Would you turn back to Ephesians
chapter four? I've entitled the message for
this evening, All Lowliness. Now it's not without significance
when Paul speaks of the worthy walk that the first thing he
mentions is all loneliness, all humility is what the word means. And I was thinking without humility,
everything else is phony. That's how important this is.
The first thing he mentions with regard to this worthy walk is
to walk with all lowliness, with all humility. Turn with me for
a moment, hold your finger there, and turn with me a moment to
Romans chapter 12. Paul says in verse 1, I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. Anything else is unreasonable.
And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind. that you may prove, that you
may demonstrate what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. And here's the first thing he
says regarding what it is to prove that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace given
unto me to every man that's among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think. I think of Paul saying, if a
man thinketh himself to be something, when he's nothing, he deceiveth
himself. For I say through the grace given
unto me to every man that's among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Now, Somebody says, why would
you want someone to think lowly of themselves? Well, first of
all, because it's accurate. It's accurate. It's a real description,
if we know ourselves at all. But it's only as you and I think
lowly of ourselves that we'll think highly of Christ. That's
the only way. It's only as I, as we considered
this morning, it's only as I, as I am nothing, that Christ
is all to me. That's the only way. You can't
see Christ at all from a high position, only from a low position. Oh, doesn't it comfort your heart
to know that Christ is all? Isn't that the only thing that
gives you peace? That Christ is all? Isn't that really the
only thing that gives you joy? That Christ is all, all God requires
of you. And you can't hear the gospel,
I can't hear the gospel, apart from this God-given grace. Now, there are people who are
naturally, seemingly humble, and you really like those people
better than you like natural, arrogant people. There's something
beautiful about humility. But what we're talking about
is a grace of the Spirit. It's something that only the
believer has, this humility that Paul's talking about. Now, I
want you to think for a moment about how beautiful humility
is from this point of view. The Lord of glory, the creator
of the universe, the one who controls everything and everybody,
the one who's all powerful, describes his own heart as meek and lowly
in heart. That's the Lord Jesus. I, you
know, I, I can't conceive of that, but the God of glory, the
Lord Jesus Christ is a humble person. Now that is just Amazing. Humility is so beautiful. Now,
why should we all walk in all humility? Well, we have a reason
to be humble, don't we? I mean, you think of your own
sinfulness. I'm not talking about the way you used to be. I'm talking
about the way you are right now. Don't you and don't I have every
reason to walk in all humility. Now, humility is the opposite
of pride. Simple enough. Humility is the
opposite of pride. What is pride? Well, humility
is a just estimate of yourself. You know, the Lord has a just
estimate of himself, doesn't And every believer is to have
a just estimate of themselves. But pride is an unjust estimate
of yourself. It's the most groundless thing
in the world, and yet it's the thing we practice so quickly. This thing of pride. Now, pride is an unjust estimate of yourself
and where it exists, there's always a feeling of moral superiority
to somebody else. Always. Always. That's the cause. Every time
I judge somebody, well, that's a lot. Wish it wasn't like that. But every time I judge somebody,
I am exercising pride. I am saying somehow I am not
guilty of what that person is doing. Whereas that is just wrong. It's just wrong. I love that
passage of scripture in Romans chapter two, verse one. Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art the judgest.
For you the judgest doest. Present, active. Not, well, I've
done that before. You the judge, doest. Right now,
present tense, the same things. Now, isn't that remarkably hypocritical? I'm guilty. You're guilty. Now, the scripture paints us
a beautiful picture of these two opposites, pride and loneliness,
or pride and humility and nothing. Parable of the Pharisee and the
Publican. Would you turn with me there for a moment to Luke
18? I really, in my opinion, this
is, the whole Bible is about this parable. This is the most
significant parable. Well, how am I able to say that? I can't tell you which one's
the most significant, but it's a significant one. Let's put
it that way. It's a significant one. And look at Luke 18 verse
nine. And he spake this parable unto
certain which trusted in themselves. Now here's the first mark of
pride. You trust in yourself. I think of what Paul said the
believer was, we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. What a stupid thing, and that's
a good word for it, what a stupid thing it is to trust in yourself.
You ought to hold yourself suspect. You ought to know that whatever
you naturally think, it's wrong. Now here, he speaks this parable
to certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous. Now, what is that? Self-righteousness. If you have any personal righteousness
that you can trust in, It's self-righteousness. That's all it is. And let me
remind you, self-righteousness is a delusion. It's deceit. It is wrong. Wherever anyone
has a self-righteousness, it's because they're deceived and
they don't, at that time, really understand what seeing is. Now,
I practice self-righteousness all the time. all the time, you
do too. And it's so deceptive, it's so,
it's just wrong. But here we have this fella.
