Latest / Reformed Thinking / Undiscerned Spiritual Pride | Jonathan Edwards

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Undiscerned Spiritual Pride | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine for a second that you have a a highly contagious
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disease. OK, I am tracking with you.
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But this specific illness comes with a really bizarre side
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effect. I mean, the sicker you get, the
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healthier you actually feel. Oh wow, that is a terrifying.
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Thought right, it is like the virus specifically targets the
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part of your brain that processes symptoms.
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So while your body is just shutting down, you are looking
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in the mirror thinking you have never looked better.
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So you have 0 awareness of the danger.
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Yes, precisely. If a doctor to hand you
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medicine, you just laugh in their face.
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I mean why would you take medicine when you think you are
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in peak physical condition? You are entirely blind to your
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own ruin. That is such a vivid picture.
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Well, welcome to Reformed Thinking.
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We are thrilled you've joined us today for this custom tailored
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deep dive into our source material.
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It is great to be here. Our objective today is to take a
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stack of notes and excerpts from a classic essay by Jonathan
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Edwards. It is titled Undiscerned
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Spiritual Pride and we are going to figure out how to diagnose a
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sickness that actively hides itself from the patient.
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Which is no small task by the way.
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No, not at all. But for a learner who wants a
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clear, structured understanding of historical theology without
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drowning in an avalanche of archaic language, Edwards is an
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absolute goldmine. He really is.
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His insights are staggering. Our goal is straightforward but
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incredibly heavy. We are going to uncover the most
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hidden, the most stubborn sin in the Christian life.
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It is a massive text to examine. To properly set up this
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discussion for you, we first have to establish the
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theological framework Edwards is operating within.
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That is a great starting point. As Christians who hold to
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Reformed theology in the Westminster Confession, we
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recognize the reality of total depravity.
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Now, we should probably clarify what that term actually means.
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I mean, it is often misunderstood, right?
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Absolutely. It does not mean every human
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being is as thoroughly evil as they could possibly be.
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Right, like we are not all out there committing the worst
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crimes imaginable everyday. Precisely.
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Rather, it means that the fall of humanity corrupted every
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single part of our nature. The mind, the will, the
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emotions, the body, every facet is infected by sin.
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So the whole system is tainted. Yes, but crucially, reformed
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theology also teaches that there is remaining corruption even in
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the regenerate. The regenerate meaning
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believers. Those who are saved, those who
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are justified by faith, they still battle the remnants of
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that fallen nature every single day.
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Which is a huge distinction to make.
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It really is. Edwards is not writing this
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essay to the unbelieving world. He's not analyzing secular
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culture. He is aiming this right at the
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pews. Yes, he is diagnosing a deadly
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disease that plagues the Church, and it plagues the Church
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precisely because this remaining corruption still lives in the
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hearts of believers. When I first read these notes,
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the sheer intensity of the language Edwards uses, just, you
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know, it stopped me in my tracks.
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He does not pull any punches. He is incredibly direct.
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Right out of the gate, he identifies spiritual pride as
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the first and worst cause of errors in his day.
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That is a bold claim. It is, he calls it, the main
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door for the devil to enter a believer's life.
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A wide open door. Yeah, but my personal favorite
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visual in the entire text is when he calls Pride the chief
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inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit to mark in the
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mind. That is such a haunting phrase.
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Smoke from the bottomless. Pit it really is, he says.
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It is the main handle the devil uses against Christians.
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The main handle. When I read that phrase about
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the smoke, my mind immediately went to sensory deprivation.
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I mean, Smike does not just smell awful, it physically
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blinds you. It totally disorients you.
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Right. It suffocates you.
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It causes panic. If pride is smoke, it means the
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proud person is stumbling around in the dark, knocking things
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over. But because the smoke is
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spiritual in nature, they think they're walking in broad
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daylight. Spot on.
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So let us break down this disease metaphor a bit more.
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Why does he insist that pride is a sickness that has to be cured
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before any other medicines will work?
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The disease metaphor is brilliant because of how certain
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illnesses operate within the human body.
