Podcast: Gospel: The Proud Heart

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He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
-Luke 1:51-53

This is important. I’m going to tell you something that you may not hear anywhere else. You won’t even get this in some churches. Your pride is killing you.

Everywhere else you look, people are going to tell you to be proud. They’ll talk to you about the importance of self-esteem, that you are very valuable, that you deserve so much more, that you don’t deserve the mistreatment you are getting, that you should stand up and demand recognition for what you have done, that you deserve to be heard, that you deserve respect. Isn’t that what we’re getting from Oprah and schools and even some churches? Isn’t that exactly what they are saying?

Respect is like the new inalienable right in America. You can do whatever you want, but if you happen to be slightly disrespectful, wow, you’re going to hear about it. Everyone is clamoring to speak, as though they all have the answers, and no one is listening. Everyone thinks they deserve something more, that they should be given something more.

That’s what the world is telling you. I’m going to tell you the truth – your pride is killing you.

You go all day long looking out for yourself. You go demanding, expecting, and you get angry when you don’t GET. You start talking bad about the person who didn’t give you your due. You’ll take it to the street if you have to – protesting for your way of doing things. You hold grudges against those who slighted you, as though you haven’t done a hundred times worse to others. You’ll give the people around you a piece of your mind, but you probably won’t listen when they want to give you a piece of theirs. You complain that your wife and kids don’t understand; they just don’t pay attention enough, or they don’t give you your space, or they don’t give you enough respect. Your driving desire in life is yourself. Your driving desire is YOU.

It’s even like that when you go to church. You seek out the church that makes you the most comfortable, even if the teaching isn’t very biblical. You ignore certain commands in the Bible because, well, you like doing those things. When you hear a sermon about a certain sin, you immediately think of a hundred people committing that sin, but you never look to yourself. You watch television rather than reading your Bible. You read the sports page rather than praying. You make a big deal about giving, but you never give very much.

And to top it all off, you expect God to honor your life. You expect Him to forgive you. You expect Him to say you did just fine. You think that because you are so prideful that you think you have the best way of doing things. You think that because your heart is so full of yourself that you can’t think about anything else. The thought that you may not be acceptable to the Almighty never crosses your mind.

Satan thought the same thing, and God threw him out of heaven. Pride got him booted out, and it will do the same to you. So I say again: your pride is killing you.

Just to prove the point, I’m willing to bet most of you listening are thinking, “You tell those sinners, Paul! Preach it!” Don’t think that, because I’m talking about you. I’m talking about you. Your theology of sin is all about the other guy. It’s all about the Liberals, or the Evangelicals, or some other group. It’s all about someone else.

Let me be perfectly clear – the Bible’s teaching on sin is about you. In pride, you may try to pass it off to someone else, but that is still pride, and it’s killing you.

You haven’t lived up to the Law, and you cannot. In pride alone you have sinned enough to get kicked out of eternal life, just like Satan was.

Pride is no small sin. It’s not something that can just be brushed aside. Look at what the Bible says about pride:

O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!
-Psalm 94:1-2

The LORD tears down the house of the proud but maintains the widow's boundaries.
-Proverbs 15:25

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
-1 Peter 5:5

The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
-Proverbs 8:13

The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: "I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it."
Amos 6:8

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
-Mark 7:21-23

For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world.
-1 John 2:16

You are guilty of this sin, and a thousand more. You are not “good enough.” Your sin isn’t just going to be ignored. God isn’t just going to ignore all of this and welcome you into Heaven. He has made it clear in His Word that He hates pride, and we are overflowing with it.

We cannot make it alone to Heaven. That is undoubtedly true. But God has sent someone to bring us back. Jesus Christ, though He deserved Heaven, came to earth to live and die. He was executed on a Roman Cross, though He was the only man who has ever lived who was completely sinless. He is the only one who has ever deserved to live, yet still He died. In that death, He took our sin upon Himself to pay for our pride, lusts, hatred, ambition, and greed. At the same time, He can place His righteousness upon us. We cannot earn it, but in love He has given it. In righteousness then, we can live forever.

Do not refuse this gift. Repent of your pride and other sins and believe in Him. Do not let that old sin of pride tell you that you’ll make it on your own. Don’t let you pride tell you that God will accept you the way you are. If you do, all you’ll be left with is your pride when it comes to the time of Judgment, and we already know that God hates it.