Well, I hope you're thankful this morning as I am for the Word of God and how it continues to change, transform our lives. We're on a subject that has been working in that way in my life over the last couple of weeks. And it just seems like, I have to tell you going in again this morning, that it just seems like every corner I turn on this subject, the Lord is just continuing to teach me and show me how He wants to change my life in this area. And I trust that's happening for you as we go. Let me kind of tell you where we are here, and then we'll jump back in. Several weeks ago now, you know that we got started on our study of Ephesians chapter 4. There's two major sections in that book. Chapters 1 to 3 is the doctrinal section. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 we have called the practical application section of Paul's letter. And it really is that. We're going to see that as we go on through the rest of this book. He's going to show us how to live in light of who we are as believers in Jesus Christ. We got started on Chapter 4 as I said a couple of weeks ago, so turn there if you would. I want to show you, I want to take a minute here as we begin to show you kind of where we've been there in our study of Chapter 4, where we are and where we're going to be again today and maybe for the next week or two or three. It all started in verse 1 of chapter 4, of course, and that's where we have the general call that Paul issues there for us to walk worthy. And I mentioned to you that that is a call, it's a general call that's going to preside over all the rest of this letter, all the way through the end of chapter 6. All of that is nothing more than further descriptions of the walk that is worthy. And here's what it says, look at verse 1, Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you, Paul is begging, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you've been called. There's a little equation there, or a scale, if you will. One is to equal the other. Your calling is to equal your walk or your life or your Christian living. Now, from verse 1, what we did, we skipped over verse 2, if you recall, and we dropped down to verse 3. And so take a look at that with me. We dropped down to verse 3 to consider the first responsibility of a worthy walk. And here's what it says. Being diligent, Paul says, to preserve, not to create by the way, but to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And so we spent some time one day on verse 3. We talked a little bit about why that particular responsibility comes first, why that's a priority. We talked about what true unity is. We talked about what true unity isn't and what it will mean for us to preserve it. And that of course then launched us back into verse 2. Because in verse 2, Paul lists the necessary virtues to preserve the unity of spirit. If you want to do that, here's what it's going to take in your life. And that's what verse 2 is all about. And look at it. With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another and love. Just imagine, folks, if we all did that. Verse 2. What a statement. Now, as you know, We sort of choked right after the first three words in verse two. The first one of those virtues has kind of hung us up a little bit. If you're going to walk the worthy Christian walk, if you're going to preserve the unity of the spirits and the bond of peace, how are you going to have to do that? You have to do that, Paul says, three words, with all humility. With all humility. Where do I go with that? That's a major subject, folks, in so far as the Christian life is concerned. Because humility is no small subject for the Christian. Because humility is clearly a missing link in the church today. Because humility is the virtue that all other virtues are rooted in. And then how about this reason? Because humility is the virtue that most characterized the life of our Lord. It did. We're going to get there. Because humility is the virtue that most characterized the life of our Lord, I thought we better take whatever time is necessary to get this one right. So here we are. I didn't intend this to begin with, but here we are on part three of a little topical study on the Christian virtue of humility, having been launched into that study from Ephesians 4.2. Let me review just a little bit of where we've been on this subject, and then we'll add some more thoughts to it today. And like I said, it'll take us a few more weeks probably to get through this, but it's important. It's critically important, and I'm realizing more and more as I go just how important It is in your life and in mine. And then when we're done we're going to pick right up with patience, gentleness and patience and tolerance and so forth and we're going to go right on with our study of Ephesians chapter 4. But right now we're talking about humility and I gave you an outline to follow. We started with a basic definition of humility a couple weeks ago. I told you that the word humility translates a Greek word that is a compound word. And one part of that word means low or base, and the other part of that word means to think. And so when you put it together, we understand what the word humility means, right? It means to think of yourself as being low. That's what the world has taught us ever since we were born, right? Wrong. That's exactly the opposite of what this world has ever taught you. But that's what the Bible is teaching you, to think of yourself as being low, as being unimportant. Now, from the definition, Then we moved on to some characteristics of humility, and I gave you three of them. Let me review them quickly. Number one, we said that humility is a foundational Christian virtue. And believe me, it is. This virtue is critically important for you and for me, and I built that case that day in two different directions. I said, number one, that humility is foundational in the sense that you cannot be genuinely saved without it. Before God saved you, He humbled you. He brought you to the place of realizing that you were unworthy. That you had nowhere to turn. Nothing in my hand I bring, only to thy cross I cling. That's the only way that salvation ever happens. It's foundational in the sense that you cannot be saved without it. We can look at the tax gatherer who said, God be blessed. He said, God be merciful to me, the sinner. It's foundational, number two. then in a sense that, and listen this is so important for you and me to get, there is absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, in your life, there's nothing that you can ever do to please, honor, and glorify God as a believer now living the Christian life apart from this virtue of humility. Without it, without humility, no matter what it is, no matter how good it looks from the outside, no matter what it is, it's all in the category of wood, hay, and subtle. That's it. Humility is that important. Humility is literally everything insofar as the Christian is concerned, and the Lord, as I said, just keeps teaching me that more and more as I study this subject that I hope he is for you. Well, a second characteristic, and this is still review. Secondly, we said that not only is it foundational, Secondly, we said that humility is an exclusive Christian virtue, and I pointed out to you the fact that this one is really a clarifying one for us, and it is, isn't it? Humility, true humility, is an exclusive Christian virtue. Now, if true humility is an exclusive Christian virtue, and I did build that case for you a couple of weeks ago, or a week or two ago, then what we've done By saying that, we've just drawn a line in the sand that separates true humility from a whole bunch of other things that present themselves as humility, as clarifying for us. And then I drew an analogy of something that we've talked about before that I think is helpful. True humility, in that sense, is kind of like agape love, isn't it? Remember what we've said about that in the past. Only true Christians can possess and exhibit agape love. Only true Christians can be the repositories and the channels for true agape love because God is the exclusive source of that love. Now let me say this morning that only true Christians can possess and exhibit true humility of which, and the reason is the same, it's because the