We've been going verse by verse through the book of first Peter. We have three sermons left in the entire book of first Peter. Then we'll move on to the gospel of John after that. But in our passage today, we see the role of a pastor and the role of the congregation. Now, the role of the pastor is often up for debate in many parts of Christianity, unfortunately. For some, they see the pastor, the role of a pastor as that of a CEO. For example, they think that this man is called to lead and manage a large organization. He manages many people and programs. In fact, there's a book called Pastor Slash CEO. And listen to the back cover of this book. Today's pastor has to do more than just preach. teach and visit hospitals and nursing homes. In today's church environment, pastors must have organizational skills and must know something about money and finances. By reading this book, you will be able to begin the process of becoming the pastor CEO that today's church requires. Okay. So there's one version of what people would say a pastor is second. Others would say a pastor is a comedian that his job is to make you laugh on Sunday morning. I cannot tell you the number of times I've asked someone, tell me about your church. And one of the first things they want to say is my pastor is hilarious. And that's what the service is built around. And I know exactly what they're saying when they tell me that I know exactly what to expect. Now, this guy is the one that spends 90% of his time coming up with jokes rather than preparing to feed the flock of God. This is the diet of many sheep today. Now there's a third. The third category, some would say this, my pastor is a conference speaker. This guy may even be well known. Let's say I asked him, tell me about your pastor. Well, he's written six books and he speaks at conferences all over the world. We barely see him. We see him maybe once a month when he gets to come home for the services. And what I would say to them is that this is not a pastor. This man is seeking to be a pastor of a flock that is not his own. He's seeking to be a pastor of those who are out there to whom he will never know and they will never know him. Others don't even know what a pastor is. The Southern Baptist Convention last year set up a committee to try to decide what does the word pastor mean? You're telling me after 2,000 years of church history that we do not know what a pastor is. Now, while there is much confusion within broader Christianity about what a pastor is, the Bible is clear. The Bible says this, that a pastor is a shepherd. A pastor is not a CEO. A pastor is not a comedian. A pastor is a shepherd who is down in the mud with the sheep, who is out ahead of them, leading them. taking them into the green pastures of God's word. Now, this doesn't sound as delightful as that of a CEO behind a desk, but this is the call of God upon the pastor in his word. And so a church is made up of sheep. sheep who are called to follow the pastor, follow the shepherds as they follow the chief shepherd, the good shepherd, Jesus Christ. And so the first three verses in our passage today deal with character qualities here, basically of what it looks like to be a shepherd. But here's what I want you to understand. The biblical qualifications for an elder should be something that you, even as church members, strive to have in your life. Listen to these. Above reproach. That should describe every Christian. The husband of one wife. That should be us. Sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable. The only one that maybe shouldn't describe you is able to teach. We should go on and say not a drunkard, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, managing his own household well. We should all as Christians be striving for these character qualities in our life. And so you're to strive for them. But an elder must have them. He should not be in the office if he does not have these character qualities. So as we walk through this passage today, examine yourself in light of them and then examine elders and maybe even future elders of this church in light of first Peter. chapter five. But you're also going to see in this passage, your duty. So the shepherds have duties, but the sheep also have duties. Your duty is to follow while the shepherd is out in front leading. In other words, don't be a stubborn sheep, be a sheep that is willing to follow. And so in this passage, I want you to see shepherds who lead and sheep who follow. Look at verse one. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Now, Peter starts off here and he's just like, so in other words, he could have started that with therefore. And what he's saying is in light of what I've just said, now I'm going to give the elders, the shepherds of the church, and exhortation. He's going to tell the elders what they are to do. But in order to get the connection of the passages, you've got to understand what last week's message was about. Remember, it was about suffering. The whole letter of 1 Peter is about suffering. And he was saying last week, you need to rejoice and be glad in your suffering. You need to remember that you're blessed in the midst of suffering. You need to understand that suffering is according to the will of God, according to 4.19. And so these people are in the midst of deep suffering, pain, trials, and affliction. And so Peter now says, in light of that, You elders have a job to do. Your job is to shepherd the flock of God that is among you. But before Peter gives that