You've forgotten the rule, haven't you? If you clap for them, you have to clap for me. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. We've been studying the fruit of the Spirit on Sunday morning. We're in sermon number eight today, and we're going to find our place in Galatians chapter five. And also find Psalms 37, the 37th Psalm for this morning's lesson and thought. Galatians chapter 5, we're going to read verses 22 and 23. So I'll stand together as we read God's word this morning. And we'll get right into this thought. Galatians 5, beginning in verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. Say the next one with me, please. Meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And all God's people said. Our Heavenly Father, we're so thankful again to be assembled this morning, and Lord, we're excited at what you're going to do and what you have for us on this Lord's Day. And as we continue to create an environment, an atmosphere where we can worship you in spirit and in truth, Lord, we're submitting ourselves to you and our hearts to you, Lord, for some quietness, to put away our cares and our concerns, and our conflicts for just a while and to focus on the inspired word of God and to focus on the Lamb of God and the cross of Calvary, Lord, where our sin was paid for in full. And God, this morning, as we consider this thought about meekness, I pray that you'll just arrest our attention and show us the dire need for meekness to be seen throughout Christianity. And Father, for our sakes, for the saints, for the members who are Liberty Baptist Church. And God, this morning, if there's someone here today who's never put their trust in Christ for their salvation, God, I do pray that your Holy Spirit would do His work in this place to that effect and show that one or more their need for the Savior this morning. And today will be their day of salvation. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Remember being asked a lot when I was growing up, when I was young, well, what do you want to be when you grow up? And you hear all kinds of different things from children as they're progressing through the years. And when they're really young, it's firemen and policemen and I want to fly a rocket ship. or be a ballerina, or a princess, even. I know Jeff wanted to be a princess when he was young. But he's kind of outgrown that, so amen. But as we mature in life, and then we start to get a better handle on things, and we realize where our strengths and weaknesses are, or maybe what we want to contribute to society, then we begin to narrow down what we'd want to be when we grow up. But I think that you would agree with me that you've never heard anybody say to the question, what do you want to be when you grow up? Never had the answer, I want to be meek. because meekness in our society has become synonymous with weakness. And they think that it's not a good thing to be meek. But Jesus taught us that... I gotta go back one more. Meekness was, of course, His character, which we'll cover in a minute, but He also said this, blessed are the meek. for they shall inherit the world." And that flies in the face of modern day thinking because you know this and I know this, nice guys finish last. We're in it to win it. We don't want to be back on the sidelines or behind the scenes. We're striving for the limelight and the spotlight and notoriety and fortune and fame. What do you mean, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth? But when you begin to look at Jesus' teachings, a lot of his teachings were what we would consider a paradox. The first shall be last. The least shall be greatest. It's more blessed to give than to receive. We go on and on and on. You're better off being poor than rich. He explained how hard it was for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And there's all kinds of teachings that would fly in the face of modern thinking and even really modernist theology. But when we begin to adopt a biblical worldview, we realize this, if we're going to adopt a biblical worldview, we're going to have to see it from a biblical standpoint. And we're going to have to be willing to live a biblical life, and to apply biblical thinking to our actions, and our thought life, and our motive, and our attitude, and on, and on, and on. And if Jesus said, blessed are the meek, then saints, blessed are the meek. And he lived that kind of life, that was his character. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. For I am what? Who is? Jesus is meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. You know, when Jesus said He was meek, that means He was never vindictive. He was never argumentative. He was never contrary. He never sought revenge. He was never unforgiving. He was never without grace or mercy. And we look at him in all these different biblical situations and models and settings and we say, wow, how could he have said that there? Like when there was a woman who was caught in adultery. And by the end of that discourse he said, go and sin no more. Or how about when the woman at the well came to see him in John chapter 4, where they had that meeting in John chapter 4 with the woman at the well. and explained to her that if you drink of the water that I give