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Like what specifically? Think about an autoimmune
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disorder. The illness tricks the immune
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system into attacking the body's own healthy tissue.
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Oh right, the body fights itself.
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Yes, and it often rejects the very treatments designed to heal
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it. Edwards argues that spiritual
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pride functions that way in the soul.
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It defends itself against the light.
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So it actively fights the cure. Absolutely.
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A proud person operates under the rock solid assumption that
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they are already full of light. They feel they have no need for
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instruction. They think they have it all
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figured out. Yeah, when a pastor, a friend,
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or even the text of Scripture offers correction or a new
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perspective, the proud mind immediately builds a wall and
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rejects. It because taking the medicine
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would mean admitting they are sick.
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Right. Acknowledging a need for
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instruction would mean admitting a deficiency, and pride cannot
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tolerate the idea of deficiency. So until you fix the pride,
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nothing else works. That is the core issue.
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Until you cure the primary disease of pride, applying the
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medicine of sound teaching or theological correction is
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utterly useless. The patient will simply refuse
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to swallow the cure. Yes, because they believe they
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are already the healthiest person in the room.
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So it is like a patient who keeps taking over the counter
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cough syrup while completely ignoring the fact that they have
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lung cancer. That is a very grim but accurate
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way to put it. Treating the surface level sins,
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the symptoms you can see will fail if the malignant root of
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pride remains untouched. You are just addressing the
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coughs, not the tumor. Right.
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You can try to fix your anger, your impatience, or your
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anxiety, but if the root cause is a heart that exalts itself,
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you are just slapping a bandage on it.
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And the tumor keeps growing. But here is where I get tripped
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up and I want to push back on this framework a bit for you.
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Sure, go ahead. If a believer is justified by
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grace, completely forgiven, and declared righteous in the
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courtroom of God, as Reformed theology teaches, why does the
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devil still have such a strong handle on them through pride?
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That is a very common question. Why hasn't that handle been
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completely shattered and removed the moment they are saved?
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That tension you are feeling is the core friction in the
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Reformed understanding of sanctification.
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We have to separate 2 massive theological concepts here.
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OK, let us lay them out. We have justification and
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sanctification. Justification is a one time
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definitive legal declaration by God.
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The courtroom gavel drops. Yes, the gavel drops and you are
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declared righteous based on the finished work of Christ, but
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sanctification, the process of actually becoming holy in your
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daily actions, thoughts and habits, is a lifelong, grueling
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battle. It is not instantaneous.
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Not at all. The Westminster Confession is
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explicit that the old corrupt nature is never completely
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eradicated in this life. So the handle is still there.
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Yes, the devil still has a handle because your flesh still
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exists. Satan leverages our natural
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inherent inclination towards self exaltation.
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We do love to be the hero of our own story, do we not?
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We really do OK? Edwards points out that humility
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is the only environment that puts a Christian out of the
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devil's reach. Oh that is interesting.
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Humility is the safe zone. He quotes Psalm 25.9 which says
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that God leads the humble injustice and teaches the humble
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His way. Notice the prerequisite there.
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Right. Humility is the required soil
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for divine light to grow. Without it, the devil easily
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uses our own self assurance to drag his the error.
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And we walk into the trap willingly.
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Yes, because we think we are following our own brilliant
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intuition. If we follow that logic, you
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might naturally assume that the most zealous Christians would be
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the most immune to this disease. You would certainly think so.
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Right. I mean the ones who are reading
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their Bibles for hours, praying constantly, memorizing
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scripture, and actively fighting their sin.
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You would think that people doing all the heavy lifting in
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the church would have the strongest immune systems against
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pride. It seems like common sense.
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But here is where the text throws a massive curveball.
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Edwards issues a giant flashing warning sign specifically aimed
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at growing Christians. He really targets them.
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He says that the believers who are actively excelling in their
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walk are actually the most vulnerable to this specific
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snare. Yes, and Edwards outlines a
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highly specific psychological and spiritual dynamic that
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occurs when a believer begins to show noticeable zeal.
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What does that dynamic look like?
