God Loves… Himself

Ezekiel 28:17 – “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.”

We have seen the progression of pride from Satan to the human race. In previous BLOGS, we saw how it is pride that moves a person to violate God’s commands. Pride is not just something that comes and goes, but it controls the fallen human being. We can see how Satan deceived Eve and how she was injected, so to speak, with the vile nature of pride. But then we see it coming out in the children of Adam and Eve. Something has gone terribly wrong with the human race. God created human beings good, but they fell and now pride was ruling in them.

Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a man-child with the help of the LORD.” 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:1-9).

After the fall into sin Adam and Eve had two children (though most likely more). We can imagine this as a drama with tension and dramatic music playing as people wondered if the boys would have this horrible poison of pride in them. We see the pride of jealousy fairly quickly over the issue of bringing offering to the LORD. We see pride in Cain when he was mad and angry with Abel because Abel’s offering was accepted while Cain’s was not. Instead of looking at himself and asking God for what the correct offering would be, Cain was proud of his work and of his offering. There are some things here that should teach us about worship. God will not just accept any worship or offerings that we decide we want to offer. It is sheer arrogance on our part not to follow the ways and commands of God in worship. We can see the pride in Cain when he thought God should accept his offering, but we don’t see the pride in our own hearts when we try to determine what worship is according to our own desires.

The LORD warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door and it desired him. He told Abel, but did not take heed to himself. The LORD had warned Cain and asked him why he was angry. In other words, the LORD was pointing to the pride in Cain’s heart. The problem was not with Abel but with the pride in Cain’s heart. Here we also see the continuance of the pride of Adam and Eve. As soon as the fall occurred, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the devil. One sign of pride in the heart is when a person will not take the blame for sin but instead always blames another. Cain continued that practice of pride by blaming Abel in the issue of the offerings rather than look in his own heart. We then see the pride of Cain in that he was so angry with Abel that he killed him. Cain took the life of Abel which only God has a right to. In this act there was great pride in Cain and he violated all the commandments from his great pride. Murder is a hideous act of pride and demonstrates a self-centered and self-focused person that is more concerned with self than the welfare of other human beings and of the rights and honor of God.

As the story moves on we see the hardening of Cain’s heart. He was mad at Abel, but now he has no one else to blame but God. So he lashes out at God. It is when pride has blinded us and has taken our wisdom away that we think we can lie to God. Maybe this was also being like Adam who tried to hide from God. His answer about not being his brother’s keeper demonstrates much pride since he is talking to God. We began with the birth of Cain and went to the rejected worship of Cain. It shows the pride in Cain’s heart as he blamed Abel and then killed him. He then lied to God and was “smart” with God. The poison of Satan (pride) was now being seen in the children of men. The enmity between the seeds is also between blood brothers. As Satan deceived Eve through a serpent, so he now murders though his children. Satan was the real murderer from the beginning (Jn 8:44). How awful pride really is, though we see it better in others. It is much easier to see pride in others and blame others rather than self.

Ezekiel 28:17 – “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.”

If it is true that this passage (above) is speaking directly of the devil, we can see how he deceived Eve. But even if it is not speaking directly of the devil, we can still see the pattern of pride which comes from the devil. Pride starts with the heart being lifted up because of something in the person or something desired. Any wisdom or reason that the person has is then corrupted by that. The devil was the first being to sin that we know about. He led the fall of the angels and then deceived Eve. His pattern in deceiving others is according to the pattern in Ezekiel 28:17. He deceives the human being into thinking something about themselves and their heart is lifted up in pride. Once that happens, their wisdom is corrupted and they are easily led into sin. We can see that pattern in Genesis 3:1-6.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden ‘?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate (Genesis 3:1-6).

The serpent was indeed crafty, but his wisdom was now corrupted. Instead of using his wisdom to do all to the glory of God he used his wisdom to deceive human beings into sin. He began by questioning the character of God to Eve. The evil one told her that God was not telling her the truth but that God just didn’t want her to be like God. This is the original promise of the devil that so many have bought today. It was the promise to be like God. Eve desired the fruit of the tree to make her wise which is to say that she desired to be wise like God. We can see the pattern of the devil here. He deceived the woman into thinking that she could be like God and so her heart was lifted up in pride. With her thinking corrupted because of that pride she desired to have the wisdom of God. The moment a person desires to be like God that person has bought into a lie and it is a horrible pride that would desire that. Little do people see that behind every sin there lurks a darkened wisdom in the person playing God to self.

