No More Rusty Christians – Part 3 · The Disciple Machine

No More Rusty Christians – Part 3

Pride Has Been the Problem Since the Garden

Pride has been the problem since the beginning. In Genesis 3:1-5, the serpent came to Eve and said, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Satan was subtle. He did not start by making an obvious attack. He started by questioning God’s Word. Then he questioned God’s goodness. Eve repeated what God had commanded, and then Satan said, “Ye shall not surely die.” That was the lie. But before the lie came the suggestion that God was holding out on her. Satan said, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

That is still the same lie today. Satan is still telling people that God is holding out on them. He is still telling people that God’s Word cannot be trusted. He is still telling people that they can become enlightened by breaking away from God. He is still telling people they can define good and evil for themselves. That is the ultimate manifestation of pride: man making himself god in his own eyes. Eve looked at the tree, saw that it was pleasant to the eyes and desired to make one wise, and she yielded. Adam followed. And from that moment on, mankind has been trying to live independently from God.

Romans 1:18-20 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” Paul says that what may be known of God is manifest in them, because God has shown it unto them. The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so they are without excuse. God has given human beings knowledge of their Creator. Creation itself preaches. The problem is not that man has no witness. The problem is that man suppresses the truth.

Romans 1:28 says, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.” Notice that. They had God in their knowledge, but they did not like to retain Him there. That is the rebellion of man. That is pride. Man does not want God ruling over him. Man does not want God defining truth, love, sin, righteousness, marriage, morality, worship, or salvation. Man wants his own throne. And when people refuse to retain God in their knowledge, they do not become neutral. They turn to idols. If it is not a carved image, it is self, culture, money, politics, pleasure, false religion, or human reason.

We are living in a time when people love to call themselves enlightened. Everybody thinks they have arrived at some higher level of understanding. But God’s Word is no longer the standard for them. They say the Bible is outdated. And sadly, there are even many supposed Christians who talk this way. They say the Bible may have originated from God, but it came through people, and those people were influenced by their culture, so now we have to move beyond it. That sounds intellectual, but it is spiritual sickness. It is pride dressed up as scholarship. It is man exalting his own standard above God’s Word.

But the day is coming when pride will be exposed. Philippians 2:10-11 says, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” No exceptions. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess. The atheist, the idolater, the false teacher, the religious hypocrite, the proud professor, the self-righteous moralist, the scoffer, and every person who spit on the Word of God will bow. The question is not whether they will bow. The question is whether they will bow now in faith or later in humiliation.

Those who humble themselves and put their faith in Jesus Christ will not be humiliated. They will not stand before God boasting in their personal holiness. Come on, folks. Do we really think God gives grace based on how perfectly we performed? We receive grace because we humble ourselves and trust Jesus. We receive salvation by faith in Him, and after salvation we still need His grace every day. Humility receives grace. Pride resists it. Humility bows now. Pride will bow later. Humility says, “Lord, Your Word is true.” Pride says, “I will decide for myself.” And that difference determines everything.

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No More Rusty Christians – Part 3