Pride.....(various)

Thousands imagine that they are humble

(J. C. Ryle, "The Gospel of Luke" 1858)

"A dispute arose among them as to which of them
was considered to be greatest." Luke 22:24

See how firmly pride and love of preeminence
can stick to the hearts of Christian men!

The sin before us is a very old one . . .
ambition,
self esteem, and
self conceit
lie deep at the bottom of all men's hearts, and
often in the hearts where they are least suspected.

Thousands imagine that they are humble,
who cannot bear to see an equal more honored
and favored than themselves!

The quantity of envy and jealousy in the world
is a glaring proof of the prevalence of pride.

Let us live on our guard against this sore disease,
if we make any profession of serving Christ. The
harm that it has done to the Church of Christ is
far beyond calculation.

Let us learn to take pleasure in the prosperity
of others, and to be content with the lowest
place for ourselves.

We know but little

(From the letters of William Tiptaft, 1803-1864)

We know but little of the deceit and wickedness
of our own hearts; and that detestable pride
which is interwoven with every fiber of them.

"The human heart is most deceitful and desperately
wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" Jer. 17:9

The flame of vainglory?
(Thomas Reade, "Christian Meditations")

It is comparatively easy to live in
the form of godliness....
to attend the service of the sanctuary,
to pray in private and in the family,
to read the Scriptures,
to associate with religious people,
to talk about religion, and
to give alms to the poor.

These duties can be performed, yet
the heart may not be right with God.

Experience affords abundant proof,
that all this may be done....
from a principle of self righteousness;
from a principle of vainglory;
from a desire to be seen of men,
and to obtain a name.

To ascertain my real character, I must look
into the heart. Do I labor to perform these
outward duties with a single eye to the favor
and glory of God?

The flame of vainglory, which is kindled by
the pride of fallen nature, is fanned and
increased by the suggestions of Satan, and
kept alive by the praises of men. Oh! how
difficult it is, to keep down this unhallowed fire!

Even when we think it is quenched, it is still
smoldering beneath the embers, ready to burst
forth at the least blast of Satan's temptations.

Low in the deep valley of humility

(Jeremy Taylor)

Jesus proposes Himself as our example, by
exhibiting in His own perfect character, the
twin sisters of meekness and humility.

His whole life was a great, continued descent . . .
from the glorious bosom of His Father,
to the womb of a poor maiden;
to the form of a servant;
to the likeness and miseries of sinful flesh;
to a life of labor;
to a state of poverty;
to a death of a criminal;
to the grave;
to the intolerable calamities which we deserved!

It is but reasonable that we should be as humble in
the midst of our greatest imperfections and basest
sins--as Christ was in the midst of His holy and
perfect life, and most admirable virtues.

We have lost all ground for pride. Everything . . .
our ignorance,
our weakness,
our sins,
our follies
prescribe to us, that our proper dwelling
place is low in the deep valley of humility.

Humility glorifies God; pride dishonors Him.

Humility makes men like angels;
pride makes angels to become devils.

Humility is the temper of holiness;
pride is folly.

Humility is the way to glory;
pride is the way to ruin and confusion.

Humility makes saints on earth;
pride undoes them.

Humility beatifies the saints in heaven;
pride disgraces a man on earth.

God loves humility;
Satan solicits pride.

O Lord! I desire to be humbled

Under a sense of my sins and unmerited mercies,
I desire through grace, in sincerity and humility of
soul, to approach to the Author of all my mercies,
and to lay before You, O merciful Father! all my
plans--desiring Your divine direction.

And, in the first place, I confess my own sins. I
desire to be humbled under my natural proneness
to evil and aversion to good; for my many sinful
thoughts, which You, O Lord, know; for my wrong
conceptions of the great Jehovah, and the smallness
of my holy fear when in Your presence, calling on
You before whom all the earth should tremble.

I also desire to be humbled for my limiting God,
as if he were not Almighty; for not placing all my
faith and hope on Him alone, but on appearances
and probabilities; for my ingratitude to God for
His many matchless mercies to me in feeding and
clothing me, and giving me favor in the eyes of
men with whom I had to do. Providence has never
failed me, but always supplied me; yet in the time
of prosperity I sinned, and joined with sinners in
their follies, which now I lament, and desire to be
humbled for.

