and I'm gonna be with them next week. Y'all pray for me, will ya? We sang there about pilgrim and pilgrimage. You are aware of the fact, I'm sure, that people who have taken Christ as their Savior, Christ alone as their hope of forgiveness of their sin, and eternal life, that people in different places all over the world, I'm a little bit hot. Bring it down just a little bit. Okay, now bring it up, no, just, okay. I refer to different ways around the world, you're aware of that. Perhaps, maybe you're not, like in places like Ukraine, how a a person who is a believer might be referred to, or thinking about Jerry and Kelly with us last Lord's Day, or a place like Romania, I have just a brief paragraph of a testimony of a Romanian. And he says this, and I want you to listen and see if you can understand what I'm asking this morning. He said, in my early 20s, I became active in a communist party in Romania. His name is John. He said, one evening I was on assignment to visit one of the Baptist churches and to see how these repenters were present, see how many of these repenters were present. He was also told to ask them questions about why they were attending churches other than the Eastern Orthodox Church, which was the state church there in Romania. I had no intention of converting, he said, but when I heard the word of God preached for the first time and the concept of repentance and being born again, I was touched. I realized that I had never truly repented of my sins. I would go to the Orthodox Church, I would cross myself, kiss an icon one moment and despise God the next. I realized that the Orthodox Church was a societal organization that had taught me nothing. So I declared to follow Christ and turn away from my sinful past. John became a repenter. Are you a repenter? Oh, I hope that you are. You know, the Bible teaches us, doesn't it, that when someone is truly converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, part of what happens is repentance. There are two sides of the salvation coin, are there not? Faith and repentance. We're turning from and we're turning to. returning from our sin and from ourselves and from our works to Christ and His work and our faith in Him and Him alone. Repentance is always involved in a true conversion. But it doesn't stop there, does it? Repentance likewise continues in the Christian life because the Spirit of God convicts us and convinces us of the reality of our what? Of our sin. and encourages us in our inner man, in our spirit, to deal with our sin God's way. And that involves acknowledging it, and that involves confessing our sin, does it not, and agree with God about our sin, but it also should lead to repentance and turning from our sin. And I mention that this morning because if you're in the book of James now, and if you turn to our chapter 4 of the book of James, what's going on in verses 1 down through verse 6 is that the Holy Spirit, through His man James, is moving these professing believers unto repentance. He is calling them to repentance. He does so by exposing their sin and clearly conveying their miserable condition before God. Well, let's just read it again and see it. What is the source of quarrels and conflict, he says, among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and you do not have, so you commit murder. That does not sound good, amen? You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and you quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulterous people, you spiritually adulterous people, remember last Lord's Day. Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Now this morning, we come to verse five and six, where James is still building a case against them in light of their need for getting down. We want to get to verse seven through verse 10 for next week. He wants them to come to these verses and the reality of these verses in their lives. But he's still building this case. Remember back in verse four as I just read, he asks them a question. He's asking questions that are rhetorical kind that require an answer to help them see their condition. Verse four again, do you not know that friendship with the world, remember we're talking about worldliness. He said you're worldly. Don't you know? He's doing the same type of thing now as we look at the beginning of verse 5. Or do you think, do you think that the Scriptures speak of no purpose? And so what we have in verse 5, in these rhetorical questions that provoke an answer that is self-condemning, what we have in verse 5 is another reason of two reasons. We're gonna see one in verse five and one in verse six. Another reason for their need of turning and dealing with their sin and repenting of it. And what he tells us in verse five, as I just read in the beginning of it, is this. And if you're taking some notes this morning, he's telling them this. You are, in effect, ignoring the scriptures. Well, let me just read it again. If you see that, I'm sure you do from the text. Or do you not think the scriptures speak to no purpose? He is saying you're ignoring what you know, what you've heard, what you've been taught. This is not good. James is asserting that they are disregarding the word of God. In the second half of the verse, he's gonna point that out particularly, but we'll be there in a few moments. A Phillips paraphrase reads this way, do you think what the scriptures have to say about things is a mere formality? Dr. Ryrie says it this way, quote, do you imagine that there is no meaning or significance to what the scriptures say? Well, look at that text with me again, because when it says, or do you think that the