We began by looking at the problem of pride and the fact that it is an affliction that we all suffer under and that we all must fight against. We looked at the opposite to pride, which is humility, which forms the central idea. and theme of our studies. We considered what humility is, how it's described to us in the scriptures, and particularly how it was exemplified in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we thought about the way that humility should look in us, how we are to display humility in the presence of God and before our God. We considered also the way that we are to display humility in our relationship to other people, both believers in the Church and those in the world. And how the way that humility is presented to us in the life of Jesus Christ needs to be reflected in our own lives also. Well, if humility is something that we should display, how are we to develop humility? And the next three sessions looked at the development of humility. We considered the development of humility by the renewal of our minds. The way that we think affects the way that we speak and the way that we behave. and so to fill our minds with thoughts that will help us towards humility and nurture humility in our hearts. We thought about the way that humility is developed in our lives through the providences of God. The way that God brings us through different experiences in our lives, different situations, in order to produce within us the fruit of humility and to put pride to death. In that respect, it is a work that God does in us, but it requires from us a response. And then we looked at the way that we develop humility through discipline. through our own self-discipline as we put into practice the various lessons that we've learned as we've looked at what humility is and how it was displayed in the life of Christ and the reality that our thoughts need to be conformed to the word of God in order to produce in us the fruit of humility. The way that we are to respond to the providences of God needs to be with discipline and to be active and engaged in what God is doing in our lives. So that's where we've come so far, and this evening we are concluding our studies on this topic of humility by considering the relationship between humility and honour. The relationship between humility and honour. But before we jump into our studies, I'd like to read from Philippians, chapter 2, and verses 1 through 11. Paul's letter to the church in Philippi, chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. Paul writes and he says, If there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Well, as we look at the relationship between humility and honour this evening, I want to ask and answer two questions. The first question is, why is humility important? Why is humility important? And the second question will flow out of the third answer I want to give to that first question. So why is humility important? And the answer to that question firstly is that it is repeatedly commanded by God or expected by God. It is repeatedly commanded or expected by God. And that would be true in both the Old Testament Scriptures and the New Testament Scriptures. There's a wonderful consistency and continuity of thought with regard to the subject of humility. Humility is important because God values it highly. In Isaiah chapter 6 and verses 1 and 2, Isaiah writes, Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? 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. And there we see the God of creation who has made all things by his own hand. And he says, how can you make a dwelling place for me? It's not possible. And yet God looks upon the one who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at his word. He is saying that we are insignificant in the big scheme of creation. We are like ants running around on an anthill in comparison to God in his greatness and in his transcendence. And yet this God looks upon humanity and particularly this God looks upon the humble and the contrite. When it talks about God looking upon someone in scripture, depending on the context, the idea is not just that he observes a person and what they're doing, but that he looks with favour upon a person and what they are doing. So it is in this particular instance. This is the one to whom I will look. This is the one upon whom I will be favourable. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. And so Isaiah is telling us that the Lord values, the Lord looks with favour upon, the Lord has an expectation of humility in the lives of his people. But even more explicitly, Micah records in Micah chapter 6 and verse 8, he has told you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? What does the Lord require of you? To walk humbly with your God. So there we have the expectation of God that men and women and boys and girls should walk humbly with God. They should walk with God. They should be in the company of God. That was the way that man was first made, to be in fellowship with God in the Garden of Eden. And it was expressed in the way that God would come in the cool of the day and walk with Adam and talk with Adam. That is... part of the purpose of mankind, to be in fellowship with God. We're to walk with God. We're to have fellowship with God, but that fellowship can only take place when we walk humbly with God, when we have a right attitude toward God, a right view of ourselves. And that is what we said about humility, wasn't it, in the first place, was that humility is to have a sense of our own Insignificance. Our own natural insignificance and our own moral insignificance before God. This is what God requires of us. And Peter, in our kind of theme text, if you like, 1 Peter 5, verses 5 and 6, says, "...