O to learn the language of Your rod!

O Lord! I desire to be humbled for . . .
all my prevailing lusts and passions;
my spiritual pride,
my ignorance of the things of God,
my barrenness under the gospel,
my lukewarmness about the things of Christ;
my carelessness about pious duties.

Ah! that ever I should doubt the good will of Him
who heard my cry and delivered me out of the hand
of my fierce afflictions, manifesting His mighty power.
I desire to be humbled for my earthly-mindedness
and my desire after temporal things--riches, honor,
and glory--which perish and pass away. I desire to be
humbled for that great mountain of sins accumulated
on me since my last season of prayer.

And now I desire to lay before You my petitions. And
first of all, O to be daily getting nearer and nearer You;
to be growing more and more acquainted with lovely
Jesus, increasing more and more in grace, becoming
more and more like You, and daily less conformed to
the world; to be delighting more and more in spiritual
things, given more and more to meditation on the glory
to be revealed, loving Him more and more, who loved me!

O to be delighting in God all the day long, living in His
fear as before Him always, learning more and more
submission to His disposals in providence, and more
and more persuaded of the rectitude of His will, the
equity of His law, the longness of His patience, and
His care of His own. O to get some victory over
prevailing sin, and that which so easily besets me!
O, Let never the greed for money get a hold of my
heart; keep me from covetousness.

Now, O Lord, in the hope that You will hear, I lay
all my petitions before You. Choose what you will,
cast away what you will--I will be content. I commit
myself to You. I take You as my God and Father,
for my Savior, for my Sanctifier forever. O hear!

I desire in truth, O majestic Jehovah! to call these
heavens over my head, the hills and mountains around
me, the growing grass--to be witnesses, that I this
day subscribe with my hand to be Yours, wholly
Yours. Amen, amen! So be it!

James Meikle, July, 1752.
(from a paper found among his remains)

God's most stubborn enemy!

(Jonathan Edwards, "Spiritual Pride")

"I hate pride and arrogance!" Proverbs 8:13

"The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure
of this: They will not go unpunished." Prov. 16:5

Pride is a person having too high an opinion
of himself.

Pride is the first sin that ever entered into the
universe, and the last sin that is rooted out.

Pride is the worst sin. It is the most secret of
all sins. There is no other matter in which the
heart is more deceitful and unsearchable. Alas,
how much pride the best have in their hearts!

Pride is God's most stubborn enemy! There is no
sin so much like the devil as pride. It is a secret
and subtle sin, and appears in a great many
shapes which are undetected and unsuspected.

"I hate pride and arrogance!" Proverbs 8:13

"The Lord detests all the proud of heart. Be sure
of this: They will not go unpunished." Prov. 16:5

Vain-glory, self-delight and pride

(William Plumer, "Vital Godliness: A Treatise
on Experimental and Practical Piety" 1864)

In practical piety, there is no greater mistake
than the persuasion that if we are pleased with
ourselves--that God is also pleased with us.

Vain-glory, self-delight and pride--
blind, bewilder, and intoxicate!

On the other hand--shame for our own vileness,
sorrow for our shortcomings, self-loathing for
undeniable turpitude of our soul--are profitable.

Men must either part with their pride and good
opinion of themselves--or they must part with
the hope of a blessed eternity. You must either
take your place in the dust before God--or be
cast down to hell.

"What a wretched man I am!" Romans 7:24

"I abhor myself!" Job 42:6

"Behold, I am vile!" Job 40:4

"Woe is me! For I am undone!" Isaiah 6:5

Some good references here concerning pride.

But, in the article by James Meikle, he is asking God to humble him.

James 4v10, 'Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up'.

Or, in other words, God expects us to humble ourselves before Him.

Again in 1 Peter 5v6 it says, 'Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time'.

Psalm 35v13,'...I humbled myself with fasting...'

Maybe we can learn something about fasting and humility.

Deut 6v11, ...when you have eaten and are full,

vs 12, 'then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage'.

Deut 8v3, 'So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know...'