We see this pattern in the writings of John: “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 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” (I John 2:15-16). The world is defined in some way by John as being full of the lust of the flesh and of the eyes. It is also full of the boastful pride of life. Eve saw that the food was good for food (lust of the flesh) and that it was a delight to the eyes (lust of the eyes). The reason that it was a delight to the eyes is what she thought it would do for her. Her desire to have the wisdom that it would give was in effect the desire to be like God. That is the boastful pride of life. All of these things are not from the Father, but are from the world.

We can see from Ephesians 2:1-3 where the world and its patterns of life come from. “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, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” The course of the world is according to the prince of the power of the air. The prince of the power of the air is the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. They live according to the lusts of the flesh and indulge the desires of the flesh and of the mind. That is precisely the pattern we see in I John 2:15-16, Genesis 3:1-6, and then Ezekiel 28:17. All of these texts show us that sin starts with pride which corrupts the way we think which leads human beings to live as their own gods. The horrifying nature of pride is set out for us. Pride has its source in the devil and is always in rebellion against God. Pride exalts self and desires to be like God which blinds the soul to true wisdom and reason. This is the work of the deceiver. The person that lives by pride is really just repeating the sin of the devil as he works in them. How we need brokenness and grace.

In the last BLOG we looked at how in the past it was believed that the text below (Ezekiel 28:13-17) in some way spoke of Satan. It was by pride that he fell and it is by pride that he continues to work against God. The pride of Satan is such that he wants the glory himself and works so that human beings will not do all to the glory of God. He wants to work self-centeredness and pride in human beings along with the corresponding attitudes and perceptions of self-love and self-esteem. He wants human beings to be self-centered and self-focused in all they do because it is then that they are like him rather than God.

One way of looking at this is to see that God is triune. He loves Himself and is focused on Himself as triune. Since God is God, it would be sin for Him to be anything less than self-focused within the Trinity. However, Satan is not triune. He is not perfectly holy within himself in his self-love as God is, but instead is perfectly wicked and unholy in his love for himself in his singularity. When God loves Himself He also does what is best for those that are united to Him by faith and love as well. When a believer loves God with all of his or her being, then that believer loves the glory of God more than self or anything else. So when God manifests His glory in His love for Himself He is also doing what believers love the most as and that is what is good for them for all eternity. When Satan does what he does for himself his actions are hatred toward God and human beings.

“You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. 14 You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I places you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fir. 15 You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may see you” (Ezekiel 28:13-17).

When Satan (as in Ezekiel 28:17) was lifted up because of his beauty and his wisdom corrupted by that as well, he was focused on himself rather than the One that had created him. Satan became enamored with himself rather than as one that displayed the glory of God. That is pride. When God beholds Himself within the TrinityPr He beholds His image in the Son and the Son beholds the Father. When God’s love for Himself as triune is displayed that is the holiness and love of God displayed in the highest and most beautiful forms possible. When Satan manifests love for himself that is the most hideous form of evil and hatred for God and human beings possible. I John 4:8, 16 sets out for us that God is love. Yet John 8:44 tells us that the devil is the father of lies and was a murderer from the beginning. The contrast cannot be starker. The God who is love puts His love in the hearts of human beings and so they love because He first loved them (I John 4). Yet the devil puts the poison of his pride and self-love in the hearts of human beings and that leads to murder and all sorts of evil. When God loves Himself as triune it is a holy love and it is how He loves others. When the devil loves himself it can only end in hatred for God and others.