you, you'll never thirst again. When we knew that the Jews had no dealing with the Samaritans, when we knew how the Jews felt about the Samaritans, and then realizing this, that he also had a heart for the Gentiles. And if there's anybody that the Jews disliked more than the Samaritans, it was the Gentiles and the ensigns. But he had a heart for all people. He had compassion for all people. He had looked upon the people, the scattered sheep, because he realized he had to have compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. They were going their own way. They were scattered. They were confused. They were wandering and listless. They needed to have some kind of focus in their life. And he came across as one who was meek and lonely. But then we look at other things that he did, and you say, Well, why did he do those things? He was kind of rough, like going into the temple with a whip in his hand and chasing out the money changers and turn the tables over. He still did those things in meekness of heart, in meekness of spirit, because he wasn't being vindictive. He was doing the absolute perfect will of God. They had turned the house of God into a den of thieves. Christ said it was supposed to be a house of prayer. But now it became a house of ill-gotten gain and on and on and on. We see that He wants us to be yoked up with Him. We discussed this yoking earlier in this series on the fruit of the Spirit. What does it mean to be yoked up with Christ? We know that he was a carpenter's son, and there's indication that he plied the carpenter's trade for some period of his life. And how one man said he imagined that if Jesus had a business, it would have been called Easy Yokes. Because putting a yoke on was not a thing that an ox would enjoy. A yoke is just a wooden piece that had a hole for each ox to put their heads through. It would clamp down around their necks and would keep that team of oxen together so they would not be out of step and it would allow the work to be done more efficiently and more effectively. But imagine just wearing something wooden around your neck all day long and how sore and how irritating that would be. But imagine getting in the yoke with Jesus and Him saying, this my yoke is easy and my burden. is like. Oftentimes they would take a more mature, an ox with experience that had worn the yoke before and they would put a younger ox into the yoke with that more experienced ox so it could learn to walk with him. So it could learn what the work was like. So it could learn what it was like to wear a yoke of a seasoned veteran of agricultural work, or being a beast of burden. And Christ is inviting us this morning, saints. Christ is inviting you and I to jump into the yoke with Him, and to learn of Him. I've learned this, and I hope you've done this. You can't learn anything from me. You can't learn anything from the media. Everything we must learn, we must learn being yoked up with Jesus. And we learn to walk with Him. And we learn what it's like to be like Him. And we learn what it's like to go where He would go. and to do what he would have us to do instead of this idea of a self-willed, self-righteous, very shallow brand of 21st century Christianity. Just a couple of thoughts about meekness this morning, and I promise I will not keep you long. Amen. Meekness begins with me. That's kind of a play on words there. I hope you can pick it up. Meekness begins with me. There's two ways that meekness works. It works inwardly and upwardly. Inwardly, I have to take care of some things inside of me. I have to humble myself. I have to put away my selfish desires. I have to put away my selfish wants. I have to put away my self-righteousness, my self-centeredness, my self-dependence. Are you following me so far? There's a lot of self in us. We live in a society of self-made men. We live in a society where you can self-help yourself. So we understand that we have to start with ourselves if we're going to learn to apply this wonderful gift, this fruit of meekness onto our souls and onto our hearts and how we behave in our society. We have to deny, our self. We have to surrender our self. We have to yield our self. And so we have to be willing to set aside these things in order to really appreciate what it means to be a meek person in the world that we are living in. There has to be this idea of self-denial. There has to be self-humiliation. There has to be self-restraint. Jesus called it, Paul called it, death to self. We have to put aside self-ambitions. We have to put aside self-made dreams. We have to have self-control. We have to come to the end of ourselves. The Christian life, the victorious Christian life begins where self ends. I'll say that again. The victorious Christian life begins where self ends. Humility and meekness are very much alike. The idea of meekness is this. Three definitions that were part of the society that Christ lived in. Number one, meekness had this idea of a soft blowing breeze. not a kind of breeze that would knock anything over, wouldn't blow a tree down, but you've been out there before with a, do you know it gets hot in Arizona? You've been out there before in the heat of the day, then all of a sudden a nice soft breeze blows by and it's so refreshing, you kind of