Introduction
Are you willing to let God expose the pride you can easily see in others, but keep excusing in yourself? The central teaching we need today is this: pride is a deadly, heart-level sickness that brings destruction, but God gives greater grace to the humble through Jesus Christ, who not only models humility but heals our pride from the inside out. Proverbs gives the warning plainly: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). That’s not poetic exaggeration, it’s a spiritual reality with real-world consequences.
Main Points
Are you willing to let God expose the pride you can easily see in others, but keep excusing in yourself? The central teaching we need today is this: pride is a deadly, heart-level sickness that brings destruction, but God gives greater grace to the humble through Jesus Christ, who not only models humility but heals our pride from the inside out.
Proverbs gives the warning plainly: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). That’s not poetic exaggeration, it’s a spiritual reality with real-world consequences.
Pride Promises Glory, Pays Destruction
I want you to feel the weight of Proverbs 16:18: pride doesn’t merely risk destruction, pride leads you there.
Think about how often we’ve watched pride ruin something precious: a relationship, a family, a reputation, a career, even a life. Pride convinces us we’re building something impressive, but it quietly undermines the foundation until collapse is inevitable.
Seeking Your Own Glory Isn’t Glorious
Proverbs adds another piercing insight: “It is not good to eat much honey, so to seek one’s own glory is not glory” (Proverbs 25:27). In other words, self-glory is like overeating sweetness, it seems desirable, but it sickens you.
A vivid example is the story of Barry Bonds: an unbelievably gifted athlete, yet the pursuit of more acclaim (and the suspicion of steroids) didn’t merely tarnish a season, it overshadowed an entire legacy. He gained records, but lost trust and honor. That’s the tragedy of pride: in chasing glory, we often forfeit the very thing we wanted, true honor.
And this is not just about famous people. I see the same spiritual pattern in everyday life:
- The person obsessed with a “perfect family” becomes controlling and fractures relationships.
- The coworker desperate for promotion compromises integrity and ends up ashamed.
- Even our small reactions reveal it: when someone cuts us off, why does it feel so personal? Why does tailgating ignite anger? Pride is always guarding “my place,” “my importance,” “my rights.”
Pride Hides in Arrogance and Insecurity
Pride is dangerous partly because we spot it easily in others and justify it in ourselves. But it’s also dangerous because it wears different masks.
Yes, pride shows up in obvious arrogance, self-importance, boasting, using others. But it can also show up as insecurity. Insecurity may feel like lowliness, but often it is still self-occupation: my image, my worth, my standing, my fear of being seen as small. I want you to notice this: whether I’m inflating myself or obsessing over my lack, pride keeps the spotlight on me.
God Actively Opposes the Proud
James takes Proverbs and raises the stakes: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; echoing Proverbs 3:34). That word resists is not mild. It pictures God taking His stand against us, like opposition in battle.
This is why we can’t treat pride as a minor flaw. Pride is not a side topic in Scripture, it’s one of the central storylines of the Bible:
- Satan’s fall is tied to the desire to exalt himself, “I will be like the Most High.”
- In Genesis 3, humanity is poisoned by the same lie: God is withholding good, so we must seize it ourselves.
- From that point forward, redemption is God’s plan to crush the serpent and free us from the proud, self-centered heart that separated us from Him (Genesis 3:15 is implied in the storyline).
As Andrew Murray put it (and it’s worth sitting with): redemption is not only about restoring harmony with God, but about destroying the selfish pride that broke that harmony in the first place.
Humility Begins with Right Perspective, Not Self-Effort
So how do we pursue humility?
Scripture gives us helpful starting places. Moses prays: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Humility grows when I remember how brief my life is, how frail I am, how quickly I will be forgotten in history, and how small I am compared to eternity.
David adds another soul-prescription: “When I consider Your heavens… the moon and the stars… what is man that You are mindful of him?” (Psalm 8:3–4). Go outside. Look up. Let creation re-scale your ego.
But hear me carefully: these perspectives don’t cure pride by themselves. Pride is too deep. It is not merely a bad habit, it is a heart disease. If you’ve ever tried to “be more humble,” you know you can’t fix yourself with willpower.
Jesus Is the Cure and the Pattern
This is where the gospel becomes our only hope.
Philippians 2:5–11 calls us to the mind of Christ: though He is truly God, He “made Himself of no reputation,” took the form of a servant, and “humbled Himself… to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5–8). The King stepped down. The exalted One embraced the lowest place. That upside-down humility is the shock of salvation history.
And the result? “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him… that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:9–11).
Now here’s what I want you to get: Jesus is not merely a humility example for you to imitate. He is the Savior who deals with the pride you cannot uproot. God’s promise is heart-level transformation, taking out the heart of stone and giving a new heart (implied from Ezekiel). That’s why grace is more than encouragement; grace is power to become new.
The Kingdom Opens Through Self-Denial
If humility is the key to the kingdom, Jesus states the doorway plainly: “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).
This is where discipleship becomes real. Following Jesus begins, and continues, with surrender:
- I deny the throne my pride wants.
- I accept the cross as the death of my self-rule.
- I follow Jesus’ ways as my new path.
This becomes our ongoing anthem as Christians: “I die daily” (implied from 1 Corinthians), “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20), “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Not because God is trying to shrink you into misery, but because true life is found when Christ becomes the center.
Conclusion
Pride is destructive, deceptive, and deeply rooted in every one of us. It hides behind obvious arrogance and behind anxious insecurity. Left untreated, it brings loss, sometimes publicly, sometimes quietly, but always truly.
But God gives more grace. He opposes the proud, yes, but He welcomes the humble. And humility is not something you manufacture; it’s something you receive as Jesus transforms you from the inside out.
As we come to communion, this is not meant to be a merely sorrowful moment. We remember the cross not because crucifixion is beautiful, but because what Jesus’ death purchased is unimaginably good: forgiveness, new life, and a new heart. His humility became our rescue.
Father, thank You for Your Word that warns us that pride leads to destruction, and thank You for Your grace that calls us into humility. Please expose the pride we excuse and the self-focus we’ve normalized, whether it shows up as arrogance or insecurity. We confess that we cannot cure our own hearts.
Jesus, thank You for humbling Yourself, becoming a servant, and obeying to the point of death on a cross for us. Give us the mind of Christ. Teach us to number our days, to see Your greatness, and to live with surrender and joy. Help us deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow You.
We receive Your grace again today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Conclusion
Pride is destructive, deceptive, and deeply rooted in every one of us. It hides behind obvious arrogance and behind anxious insecurity. Left untreated, it brings loss, sometimes publicly, sometimes quietly, but always truly.
But God gives more grace. He opposes the proud, yes, but He welcomes the humble. And humility is not something you manufacture; it’s something you receive as Jesus transforms you from the inside out.
As we come to communion, this is not meant to be a merely sorrowful moment. We remember the cross not because crucifixion is beautiful, but because what Jesus’ death purchased is unimaginably good: forgiveness, new life, and a new heart. His humility became our rescue.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for Your Word that warns us that pride leads to destruction, and thank You for Your grace that calls us into humility. Please expose the pride we excuse and the self-focus we’ve normalized, whether it shows up as arrogance or insecurity. We confess that we cannot cure our own hearts.
Jesus, thank You for humbling Yourself, becoming a servant, and obeying to the point of death on a cross for us. Give us the mind of Christ. Teach us to number our days, to see Your greatness, and to live with surrender and joy. Help us deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow You.
We receive Your grace again today. In Jesus’ name, amen.