Okay, now we're coming back to
our study here in the book of Luke. And we're looking at Luke
chapter 14. Specifically verse 11. Luke 14
verse 11. For whosoever exalted himself
shall be put down. The Lord hates a proud heart. Whosoever exalted himself shall
be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, or
the man that is humbled by the power of God. We see two things in that verse
there. We see what is known as pride. The way of pride. And we see
the opposite of pride is what? What is the opposite of being
exalted? Exalted with pride is humility. Humility. So the title of the
message will be The Way of Pride or The Way of Humility. Which
would you say is best? Now if you have to think about
that, you're in trouble. This is a no-brainer. The way
of humility is a way of grace, mercy, and truth. This gospel
principle that is given to us here in verse 11 and in other
places in the scripture is unchangeable because God who speaks it, He
is unchanging. He said in Malachi 3.6, I am
the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob,
you are not consumed." And again, in the book of Hebrews chapter
13, the Lord said, I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change. God who changes
not, He must change us. Thank God that He changes not.
And thank God he has all power to change us from being exalted
in the flesh, thinking high things of the flesh, and putting us
in the dust and showing us we are nothing but sinful creatures. Now be sure the way of pride,
and especially religious pride, always leads to destruction.
and eternal ruin and eternal condemnation. While the way of humility, humbleness,
always leads to the Lord Jesus Christ in saving faith and total
dependence upon Him. Saving faith is dependent faith.
Depend upon Him. We'll read this in Proverbs 16.
Pride goeth before destruction. I don't want a proud heart. Humble
us, Lord. And a haughty spirit before a
fall. Better it is to be of a humble
spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. Oh, to have a humble, contrite
heart. Nothing more ugly than pride. Nothing more ugly than pride. In Proverbs chapter 6, when the
Lord says seven things that He hates, six things that He hates,
chapter 7, are abomination unto Him. And number one, top of the
list, God hates a proud heart and a high look. Better it is to be of a humble
spirit. Nothing more ugly than pride. braggarty spirit, a boastful
spirit, and nothing more beautiful and honoring to the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ than humility of mind that flows from a broken
and a believing heart. You know who was humble in heart
more than any man that ever walked this earth? Don't turn, let me
just read it to you. The Lord Jesus Christ, as the
God-man mediator, He says this in Matthew 11, Come unto me,
all ye that labour and be laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who was meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest for your soul." Matthew 11, 29. For my
yoke is easy and my burden is light. Oh, to have a broken heart,
a humble, humble heart. Let me read you one other scripture
on that. There's many that we could look
at, but over in Isaiah, Chapter 57, let me just read it to you,
Isaiah 57, 15. For thus saith the Lord, the
High and Lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy,
I dwell in a 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 one. You remember Psalm 34, where
David said, "...the Lord is nigh unto them of a broken heart,
and save us such as be of a contrite spirit." Now, in Matthew chapter
14, when the Pharisees were put to silence, you remember, look
at verse 6, "...they could not answer him again to these things,
It says down in the first part of verse 4, they held their peace.
When the Pharisees were put to silence, after the Lord in mercy
healed this sick man that was dying a slow and agonizing death,
they could not answer him a word, and then the Lord gave this parable. Verse 7, He put forth a parable
to those who were forbidden, that is to this dinner, the house
of the Pharisee, And when he marked, or he was watching how
they chose out the chief places, get out of my way, I want the
best seat. You sit over there, I'm going to sit in the best
seat. They were seeking out the best seat. And you can read verse
8, 9, and 10 again, how it's better, the Lord says, to seek
the lowest seat rather than to seek the highest seat and be
bumped out and be shamed for doing so, it's better to seek
the lowest seat in the house, then you may be exalted and have
no shame." They could not answer the Lord a word, and then the
Lord spoke to them. It's always a good thing when
we stop talking and listen to the word of the Lord. It's a
good thing to be swift to hear and slow to speak. It's not,
well, wait a minute, now I think, wait a minute, but, but, but,
no, sit still and listen. I remember my pastor years ago
would always say this to those who had questions, just sit still
and listen and all your questions will be answered. It may take
two or three years, maybe longer, but just sit still and listen,
and all your questions will be answered. That is when the Lord
put forth this parable, when all these pride religious men
were brought to silence. The Lord had noticed that these
men who were invited to the Pharisees' house We're busy trying to take
the best seat in the house and how they chose out the best table
in the house and how the Lord watched their actions and how
they were acting and what they were doing. He looked right at
the motive and thought of their heart thinking they were seeking
self-glory, self-praise, and putting others down. Now, the
purpose of this parable the Lord gives, and really we could call
it the parable of humility, the parable of humility. The purpose
of this parable the Lord gives is to teach us how sinners seeking
mercy must come to Christ as mercy beggars, as sinners before
God. I want to take my place before
God by His grace as a guilty, vile sinner. We know the Lord
came to call sinners to repentance. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. He told us to come boldly unto
the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in our time of need. We must come to Him being brought
by the Holy Spirit as worthless, doomed, damned, helpless, ungodly
sinners, bankrupt before God, guilty before God, taking our
place before Him in the dust as sinners, deserving nothing
of His holy wrath." Now preacher, you're putting us down pretty
low. Not low enough. not as low as you really are,
as I am too, down in the dust, to make our headquarters in the
dust. We say with David, Lord, if you sent me to eternal condemnation,
you'd be doing exactly the right thing, for that's what I deserve,
nothing better. The wages of sin is death. That's
what I've earned. But thank God, He has the gift
of eternal life in Christ. The way of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ is to always seek to find the lowest place. The lowest place. The humble
place. And then you have nowhere to
go but up. When you're down here in the
dust, as a guilty vile sinner before His throne, and you can
go no lower, you have nowhere to go but up, up before God. That's what David said. David,
the king of Israel, said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. You
see, in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the way up is not
up. The way up is down, down before
God, down and broken before God. The way to be filled is the way
to be emptied. The way to be filled is to be
emptied of self, self-righteousness, self-pride. The way to be filled
is to be emptied before God and then to be filled by Him. In
Him dwells all the fullness of God that bodily, and we complete
in Him. Of His fullness have we all received
grace for grace. The way to be clothed is the
way to be stripped. Stripped before God. And then
to be clothed in His righteousness, to be clothed in the garments
of His salvation. The way to be wise is to be a
fool for Christ's sake. Then you know that Christ has
made unto us our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification,
and redemption. The way to be rich is to be poor
and needy. I want to be poor and needy,
don't you? You know what it says in Psalm 40? David said, I am
poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. You know the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich yet for
your sake He became poor that you through His poverty, you
through His poverty might be made rich. Oh, you see the humility
of the Lord Jesus Christ who thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but took upon Himself the form of a servant
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
You want to talk about humility? Talk about Him. He is the humble
one. You see the way of life, eternal
life and salvation is to be dead to the law through the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ that is being crucified with Christ. Let's see if we can read that.