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When someone starts outpacing their peers in their Christian
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walk, it instantly awakens a latent jealousy in the people
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around them. Oh wow, so their growth actually
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triggers a negative reaction? Yes, Edward specifically
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mentions cold and dead Christians.
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Who are the cold and dead Christians?
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These are people who might be sitting in the pews every Sunday
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carrying a Bible and saying the right words, but they lack the
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reality and heat of godliness in their own hearts.
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So they have the routine, but no real life.
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Their religion is a hollow shell.
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When these individuals observe a zealous Christian whose life is
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marked by fervent holiness, they feel a secret hostility.
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Why hostility though? Because the genuine zeal of the
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growing believer acts as a mirror exposing the apathy of
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the cold Christian. So they feel condemned just by
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watching someone else try hard. Spot on.
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To protect their own ego, the cold Christian will immediately
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suspect the zealous person of pride.
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They start making assumptions. Yes, they will start throwing
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false accusations, assuming that the zealous person is only
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acting holy to look better than everyone else.
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We see this exact dynamic play out in local churches
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constantly. We really do.
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Think about the person who suddenly becomes highly
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dedicated. They start showing up early to
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set up chairs. They launch a new Bible study.
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They start sharing their faith boldly at their workplace.
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And they stop participating in the office gossip.
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Right. And the critics inevitably
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emerge from the woodwork. People who are comfortable in
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their lukewarm apathy start whispering.
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They get very uncomfortable. They say things like, oh, they
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just want the pastor's attention, or they take
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themselves entirely too seriously.
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They need to lighten up. It is a defense mechanism.
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But Edwards does not just warn the zealous Christians that they
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will be criticized. He flips the scenario in a way
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that is genuinely terrifying. This is where he's really deep.
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He says the real danger is not the false accusation itself.
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The real danger is how the zealous Christian uses that
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false accusation. They weaponize it.
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Exactly. I mean, the dedicated believer
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takes these unkind, uncharitable comments and uses them as a
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psychological shield to blind themselves to their actual
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pride. It is a trap.
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They fall into this mental trap of thinking, well, my critics
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are just bitter and jealous of my dedication.
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Therefore, my critics are wrong about my motives, which means my
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motives must be completely pure. That is the ultimate Catch 22 of
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Christian zeal. It is so subtle.
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The accusation of pride from a jealous peer might be 100%
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uncharitable and factually wrong in that specific instance.
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They might be totally innocent in that one.
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Moment, yes, but the zealous Christian weaponizes that unjust
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critique to build an impenetrable fortress of self
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justification. They just.
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Stop listening to everyone. They completely stop examining
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their own heart because they feel victimized.
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This creates an incredibly dangerous situation where the
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believer feels justified in dismissing any critique from
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anyone forever. Because they have cast
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themselves as the persecuted martyr.
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Right. Edwards is pleading with a
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zealous believer not to let the devil use the uncharitable
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behavior of others as a smokescreen.
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It makes sense. Two things can be true at once.
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Yes, the critic can be malicious, and you can still
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harbor a deeply arrogant heart. I have to ask the practical
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question then, how does a believer actually distinguish
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between the two? That is the $1,000,000 question.
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Let us say you are listening to this right now and someone
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recently accused you of being arrogant about your theological
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knowledge. OK, a very real scenario.
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How do you separate an unjust criticism from a cold Christian
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from a genuine massive blind spot in your own life?
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How do you know if they are just bitter that you read more books
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than them or if you actually are wielding your knowledge like a
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weapon? You start by accepting the
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baseline reality of your own depravity, which we discussed
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earlier. Bringing it back to the
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Westminster Confession. Yes, Edwards provides A sobering
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reminder to the absolute best, most zealous believers on earth.
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He says that pride is the worst part of the body of sin and
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death. The worst part?
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Not just a bad part. He categorizes it as the first
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sin that ever entered into the universe.
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The sin that caused the fall of Satan, right?
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Yes, and he says it is the last sin that is ever rooted out of a
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believer's heart. It is God's most stubborn,
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entrenched enemy. So it is the first to arrive and
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the last to leave. Precisely, therefore, the
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baseline assumption of the zealous Christian should never
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be I am free from this. That is a dangerous assumption.
