The heart of man pants everlastingly after distinction; and our pride only changes its appearance. Mine, I find, is grown to a goodly size, under the show of humility (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Many thoughtless people who have never taken the time to examine their own hearts may read the quote above or something like it and know that it does not describe them. This simply shows that they are in darkness and have not seen their own hearts in the light. The heart is like an attic or a basement that is full of spiders, mice, and all kinds of animal life but is not seen because it is in the dark. But if someone turns on the light, all the things that were invisible in the dark become visible.
John 3:19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”
John 8:43 “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”John 12:42 “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue, 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”
It was judgment on the people of that day that the Light Himself came into the world and yet men loved the darkness rather than Him. Why did they love the darkness rather than the Light Himself? Because their deeds were evil and they did not want them exposed. The religious people of that day wanted to keep their positions of power and their distinctions among the people because they loved the honor they received from the people. It was to these religious people that Jesus said that because He spoke the truth they did not believe Him. Their hearts were the problem, not Jesus. He was truth and light Himself and His words and deeds shone the truth to and in these religious elite of the day and they hated Him because of that.
The Pharisees were born in sin and they were of their father the devil. They could not understand what Jesus taught because they could not hear Him, that is, hear Him as to what He said and desire what He said. The devil lies and has no truth in him and so that is how his children are. The Pharisees, again, were the religious elite of the day and Jesus said to them very clearly that they were children of the devil. Their hearts desired distinction among the people of that day and they were able to obtain that distinction in religion. But when Jesus came and spoke Truth to them, they could not hear Him and would not hear Him or believe Him precisely because He spoke the truth and they were not of the truth.
Oh how deceptive the heart of man is and how man is so deceived by his heart and he is so deceived that he loves being deceived. Man is born in sin and his father is the father of lies and has no truth in him, yet his children are like him in that way. So when someone with the truth comes and proclaims it, just like it happened with the Pharisees, they are deceived by their own hearts which have no truth in them. As the proud hearts of the Pharisees did not want to admit that they were sinners and so needed a Savior because they would lose their distinction among the people, so people today don’t want to admit that they are helpless sinners. Many of them may be pastors or men of distinction in churches, but when they hear about sin they won’t listen to it or believe it. When they hear that Christ is the only way, they won’t hear about it and refuse to believe it. Indeed under the show of humility they think that their humility earns them distinction. Proud hearts are a judgment from God and it takes omnipotent power and grace to bring a proud sinner to true humility.
God Loves... Himself 
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