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 there in our key text are two commands. Clothe yourselves. That's an imperative. That's a command. Humble There's another imperative. It's a command. You must do this. And when he says, clothe yourselves, he tells us what we're to clothe ourselves with. We are to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. and we're to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. So there we have two commands regarding humility. One of those commands is our humility in relation to God. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. The same thing that Micah was saying in chapter six and verse eight, that we are to walk humbly with our God. We're to have a right sense of our own insignificance before God. But Peter also commands that we are to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. And that brings in the other aspect of humility, that humility doesn't only have to do with our relationship with God, that vertical relationship, but it also has to do with our horizontal relationship, our relationship with our fellow human beings. We're to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. And James reinforces the command of God, God's imperative to us, that we are to humble ourselves before the Lord in James chapter 4 and verse 10. And so, Humility is important because it is repeatedly commanded or expected by God. Now, the second reason why humility is important is because there are serious consequences for the disobedient. There are serious consequences for the disobedient. Well, that's always the case, isn't it? Whenever God gives a command, He is not indifferent about whether or not we obey the command. His commands are not optional. His commands are requirements. And therefore, since humility is commanded of God, it shouldn't be any surprise to us that there are serious consequences for those who are disobedient to this command. In Proverbs 16, verse 5, it says, Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured he will not go unpunished. And arrogance is the same thing as pride. It's the opposite of humility. You can't be humble and arrogant. If you are humble, you will not be arrogant. Everyone who is arrogant in heart, everyone who is not humble in heart, is an abomination to the Lord. And he will not go unpunished. And so we see there that, as we've seen before, that pride and arrogance is something that the Lord hates. Not only does the Lord hate it, but the Lord has forbidden it. And since the Lord has forbidden it, those who practice arrogance and pride in their lives will be punished for it. Proverbs goes on in the 18th verse of the 16th chapter to say, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Those well-known words that have become proverbial in the world as well as in the church. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. There's a principle at work in our lives A principle that results in those who are full of pride and arrogance being humbled. That those who elevate themselves and boast about themselves will fall, will be destroyed. And this is true because God opposes the proud. This is true because God is against the proud. James says that in chapter 4 and verse 6. He gives more grace, therefore it says God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. God is in opposition to the proud and I've expressed this before and emphasised this before. We need to take to heart that God is against certain people. And he is against the proud. He works in opposition to the proud. The proud wants to exalt himself. The proud wants to honour himself. The proud wants to get glory to himself. And God will work against that. And that's what those proverbs are telling us. And that's what James and Peter tell us when they say God opposes the proud. So there are serious consequences. for those who do not pursue humility in their lives, for those who do not clothe themselves with humility, for those who do not obey the commandment or expectation of God that we humble ourselves before the Lord, that we humble ourselves towards one another. So there's two reasons why humility is important. It's repeatedly commanded or expected by God, and there are serious consequences for the disobedient. But there's a third reason why humility is important, and that is that there are wonderful rewards for the obedient. There are wonderful rewards for the obedient. And so I want to ask another question, in exploring that third answer to the first question, why is humility important? And that is, in what ways are the humble honoured? In what ways are the humble honoured? And the first answer I want to give to that question is that they are promised grace. The humble are promised grace. James chapter 4 verse 6, we've just considered it in terms of the first thing that the scriptures say with regard to pride and humility. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. God gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5, and verse 5 is likewise quoting from the Old Testament, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And that's given as the motive. This is why you should clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Now that's a quotation of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament scriptures from Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 34. The first part of that phrase in the Hebrew says, he scorns the scornful. and in the second part, but gives grace to the humble. In the Greek translation, which obviously both James and Peter are quoting from in their letters, the first phrase says God opposes the proud rather than he scorns the scornful. But in both the Greek and the Hebrew, it says he gives grace to the humble. What is this grace? that God gives. We think of grace as undeserved favour. God's undeserved favour towards us. God does