indwelling Jesus Christ is the only source for that true humility. And so we made that point. Now there is of course such a thing as false humility. And so we also talked about that a little bit last week, I guess it was, while we were on this second characteristic. And we even drew some conclusions about it. Let me give them to you. Because of who they are without Christ, we concluded that unbelievers can only exhibit false humility. Any they ever exhibit is the false kind. If true humility is exclusively Christian, and it is, then we would have to conclude that any humility in unbelief, or whatever exhibit, is the false kind. And I know that's sometimes hard to understand. If you were, remember I said last week, if you were to peel that onion back, peel enough layers off that onion, you would see the ugly pride underneath there, motivating whatever that thing is that is going on. Unbelievers can only exhibit false humility. But then we also acknowledge something else. It isn't kind of a tragic reality, but it's true. We also acknowledge the fact that because true believers still live in old and yet unredeemed human bodies of flesh, they also can exhibit false humility. And many times they do. And I gave you some examples, I'm not going to go through that now because that's review, but I gave you some examples last week of how believers typically will do that, how they will exhibit false humility, and so maybe you remember that. Well, we finished then last time with a third characteristic of humility, and I hope you remember this one. According to Jesus himself, true humility is the key to greatness in the kingdom. According to Jesus himself, true humility is the key to greatness in the kingdom. And I said this to you, and I'll say it again. Everything in the kingdom of God works how? Upside down, inside out, and backwards from the way it works in the kingdom. We see that everywhere, don't we? From the way that it works in the kingdom of this world. And this now is perhaps, wouldn't you agree, this now is perhaps the most glaring example of that. How do you become great in the world? Humility? No. Pride is what gets you somewhere in the world, but in the Kingdom of God it's humility. And for support on this one, do you remember where I took you? I took you to Matthew 20, verses 20-28, where the sons of Zebedee, James and John, Two guys who had ought to have known better, right? James and John put their mother of all things up to going to Jesus to see if he might give them seats of honor in the kingdom. It was almost a disgusting situation, really. It was. Jesus said to them, no. Flat out no. It doesn't work that way. And then he went on to tell them how one does become great in the kingdom. And you remember what he said? Verse 26, he told the brothers, whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, diakonos, servant, deacon. And then he went on, he made it even stronger in verse 27. He said, and whoever wishes to be first among you, you want the priority? You want the first place? Here's how you do it. Shall be your slave, doulos in the Greek, slave. As low as it goes, that's how you become great in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And so, according to Jesus, this is a pretty important virtue, isn't it? Humility. Well, let's pick up our study now this morning, and I want to talk with you today about some prerequisites of humility. We're going to talk about some practical application stuff on this subject today. Now that we know what true humility is and what it isn't, the question is, how do we get there? How do we get there? How do we nurture this virtue in our lives? What can we do? What must we do as believers now to nurture this virtue of humility in our lives? And I've got to start with a little bit of a disclaimer on that because there is one real sense in which this virtue of humility, like every other virtue, we've talked about this before, is only something that God can produce in you. And yet in another sense, like we've also said before, there are some things that you can do to get yourself on the path where that blessing can flow. Remember, I think one time I used the illustration of fishing. You've got to get your line in the water, right, if you want to catch a fish. We know for sure if you don't have your line in the water, you won't catch a fish. And so really, God is the only one who can produce this virtue in you, but you can get yourself on, like blind Bartimaeus, you can get yourself up on the side of the road, where you know Jesus is going by, where this blessing can flow. And so those are the things that I want to talk with you about. What you need to do, what I need to do, to make sure we're on this path of blessing where this virtue of humility can then become a reality in our lives. But before we get to those two things that I want to talk with you about today, there's something else I need to talk to you about. There's a very common misunderstanding on this subject of humility that I need to take a minute or two to clear up for you. And it's a misunderstanding that I have had myself on this subject of humility. There are some now who would say, As we think about nurturing this virtue today, there are some who would say, you know, there's nothing that you can do to nurture this virtue of humility in your life. Humility is the phantom virtue in that sense, I guess they would say. Humility is elusive. The virtue of humility is one that you can never really grab a hold of. It's one you can never really seize. Maybe their thinking would be that it's kind of like nailing jello to the wall or something like that. It really can't be done. Now, maybe you have heard humility explained in that way. I know I certainly had heard it that way. I was taught that in the church growing up as a Christian. It sounded reasonable to me, and so I believed it and even later taught it. myself. You can't really know if you have humility or not, according to that line of reasoning. And listen, if you even think, if you even start to think that you might have humility, then you just lost it. It just got away. As soon as you start to think you have it, it got away. It's elusive. It's like that. Humility is impossible to catch. Well, let me tell you that I no longer think that's true. I no longer think that's true. If you've ever heard me say anything like that, and I think it was probably a long, long time ago, but I do remember saying that. If you've ever heard me say anything like that, please accept my humble apology this morning and allow me to retract that. You know what happens, folks? As the years go by, I keep learning just like you do. And so, if you've heard me say that, I retract that. I no longer think that's true. Now certainly it must be said that if humility of all things becomes a source of pride for you, then I would have to say, yeah, you just lost it. But you know what? In that case, guess what? It was probably not true humility to begin with. If you're proud of your humility, people, then I would have to say that that's always going to be the false kind of humility to begin with, wouldn't you? And so as we think about how to develop humility in our lives today, we need to get rid of this old line of thinking. that says that humility is elusive. That old line of thinking that says, you know, don't even bother with this because you can't do it. You know what that is? As I thought about that some more this time, and I was only reminded of that because several of the commentators that I read had kind of gone down that road and it just reminded me of that old line of thinking on this subject of humility. You know what that is? Folks, that is a clever sounding lie from hell. And it has a purpose. That clever sounding lie from hell is designed to muddle up. What does Satan want to do? He wants to muddle up the truth, right? He wants to take what God wants clear and muddle it up and confuse it. That's a lie, a clever lie from hell to muddle and confuse something that the word of God makes very clear. And it's also a lie from hell. to keep you and me from this most important, this critical and foundational Christian virtue of humility. As we talk about what we need to do this morning now, people, to nurture this virtue of humility in our lives, what we need to do to get on