115. Pride, The Destroyer.

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. - Habakkuk 2:4

DELAY of deliverance is a weighing of men. Suspense is very trying, and constitutes a searching test. This divides men into two classes by bringing out their real character.

The proud and the just stand out in relief: the uplifted and the upright are far as the poles asunder; and the result of trial in the two cases is as different as death from life.

The tarrying of the promise—

I. REVEALS A GREAT FAULT. "his soul which is lifted up."

The man is impatient, and will not endure to wait. This is pride full-blown, for it quarrels with the Lord, and dares to dictate to him. >1. It is very natural to us to be proud. So fell our first father, and we inherit his fault.

2. Pride takes many shapes, and among the rest this vainglorious habit of thinking that we ought to be waited on at once.

3. In all cases pride is unreasonable. Who are we that God should make himself our servant, and take his time from our watch?

4. In every case pride is displeasing to God, and specially when it interferes with the sovereign liberty of his own grace. Shall he be dictated to in the matter of his own love? "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" (Rom. 9:20).

II. BETRAYS A SAD EVIL. "his soul is not upright in him."

1. He does not know the truth. His mind is out of the perpendicular, his knowledge is incorrect, and his judgment is mistaken. He puts "bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isa. 5:20).

2. He does not seek the light. His heart is not upright: the affections are perverted. He has a bias towards conceited views of self, and does not wish to be set right (Obad. 1:3).

3. His whole religion is warped by his false mood of heart and mind. The very soul of the man is put out of order by his vanity.

4. He will not endure the test of waiting; he will sin in his haste to be delivered; he will rush from God to other confidences; he will show by his life that his real self is not right with God.

III. DISCOVERS A SERIOUS OPPOSITION.

He grows tired of the gospel, which is the sum of the promises, and he becomes averse to the exercise of the faith which it requires.

His pride makes him reject salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.

1. He is too great to consider it.

2. He is too wise to believe it.

3. He is too good to need it.

4. He is too advanced in "culture" to endure it.

Most of the objections to revealed truth arise from a mind thrown out of balance by pride of intellect, or pride of purse, or pride of heart.

IV. DIRECTS US TO A PLEASING CONTRAST.

1. The man who is really just is truly humble. The text implies a contrast in this respect between the proud and the just.

2. Being humble, he does not dare to doubt his God, but yields to his word an implicit faith.

3. His faith keeps him alive under trial, and conducts him into the joys and privileges of spiritual life.

4. His life conquers the trial, and develops into life eternal.

The Believer has the blessing promised, and truly lives while he lives. The Unbeliever misses the blessing, and is dead while he lives.

What folly to refuse faith because of pride, and so to miss eternal life and all its felicities!