Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.. – Romans 6:12

One thing that God has been teaching me, and in my own daily experiences, all times that I can think of when there is strife, pain, difficulty in this life it’s rooted in a few things.  Primarily sin as and in our reaction to sin, the sin of unbelief in the gospel, and at its base it is all rooted in pride.  This is easily seen in the unbelievers life, as I went over Matthew 7 with my children at the dinner table last evening, we discussed the different kinds of fruit.  We talked about the differing natures of the two kinds of trees the fig three and the thorn tree, as they symbolize Faith, and Unbelief.

However once we are believers and Justified, why is it that we continue to sin?  And there are somethings, some pains, some remembrances of sin that hinder our growth.

I have been meditating on hurts and pains of so many and then their reaction to the sin of others.  We have in each decision a choice to make.  Wow God does give us a choice as believers, we will either be a slave to sin or to righteousness, and it says in Romans that if we are believers WE are no longer slaves to sin!!!

If we’re no longer slaves to sin why do we still have sin going on?  I believe that in our justified state, we often times lose sight of the cross.  Some do this  in their laziness and apathy, others forget what Grace means and really is, just like the Israelites failed to remember what God had done, when things get hard or difficult we delve on the circumstances of our own lives and we are failing to look at Christ.  We in fact look at whatever problem, or difficulty in light of our own flesh and we focus on ME.   I heard a preacher on the radio say the other day, I’m not sure who to attribute the quote to, but he said repentance is turning from Self and Faith is turning toward Christ.   We must in our moments of pain, difficulty, and strife, turn away from self-pity, self-crying, and though somethings hurt us to the core of our being, we must turn to our only hope Christ in faith and belief.

I was reading a Spurgeon Sermon that helped me in this regard.

We have seen that God justifieth, that He justifieth the ungodly and that He justifies them through faith in the precious blood of Jesus; we have now to see the condition these ungodly ones are in when Jesus works out their salvation. Many awakened persons are not only troubled about their sin, but about their moral weakness. They have no strength with which to escape from the mire into which they have fallen, nor to keep out of it in after days. They not only lament over what they have done, but over what they cannot do. They feel themselves to be powerless, helpless, and spiritually lifeless. It may sound odd to say that they feel dead, and yet it is even so. They are, in their own esteem, to all good incapable. They cannot travel the road to Heaven, for their bones are broken. “None of the men of strength have found their hands;” in fact, they are “without strength.” Happily, it is written, as the commendation of God’s love to us:
When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6).
Here we see conscious helplessness succored—succored by the interposition of the Lord Jesus. Our helplessness is extreme. It is not written, ” When we were comparatively weak Christ died for us”; or, “When we had only a little strength”; but the description is absolute and unrestricted; “When we were yet without strength.” We had no strength whatever which could aid in our salvation; our Lord’s words were emphatically true, “Without me ye can do nothing.” I may go further than the text, and remind you of the great love wherewith the Lord loved us, “even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.” To be dead is even more than to be without strength.
The one thing that the poor strengthless sinner has to fix his mind upon, and firmly retain, as his one ground of hope, is the divine assurance that “in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Believe this, and all inability will disappear. As it is fabled of Midas that he turned everything into gold by his touch, so it is true of faith that it turns everything it touches into good. Our very needs and weaknesses become blessings when faith deals with them.

We have seen that God justifieth, that He justifieth the ungodly and that He justifies them through faith in the precious blood of Jesus; we have now to see the condition these ungodly ones are in when Jesus works out their salvation. Many awakened persons are not only troubled about their sin, but about their moral weakness. They have no strength with which to escape from the mire into which they have fallen, nor to keep out of it in after days. They not only lament over what they have done, but over what they cannot do. They feel themselves to be powerless, helpless, and spiritually lifeless. It may sound odd to say that they feel dead, and yet it is even so. They are, in their own esteem, to all good incapable. They cannot travel the road to Heaven, for their bones are broken. “None of the men of strength have found their hands;” in fact, they are “without strength.” Happily, it is written, as the commendation of God’s love to us:
When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6).
Here we see conscious helplessness succored—succored by the interposition of the Lord Jesus. Our helplessness is extreme. It is not written, ” When we were comparatively weak Christ died for us”; or, “When we had only a little strength”; but the description is absolute and unrestricted; “When we were yet without strength.” We had no strength whatever which could aid in our salvation; our Lord’s words were emphatically true, “Without me ye can do nothing.” I may go further than the text, and remind you of the great love wherewith the Lord loved us, “even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.” To be dead is even more than to be without strength.
The one thing that the poor strengthless sinner has to fix his mind upon, and firmly retain, as his one ground of hope, is the divine assurance that “in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Believe this, and all inability will disappear. As it is fabled of Midas that he turned everything into gold by his touch, so it is true of faith that it turns everything it touches into good. Our very needs and weaknesses become blessings when faith deals with them.

And it is to the other side of the pain or difficulty we must look.  We must raise our eyes to look into truth, and preach this truth to ourselves, because our emotions and feelings fail, and are often tainted with sin, when not accompanied with truth.  May God grant us the ability to believe, help our unbelief Lord!

Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting.  In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice.  Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time (Isa 41:17, Luk 18:1-8). Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest.  It stems from trust in God’s goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all.  This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will (Gal 5:23). BLB-Lexicon

Interestingly enough either in our prayer to God for things, or our attempts at faithful and obedient living, we are often ambushed by the circumstances of life. Three months ago we before school was out although we were greatly under the stress of everyday life there seemed to be direction in our lives, and a confidence of our path.