for us something we don't deserve. And we think particularly of the grace of God in salvation, don't we? When we think about God's grace towards us. We think about his saving grace. among other things. But that dominates really our thinking in terms of God's grace. And why do we think in terms of God's grace in salvation? Well, it's because we know that we cannot earn salvation. We know that Reconciliation to God, having our sins removed so that we can come into the presence of God without hindrance, is not something that we can do ourselves. Paul makes a big thing of that in his letter to the church in Rome, and he makes the comparison between something that is earned and something that is received as a gift. And he says there, well, if you want to earn salvation, then you must do so by obedience to the law. And he says there that we can't obey the law. No one is able to obey the law. So that through the law comes death. Through the law comes judgment. That is what we earn. through our attempt to come to God through the law. We earn his displeasure. We earn his judgment. Because we cannot keep the law perfectly. We cannot keep it wholly. We cannot keep it consistently. We cannot keep it to the standard that God requires. A standard that is a perfect reflection of his own character. of his own image. We were created in his likeness, a likeness that was destroyed in Adam when he refused to obey God and took issues into his own hands and followed his own wisdom and ate the forbidden fruit. And doing so as our representative then, that has affected the whole of humanity. And we have earned God's disapproval. We have earned God's condemnation. We have earned God's righteous judgment. That's what we earn. And yet God extends to us saving grace, a saving gift. He extends to this world the offer of His Son and salvation through faith in Him. Now that is something that is not earned. That is something that is given as a gift to those who receive it, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and entrust themselves to His saving work. And even the gift of faith to believe in him is a gift from God. And even the ability to repent is a gift from God. Salvation is God's grace towards us. And how do we receive that grace from God? Well, we receive it in humility. That's where it begins, isn't it? It begins with a recognition of our sinfulness. It begins with a recognition of our inability to come to God and have a right standing before him by our own works, by our own efforts. Our own efforts fail us. Our own works incur God's wrath. And therefore we must come to him with heads bowed in shame. We must come to him as those who have failed. We must come to him in humility. And in humility we receive from God's hand the grace of salvation. We cannot come with arrogance before God. We cannot come with pride before God to receive this gift. It is not an earned gift. It is not a reward that we receive because of what we've done or because of who we are in and of ourselves. And so there is no place for pride. There's no place to be thinking, I am worthy of this gift from God. That was the mistake that the Pharisee made in the temple, wasn't it? I thank you that I am not like other men. I fast, I tithe, I do this, I do that. That attitude has no place in the presence of God. It will incur his wrath and displeasure. We need to be like the sinner who came and bowed his head, would not even look up to heaven. and cry, God be merciful to me, a sinner. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And that's how we need to live our lives, every day of our lives. We need to live our lives in humility. We need to live our lives acknowledging our failures and seeking God's grace. And throughout our lives then we receive grace. We receive grace as we humble ourselves before the Lord. We receive the grace of his help day by day. We receive the grace of his word day by day. We receive the grace of his spirit day by day as we humble ourselves, as we do as as the scriptures tell us, to walk humbly with our God. It's not a momentary instance of humility as we bow in repentance and are justified in Christ Jesus, but it is an ongoing relationship of humility before a sovereign and transcendent God who owes us nothing, but promises to bless us. with the gift of salvation and the presence of his spirit and strength to endure day by day to live for his glory. The humble are honoured by receiving grace from God every day. Secondly, the humble are honoured in that they are declared to be great. They are declared to be great. It's a contradiction, isn't it? It seems to us that the humble who feel shame and their smallness and their insignificance should be declared to be great. But this is what Jesus said, Matthew chapter 18, verses one through four. The disciples came to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now, I want you to think a little bit about that. What does it mean to be humble like a child? Now, children can be as arrogant and as boastful as adults are. And so, it's not in that respect that Jesus is pointing to this child. He's not saying to us that children are inherently humble, because we know that that is not the case. But what is a child? Well, a child is a dependent, isn't it? That's the language we use. Who are your dependents? A father or mother might be asked. And when you fill in various forms, you have to declare who your dependents are. Who depends on you? And children They are not inherently humble in the sense of not having pride and not thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but they are inherently humble in the sense that they are dependent. And the younger they are, the more dependent they are. They're dependent upon their parents for protection. They're dependent upon their parents for provision, for food