that path where that blessing can flow, let's not be plagued by that wrong idea that it's an effort in futility. Please understand it is not an effort in humility. Mark this truth before we go any further. You can know if this virtue of humility is developing in your life or not for the glory of God, just like you can know that about every other Christian virtue. And I want to show you that now from the Scriptures. It's one thing for me to say it, it's another thing for the Word of God to say it. And I want to show you that from the Scriptures. One of the reasons, let me give you several reasons why I believe that's true. One of the reasons why I believe that's true are all the many verses in the Bible. I looked them up. There's lots. All the verses in the Bible that exhort us to be humble, including the one we have right here in Ephesians 4.2. Listen folks, how could you ever obey a command to do something as Paul just commanded us to do, with all humility, if you could never really know whether or not you were humble? How could you ever do that? I submit to you that those exhortations would all be unfounded expectations, they would all be unreasonable expectations if we had no way of measuring our obedience to them. If humility was something that vanished in our hands like a vapor every time we grasped for it, it would be unreasonable for the Word of God to so clearly and repeatedly command it. Our first important lesson for today is to understand that humility is not that elusive, unattainable virtue that you've always been told that it is. All the exhortations to be humble in the scriptures is the first thing that would point us to that conclusion. Let me give you some other things. Let me give you another reason now why I believe that conclusion is right. It has to do with something that the Lord Jesus said himself. Jesus made a statement about his humility in Matthew 11, 29. He said this, take my yoke upon you and learn from me For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Now, listen people, before we're done with this study, and it may be a week or two before we get to it, but we're going to look at some biblical examples of humility. There are lots of examples of this virtue that are given to us in the Word of God. And who do you suppose will be the ultimate one? The ultimate example of humility will be none other than Jesus Christ himself. He is the ultimate example, the perfect example of humility. And we're going to end, actually we're going to end our study with that. A look at his humility. All I wanted you to see here this morning from Matthew 11, 29 is this. I want you to note the clear fact that Jesus knew he was humble and even said he was humble. And please understand now that neither one of those things either diminished his humility or canceled out his humility. And I already know what you're thinking. This is Jesus, right? If anybody could acknowledge his humility and still keep it, it would be the sinless God-man, right? Well, if he was the only one who ever did that, I might have to concede and say, you know what? You have a point there. But he's not the only one who ever did that. Let me give you a couple of other examples. I know you've heard of a man in the Old Testament by the name of Moses, right? He's going to be one of our examples. We're going to look at him. And the reason why we're going to look at him, we can't help but look at him because you know what it says about him in Numbers chapter 12 and verse 3? Let me read it for you. Now the man Moses was very humble. more than any man who was on the face of the earth." How would you like that written about you in the Word of God? Now, the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth. Now, again, we'll look at that and we'll talk about that on another day. My point for this morning is to say, I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but who penned the book of Numbers? Who penned the book of Numbers? Moses penned the book of Numbers. He wasn't the author of the Book of Numbers, but he penned the Book of Numbers, and if he penned the Book of Numbers, if he wrote that stuff down, then he obviously knew what? He knew that he was humble. And just from knowing that he was humble, didn't mean that he lost his, he was humble. He knew he was humble, and he was humble. That's my point. Let me give you one more. And this is a guy that we're getting so familiar with in recent days. A New Testament character. by the name of Paul, the Apostle Paul. He is another one who did the very same thing and his statement on this is recorded in Acts chapter 20. I have read this emotional account for you before and I'm going to read it for you again. This is that account in the Word of God where Paul was near the end of his life He was on his way to Jerusalem. The ship stopped and Paul got off on the shore of Miletus and he called for the elders in Ephesus. He had been there for three years teaching these people and pouring his heart out, teaching these people the word of God and founding the church. He knew that he was on his way and he knew he was going to die. and he called them to come out to meet him, to say farewell to him on the shores of Miletus. And the statement that I want you to see is in verse 19, and I want you to turn there with me, Acts chapter 20 please, and I was only going to read you verse 19, and I got reading this thing, And I thought, I can't just read verse 19. This is such an incredible text of scripture that I decided to go ahead. I'm always struggling for the clock, right? But I decided I'm going to take the extra minute or two to read this entire account from verse 17 down through the end of the chapter. And there's two reasons why I decided that. Number one, the first reason I'm going to do that is because it's very hard to stop once you start reading this. It really is. And the second reason I'm going to do that is because it's such a beautiful snapshot This whole thing is such a beautiful snapshot into the life of this godly, humble man by the name of Paul. Now as I read, I want you to pick up with me in verse 17. And as I read this, there's just lots of stuff going on. I'll try to keep my comments to a minimum, but think about some stuff as I read this. Think about two questions. Was the humility that Paul claimed in this passage genuine humility or not? That's the first question. And the second question I want you to think about is did he lose it here on the shores of Miletus by knowing and declaring that he had it? Think about the life of this man and what he said. Pick up with me in verse 17. I'll just read this. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time. And here it is now, verse 19, serving the Lord with all humility. That's what Paul is saying about his own ministry. Paul did exactly, by the way, what he's calling us to do in Ephesians 4 too, right? Even using the same words there. He called us to do what? preserve the unity of the Spirit with all humility. What's Paul doing here? He served the Lord with all humility. And listen, folks, he clearly knew that he was doing that. You and I can know if we are doing that. You know how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews. How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. and teaching you publicly from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." That's the gospel. And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city that bonds and afflictions await me. And watch this now, this next statement. in verse 24 that reveals Paul's humble heart. But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course in the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. You know when I read that, folks, I was reminded immediately of something I said to you last week or the week before. Paul was not living for Paul. Do you see that? Is there any question about that? Paul was not living for Paul. What does the world tell you? You can do anything you want to do. You can be anyone you want to be and you can do anything you want to do. Can I suggest to you that Paul's goal here was not to be everything that he wanted to be and do everything that he wanted to do? No. Like that truly humble individual that we've been defining for three weeks now, Paul only wanted to be what? He wanted to be what God wanted him to be, and he wanted to do what God wanted him to do. That's it. I do not help my wife as dear to myself. That's what he said. Now, let's go on. In verse 25, I told you this is an emotional account, and it is. In verse 25, that's where that emotional stuff begins. And now behold, I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face." Paul says, you're not going to see me again. I already know that. You're not going to see me again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. You know what he's saying there, guys? He's saying, listen, for three years I poured my heart out there in Ephesus, guys, and you know that. I didn't hold anything back. I gave you the whole counsel of God. And now, I'm not going to see you again, and as we go on to verse 28, he says, now I need to warn you about something. I need to warn you about something. That's part of the job, right? Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. I know, Paul says, that after my departure, savage wolves, savage wolves, that's what he calls false teachers. Savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Look at where he says they come from. From and from among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away The disciples after them, therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day, I got a lot invested in this, Paul says, my life is invested in this. For a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one of you, and I did it with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes, Paul says, I was not in this deal for personal gain. You won't find anybody saying that on TV yet, believe me. I wasn't in this deal for my own personal gain. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said, that he himself said, it is more blessed to give than receive. When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Let me just say to you right here, These Ephesian elders, I'm not sure how many of them there were there that day, but they loved this humble guy. They loved this humble guy with all their hearts. And they're not doing too good right now. Verse 37 says, and they began to weep aloud. And embraced Paul and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship. And there he went, the last time they saw the apostle Paul. Why did I go through all of that and read all of that? Well, one more time this morning, let me say that true humility is not unattainable. True humility is not elusive. I know that's out there. I know you've heard that, but it's not. That's not true. It's not an elusive Christian virtue. Paul knew he was humble. He said he was humble. And listen, people, he was humble. Paul was a humble, godly man. And so can you know, that's the point I want to make here. So can you know if this virtue of humility is being developed in your life or not. Don't be bogged down with that old lie that's out there. And let's go on now to where I really wanted to go this morning, to those prerequisites. What do we need to do? in order to be like Moses? What do we need to do in order to be like Paul? And what do we need to do ultimately to be like the Lord Jesus Christ himself? There are two things that I have on my list today that I want to talk with you about. Two, for requisites, if you will, that you are responsible for in order to nurture this virtue of humility in your life. For requisite number one, let's talk about this one, is a biblical self-awareness. A biblical self-awareness. You're going to need to see yourself correctly. You want humility? Paul calls on us to have this virtue, to nurture this virtue. To exhibit this virtue, here's what it's going to take. You're going to need to see yourself correctly. If genuine humility is ever going to be a virtue in your life, you're going to have to see, you're going to have to understand, you're going to have to have a clear and accurate picture in your mind of who you really are. been around for a little while, and I've observed a lot of people for a lot of years. And based upon those years of observation, I think that it's safe for me to say to you today that underneath every expression of pride, no matter where it is or how it shows up, underneath every expression of pride, to whatever degree, there is always going to be in that person a distorted view, a perverted view, an inaccurate and unbiblical view of self. Prideful people. Tell me if you think I'm wrong, but prideful people. always have wrong things going on in their minds. Always have wrong things going on in their minds. They think they're something they're not. They're legends in their own minds, as the saying goes. And the reason I say that this morning, because I think it's very insightful for us. Don't you? As we try to develop this, we want to develop this, nurture this virtue in our lives. I think that's very insightful for us as a necessary starting point on that. Don't you? It has to do Nurturing this virtue of humility, folks, has to do primarily with what's going on in your mind. What's in there? How do you think? And really, that takes us right back to the definition of the word humility, doesn't it? What is humility? To think of yourself as being what? High? No, low. To think of yourself as being low. This virtue of humility has to do with how you think about yourself, what's going on in your mind. If you want to be humble, you are going to need to clear out all of the illusions in your mind about who you really are. If you want to be humble, you cannot have those wrong things. You cannot allow them to continue to go on in your mind. If you want this virtue of humility, the first thing you're going to need to do is develop and daily maintain, by the way, a biblical self-awareness. And how do you do that? How do you do that? Well, I'm going to offer you some help on that as well. I'm not going to offer it to you. The Word of God is going to offer that help to you. How do you do that? How do you develop that biblical self-awareness? Well, aren't you glad that God has given us a looking glass, hasn't He? God has given us a mirror. What do you use a mirror for? To see yourself, right? God has given us a mirror. Can I read about that mirror for you? James tells us about that mirror in James chapter 1, verses 21 to 25. Don't turn there. Just listen as I read. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility," there's our virtue, "...receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls." What is James saying here? Humbly do what? Humbly receive the word. Humbly submit yourself to the word entirely. Submit yourself to the word. And then he goes on now to liken that word to a mirror. Very, very insightful analogy. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he is immediately forgotten what kind of person he was." We all know about that in mourning, don't we? I look in the mirror and I say, there's work to be done. But if I walk away without doing that work, Chances are I'm going to forget what needs to be. That's what James is saying here. You need to look in the mirror, but the one who looks, he goes on to say, but the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. Listen folks, the word of God. was designed by God to function in your life and mine as a mirror, as a looking glass. If you want to have a biblical self-awareness so as to combat pride, here's what you need to do. You need to look in the Bible to get that biblical self-awareness. You will need to look every day in the mirror of the Word of God. And when you do, you know what you're going to see? You're not going to see who you think you are in your mind. You're not going to see what the world says you are. You're going to see who you really are when you look in that mirror. That's where humility begins. That's what will keep your mind straight on who you are. And listen, can I remind you that that's what you already did? I trust I'm talking to true believers here today. That's what you already did, in fact, when God was in the process of saving you, right? We've already said in previous studies that humility is foundational. It's a foundational Christian virtue in the sense that you can't be saved without it. If you're a true Christian, you've already been there at least once on the subject of humility. As God was drawing you to Christ, what happened? You look