Matthew 23:27: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean”

The single most destructive disease, the single most devastating illness, is the sickness within – the sickness in the soul.

There are a number of spiritual viruses that can invade, infect, and poison our souls. Let’s take a closer look at three of the most common spiritual viruses that make us victims of soul sickness.

Describe what a virus is and how it works in the computer world.

PRIDE IS A SICKNESS OF THE SOUL.
Matthew 6:1-2: “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets; to he honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

Pride manifests itself in a variety of ways, but it can be identified quickly with an excess use of the word “I’ “my” and “mine.” It’s an attitude that acts as if something of God or of a corporate belongs to “ME!”

Every ministry of God is shared by each of us…it is not our personal possession upon which we can draw attention to ourselves.

(Psa 10:4) “In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.” 

(Psa 31:18) “Let their lying lips be silenced, for with pride and contempt they speak arrogantly against the righteous.” (Prov 8:13) “To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”

(Prov 11:2) “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

(Prov 13:10) “Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.”

(Prov 16:18) “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

(Prov 29:23) “A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.”

(Eccl 7:8) “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”

HATRED IS A· SICKNESS OF THE SOUL.
Matthew 5:43-44: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you…love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you.” (Prov 10:12) “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.”

(Prov 10:18) “He who conceals his hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.” (Prov 15:17) “Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a
fattened calf with hatred.”

(Gal 5:20) “idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions”

WORRY IS A SPIRITUAL VIRUS THAT LEADS TO SOUL SICKNESS.
Matthew 6:25, 33-34: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear….Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.”