God humbled Israel to test their faithfulness to His word, which is different to us humbling ourselves before God.

He also humbled them by giving them manna to eat, angel's food, Psalm 78v25.

We will always have that fight with pride. It is a daily fight.

We need to seek God for victory.

God bless.

That dear, idolized creature

(J. C. Philpot, "Crucifixion with Christ" 1860)

"I have been crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless I live." Galatians 2:20

The crucifixion of self is indispensable to following Christ.

What is so dear to a man as himself?

Yet this beloved self is to be crucified.

Whether it be . . .
proud self,
or ambitious self,
or selfish self,
or covetous self,
or, what is harder still, religious self;
that dear, idolized creature, which has
been the subject of so much . . .
fondling,
petting,
pampering,
nursing–
this fondly loved self has to be taken out of
our bosom by the hand of God, and nailed to
Christ's cross! The same grace which pardons
sin also subdues it!

To be crucified with Christ! To have everything
that the flesh loves and idolizes put to death!
How can a man survive such a process?

"Nevertheless I live!"

As the world, sin, and self are crucified, subdued,
and subjugated by the power of the cross, the life
of God springs up with new vigor in the soul.

Here, then, is the great secret of vital godliness:
that the more that sin and self, and the world are
mortified, the more do holiness and spirituality of
mind, heavenly affections and gracious desires
spring up and flourish in the soul.

O! blessed death! O! still more blessed life!

"I have been crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless I live." Galatians 2:20

The same grace which pardons
sin also subdues it!

Grand thought!

His whole life was a great, continued descent . . .
from the glorious bosom of His Father,
to the womb of a poor maiden;
to the form of a servant;
to the likeness and miseries of sinful flesh;
to a life of labor;
to a state of poverty;
to a death of a criminal;
to the grave;
to the [b][i]intolerable calamities which we deserved![/i][/b]

Self-righteousness?

The following is from Spurgeon's sermon,
"The Interest of Christ and His People in Each Other"

Self-righteousness will destroy you, my friend.

I tell you, honestly and plainly, that you might
as well hope to get to heaven by flying up in a
balloon, as to get there by your 'good works'.

You may as soon sail to India in a sieve,
as get to glory by your own goodness.

Away with your rags, your filthy, rotten rags.
They are only a harbor for the parasites of
unbelief and pride.

Away with your rotten self righteousness,
your counterfeit gold, your forged wealth.
It is of no worth whatever in the sight of God.

Come to him, empty, poor, and naked!

It grates on your proud ear, does it?

Better to lose your pride, than to lose your soul!

Why be damned for pride's sake?

Why carry your head so high that it must be cut off?

Why feed your pride on your soul's blood?
Surely there is cheaper stuff than that for pride to drink!
Why let it suck the very marrow out of your bones?

Be wise! Bow, stoop, stoop to be saved.

Our tendency is to decry the particular
form of sin that we find in others.

We hold up our hands as if we were quite shocked.
Better to look in the mirror than look out the window.
Looking out of the window, you see one for whom
you are not responsible.

But looking in the mirror, you see one for
whom you must give account to God.

-Spurgeon, "Kept From Iniquity"

From Spurgeon's sermon, WARNING AND ENCOURAGEMENT

Dr. Ives, who used to live on the road to Tyburn
at the time when prisoners were always carried
in a cart to be hanged there, would frequently say,
when he had any friends with him, if he saw the
criminals riding by- "There goes Dr. Ives."
When they asked him what he meant, he replied-
"Such crimes as that felon has committed I would
have committed, but for the grace of God."

That is true even of you who live nearest to God.

You, who have the most familiarity with Christ,
and enjoy the most holy fellowship with him,
may soon become the very leaders of the hosts of Satan-
if your Lord withdraws His grace.

DAVID's eyes go astray, and the sweet psalmist of Israel
becomes the shameless adulterer, who robs Uriah of his wife.

SAMSON one day slays a thousand of his enemies with
the might of his arm and the valor of his heart;
another day his honor is betrayed, his locks are shorn,
and his eyes are put out by a strumpet's treacherous wiles.