squarely at the truth in Romans chapter 1, for example, where it says, there is none righteous, no, not one. You understood that. And you look squarely at the truth that we studied recently in Ephesians 2, 1 to 3 that says that you were dead in your trespasses and sins and all bound up by your own fleshly lust. That's where humility came from, folks. That's where the humility came from that saved you. It came from the Word of God's assessment of you. God enabled you to understand that, and that's when you fell on your face in repentance. And let's understand now this morning that you will only stay humble as you go on now from there and live the Christian life by doing what? continuing to look into that same mirror, that same word. The world will always lie to you about who you are and what you can do, and even your own mind, left to its own devices, will always give you a distorted view of yourself. But let me tell you, beloved, let me tell you what I know is true, because I've had to face that mirror myself, day after day. Let me tell you for sure, what I know for sure, when you look into the mirror of the Word of God, you will always get the straight stuff. You will always get the unbiased straight truths about who you really are, and you will walk away from that mirror in genuine humility. You're probably going to have to look at it again soon, but you will walk away from that mirror with genuine humility. You will walk away from that mirror Saying what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1 15 I am the foremost of sinners that comes from the Word of God now Let me tell you let me let me take this a step further We tell you about something else that will happen when you look in that mirror You will see who you really are you will see your sinfulness, and how about this one now? You will become a confessor you will become a confessor Regular consistent confession of sin people is actually I think a good benchmark on this subject of humility. Think about that with me for a minute, would you? Paul said, or not Paul, John, the Apostle John said in 1 John 1, 9, and you know this verse well, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, you probably can repeat that verse with me, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The question now this morning is do you do that? Are you keenly aware of your sins? Are you finding yourself daily or even multiple times a day confessing your sins? If you're looking in the mirror, that will happen. If you're humble, that will happen. If you're not, it probably won't. And I know this is a little bit of a sidetrack, but I think it's important whenever we come across 1 John 1.9, I need to remind you of something about that verse that I think is very important, something we talked about a long time ago when we studied 1 John, but it's important. Bear with me. I really need to remind you of this. As we learned when we were there in 1 John, contrary to what many people think, this verse, 1 John 1, 9, is not, mark this, it is not making your forgiveness as a believer conditional upon confession. That is a very common misunderstanding of this verse, and it's one that will lead you down a very wrong path. Let me tell you the truth. that as a believer, all of your sins, right? This is so overwhelming. All of your sins have already been forgiven. The past ones, the present ones, and the mind-boggling reality is that even the future ones have already been forgiven. They were nailed to the cross. And so what does that mean? Well, it means that you do not need to confess your sins in order to have them forgiven. Please understand that. You do not need to confess your sins in order to have them forgiven. If that were the case, you could never be justified. If that were the case, you could never be called a saint. The Bible repeatedly calls you and me saints. If that were the case, certainly, how about this one? Suppose you've committed a sin and you died before you got around to confessing. Where would you find yourself? In that particular case, you would find yourself in hell forever, right? Confession is not a condition on your forgiveness. Let me even add another thing to that. If forgiveness, folks, was conditioned on confession for the believer, then I would have to say to you that there could not be such a thing as a doctrine of eternal security. Are you glad and thankful this morning that there is a doctrine? There is a doctrine. You are eternally secure as a believer. And if I had the time, I could build that case. But I don't. So I won't. We have in the past. There is, praise me to God, there is the doctrine of eternal security. And John himself actually had already made this truth about the believer's continual forgiveness clear just a couple verses earlier than 1 John 1. He said this in verse 7. Listen to what he said in verse 7. But if we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us, present tense, from all sin." Past, present, future, all sin, present tense, forgiveness, by the blood of Jesus Christ. So, there are no conditions on your forgiveness as a believer. So what in the world is John talking about here in 1 John 1.9? It sounds very conditional. Well, John's simple point here in 1 John 1.9, And if you study the context, which we did, you would understand this. His point here in 1 John 1-9 is to cite regular confession of sin as yet another test of saving faith among a whole bunch of other tests of saving faith in that letter. And the idea goes like this. If you are truly saved, you will be a confessor. If you are truly saved, you will be a confessor. That's the idea. The Spirit of God will use the Word of God, that mirror, to convict you of your sin, and you will find yourself doing what? confessing it. You will do that. If you do that, John says, if that confession of sin is a regular pattern of your life, if you are a confessor, you can know by that that you are one whose sins are being continually forgiven and cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. That is a mark of your salvation. I'm only going there today to say that this is also, I believe, a mark of humility. If you confess your sins, you have looked in the mirror, you see who you really are, And when you see who you really are, you will see your sins and you will confess them. That's what John is saying here. That's his point. And all that to say again, that a clear biblical self-awareness is the first prerequisite to humility in your life. That is your responsibility. And before we go on to the second prerequisite, there's just one more thing I need to say about the first one. Be warned. I need to slip a little warning in here. Please understand, that your mind, human mind, is just as clever as mine. And what your clever human mind will always try to do is satisfy your quest for humility by directing you to look in the wrong mirror. Believe me, that will happen. Because what you see in the right mirror is kind of ugly sometimes, your human tendency will be to want to lower the standard a little bit. And unfortunately, it's pretty easy to do that. You know what you'll do? What you'll find yourself doing By human default, should I say, what you find yourself doing is comparing yourself with other people instead of looking into the mirror of the word. That's easier. That's way easier. Way easier. And the results are always better even though in the end it's nothing more than what? Self-deception, right? But that's what we do. Just think about your childhood. I guess it's a good illustration of that. What was the first thing that you always used to tell your parents when you came home with a C on your report card? Maybe you didn't get C's on your report card. I got a few. What was the first thing you would say when you came home with a C on your report card? But Dad, there were 10 other kids that got a D, right? That's what we do. That's what we do. That's the game I'm talking about here. That's the game we sometimes play, even as big people. Even as adults, we still play that game. And if you play that game, my point here is to say that you are only kidding yourself and ultimately robbing yourself of the genuine humility that could have been produced in your life had only you been willing to swear and squarely face the unmitigated truth. You will not know about yourself what you need to know about yourself in order to nurture this virtue of humility until you compare yourself with what you see in the only mirror, folks, that will tell you the truth. And what is that mirror? The mirror is the Word of God. Let's go on to the second prerequisite. of humility. This one's really just the flip side of the first one. If you really want this humility in your life that Paul says is an integral part of the worthy Christian walk and absolutely essential to the preserving of unity in the church, then you will maintain a biblical self-awareness, number one. How about this one on the flip side? Number two, you will develop and maintain a biblical Christ awareness. Genuine humility, folks, will always be the fruit, it will always be the byproduct of accurately knowing two things. Who you are and who He is. Who you are and who He is. That's it. This is simple today, isn't it? You need to know who you are and you need to know who He is. Jesus Christ is the only standard by which all humility in your life is to be measured. Paul put it this way in Philippians 2 through 8. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Another thought that we could throw out there and say, just think about what would happen if we all did that. Do not really look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Again, His life is the only measuring rod for your life and mine. You and I need to think about ourselves like He thought about Himself. And here now is that great statement on His humility. Listen to what it says. That's where He came from. Although He existed in the form of God. The form of God. did not regard, that word regard means to think, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond servant, 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. I think there's been various Christmas seasons over the years where we have unfolded that text because it shows seven steps down from glory as God became a man and a person of Jesus Christ, the ultimate supreme example humility. We're going to actually look at that passage a little closer in another day here soon. For now just understand that he is the standard on this subject of humility like every other subject, right? He is the perfect example, the perfect standard. He is the only one that you should ever compare yourself with and when you do that, folks, that comparison is will always produce in you this virtue that we're talking about today, humility. When you see who he is, then you will also see who you are by contrast. And believe me, the contrast will be a stark one. I want to give you an example of how this works in the life of an individual, and that individual's name is Peter. We've maybe looked at this account in some other setting, but I think it's been a while. So I want you to turn and look with me at Luke chapter 5 for a minute. I'm going to read the first eight verses of Luke chapter 5. There's a beautiful, beautiful thing here. And it's an example for us this morning on how this works, on how this biblical Christ awareness produces humility. And pick up with me now in verse 1, Luke chapter 5. Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around him, that is of course Jesus, And listening to the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake. But the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And he, Jesus, got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And he sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. So if you can envision this, Jesus gets in the boat. And they push it out just a little ways offshore. The people are gathered there in the shore. And from that vantage point there, just a little ways off the shoreline in a boat, Jesus is teaching the multitudes there in this setting. Verse 4, when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, that's Peter, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. Now this is very interesting. Simon answered and said, Master, We worked hard all night and caught nothing. But I will do as you say and let down the nets. Let me translate that for you. I'm telling you, Lord, Peter says, it has not been a good night for fishing. But if you really want us to do it, we'll go ahead and we'll appease you. We'll go ahead and drop the nets again. But I'm telling you, there are no fish out there right now. Verse 6, when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. You can just visualize the scene. And they came and filled both of the boats. The boats were ready to sink because they're that full of fish. They came and filled both of the boats, so they began to sink. And what I want you to notice now is verse 8. But when Simon Peter saw that, when Simon Peter saw that, listen, what did Simon Peter see? A couple of boats full of fish? Well, I'm sure he did, but that's not really what he saw. What Peter saw here, folks, was not just the abundance of fish. You know what Peter got a glimpse of right here? Peter got a glimpse right here of the sinless perfection of his Savior. Peter got that glimpse right there in that moment. Peter came face to face at that moment with the deity and the glory of the God-man, Jesus Christ. And you know what else? Who was right there in his very presence. You know what else, Peter? Got a glimpse of? He also got a glimpse of his own ugly pride. He got a glimpse of the own ugly pride that was in his heart. The pride that had caused him to think that he knew more about the fish in that lake than the creator of the universe. That's what was overwhelming Peter. And he melted. Folks, he melted on the spot. That was it. Now watch now at the end of verse 8. This is Christ. Peter got a glimpse of Jesus Christ in all of his glory and deity. Right there. Watch now at the end of verse 8 what it says. He fell down at Jesus' feet saying, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. See what that does? See what that does? See what that Biblical Christ... When Peter saw who Christ was, Peter realized who Peter was. And that biblical Christ awareness and that biblical self-awareness then produced in Peter what we're talking about, what we want, right? What do we want? Humility, folks. We've got to have this. This is critical. We can't go on without it. Genuine humility that we've been studying now for three weeks. That's what happened here. That's how you get it, just like Peter got it. Let me give you two other quick examples. Isaiah is another one. Don't turn there, but Isaiah is another one who who had the same experience in the presence of God's holiness, Isaiah said, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. Job, of course, you know all about him. He came face to face with who he was and who God was and he said in Job 42, 6 at the end of that book, after all the dialogues and after everything was all said and done, Job said, you know what, I just shut my mouth. Therefore, I retract and I repent in dust and ashes before your holy presence." Jesus Christ is the only standard and he is a holy standard, folks, against which your life can be seen for what it really is. The Apostle John said in 1 John 2.6 that the one who says he abides in him, you claim to know Christ and to walk with Christ and to follow Christ if you do. John says, the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. And the way he walked, beloved, was in humility. Perfect. Flawless, perfect humility. I hope you're understanding at this point in our study of this subject just how critically important this virtue is for literally every area of your Christian life and walk. If you truly know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you're not getting this one right, I need to throw this in here too. If you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and you're not getting this one right, he may find it necessary to step in and help you with that, like he did for the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. And again, I'm going to read this, it's a familiar account, I know it is, but it fits here and I need to say this. Paul, of course, had been given the great privileges, many great privileges, right? He had been the recipient of a great deal of revelation. We learned about that in Ephesians 3. He had penned a good portion. of the New Testament Scriptures, and in this context