Our lives filled with purpose and yet when hit with affliction God graciously allowed for us to bounce back. Hit again, and by God’s grace bounce back once again, though stunned the second time God has met us with the ever abundant bounty of Grace for each moment. Yet hit a third and yet a fourth time over the summer in various trials in various ways, we find ourselves empty. No real other way to put it but empty. Trusting God but with no clarity as to what next….

This being a good place perhaps but it seems so opposite to what was taking place just a few months prior, yet if what Paul Mallory sent me is true ( Which it is ) we can rest in the fact that all of these trials, or pruning’s, or things we go through on this side of eternity are for our good. The branch will come back stronger. It’s just that sometimes it feels like the pruning is more than I would have taken off, but it is God’s sovereign choice not mine.

The Christian life isn’t so much being able to look back, seeing God’s hand, but it is living ‘in the moment trusting God’s word, and not just trusting God’s word but seeing the demonstration of faith in our reacting God’s way in the moment.  Often present blog author included, I begin to lean on one side or other of the pit. On the one side the abyss of self-pity looking inward, and to the other side the pit of self- righteousness demonstrated by self-assertiveness and self-confidence.

Lloyd Jones elaborates on this some and I could barely stop reading although I’m beyond this part in the book each part of the book is well worth some heavy mediation on the subject.

Page 53 Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Anyone who thinks he can live the Christian life himself is proclaiming that he is not a Christian. When we realize truly what we have to be, and what we have to do, we become inevitably ‘poor in spirit.’ That in turn leads to that second state in which, realizing our own sinfulness and our own true nature, realizing that we are so helpless because of the indwelling of sin within us, and seeing the sin in our best actions, thoughts and desires, we mourn and we cry out with the great apostle, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ But here, I say, is something which is still more searching —-‘ Blessed are the meek.’

Now why this? Because here we are reaching a point at which we begin to be concerned about other people. Let me put it like this. I can see my own utter nothingness, and helplessness face to face with the demands of the gospel and the law of God. I am aware, when I am honest with myself, of the sin and the evil that are within me, and that drag me down. And I am ready to face both these things. But how much more difficult it is to allow other people to say things like that about me! I instinctively resent it. We all of us prefer to condemn ourselves than to allow somebody else to condemn us. I say of myself that I am a sinner, but instinctively I do not like anybody else to say I am a sinner. That is the principle that is introduced at this point. So far, I myself have been looking at myself.  Now other people are looking at me, and I am in a relationship to them, and they are doing certain things to me. How do I react to that? That is the matter which is dealt with at this point. I think you will agree this is more humbling and more humiliating than everything that has gone before. It is to allow other people to put the searchlight upon me instead of my doing it myself.

I remember there was a time when I took what is called a 360 evaluation at my place of employment many years back. I was surprised to find out at the time that my peers evaluation of me wasn’t as ‘good’ as I thought my own evaluation of how I was doing within the company. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t where I had thought it would be. I was personally devastated; I mean these were all supposed to be my friends yet what they had to say was hurtful in some ways. This was well before I understood Reformed Doctrine and had a clue about my own depravity yet there was something in me that took this evaluation and at first wanted to jump off the cliff into self-pity. It wasn’t even my work they had comments about but they were things which from my perspective, I couldn’t see clearly about myself.

This was the first clue I had in my saved life that I was blind to my own pride. I often tell my wife she is my other eye now so that she is able to see me and tell me where I am sinning or where I am off the mark.

My second reaction to this was a ‘knee Jerk’ reaction, and I tried to take care of these issues in my own strength. I became concerned daily about making sure I protected my work and overly confident in certain areas of my work to try to compensate so that my next evaluation would be better than this one.

What I slowly began to notice was the fact that on either side I was thinking again too highly of myself. There is a biblical balance in the tightrope walk of humility with two completely different manifestations of pride on either side of the abyss.
Lloyd Jones continued to talk about it and it’s remedy in our Christ likeness through the virtue or the beatitude of ‘Meekness’ that we see in Jesus.

More Lloyd Jones Page 56. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

What, then, is meekeness? I think we can sum it up in this way. Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in an attitude and conduct with respect to others. It is therefore two things. It is my attitude and conduct towards myself; and it is an expression of that in my relationship to others. You see how inevitably it follows being ‘poor in spirit’ and ‘mourning’. A man can never be meek unless he is poor in spirit. A man can never be meek unless he has seen himself as a vile sinner. These other things must come first. But when I have that true view of myself in terms of poverty of spirit, and mourning because of my sinfulness, I am led on to see there must be an absence of pride. The meek man is not proud of himself; he does not in any sense glory in himself. He feels that there is nothing in himself of which he can boast. It also means that he does not assert himself. You see, it is a negation of the popular psychology of the day which says ‘assert yourself’, ‘express your personality.’ The man who is meek does not want to do so; he is so ashamed of it. The meek man likewise does not demand anything for himself. He does not take all his rights as claims. He does not make demands for his position, his privileges, his possessions, his status in life. No, he is like the man depicted by Paul in Philippians 2. ‘ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’ Christ did not assert that right to equality with God; He deliberately did not. And that is the point to which you and I have to come.

Then let me go further; the man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensive. We all know about this, do we not? Is it not one of the greatest curses in life as a result of the fall — this sensitivity about self? We spend the whole of our lives watching ourselves. But when a man becomes meek he has finished with all that; he no longer worries about himself and what other people say. To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is nothing worth defending. So we are not defensive; all is gone.

