From
personal experience many preachers know something of the deceptive
power
of pride. Looking forward to Sunday, the pastor asks God in prayer for
a message and for divine enablement in delivery of the message. God, in
grace, grants his petition, and after the sermon someone is kind enough
to speak complimentary of the message (there is nothing wrong with
paying
the preacher a compliment, if it comes from the heart, and you realize
the preacher is but an instrument of God), due to the deceptive power
of
pride, the compliment is often taken wrongly and the preacher takes to
himself the credit which belongs to God.
No
saint has ever risen so high in his cultivation of humility that all of
his pride was left behind or even suppressed to the point of absolute
dormancy
for a single minute. Neither has the skid row bum sunk so low that he
cannot
look down his nose at someone else and find a basis to be proud of
himself.
As
soon as a man be born in this world he embarks on an ego trip, “They go
astray speaking lies,” (Psalm 58:3) and the most of his lies are
spent in bragging about himself. Most of the auto-biographies which I
have
read amount to nothing more than brag books. The reason is; “Every
way
of man is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 21:2).
Did
you ever hear a person pray, saying, “Lord keep me humble?” There is an
element of pride in such a prayer. The meekest saint needs to pray,
“Lord
make me humble.” I heard a person say one time, “I am proud that I am
humble.”
0’ the deceitfulness of pride.
Jesus
used one statement on three different occasions in three different
sermons.
He was not afraid someone might say, “He repeats himself.” Each time
Jesus
used the statement it fit perfectly with the lesson He was teaching,
and
the principle set forth in the statement pervaded all of His teaching.
The thrice stated words of the Master, “And whosoever shall exalt
himself
shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted,” (Matthew
23:12; Luke 18:14). On every occasion it was used to
counter
human pride, and it points up the fact that the seats of honor in glory
are reserved for those who humble themselves and practice
self-effacement.
Pride
Brought Lucifer’s Fall
Lucifer’s
declaration of independence is recorded in Isaiah 14:12-15.
In this Scripture the second will is introduced to the universe, and
every
“will” that endeavors to act independent of God is in great measure
motivated
by pride. Lucifer says five times in quick succession, “I will,” and in
each instance a desire for self-exaltation is manifested. Lucifer says,
“I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” God says, “Whosoever
exalts himself shall be abased” and He says to Lucifer, “Yet
thou
shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (Isaiah
12:15). By this Scripture we are made aware of Satan’s destruction
and doom yet, we need to remember this prophecy is at this date
unfulfilled.
Satan has lost the honor of being the anointed cherub but he has not
lost
his earthly princedom. It would help us if we remembered Lucifer had a
throne, and that he is still the “Prince of the power of the air”
and “the god of this world.”
Pharoah’s
Pride
God
says to Pharoah, “How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before
Me?” (Exodus 10:3). Pharaoh was the proud and haughty king
of
Egypt, and at the time the most powerful monarch on earth. But what he
did not know was that God had attached a woe to every crown of pride (Isaiah
28:1). Egypt throughout Scripture is a type of the God debasing
world,
and Pharaoh is a clear type of proud man who goes on and on in his
rebellion
against God. God says, “Man’s pride shall bring him low” (Proverbs
29:23). Man’s pride will either bring him low in penitent humility,
or bring him low in the regions of the damned. Pharaoh’s pride made him
obstinate, and carried him onward in a course of definite destruction.
His pride was as a millstone around his neck, or “as a chain” (Psalm
73:6), leading him onward and downward to a muddy grave at the
bottom
of the Red Sea.
“…
Blessed be the Lord, Who hath delivered you out of the hand
of
the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh. The Lord is
greater
than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was
above them.” (Exodus 18:10-11)
Pharaoh
said, “I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” Pride
always over estimates the power available to it. God, in asking
Pharaoh,
“How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me?” asks it
of every son of Adam. To the person whose eyes peer this page, and as
yet
have not bowed the knee unto Christ and acknowledged His Lordship, God
says to you, “How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me?”
Belshazzar’s
Pride
“And
thou … O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart … ” (Daniel
5:22)
Belshazzar lifted himself up in pride
against
the Lord of heaven by profaning the vessels of the Lord’s house (Daniel
5:23). Belshazzar’s pride is all the more abominable when viewed in
the light of God’s rebuke of his father Nebuchadnezzar, for his pride.
Of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel says, “His heart was lifted up, and his
mind
hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took
his glory from him” (Daniel 5:20). Nebuchadnezzar learned
his
lesson well, and we hear him say, of God, “those that walk in pride
He is able to abase” (Daniel 4:37). And Daniel says to
Belshazzar,
“And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart,
though
thou knowest all this” (Daniel 5:22). Belshazzar was weighed
in the balances of God’s infallible justice, and was found wanting. He
lacked humility and that very night Belshazzar was slain. He lived
proudly
and died in infamy. “When pride cometh, then cometh shame
…” (Proverbs 11:2).
Russia’s
Pride
A
Right View Of The Cross Humbles The Pride Of Man
“And
being found in fashion as a man, He (Christ) humbled Himself, and
became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians
2:8) Saul of Tarsus was a proud, haughty, stubborn,
stiff-necked
and high-minded Pharisee. He boasted and gloried in his Phariseeism. He
was the son of a Pharisee, and lived as a Pharisee (Acts 23:6,
26:5).
In due season he met the meek and lowly Messiah on the road to
Damascus,
and there his Phariseeism was burned out by the radiance of Him whose
remembrance
Saul was endeavoring to erase from the earth. Afterward, we hear the
voice
of humility say, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am chief” (I Timothy 1:15), and, “God forbid
that
I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians
6:14). Humility is a wonderful virtue, and should be sought after
by
all people, but when humility is put on parade, it turns to pride of
the
worst kind. A preacher of my acquaintance said, “I have a bad fault.
God
has blessed me with a broad knowledge of the Scriptures, and when I get
an opportunity I put this knowledge in a display case for everyone to
view.”
O’ the deceitfulness of pride.
A
public school superintendent said he wanted to get saved, but he did
not
want to get saved in the Wednesday night prayer meeting. He wanted to
get
saved on Sunday morning when there would be a crowd of people present.
Some people feel the same way about gifts to the church. They make sure
everybody knows they contributed.
Man,
in his fallen nature, is a proud creature, and spreads himself like “a
green bay tree.” By his word and his works he calls attention to
himself,
and pride is never more hateful than when it detracts from the cross of
Christ. Looking at the cross and counting the wounds in the blessed
body
of Christ, helps the saint to get his eyes off himself, and goes a long
way in subduing pride.
An
old country Baptist preacher met one of his neighbors on the road who
was
of a different kind of church. After the usual greetings the neighbor
said
to the old preacher, “Brother Baptist, you are not very humble are
you?”
The old brother replied quite seriously, “No, I am not half as humble
as
I ought to be, but I feel sure you are a humble man.” To which the
neighbor
replied, “Yes, I am, and I show it by washing the saint’s feet.” O’ the
deceitfulness of pride.
The
things Paul was proud of before he was saved, he counted as dung after
he was saved (Philippians 3:8). Lost friend, how many are the
things
you are proud of? Take all your assets, every penny; put them all
together
on one package with your supposed good deeds. The grand sum of which
cannot
purchase one square inch in heaven’s boundless acres. The supreme
accomplishments
of the flesh while they give great buoyancy to pride are but the means
of driving the soul downward from God.
(Sovereign
Grace Advocate - May, 1978)