Please turn in your Bibles tonight
to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 5. Now Peter is, in this chapter, not only closing
it out, but he's admonishing and instructing these elders,
and they are the elders and the younger, and they are as well instructions
to each and every one of God's people. The elders which are among you,
I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. feed the flock of God which is
among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but
willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither
as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you. Yea, all of you. be subject one to another, and
be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud and
giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. I was reading not long ago something
that an old preacher said that really stuck in my mind. He said, a man has just so much
Christianity as he has humility. And I kept thinking about that
and thinking about what Peter has to say. There's one thing
I know for sure, and it is all to weigh through the Bible from
cover to cover. And that is that God resists
the proud. He hates pride. As a matter of fact, in the book
of Proverbs in chapter six, when he gives that list, saying there
are seven things that he hates, Pride is the first one. I'll read it to you. These six
things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto
him, and the first thing is a proud look. He hates pride because that is
the first mentioned sin in the Bible. Adam and Eve, in pride,
ate of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden. And
of those three things that John speaks of, The lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. God hates pride. And there is a reason for it.
There is a reason for it, and it is because it is not justifiable
in any son or daughter of Adam. In other words, we have nothing
in ourselves, nor do we do anything by ourselves to be proud of. There's no reason in us for pride. Therefore, one of the chief characteristics
Of those who have been born from above, of those who know something
of the true grace of God, one of the chief characteristics
is humility. What is humility? What is it, as he says here,
to humble yourselves? Well, the word means something
like to depress, to press down, or to humiliate oneself, or to
abase, or to bring low. It means humiliation of mind
or loneliness of mind. And as we see here, it means
deferring to others. In other words, thinking everybody
else is better than ourselves, that they know more than we do,
that they can do better than we do. And it kind of winds up
being like Paul expressed it when he called himself the chief
of sinners. And I know this also, I'm very
sure of this, that the only way a proud sinner, and you can't
call any sinner anything but a proud sinner. Some people even proud of their
humility, if they can be such. Some people proud of this and
that and the other. But the only way a proud sinner
is humble, it is by the grace of God in them. And I believe this is the truth. Many people look for all kinds
of evidences that they cannot be supported by the Bible for
believers. But I know this, where there
is grace, true grace, there is humility. And I could say it
just the other way around. Where there is humility, there
always has to be grace. I remember one time Brother Henry
Mahan speaking of pride in this, these three ways. He said people
had pride of face. They're proud of how they look,
how they appear before everybody. And he said, they're also proud
of place. That is, they're proud of their
position or proud of what they've done or not done. And then he
says, even there are those who are proud of grace. which he said could not be. We cannot be proud of grace. We cannot in any way say or pretend
or demonstrate that we are proud of the grace of God that is to
us. And the reason why is because
those who have truly been born again, they've been made, as
John says, to know some things, to see some things. And the very first one is they
have had some view of God as He is. They have made, they have
been shown, it's been revealed to them some degree of how God
is as the absolute sovereign. That means If he is the absolute
sovereign, it's not what we do, it's what he does. It's not our
will, it's his will. It's not our purpose, it's his
purpose. It's not what we do, it's what
he does. And I'll show you an example
of that in Daniel chapter 4. Look over in Daniel chapter 4. In Daniel chapter 4 was a very
proud man. And by man's standards, among
men, he may have had something to be proud of. But what he did
was simply God enabling him to do it. So, he says here in Daniel 4,
in verse 29, at the end of 12 months, he walked in the palace
of the kingdom of Babylon, and the king spake. This is probably
one of the greatest kings that has ever lived, King Nebuchadnezzar. And he spake and said, Is not
this great Babylon that I have built for a house of the kingdom
by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? And while the word was in the
king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar,
to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is departed from thee. And they
shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the
beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat grass
as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know
that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth
it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled
upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men and did eat grass
as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till the
hairs were grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's
claws. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised
and honored Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion. and his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time, my reason
returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, and mine honor
and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors and my
Lord sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and
excellent majesty was added to me." But now you look at this
next verse. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise
and extol and honor the King of Heaven. All whose works are truth, and
His ways judgment, and those that walk in pride, He is able
to abase. The Lord's people have found
out something about the true and living God. They found out
that He is the ruler. They found out that He is in
charge. They found out that He does His
will, and their so-called free will amounts to zero. And in light of that fact, that's
a very humbling thing. They see him in his glory, in
his sovereignty, in his holiness, in his perfection, in his glory,
and all that he is has a humbling effect on them. And they've been shown by God
something else. They've been shown by God something
about who they are. Who they are. I don't really
believe that there is one of us that could really stand or
endure or know without it utterly destroying us just exactly who
we are. But he shows us a little bit.