This parable was to certain which trusted in themselves that they
were righteous. And what always comes along with
that? They despise others. They look down their nose at
others. They can find someone that they
compare themselves to and say, well, I'm better than that person.
I might not be up here, but I'm not down there. I'm different
from that person. And any comparison you make with
somebody else, it's just ridiculous. It's you comparing yourself with
a corrupt standard. And you say, well, I look better
than that. Well, no, you don't. No, you don't. You think you
do, but you don't. Now here is this person that trusts in themselves
that they're righteous and they despise, they look down upon,
they sit in judgment of others. He speaks of these two men, two
men, verse 10, went up into the temple to pray. They both saw
their need of God. The one a Pharisee and the other
a publican. Someone who was dishonest. Someone who garnished their wages
through taking that which belonged to somebody else. I mean, they
worked for the Roman government. They were Jews. They worked for
the Roman government. And instead of taking what people
really owed, they'd add to it and put it in their own pockets.
And you can imagine how despised these people were. They were
the most despised people in the land. A Pharisee? a religious, moral, separated
one, and a publican. And these two men represent pride
and humility. Now let's go and read. Verse
11. The Pharisee stood. Now I know
why he stood. He wanted to make sure everybody
could see him. You can just write that down. He wanted to be seen
of men. He wanted people to recognize
his piety. He stood and he prayed I love
this, thus with himself. I love the way the Lord says
this. This guy's prayer wasn't getting any, it wasn't even making
it to the ceiling. It was just making it to him. He prayed thus
with himself. He wasn't praying to God. He
thought he was, but he prayed thus with himself. And look who
he gives credit to. God, I thank thee. He gave God the credit. I believe this man probably would
have been reformed. That's what he would have said.
I'm giving God the credit. God, I thank Thee. But it's so
interesting as to what he thanks the Lord for. He doesn't thank
Him for mercy. He doesn't thank Him for the
forgiveness of sins. He doesn't thank Him for the
freeness of God's grace. He doesn't thank Him for God
the Holy Spirit giving a new heart. He doesn't thank Him for
the righteousness of Christ as His only righteousness that God
provided. Nothing like that. He said, God,
I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. All he could thank God for was
I'm different than other people. I'm better than other people
is what that means. I'm more righteous than other
people. And then he demonstrates his
utter ignorance of sin. He says, I thank thee that I'm
not as other men are extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. Now, this man had taken God's
law and brought it down to a place where he thought he kept it.
And what he demonstrated by that is he had no idea what he was
saying. He was looking at God's law and
say, by your grace, I've kept that commandment. I've not been
an extortioner. He obviously didn't know what
it meant to be an extortioner. He wouldn't have said that. He said, I'm
not an adulterer. I'm not unjust. I thank you that
I am not as other men are. I do not commit these sins. Now,
let me assure you, if you believe in your heart that you kept one
commandment, one of the Ten Commandments, even one time in all your life,
you have no idea what the Ten Commandments mean. It's that
simple. You just don't know. This man
just did not know. He said, I thank you that I'm
not as other men are. I thank you that I'm not like
that publican. Now there, I'd agree with him.
That's the only thing he said that was true. I'm not like him.
Indeed, he wasn't. Indeed, he wasn't. Verse 12, I fast twice in the
week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Now, where in the word of God
does it ever tell you to fast twice a week? It doesn't. It doesn't. But he had him a
rule that he felt like he could keep. And I believe he probably
did fast twice a week. And when someone is a Pharisee,
you're going to always find out in some way what they give. They'll
figure out a way to let you know. I give tithes of all that I possess. And what this is all called?
Pride. That's all it can be called.
Pride. Verse 13, and the publican standing afar off. He did not even want to be seen. I can't help but think that maybe
he even heard that Pharisee pray. I'm not like that publican. He's
not. He's not. He's so much better
than me. I can see him thinking about that. I'm such a, I'm such
a, And the publican, standing afar
off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful, be propitious
is the word. Do something about my sin. There's
nothing I can do about it. I can't make it go away. Be propitious,
remove my sin by the sacrifice, by the atonement. Now that's
what it is. You're only dealing with your
sin honestly when you say, Lord, do something about it. I can't
do anything about it. Only you can do something about
it. Remove it through the sacrifice. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Do you believe that about yourself? You believe that you are a sinner,
that you were born a sinner, that you practice sin. That's
your nature. You choose to sin. You can't
say, I didn't choose to do this. Yes, you did. Every time you
sin, it's a choice. It's a choice. You do what you
want to do. If you're a sinner, All you do
is sin. This is interesting. I was talking
to Joe Terrell. You all have seen me give this definition
so many times. If you really believe you're
a sinner, that means you believe all you do is sin. You cannot not
sin. You can't blame anybody. It's
all your fault. You can't look down your nose in judgment upon
anybody. And you have no claims on God.