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The assumption must always be I am heavily infected with this,
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even if my critic is currently expressing their frustration
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poorly. So you have to assume you are
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guilty on some level if. You assume the corruption is
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still present and active in your members, as reformed theology
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demands. We do.
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You will take every single accusation, even the horribly
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unfair ones, as a providential opportunity.
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An opportunity to ask God to examine you.
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Yes, to ask the great searcher of hearts to look inside you.
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Stop defending your reputation and start auditing your soul.
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That realization alone is enough to keep anyone up at night.
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It is very sobering. The absolute best, most
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diligent, most devoted Christians are still heavily
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infected with God's most stubborn enemy.
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And that brings us to the next major hurdle in the text.
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Which is the hidden nature of it.
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Right. Why is this specific sin so
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incredibly hard to spot in the mirror?
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I mean, if I have a problem with explosive anger, I know it.
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You can see the collateral damage.
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Yeah, I can see the broken dishes and the damaged
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relationships. If I have a problem with theft,
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I know it because I have things in my house that do not belong
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to me. The evidence is tangible.
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But Edwards calls pride a secret enemy.
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He defines it in a very simple, almost unassuming way.
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He says pride is having too high an opinion of oneself.
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It sounds so mild when you say it like.
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That it does, and because of that very definition, the proud
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person is completely, totally unaware of it.
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It is a stunning psychological insight from a man riding in the
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18th century. He was way ahead of his time.
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Think about the strict logic of his definition.
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If pride is having too high an opinion of yourself, then by
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definition you cannot be aware of it while you are actively
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experiencing it. Because you think your opinion
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is just an accurate assessment. Exactly.
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You genuinely believe your high opinion is justified based on
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the evidence you see. You think you're assessing your
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own character, your own intelligence, and your own
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holiness with perfect accuracy. So you think you are just being
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objective? Yes, if the grounds for your
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high opinion crumbled, if you suddenly realized you were not
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as smart or as holy as you thought, Edwards argues that you
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would cease to have that high opinion.
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It would vanish. But as long as you hold it, you
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believe it is simply the objective truth.
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This makes spiritual pride the most secret and subtle of all
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sins. It literally manufacturers its
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own self-confidence. It actively drives away any
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suspicion that you might be wrong, because your brain
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constantly feeds you data, confirming your own superiority.
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Edwards uses an analogy here that I cannot get out of my
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head. The onion analogy.
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Yes, he compares spiritual pride to the layers of an onion, he
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writes. When you pull off one, there is
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another underneath. It is a terrifying visual of
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endless self deception. It really is.
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I look at it kind of like having incredibly bad breath.
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Oh, that is a great way to think about it.
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Everyone else in the room knows you have it.
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The second you open your mouth to speak, they are all subtly
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backing away from you, leaning back in chairs, maybe sliding a
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bowl of mints across the table. They are trying to drop hints.
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Right, but you're the only person in the entire room who
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cannot smell it because the scent is coming from inside your
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own face. You are completely nose blind to
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it. That is painfully accurate.
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The very nature of pride creates A biological shield that repels
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any suspicion. You think you're just being bold
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for the truth. You think you're just speaking
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with conviction, but everyone else in the room smells the
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arrogance. That bad breath analogy hits the
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nail on the head, and we can even take it a step further.
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Go for it. When someone slides that bowl of
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mints across the table to the proud person, the proud person
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gets offended. Oh wow, yes.
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They think the other person is judging their diet or
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interrupting they're very important monologue.
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They do not realize the other person is trying to save them
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from embarrassing themselves further.
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Because they are completely nose blind.
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We are entirely nose blind to our own corruption.
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This connects directly to the Reformed doctrine of the
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deceitfulness of the human heart.
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Drawn from Jeremiah, right? Yes, drawn heavily from Jeremiah
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17.9, which states that the heart is deceitful above all
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things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?
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It is a rhetorical question. No one can understand it.
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Edwards points out that relying on your own internal intuition
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to spot your own pride is a fool's errand.