and for clothing and for shelter. They're dependent upon their parents for guidance and for instruction. They're dependent on their parents to bring them up to a point where they become independent of their parents. But as a child, a child is dependent. And what Jesus is saying, I think, in these verses is that Those who are great in the sight of God are those who recognize their dependence and live in dependence upon Christ. To be in the kingdom of God is greatness. to be in the Kingdom of God. Because to be in the Kingdom of God, to be brought into the Kingdom of God, requires humility as we've just observed. It requires a divesting of any hope and any confidence and any dependence upon ourselves and a casting of ourselves upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that way, We are brought into the Kingdom of God. That is greatness, to be in the Kingdom of God, isn't it? It's great to be in the kingdom of God rather than in the kingdom of Satan, or in the kingdom of this world, or in the kingdom of darkness, or whichever phrase from the Bible you want to pick out to describe being cut off from God, being under the wrath of God, being destined for the judgment of God, and forever separation from the blessings of God. It is great to be in the kingdom of God. There is greatness. But more than that, when we are brought into the kingdom of God and of his Son, we are made princes. We are adopted into the family of God and we are caused to reign with Christ. Now we don't know the fullness of that yet because our salvation has not yet been consummated. It hasn't yet come in all of its fullness and yet even now we are sons of God. Even now we are engrafted into the Lord Jesus Christ and sit with him in the heavenly places as Paul writes to the Ephesians. And there's a greatness surely there to be in the presence of God, sharing the throne of God. And Jesus says that whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The greatest in the kingdom of heaven Most resemble the Lord Jesus Christ in humility and obedience. The greatest most resemble the Lord Jesus Christ in humility and obedience, because the Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself. The Lord Jesus Christ did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself and became a servant. Being found in the likeness of men, he became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And so through his life, Jesus would say things like, I always do my Father's will. Or, I speak my father's words. Or, I do not act on my own authority. Or, I have received this from the father. And so throughout his earthly life, Jesus is living in dependence upon his father. He receives guidance from his father. He receives commands from his father. He walks in obedience to his father. He prays. to his father. He receives good gifts from his father. And so he lives in dependence upon his father, in obedience to his father, a life of humility before his father. That is the life of a humble child, you see. Living in dependence and in obedience to his father. And this is what Christ calls us to, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, to resemble the Lord Jesus Christ in humility. That is true greatness. And so, The blessing, the honour that the humble receive is to be declared to be great. Thirdly, those who are humble are honoured because they are given riches, honour and life. They are given riches, honour and life. Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 4 says, The reward of humility and fear of the Lord is riches, honour and life. Now we need to recall that the book of Proverbs is a book of principles and not promises. In other words, what I'm saying is that when we read a proverb like this, Proverbs 22 verse 4, the reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches, honour and life. We are not to confuse that with material blessings. We're not to think that, well, if I become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, if I humble myself before this great God and Saviour, if I walk in the fear of the Lord, then He will load me with wealth, that He will make me prosperous in this world. I'm going to have a nice car, and a great house and all of the mod cons and all of the toys that I want. That's not what this verse is telling us. It may be that the Lord will give wealth, material wealth. But the principles and promises of God's Word as they relate to our relationship to God, find their ultimate fulfilment not in this world, but in the spiritual rewards of the new creation, in the new heavens and the new earth. That is what is in view here. And those who humble themselves before the Lord, those who walk in the fear of the Lord, will be enriched with spiritual riches. They will be honoured with a place in heaven and they will be given eternal life. Now these are things that this world can't understand. These are things that this world knows nothing about. But these are wonderful and great and glorious things in the eyes of those who have the Spirit of God in them. And this is a great motive then to be humble, to realise that while humility may seem to be a belittling of ourselves, a lowering of ourselves, In the end, it results in riches, honour and life. And those things begin even now. They begin even now. Paul writes to the Ephesians and he says that they have been given the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of their inheritance. That they have the blessing of the God of creation indwelling them by his Spirit. all through their lives in this world. And that leads me to the fourth blessing, the fourth way in which the humble are honoured. And that is that they are assured of God's presence and help. They are assured of God's presence and help. In Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 