scriptures speak That little phrase there is a common prelude to a quote from another verse. Usually, if it's in the New Testament, it's a quote from the Old Testament, correct? And there are lots of examples of that in the Scriptures. For instance, James is doing just what Jesus did. Jesus said in Matthew 21, 42, Jesus said to them, did you never read in the Scriptures? And then he would quote the scriptures about the stone which the builders rejected. We sang about solid rock even this morning, did we not? So it's a common thing, both in Jesus using this with reference quoting the Old Testament, and other places like in 1 Peter 2, verse 6, where it says, for this is contained in the scriptures. And then Peter quotes from Isaiah 28, behold, I lay In Zion, a choice stone. So what's going on in verse 5? That's what I'm pointing out to you. In verse 5, at the beginning of him, when he's saying, you're ignoring the Scriptures, he's saying, don't you know that the Scriptures says this? But the challenge is, the second half of verse five is determining just exactly what it is that he is quoting. Now, if you have a study Bible, how many of you have a study Bible? Say amen if you have a study Bible. You'll probably look in the cross-reference there to see, well, you know, does the text show it in terms of sometimes it changes the print, like down in verse six, there's another quote, but it looks different how they print it. Somebody tell me you're with me. Just somebody say, you're with me. You're with me? Okay, but in verse 5, it doesn't change anything. You look over on the side, you don't see a particular reference to an Old Testament passage. And that's because it's very difficult to figure out from this text just exactly what it is that James is quoting. And then I start doing some reading of exegetical commentaries where guys who really know the Greek language and the text, and as I start reading it, I discover they're telling me that verse 5 is unique to the whole book of James because it's really difficult to figure out precisely what the second half of this verse is saying. And then I realize, then, why Pastor Dave told me I could pick it up in this verse. Okay? But we're not without hope here. But it is considered very difficult. Now, we're going to grapple a little bit here, and you want to grapple with me in figuring this out, and we're not without understanding the major themes of James that he's bringing home to us. And the main thing is always the plain thing, and the plain thing is the main thing, and we're going to see that from this passage likewise. But I just want to point out to you, in fact, if you've got a certain version, if you've got the King James, and you've got somebody who's got an ESV sitting on you on one side, and somebody with a New American Standard like Pastor has on the other side, you can look at the three of them, and they're not necessarily saying the same things, because not all scholars agree as to what the text specifically says. So right now, if you're saying, well, that's great. I can go ahead and sleep until he gets to verse 6. Please don't. And I want to tell you why. We may grapple with what it's saying and meaning. We cannot understand the meaning until we know what it says. But they understood. You can be assured that when this is read, When this was read from the original to the people that it was passed to, they heard it, they read it, they heard it read to them, and they understood from the language clearly what was being intended there. There's no question about that. And you can be sure that they got it because here's where I'm heading, because I'm convinced that the reason that they got it is because what is being said in the second half of verse five is something that is all over the scriptures, and that's what he's doing. Here's my point. I think he is not quoting a particular verse like we'll see in verse six from the Old Testament, but rather he is presenting a general or basic truth that is taught all over the scriptures. Okay? And what they knew of the scriptures, from the beginning of verse five, they were not really getting. I mean, we could say that's the main thing of verse five. When he says, do you think the scriptures speak of no purpose, and you're ignoring the scriptures, you're not taking the serious, and they understood what he was saying, then we understand that they were not taking the Bible seriously, and that's a main thing we need to ask of ourselves. And that's the main thing that I need to ask of you this morning before we move any farther. And that is, to what extent do you take the Word of God seriously? You say, well, I'm here, aren't I? Right? But I'd like to know about tomorrow. And I'd like to know about Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday. And I'd like to know about how you're marinating your mind with the Word of God. and how you're involved in not only, in fact, I kind of wonder about these people. It might be said of you likewise. I kind of wonder if they were, well, back to chapter one, verse 22. You don't even need to turn there. Remember, James says, do not be mere hearers of the word, but be what? Everybody say it a little bit better. Everybody say, but be what? Doers of the word. And it's easy, you know, to say, yep, that's really good. You know, I can think about somebody that really needs that, right? rather than really make application to your life. And that's the answer, isn't it? How serious you and I take the word of God is evident in how we live our lives. That's where it's evident. That's where it's seen. So I don't wanna miss the main thing from this