In the gospel of Luke, we have
the story from our Lord of a couple of men, one a Pharisee who went
up to the temple to pray. And we read in verse 10, 11,
and 12. Here we have a man with high
self-esteem. Let's look at it. Verse 10, 11,
and 12. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. Flipping to Luke 15 now and chapter
11, well, no, let's read the account of the prodigal son in
verse 11 through verse 21. Luke 15, verse 11. And he said a certain man had
two sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls
to me. And he divided unto them his
living. Not many days after, the younger
son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country,
and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when
he had spent all, there rose a mighty famine in that land,
and he began to be in woe. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields
to feed swine. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no man
gave unto him. And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hard servants of my father's house, of my father's,
have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger? I will
arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I
have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy
to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, came to his father,
But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and
had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed
him. And the son said unto him, Father,
I have sinned against heaven, and in my sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son. Now, there's a man with low esteem
and one with high self-esteem. I want to begin by this manner
of introduction to kind of lay a foundation for our study that
is to follow, and that is I charge that there is a fault in Christendom
which is growing into a cancer, spreading faster and farther
all through the regions of Christianity. And that fault consists in this,
as I see it, going outside of the scripture. When those who
say they are religious and are Christian, and yet they go outside
of the scripture and embrace secular thinking, embracing New
Age teaching to find the answer and to formulate and to understand
and to explain the behaviors and the cures for that that ails
the human family. Now, I want to give an example
or two of what I mean, what I'm talking about. Letting so-called
science dominate the issue of the existence of the world and
of mankind. How did the world come to be?
How is it that creation exists as well as man? Well, science, at least most
of it, and most modern science, tells us that they are the result
of millions and millions and millions more years of evolution,
such things as the Big Bang Theory or the gaseous mass moving and
such like. Scriptures, however, ascribe
the creation of the universe and the world and of man unto
God and gives us a record of six days of creation in the early
part of the book of Genesis and that God then created man out
of the dust of the earth and woman out of the side or the
rib of that man. Now, are we to believe which
one? Science or the scripture? So what have some done on this
matter and issue? Well, they have married science
and Christianity as they imagine together. And they've come up
with what we might call theistic evolution that basically said,
yes, God may have created, and he may have created all things,
but he may have done it by a process of evolution. And so, are we
to believe that it took the Lord millions and millions of years
to create Adam a body and breathe into him the breath of life?
This is one example of the compromise that the churches have made and
actually becomes a denial and a perversion of the word of the
Lord, the matter of creation. But here's another even closer
to our subject today, and that is that so many people who say,
that they are Christians and are in church are willing to
let psychology and psychiatry explain human behavior and to
show the account of evil in the life of men. At the same time,
they deny the Bible doctrine of the fall of Adam and depravity
of the race. And many in the churches are
far too tolerant of this business are these evil twins of psychology
and psychiatry until some are even willing to deny total depravity
and concede that the problem is that all people are psychologically
scarred in some way, and the result? Well, they need professional
help. They need psychoanalysis that
their problem might be diagnosed. They're not viewed as sinners.
They are viewed as sick. Yea, and many are actually coming
to regard Christianity, believe in the Bible, and in God as a
mental illness. Have you not run across that
in some of these liberals and progressives in our day? And
they believe that the practice of Christianity and the believing
of the Bible is, quote, dangerous, unquote. While at the same time,
they refer to Islam as a religion of peace. Now, we do not deny
that some become basket cases as they live out their life.
