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1 Peter chapter 5 and verses
5 and 6, Peter wrote, "'Clothe yourselves, all of you, "'with
humility toward one another, "'for God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble. "'Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, "'so that at the proper time
He may exalt you.'" Well, we're returning this evening to our
studies on the subject of humility, as the prerequisite to honour. We've considered the problem
of pride as we set the scene for these studies and last week
I introduced to you the subject of humility. We looked at what
humility is and how humility was displayed in the life of
our Lord Jesus Christ. This evening we're going to go
on to think about how we are to display humility before God. And then next week we'll look
at the display of humility before others. And then we'll continue
to explore how we are to develop humility in our own lives. through the renewal of our minds,
through the providences of God, and through self-discipline.
And then we'll conclude our studies on this topic as we think about
the relationship between humility and honour. So this evening we're
looking at the third of those topics. or those headings under
this topic, The Display of Humility Before God. And in this session,
I want to acknowledge the work of Wayne Mack in his book, Humility,
The Forgotten Virtue. The points that I'll be making
this evening are taken from that book. And also this evening,
I want to take a slightly different approach in that I won't be making
a lot of comments on the scriptures that we'll be looking at. And
rather than following, trying to turn to all the scriptures
with me, perhaps it would be good if you noted them down along
with the points that I'll be making. And then during the coming
days, perhaps to spend some time thinking particularly about these
points. If you choose a couple of points
to look at each day, perhaps one in the morning and one in
the evening, and to look at the scriptures. that I give you and
to meditate upon these points that Wayne Mack presents. And
he's presenting them in answer to the question, how can we display
humility before God? How can we display humility before
God? And the first answer to that
question is, by the sincere confession of one's insignificance and sinfulness,
by the sincere confession of one's insignificance and sinfulness. As I introduced humility to you
last week, and as we were thinking about what humility is, a couple
of the answers that were given were a sense of one's natural
insignificance before God, and the sense of one's moral insignificance
before God. And so this answer to the question,
how can we display humility before God, picks up on that definition
or description of what humility is. We display our humility before
God by the sincere confession of one's insignificance and sinfulness. Now, I want to emphasize that
we're talking about a sincere confession of one's insignificance
and sinfulness. You know, it's rather easy to
offhandedly say, well, everyone's a sinner. And that is true. There is no one righteous, no,
not one. There is no one who does good,
not even one. The scriptures declare, and we
may affirm that declaration as a fact. But what we're speaking
about now is the attitude of our hearts. in a sincere confession
that we truly understand and know and own our natural insignificant
and our sinfulness before God. The psalmist in Psalm 8 and verse
4 says, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son
of man that you care for him? God is the creator and so he
has a certain obligation to his creatures. But his creatures
have rebelled. Mankind has turned its back on
God and is at war with God and yet God considers him. God is mindful of him. God continues
to care for him. And when we come to God, we must
recognise that we have indeed no right to his care, given our
relationship to him, and yet he does care for us. In 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
16, Paul wrote, to Timothy and he said, I received mercy for
this reason, that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might display
his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe
in him for eternal life. Paul professed himself to be
the chief of sinners, that Christ came into this world to save
sinners. And Paul in this text is saying
that Christ displays his patience through the Apostle Paul's life
and gives him as a gift eternal life. It is not his due. It is
not his right. And to understand that is so
important for us, that we recognise that God owes us nothing. And we are nothing before God. And yet God, in his mercy, extends
his grace towards us. In Matthew chapter 15 and verses
24 through 27, Jesus said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel, But a woman came and knelt before him, saying,
Lord, help me. And he answered, It is not right
to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. She
said, Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their master's table. This woman was a foreigner. She was not an Israelite. And
yet she came for help to Jesus. And Jesus responds by effectively
calling her a dog. Now we might say that's a rather
rude way of speaking to someone. And in a sense, yes it is. But this woman didn't respond
in that way. She didn't take offence at the
words that Jesus spoke. She acknowledged herself, in
a sense, to be a dog before him, and yet pleads for his mercy
on the basis that even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
master's table. Now, the take-home message for
us, of course, is that as we come before God, this is the
attitude of our hearts. This is true humility, to sincerely
confess that we are dogs, that we are nothing, that we are pitiable,
and there is nothing in us that deserves God's favour or his
blessing. And this is the sincere confession