that I'm going to read for you, he had just been given a special trip to the third heaven and back. You know what's interesting? Lots of people today are writing books about going to heaven. Paul's the only guy who really did go to heaven, and he didn't even want to talk about it. He didn't even want to talk about it. He had just been given a trip, a special trip to the third heaven. Paul, this guy Paul, had lots of stuff going for him, folks, that could have made him very proud, very prideful. And God obviously knew that that temptation was there for Paul, and he also knew about the crippling effects that that would have had on Paul's life and Paul's ministry. And so, because of his love for Paul, listen to what he did. That's what it says here in 2 Corinthians 12, 7-10. Because of this impassive greatness of revelations, for this reason, Paul says, to keep me from exalting myself. That was the entire purpose of that thorn in the flesh. To keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me, and He has said to me, I'll get this, He has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. You don't need this thorn in the flesh to leave. You need my grace. It's sufficient for you. And then he went on to say, listen, for power is perfected in weakness. That's the way it works in the kingdom. For power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore, Paul says, okay Lord, I'll rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. I want that more than I want rid of this thorn. Therefore, I'm well content, Paul says, with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake, for, mark this now, for when I am weak, then I am strong. When I am weak, then I am strong. That is so critical. That's humility. Child of God, please understand that there's a spiritual strength in your weakness. There's a spiritual power in your weakness that can only be found in your weakness. And to whatever degree that you exhibit pride, you will not be exhibiting this weakness that Paul is talking about here. These prerequisites to humility are pretty straightforward and easy to understand, aren't they? They both have to do with what's going on in your mind. They both have to do with what's going on in your mind and are determined by what's going into your mind. And you will work at maintaining a Biblical self-awareness and a Biblical Christ awareness. I believe that God will use that truth about you and that truth about Him to produce in you this critically important foundational virtue of humility. Peter, we started with this actually, Peter said, 1 Peter 5, 6, Humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God, That's your responsibility. And it's one that comes along with a promise that He may exalt you at the proper time. Understand that that's the way it worked for Christ. Understand that that's the way it worked for you. How does it work? It's suffering now and glory later. It's humility now and exaltation later. That's the way it works for the Christian. One commentator said, and I quote, Humility is not a grace that can be acquired in a few months. It's the work of a lifetime. And it's a grace that is precious in the sight of God, who in due course will exalt all who embrace it. All right, now, there's your outline for today. I have one more direction I want to take you in this morning, if you'll bear with me just for a couple more minutes. We've talked about two prerequisites to humility today. We've talked about two responsibilities that are yours in that pursuit. I want to begin to wrap this up now. And as I wrap it up, I want to leave you with what I believe to be a wonderful perspective on those responsibilities that we have talked about today. A wonderful way for you and me to see these responsibilities that I believe will make them less of a struggle and more of a joy. Now, I realize that I've had more time to think about this than you, and so this has been rolling in my mind for a long time. I'm just going to throw it out there, and maybe it'll be Thursday afternoon before the fullness of what I'm about to say will really grip you. but I trust and I've asked the Lord to grip you with it because I think this is an awesome, awesome thought. What I want you to do with me in closing now is to just take a few giant steps back and I want you to, for a couple minutes, and I want you to think with me about this, how this subject of humility fits within the grand scheme of things. In other words, the big picture perspective on it, if you will. And when we get that big picture perspective, and I'm not going to elaborate on this a whole lot, I just want to get it out here. When we get that big picture perspective, it can be said, folks, that the whole of creation, the fall, and redemption can be seen through this lens called humility. What I want you to see in closing for this morning, the thought that I want you to take home with you today, is the fact that humility is the only normal way for you and me to live as human beings. It's the only normal way for us to live. Humility is the only right way for you and me to live. And humility is definitely, folks, the only fitting way for you and me to live as redeemed sinners. That's what we're going to see. Those are the conclusions that we will draw when we look at the subject of humility. Now, just briefly, against the backdrop of what the Bible says about creation, the fall, and redemption. Think with me about that. As we look at these things, you will quickly realize that humility, this humility that we're seeking after, this humility that we've been talking about, is nothing more than the natural and only reasonable response from the creature to the creator, from the clay to the potter. Think with me now about each one of these three monumental events that comprise really the entire contents of the Bible, right? creation, the fall, and redemption. One, two, three, and then we're going to quit. As we think about creation through this lens of humility, would you understand that humility in us was the natural order of God's creation? It was, wasn't it? That's how He made us. We were designed, we were created by God to be humbly and totally dependent on Him, weren't we? We were. God created everything that is and God created Adam and Eve in His own image and for His glory. What's important for us to understand here is that God did not create Adam and Eve and God did not create you with life and abilities and talents and goodness that were independent from Him. He created Adam and Eve and He created you to be totally dependent upon Him for everything. You were made, folks, to depend on Him for every single breath that you take. You know, that's a thought that I've had just in the weeks that I've been studying this subject, is that I can't do anything apart from Him. He holds in His hand every breath I ever take. He holds in His hand every breath. You can't do anything apart from Him. You see, that's right thinking. That's going to produce humility in me and it's going to produce humility in you. What I'm trying to say here, fellas, is we're looking at creation. That's how this universe was put together. That was the order in which you and I came to be. That's how we were designed to function by the very one who made us. Out of nothing. Out of dust. What I'm trying to get at here this morning is the fact that you will never be fulfilled. You will never have true joy until you're functioning moment by moment in the very way that you were created to function. And how is that? The way in which you were created to function is in humility. You are the clay and he is the potter. Please understand humility from that creation perspective. Let me just say that this is normal. Humility. This is normal. This is right. This is good. This is pure. This is the way it's supposed to be. And if you can see it that way, pursuing humility will not be the greatest struggle in your life. It will be the greatest joy in your life. Just functioning after the order of the way you were created. Let me just take a minute right here to state again those two prerequisites of humility that we talked about all morning in very straight and simple terms. You know, I just keep saying this over and over again. I don't think I've said it yet today, so I need to say it. I just keep saying