They become emotional wrecks. We have seen many. They hold
weird ideas. Some are misfits and they cannot
fit into society. Some become weirdos we know. Some hear voices. and see green
snakes upon the wall. And it is true that some are
raised by uncaring and abusive parents that might have an effect
upon them later in life. But is it example, or is it gene? Now, some of them actually become
mass murderers, and so we need an explanation for all of that. But these are possible only because
of prior depravity because you have a depraved individual or
instrument to work with. By the way, I would remind you,
you may have heard it, you may already know it, several mass
murderers and killers have had or were on psychotic drugs under
the care of a psychiatrist and therefore have been led to do
the evil things that they have done. You don't hear that too
much in the news, but they are on many psychotic drugs, those
that are mass murderers. Now, many of these things face
us today. However, in this study, we are
committed to consider one of the main attitudes and the main
creeds of modern secular thinking in our day. And that is that
high esteem is one of the greatest rights and the greatest needs
that anybody has living in this world. And this too has invaded
the churches. It is full seated in the pulpit
and in the pew that it is best that all see themselves good
and decent, a person of great value, being full of great potential,
needing only to consider and to realize what a great person
they are and what goodness there is that resides in them. And some heralds and apostles
are and high priests of the self-esteem movement have made these following
claims, you've heard them perhaps, I have, that low self-esteem
is to blame for every manner of destructive behavior that
appears in society. Every destructive lifestyle is
a result of low self-esteem. That drug addiction is because
one has low self-esteem, and so they become a drug addict. That the reason that some women
become prostitutes and stay in an abusive relationship and become
sexually promiscuous is because they have low self-esteem. That the reason they become porn
actors and pose for Playboy is because they have low self-esteem,
and all the time I thought it was for the money. That men don't
advance in their career and in their life because they have
low self-esteem that is holding them back. That students do not
do well in school and make poor grades because they have low
self-esteem. And that the prisons are full
because the people that are there have low self-esteem. Pardon some reminiscing, but
I remember in studying a series of sermons on the New Age movement,
what must have been 20 years ago, but I ran across this quote
attributed to a very popular radio preacher focus on the family. And he said that the biggest
problem or the worst trouble for women is low self-esteem. And that if he could write one
prescription for the women of today, it would be for a healthy
dose of high self-esteem. Now, this is what some megachurches
are preaching today. You're important. Be all that
you can be. Go and find your potential. God wants you to feel good and
confident about yourself. He wants you happy, and he wants
you content, and he wants you advancing. Don't put down yourself,
hold your head up high, for you have great value in the sight
of God. So, let's bring this teaching
then to the touchstone of the scripture. Let's measure this
movement in the light of the Word of God. And to do so, I
think we ought to give just a brief and passing history of the movement. Many that have studied it and
are familiar with it dated from about the year 1969, when it really got on its feet
and began to catch fire with the publishing of a book by a
man by the name of Nathaniel Bradley. And the book was called
The Psychology of Self-Esteem, unquote. And it was readily embraced
by many in society, psychology, in the schools, and in the churches.
where it was taught that it would improve every kid's attitude
and grades and such like if they were given their high self-esteem,
if they were made to feel good about themselves. California,
what else, what other state, actually established a self-esteem
task force right after that to deal with the problem. Now I
want to tell you that this has grown into a multi-million dollar
industry, has sprung up around this matter of high self-esteem. To treat low self-esteem and
bring a person to have high self-esteem about themselves. Now the worst
thing though, it is no surprise unto us, is how it is embraced
in by the churches of the day. I read the other day an article
by a man, said he attended a large church in California, again,
where else? And he noticed that not a person
in the congregation had a Bible, with them on their person or
in the pew. And he said he asked about that
after the service, and he was told this, and I'm quoting from
his article. We don't want an unbeliever to
feel intimidated sitting next to a person with a Bible." We
don't want an unbeliever to come in and feel intimidated if they
see a Bible. And I wonder if you are aware
of some of the proposals by the leading advocates of this high
self-esteem movement. The most ardent supporters of
this high self-esteem movement. Now, I'm not making this up.