that we need to have in our lives as we display humility before
God, as we come to the Lord. This needs to be not just the
words that we speak, but this needs to be the attitude of our
hearts. He doesn't look on the outward
appearance. He doesn't look on the sorrowful
expression and the bowed head. He looks at the heart and he
wants to see truth in the inward parts. The second answer to this
question, how can we display humility before God, is by a
lack of trust in one's own heart and complete dependence on God. A lack of trust in one's own
heart and complete dependence upon God. We need to realise
that we are foolish. We need to realise that our sinful
hearts lead us astray. We need to realise that we cannot
depend upon ourselves, that we must depend completely upon God. Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 17
and verse 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
sick. Who can understand it? The heart
is deceitful. It leads us astray. Even as those who have been redeemed,
even as those who have been given new hearts, we still have to
put to death the old man, don't we? We still have the old nature
there that keeps rearing its ugly head and trying to regain
the territory that it has lost. And we're in a warfare, in a
spiritual warfare within and without. And we need to recognise
that even as those who have been redeemed, we cannot depend upon
our own judgement, upon our own hearts. Proverbs 28 and verse
26 says, whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who
walks in wisdom will be delivered. And where is wisdom found? Wisdom
is found in the fear of the Lord. Wisdom is found with God and
we need to go to God and lean upon God and be dependent upon
God and not trust in ourselves. Paul wrote in Romans 3 and verse
4, let God be true though everyone were a liar as it is written
that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you
are judged. We need to recognise that when
there's a contradiction between what we say and what the Scriptures
say, the Scriptures are right, the Scriptures are true, the
Scriptures are trustworthy, we are liars. And that's the emphasis
of what Paul is saying there, is that God must have the priority
in his words. in his laws, in his judgments.
And we must humble ourselves before that and put ourselves
under God, in dependence upon God. So Jeremiah in chapter 9
and verses 23 through 34 Quotes the Lord are saying, let
not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man
boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands
and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love,
and justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things
I delight, declares the Lord. And so we're to cast ourselves
upon the Lord, in dependence upon his wisdom and his word. And as we do so then we will
be displaying humility before God, giving the preeminence to
God rather than to ourselves. The third answer to this question,
how can we display humility before God, is by renouncing any glory
from our own good and giving all glory to God. By renouncing
any glory from our own good and giving all glory to God. You see, we do works, we do actions,
we succeed in the things that we put our hands to, and we receive
praise, we receive honor, we receive glory for those things
that we do. And what this answer is telling
us is that we mustn't take that glory for ourselves. If we are
to be humble before the Lord, then we will acknowledge that
these things are because God has blessed us. The Psalmist
in Psalm 115 and verse 1 says, Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
but to your name give glory for the sake of your steadfast love
and your faithfulness. He is the one who receives the
glory because every good gift and every perfect gift is from
him, as James says in chapter 1 and verse 17. coming down from
the Father of lights in whom there is no variation or shadow
due to change. So everything that we're able
to do, every good work that we're able to perform, every praiseworthy
action that we are engaged in is because of God, is because
of His work in our lives. So Paul writes to the Corinthian
church in 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 7 and says, what do you
have that you did not receive. If then you received it, why
do you boast as if you did not receive it? Paul is exhorting
the church in Corinth to recognise God's gifts, God's works in them
and through them, and to honour God in those things, not to receive
the praises of God for themselves. but to rightfully pass them on,
as it were, to God, as people acknowledge us and acknowledge
what we've done. And we say, well, it's the Lord's
doing. He's the one who enabled me to
do this. He's the one who strengthened
me for this task. He's the one who's given me the
skills to be able to perform this. He's the one who gave me
wisdom in the decisions that I made. He's the one who should
receive the glory and praise. And I acknowledge his gifts,
his goodness to me in this success that I've achieved. And so by
renouncing any glory from our own good and giving all glory
to God, we display humility before the God who made us and who sustains
our lives in this world. A fourth answer to this question,
how can we display humility before God, is by respecting, receiving,
and responding to the Word of God. By respecting, receiving,
and responding to the Word of God. We need to recognise that
God has given us his Word for our blessing, for our guidance,
for our help, for our instruction, for our training in righteousness,
so that we might live before him to honour and glorify his
name. And by respecting his word, receiving
his word, responding to his word, we show our humility. We're not puffing ourselves up,
but we're giving glory to God. In Isaiah chapter 66, in the
opening verses, Isaiah says, All these things my hand has
made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord.