exhortation, he almost gives kind of how he's qualified to give that exhortation. Notice he says, a fellow elder. He is also an elder. I see this as a humble recognition on Peter's part. He could have said, Peter, an apostle. I'm an apostle and I'm exhorting you as an apostle. But instead he exhorts them as a fellow elder. And then he goes on to say, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ. Now think about that. Earlier on in Peter's life, Jesus told Peter he said I'm gonna go and suffer and die and listen to what Peter said Peter took him aside. Listen to this and begin to rebuke him Jesus he's rebuking Jesus Saying far be it from you Lord. This shall never happen to you Bold move on Peter's part there Jesus then turns to Peter and says get behind me Satan and You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God. So Peter, in the beginning, didn't understand suffering. He had no idea of the suffering that was ahead of Jesus Christ or of himself. But here, when he writes 1 Peter, he's a much more mature Peter. At this point, he's witnessed the sufferings of Jesus Christ, and now he's proclaiming those very same sufferings. How did he witness those? How about in the garden of Gethsemane, where Peter is there in the garden with Jesus, and Jesus is praying and sweating drops of blood, saying, Father, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Peter only witnessed part of that because he was asleep, the other part of it, except for when Jesus woke him from his sleep. But he goes on to be a witness of the sufferings of Christ, not only a witness of the sufferings of Christ, but also in verse one, he goes on to say, a partaker of the glory that is to be revealed. Now I've said this to you a hundred times as we've went through first Peter, suffering, precedes glory. Suffering precedes glory. And we have that again here in verse one. Peter says he's a witness of the sufferings of Christ and yet also a partaker of the glory that is to come in the future. Peter had a small taste of that glory even here in this life. You remember, Peter was taken, one of the three, taken up on the Mount of Transfiguration, where the glory of Jesus Christ was seen right there in that moment. where the father says, this is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. Peter got a taste of the glory of Christ in that moment. Peter saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He also saw the resurrected Christ in his glorified body. So he's got a small taste, but what he's doing is he's saying there's more glory to come. There's more glory to come when Jesus Christ returns and sets up his kingdom right here on earth. And so Peter will now move into his exhortation beginning in verse two. And the first thing I want you to see beginning in verse two is this, the duty of a shepherd, the duty of a shepherd. Verse to shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you not for shameful gain, but eagerly not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. So what's the exhortation that Peter gives shepherd the flock of God that is among you. Now notice, Peter says the flock of God. Peter doesn't say shepherd your flock. No, it's God's flock. And the shepherd is to shepherd the flock that God has entrusted him. Now notice this as well. He says the flock of God that is among you. In other words, the pastor or shepherd is responsible for a specific group of people, not the online flock, not the conference flock. He is responsible for those who God has entrusted to his care. Now, the question is, how exactly does the shepherd shepherd? How does he shepherd the flock that's been entrusted to him? And I'll just give you a couple ways. Number one, I would say this. His primary responsibility is to make sure that the sheep are adequately fed. This is his number one duty to feed the sheep week after week after week. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters. In other words, the shepherd leads to the sheep, to the green pastures of food of God's word and of still waters so that they can drink from the fountain of living water. week after week after week. You probably remember this story at the end of Peter's life. He got this commission from Jesus himself. He says, Jesus says to Peter, do you love me, Peter? Peter says, well, of course I love you, Lord. You know that I love you. Jesus responds to him, feed my sheep. Peter had received the exhortation himself to go and feed the sheep from the chief shepherd, Jesus Christ, and now he's given that same exhortation to the elders that Peter is writing to here in the book of 1 Peter. Man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Sheep without food will get malnourished and they will die. You see, pastors are meant to feed the sheep, not to feed the goats. The weekly Sunday gathering is for believers. We are the church. The church is made up of believers. Now, don't get me wrong. Of course, we want to invite other believers because we want them to taste some of this food. We want them to taste what the Good Shepherd has led us into. But the primary responsibility of the pastor is not to feed the goats, but to feed the sheep on Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. One megachurch pastor says this. You would know him if I mentioned his name. He says, if you know Jesus, I'm sorry to break it to you, but this church is not for you. And he's quoting somebody else. Yeah, but I just gave my life to Christ last week. Well, last week was your last week at this church. Let me get a phone