By God’s grace he’s allowed the opposite to happen in the past few years where I have received more positive evaluation than I deserve, but there are still tons of layers of pride.  Looking back at that first 360 evaluation it was the secular form of reproof and rebuke and it was the start of what I thought was a healthy way to be able to see my blindspots of sin.

This evaluation had more than just the impact on me for the year but would echo in the back of my mind for the rest of my life giving me a grounded view of self.  Then once someone showed me my sinfulness and depravity, it would later become a memory of my life which changed so many things.  It was used as a place to always remember when I was confident about anything apart from God’s word. – 1 Corinthians 10:12

God is good to keep us neither wollowing in self-pity thinking too highly of self, nor in self-righteousness thinking too highly of self, but thinking right of self in light of God with Christ as our hope, our mediator, our adovcate.  Whether prayer is answered, or unanswered, whether circumstances make sense, whether people hurt us,  we can rest in the fact that what Don Whitney preached Sunday, God by the testimony of His word, establishes His truth, and we can trust Him.

 This is what I was reading this morning in my study on the Sermon On The Mount. I may comment later but the passage speaks for itself.

Page 261 Studies in the Sermon on the Mount By Dr. Martyn Lloyd –Jones

And the whole trouble is just self and self-assertion. That is self regarded doctrinally. But self always means defiance of God; it always means that I put myself on the throne instead of God, and therefore it is always something that separates me from Him.

All moments of unhappiness in life are ultimately due to this separation. A person who is in real communion with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ is happy. It does not matter whether he is in a dungeon, or whether he has his feet fast in the stocks, or whether he is burning at the stake; he is still happy if he is in communion with God. Is not that the experience of the saints down the centuries? So the ultimate cause of any misery or lack of joy is separation from God, and the one cause of separation from Him is self. Whenever we are unhappy it means that in some way or other we are looking at ourselves and thinking about ourselves, instead of communing with God. Man, according to the Scriptures, was meant to live entirely to the glory of God. He was meant to love the Lord God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind and with all his strength. The whole of man was meant to glorify God. Therefore, any desire to glorify self or safeguard the interests of self is of necessity a sin, because I am looking at myself instead of looking at God and seeking His honor and glory. And it is that very thing in man which God has condemned. It is that which is under the curse of God and the wrath of God. And as I understand the teaching of Scripture, holiness eventually means this, deliverance from this self-centered life. Holiness, in other words, must not be thought of primarily in terms of actions, but in terms of an attitude toward self. It does not mean essentially that I do not do certain things and try to do others. There are people who never do certain things that are regarded as sinful; but they are full of pride of self. So we must look at it in terms of self and our relationships to our self, and we must realize again that the essence of holiness is that we should be able to say with George Muller that we have died, and died completely, to this self that has caused so much to ruin our lives and experience.

Now, lastly, let us come to the highest level and look at the problem of self in the light of Christ. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God ever come into this world? He came ultimately in order to deliver mankind from self. We see this selfless life so perfectly in Him. Look at His coming from glory of heaven to the stable in Bethlehem. Why did he come? There is only one answer to that question. He did not consider Himself. That is the essence of the statement that Paul makes in Philippians 2. He was eternally the Son of God and was ‘equal with God’ from eternity, but He did not consider that; He did not hold on to that and to His right to the manifestation of that glory. He humbled Himself and denied Himself. There would never have been the incarnation had it not been that the Son of God put self, as it were, aside.

Then look at His selfless life here upon earth. He often said that the words he spake He did not speak of Himself, and the actions He performed He said ‘are not mine; they have been given to me of the Father’. That is how I understand Paul’s teaching of self-humiliation of the cross. It means that, coming in the likeness of man, He deliberately made Himself dependent upon God; He did not consider Himself at all. He said: ‘ I have come to do thy will, O God,’ and He was wholly dependent upon God for everything, for the words He spoke and for everything He did. The very Son of God humbled Himself to that extent. He did not live for Himself or by Himself in any measure. And the apostle’s argument is, ‘ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’

We see it supremely of course in His death upon the cross. He was innocent and guiltless, He had never sinned or done anyone any harm, yet ‘when he was reviled, (he) reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously’ (1 Peter 2:23). That is it. The cross of Christ is the supreme illustration, and the argument of the New Testament is this, that if we say we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that He has died for our sins, it means that our greatest desire should be to die to self. That is the final purpose of His dying, not merely that we might be forgiven, or that we might be saved from hell. Rather it was that a new people be formed, a new humanity, a new creation, and that a new kingdom be set up, consisting of people like Himself. He is ‘the first born amoung many brethren,’ He is the pattern. God has made us, say Paul to the Ephesians: ‘We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. ‘We are ‘to be conformed to the image of his Son’. That is the language of Scripture. So that we may say that the reason for His death on the cross is that you and I might be saved and separated from that life of self. ‘He died for all’, says the apostle again in 2 Corinthians 5. We believe ‘that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all.’ Why? For this reason, says Paul: ‘that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.’ That is the life to which we are called. Not the life of self-defense or self-sensitivity, but such a life that, even if we are insulted, we do not retaliate; if we receive a blow on the right cheek we are ready to turn the other also; if a man sues us at the law and takes away our coat we are ready to give our cloak also; if we are compelled to go a mile, we go twain; if a man comes and ask something of me I do not say, ‘This is mine’; I say rather, I have died to myself, and my one concern now is the glory and honour of God.