But this is the one to whom I will look, he who is humble and contrite
in spirit and trembles at my word. The Lord is saying through
Isaiah to us that It's not important what we do. It's not important
that we build a magnificent temple to glorify God. That is not what
is important. What is important is that we
are humble and we show our humility when we tremble at his word. We show our humility when we
submit to his word, when we acknowledge that the Lord speaks and he speaks
to us today and his word to us today is to be built on. Our lives are to be built on
this rock of his word, to glorify and honour him in our obedience
to him. In Hebrews chapter 4 and verses
12 and 13, the word of God is living and active, sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of
spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from
his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him
to whom we must give account. And so the Word of God is able
to penetrate the inner recesses of our hearts and lives and display
the reality of our thoughts and our understanding so that we're
brought to conviction of sin and we're trained in the way
of righteousness. And so God's Word ought to be
before us. We ought to respect God's Word. We ought to receive God's Word. We ought to respond to God's
Word. And in doing so, we humble ourselves
before the God and his authority and his revealed will. And that
leads us into the fifth answer to this question. How can we
display humility before God? Well, by completely submitting
to God. By completely submitting to God's
will, even when His will is difficult. And the will of God is sometimes
difficult. It's difficult at times because
He calls us to obey Him when we can't see the outcome of that
obedience. We can't see where it's eventually
going to take us. The conclusion is not in sight
for us, and yet we are called to submit to God's will, even
as Abraham was called to submit to God's will. Genesis 12, verses
1 through 4, tells us that the Lord said to Abraham, go from
your country and your kindred and your father's house to the
land that I will show you. and I will make of you a great
nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so
that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all
the families of the earth will be blessed.' So Abram went, as
the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five
years old when he departed from Haran. The Lord said to Abram,
go from your country to the land that I will show you. And Abram
went. And he didn't know what that
land was. God was going to show him. God,
in effect, was saying to Abram, follow me. I'll be your guide. And I'm going to take you on
a journey to a destination that I know. And Abram had to trust
him, had to follow him. And that is the case for us at
times. The will of the Lord, the conclusion isn't in sight,
the destination isn't in sight. We have to trust that the Lord's
will is the right way for us to go and to submit to his will. Sometimes we know the destination,
we know the conclusion, we know the outcome of the way that the
Lord is leading us, but it's a difficult one. It's a hard
road to take. It's something that we don't
really want. that our hearts, our lives, our
minds turn away from this calling, this expression of God's will
for us, and we say, we don't really want to go that way. But we must go that way. Humility
is a submission of our wills to God's will, even when it's
difficult. Even when it's difficult because
what it's leading to is hard for us to accept. A difficult
road to walk. We see this in the life of Jesus
himself in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 8. Paul writes and
says that being found in human form, Jesus humbled himself by
becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. Before the Son of God left heaven,
he knew that he was heading to the cross. As he grew up and
grew in his understanding of the scriptures and in his obedience
to God and to his parents, He knew what lay before him, the
road that he must journey, the road of holiness that would bring
upon him the scorn, the ridicule, the hatred and animosity of those
around him through his childhood and adolescence and into adulthood. He knew the journey that he must
go on and he knew the destination. He knew the place of suffering
that it would lead to. And he knew the wrath of God
that he would have to incur on behalf of those he represented. And yet he went that way because
that was God's will. And he submitted to God's will,
even though it was difficult, even though he cried out, Father,
if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, your
will be done. And this was the pattern that
Jesus followed and the example that he's given to us. And this
is how we show our humility before the Lord, by completely submitting
to God's will, even when it's difficult. A sixth way that we
display humility before God is by submitting to the providences
of God without complaint. submitting to his providences
without complaint, the things that happen to us in our lives,
the difficulties that we go through, that we struggle with. We mustn't complain about these
things. In Philippians chapter four and
verses 11 through 12, Paul says, I am not speaking of being in
need, for I've learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low,
and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance
I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance
and need. He had learned contentment. do everything he has written
without grumbling or complaining. That is the way that we are to
respond to God's providences in our lives, to submit to the
sovereignty of God, to know that he is bringing us through those
providences for his glory and for our good. Knowing that all
things work together for good to those who love God, even even
the difficult providences that we are brought through. And so,
rather than complaining, we should do as Paul urges us, to rejoice. Again, I say, rejoice in every
circumstance of life. We are to trust God and submit
to him without complaint. Job understood this, though it
was a struggle for him in the providences of God in his life. You know how he was a wealthy
man and a healthy man and a happy man, but God allowed Satan to
take all of those things away from him. All of his wealth was
gone. His children were killed, his
health was taken away, and even his wife had no confidence in
him. His wife said to him, do you
still hold fast your integrity? In Job chapter 2 and verse 9.