You can find it out if you don't already know it. Such things
have been suggested as not giving failing grades in school. Don't give a kid a failing grade. It will destroy his self-esteem
to know that he has failed a subject. Another movement, and this is
real, you can check it out, is not keeping score in ball games
when kids play so that none will have self-esteem because they
have lost a game. even giving every child that
participate, even the losers, a trophy so that they will not
feel bad about themselves and they will have high self-esteem. Now, that has actually been proposed
and is out there. Now, here are the facts. People,
including kids, have high self-esteem. They feel better about themselves
than they have any right to. But it does nothing. And I want
you to hear this. It does nothing to improve the
things that are said to be caused by low self-esteem. People have
high self-esteem, but it has done nothing to cure the things
that are said to be caused by low self-esteem. As esteem rises,
so does crime. As self-esteem rises, so does
sexual promiscuity. For it has raised a generation
of narcissistic, self-centered, self-loving people of our day
who fit Paul's description in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse
2, lovers of their own self. He writes that down not as a
good quality, but as a fault. They shall be lovers of their
own self. Paul wrote in Romans 12 and verse
3, for a man not to think of himself more highly than he ought
to think. You find in Galatians chapter
6 and verse 3, if a man think himself to be something when
he is nothing. he deceives himself. And it's
good to remember that these things were written not to the unregenerate. They were written to professing
Christians in their places of assembly. And it was a needed
check, as Paul very well knew, because, as John Murray, an old
writer, wrote, no one is immune to self-exaggeration and self-esteem. But we look at it and find it
more to be sinful pride when we think of ourselves more highly
than we ought. J.B. Lightfoot wrote, in Christian
morality, self-esteem is vanity. and vanity is nothingness." Well,
the Christian view is that expressed by Paul again and again, and
that by himself. And I leave you to judge whether
Paul was a man with low self-esteem in his day and suffering from
that problem. Paul said, It is not I, but the
grace of God that works in me. For I am nothing. In me dwells
no good thing. I am the least of the least,
O wretched man that I am. Who made us to differ? What have
we that we did not receive? God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Christ, for I am what I am by the grace
of God. Paul saying, I'm the least of
the least. Oh, wretched man that I am. Now, God dispenses spiritual
gifts and abilities as he would among his people, and he gives
them favor to serve with those gifts in the eyes of the people
of God. And that may lead one to be tempted
to spiritual pride and under self-worth, saying, the most
humble find it impossible to completely avoid secret pride. Even the most faithful of God's
people will find that a problem, unless until we keep in our mind
our own vileness in the sight of God. Yes, this is an humbling,
humbling thought on our part to say, like Paul, I'm vile. Oh, wretched man that I am. And
as others have, as we'll see later on. But let's talk about
the high self-esteem movement as it regards secular society
and people. Then we will contrast it with
the Bible and Christianity. For at times, we have to confront
these contemporary movements that spring up in our midst lest
they get their foot in the door of the church and pretty soon
the whole camel is in the building. First, the high esteem movement
is anti-God, anti-Christian, anti-biblical, and actually should
be called pagan, for it is a blatant denial of the doctrine of depravity. Rather than seeing themselves
as sinners, they see themselves exactly the opposite as God sees
them. They see themselves as good,
and worse, feeling good about themselves, loving themselves
the way they are while they are blinded to their spiritual condition
before the just and holy God. Before we proceed, perhaps a
distinction is in order, as your mind may be going there. A distinction
between high self-esteem and what we call confidence. I don't say that they're one
and the same thing, as one may be good at what they do. And
they are, and have confidence in their ability to do what they
do and do it well. And they know their craft, and
they know it well, and they do it well, and be among the best,
and know that they have confidence in their ability to do that. But high self-esteem, as it is
pushed today, is an inflated opinion of oneself and an inflated
ego. Now remember, if you will, a
few minutes ago we said that high self-esteem has done nothing
to improve or correct the things that are supposedly caused by
low self-esteem. Now, I think this ought to be
a forceful argument in our thinking, and it ought to come with great
weight. in our mind? Well, in researching
this matter, I ran across an article that said, sociological
studies show that hardly any suffer from low self-esteem,
that everyone views themselves to be better than they actually
are. I remember, for example, in that
New Age study, that the American kids scored low on math. They scored quite low on math. related to the other countries
of the world, and yet, in an opinion poll, they felt good
about themselves. I would say to you this morning,
go into the prison. As a general rule, you do not
find low self-esteem among those that are there. Talk to the man
