What Is That Abominable Sin? Pride!

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”  Rev. 21:8  NKJV

The Bible says there is a sin that precedes all the above, so abhorrent and vile, that all guilty of such a sin begin to fall deeper and deeper into all the other sins.

What is that abominable sin?     Pride.

“All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”  I John 2:16

“Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”  Prov 16:18

When a heart of pride lifts itself up a life is destroyed.   The pride of a haughty spirit always sets a person up for a great fall into “the sin which doth so easily beset us”.  (Heb. 12:1)   From there, it is downward and unless checked through genuine repentance, it carries such a self deluded arrogant deceived sinner all the way into the pit of the lowest hell. 

“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility.” Prov. 18:12

The pollution of the heart called pride, leads to hell, according to the psalmists in Ps 86:13; “For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest of hell.”

“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” (Ps 10:4)  Such is the state of the inner soul of the pride of man.  The sin of pride always goes before the most loathsome of sins.

“For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.”  Ps 59:12

Pride is a precursor to every kind of wickedness known to man.  The sin of pride is at the forefront of every other sin.

The sin of pride is the sin of sins.  It was this sin, which transformed Lucifer, an anointed cherub of God, into Satan, the devil, the father of lies, the one for whom Hell itself was created.  We are warned to guard our hearts against pride lest we too “fall into the same condemnation as the devil.”

The sin of pride is a preoccupation of with self and it reveals itself in selfish motives, an exaggerated ego, a low opinion of others and disrespect for God.  It can lead to other sins against God.

We fight pride by humbling ourselves before God in prayer, asking Him to reveal the pride hidden in our hearts, acknowledging and repenting of pride when we see it in ourselves.

“To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
   I hate pride and arrogance,
   evil behavior and perverse speech. “   Prov 8:13 NIV