Proverbs 16:5, “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: though hand join in hand he shall not be unpunished.”
Pride is defined as “an inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority; boastful. The opposite is humility.
The bible warns repeatedly throughout both the old and new testaments about the sin of pride. Pride in a person causes them to refuse to admit fault or sin. Pride will cause a person to feel that they are better than others.
Galatians 6:3, “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”
The truth is that no one is better than anyone else. We all are sinners in need of forgiveness and salvation. We all need to admit our sins to be forgiven. Proud people try to exalt themselves over others. They say, “I’m better than you, you’re a terrible person.” The truth is that we have all sinned. We are all sinners.
Instead of pride, we need to be filled with humility. A humble person realizes what they are, poor wretched sinners whose only hope is to come to Christ for forgiveness. Christ will raise up the humble and lowly, and bring low those who are filled with pride.
Proverbs 29:23, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.”
Proverbs 11:2, “When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.”
Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.’
The parable about the Pharisee and the publican in Luke 18 illustrate for us the danger of pride. In this passage, the Phraisee’s prayer was filled with pride, feeling like he was such a great person. He felt that he was perfect and didn’t need God’s forgiveness. He even went so far as to specifically target the publican.
Meanwhile, the publican wouldn’t even look up to heaven, ashamed of his sin. He knew that he was a sinner. He knew that he needed forgiveness. He didn’t exalt himself in pride over others, he simply said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus taught that this man was justified, rather than the Pharisee, because he recognized what he truly was. It is what we all are. Sinners.
James 4:6, “…God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
Proverbs 26:12, “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.”
Phillipians 2:3, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
So instead of pride, we need to be humble. Humble is “not proud or arrogant; having a feeling of insignificance, or inferiority; low in rank or importance; lowly.”
God gives grace and raises up those who are humble.
1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
Luke 14:11, “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Always remember that God hates pride. We need to rid pride out of our lives and accept the fact that we need to be saved, and we can’t do it on our own. We need to humble ourselves in front of Christ and beg for mercy and forgiveness.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 