Prideful Men Will Go to Hell — Tim Conway

Pride and the Desire to Make God a Debtor

And prideful men will absolutely clench their teeth and go to hell. Let me tell you something, and this comes right down to the reason that men and women, the majority of them on this earth right now, are not saved.

Do you know why they're not? Because men want to make God their debtor. Men want to be God. They want to put God in a position where He owes them something. And if they can work it out, and they can be good, then God owes it to them.

Self-Righteous Anger and the Older Brother

Oh, how often I see this. Oh, but I prayed, I prayed. I mean, it's, I've done this. I have come across people that they are so angry that they have not gotten their way or their thing from God after all the good they did, after all they've served Him, after all they've prayed to Him, after all they've done, and they've fasted, and they've given.

And God, they're like that older brother, are they not? I don't give a damn. You never kill anything for me. They want to put God in a place where He owes them something. Hey, listen to me. Here's the issue.

Pride Against the Righteousness of God

It's man's pride that lies right in the way of submitting to the righteousness of God. Do you know why it is? Because men, they are so determined to believe that they are good that they will go to hell for it.

They are so determined to believe they are good and God owes them something. They are so determined to believe grandpa and grandma were good people and they deserve to be in heaven. They're so determined to believe that they deserve heaven, that they at heart are good people.

The Need to Humble Ourselves Before God

And you know what the Gospel does? Do you know what Christ does? Do you know why they hated Christ? Because He told them the truth. And for anybody to submit to the righteousness of God, they've got to humble themselves and they've got to come face to face with the fact that they are not righteous, they are not good people.

The proud sons of Adam must accept that righteousness alone comes from God and in order to do that, they have to admit that they don't have any righteousness of their own. They must admit that they are sinners, that they are wicked, that they are evil, that they are not good, they are not nice, they are not admirable, not honorable, not acceptable, not reputable, not valuable, not wonderful.

Human Sinfulness and the Failure of Self-Righteousness

Men only abandon their own righteousness when God breaks them and they're brought face to face with a stark reality that they don't have anything to offer themselves acceptable before God on their own.

And prideful men will absolutely clench their teeth and go to hell holding to their own righteousness. That's the issue. And as I was just saying that, that sat wrong. Some of you are sitting there and you're saying, I'm not that bad, I am not that wretched.

You ask people, are you evil? No, I mean I know I'm sinned, but I'm not evil. People like Adolf Hitler, they're evil. Are you wicked? No, that's right there in the same category. Evil people, wicked people, those are the people that run around in the gutters and have the orgies.

Don't you understand what Scripture says? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death. God has never thrown a good man into hell. The wages of sin is death. You say, ah, it's just a little lie.

It's death. You are wicked by nature. Wicked. Worthless. You are undesirable to God. You are simply fodder and fuel for the fire. Until you realize that, until you come face to face with that, the righteousness of Christ will mean nothing.

Faith, Justification, and the Merit of Christ

It will have no value. Most people in this world will not submit to this. But if you are wicked, if you want to escape your sin, if you're looking for an answer, if you're looking for hope, if you're looking for rescue, if you're looking for salvation, there it is.

How does it get from Christ to me? My faith. You say, how does that happen? Because God said it would happen. And what God does is the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ, He takes all that glorious merit of Christ, and He lays it to your account.

It's justification. It's the heart of our gospel. And prideful men will absolutely clench their teeth and go to hell.