want to follow that breeze wherever it's going. Sometimes you kind of step into that breeze and you realize, wow, I just stepped into something wonderful and refreshing and marvelous. So that's that idea of meekness is that soft breeze. It also has the idea of a soothing medicine. Ever have a sunburn on your back, on your shoulders? And then your mom would come by, or your wife, your help meet, and she'd apply some aloe, some other kind of soothing medicine on your sunburn. That is meeking your sunburn. It's making your sunburn meek. It's soothing it. It's taking the sting and the pain away. But the most popular and most well-known definition and word picture for meekness is that picture of a wild animal under control, like a horse. How many of you know I don't like horses? I've tried to make it very clear so that there's no confusion. Please don't get me a gift card for horseback riding, OK? Why don't you like horses? Because there's too much strength for the little bit of brain they have. and that scares me. But a horse is not born tame and broken. They're strong from the beginning. They're standing up within a few, was it hours of being born? Standing up on their own four legs. Before too long, they are a colt with strength and with wildness and with power. if they have to be brought under submission by a trainer, an outside force. I don't know all the ins and outs of what it takes to break a cult, but I have heard enough, read enough, and seen enough to know this, it's not an easy job. It's not something they can be talked into. Amen? Don't you wish you could reason with your dog? sure. But you can't reason with this animal. It's got a lot of power. It's got a lot of strength. It's got a lot of stamina. It's got a strong will that wants to do what it wants to do. But under the process of breaking that colt, eventually a bridle is placed around its head, and then after that, In the process of time, a saddle is placed on its back. Then a rider can get in that saddle and sit upon that once wild, untame animal. The strength hasn't been diminished. The power is still there. The stamina has not changed. But what has happened is this. It's all come under control. under the control of the rider. And now the rider tells the animal which way to go, and when to go, and when to stop, and how fast to go, and whether it should jump or not. It's amazing what has happened with that once wild animal, and now it has been brought under control. And we, in our unregenerate form, are wild. and strong-willed, and out of control, but once you come to Jesus, can I hear an amen? The strength is now brought under control. The wildness is now brought to a tame state. And now we're realizing we are submitting to a new, higher authority who has control over the way we should go, and where we should go, and how fast we should go, and whether we should jump, or hip, or hop, or skip along the way. Amen. That's meekness. It's power under control. Meekness is when we give God the reins. Meekness is us giving God the reins. God will not take the reins into His own hands and control your life. If you are bent on destruction, destruction will be your ultimate end. God's not going to take the reins and say, stop! Woe can't go any farther. He does not force His will upon our will. I hope I can get an amen there. We have to yield ourselves. We have to surrender ourselves. We have to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. Why don't we see meekness on the earth in 21st century Christianity? Because we don't want to submit. Because we don't want to surrender. because we don't want to give our will to His will. Even Jesus said, not my will, but thy will be done. As we bring this idea to a close this morning, I want to take your eyes to Psalm 37. Because Psalm 37 is the quote that Jesus mentions in Matthew 5, 5, where he says, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Here's where it comes from, is in Psalm 37 and verses 1 through 11. And I've preached this psalm several times in my ministry and in my lifetime, but this morning I want to preach it in its context and show you how we get to that point of meekness in our lives. Verse number one says, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger. and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." The meek shall inherit the earth. What's the context here? Well, the setting is this. The children of Israel know they've been promised a land. It's the promised land. It's the land that flows with milk and honey. We call it Israel. We call it Canaan. All these different terms get applied to it. But they couldn't go in and possess the land because the land was full of enemies. The land was full of those who did not want Israel to inherit the land. That caused war to be waged, for battles to be faced, for lives to be lost. And after a while, it gets kind of old. when you keep on doing the same battles and waging the same war, and you feel like you're not gaining any ground. And what happens is all kinds of different feelings and emotions begin to set in and be set upon us, like fretting and anxiety, like worrying and wondering, like anger and dismay and despair with the way that the world is going. And we're reminded at the very beginning of this psalm to fret not. Fret not. Don't worry about it. Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you." You know, I don't get upset about the political environment that we're facing. I just don't. I keep my expectations set very low, therefore I'm hardly ever disappointed. I'm preparing myself. for Mrs. Clinton to be the next president of the United States. If she doesn't win, then it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Can I hear an amen? I don't have any control over these things. I'm one man and one vote. Can I hear an amen? You know, I can voice my opinion, I can put a campaign sign in my yard, I can send a check to this candidate or that candidate, and all those different things, but I realize that when all is said and done, I'm only a drop in the bucket. I'm less than a drop in the bucket, because God said, the nations are a drop in the bucket, and I'm only one little itty-bitty sliver of a nation. So I can't worry about these things. They're completely out of my control. But I know the one who's in control, the sovereign God of heaven, who never loses sight of such things, who never says, wow, I didn't see that coming. He sees it all coming because He's ordained the coming of it. Amen. is sometimes it's good for us to be reminded as Americans who are very blessed and prosperous people that we're probably getting just what we deserve. Whether it's political, economical, religious confusion, and lack of separation. Whether it's the coming storm of Islam which is going to get worse and worse as our days go on. Can I hear an amen? Those things do not escape the knowledge and control of the sovereign God of heaven. Are you worried about it? No, God has blessed me with men and women around me who do all my worrying for me. Amen? It's wonderful. Fret not thyself. Look at verse number five, well, verse number three, excuse me. Trust in the Lord and do good. Have faith in God. And even though that everything seems like it's going against your way, and against the things you believe in, and against the things you stand for, trust in God and do good. Even when it seems like all your rights are being evaporated away, and they're taking your liberties over and over again, and you can kind of sense and feel like even your religious liberty is being pulled out from under you right now as you speak, do this, trust in God, and do good. Keep doing right. What did Bob Jones say? Till the stars fall, do right. Doing right. Verse number five, delight thyself also in the Lord. Yeah, we got a picture here of an enemy that owns the land, an enemy that's possessing the land, an enemy that won't get out of the way. What did the Holy Spirit tell the psalmist to do? Delight thyself in the Lord. Because when you look out there, look at me, it's hard to find delight. When we leave these doors in a few minutes, and it won't be long, I promise you that, it's hard to find delight out there. There are those, there's the adversary, the wicked one himself and all his minions and the demons of hell that are against us, the powers and principalities, the darkness that's out there. We know that's out there. We also know there's the opposition of much of the world view, much of the world system as opposed to what biblical Christianity stands for and believes. It's hard to find delight out there. I tell you what, if you're one of those that watches the news 24-7 on a cycle, it's hard to find any delight out there. Can I hear an amen? But we've got to find our delight in one who is the light, and one who we can delight in. And then once again, that becomes the God who is our Savior. He needs to be our delight. Amen. I find delight in my grandchildren, but can I say this honestly? It's short-lived delight. But God's delight lasts for all eternity. Amen. Praise God. I love my grandkids, but my delight factor changes from day to day. Amen. That's for Mike's benefit. Amen. Verse number five. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. When we commit our way, we're unloading our burdens upon Him. I've already said it. Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Here's this, verse number seven. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently. Wait both those? The order got tall. Not worrying, not generally a problem. I mean, there are some things I have concern and worries about, no doubt. Delighting in God? Who better to delight in? Unloading my burdens? I've learned that's the best way to go through life. People ask me how I'm doing this morning. I say, I'm pretty overwhelmed. And I have been overwhelmed this week. A lot going on. But every morning and every evening, when I wake up with a pillow on my head, I'm asking God to take these burdens from me. I want to get in the yoke with Jesus, and I can't get in the yoke if I'm carrying my own burdens. Can I hear an amen? Sure. But now, rest and wait. How many of you know that hoffers aren't good at waiting? Amen? Nor are smiths. or Evans or Seitz. We're not wired to wait and to rest. We are wired to go, go, go. But how many of you learned in your Christian life of how your strength got renewed when you were waiting and resting? Sure. I've been battling it just a little flu bug or something this week. Just enough to irritate me. Just enough to make Grandpa grouchy. Can