Look over in Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah chapter 6. It says, in the year that King
Uzziah died, Isaiah says, I saw the Lord also sitting upon a
throne, and high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
You see, seeing God for who He is. has an effect on how we see
ourselves. And he says, above it stood the
seraphims. Each one had six wings. With
twenty covered his face, with twenty covered his feet, and
with twenty did fly. And one cried unto another, saying,
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. Their whole earth is
full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Holy, holy, holy. Then said I, woe is me. You see, in the light of God's
holiness and sovereignty and glory, Isaiah was caused to see
not only who God was, but also who he was. Then said I, woe
is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. You see, the Bible says that
in his light we see light. And men look pretty good to themselves,
as Paul said, comparing themselves with themselves. But whenever
we're able to see and to know something about God and how he
is, and especially as Isaiah saw, I believe, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he said, woe is me. You know, it's pretty easy for
me to say, woe is thee. Woe is you until the Lord shows me what
I am and how I am. Isaiah said, woe is me, not somebody
else. We're hopeless and helpless and
vile and bound and lost and nothing but vanity. Man, at his best state, at his best state, is altogether
vanity. Vanity. Job said it like this,
I've heard of you, God, I've heard of you with the hearing
of my ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee, wherefore I abhor
myself. and repent in dust and ashes. Listen to Isaiah 40. All nations
before him are as nothing. In case you get to thinking you're
somebody, the knowledge of that fact by the Spirit of God, applied
to our hearts, it humbles us. All the nations before Him are
as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing and
vanity." I'm telling you what, when you
find out you're counted as less than nothing in yourself, or vanity, which is just air
or zero. You have nothing to brag about. You have nothing to toot your
horn about. And God showing us not only who
he is, but showing us what we are and enabling us to believe
that. That has a humbling effect. That's why people don't want
to hear the gospel. Brother Mahan said, what is the
gospel? First of all, it's to tell the
truth about God. What is it again? To tell the
truth about man. I tell you what, when you read
what the Bible says about what we are and how we are in and
of ourselves, there is nothing left to boast upon. And then not only that, but they've
seen that the only way that they could be saved is by grace. If God is the way he is, And
I am the way I am. The only way that I can be saved
is by grace and by another, the Lord Jesus Christ." Well, maybe
I could give him a little hand in it. Maybe I could add to it,
maybe I could make a decision or maybe I could do something
that would enable me to kind of toot my horn a little bit. Look over Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 and verse 23. He says, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's a universal statement. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Well, some people think they
come close. Or they think that they haven't
missed the mark much. But the glory of Christ is his
son, the man Christ Jesus. And he never thought evil. He
never did evil. He never spoke evil. He never
had a motive for sin or anything else. He was absolutely, by God's
standard, 100% perfect. Listen, he says, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. It's freely, it's by grace, It's
in Christ Jesus, and it's through his work of redemption, all right?
Whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God to declare, I say at this
time, his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Next verse, where is boasting
then? If he's done it all, if his work
has accomplished this redemption, if it's done before we're born,
where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Well, somebody says, what about
faith? It is the gift of God. It is the gift of God. And men and women who see all
the manifestations of God's grace, and the more we hear of God's
everlasting love toward us, and the more we hear of Christ's
sacrifice, and the more we hear of God's blessings to us, of
Him choosing us before the world began, of Him always loving us,
when we could have the showers of grace poured out upon us,
it's a very humbling thing. to know I was nothing, to know
I did nothing, to know that God always loved me, to know that
He always had His eye upon me, to know that He chose me in grace,
to know that He predestinated all things to me, to know that
He has watched over me all the days of my life, even before
I was saved and brought me through one thing or other and worked
everything out for my good and His glory. What are we going to do? We're
going to bow down before Him and thank Him. That's all a beggar
can do. We're going to thank Him for
what He's done and the fact that He's done it all. And they've seen something else
also. They're honest by grace to admit
that in their flesh dwells no good thing to this day. Will you say, preacher, haven't
you made a little improvement? No. Thank God I've been restrained. Thank God He showed mercy to
me and helped me and blessed me in spite of myself. And He has withheld the inner
wickedness in me and done a lot of restraints, but I'm still what I am in this flesh. Turn over to Romans chapter 7. Paul said in verse 14, for we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. He says this as a believer. He's not talking about what some
people foolishly talk about. There's two people inside of
me. No, there's one person, one nature
in me, and it's a nature of sin. The only opposing force to that
nature of sin is the Holy Spirit of God. Verse 15, for that which I do,
I allow not. For what I would do, for what