That is the life to which the Lord Jesus Christ calls us and He died in order that you and I might live it. That God the gospel also goes on to tell us that He rose again and that He has sent into the Church, and into every one who believes on Him, the Holy Spirit with all His renovating and energizing power. If we are trying to live this kind of life in and of ourselves, we are doomed; we are damned before we start. But with the blessed promise and offer the Spirit of God to come and dwell in us and work in us, there is hope for us. God has made this life possible. If George Muller could die to George Muller, why should not everyone of us who is a Christian die in the same way to self that is so sinful, that leads to so much misery and wretchedness and unhappiness, which finally is such a denial of the blessed work of the Son of God upon the cross on Calvary’s hill?

O God of the highest heaven,

occupy the throne of my heart,
take full possession and reign supreme,
lay low every rebel lust,
let no vile passion resist thy holy war;
manifest thy mighty power,
and make me thine forever.
Thou art worthy to be
praised with my every breath,
loved with my every faculty of soul,
served with my every act of life.
Thou hast loved me, espoused me, received me,
purchased, washed, favored, clothed,
adorned me,
when I was a worthless, vile soiled, polluted.
I was dead in iniquities,
having no eyes to see thee,
no ears to hear thee,
no taste to relish thy joys,
no intelligence to know thee;
But thy Spirit has quickened me,
has brought me into a new world as a
new creature,
has given me spiritual perception,
has opened to me thy Word as light, guide,
solace, joy.
Thy presence is to me a treasure of unending peace;
No provocation can part me form thy sympathy,
for thou hast drawn me with cords of love,
and dost forgive me daily, hourly.
O help me then to walk worthy of thy love,
of my hopes, and my vocation.
Keep me, for I cannot keep myself;
Protect me that no evil befall me;
Let me lay aside every sin admired of many;
Help me to walk by thy side, lean on thy arm,
hold converse with thee,
That I may be salt of the earth
and a blessing to all.

O Great God

O great God of highest heaven
Occupy my lowly heart
Own it all and reign supreme
Conquer every rebel power
Let no vice or sin remain
That resists Your holy war
You have loved and purchased me
Make me Yours forevermore

I was blinded by my sin
Had no ears to hear Your voice
Did not know Your love within
Had no taste for heaven’s joys
Then Your Spirit gave me life
Opened up Your Word to me
Through the gospel of Your Son
Gave me endless hope and peace

Help me now to live a life
That’s dependent on Your grace
Keep my heart and guard my soul
From the evils that I face
You are worthy to be praised
With my every thought and deed
O great God of highest heaven
Glorify Your Name through me

It is always good to reflect on this from time to time. Note the word “Undetected”

This links arm in arm with what we’ve studied in our Shepherding Group over the past year, in the CJ Mahaney Book on Humility as well as the paper hand out of the 30 manifestations of pride from Exemplary Husband. If anyone wants to know further about the picture of the bagel and cream cheese, it’s from one of the great illustration in the book on Humility by CJ Mahaney.

As for the reading of the Edwards peace below, it is wise to read it first and think ONLY of yourself and not others while reading it. It’s easier to see pride in others and yet the purpose of it is to seek to cast down pride and cultivate humility in ones self.

Undetected Spiritual Pride by Jonathan Edwards

The first and worst cause of errors that abound in our day and age is spiritual pride. This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christ. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit to darken the mind and mislead the judgment.

Pride is the main handle by which he has hold of Christian persons and the chief source of all the mischief that he introduces to clog and hinder a work of God. Spiritual pride is the main spring or at least the main support of all other errors. Until this disease is cured, medicines are applied in vain to heal all other diseases.

It is by spiritual pride that the mind defends and justifies itself in other errors and defends itself against light by which it might be corrected and reclaimed. The spiritually proud man thinks he is full of light already and feels that he does not need instruction, so he is ready to ignore the offer of it.

On the other hand, the humble person is like a little child who easily receives instruction. He is cautious in his estimate of himself, sensitive as to how liable he is to go astray. If it is suggested to him that he is going astray, he is most ready to check into the matter.

Nothing sets a Christian so much out of the devil s reach than humility and so prepares the mind for divine light without darkness. Humility clears the eye to look at things as they truly are. Psalm 25:9—He leads the humble in justice, and He teaches the humble His way.

If spiritual pride is healed, other things are easily corrected. Our first care should be to correct the heart and pull the beam of pride out of our eye and then we shall see clearly.

Growing Christians Beware!

Those who are most zealous in the cause of God are the most likely to be targeted as being filled with pride. When any person appears, in any respect, to be noticeably excelling others in his Christian walk, odds are ten to one that it will immediately awaken the jealousy of those about him.

They will suspect (whether they have good reason or not) that he is very proud of his goodness and that he probably thinks no one as good as he is, so that everything he says and does is observed with this prejudice.

Those who are themselves cold and dead, and especially those who have never had any experience of the power of godliness on their own hearts, will easily entertain such thoughts of the best Christians. This arises from nothing less than a secret hostility against essential and fervent holiness.

But the zealous Christian should take heed that this does not prove a snare to him, and the devil take advantage of it to blind his eyes from beholding the true nature of his heart and to think that because he is charged with pride wrongfully and with an unkind spirit, that such charges are not sometimes valid.