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You cannot just sit in a quiet room, look inside yourself and
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ask, am I being proud right now? Because your heart will just lie
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to you. Your deceitful heart will run a
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counterintelligence operation against your conscience.
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It will immediately answer no, you are not proud, you are just
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passionate. You just care about the truth
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more than these compromise driven people do.
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It feeds you a more flattering narrative.
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This is why Edwards concludes that entire section by stating
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plainly he that trusts his own heart is a fool.
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That is a harsh word, but necessary.
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You cannot rely on immediate intuition to discern something
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whose very nature is to hide itself in the dark.
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So if we are completely stripped of our ability to trust our
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internal intuition, where does that leave us?
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We have to look elsewhere. Right.
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If we cannot just look inward to detect this endless layered
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onion of pride, how do we actually find it before it
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destroys us? Edward says we have to look
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outward. We have to examine its fruits
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and effects. Yes, we have to look at what the
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heart produces on the outside, because the fruit never lies
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about the root. And the very first diagnostic
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test he gives us revolves entirely around how we talk
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about other people. He calls the spiritually proud
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person the Great Fault Finder. The first undeniable fruit of
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hidden pride manifests in our speech and our mental focus.
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How does that look in daily life?
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Edwards notes that the spiritually proud person is
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hyper focused on the sins, the deficiencies and the perceived
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lack of grace in other Saints. They are always auditing
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everyone else. They are the first to notice
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when someone else is cold and dead.
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They have a radar for other people's failures.
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But it is not just what they notice, it is how they talk
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about it, right? Yes.
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What is incredibly revealing is the tone they use when
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discussing those failures. They speak of other people's
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errors with laughter, with levity, or with a distinct air
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of contempt. They mock them.
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They will look at someone else's caution or their credence and
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harshly label it as being from the devil or from hell.
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They escalate it immediately. Their primary spiritual activity
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becomes analyzing, diagnosing and criticizing the shortcomings
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of their peers. They appoint themselves as the
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supreme theological auditor of the Church.
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And he contrasts this sharp, critical spirit with pure
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Christian humility. A total night and day
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difference. The humble person, Edwards says,
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complaints the most about their own coldness.
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They are too busy auditing themselves.
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Right. They have so much heavy lifting
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to do at home, looking at the overwhelming evil in their own
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heart, that they simply do not have the time or the energy to
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be busy auditing other people's hearts.
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They are overwhelmed by their own need for grace.
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When they are forced to speak of others failings, they do it with
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grief or pity, not with this mocking, sarcastic contempt.
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It breaks their heart to see sin.
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But I have to throw a massive flag on the play here and ask a
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question that I know many listeners are thinking right
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now. Let's hear it.
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Does this mean a Christian should never call out false
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teaching? Should we never confront sin in
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the church? That is a very valid concern.
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I mean, we are analyzing this from a Reformed perspective, and
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Reformed theology places a massive premium on theological
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accuracy, on defending the truth of the gospel, and on actively
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correcting error. It is a core part of the
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tradition. Does Edwards want us to just sit
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on our hands and be silent while heresy runs rampant through the
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pews? That is a vital distinction we
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have to make, because misreading Edwards here leads to total
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passivity. And passivity is not the.
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Goal Edwards is absolutely not advocating for theological
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compromise. He is not saying we should
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ignore rampant sin or let false teachers ravage the flock.
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So what is he actually diagnosing?
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What he is diagnosing is the posture and the spirit of the
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critique. The core issue is not whether an
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error should be addressed. The issue is how you view
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yourself in relation to the person who is an error.
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It comes back to the heart. Edwards uses a very specific,
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deeply humbling phrase. He says Christians are fellow
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worms. Fellow worms.
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Wow. We are to treat one another with
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the same gentleness, patience, and humility that Christ treats
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us. How does the proud person act?
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The spiritually proud person commands, they warn with
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heavy-handed authority, and they speak from a self appointed
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pedestal. They talk down to people.
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They feel a distinct sense of superiority over the person
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failing, and they enjoy the feeling of being right.
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And the humble person. The humble Christian, on the
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other hand, entreats and beseeches.