How soon are the mighty fallen!

Behold SOLOMON, the wisest of men,
yet the greatest fool who ever lived.

Even JOB fails in patience,
and ABRAHAM, staggers as to his faith.

"Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

PRIDE

**A man is proud of that, which he scorns another for the lack of.

**That which a man envies in another,
he would be proud of if he had it himself.

**Pride is founded on error and self-ignorance.

**Some are proud of what they are, others of what they are not.

**God had rather His people should fare poorly, than live proudly.

**As the first step heaven-ward is humility,
so the first step hell-ward is pride.

**Pride is a sin that will rise out of the ashes of other sins.

**Folly is the beginning of pride, and shame shall be the end of it;
either repentance in time, or remorse in eternity.

**Shall the sinner be proud who is going to hell?
Shall the believer be proud who is saved from it?

**You who can call nothing your own,
but sin and shame—are you proud?
Dust and ashes—and proud?
A worm—and proud?
Emptiness—and proud?
Perishing—and proud?

**It is unreasonable for the creature to be proud, much more the sinner.

sayings by John Mason

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=17428&forum=34] John Mason's Spiritual Sayings[/url]

A SIGHT OF SELF

from Spurgeon's, "A SIGHT OF SELF"

"all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." Isaiah 64:6

There is sin in our prayers- they need to be prayed over again.
There is filth in the very tears that we shed in penitence.
There is sin in our very holiness.
There is unbelief in our faith.
There is hatred in our very love.
There is the 'slime of the serpent' upon
the fairest flower of our garden.

I am sure when the soul is convinced of sin it will look upon
'self-righteousness' as the most detestable lie that ever was
forged by hell; and it will regard all 'self-confidence' as the
most frightful delusion and deception into which the soul can fall.

Trust in our 'doings', brethren? If our 'best works' are bad,
and so bad that they are as filthy rags, what must our 'bad works' be?

"all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." Isaiah 64:6

F. B. Meyer

When by the grace of God we have been
delivered from grosser forms of sin, we are
still liable to the subtle working of SELF in
our holiest and loveliest hours.

SELF poisons our motives.

SELF breathes decay on our fairest fruit bearing.

SELF whispers seductive flatteries into our pleased ears.

SELF turns the heart from its holy purpose.

SELF aims at personal advantage, acquiring the
praise and commendation of men. Or in some
other way it aims at self aggrandizement.

When by the grace of God we have been
delivered from grosser forms of sin, we are
still liable to the subtle working of SELF in
our holiest and loveliest hours

Had a run in with this SELF today. So very sad to see how alive and well pride is in my own heart. What is most shameful is recognizing how the same pride that wants to win arguments, also wants to apologize profusely as a self-righteous response to being exposed as having pride!. Vanity! There simply is no end to the coils of this snake...it is wrapped around every thought, action, and impusle I have.

Maybe even the impusle to bring it to light in this forum.

Oh what do I think I am bringing to light anyways? What is hidden from God? Our only hope is the same as was Abraham's...Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"

And Jeremiah knew he could keep no inner secrets from God. I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind,... And yet, the very throne of God that was proclaiming terrible judgements through Jeremiah, was also his place of saftey! A glorious throne on high from the beginning, Is the place of our sanctuary.

Save me and I will be saved...neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was before thy face. Be not a terror unto me: thou art my refuge in the day of evil.

MC

Do we sometimes think that if we were to stand in a more prominent place that we would somehow be a greater man of God? It is easy to lose sight of that great, basic principle of service, that my spiritual importance and stature is measured by what I am, never by what I do, say, or wear, still less by what anyone else thinks or says about me.

Spiritual pride blinds our spiritual understanding and discernment...Read Numbers 16:16-35. Notice that Korah’s spiritual pride totally blinded his eyes to God’s requirements. He must have really thought that God would accept incense offered in pride and anger and self-vindication, or he would have never dared to bring it. By what tortuous process of thought he mentally justified himself, we do not know; his reason and self-knowledge were clouded by his pride. Apart from the continual light of God’s judgment on our life , we can justify almost anything we please.

-from [i]Missing the Way[/i] by Patricia St. John