We must begin to see that love in us does not start with self-love since Satan is full of self-love. Love begins with God who is love. It is pride that thinks that human beings can love others and even God based on a love for self. It is pride in human beings that want to be the center of it all. It is pride in human beings that want to seek honor for themselves rather than live for the honor and glory of God. It is pride in human hearts that want all the attention of others. This pride in the heart has a source and it is Satan himself. He deceived Eve and then Adam sinned and the poison of self and pride took over in their hearts. The history of pride is seen in its origin and in all human activity since sin entered the human race. While Satan is not omnipresent and so cannot work directly in each human heart every moment, his poison of pride and self-love is in each and every heart because as the serpent he bit the first humans and injected his poison into them. It is now in us all. And as Moses was directed to put a serpent on a stick and hold it up so that all who saw it would be saved from the bite of the serpent, so Christ has been put on the cross and is the only deliverance from the bite of the serpent which is seen in our pride and self-love. A proud heart will never be humbled by its own efforts. That takes the power of God and He only does it by grace.

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling. 29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.

The examples in Scripture of people who have been brought down because of their pride are many. If we looked in history, we would find many more as well. If we could see behind what historians are interested in and see the hearts of those involved, history would be littered with wars, politics, criminal behavior, religious activity, and family situations where people were brought down and even to destruction because of pride. We rarely think of the utter destruction that pride causes and of its grim activity in the religious realm. There are many that are moral and are proud of their morality, but their pride in their morality makes them as spiritual prostitutes before God. Their very pride in their chastity is to commit spiritual adultery against God. The same thing is true in many areas of religious activities. Pride renders whatever is done as that which is idolatry because all that comes from pride, regardless of how religious it is or how much outward good it appears to do, is the idolatry of self.

We can go back to the origin of pride who is the devil or Satan. Jonathan Edwards speculated that the reason for the fall of Satan and the angels that followed him was essentially because of the pride of Satan. He believed, along with many in his day, that the Lord had made known to the angels His decrees that they would be ministers of human beings. Not only just human beings who were inferior to the angels by nature, but those human beings would be sinners. The very Lord of the earth would take human flesh to save sinful human beings and would rule over the angels in that human body as well. That was simply more than the devil could take. Those thoughts are built on texts like Ezekiel 28:13-17 which were seen as speaking primarily of Satan:

“You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. 14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I places you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fir. 15 “You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created Until unrighteousness was found in you. 16 “By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. 17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.

Even if one does not see this text speaking of Satan directly, this poison of pride came from somewhere. Satan is the author of pride in the human race as we shall see in later BLOGS. As a human being can do nothing in terms of bearing spiritual fruit apart from Christ, so pride has to have a source from another as well. The Holy Spirit works the fruit of love, joy, peace, and patience in the hearts of true believers (Gal 5:22), but Satan is working in the hearts of his children to express their hate, misery, antagonistic hearts, and impatience toward all but self (Titus 3:3). The human heart is in bondage to either sin or righteousness. The human heart either follows the ways of the world which is set up and governed by the prince of the power of the air who works in the sons of disobedience (Eph 2:1-3) or of Christ. So when Scripture speaks of pride, let us not forget the origin of that awful sin.

Satan was blameless in his ways until something unrighteous (pride) was found in him. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty which is a definition of pride. His wisdom was corrupted by that splendor which is what pride does. If we see history as Scripture sets out for us, we see it all as the outworking of the curse of the fall. There is enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent. The whole Old Testament revolves around that great battle as it follows the wars and battles as the seed of the Serpent struck against the seed of the woman. This enmity came and still comes because of the source of pride and enmity which is Satan. The children of Satan and of the devil hate God and His children. There has been and always will be (as long as the present earth continues) war between the seeds. While there are wars between the nations, the greatest war is against the children of God. We must never forget the real fight. Pride is ultimately against God in every situation and it is the devil working his poison in and through the hearts of human beings. This is why God hates pride and fights to bring it down. When a human being is proud, that is a true act of war against Him because that is what pride really is. When a human being has pride that is sharing in the nature and activity of the devil and that is truly evil.

“You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, who wander from Your commandments” (Psalm 119:21).