I hear an amen? But every night I'd go to sleep. When I woke up, I felt a little bit better. Today I woke up and I feel perfectly fine. Praise God. It was a result of resting. When we go out these doors, and even in here we've brought a lot of problems in. I've asked you to set up inside, but I know that we're humans and it's easier said than done. We've got a lot of social ills we're battling. We've got a lot of family strife going on. It seems like our politicians are more concerned with addressing something they can't control, like the climate of the world, than things they really could put their fingers in and make a difference. And we look at the social ills and, you know, marriages are going out the window. Abortions keep on going up and up and up. You read about things that are happening in different countries like the gang rapes in India, the beheadings in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We're not going to make it better on our own. But we know the one who can. And God say, would you trust me? And would you rest in me? And would you wait for me? But I guarantee you this, when God decides that enough is enough, you won't recognize the world that we get to live in when all is said and done. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. I asked my son last night, what's that mean, inherit the earth? He said what I thought, I don't know. I don't know, but I learned this. I decided that the one who controls the universe gets to decide who gets to live on the earth when all is said and done, when we come into His perfect kingdom. Amen. There's promises of us judging and ruling and reigning with Him when all is said and done. I think meekness might be one of the tallest orders in God's Word and we can't do it in and of ourselves. It's a result of the working, the inward working of the indwelling Holy Spirit. For the fruit of the Spirit is meekness. Martin Lloyd-Jones made a quote about meekness that I thought was a good way to sum things up this morning. He said this, the man who is truly meek is the man who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as they do. I always think God is good, don't you? But on the other hand, I always think man is trouble or troubling or troublesome. But if you can pull your head at night and say, God, I want to praise your name for how well I was treated today, both by the great King of heaven and by my fellow man, then meekness has come alive in your soul. Amen. One of the stories I was reading this week, I'm done here. A long time ago, there was a man who was going about his community as a street preacher. And he was visiting as many businesses as would allow him to come in and share the gospel with him. And he was going from door to door down in his local town and he was just sharing the gospel to whoever he would. And he walked into one business and before he said a word, the business owner turned around and punched him square in the mouth and knocked out his front tooth. And the man said, if you know what's good for you, get out or you got more coming just like that. And the preacher said, sir, I will let you knock every tooth out of my mouth if when you're done I can tell you about the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ. And the story goes on to say that the man who hit him was broken and let him tell the gospel message and that man received Christ there in his shop that day. That's meekness. It's turning the other cheek. It's going the second mile. It's giving those our coat when we need to coat ourselves. Let's all stand. Father, we ask you, Lord, to continue to work on our hearts about this idea of meekness. It's not a self-made attribute, but Lord, something the Spirit does through His power and through His working. Lord, we don't always understand how you work and why you work and the work that you're doing. But Lord, we do understand this. You are working. And Lord, I pray that we would be challenged about this spirit and attitude of meekness. I want to pursue it however we can, and if it's following the dictates of Psalm 37, of not fretting. in delighting, in trusting, in committing, in resting, in waiting. Lord, if that's the best prescription and plan for us, let us get on board with that today and ask for your help as this fruit of meekness is fostered down in our souls and spirits. And God, maybe again today there's someone here who's never trusted Christ as their Savior. Maybe they consider themselves a churchgoer, a religious person, or a good person. But they wouldn't know how to answer you when they stood at the face of eternity and you asked them, why should I let you into my heaven? Because we know, Lord, based on Bible authority, that going to church, or being baptized, or being a quote, good person, is not enough. Because you have said, your Son has said, no man cometh unto the Father but by me." It's a personal decision of faith in the completed work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God, if they don't know you this morning, I pray they'd step out and come and let us show them more from your blessed book about the truths and the wonder of salvation. God, again, if you have spoke to them, I pray now they would speak back to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.