be reading from James chapter 4 verses 6 through 10. But he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for gathering us this morning. Thank you for this passage before us. Lord, we praise you for The many songs we've sung this morning speak of the glory of Christ and what He has done for us in clothing us in robes of righteousness, Lord, when we are undeserving, when we have nothing to bring. Lord, may these things be a reminder to us this morning of our great need for You, of our great need to humble ourselves, to cast ourselves upon You, to cling to You, to draw power from You, to obey, to do what is right. Lord, may Your Word enrich our hearts even this morning. We thank You for the labors that Mike has spent this week preparing. We thank You for many hours to bring us truth from Your Word, And Lord, as we heard even this morning from Philippians, knowing that in the end all will bow the knee to Christ, I pray that even this morning some that have not done that yet would find themselves repenting and bowing now before it's too late and they bow in the end, but only to be cast into judgment. Lord, I pray that you would do this work in those that need to be renewed in their minds, need to be forgiven of their sins. And Lord, for those of us that have found that forgiveness and have been cleansed and are daily being renewed. I thank you for that, Lord. I thank you for the continual work you do. May we be found humble this morning. May we be found to be eager listeners and that we would Also diligently apply what we hear in Christ's name. We pray. Amen. Well, there was a pastor who was sitting in his study one day. He was experiencing difficulty in the preparation of his message. Added to this difficulty were the constant interruptions from his young son who had been left at the house with him while his wife had run errands. Seeking for something that might occupy the boy's attention for an extended period of time, the father found a nearby magazine, and flipping through it, found a full-page picture of a satellite image of the world. Tearing the page from the magazine, he proceeded with a pair of scissors to cut that image up into very small pieces. Handing these pieces to the boy along with a roll of scotch tape, the father asked him to go into the room next door and to put the world back together with these pieces of tape. Well, the young man left. And the father anticipated a long, uninterrupted time of concentrated study. However, after about 20 minutes had passed, there was a light knock at the door. Into the room marched a grinning and triumphant boy with his hands behind his back. After being asked what he needed so soon, The young man revealed his hands and in his hands were a finished project. The father was amazed. He didn't know what to do. He took the page into his hand with the expectation of finding many things out of place and not fitting together properly. To his amazement, Everything was in its proper order. The world was indeed complete. The puzzled father sat back and asked his son how he was able to complete such a task in so quick amount of time. Taking the page from his father's hands, the boy turned the page over. to reveal on the opposite side an advertisement of a man well-dressed in a suit. And having spent a few minutes trying to put the world back together with little effect, the young man had turned the pieces over and focused on the simpler task, putting the man back together. Because when the man was as he should be, The world was as it should be. James is writing to a mixed up, messed up, divided people. There's no unity. There's no peace. Things aren't right. What's the answer? What is the remedy? What hope is there? Well, James here in the passage before us provides us with the remedy. What should we do with the remedy? Well, what we shouldn't do with this remedy is to seek to put the world back together. We should focus on ourselves. We should focus on our own sins, our own failures. and our need for more grace. You see, when we get the man right, the world will be right. It starts right here in our hearts. Well, I have but two main headings this morning. First, God's resistance of the proud in heart, God's resistance of the proud in heart, and then secondly, God's remedy for the proud in heart. So first, God's resistance of the proud in heart, verse 6, but he gives more grace. Therefore, he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. A glance back at the topics that James has dealt with reveals to us a dealing with the pride, the sin of pride throughout this book. Chapter 1, it's pride that keeps us from accepting and rejoicing in the trials of life. It's pride that makes us think it unnecessary to deal ruthlessly with the passions of our heart and the temptation that presents itself to us. It is pride that keeps us too preoccupied to give due attention to the word of God and to the need of those around us. Chapter two, it is pride that breeds a spirit of favoritism. It is pride that finds the sufficiency of salvation in something else other than what God focuses our attention on. Chapter three, It's pride that stirs up our tongue to many sins. It is pride that embraces an earthly, sensual, demonic wisdom that gives rise to bitter envy and self-seeking. Then we come to our current chapter, chapter 4. James began this portion of his epistle describing to his readers where pride is rampant in the church. Pride is at the root of the worldliness and all the fruit of it that James discusses in these opening verses. The pride has evidenced itself in the membership of that local body in outbreaks of fighting, warring, lusting, and even murdering with words. The pride has led to selfishness at the heart of any prayer uttered