Curse God and die. But he said to her, You speak
as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good
from God and shall we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not
sin with his lips. Shall we receive good from God
and shall we not receive evil? In this context, evil means suffering,
hard times, difficult providences. He's saying we need to submit
to God, whatever God brings into our lives, riches and health, or the lack of riches and ill
health. We submit to God without complaint. He has his purposes in these
things. And so we trust in God in the
midst of these providences. By doing so, we humble ourselves
before God. And then the seventh way in which
we display humility before God is by delighting in the worship
and praise of God. And perhaps this is one of the
most obvious ways that we humble ourselves before God as we worship
him, as we exalt him, as we glorify him, as we give honour and praise
to the God who has made us and who sustains our lives. The psalmist
in Psalm 42 verses 1 and 2 said, As the deer pants for flowing
streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for
God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? The heart that is humble before
the Lord delights to come into the presence of God and to sing
his praises and to glorify his name. Again, the psalmist in
Psalm 84, verses 1 and 2 says, How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for
the courts of the Lord. My heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God. Then verse 10 goes on to say,
for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I
would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell
in the tents of wickedness. Oh, just to be a doorkeeper,
just to be the man at the door, opening and closing the door
to those who come in, handing out the hymn books. Or psalm
books. welcoming the worshippers of
God. If it was only that, that would
be my delight, that would be my joy, because it would be in
the temple of my God, where the worship of God is conducted.
And in these days, when we're not able to gather together in
person, how our hearts yearn to be able once more to unite
our voices in singing praise to our God and to our Redeemer. to delight in worshipping the
God who made us and who is remaking us in the likeness of our Lord
Jesus Christ and with whom we will dwell forever and ever. We want to dwell with him now.
We want to be in his presence now together to worship and praise
him because he is everything to us and we humble ourselves
before God as we worship him together. An eighth response, an eighth
way of displaying our humility before God is to continually
seek God in prayer. To continually seek God in prayer. As we pray to God, we are displaying
before him our dependence upon him. We're acknowledging our
own weakness. We're acknowledging our frustration. We're acknowledging our sorrow. We're seeking his comfort. We're seeking his wisdom, his
guidance, his strength. We're asking for help. We're
asking for him to intervene. We're showing our dependence
on him as we come before him in prayer. In 2nd Chronicles
chapter 7 verses 11 through 14 Solomon finished the house of
the Lord that he had built. And we're told that Solomon planned
to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully
accomplished. And then the Lord appeared to
Solomon in the night and said to him, I have heard your prayer. and have chosen this place for
myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so
that there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land,
or send pestilence among the people, if my people who are
called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and
turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.
and will forgive their sin and heal their land. If they will
humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their
wicked ways, I will hear. I will forgive. I will heal their land. And this is how we are to come
before the Lord, in humble prayer, seeking his face, that he might
bless us from his riches in glory. Later in the book of 2 Chronicles,
in the 33rd chapter, verses 10 through 13, the Lord spoke to
Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention, we're
told, Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the
army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks,
and bound him with chains of bronze, and brought him to Babylon.