verse. All right, he's pointing out to them, they're in trouble in how they're living, out of the will of God, and so he's asking them in verse five here, we're to a problem here, you're not heeding what you already know. Lots of times we think we wanna know more before we're even living what we already know. But it's good to always learn more likewise. Okay, so, let's dig, let's ask the question, well really then, pastor, what are you saying that the second half of verse five is really saying? Let's dig a little bit deeper, and I hope that in the digging, I will help you also in your own study of the word of God. And I'll dig a little bit farther if you promise to stay with me. Will you promise to stay with me? Because if you don't stay with me, we're in real trouble, because sometimes I have trouble staying with me. So hang in there, okay? Now, I'm going to put up the Numeric Standard that I know is a very good translation that I use. How many use the Numeric Standard like I do? Amen? You're all my donut people, okay? You use the same. How many use King James? How many use ESV? Okay, we're gonna see there's a little bit of a difference in this particular verse. This is a very rare thing. But let's take a look at it. So, notice James 4, 5 in the New American Standard Bible that I used. Or do you think that the Spirit's scriptures speak of no purpose? He jealously desires the Spirit which he has made to dwell in us. I want you to know two things that are at issue here. The first is this. He, in that verse, is supplied. It's not in the text. And it's supplied by the translators who translate it this way, understand that the subject of the second part of that verse is God. So that's supplied there, which is not a problem per se. Oftentimes the text does this because in the Greek text the subject and verb and object and so forth is kind of scattered and you've got to put it together in one of the challenges. that is very possible to do, but it's not always that easy. So that's a question about whether or not the subject here is really God, or the subject is the Spirit or man. The second thing about that is that when you see the word Spirit, it is a capital S. Everybody sees that, right? Well, in the Greek text, there are no capitals. And that's why sometimes in some verses you have to figure out, is this the Holy Spirit, Or is it the human spirit? Is it referring to the spirit of man? And so if that S would be small, like it is in some of your versions, some of your good translations, it could then read something like this, that your spirit that dwells in you just continues to jealously or envy lust after things. Well, that's a lot different than what the new American standard is saying. Now, tell me you're with me yet. Just say amen if you're with me. Say amen. All right. Now, so let's do this. Let's line the three of them up and notice the difference. And I'm not asking you to vote. Okay? But let's just see that. Now, notice the NSV, as I just read. The ESV says he yearns jealously over the Spirit. that he is made to dwell in us. And I think that that's not correct, because if you've got an ESV, I believe you'll note that the S is a small s. Are you nodding your heads? So actually, the second one there, as printed out there, should be a small s. If it's a small s, it's not talking about the Holy Spirit, it's talking about man's spirit. So it reads a little bit different. Both of those things are true, but it's determining which one that it is. And then notice the third in the King James. The spirit that dwells in us lusteth to envy. Now I want to tell you right now, the third one I like the least because I don't want to hear that I lusteth to envy. How about you? Amen? I don't want to hear that. But you know what I'm convinced? I'm convinced that most likely the third one is actually the best rendering of the text. that in effect it would probably best read that he is saying, or do you not think that the scriptures speak of no purpose? That the spirit that dwells in us, and it should be a small s again, because that's the way it is in the King James, that is the human spirit that dwells in us tends to lust or tends to envy. In other words, he's saying that the human spirit is always tending to live in the flesh rather than in the spirit. Now my take on that is for two reasons, so I'll tell you two reasons. Number one is that there's a word in the second part of verse five, a Greek word, it's a little word, phanas. It's a word, phanas. And phanas is translated with this idea of jealousy, or really envy. It's a word, envy, more than jealousy. And it's never used in the other times throughout the New Testament in a good way. It's usually used in a bad way. And I'm not going to compete with that rain, because I'm just going to say, Lord, thank you for the rain. Amen? Thank you for the rain. All right. Here's a place. where the idea of jealousy or envy is used in a positive way. It's not the same word. It's not the same word. Paul's saying, I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you as one husband. But I want to contrast that word that is used in the second part of verse five, that word for envy. And here's where it's used all the other places in the New Testament. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice, and what's the next word? Envy, right? And the rest of the places that you find that particular word in the New Testament, it is used in a negative, not a positive sense. So I want to say this morning, I don't think that the idea of jealous envy is associated with God. I believe it's associated with man and his manner, and it fits in this section in this way. Here's my main argument, and here's another main reason I'm dragging you along in this, okay? And here's the main reason. If you're going to buy property, when you go to Israel, or wherever else, you're gonna talk with your realtor, or we commonly say, when you buy, when you're buying or looking for a place, there's three main issues. Are you with me? The three main issues are location, and Okay, now, when you're studying the Bible, there are three main issues in figuring out what does a verse say? Again, if you get this right, you get a donut, if there's any left over next week, okay? There are three main issues. The first issue is, what about the context? The second issue is, what about the? And the third issue is? And when you get stuck on a verse, so often it's because you're stuck on the verse but you're not carefully reading the... So go back and read the paragraph. And then go back and read the chapter. and then go back and read the book, and then look at that verse in the light of the rest of the scripture, and 95% of the time, you're going to understand the verse. And when we look at verse five, and if I say to you the second half is talking about the human spirit and man's lust or envy after things, and we back up, look at verse two with me, chapter four, verse two. We back up to verse two, You'll notice he's talking about this very thing. He says, you lust and you do not have, so you commit murder. You are envious, there it is, and cannot obtain. So what he's driving home in verse five, as I understand it, is that he's saying, you're just fulfilling the scriptures, how the scriptures all over the place tend to say that typical of the human nature is away from God, not to God. and it's not a good thing that he's driving home with them. So hopefully just working through that together, I want you to say, I'm sure glad he did that because it took me about three days trying to find out where I'm at on that, okay? All right, so let me ask the big question here then in verses one through verse five for where we've got in chapter four. Here it is, let's see if you're with me. In these verses one through five, is he giving them a compliment or is he confronting and correcting them? Is it a compliment where he's saying, you're lusting and you're envious? No. So he's confronting them, is he not? So he's pointing out, first of all, he's giving reasons why they need to change. He's giving reasons why they need to address their sin. He's giving reasons why they need to get to verse 7, 8, 9, and 10, where there are 10 imperatives that describe someone who is rightly dealing with their sin. That's where he's getting. And so they are worldly people. Remember last week? And the only way we conquer worldliness is we pursue godliness. That's the only way. And then he's telling them in verse 5 that they're also ignoring the scriptures. And then we're going to get to verse 6. Now we're going to get to verse 6. You say amen to that? Okay, verse 6. Here we are. Here's the other reason that they need to repent. Maybe in some time in your life, somebody's gonna love you enough to come up to you, if you're living in rebellion to God, to lovingly say to you, you know what the problem is? You just need to repent. You just need to repent of your sin. What else is he saying? Verse six. Look with me there. Here's hope, but he gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud. To the proud. Here's the second thing that he's saying. Oh, here's support my position. By the way, this is by Dr. MacArthur. I don't agree with him, he agrees with me. Do you understand that? Okay, look at how he says this. He says it better than I've tried to. He says, in context, it seems that the authorized King James Rendering as preferable the spirit that dwells in us, lust is to envy. James would therefore be saying, in effect, don't you know that you yourselves are living proof of the veracity of scripture, which clearly teaches that the natural man has a spirit of envy? That interpretation clearly consistent with what James is emphasizing in the larger passage. In other words, he's saying it's consistent with the context. The context. But here's the second reason. He's saying you're losing the battle to your pride, too. You're losing the battle to your pride. How do you get that? Well notice verse six, but God is opposed to the, everybody say it, God is opposed to the? To the proud. Pride is at the root of all of the fruit of my sin. Let me say that again. Pride is at the root of all of the fruit of our sin. It fleshes out in my life and in your life a million different ways. Because pride, they are stuck in all of the conflict and chaos that he's talking about in one through five, because pride is ruling in their hearts. Pride produces conflict with man, and remember in verse four, and hostility with God. And pride leads to that by us serping the role of God in my life. And so when we get to verse six and we see the word but, it's a conjunction of contrast. He's saying, ah, but there's greater grace. But I want to tell you likewise that God is opposed to the proud. So James is now offering hope in the grace of God, a greater grace, but the hope he is offering, God does not give to the proud. So he's saying you're losing the battle to that. And yet at the same time, D. Edmund Hebert says, read this with me, verse six is one of the most comforting verses in all of the Bible. Wow. Good. I like getting out of verses one through five then and getting into verse six, amen? But at the same time, what is he pointing out? He's saying you're losing this battle with your pride. But