and in some cases, full-blown prayerlessness itself. This prize, this pride has led to coldness toward God and to the spiritual adultery with this present evil world. In the last verse of our previous study, verse 5, drew our attention to the fact that God is a jealous God. The Holy Spirit who dwells in the hearts of all His people yearns jealously over the relationship of Christ with His bride. And that jealousy does not allow for adultery with the world, nor does it allow for flirtation, nor does it allow for friendship with the world. Have you ever stopped to consider the jealousy of God for you, for your heart, for your affections, for your time? Praise God that this jealousy over his people's relationship with him leads him to grant more grace. Oh, to grace. how great a debtor I'm daily constrained to be." Well, the beloved commentator Matthew Henry says, If we belong to God, he gives more grace than to live and act as the generality of the world do. The grace of God will correct and cure the spirit that naturally dwells in us. Where he giveth grace, he giveth another spirit than that of the world. Well, praise God that he gives more grace. But to be recipients of this more grace, we must be filled through and through with humility. James tells us that God resists the proud. Dear ones, let Let those words rest heavily on your minds and hearts. God resists. He resists the proud. God opposes the proud. Think of what God did to Lucifer. I will be like the Most High. Think of what God did to Pharaoh. Who is this God? I will not let his people go." Think of what he did to Nebuchadnezzar. Is this not great Babylon that my hands have made? Think of what he did to Herod as the people cried out, oh, the voice of a God and not a man. Read and consider God's warning to the people who inhabited Tyre, a warning given through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 23, 9. The Lord of hosts has purposed it to bring to dishonor the pride of all glory, to bring it to contempt, to bring to contempt all the honorable of the earth. Well, Isaiah 42a declares the reason why God will always resist the proud. He will always resist the proud. For he says in Isaiah 42a, I am the Lord. That is my name and my glory. I will not give to another. So this more grace is evidenced in the fact that God gives grace to the humble. It's evidenced in the fact that God gives grace to the humble. I quote from Matthew Henry once again, wherever God gives true grace, he will give more. He will especially give more grace to the humble because they see their need of that grace will pray for that grace and be thankful for it. and such shall have it." Our generation's version of Christianity seeks for a shallow and easy fix. Many professing Christians want what they are to do boiled down to a short, convenient, fail-proof list Just take this pill and all will be well by morning." And that attitude is, I am afraid, not just out there. Even we ourselves can pass by a verse like verse 6 without serious contemplation. It is easy to say, yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it. Okay, let's move on to the remedy. But before we rush off to the remedy of a proud heart, we must fix our gaze steadfastly at the response of a holy God to a proud heart. I stand before you and plead that you do not quickly glance into this perfect law of Liberty this morning and go your way. Forgetting what manner of man you are forgetting what manner of woman you are. Do you recall the way James describes the blessed man's interaction with the word of God? He looks in the mirror and he goes away and doesn't forget the image of himself that he observed. And so he continues throughout the day, responding to life with the reality of where his heart really is, what he is before a holy God. In setting before us the response of a holy God to a proud heart, James is holding up the mirror. of the Word of God to us, and he's saying, take a look at yourself. Where do you find yourself? Do you see yourself as you really are? What do you see, my brother and my sister? What does the reflection tell you about yourself? Well, if you consider the many instances for the outbreaking of pride that James has already discussed, and if you look long enough at your heart, you will no doubt find vestiges of pride. So what are you to do about this pride? How does one go about obtaining a heart of humility? while having seen the response of a holy God to a proud heart, and yet His precious promise of more grace to a humble heart, let's spend the remainder of our time looking at God's remedy for the proud heart, God's remedy for that proud in heart. You see, at the end of the day, it boils down to your answer to the following question. Are you in need of more grace? Are you? Are you in need of more grace? I dare say that an answer to that question of no is proof enough that pride is present in your heart. If I ask you, do you need more grace? Nope. prides there. But also a failure to see a need for more grace or a failure to wholeheartedly pursue a posture of humility to receive that grace. I dare say that reflects a heart of pride as well. The next Verses in our text indicate that the sole Dr. James was hopeful that the people he was writing to were spiritual patients that were ready to apply the remedy given. You see, it's not enough to simply go to see the physician. It's not enough to have the disease rightly diagnosed. It's not even enough to walk out of the doctor's office with your prescription in hand. How many patients leave a doctor's office with a diagnosis and probable cure and yet don't even follow through with the remedy prescribed? Perhaps you've been that patient before yourself. Well, the remedy, the prescription for so