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They correct error, yes, but they do so as a fellow worm who
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is equally dependent on daily grace.
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They are standing on the same level ground.
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They are burdened and broken hearted by the other person's
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failing rather than entertained by it.
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I want you, the listener, to just pause whatever you are
22:09
doing right now and run a brutal audit on your own conversation
22:13
over the past week. It is a very convicting
22:16
exercise. Think about the discussions you
22:17
have had about other people in your local church, or about
22:20
public figures, or even the people you debate theology with
22:23
online. Especially online.
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Were your words marked by a genuine, heavy grief over their
22:29
sin or their lack of understanding?
22:31
Or was there a subtle contemptuous laughter mixed in?
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Were you mocking them to your friends?
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Were you mourning their error, or were you secretly enjoying
22:40
the fact that your systematic theology is so much sharper,
22:43
more refined than theirs? That is the terrifying
22:46
diagnostic test Edwards is forcing us to take.
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It strips away all our spiritual posturing.
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And that diagnostic test regarding our speech naturally
22:54
progresses to the second fruit of pride.
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Which moves from our words to our image.
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Beyond the words we use to criticize others, Edwards argues
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that pride dictates the very image we try to project to the
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watching world. Spiritual pride causes people to
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adopt external pretenses. It creates a burning desire to
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be recognized as distinct. Yes, this section of the text is
23:15
fascinating because it is so incredibly relatable today.
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Human nature has not changed at all.
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Edwards talks about people affecting a different way of
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speaking, adopting a different dialect, or changing their
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physical behavior just for the sake of being different or
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looking distinguished from the rest of the congregation.
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That we want to stand out from the crowd.
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It immediately made me think of the guy who talks completely
23:35
normally using modern slang over coffee, but the second he is
23:39
asked to pray in public he suddenly adopts a 17th century
23:43
English vocabulary. Oh, that is so true.
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He starts throwing out these and thou's he changes the entire
23:50
cadence and pitch of his voice to sound more somber and pious.
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It is a performance. Or think about the person who
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actively avoids any conformity with standard church practices,
24:01
refusing to sing certain songs or refusing to sit a certain way
24:04
just to stand out as the more holy or more serious believer in
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the room. They manufacture weirdness to
24:11
build a brand. That is a perfect modern
24:13
equivalent. The proud heart has a ravenous
24:15
desire to be accounted better than others.
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So they have to look different. Yes, and so it manufacturers
24:20
artificial distinctions to ensure everyone notices how
24:23
different they are. And what is the humble
24:25
alternative? The humble alternative, as
24:28
Edwards details, is drastically different.
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A humble Christian is absolutely not afraid to stand firm alone
24:35
if duty requires it. So they are not just people
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pleasers. No, not at all.
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The whole world forsakes the truth of Scripture.
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The humble person will hold to it even if it costs them their
24:46
life. But what is the difference in
24:48
their posture? However, they do not delight in
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being different for difference's sake.
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They do not manufacture weirdness just to signal their
24:56
own piety to the crowd. They do not want the spotlight.
24:59
Their desire is actually aligned with the Apostle Paul to become
25:03
all things to all men, yielding and conforming to others to
25:07
please them in all things except where it evolves.
25:09
Sin. So they try to fit in where they
25:11
can. They want to eliminate
25:13
unnecessary social barriers so the gospel can be heard clearly,
25:16
whereas the proud person wants to build social barriers to
25:19
showcase their spiritual distinctiveness.
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And Edwards points out that this manufactured distinctiveness
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makes the proud person hyper aware of opposition.
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Oh. Absolutely.
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They become very fragile. If you build your entire
25:31
identity on being the most distinct, rigorous, unyielding
25:35
Christian in the room, you are going to take immense offense
25:39
the second someone challenges you.
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Or if they don't treat you with the reverence you think you
25:43
deserve. The proud person speaks of
25:45
injuries with deep bitterness. They keep a meticulous mental
25:50
Ledger of everyone who has opposed them.
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Every single slight is recorded. Every time they were passed over
25:55
for a leadership role, they view any disagreement as a personal
25:59
attack on their holiness. Exactly that.