And Joe said, yeah, I believe that all about myself. Makes
me feel good about myself. We'll even make a righteousness
out of being a sinner. That's how bad we are. We can
find anything. Well, at least I know that. At
least I know I'm a murderer. Well, good. God be merciful to
me. sinner. Now that is, he didn't claim
anything above that. He didn't have any other plea.
God be merciful to me, the sinner. And look what the Lord says,
verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified,
not forgiven, Not pardoned, not shown mercy,
although all those things were indeed included. But he went
down to his house, having never sinned. That's what justification
means. Having never sinned. And the Bible is given to tell
how that is. The whole book is given to tell
how that is. But then the Lord gives us the
unalterable law of the kingdom of heaven for everyone that exalts
himself, like this Pharisee did. They're gonna be abased. And
the Lord knows how to abase people. Them that walk in pride, he's
able to abase. and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Now, I've already made this statement.
Let me make it again. Pride is the most groundless
thing and senseless thing in the world. Pride is unreasonable in every aspect. It's evil. It's wrong. I love what Paul said in 1 Corinthians
chapter 4 verse 7, who makes you to differ from another? And you know, if the Lord's made
you to differ, And that difference, you know, is what he's done for
you. You're not like the Pharisee who said, I thank thee that I'm
not as other men are. He was giving God the credit.
And I've made this statement. That's kind of like saying, there
go I, but for the grace of God. That's what I would be like.
No, that's what y'all are like. That's what y'all are like. That's
the proof. But who makes you to differ from another? And what
do you have that you didn't receive? Now, if you differ, you say,
well, I work harder. Who enabled you to do that? Well,
I'm smarter. Who gave you that intelligence?
If you do differ, I mean, men do differ. We're all created
equal. No, we're not. I mean, some people
are created or they come into this world with disabilities.
Some people are brought into this world with a much more difficult
environment to grow up in. They're just so many different.
Some have educational opportunities that others will never have.
Some are put in a financial situation that others aren't. Men don't
come into this life the same. Who makes you to differ? Only
God does in everything, in everything. I love Henry Mahan's statement
with regard to pride. God hates pride of race. To think that you're different
because of your race. God hates pride of face. To think
that you have something coming over the way God made you, if
you're better looking than somebody else. Pride of place. Look at the place I'm in. Most
regrettable pride of grace. Well, that's the biggest contradiction
in terms there is, but God, hates pride. He hates it. He's against it. God resists
the proud. God is against the proud. He gives grace to the humble. Now, if you differ in salvation,
who made you to differ? If you're saved, if you're somebody
that's truly saved, if the Lord has done something for, let me
tell you who made you to differ. God the Father made you to differ
in eternal election when he chose you before time began. God the
Son made you to differ when he put away your sin on Calvary
Street. God the Holy Spirit made you
to differ when he gave you a new nature and enabled you to believe
the gospel. God made you to differ. What
do you have that you didn't receive? You didn't come up with anything.
What do you have that you didn't receive? Somebody says, well,
at least I received it. You ain't received anything, if that's
your attitude. You don't even understand the gospel if you
think, well, the difference is I received it and accepted it
when somebody else rejected it. No, no, you haven't received
anything. I can assure you of that. The
Lord's not done anything for you if that's your attitude. If you're
a believer, you know God made you to differ, and everything
you have is that which you Now, let me give you some scriptures. Six things does God hate, yea,
seven are an abomination to him. What's the first thing he mentioned?
A proud look. Haughty eyes. Proverbs 16, 18,
pride goeth before disruption. and a haughty spirit before the
fall. Proverbs 13.10, by pride only
cometh contention. That says it all, doesn't it?
By pride only cometh contention. Proverbs 21.4 says a high look,
a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked. you see. Let me show you a passage in
2 Chronicles chapter 26. You remember when Isaiah said
in Isaiah chapter 6, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw
the Lord. Well, this is a story. This is what he saw at this time. In 2 Samuel 26. Now Uzziah was
a king that was greatly blessed of God. And you can read about
all the things the Lord did for him in this chapter. He was used
greatly and mightily. We read in verse 15 of this chapter,
this is at the end of all the things that he'd done. And he
made in Jerusalem engines. invented by cunning men to be
on the towers and upon the boards to shoot arrows and grace stones
with all. And his name spread far abroad
for he was marvelously helped till he was strong. But when
he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed against the
Lord his God and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense
upon the altar of incense. Now he wasn't a priest. He wasn't
a priest. There's only one person who could
burn incense, a priest. He was attempting to come into
God's presence on his own. I'm as good as those priests.