he offers hope, greater, this greater grace. And this greater grace, it's available to these people and to you and I, but it's not automatic. And pride, living independent of God, in self-rule, shuts you and I off from God. So, greater grace. How is grace greater? In what ways? What does he mean by that? We could just start singing, We just start singing hymns, couldn't we? Marvelous, infinite grace. Grace that is greater than, there it is, amen, let's go home, amen? The grace of God. The grace of God is about the God of all grace. And he's saying, hey, wait a minute, there's God in this, if you'll turn to him. There's victory over all this chaos that's going on in your lives if you'll turn to Him. There's grace there, the divine able, there's saving grace, there's justifying grace, but then there's sanctifying grace, and sanctifying grace is the grace that God enables you with. He gives to you power in your life, strength in your life to be able to live above being driven by desires in the flesh. And so now he's giving them great hope with that possibility. But his grace is not functional in a life when you or I are living for ourselves or trying to run our own life. God's grace greater than our sin. God's grace is God's help and power in our life to not be enslaved, mastered by sin and self-rule. And so his presence and power to resist the lure of the world is available to us, but not automatically in us, and it is shut off from us when I'm living in pride. And that pride pops up every single day. Driving home from somewhere last night. You just love it when I share my own sin, don't you? Amen? Driving home from somewhere last evening, and my wife says to me, you just took a wrong turn. I did not take a wrong turn. I knew exactly where I was. And pride said, I need to tell her right now, I know, I know where I'm at. And some of you people looking at me like, I don't understand where you're at, but you know exactly where I'm at, amen? Because pride says, hey, I know, I'm capable, I'm God. And I'm capable to run my own life and do my own thing and make my own decisions. And I'm capable to live independent of God. And if I'm a believer, oh my, I'm in such trouble at that moment. Pride can surface in a marriage so easily and so often. I'm thankful my wife and I have learned how to forgive one another God's way, but if pride rules, we can have a fight over who left the kitchen cabinet door open. It was you. No, it wasn't you. No, it was you. No, it was you. And it doesn't matter of anything other than the fact pride says, I've got to win. Amen? When pride rules. So enough of talking about Deborah. Let's get on right here, okay? God is opposed to the proud. He's opposed to the proud. When our children were little pumpkins, I can remember one of them. Deborah and I have remembered this statement over the years. and I usually make reference to which child used to say this, or did say this, and then Deborah would tell me I have the wrong child. So I'm not even gonna guess this morning. But I remember the event, and we've said this together over the year, because here's what the child said. I was getting one of our toddlers, getting ready for somewhere, and I'm helping her get a coat on, or sweater, or something, you know, and she took it out of my hands, and she said to me, I do it myself in it. Kind of sounds like Yoda or something there, doesn't it? Right? I do it. I do it myself in it. And then she took it and she's struggling with it, you know, and she needs help. But she's gonna do it herself in it. And you know, a toddler trying to get a zipper, right? I can do it. I'm available. I'm available. Dad loves you. I'm available. I love you. Let me help you. I don't need help. It surfaces from birth, doesn't it? And in the Christian life, in the Christian life of the proud, man tries to live without grace, without God, when he says, I do it myself in it. It's not hard to live the Christian life on your own. It's just impossible because this text says, God is opposed to the proud. Now that is a clear direct quote from Proverbs 3.34. There's no doubt about it. This is how the LXX translates the Greek from the Hebrew Old Testament. It's not only quoted here, but it's probably familiar because you might remember it's also quoted in 1 Peter. Though he scoffs at the scoffer. By the way, if you look at that in the Hebrew text, it is very strong. It is just like God's gonna give back to the one who's doing this. That idea of oppose. God oppose or resist the proud. It's a compound word. It's a military term. It just means, best I can say it is, that pride puts God in the ring with you as your opponent. When pride is surfacing. No wonder the way of the transgressor is hard. No wonder nothing seems to go right when you're not living for the Lord. He opposes the proud. No wonder Proverbs 16, 18 says, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. So the text is reminding us God is actively, directly antagonistic against the proud, self-sufficient person. When pride rules in your life, you are not merely in conflict with others or at odds with God. He is at odds with you. He is against you. I think this was on the overhead. If you didn't catch it then, would you catch Tim Keller's good quote right now? Pride is the carbon monoxide of sin. It silently and slowly kills you without you even knowing. The word for pride conveys a lifting up of self above all others. Pride seeks, as you remember, pride seeks to un-God God. Pride is self-focused stemming that stems from self-worship. And there are no stronger statements in all of the Bible than what the Bible says with reference to pride. