The First Sin

The First Sin

A Sermon by Keith D. Wallace

Ob 1:3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee

Pr 29:23 A man's pride shall bring him low

We’ve got a real problem today. We’ve actually got a lot of problems today but the problem I’m talking about isn’t with our government, or Hollywood or any of that other stuff—although they are a problem too. No the problem I’m talking about is with each and every one of us. Our problem is our own opinion of ourselves. We think way too highly of ourselves. I’m talking about the problem of pride. I’m talking about the sin of pride. The Bible has a lot to say about pride and not one bit of it agrees with the popular belief of the world. The world tells you that you need to be proud of yourself and your accomplishments. The world tells you that you need to love yourself first and that you need to live your life so that you can make others proud of you. The world tells you that if you aren’t proud of yourself, then you have a problem with self-esteem. Well that’s a bunch of nonsense and it comes straight from the father of pride himself, Satan.

We’re going to talk about pride today. We’re going to look at the history of pride and find out where pride originated. We’re going to see what the result of pride has been. And we’re going to take a look at ourselves and find out just how great we really think we are and what our high opinions of ourselves causes.

1. Where did pride originate?

Pride has been around longer than most of us are able to comprehend. In fact, pride was the very first sin to ever occur and it is plainly documented for us in God’s Word.

Isa 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

It is very significant that God decided to reveal to us what caused the fall of Lucifer. This helps us to see how much of a problem the sin of pride can be. Because of pride, Lucifer was thrown out of Heaven and changed from a beautiful creature (see Eze 28 for description of Lucifer before the fall) into the beast that he now is, known as Satan.

Look closely at the passage above. Six times Lucifer talks about himself and what he will do. I will ascend…I will exalt…my throne…I will sit…I will ascend…I will be… Over and over again Lucifer talks about what he is going to do and how great he will be. He thinks so highly of himself that he actually thinks he is going to take over God’s position! Now it’s easy for us to sit here and think, what a fool he was. How could he really say those things? How could he really think he was actually going to defeat God and take God’s position? That’s what pride is. Lucifer was so proud of himself being such a beautiful creature that had such a high position in Heaven that he thought he should be receiving worship. He took a look at himself and said in his heart, I deserve to be bowed down to. I should be sitting on the throne of God! And for that he was cast out of Heaven and changed into that old serpent that he is now.

How foolish that was. And how foolish we are when it comes to pride. In many ways we do that same thing as Lucifer. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Let’s see how pride cause not only the fall of Lucifer, but the fall of mankind also.

2. Pride brought the fall of man

Many people when they think of what caused the fall of man they just think about Adam taking a bite of that fruit and that was it. And yes, it wasn’t until Adam actually ate of the fruit that sin was brought onto the human race (Rom 5:12) but there was a chain of events that led up to Adam eating that fruit and it began with pride.

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

So what you’ve got here is Satan (who we have already seen desires to be worshipped) trying to get Eve to eat this fruit. Eve knows she’s not supposed to eat this fruit. God commanded Adam back in Gen 2:17 not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and certainly when God formed Eve, Adam made sure to tell her what God commanded him. And then Eve tells Satan there in 3:3 that they are not to eat of that tree. So she knew better and Satan knew that she knew better. So he had to trick her and make it seem like God just didn’t want them to be like Him. So Satan appeals to her pride and lies to her. He says in verse 4 Ye shall not surely die which is very clearly a lie that flies right in the face of what God told Adam in the previous chapter (this is also the first instance of Satan changing the words of God—see Gen 2:17). Then he tells her in verse 5 that God knows that if she eats that fruit that they shall be as gods. Well that sounds pretty good! So Eve is thinking, well who wouldn’t want to be a god? I’m going to eat this fruit because it will make me a god! Here Adam eat this and you’ll be a god! And there you have it. Satan lied and tricked Eve into eating that fruit by using pride. Eve wanted to be a god because of pride in herself and she ate that fruit and gave some to Adam and he ate and now we’re all condemned as sinners.

Pride is not a good thing. We’ve seen already two instances of pride and the results thereof, and neither worked out in the end. Pride is not a good characteristic, pride is not something that makes you a better person, pride is a sin!

Did Satan stop there? No, of course not. He’s even busier now than he ever has been. He’s still using the same old tricks too. He lies to us, he perverts God’s words and he appeals to the pride within us to get us to sin against God and to keep us from getting saved and to keep those who are saved from serving God.

3. Satan uses pride to destroy us

Satan’s main goals are to be worshipped, keep people from getting saved and keep those who are saved from serving God. One of his most effective tools is the lie. But to him this is no game but it’s all out war. So he uses every trick he’s got to meet his goals. He’ll lie to us, he’ll change God’s words and he’ll appeal to our own sense of pride and make us think so highly of ourselves that we have no need of God.