I'm sincere. Look at the way the Lord has
used me. I'm a super king. Look at these things that I've
made and how I've helped Israel. And Azariah the priest went in
after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were
valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto
him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense
unto the Lord, but to the priests and the sons of Aaron that are
consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for
thou hast trespassed. Neither shall it be for thine
honor from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth." I can
imagine him saying, who are you to say that to me? And he had
a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was wroth
with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead,
because the priests in the house of the Lord from beside the incense
altar, and Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests looked
upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and
they thrust him out from thence. Yea, himself hasted also to get
out. because the Lord had smitten
him and he died. You go on reading. He died a
leper. What about there in Acts chapter
12 when Herod gave an oration to the people and they said,
these are not the words of a man. These are the words of a God.
And what happened to him? He was smitten of worms and died
because he did not give God the glory. He was in a position of
pride. Now, we have every reason to be humble,
don't we? But there's something that I want to warn myself and
you about. Beware of what Paul calls a voluntary
humility. Look in Colossians chapter two. Verse 18, let no man beguile
you of your reward in a voluntary humility. Now, if you volunteer
to be humble, you're acting humble, aren't you? You ever been around
somebody acting humble? It's an act. It's an act. Look in verse 21, touch not,
taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with using
after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom and will worship. I've got power over my will.
I can control myself. And humility, look how humble
I am. And the point is, that's pride
in its most deceptive form when we act humble. But how beautiful is humility? The Lord said, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. He's got the power to do that.
He said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. I love the way
he said, learn not about me, but of me. for I am meek and
lowly in heart and you'll find rest for your souls. Now, what is the first beatitude? Blessed are the poor. Somebody that's poor, they don't
have anything that can recommend them to God. The only plea they
have is Christ himself. If you're poor, blessed are the
poor in spirit. David was a fabulously wealthy
man financially, but how did he describe himself? More than
any other way. I'm poor and I'm needy. I don't have anything to bring
to the table and I have great needs. There's no way that I
can earn or merit anything. I forfeited everything because
of my sin. I'm poor. I got nothing to recommend
myself. I'm poor. I have no experience.
I've got no... I'm poor and I have great needs. I need mercy. I need grace. I need the forgiveness of my
sins. I need you to have mercy on me and have your favor toward
me. I have great needs, poor and needy. James chapter four, verse six
and first Peter chapter five, verse five says, God resists
the proud and he gives grace to the humble. Proud man. God's against you. And if he's
your enemy, you're in trouble. God resists. God is against. God is opposed to the proud. How do you think it makes? What
does God see when he sees a proud individual? He's God and he sees
this I don't even know what words
to say. He sees someone be you, proud. Now, he gives grace to the humble. He gives him grace to be humble
in the first place. If you have any true humility
before God, if you have any poverty of spirit before God, if you
really believe you're somebody that doesn't have anything to
bring to the table, God's had mercy on you. He's by his grace
given you that humbleness of spirit and he gives his grace
to the humble. I couldn't help but think about
Paul where, you know, he, he was given all these abundant
revelations, he brought up into the third heaven. He was used
by God to write scripture. He was used by God to found all
these different churches. I don't reckon there's, I know
the Lord said of them born women, none are greater than John the
Baptist. Well, he obviously wasn't greater than John the Baptist
as far as men go, but there's never been a man more used of
God than John the Baptist, than Paul. Brought up into the third
heavens, and he said, but lest I should be exalted above measure
for the abundance of the revelations there was given to me. Who gave
it to him? God did. A thorn in the flesh. People have debated as to what
that is. There's no way we know what it
is, but it had something to do with his flesh. Because it called
it a thorn in the flesh. And it hurt. It was a continual
sense of grief to him. And he said, for this thing,
I besought the Lord three times that it might be removed from
me. And the Lord didn't say, no, I'm not going to remove it
from me. Because if I had some kind of thorn and I'd say, Lord,
take this away. He said, no, I'm not going to
do it. Well, OK. I'm not going to worry about
it. But that's not the way the Lord dealt with Paul. But he
did say this. My grace is sufficient for thee. You're going to have to be satisfied
to be saved by pure, free, sheer grace. You know, if I would have been
used like Paul, I can't even imagine how big
my head would be. My head's big anyway, but if I would have been
put in that kind of position, I'd be worthless. You would,
too. You would, too. You'd be just as bad. Don't look
back and think, yeah, Todd would. Yeah, you would, too. But the
Lord gave him this thorn in the flesh, and it's fruitless to
speculate what it was, except it was a thorn in the flesh.