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance in the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. God hates pride. When pride comes, then comes dishonor. Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Remember that word, abomination, is a very strong word. It's a detestable thing to God when I am ruled by my pride. Surely he will not be punished. A man's pride will bring him down, bring him low. Someone well said, as a Christian, God will deal with your pride if you don't. and it's only conquered in the gospel. Do you understand the gospel today? You say, I know the gospel. If you don't know the gospel, the gospel is this. It's the good news that Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived a sinless life, fulfilled all righteousness, died on a cross on behalf of sinners and on the basis of faith in Christ and Christ alone. One then can have his help and his strength living in your life to not be controlled by your own selfish desires. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's God's grace. Pride is only conquered in the gospel, and yet at the same time, it remains our greatest vice in the Christian life. Somewhere today, probably where it's not raining, probably some people fighting over a parking space and somebody getting shot. Pride demands to rule, to have one's own way. And when you say, well, am I a proud man? Well, we're all proud, but as a believer, we are exercising pride when we live independent of God. And so when Jesus talked about abiding in Him, look at John 15, 5, with me, abiding in Him, He said this, I'm the vine, you're the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me, finish it for me. Apart from me, you can, wow. That's pretty direct, isn't it? Stuart Scott says this concerning pride. When someone is proud, he or she is focused on self. This is a form of self-worship. Prideful people believe that they are or should be the source of what is good, right, and worthy of praise. They also believe that they by themselves are the accomplisher of anything that is worthwhile to accomplish and that they should certainly be the benefactor of all things. In essence, they are believing that all things should be from them and through them and to them and for them. Pride says, pride is man saying, I will be my own God. Pride is competitive toward others and especially toward God. Pride wants to be on top. Thomas Watson is often so well quoted, pride seeks to un-God God. And without God's grace actively functioning in your life as you depend upon him, And as you are in the word and as the spirit empowers you, without God's grace, you cannot be a good forgiver. Without God's grace, you cannot pursue purity. Without God's grace, you cannot love your enemy. Without God's grace, you cannot be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Without God's grace, you cannot walk in truth. Without God's grace, you cannot kill sin and pursue holiness. So in verse six, when he says he gives a greater grace, That is our hope. When pride rules, God is against you. When you pursue, oh, let's get to the second part of the verse. God is opposed to the proud, but he gives, everybody read it with me, he gives to the, he gives grace to the humble. How does a sinner pursue humility? Verse 7, 8, 9, and 10 tells us, by turning to the Lord and Him alone. A humble man repents of his sin and looks to God for grace and help. In fact, let's fill it in this way. You were wondering if we're ever gonna get there. Greater grace is available, but it's not automatic in your life. It's available. It's a greater grace. He gives grace to the humble, but it's not automatic. You have got to humble yourself before God by living dependent upon him. So it's available but not automatic, but it's accessed only through humility. Only through humility. So at the bottom of the bulletin this morning, a humble person lives differently than a proud one. Humility is so rare because it's so unnatural to us. Only a Christian who has the Spirit of God can learn genuine humility. Proverbs 22.4 says, the reward of humility. Now isn't this a great promise? The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor in life. In other words, it just sounds like humility is the avenue to everything good. And humility comes under God and lives dependent upon Him. Last week we ended with, turn your eyes upon Jesus, did we not? Well, let's do that, but in this way this morning. Let's turn back to the book of Philippians, and let's turn our eyes upon Jesus by looking at him as the example in all things for the Christian life. and as much as anything else, for humility. Philippians 2, beginning of verse 3. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude, or let this mind be in you, or live or think this way, we could say, paraphrase it, have this attitude in yourselves, which also was in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be, and I want to paraphrase the text here, selfishly hung on to. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Grace living is humble daily dependence upon God for his strength in order to live for his glory. How do I get there? Go back to James chapter 4, 7 through verse 10 that we'll come to next week, and he gives the path of how we come under in repenting of our sins under the Lordship of Christ, under the authority of the Word of God, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, to place ourselves in that position before God which is the place of blessing and the place of power and the place of influence in this world to the very glory of God himself. Bow in prayer with me, would you please?