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Pride and Its Undoing

Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 NIV).

What is the sin of the world? It is pride. You may not think so; you may not see it: but I would ask you to consider again and see if all that is called sin cannot be traced to this, if it is not this in some form of expression. For what is the root of pride? What is pride? It is selfhood come to life, risen up, active that is the root of pride; and the branches and the fruit how many they are! jealousy, covetousness, wrath, and all the rest. How is wrath pride? Well, wrath, if it is not holy, purified, blood-purged wrath like the wrath of the Lamb, if it is wrath which is actuated by ourselves and our interests, is the wrath of selfhood. So often our anger is our self-preservation, our reaction to some threat to our interests or our likes. Rebellion, stubbornness, prejudice, and much of our fear, are all traceable to pride. What are we afraid of? What are we fearing? If we examined our fears, why are we afraid? If we were utterly severed from the personal interest that is, if we could hand entirely over to the Lord and get out of the picture ourselves would not a lot of our fear go? And so we might go on: but we do not want to indulge in a wholesale analysis of human nature or of pride. We have mentioned enough to show that pride is the root and that there are countless fruits traceable to that root....

So may this be a word ofinterpretation as to why the Lord is dealing with us as He hasand does on the one hand, overcoming this evil thing, breaking,emptying, grinding to powder, until there is nothing of us leftin the matter of self-sufficiency; on the other hand, givingHimself, increasing Himself. Now this is not a word, perhaps, of great inspiration, but I feel it to be a word of very great importance. This must be true of us individually. There must also be a corporate humility. This is the way along which the Lord will commit Himself. He will never give us anything to feed our flesh, to enlarge and strengthen our natural life. He will hold us to the way that keeps us safe where that is concerned. How wonderfully the Bible becomes alive when you look at it in this way!

God will wipe away every tear . . . ; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow. . . . For the former things have passed away.

He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. § Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. § The inhabitant will not say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity. § The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. § Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! § The last enemy that will be destroyed is death… Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

The things which are not seen are eternal.

Rev. 21:4;  Isa. 25:8;   Isa. 60:20;   Isa. 33:24;  Isa. 65:19;  Is. 35:10;  Hos. 13:14;  1 Cor. 15:26,54;  2 Cor. 4:18

[God] raised us up together . . . in Christ Jesus.

Do not be afraid; … I am He who lives. § Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am. We are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. § He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. § You are complete in Him, who is the head.

Inasmuch . . . as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

Eph. 2:6;  Rev. 1:17,18;  John 17:24;  Eph. 5:30;  Col. 1:18;  Col. 2:10;  Heb. 2:14,15;  1 Cor. 15:53,54

The First Cause

A man's goings are established of Jehovah; and he delighteth in His way" (Ps. 37:23, ASV.) .

Throughout time and eternity the God of circumstances has every situation planned for our good and for His glory (Rom. 8:28, 29). That is all that should matter to us. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee" "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God" (Ps. 76:10; 2 Cor. 4:15).

"What the other person said or did to you was undoubtedly wrong and cannot be justified. Nor did he do it at God's direction; but God permitted him to do it for some wise reason which will yet prove to have been abundantly worthwhile for you. By the time that action reached you it had become the will of God for you, since to a yielded believer there are no second causes.

"He believes the Psalmist's declaration that every step of his life's pathway has been ordered by the Lord. No trial or affliction can reach you who are abiding in Him, without His permission. You can, therefore, be confident in every circumstance of life, however baffling, that it has been permitted in your own best interest by the wisest and most loving of fathers, who knows our load-limit' (1 Cor. 10:13)." -O.S.

"All that we pass through is that we may get a fresh view of the Lord Jesus, or a deepening of a former one; but often we are so occupied with ourselves and the circumstances, that we fail to behold the glory of the Lord.'" -C.T.

"If the external plannings of men or Satan further God's plans, they succeed; if not, they come to nothing." -J.N.D.

"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand" (Ps. 37:24).

Service to God, Standards of Good - Man’s Nature and Destiny (7)

God Is Speaking