Attributes of Holiness – Deliverance from pride. [B. T. Roberts reexamined]

1 John 3:8 – 10

Attributes of Holiness – Deliverance from pride.

[B. T. Roberts reexamined]

“Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

[9] No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. [10] By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” [1 John 3:8 – 10]

I. “The heart is the seat of sin.” [BTR]

A. Action are tied to motivation (heart).

“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, [22] coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

[23] All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” [Mark 7:21 – 24]

B. “The justified soul does not yield to sin.” [BTR]

1. “A life of sin is proof that one is a child of the devil and not of God.” [Robertson]

2. “Practices righteousness” is about character rather than completeness.

3. General trend and pattern of life.

4. [v 9] practice of sinning... “continue in sin” (state of living before we were regenerated).

5. “True holiness will save one from sins that are popular, just as readily as from those that are disgraceful.” [BTR]

II. “Holiness implies deliverance from pride.” [BTR]

A Pride and Christ do not occupy the same space! “Contraries cannot dwell together.” [BTR]

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” [1 Peter 5:5]

1. Pride judges ourselves as innocent and others as guilty.

2. Pride becomes “false holiness,” a delusion. Appearance only...

3. Pride is often matched against purity. Pride accepts the external while purity goes all the way to the inside.

B. The proud cannot do the will of God.

1. Consecration to God vs commitment to self.

2. Repentance (necessary to salvation) is an utter forsaking of ourselves.

Humility – “is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.”

III. So why is pride so dangerous?

A. It was what lead Satan astray.

[Ezekiel 28:17] “Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you.”

B. It is something God as specifically targeted for judgment.

[Isaiah 2:12] “For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up--and it shall be brought low;”

C. Pride leads to (or is the symptom) something that is irreversible in unrecoverable.

[Psalm 31:18] “Let the lying lips be mute, which speak insolently against the righteous in pride and contempt.”

[Proverbs 21:24] “Scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.”

D. Pride is destructive.

[Proverbs 16:18] “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

(BTW, this verse is the very middle of the book of Proverbs and the first clause is the middle words of the book. This note is actually in the Hebrew text of Proverbs!)