Pride in the heart is an issue with each sin. Pride prefers self to God and makes decisions based on self. Pride desires self and honor for self rather than doing all for the glory of God. Pride tells itself and others that it is doing all for the glory of God but its real desire is self. Pride is that which puffs up with self in the things of religion, and that also includes orthodox and conservative Christianity. It is pride which is in the heart that violates the commandments of God. The Greatest Command is to love God and it is pride that does all out of love for self. Pride wants to trust in self and the things of self, but Scripture tells us we are to trust in God with all of our being. Pride wants to do things in order to be saved, even if it gives orthodox names for them, but Scripture teaches that salvation is by grace alone apart from the works a human being can do for salvation.

The rich young ruler is an example of religious pride.

“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” 18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? “19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 “You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! 25 “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God” (Luke 18:17-27).

The teaching of Jesus is that one must receive the kingdom of God like a child. The ruler wanted to know what he could do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments and listed the fifth through the ninth commandments. The ruler had such a wrong idea of the commandments that in his pride he thought he had kept them. He thought he had kept them from his youth. So Jesus told him to sell all that he possessed and give it to the poor. It is not that the young ruler had kept the other commandments, but Jesus was showing the man his heart. This man was extremely rich and his heart was on his riches rather than on God. He was willing to keep the external parts of the commands to gain eternal life but he was not willing to follow all that Christ said.

Jesus was opening the eyes of this young man to the state of his heart. The man’s heart loved his riches and trusted in them. His true god was self and he loved the riches that he had for selfish reasons. He trusted in his riches rather than Christ. This man worshipped God according to the lines that he set and that means as long as he could be comfortable in doing so. When Jesus told him to sell all he had and give it to the poor, the man could not and would not cross the line that he had built up. He was willing to keep the external things but he was not going to give up what he loved more than all things and he was not going to trust in God above his riches. His heart was proud in that he loved riches more than God and he trusted in his riches more than God.

Luke 12 shows some of the real issues: “For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. 31 “But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 33 “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (vv. 30-34). In light of who the Father is and what He does, they were to sell their possessions and give to charity (or love). In doing this they demonstrated where their hearts were. What a person truly treasures that is where the person thoughts and loves are. The rich ruler’s heart was with his treasure. He would not sell all he had because he was a lover of self in his pride. This is why it is impossible for a rich man to enter into heaven. But then again, that is also why it is impossible for any person to enter into heaven. The proud heart will continue to trust in self and the things of self at all times until God delivers a person by His grace. America is a rich nation. Does it trust in God or its riches?

“You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, who wander from Your commandments” (Psalm 119:21).

That cursed sin of pride that other people have. Ah, but we have not learned the truth about pride until we hate it in ourselves. We have not learned to hate sin as sin until we learn to hate it in ourselves because of its relation to God. It is easy to hate sin in other people, but it is also easy to excuse it in our own hearts. Our self-love and pride make it easy to dismiss our own sin because we always have good reasons for it. But those other people, why they never have good reasons for what they do. We always have good reasons to think highly of ourselves, but others never have good reasons to speak highly of themselves. Pride is that beast in our own hearts that blinds us to itself and to our sin or at least minimizes it, yet it always maximizes the sin of others unless it is good for our pride to overlook theirs. The heart that operates by pride rather than love for God can do all the good things in some external way while it hides the motives and intents by an inflating of self that blinds the sight.

In the last BLOG we looked at how Jesus dealt with the sin of murder in the heart in the Sermon on the Mount. We prefer the stance of the Pharisees which left the sin of murder at the level of physical murder. But Jesus went to the depths of the heart and shows us that we violate the First Commandment in the sin of murder as well. When we murder another, whether in physical murder or in the heart or by our words, we are choosing self rather than God. It is God who commands us to love our neighbor and yet we hate our neighbor. In our heart, then, we are choosing our own wicked desires rather than the holy commands of God. What people say in our day is that we simply choose what we want. It is nothing but a choice. However, our choices are from our hearts and they never choose anything but what is according their greatest desires. When we choose sin, that is a choice that shows that our desires are for self rather than God. When we choose sin, it shows that we trust in our own wisdom rather than God. When we choose sin, it shows a heart that desires to please itself rather than God.