The Bible makes it clear that we are all affected by pride. Pride is not something we have to be taught as a child. It’s part of that Adamic nature that we’re born with. Watch a little kid sometime when he’s around other kids. They all want the attention of everyone around them. They try their best to make sure whoever is watching them thinks that they are the best at whatever is happening. One kid will say “look how high I can jump” and another will say, “oh yeah, well look how high I can jump”. That’s pride. It’s in us all and God tells us…

Ps 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

There’s a much worse result from our pride than just looking arrogant. God says pride keeps many people from seeking God and getting saved. There are probably millions of people in Hell right now because they were too proud to get saved. They thought too highly of themselves to think they needed a Saviour and then they died and found out they were wrong. Or they thought too highly of what their friends thought of them and didn’t get saved. That’s just another form of pride. And it’s foolish!

Another way Satan uses pride against people is to tell them that they are doing so well that they have no need for God in their lives. This is a big one here in the states. God has blessed this country so much that it is actually hurting people, and they don’t even realize it. I hate knocking doors in upper middle class or “rich” neighborhoods. Those people fall right into this category. They just figure that since they have been so prosperous and have everything on this earth they could possibly want, that they have need of nothing. Why would I need God when I am so happy, healthy and wealthy? Jesus talked about this in Luke 12.

Luke 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

This guy was your typical modern day American. He had a great job, he had plenty of land, food and money. He had need of nothing on this earth. But because of pride in himself and his belongings he never got around to considering eternity. And God called him a fool and asked him who will all this stuff belong to when you die tonight? What is all this stuff going to matter one second after you die? This man’s pride in himself kept him from looking for the salvation of God, which is the ONLY thing that really truly matters on this earth.

“Look at me. I’ve got a beautiful house, a great job, a couple of cars, food on my table, money in the bank, a stock portfolio, a boat, and I have need of nothing. I think I’ll just sit back and enjoy life at my summer home on the beach.” And God says, you fool, you spent your life gathering up earthly treasures for yourself and never once sought after Me. I’m all that matters and now you are condemned to an eternity in a place where none of that stuff from your lifetime will matter. Pride will keep you from seeking after God’s salvation.

That’s not all. Pride in who you are will condemn you to Hell just as fast as pride in what you have. So many people these days are convinced by modern day preachers that they are really that bad. People don’t believe their sinners anymore. They don’t even like it when you tell them that they are sinners. Some people will get so offended if you call them a sinner that they’ll just stop talking to you and walk away. And even the people who go to church aren’t being convicted of their sin anymore. The TV tells them sin is OK, Hollywood tells them sin is OK, newspapers and magazines tell them sin is OK and then they go to church and the preacher tells them sin is OK! There’s no conviction! Well I’m not afraid of the consequences of preaching on sin! Sin is NOT OK and God hates sin! This verse says that pride is a sin and God hates it! Pr 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look… Romans 3 has a lot to say about sin and the fact that we are ALL sinners no matter how great of a person our pride wants us to think we are.

Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

That thing right there ought to put you in your place. There’s not one person on this earth that is excluded from those verses. There’s not one person on this earth that is not a sinner no matter how good of a person they think they are. Our pride would like us to believe that we’re OK. That we’ve done enough good in our lives to make up for the bad things that we might have done a long time ago. The problem with that thinking is that THERE IS NONE THAT DOETH GOOD! All those people who are so proud of themselves and all the good works that they have done are fooling themselves! The Bible says that you can’t do any good! It doesn’t matter how well respected a person is by other people because of the great works or deeds they have done in their life, God says that none of us can do any thing good! And it’s not man’s opinion that counts, it’s what God says that counts!

You are a sinner and you need to realize that. You need to stop listening to that old devil lying to you and twisting God’s word around and telling you that you’re not so bad! You are that bad! You’re probably even worse than you think you are! And you need a Saviour! Jesus Christ is the only answer to your sin problem. You are not your own answer to your sin problem. Get over yourself and realize that you aren’t even worth the amount you paid for the clothes you’re wearing right now. You are a dirty rotten stinking sinner and you’re going to Hell if you don’t trust Christ as your Saviour! And that’s the truth straight out of the Bible.

4. Only with humility cometh salvation

Ps 149:4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.

Hopefully you’re saying in your heart that you know this is true. And you’re wondering what you need to do about it. Here’s what you need to do.

First you need to realize what you really are. You are a sinner and sinners go to Hell when they die.

Secondly you need to realize that you can do nothing to change the fact that you are a sinner on your own.

Thirdly you need to realize that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and He died to pay for your sins so that you don’t have to.

Finally you need to place your trust in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross to pay for your sins. You need to realize that He is the only One that can keep you from paying for your own sins in Hell. And you need to do this right now because you may not have a tomorrow. God may say to you today, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.

If you are already saved, you need to realize that without me ye can do nothing John 15:5. You need to remember that just because you are saved doesn’t mean that you are not a sinner anymore. Praise the Lord that you are saved, but remember that He is keeping you from Hell and the least you can do is search His Word and see what He wants from you.

Either way, don’t let Satan have the victory over you. Don’t end up paying for your pride the way Satan will pay for his. Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone…and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.