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The Apostle Paul quoted this verse from Jeremiah in two of his epistles to the church at Corinth. The first quotation is in I Corinthians 1:31. The second is in II Corinthians 10:17, where he says,

“But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth” (II Corinthians 10:17-18).

Commenting on the quotation of Jeremiah in I Corinthians 1:31, Dr. J. Vernon McGee said, 

Our glory should be in the Lord.  We should glory in the Lord Jesus Christ today.  Let me ask you, what do you glory in?  What are you boasting of today? . . . and, you don’t have a thing of which you can boast – and I know I haven’t.  But we can boast of Christ.  He is everything.  He is everything we need (J. Vernon McGee, D.D., Thru The Bible, Thomas Nelson, 1983, Volume V, p. 12).

This is Biblical advice.  We are told in the Bible to “glory” in Christ.  The Hebrew word in Jeremiah 9:24 and the Greek word in I Corinthians 1:31 and II Corinthians 10:17, both mean essentially to “boast.”  We are to boast of Christ, not of who we are or what we have done.  As the Apostle Paul put it,

“He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 1:31).

He who boasts should boast about Christ, not about himself.  As Dr. McGee said, “you don’t have a thing of which you can boast . . . but we can boast of Christ . . . He is everything we need.”

This is far different from what Rick Warren tells us to do.  Rick Warren tells us to boast about ourselves and who we are.  Warren wrote a Ladies’ Home Journal article earlier this year titled, “Learn to Love Yourself.”  (Ladies’ Home Journal, March 2005).  Warren said, “To truly love yourself, you need to know the five truths that form the basis of a healthy self-image.”  All of the five points he gave are centered in the title of the article, “Learn to Love Yourself.”  So, the article starts off with the wrong goal –learning to love yourself. That is not a Biblical goal.  The correct goal is to glory in Christ – not in yourself. 

“He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians 1:31).

“Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me” (Jeremiah 9:24).  

Warren’s goal is man-centered, to love yourself.  The goal of the Bible is Christ-centered, to “glory in the Lord.”  So Warren starts off wrong, telling us that self-love is the goal, rather than saying that the goal is to be in Christ, and in the love of Christ.  Starting from a humanistic basis, rather than a Christological basis, every one of Warren’s points is unscriptural.

I will list Warren’s five points on how to love yourself, rather than Christ, and show that every point is untrue to the teachings of the Bible.  If you think I have treated Rick Warren unfairly, read his entire article, which I have added as an appendix at the end of this sermon.  See for yourself whether they square up with what the Bible teaches.

I.  First, Warren says, “Accept yourself.”

This is deadly advice.  The Bible says,

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
      (I Timothy 1:15).

That is the first point of the Gospel.  You are a sinner.  And Christ came into the world to save sinners.  That is the first point of the Gospel,

“Christ died for our sins”   (I Corinthians 15:3).

If you “accept yourself,” as Warren tells you to do, you will not admit that you are a sinner.  This is deadly.  If you fail to admit to yourself that you are a sinner, you will not see any need for Christ!  Could that be the reason that Warren never mentioned Christ even once in the entire article?  Read it, at the end of this sermon.  There is not one mention of the name of Christ, or even an allusion or hint that Christ is needed by anyone!  What a serious and deadly error!  Rick Warren's article teaches virtual Unitarianism!  It is salvation without Christ!

If you “accept yourself,” you will reject the chief work of the Holy Spirit, for

“When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin”
      (John 16:8).

It is the main work of the Holy Spirit to reprove self-satisfied people “of sin.”  If you “accept yourself” as you are, which Warren says to do, then you will reject the convicting work of the Holy Spirit, who comes to “reprove” you “of sin.”  Thus, you will not come under conviction of sin – which is the work of the Holy Spirit in preparing you for conversion in Christ Jesus.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”
      (I Timothy 1:15).

“Christ died for our sins”   (I Corinthians 15:3).

Under this point, “accept yourself,” Warren says, “God accepts us unconditionally.”  It is also false.  God accepts us on the condition of

“obedience to the faith” (Romans 1:5).

If you are not obedient to faith in Christ Jesus, you are not accepted by God.  The Apostle Paul said,

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Romans 1:16).

You can only be accepted on the condition of believing the Gospel.  There is no ground whatever for you to be accepted by God for any other reason than believing on Jesus Christ.  Rick Warren says, “God accepts us unconditionally.”  But the Bible says,

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).

God does not accept us unconditionally.  He accepts you on the condition of believing in Christ Jesus.  If you do not trust in Christ, “you are condemned already” (John 3:18).

Rick Warren says, “God accepts us unconditionally.”  But Jesus said,

“He that believeth not shall be damned”   (Mark 16:16).