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And look at the contrast Edward Straws with the humble Christian
26:06
facing opposition. How do they react?
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When reviled, the humble person looks to the example of their
26:11
Lord, quiet, not opening their mouth, committed themselves to
26:16
Him who judges righteously. They don't fight back in the
26:18
flesh. Edwards offers a brilliant,
26:20
counterintuitive insight here that completely defies human
26:24
nature. What does he say?
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He says that the more the world is against the humble Christian,
26:28
the more silent they will be in public.
26:30
That goes against every instinct we have.
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They do not feel a burning need to loudly vindicate themselves
26:36
in the town square. They don't need to post a 5000
26:40
word defense of their character on social media.
26:42
But they are not totally silent, are they?
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No, they will not be still in their prayer closet.
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The response to opposition is a quiet reliance on God, taking
26:52
the injury vertically to the Lord rather than horizontally
26:55
blasting their critics. They trust the judge of all the
26:58
earth to handle their reputation.
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Yes, because they know they're safe in his hands.
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That inward posture of quiet reliance leads us directly into
27:06
the third and final diagnostic test Edwards provides.
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This one is very revealing. It dictates how we approach both
27:13
God and the people around us in our daily interactions.
27:15
It hits both the vertical and the horizontal.
27:18
Edwards points out that spiritual pride manifests as a
27:21
self confident boldness before God combined with an utter
27:24
abandonment of modesty before men.
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It corrupts our vertical relationship and our horizontal
27:29
relationships simultaneously. Let's breakdown that boldness
27:33
before God first, because it is highly concerning.
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Yeah, we need to unpack that. Edwards Reference is Psalm 2.11
27:39
which commands us to worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice
27:42
with trembling. So joy and fear go together.
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In the Reformed tradition, there is a massive structural emphasis
27:49
on the awful majesty, holiness and sovereignty of God
27:53
contrasted with the frail sinfulness of man.
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We take God's holiness very seriously.
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Yes, we have immense, unshakable joy in our salvation.
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But that joy must always be mixed with reverential awe.
28:05
And the proud person loses that. The spiritually proud person
28:09
loses that awe. They approach God with a casual,
28:12
flippant, self confident boldness that completely forgets
28:15
the infinite, terrifying distance between the creator and
28:18
the creature. They talk about God as if he is
28:20
their peer. Or their cosmic assistant.
28:22
And that lack of reverence vertically spills over
28:25
horizontally into how they treat the people in their lives.
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It always spills over. Edwards says they misapply
28:30
Proverbs 29.25, which warns that the fear of man brings a snare.
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How do they twist that? The proud person takes that
28:38
verse, twists it, and uses it as a theological excuse to abandon
28:42
all modesty, all tact, and all reverence.
28:45
Court at their people. They think rudeness is a virtue.
28:48
They act as if having zero filter, being abrasive and
28:52
showing no basic respect is somehow a sign of immense
28:55
spiritual courage. It creates a desperate hunger
28:58
for attention in any room they walk into.
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They expect deference from everyone.
29:03
If people do not submit to their opinions and immediately
29:06
recognize their perceived spiritual authority, they get
29:09
incredibly offended. It is like being stuck at a
29:12
dinner party with a terrible conversationalist.
29:15
The ones who just talk at you. Right, who is not actually
29:17
listening to a single word you are saying?
29:20
They are just waiting for you to take a breath so they can start
29:22
their next lecture. That is a highly accurate
29:24
comparison. The proud person is far more apt
29:27
to instruct than to inquire. They always have the answers.
29:30
They naturally put on the airs of a mass and a teacher because
29:34
they genuinely believe everyone in their orbit needs their help
29:37
to fix their faulty theology. And how does the humble person
29:40
act? The eminently humble Christian,
29:43
conversely, genuinely thinks they need help from everybody
29:46
else. They are eager to learn.
29:49
Because they are acutely aware of their own remaining
29:52
corruption, their own blind spots and their own failures,
29:55
they approach conversations eager to learn, not just to
29:59
dictate they are actually. Listening to the other person.
30:02
Furthermore, this pride leads to a blatant callous neglect of
30:06
those the proud person deems beneath them.