It is arrogance to choose self, the pleasures of self, the wisdom of self, and the honors for self rather than God. It is arrogance and pride for a human being to choose sin and self rather than God. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to seek God while the fallen heart teaches us to seek self. The Greatest Commandment commands us to love God with all of our beings and yet we flee from that and seek self. The First Commandment teaches us to have no god in the presence of the one and only true God, yet we seek self and all the things of self in His presence. We do nice things for others for the sake of self rather than out of love for God and His glory. We do nice things for others because we want ourselves and others to think well of us and we desire honor for doing nice things. However, that is not the same thing as doing those things out of true love for God and our neighbor.

In Matthew 5:27-32 Jesus deals with the issue of adultery. But again, we cannot look at this passage without seeing the fact that He is driving us to the issues of the heart and keeping the heart in the presence of God. Jesus tells us that if we look at a woman with lust for her we have already committed adultery. This is utterly shocking when we begin to get a grasp of what He is saying. The Seventh Commandment strikes to the heart and looks back to the First Commandment as well. If we commit adultery we are using another person that God has made for our own sinful purposes and we are not in obedience to God. We are also using ourselves for our own sinful purposes rather than for the purposes of God. God has created all things for His glory and pleasure and we are trying to use things and people for our own. In this sin it shows a heart that is not content with God’s way and is a heart that desires to rule over self and others rather than have no other gods in His presence.

The heart that lusts after other people is a heart that lives for its own desires rather than the desires of God. This is a heart that has no ruler but self and that is an act of arrogance and pride. The lusting heart is one that is coveting another person to fill its own lusts and desires in ways that God has forbidden. This is a heart that cares for nothing other than its own filthy pleasures. What does a person desire that looks upon another with lust in the heart? That person does not desire the glory of God but the desires and pleasures of self. The heart is always in the presence of God and it will lust after others while it appears so pious on the outside and around others. The heart can lust and commit adultery over and over in the presence of God while pretending a great righteousness in the presence of other human beings. When the heart commits sin before God over and over and yet will not do those things in front of others, it shows that the heart is more afraid of human beings than of God. It shows that the heart is so full of self that it wants honor before human beings while it commits hideous sin in the presence of God. That is pride.

“You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, who wander from Your commandments” (Psalm 119:21).

We are looking at the sin of pride. It is the sin that blinds people to sin and to pride itself. By virtue of what it is it hides itself from the hearts of those who have it. It takes the light of the Word of God by the Holy Spirit to illuminate the soul to its own pride. The soul that is blind in pride can be very religious. It can be very committed and devote itself to Bible study and outward prayer. It might even have much joy in its external religion and so fool itself even more that it has true joy in God. But pride is such that it blinds self to all other evidence and puffs up just a little positive evidence to be great and overwhelming evidence in its own eyes. Perhaps the two worse things that pride does are 1) diminish God in our eyes regarding the nature of sin against Him and 2) hide the sin of the heart from itself. Pride will fasten on the outward actions and ignore the desires and loves of the soul. Pride will lift up the outward actions as things that are so great and then simply push the things of the heart aside.

In this BLOG we want to look at how the heart violates the First Commandment. In fact, it is the heart that is the source of all violations of First Commandment. While the modern world is much like the religious world in the time of earthly sojourn of Jesus and looks to the externals primarily, God looked primarily upon the heart than and now. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus went directly to the heart in His teachings. The Pharisees were concerned with the outward acts and were focused on the honor of men in what they did. In the Beatitudes Jesus shows us that the real issue is with the heart. The focus in the Beatitudes is the heart. It was, in one sense, a direct attack on the religious actions and attitudes of the Pharisees then and now.

Jesus then went on and dealt with a few of the commandments. In Matthew 5:21-25 He starts with murder: “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ‘ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. 23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. 25 “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.”

The Pharisees were content and satisfied that they kept the Sixth Commandment as long as they did not take the life of another. However, Jesus takes this commandment and goes to the heart with it. He tells them that anger in the heart is the same as murder. He tells them that insults and attacks with the tongue are also violations of the Sixth Commandment. Even more, He tells them that before they worship God they must be reconciled to their brothers. This is a massive shot at the religious standards set out by the Pharisees and one that reached the depths of their souls. Even more, it should reach the depths of our souls in the present day.