who killed three people, and he will say, I'm not a monster. I'm not that kind of person that
they make me out to be. Talk to the prostitute. She might
tell you, I'm a good person. I'm not a bad person. Talk to
the young woman who has three kids, all of them by different
men, living on food stamps and charity and in the housing. And yet, don't be surprised if
she feels good about herself. Interview the person who's never
had a job, living on food stamps and public housing. Don't be
surprised if they do not feel bad about themselves. Talk to
the homeless under the bridge. And I think you'll find that
he brag about the things he's done, the places he's been, the
jobs he's held. I've done that, so I know. You
see, high self-esteem is part and parcel of depravity. when we go down and strip it
for what it is. There is no low epidemic of self-esteem
unless it is spread by the progressives and those that are in charge
of some of the institution of our day. So let's now contrast
these two characters that we read about from the scripture
in the beginning in the New Testament. One had high self-esteem, and
the other came to have very low self-esteem, and yet, which one
was blessed by God? See how it affected them? Well,
first, let's look again at the Pharisee in the temple. Luke
18, 10 through 14. He had, as I said, high self-esteem. He felt real good about himself
that day when he went up into the temple to pray. He was thankful
that he was not as other people as he judged them. He was thankful
that he was not a swindler or an adulterer, and that he was
not a publican like that wretch standing over yonder. Now the
Pharisees, as you know, were the most religious of the Jew
in that time. Paul called them the straightest
sect, and that's what he belonged to in Acts chapter 26 and verse
5. That Pharisee said, as he stood
there, I fast, I tithe all that I get. Others said to our Lord,
I keep the law from my youth up, Luke 18, 21. As Saul did
at one time, consider himself blameless before the law. Philippians chapter 3, verse
6 through verse 8. This particular Pharisee makes
a two-fold boast if we look at it. He boasts of his morality. He boasts of his personal morality. He had avoided becoming a sinful
publican, falling into thievery or into adultery. And then he
boasts of his religious and legal purity. He dragged his putrid
self-righteousness into the place of prayer and congratulated himself
that he was such a good man and a good person and separate from
the rest of mankind. He considered himself to be a
very well-adjusted person. It was all I did. I, I, I. Look at it. I found five I's. I this, I that, in his short
eulogy of himself. And John Gill observed to this
man, the man makes no confession of sin, nor asks for pardoning
grace, nor divine leadership, none of that. He has self-esteem
aplenty. And yet the Lord said, that he
went away unjustified. This man went down to his house
unjustified, for the one that exalts himself shall be abased
and humbled and be brought and be made low. For remember, God
resists the proud. You'll find that in James 4,
6, 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 5. God resists the proud and
giveth grace unto the humble. In Proverbs 16 and verse 5, everyone
that is of a proud heart is an abomination in the sight of the
Lord. Proverbs chapter 6 and 17, the
Lord hates a proud look. and people who have a high opinion
of themselves, therefore, are an offense to a holy God, for
he sees them as sinners and transgressors of his divine law. Now, let's
consider that other man whose self-esteem became very, very
low, and yet it brought him a great blessing. As you know, It's in
Luke 15 verse 11 and following. What has been called the parable
of the prodigal son. He was the younger son of a man,
evidently a well-to-do man. who asked for and received his
inheritance from the father, and he took his inheritance,
and soon he left home, the scripture said, and he went not just down
the road or across the street, but into a far country. There,
he wasted his substance. He wasted that inheritance that
he had received from the father in riotous living. He scattered
his inheritance squandered his estate on reckless, foolish living,
including prostitutes, if you believe the older brother, in
verse 30, until he was broke and homeless and out feeding
hogs. And what a numbling thing that
would be for a Jew. And designed their food that
they took and feeding hogs and found none to help him in the
time of his misery. Now the purpose of these three
parables in Luke chapter 15 is to justify the Lord receiving
sinners and eating with them as he had been accused by the
Pharisee, to allow sinners to come into his presence, to hold
company with them, and even to eat with their presence and company,
things the Pharisee would never, never do, and that even the vilest
of sinners, it shows us, may be brought to repentance and
find forgiveness, reconciliation with the Father. Now it said
this, this man, quote, came to himself, unquote. In one of the
verses that we read, we might say it like this, he came to
his senses. The tense seems to be this, having
come to his senses after such a time of foolishness. This is a turning point in the
life of this wretched, wretched prodigal and how he reacted. And we want to look at, first
of all, we want to notice what he did not do, commensurate with
our society's views today. He did not seek, quote, professional
help, unquote. He did not check into a center
to treat his addiction, which is common in our day. You notice
