I just got this email and it provoked some thoughts about pride. They wrote:
Mark,
Your messages have been amazing! It was so quiet on Sunday as you were speaking, so I know the words you were speaking were going straight to people’s hearts, including mine.
Your description of the sins we commit just being surface symptoms of the conditions of our hearts, our sin nature, was so true. And it is pride that keeps us from repenting and bowing our knees to our Creator. That was brought home to me Sunday evening as I watched an excellent video called, Proof of God. It was a message by Eric Hovind, with the Creation Library series. Eric went to a convention of atheists where there were some very big names attending, and at the end of the conference, he found some of them and asked them each a simple question and videotaped their answers. He asked them, “If I could prove the existence of God to you beyond a doubt, would you worship Him?” It was shocking to me that all of them, with the exception of one, flat out said an arrogant “No!” Only one of them seemed troubled by the question. He tried to hedge a bit and ask for more clarification on the question, but in the end, with some difficulty, he finally said, “Probably not.” It reminded me of what the ‘rich young ruler’ must have felt like when confronted by Jesus. And it certainly affirmed what you said in your message. Repentance is the issue, and too many today just don’t want to repent and acknowledge that there is Someone to Whom they are accountable.
Thank you for so faithfully and humbly bringing us the pure Word of God.
Blessings
Thanks for the encouraging word about the sermon from Sunday. Whenever we preach about the real problem of sin [pride] we provoke an emotional response. The response is either quiet thoughtful sobriety as the Holy Spirit applies the message with conviction or, a rising up of anger. Pride is never passive when assaulted.
The emotional response tells us all we need to know about the state of our hearts. Atheism is really nothing more than the assertion of pride upon our intellectual world view. Pride will believe anything rather than submit. What concerns me most is that we are so quick to believe that we have conquered pride in our own lives.
My battle with selfishness and pride will end a few seconds after I die. All this sounds so pessimistic and hopeless but the irony is that I am never happier than when my pride has taken a hit. The freedom I feel afterwards is wonderful.
I want to change that famous quote that says, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”. I would like to see it replaced with, “We have nothing to fear but pride itself”.
Thanks
Listen to the sermon