What we can see from the teachings of Jesus on murder tells us a lot about the heart and the role of the heart in sin. In each act of murder, anger, insulting, and verbal attacking of others is an act of the heart. The act of murder starts off with some desire in the heart. Anger in the heart comes from a sinful act of the heart in most every case. Insulting another with malicious intent only happens as the intent of the heart is carried out. A verbal assault on another is also a display of a heart that desires the harm of another and is an attack on that person’s name or reputation. What we see, then, is the heart put on display. I John 3:15 tells us that “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Hatred is murder and demonstrates that eternal life does not abide in that person. Clearly this is an issue of the heart. With each act of the heart the soul demonstrates what it really loves and who its master really is. The proud heart gets so angry when it perceives that it cannot get what it wants and another is responsible for that. The proud heart is offended when something is said that it does not like. The proud heart is one that hates and attacks others with insults and verbal assaults. That proud heart shows that it serves self rather than God. The proud heart that hates and goes after others shows that it is in the service of the sinful and fleshly self rather than the living God. Each act of pride in the heart is an act of choosing and living for self rather than God. Pride will call it something else, but the stench of pride is still seen by God for what it is. If we truly hate sin, we will desire God to humble us from it. We will pray against ourselves.

“You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, who wander from Your commandments” (Psalm 119:21).

In the last BLOG it was noted how it is pride that moves a person to love self rather than God. It is pride to be centered and focused on self rather than centered and focused on God. It is a blindness brought on by a great pride that hides the evil of a heart that does all that it does out of love for itself and still thinks that God should be pleased. The arrogant wander from the commands of God, but the righteous cry to God not to wander from His commands: “With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments” (Psalm 119:10). The righteous, even when tricked and tempted, still don’t go astray: “The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts” (Psalm 119:110).

We can see this principle in Nehemiah as well: “But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments” (9:16). “And admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, By which if a man observes them he shall live. And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen” (9:29). The issue of the heart is pointed to by Nehemiah. Their fathers had acted arrogantly. In their arrogance they had become stubborn and would not listen to His commandments. It was not that they could not listen, but they would not listen. An arrogant and stubborn heart will not listen to the commands of God. When the arrogant and stubborn heart hears the words of the commands of God, it wants to do what it wants to do. It does not want God to rule over it and to tell it what to do. It wants to obey self and follow what it thinks is good for self. That stubborn heart then turns a stubborn shoulder toward God and stiffens its neck. This is a heart that is following itself in pride and is not listening to God.

What happens when a stubborn, proud, and self-centered heart externally hears the Word of God commanding it to have no other gods in His presence (before Him)? It may not understand what it really means and so obey in an external way or it may simply ignore it. But that heart that begins to understand what the command means it because it is a command for the proud, self-centered heart to repent of its own I-dolatry and its own self-godness. That is exactly what pride and self-centeredness really are in the presence of the living God in all of its forms and actions. The heart that God is working on and in begins to see how awful its own self-centeredness is in the presence of God. That heart begins to see that all of its thoughts and desires have been proud and self-centered in the presence of the God who commands that there be no other gods in His presence. This heart begins to see that it is its own god and that all that it does is in violation of the First Commandment. The heart begins to be opened and enlightened and sees with horror that every time it has used the name of God in something less than a reverent way it has violated the command to use His name with reverence and awe (not use it in vain) which is also a violation of the First Commandment.

The heart then begins to see that when it obeys its own desires on the Sabbath day it is choosing self and pride over the clear commands of God and is violating the First Commandment. The heart begins to reflect back and understand all the times that it did not obey his or her parents and even more the times s/he did not honor his or her parents it violated the First Commandment too. Even worse, it begins to see each violation of the Fifth Commandment is also a violation of dishonoring “Our Father who is in heaven.” Each time the soul has stolen something, lied to another or to God, and has coveted that soul has lived for the I-dol of self and has had the god of self in His presence. This soul begins to feel the crushing weight of its sin and sees that it has violated the First Commandment with its thoughts, desires, bad deeds, and even its good deeds. This soul begins to see that even its religious actions were done out of self-love and in reality was exalting self in the presence of God. This soul begins to feel the depths of its depravity and helplessness before God. It loses all sense of the sufficiency and righteousness of self. It looks to Christ and to Christ alone. It now sees how arrogant it was in wandering from the commandments of God. Now it knows that it must be broken of its pride and arrogance in order to be a humble and lowly servant of the living God in which Christ dwells. It now knows the promise of the New Covenant in which God Himself promises to work obedience to His Law in the hearts of those He dwells in. But this heart must start by seeing the depths of pride and self-centeredness that it lives in so that it can see the arrogance of wandering from the commands of God. That is indeed to be cursed because it means that it does not have Christ.