Alas, how much pride the best have in their hearts! It is the worst part of the body of sin and death; the first sin that ever entered into the universe and the last that is rooted out. It is God s most stubborn enemy!

Pride: a Secret Enemy

Pride is much more difficult to be discerned than any other corruption because of its very nature. That is, pride is a person having too high an opinion of himself. Is it any surprise, then, that a person who has too high an opinion of himself is unaware of it? His thinking is that he thinks that the opinion he has of himself has just grounds and therefore is not too high. If the grounds of the opinion of himself crumbled, he would cease to have such an opinion.

But, because of the nature of spiritual pride, it is the most secret of all sins. There is no other matter in which the heart is more deceitful and unsearchable and there is no other sin in the world that men are so confident in. The very nature of it is to work self-confidence and drive away any suspicion of any evil of that kind. There is no sin so much like the devil as this for secrecy and subtlety, and appearing in great many shapes that are undetected and unsuspected.

Spiritual pride takes many forms and shapes, one under another, and encompasses the heart like the layers of an onion: when you pull off one, there is another underneath. Therefore, we have need to have the greatest watch imaginable over our hearts with respect to this matter and to cry most earnestly to the great Searcher of hearts for His help. He that trusts his own heart is a fool.

Since spiritual pride in its own nature is so secret, it cannot be so well discerned by immediate intuition on the thing itself. It is best identified by its fruits and effects, some of which I will make mention of below together with the contrary fruits of Christian humility.

Pride: the Great Fault-finder

Spiritual pride causes one to speak of other persons sins, their enmity against God and His people, or with laughter and levity and an air of contempt, while pure Christian humility disposes either to be silent about them or to speak of them with grief or pity.

The spiritually proud person shows it in his finding fault with other saints, that they are low in grace and how cold and dead they are, and are quick to discern and take notice of their deficiencies. The eminently humble Christian has so much to do at home and sees so much evil in his own that he is not apt to be very busy with other hearts.

He complains most of himself and complains most of his own coldness and lowness in grace. He is apt to esteem others as better than himself and is ready to hope that most everybody has more love and thankfulness to God than he, and cannot bear to think that others should bring forth no more fruit to God s honor than he.

Some who have spiritual pride mixed with great learning and joy, earnestly speaking to others about them, are likely to be calling upon other Christians to emulate them and sharply reprove them for their being so cold and lifeless.

There are others who are overwhelmed with their own vileness, and when they have extraordinary discoveries of God’s glory, they are taken up by their own sinfulness. Though they are disposed to speak much and very earnestly, yet it is very much in blaming themselves and exhorting fellow Christians, but in a loving and humble manner.

Pure Christian humility causes a person to take notice of everything that is good in others, to make the best of it and to diminish their failings; however, he turns his eye chiefly on those things that are bad in himself and to take much notice of everything that aggravates them.

Pride: Ministering in a Harsh Spirit

It has been the manner of spiritually proud persons to speak of almost everything they see in others in the most harsh, severe language. It is frequent with them to say of other’s opinion, conduct, advice, coldness, silence, caution, moderation, prudence, etc. that they are from the devil or from hell.

Such kind of language they will commonly use, not only towards wicked men, but towards those who are true children of God and also towards ministers of the gospel and others who are very much their superiors. Christians who are but fellow-worms ought at least to treat one another with as much humility and gentleness as Christ treats them.

Pride: Putting on Pretenses

Spiritual pride often causes persons to act different in external appearance, to effect a different way of speaking, to use a different sort of dialect from others, or to be different in voice, countenance or behavior. But he that is an eminently humble Christian, though he will be firm in his duty, however different — going the way of heaven alone, though all the world forsake him — yet he does not delight in being different for difference s sake.

He does not try to set himself up to be viewed and observed as one distinguished, as desiring to be accounted better than others — despising their company or conformity to them — but on the contrary, desires to become all things to all men, to yield to others and conform to them and please them in all but sin.

Pride: Takes Offence Easily

Spiritual pride takes great notice of opposition and injuries that are received and is prone to be often speaking of them and to be much in taking notice of their aggravation, either with an air of bitterness or contempt.

Pure and unmixed Christian humility, on the other hand, causes a person to be more like his blessed Lord when reviled: quiet, not opening his mouth, but committing himself in silence to Him who judges righteously. For the humble Christian, the more the world is against him, the more silent and still he will be, unless it is in his prayer closet, and there he will not be still.

Pride: Presumption Before God and Man

Another effect of spiritual pride is a certain self-confident boldness before God and men. Some, in their great rejoicing before God, have not paid sufficient regard to that rule in Psalm 2:11 — Worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling.

They have not rejoiced with a reverential trembling, in a proper sense of the awful majesty of God and the awful distance between Him and them. There has also been an improper boldness before men that has been encouraged and defended by a misapplication of Proverbs 29:25 — The fear of man brings a snare… It is as though it became all persons, high and low, men, women and children in all Christian conversation to wholly abandon all manner of modesty or reverence toward man.

Not that any should refrain from Christian conversation, but with such humility as in I Peter 3:15—But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.

Pride: Hungry for Attention

Another effect of spiritual pride is to make the subject of it want attention. People often tend to act in a special manner as though others ought to take great notice and regard of them. It is very natural to a person that is very much under the influence of spiritual pride to take all the respect that is paid to him.

If others show a disposition to submit to him and yield in deference to him, he is open to it and freely receives it. It becomes natural for him to expect such treatment and to take much notice if a person fails to do so, and to have an ill opinion of those who do not give him that which he feels he deserves.