And when he was in distress, he entreated the favour of the
Lord. his God, and humbled himself
greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and
God was moved by his entreaty, and heard his plea, and brought
him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. And Manasseh knew that
the Lord was God. Manasseh took the word of God
seriously and submitted to it. He humbled himself before the
Lord in prayer and sought his help. And the Lord responded
to this humble approach of Manasseh. We humble ourselves by continually
seeking God in prayer. Ninthly, we humble ourselves
before God by considering service for Christ an undeserved privilege. It is a privilege to be a servant
of Christ, to be a slave of God, to be active in His work. In Luke chapter 17 and verses
7 through 10, Jesus said, will any of you who has a servant
ploughing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from
the field, come at once and recline at table? Will he not rather
say to him, prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve
me while I eat and drink and afterward you will eat and drink?
Does he thank him because he did what was commanded? So you
also, Jesus says, when you have done all that you were commanded,
say, we are unworthy servants. We've only done what was our
duty. And that is the attitude of heart that we should have
as we live our lives in this world under submission to God's
word and his revealed will. We are unworthy servants. We
have only done what was our duty. We are blessed to be your servants,
to be in your house, doing your work. And we've only done our
duty. We're not deserving of praise
or honour. We've just done what we are supposed
to do. And Jesus set the example, didn't
he, in John chapter 13 and verses 12 through 17, with the example
of him washing his disciples' feet. And he concludes that portion
of his word by saying, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, "'a servant
is not greater than his master, "'nor is a messenger greater
than the one who sent him. "'If you know these things, blessed
are you if you do them.'" So we are to follow the example
of the Lord Jesus Christ in service. But unlike the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are unworthy servants. And it is but our duty to honour
God with the service of our lives. We should consider service for
Christ a privilege, an undeserved privilege. We deserve to be cast
out from his presence for our rebellion. We deserve to be punished
forever in hell. But he has redeemed us. He has
bought us with his blood. He has brought us before his
throne and he has made us his servants. And in our service
for him then, we should acknowledge this privilege that he has given
to us, so undeserved. And then tenthly and finally,
we display humility before God by willingly acknowledging God's
infinite wisdom and knowledge. We again come back to where we
started. and acknowledge God as the great
creator, as the one who is omniscient, knowing all things, the one who
is omnipotent, all-powerful, the one whose knowledge knows
no limits, and the one who is wise in all his ways. Job understood
this. at the end of the book that records
his experiences when the Lord came to Job and asked him a series
of questions. Asks him about the way that the
world was made, what has happened in it, and how it was accomplished. And the Lord answers Job at the
end of two chapters of questions and says, I lay my hand on my mouth. He
understood God's infinite wisdom and knowledge. And we need to
understand that and we need to humble ourselves before the Lord,
God, who knows all things and who is all wise. And we need
to understand what Deuteronomy 29, verse 29 tells us, that the
secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that
are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that
we may do all the words of this law. In other words, what it's
saying to us is that there are questions that we will have that
God knows the answer to, but he has not disclosed those answers
to us. And we need to humble ourselves
and acknowledge that God knows and he has chosen not to disclose.
There are things, secret things, that he has hidden from us. Our
responsibility is to take the revealed things that he has made
known to us and to live our lives on the basis of those revealed
things, and to willingly acknowledge that God has the right to know
what we do not know, and to give him praise for revealing the
things that we need to know for life and godliness in this world. And so as we do these things,
we display true humility before the living God. This isn't about
going through outward motions. This is about the sincerity of
our hearts before the God who looks upon the heart and not
upon the outward appearance. But this is how we are to display
humility before our God. Let's pray. Our Father, we do
ask you that you would teach us this humility as in the coming
days we think upon these scriptures that we've considered briefly
this evening, as we meditate upon what it means to display
humility before you, our Creator and our Redeemer. Help us to
grow in our understanding of these things. and help us to
grow in our display of humility from a sincere heart. We ask
in Jesus' name. Amen.
Humility before God
Series Humility: requisite for honour
| Sermon ID | 412204566746 |
| Duration | 41:24 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Peter 5:5-6 |
| Language | English |
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