That seems very clear to me.  There is a condition.  You must trust Christ or you will be damned!  Mark 16:16 unmasks Warren’s error, as does John 3:18, and many other passages in the Bible.  For instance, a verse that I love very much, in Ephesians 1:6,

“He hath made us accepted in the beloved”   (Ephesians 1:6).

Christ is “the beloved” spoken of here.  God accepts us on the basis of being “in the beloved.”  Are you “in” Christ Jesus?  Then you are accepted by God.  But if you are not “in” Christ, you are not accepted by God.  Rick Warren is wrong when he says, “God accepts us unconditionally.”  If you believe Warren’s statement, someday Christ will say to you,

“I never knew you: depart from me”   (Matthew 7:23).

I shudder to think how many lost souls will believe Warren and think that God accepts them “unconditionally.”  One day they will awaken in Hell, for

“he that believeth not shall be damned”   (Mark 16:16).

Let no one glory in self-acceptance.

“But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord”
      (II Corinthians 10:17).

II.  Second, Warren says, “Love yourself.” 

This is more deadly advice.  Please turn to II Timothy 3:1-2.  Let us stand and read verse one, and the first nine words of verse two, ending with the words “their own selves.”  Read those verses aloud,   

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves . . .”
      (II Timothy 3:1-2).

You may be seated.  This is a prophecy of “the last days.”  Every sign indicates that this is the time in which we live.  What will people be like in the fearful “last days” of this dispensation?  They will “be lovers of their own selves.” 

Think of the horrors of our age that come from obeying those words echoed by Rick Warren, “Love yourself.”  Women by the millions slaughter their poor, unborn babies because they “love themselves” above all else.  Men run off and leave a weeping wife and children because, above all else, they “love themselves.”  Marriages are broken, homes are destroyed, and little children are left running ragged in the streets, because the Devil has told men and women, “love yourself.”  I say that Warren’s words are a lie from Satan!  Jesus corrected this lie when He told us, not to love “ourselves,” but

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart . . . [and] thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”  (Matthew 22:37, 39).

Not as Warren says, “Love yourself” – but as Jesus said, “Love the Lord thy God [and] love thy neighbour as thyself.”  Love yourself?  Put the very thought of it out of your mind.  It is a lie from Satan – a demonic trick which will suck you under, at last, into the flames of Hell.  Let no one glory in self-love. 

“But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” 
      (II Corinthians 10:17).

 III.  Third, Warren says, “Be true to yourself.”

Yet more deadly advice.  Under this point, he says, “Don’t deny your weaknesses [read – sins] . . . Be content with them.”  Horrible advice for sinners!  “Be true to yourself.”  Oh, the folly of that!  Oh, the deception of that!  Please turn to Jeremiah 17:9.  Let us stand and read this verse aloud.  It shatters Warren’s advice, “Be true to yourself.” Read it out loud.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
      (Jeremiah 17:9).

You may be seated. 

If you are “true to yourself,” as Warren says, you are true to your deceitful and desperately wicked heart!  What could be a greater mistake than that?  What could be greater folly, or lead to greater ruin than to follow that false humanistic slogan, “Be true to yourself”?  The Westminster Catechism says that man is “wholly inclined to evil, and that continually” (Westminster Larger Catechism 25).  Dr. W. G. T. Shedd explained that “apostasy was the fall of the human will, with no remnant of original righteousness” (Dogmatic Theology, P and R Publishing, 2003 reprint, p. 602).  Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, man has no “remnant of original righteousness” and is “wholly inclined to evil, and that continually.” 

If you are “true to yourself,” as Rick Warren told you to be, you will be true to a self that is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).  You will be true to a self that is “wholly inclined to evil, and that continually” (Westminster Larger Catechism).  You will be true to a self that has “no remnant of original righteousness” (W. G. T. Shedd).  I can think of no greater senselessness, no more vain, or absurd advice than to tell a ruined and fallen depraved soul to “be true to yourself.”  Do not listen!  It is the advice of Satan and his demon forces.  Flee from the Devil’s lie.  Do not be true to yourself whatever you do, do not stumble by believing this twisted lie.  Do not trust yourself, for self will lead you inexorably away from Jesus – to the doom that awaits those who were “true to themselves” – in the lake of fire and brimstone.  Let no one glory in being “true” to himself.

“But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” 
      (II Corinthians 10:17).

IV. Fourth, Warren says, “Forgive yourself.”

Ah!  More folly.  More false advice!  What good will it do to forgive yourself if a mountain of sin lies ready to come rolling down to crush you?  How can self-forgiveness assuage or appease, or ease in any way, the wrath of God for the sins you have committed?  “Forgive yourself!”  Why, you might as well tell a blind man to read a book.  You might as well tell a deaf man to compose a symphony.  You might as well tell a quadriplegic to run a marathon.   You might as well tell an idiot to learn calculus.  

Forgiveness does not come by forgiving self!  Forgiveness comes only through the Blood and righteousness of another – Jesus Christ!

