David Wilkerson emphasizes the stark contrast between pride and humility, explaining that true humility involves complete dependence on God for guidance and strength, while pride stems from independence and self-reliance. He warns that a proud person, who relies on their own reasoning and abilities, is unteachable and cannot receive God's truth, as the Holy Spirit is absent in their life. Wilkerson highlights that God desires full control over our lives, and only through humility can we receive His grace and direction. The sermon calls for believers to seek God's counsel in every decision, recognizing that pride leads to spiritual death.

Let me distinguish clearly between pride and humility. A humble person is not one who thinks little of himself, hangs his head and says, “I’m nothing.” Rather, he is one who depends wholly on the Lord for everything, in every circumstance. He knows the Lord has to direct him, empower him and quicken him—and that he’s dead without that! A proud person, on the other hand, is one who may love God in a fashion, but he acts and thinks on his own. At its root, pride is simply independence from God, and the proud person makes decisions based on his own reasoning, skill and abilities. He says, “God gave me a good mind, and he expects me to use it. It’s silly to ask him for direction in every detail of life.” This person is unteachable because he already “knows it all.” He might listen to someone who is higher in authority or better known than himself—but not to someone he thinks is inferior. Not one word a proud person receives is of God! It is impossible for him to judge righteous judgment—impossible to speak God’s mind—because the Holy Spirit is not present in him to bear witness to truth. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Pride is independence—humility is dependency. The humble Christian is one who makes no move, no decision, without counsel from the Lord. The Bible says the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord, but he cannot order the steps of an independent spirit. This is all to say—God wants full control—give it to him. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (James 4:6).