30:09
Edwards issues a severe warning about this, doesn't he?
30:11
He issues a severe warning against refusing to converse
30:14
with carnal men. Meaning unbelievers or those who
30:18
are much less spiritually mature.
30:20
Yes, as though these people are simply unworthy of our time and
30:23
intellect. The proud person only wants to
30:25
talk to people on their level. That is a massive conviction
30:29
right there. It cuts.
30:29
Right to the heart. It is so easy to fall into the
30:32
trap of only wanting to have high level, complex theological
30:35
discussions with people who already agree with you.
30:38
People who read the same books as you.
30:39
And use the exact same vocabulary.
30:42
We naturally want to completely neglect the messy, difficult,
30:46
frustrating work of engaging with people who do not know the
30:50
Lord at all or who are struggling with basic truths.
30:53
Is much easier to stay in the echo chamber.
30:56
Edwards brings the entire argument back to the person of
30:59
Christ to shatter this pride. Which is the ultimate cure?
31:02
He says we must condescend to carnal men, just as Christ has
31:07
condescended to us. Christ bore with our
31:10
unteachableness. He was so patient.
31:11
He bore with our absolute stubborn stupidity.
31:15
He didn't stay in heaven because we weren't on his intellectual
31:17
level. Thankfully, he did not.
31:19
If the perfect Holy Son of God can bear with my thick
31:22
headedness and stoop down to save me, how can I possibly look
31:26
down my nose at someone else who is struggling to understand?
31:29
It is the ultimate leveling truth in all of theology.
31:32
Which really puts things in perspective.
31:33
When you truly grasp the sheer magnitude of Christ's
31:36
condescension towards your own total depravity, the ground at
31:39
the foot of the cross becomes perfectly.
31:41
Low you cannot look down on anyone.
31:43
You can no longer look down on anyone because you realize
31:46
exactly how far God had to reach down into the dirt to pull you
31:50
out of the mire. Any sense of superiority
31:52
evaporates when you view your life through the lens of the
31:55
cross. It is the only way to kill the
31:57
pride. OK, let us pull all of these
31:59
heavy threads together for a final recap of our mission.
32:02
Today we set out to understand the most hidden stubborn sin in
32:07
the Christian life. Smoke from the bottomless pit.
32:10
To clear the smoke from the bottomless pit so we can
32:13
actually see clearly, the very first step is dealing with the
32:16
main disease, our own hidden, undiscerned spiritual pride.
32:21
We have to acknowledge we are sick.
32:23
We cannot trust our feelings, we cannot trust our internal
32:25
intuition to find it, because the onion of deceit will always
32:29
run cover for itself. It will lie to you every time.
32:31
Instead, we have to relentlessly, brutally examine
32:34
our external fruits. We have to look at our harsh
32:37
fault finding and mocking. Our desire for pretenses and
32:41
attention. Our casual presumption before a
32:43
holy God and our intellectual neglect of others.
32:46
These are the visible outward layers of that hidden onion.
32:49
And addressing those visible layers requires a constant,
32:54
active, desperate reliance on the grace of God.
32:58
We cannot do it on our own. We must pray earnestly for the
33:01
great searcher of hearts to expose what we naturally,
33:04
instinctively try to hide from ourselves.
33:06
Because humility is the only soil where true divine light can
33:10
actually take root and flourish. Spot on.
33:13
It is the prerequisite for all spiritual growth.
33:16
We want to leave you with a final lingering thought to Mull
33:19
over long after this audio stops playing.
33:22
Something to really sit with. Think of the single area of your
33:25
Christian walk right now. Where Where you feel the
33:27
absolute most secure, The area where you feel the most
33:30
knowledgeable, the most disciplined, the most mature,
33:32
and the most unshakeable. Just picture that one area.
33:35
Got it in your head? What if that exact area is where
33:37
the thickest, most hidden layer of your spiritual pride is
33:41
currently operating completely undetected?
33:43
That is a chilling thought. Thank you for joining us for
33:46
this rigorous analysis of the source material on reformed
33:48
thinking.