Join us as we explore the stark warnings from Obadiah about the destructive nature of pride. Dr. McGee challenges listeners to consider the pitfalls of a life led without God’s guidance, drawing on historical lessons from the rise and fall of Edom. This episode serves as a clarion call to invite God back into public life, to combat the prideful heart condition that too often leads to violence, betrayal, and self-destructive behavior.
How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith.
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Welcome to Through the Bible. We’re so glad that you’re here as our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, continues our study of the small but powerful book of Obadiah. I’m Steve Schwetz, welcoming you aboard the Bible bus and inviting you to open your copy of God’s Word to Chapter 10. And while you do that, let’s hear more of the introduction that Dr. McGee began yesterday. If you missed the first part of the introduction, you can find it in our app or at ttb.org. Here’s Dr. McGee.
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May I say to you, pride has brought this about. And then nationally, most of us thought that our government was sound, stable, and permanent. And we looked to the government to solve our problems. And we looked to the flag, and we could sing lustily, the flag is still there. But it’s been quite upsetting to learn that there is Such corruption and overweening confusion in government. No stability today. Now, the world that I was brought up in, that I’ve described, it’s gone today. It no longer exists. After World War I, there was a great outburst of immorality, an attempt made to curb it with laws and restrictions. We had prohibition. Someone says it failed. I don’t think it failed. It never was tried. And after all, it was the wrong way. We didn’t need prohibition. We needed God. And he was not brought on the scene. The voices who did at that time proclaim the word of God, and there were those that did, they were silenced and not heard. A worldwide depression did not change the attitude. Man could do it himself, and believe me, he did. World War II was the result. And that world is gone. And today, well, God is still ignored, rejected, unopposed. He was kicked out of the classroom. There’ll be no prayer. He was removed from the halls of Congress as an obstacle to progress. The news media ignored God as if he does not exist today. Oh, he’s a swear word, but that’s all. This is the world we live in, and it’s passing away, and so are we as a nation. Let’s invite God back into public life. Let’s call upon him for help. We can’t make it alone. Jesus said, without me, ye can do nothing. And the disease today, It’s pride of the heart. That disease, a real heart condition that declares that man can live without God. And we can say in the words of Shakespeare in the Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lord, what fools these mortals are. And Paul could say, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Believe me, that’s what’s coming out today.
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Now, I know many of you are already praying for God to move in our nation. So keep it up and pray specifically that more people respond to the clear teaching of the gospel. As we know, that really is the only hope for mankind. If you’d like to join me and through the Bible’s faithful group of prayer warriors, we call ourselves the World Prayer Team, by the way. And we ask God to reach his whole world with his whole word. Why don’t you visit our app or ttb.org forward slash pray. Let’s pray for one another as we dive into our study. Our gracious Heavenly Father, would you bless your word as it goes out and speak to our hearts and teach us how to humble ourselves before you. In Jesus’ name we pray.
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Amen.
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Here’s our study of Obadiah on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
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Now, as we come back to this little prophecy of Obadiah, it’s like an atom bomb. I’m sure you’ve discovered that. And we found here that the great sin of Edom, or actually Obadiah, is a prophecy that answers a very important question. Why did God say it, the last book of the Old Testament, that Esau have I hated and Jacob have I loved? Now, he never said that in Genesis. He waited until both became a nation. And you find that now God puts Esau under the microscope, and he’s a great nation. And the overweening sin of this nation was the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Now, I’m sure that gave folk the last time quite a letdown because a great many people, they just don’t consider pride as being a great sin. And we made a contrast between murder and lying and stealing. And a great many people would say, well, a proud man, it’s bad that he’s proud. But that’s not as bad as being a murderer. God says it’s worse than being a murderer. It’s worse than being an alcoholic, to be a man lifted up by pride. And God says he hates. proud heart. He’s made that very clear in the Word of God. God gives grace to the humble, but the proud, he can do nothing with them at all. And we discovered that pride is an attitude. Pride of heart is an attitude of a life that declares its ability to live without God. God hates that. This is his universe. And he is to be worshiped. He is to be praised. He is to be recognized. And when a man, a little creature down here, no bigger than a little bug in God’s great vast universe, when that little creature lifts himself up in pride, God says he hates it. Now, God loves you, but God hates your pride. And if you are eaten up with it, may I say to you, there’s nothing God can do with you at all. Now, the question arises, it’s an attitude. A man can be proud and maybe not reveal it. However, I do think that this is one sin of the life that you can’t conceal. There are certain things you can conceal. You can conceal hatred. You can conceal lust. But you cannot conceal pride very long. It’s going to break out like a running cancer because of the fact that it is such a tremendous driving force in man. Now, the attitude of the life will lead to action of the life. Now, the thing that Obadiah does… He now gives a catalog of the actions that are derived from the pride of the heart. And these are the terrible sins that come from that. Now, you must remember that Esau and Jacob were brothers. They were twin brothers. They were not identical twins. They were actually opposite twins. But they were twins, and they grew up in the same family, same father and mother. And