In the previous BLOG we looked at how pride/self is the heart of sin. It is the soul’s desire to be god to itself and to do all it does in its own power guided by its own wisdom. Humility is what the soul needs in order to be an instrument of God. However, as one thinks back through all the passages of Scripture it appears that Jesus saved His worst or harshest words for the Pharisees and some of His kindest words for those coming out of deep sin. The Pharisees were very religious and stringent in their writing and keeping of laws, yet Jesus called them hard names and directed His hardest teachings toward them. It would see that a proud heart in religion is even worse than a proud heart given over to open sin. One would think that Jesus would not be as hard on the religious people, but instead He was even harder on them. In modern language, what is up with that?
It seems counterintuitive that very religious people are worse than open sinners to Jesus in some way. But if we come to understand that pride is the heart and the fountain of sin, even making a person like the devil, then this opens a door to understanding the issue. This shows the utter necessity of a heart being changed and the life of humility being in the soul. It is not the religion and it is not the external works that God is pleased with, but it is a matter of the heart. The external sin is still not the worst of sin, but it is the degree of pride in the heart. So a person that prays thinking that it is a way to please God has a high level of the wickedness of pride to do so. Those who live in external sin do in fact sin against God, but they don’t assume that God is pleased with them and their actions. Those with pride in their religion not only displease God with their actions because they are not from Him, but their hearts are far from Him and they are proud of what they are doing and of their sin.
Another thing to consider is that the Pharisees thought of themselves as teachers. Indeed they taught, and even things about the Bible, but they did not teach the truth of God. They taught their own reprehensible system of trying to please God in their own strength by keeping the laws that they had set up. This is seen in Matthew 25:2. When a person uses the Bible to teach his own morality and religion rather than God’s, this is an attack on God Himself. It is to use His Law to set up one’s own law. It is to use His Word to establish one’s own word. It is to use His authority to establish one’s own authority. This is what a proud heart does. The humble heart wants to know what God’s morality and religion truly are and would tremble that others follow it rather than God. The humble heart wants people to follow God’s law and would tremble to change the least part of His law. The humble heart is established on the authority of God and only wants others to bow to His authority.
Another principle that is involved in this is that teachers will be judged with a harder judgment. What we see, then, is that those who claim to speak for God need to speak accurately or they misrepresent God. Those who claim religion in some way represent God and those who are leaders teach in a way that represents God. A proud heart that tries to represent God is actually trying to represent God by the heart and mind of the devil (pride). Teachers and preachers who try to teach about God and yet do so with a proud heart are serving themselves in the place of God and represent the devil teaching Eve about God. A proud heart is in no condition to take the covenant of God and try to teach about it. A proud heart has no business trying to speak of a humble Messiah. A proud heart knows next to nothing in reality about God and is doing the work of the devil. A proud soul takes the law of God and turns it into what the devil wants it to be. A proud soul teaches morality just like the devil wants it to be. A proud soul tries to establish the religion of the devil in the name of God. A proud soul uses the name of authority in an effort to establish its own authority which is the authority of the devil.
Christianity is the heart of true religion because in it the truth and glory of God are manifested in and through Jesus Christ. Christianity is the heart of true religion because it has the message of the glory of God and the Church is the very body of Christ to the world. A proud heart knows nothing of the truth of these things and whether the person tries to or not a proud heart is the devil’s effort at gaining control of a church and of the message of the glory of God. The devil can use a proud heart to deceive others about the Gospel. The devil can use a proud heart to distort the truth of the real God. The devil uses proud hearts to gain the service of many who think they are serving God.
There is no wonder that God hates the proud who are religious more than those who are simply openly sinning. Humility, then, is not just something extra, it is utterly vital in order to have the truth of God in the soul and for the establishment of true Christianity. God does oppose the proud even in their religion (ask the Pharisees), but He gives grace to the humble. The humble have God dwelling in them so He sees His own glory in them.
God Loves... Himself 
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