when one of the celebrities, one of the beautiful people,
a politician caught in some kind of filthy, putrid corruption,
some stinking corruption of some kind or another, When he's caught,
one of the first things they do is check themselves in for
treatment, to get treatment for their addiction and to check
into some kind of a treatment center. A few days they come
out, declare themselves cured. But another thing that this young
man did not do He did not blame his situation on, quote, a dysfunctional
family, unquote. He did not say, yes, the way
I was raised is the way they treated me. They loved my brother
more than they loved me. He didn't come up with some old
repressed memory syndrome, as they talk about today, or try
to find peace in his inward child, or that his father favored his
brother. And this is why he turned out
like he did. No, he honestly, forthrightly
assessed his situation. He was worse off than his father's
slaves. He said, the slaves of my father
have it worse than I. They have a resident. They have
plenty to eat. He was here on the verge of perishing,
and he had neither of them. So he said, I will return unto
my father. I will confess unto him my sin. I will take the place of a slave,
as summed up in verse 21. Look at it again. I have sinned
against heaven in thy sight. I'm no more worthy to be called
thy son. Make me as a hired servant. He is humbled, stripped of all
pride, all self-worth, feeling his vileness, and he offers no
excuses or justification. He blames only himself. He could
say, like Naomi, I went out full, but I came in empty, under a
strong and a bitter conviction of his sin, famished in body
and soul. And he was aware his sin was
not limited to the scope of his father. He had sinned against
heaven as well. I've sinned against heaven, against
God, and in thy sight. And yet was he graciously received
as the son that he was, by the father, for sons are always sons. Sons are sons forever, are they
not? A slave may be adopted as a son,
but a son is never demoted to slavery. A son is a son is a
son. And this low opinion of himself,
his self-abasement, a strong sense of unworthiness, was a
necessary forerunner of his leading unto repentance and reconciliation
with his father, that he came and took a low place. I've sinned. I'm unworthy. Make me a servant. I'm not worthy of thy blessing. Now, for one to come to Christ,
for one to be received in Christ, self-esteem must die. High self-esteem must die. You are not ready for heaven
until you admit or we admit that we actually deserve hell. You cannot come to God. savingly
unless you come as an undeserving sinner. Christ came, you remember,
not to call the righteous but sinners under repentance, Matthew
8 and 13. God will bring us low before
he lifts us up in the forgiving grace of God. He will wound us
before he heals us. in our soul. He will condemn
with the law before he justifies by the sweet grace of God. He will humble before he exalts
that no flesh may glory in his presence." 1 Corinthians 1 and
verse 29. And to exclude boasting, God
saves as he does. Romans 3 and verse 27. only boast,
my brother and sister, in the cross. Paul said Galatians 6
and 1 through 4 or 6.14. One must take their place as
a sinner before God in order to be saved. He saves sinners,
not the righteous, but sinners. Now let's prove, in closing,
that believers, even once advanced in the faith, still feel a sense
of low self-esteem and unworthiness in the sight of God and in comparison
unto God, such as Paul calling himself When he was an apostle,
after years of being an apostle and a Christian, he writes and
calls himself the chief of sinners. 1 Corinthians 1 and 15. He calls himself wretched man. in Romans 7.24. I know some try
to say he was talking about before he was saved in order to avoid
that, but this was after he was a Christian. Here Job, a man
after God's own heart, a man A man upright and perfect, as
God said, but in Job 40 and 4, behold, I am vile. Why did he say that? Because
he saw God. He saw God as he was, and he
saw himself as he was. Hear David, Psalm 51, four and
five. Oh, I was conceived in sin and
shapen in iniquity. Listen to the great statesman
preacher Isaiah, chapter six and verse five, saying, woe is
me, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. Listen to Peter jump out
of the boat. in Luke 5 and verse 8, and say,
Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man, because he saw
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, listen, this business of
high self-esteem is contrary to the scripture, for we are
depraved, and we are born so, and we live so until the grace
of God comes. Now, they've taken the negativity
out of church. That means they don't preach
on sin and depravity and original sin and human corruption, but
try to lift people up by telling them how good they are or how
good they can be if they just will put themselves at the task. One who comes to Christ must
come as a sinner. Lord, I've sinned. Lord, I'm
unworthy. Lord, save me or I perish. Lord,
I have good, nothing good, whereby thy grace to claim. As the hymn
writer said, we must come to him in that way. He will bring
us to that. He will bring us to see ourselves
as a sinner. then he will bestow the sweet,
refreshing grace of God that brings a peace and a calm to
our soul so that we know that he is our savior, he is our redeemer,
he is our shield and our butler. Thank God for that. So, we understand,
I think and I hope, from the scripture where we ought to consider
how we ought to look at this business of low and high self-esteem.