One under the influence of spiritual pride is more apt to instruct others than to inquire for himself and so naturally puts on the airs of control. The eminently humble Christian thinks he needs help from everybody, whereas he that is spiritually proud thinks everybody needs his help. Christian humility, under a sense of other’s misery, entreats and beseeches, but spiritual pride tries to command and warn with authority.

Pride: Neglecting Others

As spiritual pride causes persons to assume much to themselves, so it treats others with neglect. On the contrary, pure Christian humility disposes persons to honor all men as from I Peter 2:17. To enter into disputes about Christianity is sometimes unseasonable, such as in meeting for Christian conference or for exercises of worship.

Yet, we ought to be very careful that we do not refuse to converse with carnal men, as though we counted them not worthy to be regarded. On the contrary, we should condescend to carnal men as Christ has condescended to us, to bear with our unteachableness and stupidity.

This last Saturday morning I woke up early, looked outside, and I saw the beautiful morning sun. Normally I am up earlier than the sun however this morning I was waking as the sun came up, I slept in due to the fact that it has been a long couple of weeks.

I had told a friend of mine Darrell DeGreve ‘s that this particular morning I had hoped to see one of my wife’s uncle’s attend the Biker’s for Christ Conference. Over Easter we had the opportunity to share the Gospel with my wife’s Uncle Charlie, who owns a Harley and loves to ride. He didn’t respond that day, however he called my wife an wanted to talk to her about something the next day. Unfortunately he ended up not calling.

Even though my wife’s uncle passed on coming to the conference, I was assured that I could still attend only owning a mini-van and a few big wheels that the children have for going up and down the street.
Two of the reasons I wanted to attend were, the bikers for Christ, and UrbanReformation have a similar passion. One of their main slogans is,

“Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bells; we want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell!”

The heart of Bikers For Christ is to reach out to the uttermost. Darrell DeGreeve has been a friend to me since before I officially attended FCC, in fact he and his Biker’s for Christ crew had much influence in my attending our current Church. He is an evangelist at the heart and desires to see men and women come to know Christ in a real and authentic way.

And Saturday’s conference reminded me of Luke 7:47.

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Luke 7:47

The morning started out with a biker who was in a gang up in Detroit, MI. I can’t recall how long he was in the gang he was in but he said he was fourth from the top in charge. His testimony was humbling, and convicting at the same time. He brought up some things we know are true but we seldom take the time to meditate upon. I won’t go into the details of his testimony but the challenge he had for us was twofold, study the word to show yourself approved, and the fact that Christian’s and Christianity is under a microscope. That it is our public witness in which many people claim to be the reason for which they will not ever be Christian. Bill was a pretty rough looking character with a transformed heart in Jesus Christ, and he told us an incredible story of how he saw someone raised from the dead on a Cambodian Mission’s trip, and also of his love and care for a guy whom he went on the trip with who did not know Christ. He spent much of the time witnessing to him and is still praying for him to know Christ. I was moved by his sincerity and you could see this man was changed by God, not on the outside but transformed on the inside.

We had a small break and our pastor from FCC spoke next on “Drift” from Hebrews 2. He recounted how he recently was riding a bike when he went to do a Men’s Conference out of state and it took just a few seconds of not paying close attention to the road and he began to drift away, and could have nearly wrecked. Thankfully this did not occur, but he noted that the only kind of drift to do is away. If we are not being intentional with our walk with God we are drifting. There is no middle ground there’s no drifting toward Christ, thus the stressor on being “Intentional.”

I unfortunately had to cut it short before I got an opportunity to hear the Frank & Marie Drown. I have heard their testimony of the things God did in their life time in their mission to the Head Hunters in Ecuador for thirty seven years, and how God did miraculous amazing things with only their Hope in God to sustain them. I hope to hear the rest I believe it was captured on Video.

All in all this was the Kansas City Chapter’s first Annual Biker’s for Christ Conference and will not be the last. I look forward to more from them in the future, and hearing about what God is doing through this ministry.
May all those who have been forgiven much love as much as these guys do, and go after souls for the time in short, and the time is now!

Last night was our second night out on the streets this Spring.  I confess after recently re-reading Hortio Bonar’s book “Words to Winners of Souls” I find myself sometimes almost in a despair over my own heart’s lack of crying out for the souls of the lost.  Not just on the streets but every where, work, my children, so many.

Bobby McCall and I were alone, we stopped first at a bus stop.  There was a young girl, I’m gessing between the ages of 16 and 18 years of age.  Her name was McKayla, near the same name as my oldest daughter who’s 13.  Bob talked to her about Jesus, she wouldn’t say much of anything but we saw tears form in her eyes.  She had been to a “Mormon” church but hadn’t been in three years.  We weren’t even able to get to any discussion points regarding theology, she was pretty closed off.  We left her one of the FAQ books about the Bible and a number to call if she needs help or has questions, but something was seemingly stirred.  We prayed with her and hope for God’s fruit.

We then ran into a guy named Chris.  He seemed to be nervous and in a hurry and we asked him some of the questions from our little “spiritual survey” from the proclaim course to open up the conversation.  He claimed to believe in Jesus.  We asked him about how good he though he was, and he said his righteousness was like filthy rags, and if he was good he wouldn’t need Jesus.  We also said what would he say if God were to say to him, “Why should I let you in to heaven?”  He said something to the affect of, ” God I don’t deserve anything I’ll sleep at the gate.”