many, that remedy, that prescription requires too much effort, too much time, or too much expense. Well, the remedy that James sets before us asks of us something. It involves four responses. In these four responses, we find the one and only remedy, the one and only remedy for a proud heart. We see first a response of submission. Secondly, a response of holiness. Third, a response of repentance. And then fourthly, a response of humility. Wrapped up with these four responses is a true emptying of self. And I submit to you that this emptying of self flows out of what James has already set before us, a consideration of God's response to the proud at heart. a response of resistance. Only when we properly assess who God is and see things as God sees them, only then will we have the proper motivation and reason to apply the remedy that God provides. The remedy is only for those who know and acknowledge their true condition. Those who are well have no need of a physician or a remedy. So first, a response of submission, a response of submission. Verse seven in the beginning of verse eight, therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Well, verse 7 is introduced by the word, therefore, therefore. Children, whenever you see that word when you are reading, you see this word, therefore, remember to ask this question. is it there for? What is the therefore there for? Why is it there? Well, I submit to you that it is introducing the prescription required to receive the more grace James just talked about. It's introducing this prescription and he is getting ready to tell us how we bring ourselves to a posture of humility before the Lord. The Lord gives more grace and he gives it to the humble. And I'm going to tell you all about it. Therefore, because he gives more grace and he gives it to the humble, here's a remedy. Here's a remedy. The word submit in the Greek is hupotasso, hupotasso. It carries with it the idea of subjection and obedience, and it was primarily a military term that derived its meaning through the putting together two Greek words, hupa, which means under, and tasso, to arrange. And so, it's the arranging under, and it had to do with the rank in the military, hupotasso. Well, this same word, hupotasso, which means submit or to be in subjection to obedience, this word is used elsewhere throughout Scripture. Listen to some of the meanings of it. Christ's subjection to Joseph and Mary, Luke 2.51. The demon's subjection to Jesus Christ and accordingly to his disciples, places like Luke 10.37. Hupetazo is the subjection owed to the authorities that God has placed over us, Romans 13.1. It is the subjection of the church to Jesus Christ, and therefore, by that image, a reflection of the subjection of a wife to her husband, Ephesians 5 verse 24. It is the subjection of a servant to his master, as Peter describes in his first epistle, 1 Peter 2.18. And it's the subjection of all things to the reign of the risen Jesus Christ, Hebrews 2 and verse 8. And so you see the way this word is used throughout the New Testament, hupotasso, subjection. And so this word, subject, or as it's written here, submit, This word has to do with your posture before God, your posture before God. Have you submitted yourself? Have you subjected yourself? But James also tells us to draw near to God, to draw near to God. Having dealt with the posture, this has to do with our proximity to God. and not our proximity physically. God is a spirit. He is everywhere present. He is omnipresent. So it's not a proximity of my body as it were before that Holy God. It's a proximity of our heart. Remember in Isaiah, God describes that people who are near to Him with their mouths, but in their hearts, they're far from Him. It's the proximity of the heart. Draw near to God. With your heart, draw near to God. So, both posture and proximity of heart are important. God wants the bending of the knee but he also wants the giving of the heart. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess from the heart that he is Lord, as was read earlier in our service. And do we not find these throughout the Proverbs as Solomon instructs his children? Solomon sought not only for the obedience of his children, but he asked for their hearts. Give me your heart, my son. When James says, submit to God, does your heart resonate with that thought? Does it resonate? Submit to God. Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Thou art the potter. I am the clay. Mold me and make me after thy will while I am waiting, yielded and still submitted to God. When he says, draw near to God, does your heart resonate with that? Do you have a desire for closeness with Jesus Christ? Does your heart yearn for Him like the deer longs for the water? Do you cry out like the hymn writer, nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee? even though it be a cross that raiseth me, still all my song shall be nearer my God to thee, nearer to thee." Or does the thought of submitting to God and drawing near to Him seem strange to you, uncomfortable unnatural, confining and restricting or repulsive? Does the fault of submitting to God and drawing near to Him even enter your thoughts? I propose to you that only when we have submitted to God and have drawn near to Him, Only then are we in a place where we can do what else he says here, resist the devil in such a way that he will flee from us. Often have these words in the middle of this verse been spoken without reference to what comes before and what comes after just simply resist the devil and he will flee from you. as if we have power in ourselves to resist the devil. He is stronger than we are. How true the words of Martin Luther, for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. His