“Pride, we may be sure will keep us out of God’s presence, because it would not suffer angels themselves to stay in it” (Edward Pelling, 1692).
Matthew 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. 15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
Pride, being a great blinder to the spiritual eye, will blind a person to the appropriate gate for entrance to life and death. One way that pride, which as Pelling says above, will keep us out of the presence of God, is to blind us to what the Word of God says on all matters. Each and every person in the world is blinded by pride to some degree, but to those who are interested in spiritual things (for some reason), pride is a horrible blinder. Oh how the heart fights the light and loves darkness. Oh how the heart hates to think that it is full of sin and spiritual disability. Oh how the heart longs to trust in itself and hates the idea of grace which God only gives as He pleases and completely apart from the worth and merit of those who receive it.
But joined with the heart and its opposition to truth and spiritual reality, are the false prophets. They come with the appearance of meekness and great learning, but they are in reality nothing more than ravenous wolves. But the eye that is blinded by pride and self can only see the sheep’s clothing and that blinded eye can only see the appearance of meekness. Pride blinds the heart and it is won over by the great learning and blinded even more by that. Could it be true that the United States has a greater number of wolves (vastly greater number?) in the pulpits than of true sheep? The nation of Israel was plagued when they had hardly any true sheep as prophets and virtually all the men in that office were wolves. The nation of Israel was plagued when the scribes and the Pharisees held the spiritual offices and ruled over them as wolves.
Could it be true that while the narrow gate and the narrow way are hidden to the proud heart, that it is even more hidden by wolves in the pulpits of the land? Could it be true that vast numbers of people are on the broad way and that their confidence is strengthened by men in the pulpit declaring that they have peace, peace when in fact they have no peace with God? Not only does pride blind a person to truth, it also blinds people to those who are telling the truth and blinds people to those who are teaching great error in the name of truth.
It is not that the wolves stand up and tell people that they are wolves, but they might even be deceived themselves and are trying to convince themselves and others that they are really sheep. Why is it that the Gospel is so rarely heard in our day? It is because there are so many false gospels running around with wolves declaring the false gospels as true. When the Bible is read with unspiritual eyes and preached by unspiritual men, the way of truth and of the Gospel of the glory of God is hidden. The Gospel is all about the glory of God in the face of Christ, but unspiritual men are able to twist the facts of the true Gospel and make it all about men. The facts of the Gospel can be related as true, but unspiritual men will always twist those for their own purposes.
The Scriptures are so clear that the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. It is so clear that there are few that find it. This should awaken souls to the reality of the situation, but proud hearts will blow the words of Scripture off or wrest them to their own destruction. But the situation is made even worse because there are so many wolves around trumpeting the way to life when in fact they are trumpeting the ways of death. There are so many wolves around crying out that one must be on a narrow path, but in fact they are trumpeting the broad road in reality.
The proud hearts of wolves are too proud to admit that they are wolves, so they keep trying to convince themselves and others that they are really nothing but meek lambs. These proud men (wolves) may proclaim a lot about Christ, but they will not declare the truth of the sovereign Lamb of God who must open hearts Himself. These proud wolves will speak much of grace, but they will not speak of the sovereign grace of God who saves to His own glory. These proud wolves will speak of repentance, but not a true and thorough repentance that God alone can work. They focus on the worth and ability of men, but not of God. The wolf does not want men to look to the Shepherd, but instead to look to themselves.
God Loves... Himself 
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