He wasn’t attending a church anywhere, but said he doesn’t believe things happen by accident, we are hoping he calls.

We then stumbled upon four guys who were standing outside of an apartment building.  I started telling them about Jesus.   One of the guys says he already knows about Jesus.  He knows he’s going to hell and he’s 53 years old and that he hasn’t been able to change.  I talked to them about what it means to repent, and to believe but due to the lack of coherency it was difficult to hold a conversation.  I left one of the men a FAQ book and the rest refused, none of them wanted to hear.

I had my first encounter with a couple of Hispanic guys.  They asked about what religion I’m from and I said we are from Faith Community Church with a baptist background.  They told me if I didn’t believe in the Virgin Mary that they don’t want to speak to me about Jesus.  They would hear nothing from me because I believed Mary was only a woman.  I will tell you this broke my heart, they said they were Catholic, but I got little conversation out of them after I said that I don’t believe Mary was anything but a chosen woman of God, that she was not diety.

We then came upon a prostitute who initially told us her name was Amber.  We started out with the questions, and one of the questions is “If you could ask God one question what would it be?”  A lot of people ask this question ( Why did God make me like this? ) or ( What is the meaning of this life ) these are common answers, few people ask for things.  This young lady said she’d ask about her life and if she could go home and be with her family.  It was a different response from the norm.  She had her children given to her mother to raise and she was removed from them.  She said she was addicted to crack and asked why she keeps going back to the streets. We attempted to explain sin to her, how sin entered the world and how all we do all the time is sin the only way not to sin or to be free from it is faith in Jesus Christ.  Not that we won’t sin if we believe but that in our sin God changes our hearts from a heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh and our hearts that were once seared, are now soft.  We told her that God translates us from being an enemy of God or from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.  We talked about crying out to God to change her heart, that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17  She had some questions we did our best to answer.  I don’t think I’ve walked away from a situation where I’ve felt more helpless than in this instance.  There are so many details I’m sure I’m not recalling.

However, Amber told us her name at the end was Lisa Bond.  We saw a guy down the block we thought might be her pimp, and she had a large knot on the side of her face that looked like it was fresh from being knocked around by someone.  We asked her to take God seriously and to go home.  To get a way from the street, to really find out, and to cry out to God.  We prayed for her and then we left.  But I was more blown away by this encounter than the rest.   We spent most of our time with her last evening.  You could tell she was at one time a pretty young girl but the street had worn on her a great deal.  She was worn and tired looking.  One thing we spoke about was hope.

I remember my pastor saying hope is the daughter of Faith.  I’m not sure where he got that quote or if it’s his own, but I pray for faith for Lisa, that her faith might produce hope in Christ.  I pray that God might save her.

We ended the night by walking back and seeing a young man who was looking for 36 dollars to get to Joplin MO, his friend who had the car got pulled over and hauled off to jail because he was drinking.  We passed by this guy and my flesh had little pity on the guy.  I couldn’t take the guy to Joplin but I’ve been reading the sermon on the mount lately, and recalled in the moment.

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. – Matthew 5:41

I hadn’t done a study on the word “forces” in this verse, and for whatever reason this verse came to mind.  I spent some moments contemplating if I was being like those who passed by the man on the road in the story of the good Samaritan.  I had little compassion for this man, as it was his own sin which got him in his predicament, not a band of robbers, yet I have been moved lately by understanding obedience out of love for Christ not necessarily for  this man or his sin.  I pray God would grant me a love for my enemies and His.  If it weren’t for God loving/calling me inspite of my wrteched sinfulness, I would still be seeking after my sin.  I thank God for His grace.  We asked him if he need a ride to the Greyhound station and he ended up refusing the ride…

I’ll leave you with this, as this has been what I have been chewing on lately.

I’m  reading Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  Lloyd-Jones said several things that made me take pause last evening.  Here are some of them:

There are certain general lessons, I suggest, to be drawn from the Beatitudes. First, all Christians are to be like this. Read the Beatitudes, and there you have a description of what every Christian is meant to be. It is not merely the description of some exceptional Christians. Our Lord does not say here that He is going to paint a picture of what certain outstanding characters are going to be and can be in this world. It is His description of every single Christian.

I pause with that for just a moment, and emphasize it, because I think we must all agree that the fatal tendency introduced by the Roman Catholic Church, and indeed by every branch of the Church that likes to use the term ‘Catholic’, is the fatal tendency to divide Christians into two groups––the religious and the laity, exceptional Christians and ordinary Christians, the one who makes a vocation of the Christian life and the man who is engaged in secular affairs. That tendency is not only utterly and completely unscriptural; it is destructive ultimately of true piety, and is in many ways a negation of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no such distinction in the Bible. There are distinctions in offices-apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists, and so on. But these Beatitudes are not a description of offices; they are a description of character. And from the standpoint of character, and of what we are meant to be, there is no difference between one Christian and another.