Proverbs 21:4, in the New American Standard, tells us that “Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.” There has been some discussion about how to translate this verse. The King James Version translates it this way: “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” We can at least see a connection between how these verses are interpreted and simply go on from there. A lamp gives the idea of a person shining it and following its light in whatever s/he does. Proverbs 6:23 says this: “For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life.” The NAS would then tell us that haughty eyes and a proud heart make up what the wicked follow. All that the wicked person does is from what his or her haughty eyes and a proud heart guides the person to do. In that case the plowing of a person would be from the “light” of haughty eyes and a proud heart.

Since the proud heart follows the “wisdom” and desires of the proud heart, it is easy to see what the proud heart follows and does in all it does. All that the proud heart does is based on the proud heart. All that the proud heart thinks flows from that proud heart which is also guided by haughty eyes. But we know that “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD” (James 4:6). It is a sinking feeling when the heart sees its own pride and realizes that God is opposed to it in all it does. The proud soul seeks self and what it thinks of as good for self in all it does. But God stands opposed to that and so the soul lives in utter vanity in what it does. Perhaps the soul gains a lot of wealth, but all of that is not good because God opposes the soul in terms of what it is truly good.

The proud heart and the haughty eyes are what determine the path of the wicked rather than the Word of God. Instead of the Word of God being “a lamp to my feet And a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105), the proud follow their own pride and face this: “You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments” (Psalm 119:21). We can then see the battle that goes on with the proud and the arrogant. Their pride is at war with God and His Word. They follow the light of their own proud hearts and what their haughty eyes see and lust for rather than what the commands of God set out in His wisdom. The wicked do indeed plow the fields but it is in accordance to the dictates and desires of the proud heart. This is utterly wicked and we can see how doing even the most mundane things in life the wicked are opposed to God in all that they do.

The Greatest Commandment is to love God with all of the heart, soul, mind, and strength, but the proud love themselves and do all out of love for themselves. The heart of the proud is all about self and in its self-exaltation and puffing up of self it is in direct violation of the Greatest Commandment. The affections of the heart are toward self rather than God. When the affections of the heart are toward self rather than God, it is clear that both the desires and delights of the heart are for self and not God. Whatever desires and delights the heart may have toward God are only toward God in light of some perceived benefit to self. In all that this heart does it follows the desires and delights of the proud heart that is focused on self. When this heart is religious, it is religious for self. When this heart does anything outwardly good, it does that out of its proud heart and does it for self rather than love for God. This proud heart that is religious desires to see itself as good and wants the applause of others for doing what it thinks is good. When a preacher has a proud heart, the preaching is done from pride rather than love for God or the people that the church consists of. When the elders are proud, even if they have a show of humility, all that they do is done from the light of a proud heart rather than the Word of God. All that the leaders and people in the church do if they are not truly humble is done from a proud heart and is wandering from the commandments of God. The very preaching, worship, prayer, and good works of professing churches are done from proud hearts and haughty eyes. This means that all of those things are done in violation of the commands of God.

This should give all a sense of the great need to humble self and seek the Lord for true humility. Pride in the heart means that all that is done in the outward keeping of the commands of God in reality is done in violation of the His commandments. How our souls must ask God to have mercy on us to show us if we are following our proud hearts which blind us to the real state of them. We must ask God to have mercy on us and give us true light that exposes the blinding nature of pride. Our pride does not want to see these things and actually hides the true state of our hearts by making us think our works have merit in them. We can be deceived by our own orthodoxy and faithful church attendance and activity. We can be deceived if we are nice and think we have real love. We can be deceived by our outward morality and our forced inward morality into thinking we have true holiness. Pride is such a vile beast it blinds us to all that is truly good and leads us in the path of what is truly evil.