this over and over again over the past couple of weeks because this is it. This is humility in a nutshell. Please never forget these two, three-word statements that I keep repeating. If you have a biblical self-awareness, you will understand that you are what? You are nothing. And if you have a biblical Christ awareness, and here let's call it a biblical God awareness, you will understand that God is everything. Take these home with you again today. You are nothing and God is everything. That's humility. I am nothing and God is everything. If I really, you know, that's it, isn't it? That's humility in a nutshell. If and when we get this, folks, we got it. You are nothing. and God is everything, I am nothing, and God is everything. And I believe this simple reminder about the order of creation will help you with that. Let's move on to the fall. That can also be rightly seen through this lens of humility. Humility in us was the natural order of God's creation, and now let's understand that it was humility that got lost in the fall, wasn't it? It was. I'm not going to read a whole bunch of scriptures for you right now on that, but where did the fall come from? How did that happen? What was it that resulted in the fall of man that's recorded for us in Genesis chapter 3? It was pride, wasn't it? Wasn't it pride? It was pride. It was the antithesis of humility that resulted in the fall of man. The fall came about when man who was created, as I said a minute ago, to be humble, to be humbly and totally dependent upon God, the fall came about when man rebelled against that. And it actually started even before the Genesis chapter 3 account with the pride of Lucifer, right? That most beautiful of all angels. It was pride, folks, that turned Lucifer into the devil. And it was Lucifer then who in turn tempted Eve and then Adam in the garden to pridefully rebel against the God who had created them to be humbly dependent upon Him for everything. When the serpent injected his venom of pride into Adam and Eve, what happened? They plunged all of mankind and the whole created world into sin and under the curse. Pride was the first sin. Pride was the sin that resulted in the fall. And can I say to you this morning that pride is still the root of every other sin that ever has been or ever will be. Pride, folks, is the reason why you were born into sin. Pride is the reason why you were on your way to hell. And pride is the reason why you needed a Savior. And aren't you glad that God provided one for you? He did. God provided a savior for you from creation to the fall. Let's go on now just for a minute to see redemption through this lens of humility. What did it take, okay? What did it take to reverse the devastating effects of the fall? What did it take to redeem you and me from the sin and the curse that had consigned us to an eternal hell away from the presence of God forever? What did it take? to deliver us from the wages of sin, the death sentence that had been stamped upon us, and by the way, for which we were all fully deserving. The only way, this is the gospel, the only way that could ever happen, folks, would be for God himself to come down here and pay that death penalty for us. It's the only way that could ever happen. You say, well, why did it have to be him? You know why it had to be Him. It had to be Him because He's the only one who wasn't condemned already. We were already sentenced to death. Every one of us. I couldn't do anything for you. You couldn't do anything for me. There's only one who could step in to be our substitute Savior. It had to be God Himself. He's the only one who wasn't condemned. And you know I'm not going to go over all of that. You know all of that glorious gospel truth well. We talk about it every chance we get. There's only one question I want you to think about this morning. It has to do with our subject. One question I want you to answer in your heart this morning. is this, what did it take to get him here? If we were going to be saved, if we were going to be redeemed, God would have to come down here and pay the price, pay the death penalty for us. After handing down his sentence, he had to come down and pay it. That's the only way it could ever happen. What did it take to get him here? How could the very God who had first handed down our sentence then ever become a man so as to identify himself with us and then die on our place to satisfy his own justice on our behalf. How could that ever happen? What would it ever take for that to happen? Do you know what the answer to that question is? It's been our subject for three weeks now. Humility, folks, is what brought us a Savior. Ultimate supreme humility is what brought us a Savior. And I know I've read these verses before, but that's okay. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, who although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men, being caught in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. That's how we got our Savior. Humility. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was the greatest display of humility this world has ever seen. It's the reason why you and I are going to heaven instead of hell, and it takes no stretching of the truth to say that he came here in that humility, folks, to restore the humility that was lost in all of us through the fall. And again, can I say, that's how critically important this virtue is. That's how critically important, that's how foundational this virtue of humility is to biblical Christianity. Salvation in Christ raises us from spiritual depth to spiritual life, and it restores in us the capacity to once again function after the order for which we were created. That's a blessed thing. It's a good thing. It's a right thing. That order is this. Day by day, moment by moment, total, humble dependence upon the God who first created us and then saved us. That's humility. Christianity is humility. That's what we're talking about. Take these three great thoughts home with you today. Meditate on them this week. Let them roll around and kind of expand in your mind like they have for mine, I'm sure. Humility in us was the natural order of God's creation. It's the way it's supposed to be. Humility was lost in the fall, ruined by pride, and humility was restored again in redemption. How about a summary statement? If we were to take all of that and sum it all up, we would have to conclude Humility is the core feature in man's relationship to God. I still have a few more things to say on this subject, and so if you will all kindly bear with me, we'll pick up our study next time. Maybe I shouldn't tell you what we're going to talk about next time. You won't come. We're going to zero in next time on that great hindrance to humility in all of our lives. Do come. It'll be worth your while. We're going to zero in on that great hindrance to humility in all of our lives. You know what that is, right? What is the hindrance? What's the enemy to humility? It's a five-letter word. We've already talked quite a bit about pride in general terms, because you really can't talk about humility without talking about pride, right? But next week, what I want to do is open that one up a little bit, open that can, unzip that one a little bit, so we can look inside. And the reason I want to do that is not just because it's gross, but I want you to see just how offensive and how ugly Pride really is so we're going to open that one up and talk about it a little bit and maybe in the course of doing that It'll it'll help you with the specific areas where Satan Is most likely to tempt you in that area of ugly sinful human products So that's what we have on the board for next Lord's Day. Follow me in prayer Father we thank you today for that great mirror that you've given us to look in and Perfect law of liberty, as James puts it, Father, that mirror that always tells us the unbiased truth about who we are and who you are. Keep us in that book, Father, and use that precious truth to keep our minds straight and our hearts humble. Thank you, Father, for this Lord's Day opportunity. We realize that every single one of them that we have together is a precious gift from you. Thank you for this time. We love you. We thank you. We praise you. We worship you. Praying all these things in Jesus' name, Amen.