And:

The second principle I would put in this form; all Christians are meant to manifest all of these characteristics. Not only are they meant for all Christians, but of necessity, therefore, all Christians are meant to manifest all of them. In other words it is not that some are to manifest one characteristic and others to manifest another. It is not right to say some are meant to be ‘poor in spirit’, and some are meant to ‘mourn’, and some are meant to be ‘meek’, and some are meant to be ‘peacemakers’, and so on. No; every Christian is meant to be all of them, and to manifest all of them, at the same time. Now I think it is true and right to say that in some Christians some will be more manifest than others; but that is not because it is meant to be so. It is just due to the imperfections that still remain in us. When Christians are finally perfect, they will all manifest all these characteristics fully; but here in this world, and in time, there is a variation to be seen. I am not justifying it; I am simply recognizing it. The point I am emphasizing is that we are every one of us meant to manifest all of them together and at the same time. Indeed, I think we can even go further and say that the character of this detailed description is such, that it becomes quite obvious, the moment we analyze each Beatitude, that each one of necessity implies the other. For instance, you cannot be ‘poor in spirit’ without ‘mourning’ in this sense; and you cannot mourn without ‘hungering and thirsting after righteousness’; and you cannot do that without being one who is ‘meek’ and a peacemaker’. Each one of these in a sense demands the others. It is impossible truly to manifest one of these graces, and to conform to the blessing that is pronounced upon it, without at the same time inevitably showing the others also. The Beatitudes are a complete whole and you cannot divide them; so that, whereas one of them may be more manifest perhaps in one person than in another, all of them are there. The relative proportions may vary, but they are all present, and they are all meant to be present at the same time.

Dude, I’m pretty sure I’ve sent you something along these lines before – but this time I withhold no punches. Aside from my brother and growing up in the same place, you and I clearly have nothing in common. There is no need to pretend we are friends, especially considering I strongly feel people like you are a huge part of what’s wrong with this country, and indeed the entire world.

Wanna know why the Republicans are getting their a$$es handed to them lately? People like you open your mouths and say things fewer and fewer folks can identify with. Wanna know why the pulpit is having a hard time filling the pews these days? Don’t blame Satan. It’s your own fault. I believe the day is coming when this Pauline bastardization of Christ’s message fades away from the collective consciousness. I pray it’s sooner than later.

I’m kicking you off my friends list as soon as I send this. I wish you a spiritually productive lifetime and hope that you infect as few people as possible with your fear of damnation.

Now he’s saying a lot of things that he’s gathered and broad brushed me into a category because I’m a conservative Christian, however I note a couple of things in his note to me.

#1.  I give thanks to God that he transformed my mind, that he took my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh.  Why because I used to think this way, I was liberal in thought mind and every manner of life.  I did not base my “perspective on life” or as Christians have coined, my “worldview” on anything other than the thoughts of my peers, and what seemed right in my own eyes.   I thought for a long time that if people “love” one another it shouldn’t matter, it didn’t have to be that way for “Me” but I didn’t see anything wrong with others having their own thoughts on these things.  I had been “infected” by the world and the thoughts of the “collective conscience” as this gentleman puts it and I was flowing in the river of the world going right along with the stream of the world and where popular thought was taking me.

It wasn’t until God showed me that there is a God, and someone greater than SELF that I must yield my life and my mind toward.  It wasn’t until God showed me my “mortality”  and put the “Fear” of God into my heart did I fall at the feet of God and understand that the way of my own life, and my own choices, lead me to death, literally.

God had to literally reach in and change me, grant me repentance for my pride, and for me to lose the convictions I had for the world like this guy demonstrates. He’s so convinced that his way is the right way he is blinded by his own hypocrisy and pride, no different than I had been. God allowed me to come to the end of my self and my selfishness, at least in part, to be able to see how wretched I truly was on my own.  It wasn’t until this death of self took place in the corridors of my heart and my flesh could I then be born again and my mind and heart be transformed.  This is indeed a miracle.  It’s not often that people completely change their minds, about their convictions in life.

#2.  I don’t get upset with what he’s saying above, for example:

People like you open your mouths and say things fewer and fewer folks can identify with.

There is some truth in the fact that fewer and fewer people can and do identify with the gospel.  They don’t understand the good news.  The word “Gospel” sounds to many lost in these days like some genre of music sung only during Christmas.  The meaning is lost.  And why is it that the meaning is lost?  I would speculate that it is largely lost because the “Christian heritage” that this country once held to has been lost.  The values and principles were at the minimum taught when children were younger even if they strayed when they got older, they could recall being taught in church and Sunday School what sin, punishment for rebellion, wrath, Love of God, Mercy and forgiveness, were all about and they knew deep down often that this was the “right” thing.

Whereas today both parents are working, we are babysat by our televisions, and we learn about life and sex and everything else from cultural media verses being taught by our parents, from the perspective of Christian Values.  We have generation by generation been slowing slipping away from God’s word, and it is the hope of the evil one and all those who are enjoying their sin and rebellion to God as I had been before I was saved.

So what do we do with slander and criticism like this?  I take it, listen to the things that will help me grow.  I know that God is sovereign and that we must listen to these complaints and then learn from them.  They are tools to help us see the pride and hypocrisy in our own lives, and opportunities to examine our faith to see if those on the outside hate us because we believe there is truth, and that truth is absolute in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, or if they hate us because our lives demonstrate something other than Christ as we live it out.

Regardless it’s a reminder to me that I have been changed, and I am so very thankful I do not believe and think and trust in my own self, or my own ideas or thoughts…. they have so often been wrong  or deceptive but there is something greater than myself, and His name is Jesus Christ, and HE is our Hope.

So let me encourage you to not give up on people who think this way, on people with “conviction” against the bible, or Jesus Christ but to pray for them to hold them up to God and ask for mercy that they might too have a Damascus road conversion and be thrown back and spun on their head in their understanding!  may God be magnified by such testimonies and may those of us who have them never forget it was God and not us!