there was a struggle from the very beginning. There was a hatred and a bitterness that was never healed, and was never healed when they became two great nations. And we find, though, that God had something to say to his people about their relationship to Edom. And I want to turn to one of the verses of Scripture. For instance, Psalm 137, verse 7. He says, “‘Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, Raise it, raise it even to the foundation thereof.'” And Edom, instead of befriending Israel in their dark hour when the Babylonians destroyed their nation, why, they stood on the sidelines. In fact, they became the cheering section and urged them on. But when you go way back in their history to Deuteronomy 23, verse 7, and I’d like to read this to you because this is very interesting. God said to them at the beginning, when they came into that land, thou shall not abhor an Edomite, for he’s thy brother. Thou shall not abhor an Egyptian, because thou was the sojourner in his land. But the tie with the Edomite was greater. He’s your brother, the blood brother. And because of that, God says that you’re not to hate him. And yet we see that Edom manifested that bitterness and hatred throughout the entire length and extent of the nation. And they were a proud people in the rock-hewn city of Petra. That city that was in that Rocky Mountain stronghold, that fortress that could not be taken. And they thought they could not be destroyed. And they were guilty now of certain things. And there are five specific. Five specific actions that are mentioned here that are derived from pride and attitude of the life to live without God. Number one is in verse 10, and I want us to look at these now. The first one is violence. Will you notice it? For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever. And actually, two things were to happen to them. They were to go into captivity. Finally, Babylon was able to take the city and did take them captive. And the second thing, they were to be utterly destroyed so that they would not be a nation. And I think it’s quite interesting that you don’t hear of the Edomites today, but you hear a great deal of the Israelites today. They have become a nation. Now, here is an example of a nation that has attempted to live without God. And the first thing that they are guilty of is violence. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever. And they were a violent people, a warlike people, and they came in that direction. We have learned the hard way in this country that very little can be settled by war and violence. never really settles questions at all. Violence is not God’s method. You may be sure of that. Now, that is number one. Now, number two, the thing that they did, they joined the enemy. Verse 11, “…in the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.” In other words, you find that they’ve joined the enemy and they’ve gone over to the other side. This is the awful, terrible thing that they were guilty of. Now, the third thing is in verse 12. “…but thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger.” Neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Now, they rejoice over the calamity that has come to Judah. And that is always an action of pride. When you find someone who rejoices over the trouble that some other individual is having You may be sure that you’re speaking to a person who’s very proud. And pride is something God says he hates. What a revelation this is. Now, I want to cover all of these and then come back and look at this. Number four in verse 13 is they were not only joined up with the enemy, but they’re guilty of looting and plundering and pillaging. After the enemy has taken Israel away, they absolutely move in and loot. Now, will you notice this? Thou shouldst not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Yea, thou shouldst not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. Now, pride will lead a man to do some terrible things. One of the things is stealing. One of the things is dishonesty in business. Many a man, in order to keep up a front in his business, will resort to dishonest methods. Many a man to win a woman to become his wife will use dishonest methods. Many a man to keep up with the fellows at the club, he will resort to dishonest methods. And today our society, our contemporary society, is honeycombed with dishonesty, with people trying to keep up with the Joneses. What is the problem? Well, the problem, the root problem is pride. And this proud man is trying to live his life apart from God. And when he does that, it leads to this sort of thing. May I say to you, the Bible is still the best book on psychology. It’s the best book to get down at the root of the problem that is in the human heart, that which today is destroying our society. And again, will you forgive me for saying this? We have so many little courses in our churches. And the world today puts them on. Today you can go anywhere and take a course in most anything. You can go and spend two or three weeks. You can learn this. You can learn this psychological approach. Actually, how to make a forceful speech. How to improve yourself in your job. How to become a better neighbor. How to love your wife more. And how to treat your children better and bring them up. And we have all kinds of little gimmicks given today. Who would ever have thought that in the prophecy of Obadiah, That you have the root cause that’s at the very basis of our society today that are leading both men and women to commit terrible deeds. Why? Because the root problem is pride. They’re trying to live without God today and attempting to live without God. It leads them into dishonest actions. It leads them to get with the wrong crowd. It’ll lead them to do these things that they should not be doing and that will bring their destruction. In fact, these actions are self-destructive. Now, notice the fifth one here. Neither, and that’s verse 14, “…neither shouldst thou have stood in the crossway,” to cut off those of his that did escape. Neither shouldst thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. Now, to me, this is the lowest thing that they did. This is the worst thing that they committed. This is where they reveal they’re no more than an animal and that it is the survival of the fittest, by the way. And it’s the revelation of the bloody tooth. What is it? They became a traitor. They betrayed their brother. They stood at the crossroads. And when Nebuchadnezzar came, destroyed Jerusalem. And we know that Israel began to scatter. And the Babylonians would chase them. And the Edomites, naturally living down in a country where people could hide, many of the Israelites went down