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

“The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”
      (I John 1:7).

Forgive yourself – as Warren says?  Nonsense!  

What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.
      (“Nothing But the Blood” by Robert Lowry, 1826 – 1899)

Let no one glory in forgiving himself!

“But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” 
      (II Corinthians 10:17).

It is God in Christ who pardons sin and justifies sinners.  You must not rest in the Satanic notion of self-forgiveness.

V. Fifth, Warren says, “Believe in yourself.”

I for one will not do that!  I learned long decades ago not to believe in myself.  In myself I found only rebellion against God and hardness of my heart.  I had turn completely away from “believing in myself,” that I might believe on Him who loved me and gave Himself to redeem me from sin and justify me before a holy God.  I had to stop believing in myself and believe on Jesus.  The jailer said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  (Acts 16:31).  The Apostle Paul answered,

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”
      (Acts 16:31).

And so I say to you, as kindly and lovingly as I can, that what Rick Warren has given is “another gospel” (II Corinthians 11:4).  Do not receive it, and do not hear it.

Come to Christ the old-fashioned way.  Reject the gospel of self-esteem, and put on the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Come to Christ, acknowledge your sinfulness.  Come to Christ.  Throw yourself upon Him.  His mercy will not fail you.  His death on the Cross will atone for your sins.  His perfect righteousness will be imputed to you.  His Blood will cleanse your sin, because

“Christ died for our sins” (I Corinthians 15:3).

Look to Christ and He will save you from your sins.  That is the old Gospel, tried and true.  Christ Himself will save you from sin and death and eternal punishment.

Do you want something to boast about?  Then come to Christ by faith so you can boast of Him!  Then, you will want everyone to know that Christ is

“The Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”
      (John 1:29).

“But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” 
      (II Corinthians 10:17).

Stand and sing that grand old hymn that so perfectly corrects the false gospel of self-esteem.

There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains,
Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
      (“There is a Fountain Filled with Blood” by William Cowper, 1731-1800)

(END OF SERMON)
You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet
at www.rlhymersjr.com. Click on “Sermon Manuscripts.”

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan:  I Corinthians 1:26-31.

Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
                                            “The Old-Fashioned Way“ (by Civilla D. Martin, 1866-1948).

APPENDIX:  Rick Warren, “Learn to Love Yourself” (Ladies’ Home Journal, March, 2005), given in its entirety for your study and comparison.

Learn To Love Yourself!

By Rick Warren, Ladies Home Journal, March 2005
 

Self-esteem still wobbly after all these years? These five simple truths will show you that you don't need to be perfect to be priceless. – Rick Warren

Carnival fun houses have distorted mirrors that can make us appear taller; fatter or shorter than we really are. But this doesn't bother us, because we know we're getting an inaccurate picture of ourselves. It's just a bit of harmless fun.

What's not fun is the fact that many of us look at ourselves through a different kind of distorted mirror. We let other people in our lives--from parents and siblings to friends and coworkers--create a reflection of who we are, but it's rarely accurate. To truly love yourself, you need to know the five truths that form the basis of a healthy self-image.

Accept yourself. Don't chase after other people's approval. Too much of what we do, say, buy or wear is motivated by our deep desire to be accepted by others. God accepts us unconditionally, and in His view we are all precious and priceless. Focus on this and you will not waste any time and effort trying to be someone you're not.

Love yourself.  "The mountains and hills may crumble, but my love for you will never end," says the Lord. God is not fickle and He does not have grouchy days. I asked my wife, Kay, "When was the first time you remember really feeling loved by God?" She said it was more than 25 years ago, when our marriage was falling apart and we decided to get counseling. After we got home from a particularly painful session, Kay lay down on our bed in the dark, praying. In that moment of deep distress and self-doubt, she focused on God and was overwhelmed with the feeling that "God really does love me--without strings attached!" It was a breakthrough to freedom for her, and for our marriage.

Be true to yourself.  Accept and enjoy your 'shape,' and by that I'm talking about far more than the contours of your physical body--although you should rejoice in those too. To get to know yourself, make a list of your abilities and be as honest as you can. Ask friends for their input too. Then consider your heart--what you love to do--as well as the strengths and weaknesses of your personality. Don't deny your weaknesses; we all have a bundle of them. Be content with them.

Forgive yourself.  God doesn't expect perfection, but He does insist on honesty. When I honestly admit my errors and ask forgiveness in faith, He doesn't hold a grudge, doesn't get even and doesn't bring it up again. We should practice such a forgiving attitude with ourselves.

Believe in yourself.  I talk with many successful women who are plagued by a gnawing sense of insecurity and feelings of incompetence. What causes that? It's because they are still listening to old tapes from their past and acting on statements made years ago that weren't true even then. How do you reverse this? Start affirming the truth about yourself! The truth is God has created you with talents, abilities, personality and background in a combination that is uniquely you.