15, we read, Thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I dwell in a high and holy place, God says, but also with him who is of contrite and lowly spirit, also with him who is humble. I am there, God is saying. And God indwells then those who have humbled themselves before him and trusted in his Son as their Saviour. And he dwells in them to give them life because he is life. He dwells in them to cause within them a love to flow to him and to others because he is love. He dwells within them and he gives them a peace that passes understanding. that is greater than the greatest tragedy that we experience and the worst situations that we find ourselves in. This peace reigns in our hearts because he is peace and he reigns in our hearts. And so he is with us. And so he provides for us, and he protects us, and he guides us, and every good gift comes to us from him. This is the assurance that those who humble themselves before him receive. God is with them, and he will not ever forsake them. And then finally, in the fifth place, the humble are honoured because they will be exalted. They will be exalted. That's what our key texts have said. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. Humble yourselves that he may exalt you. James says exactly the same thing. Chapter 4 and verse 10, humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. And Jesus himself said in Matthew 23 and verse 12, whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Whoever humbles himself will be exalted. This is the reality. This is the truth. This is the promise that we have received from God. That those who humble themselves will be exalted. But notice what Peter said. Peter added in an important clarification. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you. And this is the reality that we need to face, that God has a time for everything. That's what the writer of Ecclesiastes said, isn't it? There's a time for everything under the sun. And who is it that determines the time for everything under the sun? It is God who determines the time. A time to be born and a time to die. The great bookends of our life on this earth. God determines those times and everything that happens between those two great events. are determined by Him. And everything that has come before and everything that will come after are determined by Him at the proper time. This is true of our salvation, isn't it? All through the ages of the Old Testament, the promise had been given, the promise of the seed of the woman, the promise of the skull-crushing son who would come and destroy the serpent, and destroy sin, and destroy death. All through the ages of the Old Testament they waited for the fulfilment of that promise. It didn't come with the birth of Cain. He proved himself to be captive to sin. It didn't come with righteous Noah. He brought in a new beginning for this world, but it was a beginning that flowed out of a heart that was sinful still. It didn't come. with King David, a man after God's own heart, because while he loved the Lord, and while he sought to honour the Lord, he still had the sickness of sin that defiled him. And his actions were not always holy, and his thoughts were not always wise, and his choices did not always honour God. But at the proper time, the seed of the woman came. At the proper time, the Son of God left the glory of heaven and clothed himself in our humanity so that he could live for us under the law of God and satisfy all of its demands by living a righteous life and by dying a substitutionary death in our place on the cross. And at the proper time, at God's time, that happened. And Peter says, at the proper time, God will exalt the humble. At the proper time, he will lift us up to glory. And he was crowned us with honour. at the proper time. And this was true for the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, the God who had clothed himself in our humanity and become the humble servant to save us from our sins. Because he did that, because he humbled himself, because he was obedient to the point of death on the cross. Therefore, we are told, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow. in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. At the proper time, Christ was exalted. At the proper time, God will exalt us. And when is that proper time? Well, that proper time is when we have fulfilled our lives of humble service in this world. And it is then that he will exalt us together with the Lord Jesus Christ and we will reign with him forever and ever. This is the blessing of God upon the humble. This is the blessing of God upon those who clothe themselves with humility. This is the blessing of God upon those who imitate the Lord Jesus Christ in not grasping for glory, but resting in him, waiting upon him, walking in humble dependence, before him, that at the proper time they might be exalted. May the Lord help us to live lives of humility and look forward to the day of Christ's glory, to the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. Our Father God, we thank you for these studies, this time that we've been able to spend, and digging into your word and thinking about the importance of humility. We recognise that it is a command from you, an expectation that you have, that all of your children should walk before you in humility and should clothe themselves with humility toward one another. We pray, our Father, that you would work this in us by the renewing of our minds through the providences that you bring us through as you encourage and help us in our self-discipline, that we would humble ourselves so that at the proper time you may exalt us in the glory of the new heavens and the new earth. where as the bride of the Lamb we will be wedded to him forevermore. We ask in his precious name. Amen.