book. There are 720 churches in Charlotte. I'm sure we can find you one where you can stuff your face until you're obese spiritually that you can't even move. You see, what this pastor has misunderstood is this. He's saying, if you've believed upon Jesus Christ, you go somewhere else. I want the unbelievers to come here. That's what he's saying. But that is a fundamental misunderstanding of what the pastor's, the shepherd's role is. The shepherd is to feed the sheep. and not to feed the goats. Now, along with this, the shepherd's responsibility is to give you everything that the Word of God has to say. The shepherd cannot pick a little bit of food from here and a little here, but no, we don't want that part of the Bible in their diet. The shepherd is to give you the whole counsel of God, the New Testament, the Old Testament law and gospel, expository preaching so that you hear the Word of God week after week after week. doctrinal preaching where you hear deep truths such as election and calling and regeneration and justification and adoption and sanctification and glorification that you would know these terms and that you would be fed these and they would strengthen your faith so much that as you go throughout your week that you are solid in your faith because you've come to church on Sunday morning and you've been fed the word of God week by week by week. This is the role of the shepherd. It must be done regularly and intentionally. It's his job, the shepherd's job, to know what food the sheep need and it's their job to labor all week long out in the garden, bringing up the good nourishing foods that you need, laboring for it to bring before you a feast every Sunday morning that will carry you through the week to get you week by week by week until you're home with Christ in glory. That is the role of the shepherd. The word of God is the food which matures you as a Christian. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is the truth. But now, don't get me wrong. Preaching is essential for the shepherd, but that's not it. If he's merely a preacher, that's not enough. He's also called, if you'll look back at the text, to exercise oversight. His duty is to exercise oversight. That is the role of a shepherd. Picture a shepherd overseeing a large flock of sheep and he's constantly looking to make sure that each one of them are there and that they're fed and that they are cared for. This word comes from Episcopeo, which you might get the Episcopal Church, which if you break that word down, and this is not just to sound fancy, this is to help you better understand the role of a shepherd. Scopus, which where we would get our word scope. where you might hear the word telescope or microscope. So the elder, in other words, the shepherd has a scope on the congregation. He's constantly got his gaze, his binoculars on the sheep, making sure they are counted for, cared for and taken care of. The shepherd should know his sheep, and if one goes astray, it is his responsibility to come running after that sheep. He's looking after the sheep to make sure none are taken advantage of, that none become ill. It's his job, if they're wounded, to go and apply the balm of God's word to the wounds that that sheep has experienced. It's also his job to make sure that the sheep are not butting heads with one another, to be a peacemaker among the sheep within the congregation. You see, the role of the shepherd is feeding, but it's not just feeding. It's exercising oversight with a careful scope, a microscope upon each one of his sheep. So don't get upset. If you as a sheep miss a few weeks of the feeding and the shepherds call and say, hey, is everything OK? Don't get upset because that is the role that God has assigned to the shepherd. You should be upset if there isn't a call. You should be upset if nobody knows that you're not there. Oh, but thank God if I do get a call, the shepherd hasn't forgotten about me. He's got his eye on me. There's a microscope on me. He knows what's going on in my life. That's the role of the shepherd. Now, Jesus, when he was talking to Peter, he didn't stop there. He didn't. He asked him again, Peter, do you love me? And Peter's like, well, of course, Lord, you know that I love you. And he goes on to say, tend my sheep. So not only feed my sheep, but he says, you must tend them. Very same word as shepherd them. Poimene, he is to shepherd or tend the flock. that is entrusted to him. You see, you tend and shepherd the flock by looking out for them, but also by protecting them. You remember the story of young David. He's about to fight Goliath and everybody's like, you're crazy. What do you think you're doing little guy about to fight Goliath? And David goes, you must not under, this is the Mosier paraphrase, by the way, you must not understand. I've been out there looking out for my flock. And when a wolf or a bear would come after my sheep, you know what I would do? I would take that sheep back from them and kill the bear or the wolf. You see that's the role of the shepherd. He's to protect the sheep from wolves. He's to protect them from the lion that we see in verse 8 of this passage that is prowling about looking for someone to devour. It is the shepherd's role to look out for you in that way. Jesus said this, he who is a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. You get that? Somebody who's not a true shepherd will see the dangerous wolf coming and they'll run. Why? Because they have no buy-in, because they're not a genuine shepherd. But Jesus has ordained that his church would have true shepherds that look out for the sheep, that have the discernment to see when a wolf is coming and they look out for them. Now, he's going to go on to say that he's going to give you a few qualifications for exercising oversight in the church. Look at verse two again. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight. Not, get this, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you. Here's the point. You don't want a shepherd who's leading you to be there because you didn't have anyone else. You want someone there to lead you because he could do nothing else. You want someone there to lead you who would say, I'm doing this willingly, not under compulsion. Nobody has twisted my arm. In fact, first Timothy three, one, if anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Did you? Where does? Where does the position of pastor elder start? With an aspiration, with an aspiring that comes from the heart to be in that position, which then leads them to lead the flock of God willingly and not under compulsion. He goes on to say, not for shameful gain, but eagerly. Now, simply receiving pay is not shameful gain. Shameful gain is when the pastor receives pay with wrong motives. He's doing his job of shepherding for the motive of receiving financial gain. Or it doesn't just have to be financial gain. It can be other gain, gain of notoriety and fame, Now, just this last week, there's been an example of this. Josh Bice, founder and president of G3 Ministries, one of my former seminary professors, in fact, taught me about expository preaching, but was found out last week to be operating anonymous accounts online that he was using to slander other pastors for the goal of making himself look better. You see that shameful gain. That is not something that should characterize the shepherd who's been called by God to lead the flock of God. Instead, the shepherd leads eagerly. That should be the shepherd that you put yourself on. Paul said, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. He goes on in verse three to say, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. You see, the shepherd, he's not a cowboy with a whip. He is a shepherd with a comforting staff who's out ahead of you, gently leading you on. He must set the example in all things. He must set the example in godliness, in pursuit of Christ, He must set the example in his home, the way he loves his wife, the way he loves his kids. My friends, this is the duty of the shepherd of God. No small duty, no small standard. Now it would be easy at this point, if you're reading this and you're a shepherd in the midst of the persecution that they're going through to say, what's the point? I might as well just drop out and be one of the sheep rather than be the shepherd. So point number two, if you're following along on your outline, Peter gives a motivation why they should do this. The future reward of the shepherds. Look at verse four. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Why should the shepherds shepherd the flock of God in this way? Because out ahead of them is an unfading crown of glory. I do not know what that crown is. Neither does anyone else. But I do know this, it's going to be glorious. And it's so glorious that Peter would dangle it out in front of the shepherd like a carrot in front of a donkey saying, keep running, keep shepherding, because this is what you have to look forward to. It's a crown that doesn't fade, just like your inheritance, believer. Remember chapter one, verse five, we have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled. unfading reserved for us in heaven now Paul would say in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 he would say this what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming listen to this is it not you for you are our glory and our joy so according to Paul what's his crown on the last day what's his glory his joy on the last day it's the sheep It's the sheep that he's fed week by week by week straight into the arms of the good shepherd who meets them and says, well done, my good and faithful servant. And whatever this crown looks like, I can assure you that any good shepherd will join those in heaven who around the throne cast their crowns before him And they say, worthy are you to receive glory and honor and blessing. I'm not worthy of this crown. Only you are worthy of this crown. Now, why would God give the shepherds a reward like this? Why is it so important that they receive a reward like this? Well, here's what I would submit to you. The reason the shepherds would receive this unfading crown of glory is because of the value of what they are called to shepherd. You know, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Do you know what kind of value that is? that the blood of the son of God was shed for the flock of God. Therefore, those who are entrusted with the responsibility of shepherding your souls unto glory, that's why they get the reward. You see, we were in South Carolina this week and we're there and it's the ocean and huge boats everywhere. And I started thinking about those boats and I was like, man, if you got to move those away from here, It's going to be a big job. Like you're going to have to have a special moving company and you know these moving companies move a big huge ship. They're getting paid a lot more than that UPS driver that's driving the semi down the road. Why though? Why would they get paid more? Well, because of the preciousness of the cargo, because