craft and his power are great. and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal." Do you understand the devil in that way? He's not some little red guy with horns and a tail running around with a pitchfork. He's not as the world makes him to see. On earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be losing. That's why James isn't saying, just resist the devil, he'll flee from you. In our own strength, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side. Who's that? The man of God's own choosing. Just ask who that may be. Christ Jesus, it is He. Lord, sabbath His name from age to age the same, and He it is who must win the battle. Submit to God, draw near to Him, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Time does not allow for us to unravel all that is meant by the resisting of the devil, but suffice it to say, according to the context here, the devil seeks to cause distance between ourselves and God. He wants to create distance. He wants to create that distance in terms of your relation. He doesn't want you to submit to God, and he wants to create distance to keep you from drawing near to God. You see, once that distance is obtained, we find ourselves outside, not using the means of grace, therefore cutting ourselves off from grace. God's ready to give more grace, and he does it through the means of grace, and the devil wants to cut you off from those means by creating a distance in your heart from the living God. So to resist the devil on one level is to fight against everything that keeps us from God or causes us to grow cold towards him or to suspect his goodness and the goodness of his ways. But here, the grace of God is magnified for us not only submit to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God. James here says that there is the applying of this blessed promise here and it will grease the tracks of our obedience. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Such a blessed promise, it's not in vain. And this blessed promise, it greases the tracks. To make us ever so ready to yield obedience. If you will draw near to God. Here are the here are the promises there too. Draw near to God. He will draw near to you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. What? What? Grace. This is grace. The devil will flee from you. God will draw near to you. He gives more grace. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." So, are you presently responding to God with a posture of true submissiveness? Secondly, a response of holiness, a response of holiness. Verse 8b. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Having been directed to draw near to God, James here adds the necessity of a response of holiness. And this is consistent throughout the scriptures, both passages of narrative as well as passages of exhortation. Consider the prophet Isaiah as we find him in chapter six. What is he doing in Isaiah six? He's drawing near to God, right? Where's he going? He comes to the temple. And what is God doing? God's drawing near to him. He sees a vision of the glorious Christ, holy, holy, holy. But it doesn't stop there with the drawing near of Isaiah to Christ and Christ drawing near as well. What do we see and what follows? Isaiah acknowledges his need for cleansing, for purification. And we see a Christ who goes about that work of cleansing and purifying. We also see it in regards to passages of exhortation. And I ask you to consider the words of the psalmist in the opening verses of Psalm 24. And in writing to a Jewish audience, I think James had Psalm 24 at the forefront of his mind as he was writing our passage today. Listen to these words, Psalm 24, who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or who may stand in his holy place? In other words, who is it that can draw near to God and God will draw near to them? Who is it? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. who has not lifted up his soul to an idol." Friendship with the world and with God, right, that we see in James 4. He has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. James has been talking about the tongue. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. In other words, he's the one who gets more grace. Note that this response of holiness requires the addressing of both the hands and the heart, both hands and heart. Both have to be addressed and attended to. Recall as well the words of the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews that those who are not pursuing such holiness will not see God. You want to draw near? Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Thayer's Greek lexicon interestingly gives this phrase a multi-directional attention in terms of the application. Thayer describes this idea of being cleansed as to be set free from the defilement of sin and from faults, but also to abstain in the future from wrongdoing. This cleansing of the hands is not, okay, that takes care of that sin. And then we all go on to the next sin as if we can, okay, that takes care of that sin. This attitude of the cleansing of the hands is to be set free from the defilement, but to also, it's that desire to abstain from that future defilement. It's a matter of the heart. but it's also the hands. It is that defilement. And so there is the cleansing of the hands that must happen. Now, the image of the hands, it represents the use of all of the outward instruments in the pursuit of sin. It's talking about everything, not just hands, our entire physical being. You see, he is addressing sinners here. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. And the members of the body, as described in Romans 6, the members of the body have been used here as instruments of unrighteousness and are therefore needing to be cleansed. But James deals not only with these outward sources of impurity, He next turns to the inward source of all impurity, the heart, for out of the heart flow all of these sins, as Christ told his disciples. And so, James says, purify your hearts, you double-minded. Now, think back to the earlier part of James 4. Remember, he addressed his readers as adulterers and adulteresses. And James here is saying that a response of holiness requires them to make chaste that heart that has been given over to spiritual adultery, to address the heart regarding the desire to be a friend of God and a friend of the world. You see, such thinking is double-mindedness. from which we must be purified. It's not just outwardly, but inwardly. So what are your hands busy with? What are your instruments being used for? For righteousness or unrighteousness? What is preoccupying your heart? The remedy requires a response of holiness, a response of submissiveness, a response of holiness, and thirdly, a response of repentance, a response of repentance. Verse 9, lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom." We won't dwell long on this particular point this morning. I'd rather refer you back to the many messages delivered at our annual conference just two weeks ago. But I actually find it interesting that these last two remedial responses have been the themes of our last two conferences, holiness and repentance. So the very things that the conference has been focused on are already helps to the remedy of the pride in our hearts. And I believe we will find our fourth and final remedial response to be inextricably wrapped up in the theme of next year's conference. More of that in a minute. The word lament at the beginning of this verse is translated in the King James version, the old King James is translated there probably more accurately, be afflicted. Be afflicted. The idea in the original is to endure misery. Endure misery. You should be enduring misery. You see, repentance requires a change of heart. And a change of heart means that there must be an exchange as well. Repentance requires us to endure misery, to mourn, and to weep. Is that how our repentance is marked? Is it marked by an endurance of misery? Is it marked by mourning? Is it marked by weeping? are those elements present in our dealings with our God. You may have a laughter and a joy that can be truly called, as James calls it, your laughter, your joy. It's yours. There needs to be a turning from them to biblical mourning. and biblical gloom, not manufactured, not manufactured, but true, heartfelt, biblical mourning and gloom. Do you see how this repentance must be...it must be tied to the submission to God? To make that even clearer, think back in regards to our times in Ezra and Nehemiah. You remember there in chapter 8 as the word is being read and it's being declared to the people so that people could understand? Do you remember their reaction? It was mourning. It was weeping, the very things that James is asking here for. But what did Ezra and Nehemiah say? Stop. Stop. This is a Sabbath occasion and submission to the will of God in regards to what God wants means that your morning and your weeping must be turned to joy. So in that situation, they took upon themselves their, their morning and their weeping. And it had been set aside by God for a day of joy and rejoicing. It was a high Sabbath day, one of the many Sabbaths that weren't the seventh day, but a Sabbath rest for the people of God to rejoice and enjoy God. And so they weren't submitting to the will of God. They were called to. But here we see that submission to God in this instance, because of the pride of our hearts, what God is calling us to hear are his thoughts and his dispositions. And we need to embrace them. We need to embrace them. And thus James says, True submission in this occasion should lead to mourning and weeping over our sin. If we would have done with pride, we must have hearts that respond with repentance. And now, fourthly and finally, a response of humility, a response of humility. Verse 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up." Brothers and sisters, the remedy requires all four responses. James began and ends this section with a call to humility. God gives grace to the humble. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Now, one would think that if God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, then the simple remedy is to obviously be humble. God gives grace to the humble, be humble. But by including the humbling of self in a list of exhortations, And by placing it at the end of that list of exhortations and not the beginning, the apostle James is telling us that the remedy for the proud in heart involves all four of these exhortations. Humility must be accompanied by submission to the will and ways of God, coupled with a drawing near to God and a resistance of the devil in the ways of the devil. Humility must be accompanied with a holiness exhibited outwardly and inwardly. And humility must be accompanied with true heart repentance that marks a change in thought and in direction. The exhortation to be humble. To be humble. Dear brothers and sisters, why would anyone have to exhort sinful wretches like ourselves to humble ourselves? Why is it even necessary? It's. Simply the necessity for such exhortation in this matter is enough to condemn our hearts of our pride. This exhortation is needed. It's needed. I mentioned a few minutes ago that The response of humility, this fourth and final one is inextricably tied to the theme of next year's conference. The theme of that conference is the glory of Christ. The glory of Christ. You see, James exhorts us