I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, if it is
no more I that dwelleth that doeth, but sin that dwelleth
in me, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. For the will is present with
me, but how to perform it, that which is good, I find not. For
the good that I would do, would I do not, and the evil which
I would not do, would not that I do. Now if I do that, I would
not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me, and I find in law. that when I would do good, evil
is present with me, for I delight in the law of God after the inner
man, but I seeing another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. We see ourselves as fallen. as vile. We experience every
day this weakness of the flesh and all these things and we in
light of all that are humbled. And then they realize that it's
God alone who keeps them. who keeps them believing, who
keeps them in the faith. Peter says, who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. You see, we know something else,
that if God did not keep us, If He did not keep us believing,
if He did not keep us following in Christ, if He did not keep
us continuing in His Word, we would certainly fall away. That's something. Right now, if God were to let
us Be me, as we say. We would all walk away, leave,
depart, and never think another thought about the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's humbling. We have to be kept daily, momentarily. and they're commanded to humble
themselves. How is that possible? The only thing that will accomplish
this is to remember these things. and to hear these things constantly
and to live in the light of them. We live in the light of who God
is and what we are and his great
grace to us, saving us all together without any response to us, from
us, without any help from us, without any, just all by himself,
and keeping us safe. The knowledge of that, the remembrance
of that, always tends to humble us. Paul says to the Colossians,
Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows
of mercies and kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. You see, grace, true grace. does not make one proud or arrogant
or mean-spirited or critical or judgmental. It humbles us. Are we one of God's elect? Oh,
what mercy and grace to us. For thus saith the high and lofty
one that inhabited eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in
the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and
to revive the heart of the contrite ones. You see, all these things just
continue to knock us down, in a sense, put us down in the dust. But He never lets us get too
far in the dust. He never lets us get too far
down before He revives us and refreshes us and reminds us of
His goodness and His grace to us in Christ. Isaiah 66, For all those things
hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith
the Lord. But to this man will I look,
even to him that is of a poor and contrite spirit, and who
trembleth at my word. That person that's not boasting
in what they know, or boasting in what they've done, or boasting
in any other thing except what God's grace has given them. Job 22, when men are cast down,
then thou shalt say, there is a lifting up, and he shall save
the humble person. You see, grace It's what humbles
us. And yet grace is what sustains
us, and grace is what lifts us up. Acts 20. Serving the Lord with
all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which
befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. I like what the psalmist said.
My soul may make her boast in the Lord. I'm not going to boast about
what I've done, what I am, you know, in the light of His glory
in the light of my weakness, in the light of my necessary
to be saved by grace, in the light of his keeping, my soul's
gonna make the boast and the only one that can be boasted
in, the Lord. Now listen to what it says next. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. When I make my boast in the Lord,
when I say there's no help for me but grace, when I say if the
Lord had saved me I would have been lost and doomed and dead,
when I talk about His grace and His glory and make Him my only
boast, the humble hear that. They hear that and they say,
me too. They say, I'm glad. I'm glad it's that
way. I'm glad. Matthew, he says, and whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble
himself shall be exalted. Turn to James chapter 4. God's sovereign grace humbles
His people in it. It continues to humble. Verse 6. But He giveth more grace,
wherefore He saith, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto
the humble. Submit yourselves, therefore,
to God. Bow down. Submit to him. Resist the devil, who always stirs us to pride. and he'll flee from you. Draw
nigh to God, and he'll draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye
sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted,
and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. He gives grace to the humble. Humility is one of those graces that God gives. If God has made
us humble, it has to be just like He did Nebuchadnezzar by
His power working in us. showing us who he is, showing
us what we are, showing us the only way that we could be saved,
showing us what we yet still are, showing us that he must keep us. And that's why we make our boast
in the Lord. The only one we got to boast
in is the Lord. And the humble hear that. The
other humble hear that. And they're glad. They're glad. Father, we thank you tonight
for your grace. We are such proud sinners. We pray that you humble us. that you keep us clothed in the
spirit of humility, that we not walk in pride, self-righteousness, and let people say what they
will. But let us remember that you
resist the proud and you give grace to the humble. And for that grace,
we thank you. And we pray and ask for strength
that we might live in this world as those clothed in humility, meekness, and walk in the light of your
grace. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.