of the value of the cargo that they are carrying. And in the same way, the shepherd of the flock of God is carrying precious cargo that was bought by the blood of the Son of God. And his responsibility is to shepherd them on to glory, to carry them on. And because of that, he says, you will receive. and unfading crown of glory. Now, when will the shepherd receive this glory? He says in verse four, when the chief shepherd appears, that's when you will receive this crown of glory. The chief shepherd, get that. There's only one chief shepherd. That's not plural. It says THE CHIEF SHEPHERD. Jesus Christ. Now get this. He's the shepherd who exercises oversight perfectly. When one sheep out of the 100 goes astray, he is leaving the 99 to go after the one because he exercises oversight perfectly. He exercises oversight not under compulsion, but willingly. You remember this. Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord. He's the shepherd who doesn't work for shameful gain, but eagerly, you'll remember this, for the joy set before me. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. What was the joy set before him? It was securing the flock of God. Therefore, he did his job eagerly, not domineering over the flock, but being an example to the flock. Come to me. all who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest." Why? Because Jesus goes on to say, I am gentle and lowly in heart. Come to me because I will not break a bruised wreath. I will not snuff out a smoldering wick. That is the chief shepherd. He's the shepherd of Psalm 23 that says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He's the shepherd that makes our cup run over. He's the good shepherd of John 10 that says this, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. and they follow me, I give them eternal life. They will never, ever perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. You see, the good shepherd has a grip on the sheep in such a way that he will never, ever let them go. There's only one chief shepherd. There are a multitude of other shepherds, but there is only one chief shepherd. And you only follow your shepherds as they rightly follow the chief shepherd. Now the chief shepherd is returning, and when he returns, he's bringing with him the unfading crown of glory. Now, the question is this, what's your responsibility? If that's the duty of the shepherd, what about the sheep? What is your responsibility? Look back at verse five and see the duty of the sheep. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. You don't want to know what your duty is according to this passage. Be subject to the elders. Now, I don't think what Peter is saying, you who are younger in age, it wouldn't make sense. He's just addressed elders overseeing the church. He's calling the congregation the younger ones. And he's saying you, the younger ones, be subject to those who are over you. Now the question for you should be this, how do we do that? How do we honor God by being subject to the elders? And I'll give you a few things. Number one, remember, what did I say the shepherd's number one duty is? It's to feed the flock of God. So the sheep, what's your number one duty is this, receive the word of God. Week by week, you need to come into this building and you need to leave distractions at the door. You need to come with a sense of anticipation You need to pray for yourself. You need to pray for your fellow church members. You need to pray for me. You need to read the text where we're going to be in before it happens. Show up early, visit with people, stay late and visit with people. This is how you can fulfill the duty of being a church member who is in subjection to the elders. Be that kind of church member. In fact, Last week, somebody said they were singing the songs before the service. And then this morning, even somebody texted and was asking about the songs before the service. Do things like that. Prepare yourself to worship on Sunday morning. This, my friends, is how you can be subject to the elders. Be hungry for the food that they are laying before you week after week after week. We, Malachi and Isaac, three-year-old, two-year-old, we can be sitting at the dinner table. Carrie will prepare this delicious meal and I'll be over there devouring it. And I'll look over and they won't even have touched it. And I'm like, what are you doing? And in those moments, I get just a taste of where she's probably getting a taste, I mean, of what it feels like. If you come and you put the feast out before them and no one eats, that's not being subject to the elders, to the shepherds who have been placed You be hungry for real food, for truth, not someone that will tickle your ears and tell you what you want to hear. Follow the shepherds. If the shepherd's duty is to lead, your duty is to be subject by following the shepherd. Your duty is also to receive correction. There are times when the shepherds have to correct the sheep. Your duty is to be teachable. People ask me, who's the hardest person to counsel? Is it the drug addict? Is it the liar? Is it this guy or that guy? Is it a marriage that's falling apart? No. It's the person that's not teachable. It's the person that's so full of pride that they think they know it all. Don't be that kind of sheep. Be the kind of sheep that receives correction, that's teachable, that is coming to learn and grow in Jesus Christ. And here's the result. You will be a joy to the shepherds. You will be a joy to shepherd. In fact, in the book of Hebrews, he says, obey your leaders for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who give an account. Listen to this. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning. For that would be of no advantage to you. Did you hear that? You have the option. You can make it a joyful thing or a groaning thing. Which one is going to describe you? If you are going to be a sheep here at Cornerstone Bible Church, my plea with you is to come and receive the word of God week after week. And in order to do that, you must participate. You must be a part of it. If you're going to be a sheep that's going to grow and blossom in the Christian life, you must participate. And I pray that I could be like John in the book of third John that says, I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth. To see people grow in their love for God and their love for one another, there is no greater joy in this life. You have a duty to fulfill people of God. Fourth and finally, the crowning virtue of both shepherds and sheep Look back at verse 5b, clothe yourselves, all of you with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Now he moves. He's not addressing elders. He's not addressing members. He's addressing all of you. So everyone, both elders and members of the church. And he gives this command. clothe yourselves with humility. Take the garment of humility and put it on every single day. We should all shop at the same clothing store. Now, here's my simple exhortation on how you can grow in this crowning virtue of humility. Three ways. Number one, You must see God as He really is. You must see God as He really is. Isaiah, in Isaiah 6, caught a glimpse of the glory of God, and all he could say is, woe is me. He saw the holiness of God and he said, woe is me. You see what he did was he saw him in his perfection, in his glory. That's how you and I must see him. Peter caught a glimpse of him and he said, depart from me for I am a sinful man. He saw himself in light of the glory of God. This is how you must be too if you would grow in humility. Secondly, you must see yourself as you really are. This is the hard one. You must see yourself as you really are. What I mean by that, a desperate sinner in need of God's grace day by day by day. Grace wasn't just something that I was saved by in the past. Grace is something that carries me forward day by day by day. I am what I am by the grace of God. We should join the Apostle Paul who says, I'm the least of these. I am the chief of sinners. I'm just thankful to get the crumbs from the table of my God. Like the prodigal son, we should be glad to just take the position of a servant. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. See yourself as you really are. Third, see others, see the rest of the congregation, see yourselves and others as they really are. Now what this means is not being critical. Judgmental, not looking to see what's wrong with them, looking rather to see the good in them rather than in the bad. Seeing them as people to give yourselves to. We must be a people, if we're going to be clothed with humility, who remove the log from our own eye before we go for the speck that is in our brother's eye. Jesus said it this way. You should be like little children. who are weak and helpless and dependent. In fact, a good illustration of this is my boys love Renewal Ranch. They love it. They want to go there. They want to play out there. In fact, I think they might want to be there. And I tell them, you can't be, no, you can only be a mentor there. You can't go there. And you know, they'll even play games at home. Like they'll get in their little Jeep. Hey, we're Come on, Isaac, we're driving to Renewal Ranch. Or, hey, I'm a ranch guy driving a ranch truck. And they think it's great. They think it's awesome. You see, they don't see the color of skin. They don't see the tattoos on the skin. They don't see the tattoos on the face. They don't care. They see beyond it, you see. And in the same way, we should have that lens of humility toward one another. Clothe yourselves with humility. Now, he goes on to say, he gives us a reason why we should do this. Because God opposes the proud, but he gives grace. to the humble. Did you hear that? God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. I do not want to be on the opposing end of God. But instead, I want to be on the one, the end that is receiving God's grace. Who are those that receive his grace? Nobody receives his grace that is not clothed with the cloak and apron of humility. We should be like that sinner, the tax collector who was in the temple with the Pharisee. And he was over there beating his chest, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner, while the Pharisee was over there saying, Thank God I'm not like that guy. You see, the Pharisee had a wrong understanding of who God is, a wrong understanding of who he is, and a wrong understanding of who the tax-collecting sinner is. He saw himself as more righteous than he really was. And he saw this man as a low-down, despicable man. But you see, the man that was on his face before the Lord understood, I am unworthy to be in your presence. And I am just thankful, Lord, give me mercy. That's the only hope that I even have. That is a picture of what it looks like to clothe yourself with humility. And it is my prayer that at Cornerstone Bible Church, that we would be a church where the grace of God is poured out upon us because we humble ourselves before him and we humble ourselves before one another. Let us pray.