got resisted
c. Rather than humbling
themselves and casting the care and inquiring and obeying they harden
themselves, took the care, and executed their plan and they no grace
d. They relied on
themselves, they tried to meet their own needs without God and they failed to
do so
F. 1 Peter 5:7-He CARES for
you-He does you’re caring for you – I know a guy
1.
If
the Word says he does you’re caring for you and he is your caretaker, then to
think that you can do your own caring is major pride; that job is above your
pay grade
2.
Care-A part due or
assigned to one – It’s God’s part to care for you and that’s not your
part
3.
Proverbs
16:18-Before destruction you will always find a guy standing there trying to
get something taken care and trying to meet his own needs without God
a. Pride picks up the care
and tries to take care of it, that’s Babylon and in Babylon you’ll be destroyed