to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord. In the sight of the Lord. I submit to you that our humility, if it is to result in more grace from our great savior must be humility that results from a real and vibrant familiarity with the glory. Of Jesus Christ. It is a humility that is lived out in the sight of this glorious one. If the electricity goes out in the middle of winter, in the evening time, early evening, it's not bedtime yet, it's early evening, you had things you wanted to do, the power's out, no electricity, the, like it, Like we have with the changing of the clocks last week, it gets dark early. If you have things you want to do, imagine you don't have a flashlight, you got a candle, and so you light that candle, right? You go about the house. That candle allows you to do some of the things you wouldn't be able to do, to actually find your way from room to room, keeps you from stumbling. Hold it close enough and you might be able to read a book by its light or, you know, grab a can of beans and open the can of beans to eat a cold can of beans. That candle is pretty helpful, right? It's pretty helpful. But imagine the next day, sun rises. It's not cloudy. It's a beautiful day. Would you see that person walking around in the front yard, holding the candle out in front of them at noon? You wouldn't see that. The candle can boast great things when it is in complete darkness. It can boast great things. I allowed that man to see, I allowed him to be able to eat something and find something and make it from one room to the next. But in the presence of the noon day sun in all of its majesty, the candle is nothing. It's nothing. All of the candles boasting is quieted. So we would be. In the presence of the glory of Christ. Do you have pride? You're not close enough to Christ. Again, the grace of God is seen greasing the tracks for our obedience. holding out a precious promise. If you humble yourself in the side of the Lord, he will lift you up. He will lift you up. What does that mean? Well, we have to tie it at least back to verse six by saying that this lifting up is the fresh reception of the grace of God. And so, it's safe to assume at minimum that it's a restoration to favor with God. It may also be a lifting up out of trouble, or it may be a lifting up of our spirits through comfort in the midst of our trouble. God doesn't tell us what the lifting up is. It's His sovereign prerogative. But this we can be assured of. His promise is that the one who humbles himself will be lifted up, will be lifted up. John Calvin wrote, The grace of God will then be ready to raise us up. When he sees that our proud spirits are laid aside, we emulate an envy because we desire to be eminent. This is a way wholly unreasonable for it is God's peculiar work to raise up the lowly and especially those who willingly humble themselves. Whoever then seeks a firm elevation, let him be cast down under a sense of his own infirmity and think humbly of himself. And Augustine said this, as a tree must strike deep roots downward that it may grow upwards so everyone who has not fixed his soul deep in humility exalts himself to his own ruin because the root system won't be there to support that self-growth. And that man, like Nebuchadnezzar's image, that tree will come down. It will come down. Well, I close with just one simple application, and that's because these exhortations, they gave rise to application all throughout. So I close with simply one application, and it applies to everyone in this room. man, woman, child, converted, unconverted, young, old. It applies to everyone in this room. God gives more grace. He gives more grace. Consider the plight of the prodigal son. His pride led him to a host of sins. His sins led him to a host of miseries. But he took note of his condition. He took note of the great grace of his father. There's not a servant in his house who's in my condition now. And he humbled himself. He submitted his will to his father's. He sought to cleanse his hands and purify his heart. He's his heart. He sought to repent of his sins. I have sinned against you father and against heaven. And he sought to humble himself. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy to be considered a son. Just make me a servant. Take me a servant. What did that prodigal son find? He found a father full of grace, full of grace. He was on the lookout for him. He was looking for him. He saw him. He ran to him, fell upon his neck, weeping, kissing him. He killed a fatty calf. He brought out the best robe. He put a ring on his finger and sandals for his feet. Why? Why? No other reason. But he was a man full of grace. Much grace. Have your sins alienated you from a holy God? Are you like the prodigal dwelling in a far country? Do you have problems? with your relationships in life? Are you struggling with a persistent temptation that seems always to get the upper hand? Are you discouraged? Are you running on empty? Then humble yourself in the sight of God and taste afresh the grace that is found in Him. Let us pray. Oh, Father, we don't know what to do in the presence of such grace. Oh, we marvel at such grace. Oh, amazing grace that can save a wretch like me. Oh, Lord, give us Give us grace to consider your resistance of the proud in heart. And Lord to apply the remedy. For that pride. Oh, give us hearts full of submission, holiness. Repentance and humility. Work it deep inside of us, so God. Make it. Part and parcel. Of who we really are. Lord, it's not natural, it doesn't come from us, but all to draw near to you and to see that humility that Christ exhibited for our sakes and all for minds to have that mind in us which was in him. Thank you for grace. May all here taste it today. In Jesus' name, amen.