there. And the Edomites says, he’s right over yonder in that cave. Oh, did I see a group come by here of Israelites fleeing? Yes, they went right through that canyon there. And I think you’ll find them holed up in that canyon. They betrayed their brother. May I say to you, this is the lowest that they came to. This is the case of dog eat dog. And this is something that a businessman right here in Los Angeles said this to me. He says, business today is dog eat dog. We’ve come to that. Living without God today. Proud. and want to make a name for ourselves, want to make money, want to be a success. What’s the back of that? Pride. What is pride? That’s that attitude of the life to live without God. And it leads man to betray their man. How many men in business today will betray another man in order to get his job? How many will pretend to be a friend when at the time he’s an enemy? How many in government today, and believe me, we’ve had enough of that, that will betray. And I want to tell you that it’s sickening when we look at our society today. And friends, I hate to say it, but it’s in the church. I happen to know this. I was a pastor for over 40 years, and I know this. And during most of my pastorate, I had a staff And during over half of that period, I had a large staff. And during that period, I had some very wonderful men, faithful men, men I could depend on, men I could rest on. But I learned this. I learned it to my sorrow. And it took me a long time to learn that when I had a member of the staff who was a proud young man, he would bear watching because a proud young man that’s trying to get on in the world, he’s willing to go up the ladder of success even if he has to step on the fingers of those that are below him. And I’ve seen that happen on several occasions. You remember Shakespeare put it like this. Shakespeare had Julius Caesar say it. I don’t think Julius Caesar ever thought of it. He may have, but Shakespeare thought of it. He has Julius Caesar say, I don’t like this man. He is lean and hungry looking. And he says, I want men that are fat around me. Well, I don’t think he’s talking so much about being fat physically or being skinny physically. I think he’s talking about that lean, hungry look of the proud man who wants to get on in the world. Now, this is not honest ambition. This is an ambition of a godless man living without God, not depending on God. And he’s going to do it by himself. And in doing it by himself… He’s willing to use any method because the end justifies the means. That’s the way that he’s living, and I’ve seen that in my ministry. The head of the Church of England was speaking to the bishops many years ago, and he made this statement, and it has a double meaning. He says, every bishop has a crook on his staff. What he primarily was talking about, the staff of a shepherd, and that he is to use that crook in correction of the sheep. But he also had another meaning, that each one of these bishops had a staff, and he could be sure of one thing, that even the church… There’d be a crook in there somewhere. There would be a disloyal follower, one that would put a knife in your back. And I found that true. I found out that even among young ministers that every now and then I’d get one and he’d be willing in order that he might advance He’d be willing to even put a knife in my back. And though you had brought him in and tried to help him, he’d be willing to put a knife in your back. Do you see now why God says he hates pride? It leads man really to act like animals. The horrible truth is that when a man attempts to live without God, he’s lower than the animals. Therefore, Obadiah is God’s devastating answer to evolution. What consummate conceit of a man who is living apart from God to think that he’s evolved from an animal when he’s living like an animal? And there are multiplied numbers of people who live like animals in our day. They go around with the conceited boast, I have come from an animal. I’m evolved. And look at me today. God says, in effect, where have you been? Where really do you think you’ve come from? I created you in my image. And you fell. You fell so low that you’re below the animal world. May I say, God says, I hate that. And I don’t apologize for God because he never asked me to apologize for him at all. Now, if you want to see the final issue of Edom in Israel, you will have to come to the time of Christ. And you remember Herod? Herod was what? An Edomite. He was in the line of Esau. And you remember that They brought the Lord Jesus’ word when they said, Herod’s looking for you to kill you. He said, go tell that fox. Ox, yes, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and I do cures today and tomorrow and the third day I shall be finished. May I say to you, the Lord Jesus said, I have nothing to do with him. And when he was finally brought before him, he wouldn’t even open his mouth before Herod. And there they stand, Jesus and Herod, the final issue of Jacob and Esau. Why didn’t our Lord speak to him? Because our Lord doesn’t speak fox language. He doesn’t talk like an animal. And therefore, you have the final issue today. This is the reason that God hates that thing that leads men away from God. We leave off there and finish this little book next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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Edom was prideful, but even though it ceased to exist long ago, the message for us is certainly clear. Learn more at ttb.org when you download your free copy of Dr. McGee’s booklet titled The Not-So-Bad Sin. In it, Dr. McGee warns us, and I’m reading, We think pride is a nice, polite sin. Good people indulge in it. You don’t have to get down in the gutter to be filled with pride, or do you? I say to you that pride is the sin of sins. Pride of heart is deeper and darker than any other sin you can mention. We do not condemn it, but God does. Again, you can download your free copy over at ttb.org or call 1-865-BIBLE if we can suggest another resource to help you dig deeper into God’s Word. That’s ttb.org or 1-865-BIBLE. Next time, we finish this meaningful study of Obadiah and then begin a new journey through the prophetic book of Jonah. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll meet you back here as we make our way through the Bible.
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All to him I owe. Sin had left the prison safe. He washed it white as snow.
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Join us each weekday for our five-year daily study through the whole Word of God. Check for times on this station or look for Through the Bible in your favorite podcast store and always at ttb.org.