And he was taught through that, my grace is sufficient for thee. you're going to be saved. And
Paul, Paul, you're going to be saved by sure, sheer, free grace
alone. Colossians 3.12 says, put on
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind. Same word, humbleness, loveliness
of mind. In loneliness of mind, let each
esteem the other as better than themselves. Now, if I have the
right attitude, I'm going to say that person's more spiritual
than me. That person is a better person
than me. You see, every believer believes themselves to be the
chief of sinners. You see, I know me a lot better than you know
me. And you know you a lot better than I know you. And every believer
sees themselves in this light. And therefore it's easy to see
somebody as better than you. You don't look at that person
sitting and say, if they knew what I was like, they wouldn't
have anything to do with me. That's the way every believer feels.
If they knew what was really, if they knew me, they wouldn't
have anything to do with me. Paul said, when he gave the summary
of the ministry, But the Lord had given him, he said, you know
how that from the first day I came into Asia, after what manner
of man I've been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord
with all humility of mind. And that's the only way he can
be served, with all humility of mind. Now, here's a statement. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. If you're a sinner, that's all
you need. When we were yet without strength,
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now, if you're without
strength and ungodly, that's good for you, isn't it? But if
you have something above that, it's really not good news. Now,
humility is a just and accurate estimate of yourself, and anything
other than humility is just wrong. And let me try to wrap this up
by giving you some scripture. Turn to Isaiah 57. Verse 15. For thus saith the high and lofty
one that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in the
high and holy place with him also. Let me get a drink, excuse me. For thus saith the high and lofty
one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in
the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit. That's who God dwells with. Look
in Isaiah 66. Verse one, thus saith the Lord,
the heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where
is the house that you built unto me? And where's the place of
my rest for all those things that mine had made? And all those
things have been, saith the Lord, but to this man will I look.
This is the man I'm gonna pay attention to. This is the man
that's gonna, I'm gonna look to. even to him that is poor, poor, humble, and of a contrite
spirit and trembles at my word. Micah chapter six, verse eight
says, what does the Lord require of thee, O man? But to do justly,
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. What about this thing doing justly?
The only way that can be understood is in light of justification. You haven't done justly with
regard to anything you've done, neither have I. But if Christ
has justified me, excuse me, I have done justly. And the second one is to love
mercy. I love mercy, don't you? and
to walk humbly with thy God. That's the only way you can walk,
with him. Now, four times in the Bible, we have the just shall
live by faith. Romans 1 16, Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God into
salvation. To everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it's written, the just shall live
by faith. Galatians 3.11 says, but that
no man is justified by the law on the side of God, it's evident,
for the just shall live by faith. Hebrews 11.38 says, now the just
shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, if he sets the
sails in and doesn't go quite so hard on this thing of justification
by faith, looking to Christ alone, my soul shall have no pleasure
in it. Now those three New Testament scriptures regarding the just
to live by faith come from this in Micah chapter two, verse four,
behold, his soul that is lifted up is not upright in him. Now do you hear that? His soul
that's lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live
by faith. Now you can't live by faith if
your soul is lifted up in you. If you have any high lofty thoughts
of yourself, here's why. The only way you can trust Christ
as all your righteousness is if you have absolutely none of
your own. And if your soul is lifted up,
you can't live by faith. Now this is the unalterable law
of the kingdom of heaven. Everyone that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself. Oh, may the Lord give me the
grace to do that, to humble myself under the mighty hand of God.
I'd a whole lot further humble than myself and have to be humiliated,
wouldn't you? Oh, may God give us grace to
humble ourselves. And let me tell you what it is
to humble yourself. It's to look to Christ only. That's what it
is to humble yourself. It's to look to Christ only as
everything in your salvation. And if you don't do that, you
have not humbled yourself. Your soul is lifted up within
you. So the first thing mentioned
with regard to this worthy walk is to walk with all lowliness. May the Lord enable me and you
to do that. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would enable
us to humble ourselves under thy mighty hand. And Lord, you've promised that
everyone that humbles themselves and takes their place as the
chief of sinner, you'll exalt by your grace. Lord, we thank you for the beauty
of the character of thy blessed son, who is high and lofty, and meek and lowly in heart. Enable us to be like Him. Bless us during this coming week.
Lord, give us grace to walk in all lowliness, to look to Christ
only. And we ask that you would open
up doors for us to preach your gospel to others according to
your will. Cause us to always be ready to give an answer to
every man that asks us the reason for the hope that's within us,
with meekness and with fear. In Christ's name we pray, amen.