We have seen from Proverbs 16:5 that everyone that is proud is an abomination to God. We have seen what God did to Belshazzar because He brings the proud down. Something in our hearts leads us to look at those in Scripture and think that they deserved it while we do not. But surely we are a proud people and are using the things of the Lord in praise of idols and of the big I-dol of self. The Lord tells us in Psalm 101:5 that “No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.” It is rather arrogant of us to think that He brings down all the proud and yet He will not treat us that way. It is our haughty looks at others who are in Scripture and perhaps others in the world that God will not endure. The prophet Jeremiah tells us in chapter 13 to “Listen and give heed, do not be haughty, For the LORD has spoken” (v. 15). When we do not give heed to the words of the Lord in Scripture, we are indeed haughty people. Who are we to ignore, not listen, turn our heads away, or even twist Scripture so that we can find an excuse not to obey the Lord? It is indeed arrogance and pride to do so.

Proverbs 16:18 tells us that “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.” Do we listen and take heed to that verse? Proverbs 18:12 tells us again that “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, But humility goes before honor.” Do we listen and take heed to that verse? Could it be that in the modern churches we have taken our definitions of pride and humility from the world rather than the Word of the living God? If our nation is indeed as full of pride and arrogance as I think it is, we are ripe for destruction. If the professing churches in our nation are as full of pride and arrogance as I think they are, they are ripe for destruction. In fact, the Lord may be deep in His process of turning both this nation and the professing churches over to their pride and to destruction. Sure that sounds very negative, but it is also much closer to what the Word of God describes than all those so-called positive thinkers that abound. Positive thinking is one thing, but it can never overthrow the Word of God. The Word of God tells us that “Pride goes before destruction” and that “before destruction the heart of man is haughty.” Those things mean something despite our active denials of them.

It has been said many times, accurately quoting Scripture, that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). God does oppose the proud. He does stand in battle alignment to fight the proud. But that verse does not just mean all those secular people out there, it means all that are proud. It means that if I am proud and that if you are proud God stands against us and will fight against us and bring us down. It is not just something that is true for people in history and for all the other people, but it is true for me and for you. The Word of God gives us the way it is and we must quit fighting it from our pride or we will be destroyed. We think we can go waltzing into a building for an hour or so on Sunday mornings and things will be okay with God. We think that if we sing a few songs that speak of God and of course according to our own musical taste God will accept that as worship. We think that if the preacher says a few nice things about God and I listen to some degree that I have put forth the effort. We think that if we read our Bibles and say our prayers God will be pleased. But all of those things can be and certainly appear to be done out of pride rather than a humble seeking of the Lord. The professing Church is in trouble when even its religious things and activities are nothing more than expressions of its pride.

How we must begin to search our hearts and ask God to open our eyes to this beast of pride that lurks in us and spoils all that we do. Without love nothing we do is acceptable to God and yet with pride all we do is poisoned by those things which are an abomination to God. God sent fire to consume Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire, so what will He do to a people that offer prayers and worship that are mixed with pride? It is not just that our nation has a lot of outward sin to repent of, but each and every person has a vast amount of abominable pride in the heart to repent of. It is not just that we have criminals that need to repent, but we have the professing Church that must repent of pride. How loathsome it must be to God to see the pride in hearts on Sunday mornings. What an abomination it must be to Him to see such pitiful prayers, songs, preaching, and other things that are done out of hearts of pride rather than humble hearts seeking His face. Psalm 138:6 tells us plainly that “though the LORD is exalted, Yet He regards the lowly, But the haughty He knows from afar.” Why is the power and presence of God not with the professing Church? It is because He is far off. We are more interested in getting people into our buildings rather than seeking God to come down in power. That is nothing more than pride and arrogance on our part. How desperately we need to remember that grace only comes to the humble and that our pride may be hidden under a guise of religious humility. We must be broken before we can do anything spiritual because Jesus Christ will not dwell in a temple full of leprous pride that is rotting our souls. We must cry out to Him to deliver us from ourselves and our pride because our pride cannot deliver us from our pride. It will, however, deceive and damn us.