We are all proud at times, which is why we gossip, talk about others and sin wilfully against God (Romans 7:14-25). May we all with God's help refrain from such awful things. The first step to overcoming such wickedness is to develop a hatred for it, especially in ourselves. I hate gossip. I hate pride. I hate hearing the Lord's name taken in vain. I hate wickedness. The reason why I hate these things is because of God's Holy Spirit Who lives inside of me as a child of God (Romans 8:9). I wish I could shut Hollywood down. I wish I could forever close down Sin City Las Vegas. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Psalms 97:10 commands us all to HATE EVIL, just as the Lord hates evil.
Again, the middle letter of the words “SIN” and “PRIDE” is the letter “i.” When I say “overcoming sin” I don't mean sinless perfection, which is impossible in this earthly body. Proverbs 24:16, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” Even the best Christians still commit sin, hurt others and mess-up at times. We all sin every day in deed and thought, whether it be failing to pray earnestly for our nation's leaders, gossiping, watching something unholy on television or taking our eyes off Jesus. When we become proud, we become blinded to our own sins and faults. There's nothing more disgusting than a self-righteousness person.
I'm a big sinner and I dare not condemn anyone for their sins. I preach against open wickedness in our degenerate American culture, and I earnestly expose falsehoods, but I judge no one. I once heard Dr. Jack Hyles say during a Sunday evening service, as I sat to his left listening intently from a pew in the back, that the best Christian in the auditorium probably felt like the worst Christian in the building. That made me feel better, because I did feel like the worst Christian in the building. You see, the closer you draw to God, the worse of sinner you'll feel like, as you see God's in His holiness. Hebrews 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire.”
The dangerous thing about the sin of pride is that you often don't realize what's happening until it's too late and you're already deep-in-over-your-head. The Bible calls this dangerous tendency, “the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:13, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” This Scripture means that the more sin is tolerated, the less awful it seems. The preacher John Wesley wisely said, “What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace!” That is so very true!
In the 1930's we tolerated legalized booze in the United States. Then we embraced Hollywood in the late 1940's. Whereas only 6,000 U.S. households owned a television in 1946, by 1952 it was 22,000,000 households who owned a TV set. Our nation tolerated Hugh Hefner's sinister Playboy philosophy in the 1950's, which led to an epidemic of sexual immorality in the 1960's. Consequently, the abortion industry became federal law in the 1970's, to dispose of unwanted children. And now after decades of tolerating Hollywood's sexually perverse influence, our nation has embraced the morally reprehensible homosexual agenda. This is all the result of arrogant, stiffnecked, sinful, pride!!!
Sin must never be allowed to go unchecked in our life, our family, our church or our community. This is why I preach hard and uncompromisingly against the new modern corrupt Bible versions! Most churches have become hardened (calloused) through the deceitfulness of sin, embracing Satan's counterfeits.
It is because of man's wicked pride that he refuses to seek after God. Psalms 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” As you just read, it is a sin not to include God IN ALL OUR THOUGHTS. When most people go on vacation, they usually leave God behind at home. They go to worldly places, don't pray, and forget about God while. God pity the backslidden believer that goes to Las Vegas (Sin City) for vacation. You couldn't pay me to go to Las Vegas, which is nothing but a place of sexual immorality.
Our nation's schools, universities and colleges are prisonhouses of ignorance, because they leave out God. Proverb 14:3, “In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.” An educator who leaves out God is a fool. 2nd Timothy 3:7, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
The Bible has much to say about the sin of pride. Proverb 13:10, “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.” We read in Proverbs that “ONLY BY PRIDE” cometh contention—whether it be a rebellious wife filing for divorce, an abusive husband who mistreats his family, a greedy lawyer who bilks his clients, a dishonest salesman who cheats his customers, or a carnal believer who won't go soul-winning, et cetera. Proverb 13:10, “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.”
Proverb 13:10, “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.”
Proverb 13:10, “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.”
Proverb 13:10, “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.”
Proverb 13:10, “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.”
My friend, ONLY BY SINFUL PRIDE comes contention. We all struggle with contention because we are sinners by nature and by choice. Divorces are always caused by the sin of pride. When we sin, it is because of pride. I don't care how much you try to avoid arguments, fighting and contention, they will happen for the rest of your life, because we are all sinners struggling with pride. Romans 12:18, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
It is not always possible to live peaceably with all men, because many people are wicked and unreasonable. 2nd Thessalonians 3:1-2, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.” That is very interesting that the Apostle Paul requested the prayers of the believers at Thessalonica, that God would deliver them from unsaved enemies who were wicked and unreasonable.
America is quickly descending into wickedness because of sinful pride. It was pride that compelled the U.S. Supreme Court to remove and ban the Holy Bible from all U.S. classrooms in 1962-1963. Since that horrible decision, our nation has deteriorated significantly. I need the prayers of my web visitors, that God would continue to give this Gospel preacher free course to preach THE TRUTH on the internet. Like John the Baptist, I am a voice crying in the wilderness of cyberspace. Proverb:11:2, “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” We are losing our liberties and freedoms fast in the United States, because people are not fighting against the blatant encroachments against our God-given liberties. The U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights do not grant us our rights, but merely outline our God-given inalienable rights. Give me liberty or give me death!!!
