Ezekiel 28:17 – “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.”
Genesis 6 is the next move of God in terms of the seeds. The proud seed of the serpent had apparently taken over the earth except for one man. Verse 5 tells us that “the wickedness of man was great on the earth.” While the modern day religious folks might think that homosexuality, abortion, and divorce were the causes of this, the LORD had His eye even deeper than those things. As in New Testament times when the Pharisees were focused on external things, but their hearts were all about self in the sense that from their pride they sought the honor of men, so the LORD in Genesis sees that “every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Here is the indictment of the LORD on human beings. It was not just that they had many wicked things to answer for, but that their thoughts were evil. It was not just that the thoughts of their hearts were evil, but that the thoughts of their hearts were only evil and that continually. But it was not just that each thought of each heart was evil, but that ever single intent of each thought of each heart was evil.
If we catch even a glimpse of this text we must gasp as the horror of our own hearts settles upon us. God looks upon my heart, but He also beholds the thoughts of my heart. He not only knows the thoughts of my heart, but He sees the intent of the thoughts of my heart. 1 Chronicles 28:9 tells us this: “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” Hebrews 4 drives the stake, so to speak, even deeper: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (v. 12).
What we see from these two texts is that God has not changed from Genesis 6:5. God still judges the intents of the thoughts and it is not just something in ancient history. But, some will surely say, I don’t have many evil thoughts and I surely don’t intend them in an evil way. They will say that they are basically good people and that they are not like those people in Genesis. I am sure that is pretty much what the people in Genesis 6 would have said. In Genesis 6:12 it tells us that “all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.” Later on in Scripture that is precisely what is said about sinners in Isaiah: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him” (53:6). “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts” (65:2).
How can it be that every intent of the thoughts of the heart be wicked? We must see what God thinks is wicked rather than accept our own standards for what is wicked. We have seen the pattern of Genesis 3:1-5 carried out in 1 Jn 2:16: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” It is not just that a thought has to be wicked, but when we have pride of life we are living and thinking in a way that is according to pride. Proverbs 21:4 also tells us that “Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.” That which guides the wicked and gives light or is that which they follow is pride. When a person follows his or her own way rather than God’s, that is wickedness. When a person is interested in what is good for self rather than God’s, that is pride.
The pride of the devil was in being lifted up in his own heart and seeking his own way and his own glory. The pride of the Pharisees was in being lifted up in their own heart and seeking their own way and their own glory. The people described by God in Genesis 6:5-12 were not all outwardly wicked people, but they were following their own ways as they followed their own hearts doing what they pleased. When a person is following self, even the religious deeds of that person are vile and wretched before God. There is a lot of self in the modern religious scene. There are many arguments about how to worship. Most of those discussions are about how “I like to worship.” Yet God tells us that true worship must be in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). When we want a church to be like what we want, that might be simply following the ways of self. Ephesians 2 speaks to this: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind.”
The seed of the serpent flourished in Genesis through the pride of human beings. The seed of the serpent flourished in the religion of the Pharisees through the pride of human beings. They simply followed their own way which is to follow the pride of the heart. To follow the pride of our own hearts is to follow the course of the world. It is to follow the course set out by the prince of the power of the air who still works in the sons of disobedience. It is to indulge the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Those who live in open sin do this and those who are very religious can do this as well. When the intent of a thought is for self, there is nothing but a wicked intent that is there because it is pride. After all, we are commanded to love God with all of our hearts and minds. It is nothing but pride to have an intent of a thought of the heart or mind to be for self. How many thoughts pass through our beings everyday that are not out of love for God but are oriented on self? Those are proud intents and therefore are wicked intents in His presence. Even if the thoughts are good, they have wicked intents. Pride is that which spoils everything that we think or do. It is a poison that poisons all we do. We must be humbled or all we thing and do comes from a proud heart. God destroyed all by water once, but He will destroy all by fire the next time. Let us seek to be humbled from our proud hearts.
God Loves... Himself 
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