Turn over here to the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians
chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2 where Paul
says in verse 19, for I through the law I through the law, Galatians
2, 19, I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live
unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the
grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead and vain. You see, the way of life, eternal
life, is to be one with Christ, to be crucified in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That is the way of grace. That's
the way of salvation in Christ. Be sure you get this right here,
pride. Especially religious pride. The Lord had the sharpest rebukes,
did He not? Those who came to the Lord seeking
mercy, They found mercy. Those who came
to the Lord justifying themselves before Him, you remember what
it said? You are they which justify yourselves before God, but He
knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Be sure you
get this. Pride, especially religious,
self-righteous pride, will always keep you from trusting Christ
alone. It will. What will keep you from
Christ? Pride. Your sin won't, your self-righteousness
will. It'll keep you from Christ. It
won't keep you from being religious, but it'll keep you from trusting
Christ alone. It'll keep you from believing
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinful pride rather than
bowing in humility, brokenness before God. As long as you go
about to establish a righteousness of your own, you'll never come
to the Lord Jesus Christ who has made unto us our righteousness. Now, think about this. What got
Satan and the fallen angels in trouble when they were cast out
of heaven before Adam sinned? Let's see if we can find that
in Scripture. Turn to Isaiah 14. What got Satan and the fallen
angels in trouble when they were in rebellion against God? Isaiah
14, verse 12. Isaiah 14, 12. How art thou fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut
down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou
hast said in thy heart, O I will ascend to heaven, I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God." What is that? Pride, pride,
pride. I will sit also among the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north, seeking the highest
seat, seeking to be like God. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds. I will be like the most high God. Oh, wow. What pride. What arrogance. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell to the sides of the pit." What was the sin that cast Satan
and the fallen angels out of God's presence, out of glory?
Sinful pride. What was the problem with Adam
and Eve in the garden before they were cast out? Sinful, wicked
pride. You can turn to this if you want
to. If not, I'll just read it to you. You can trust me to do
that, can't you? Genesis chapter 3, sometimes
I misread things, not meaningly, I'm not a good reader. But Genesis
chapter 3, what got Adam and Eve in trouble? Pride. Verse 1, Now the serpent was
more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God
had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of
it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent
said to the woman, You are not going to die. For God doth know
in the day that you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and
you'll be just like God. Sinning against God? To be just
like God? Knowing good and evil. When the
woman saw the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride
of life, that it was pleasant, good for food, and pleasant to
the eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband,
and he did eat, and their eyes of them were opened, and they
knew they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together to
hide themselves before God." Pride got Satan in trouble, Satan
influenced Adam and Eve, and tempted them, and they were fallen,
and they succumbed to that evil, wicked, proud, sinful heart. And be sure you know this, in
Adam all sinned and Adam all died, We have that same fallen
nature that Adam had after he sinned against God. People by
nature are so full of sinful pride and it is not completely
eradicated or removed from the believer right now. It's not. We still have a constant battle
with pride. We can even have pride in this
thing of grace. Grace. Now listen to me. There
is, as someone said, my pastor used to always say this, there
is pride of race, there is pride of place, there is pride of face,
but the worst pride of all is the pride of grace. And it's
not like someone said, well, you know, I don't have a problem
with pride anymore. Well, you just revealed you're
eating up with it. We have a problem with sinful, wicked pride. We think too highly of ourselves.
We do now, just being honest. You remember this scripture,
1 Corinthians 4 verse 7, "...who maketh thee to differ from another?
And what do you have that you didn't receive? Now if you did
receive it, why dost thou glory as if you haven't received it?"
We have no reason to be full of pride when it comes to the
grace of God in the gospel. You see, everything I have, He
gave me. We say, with Paul, I am what
I am by the grace of God. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ according to His mercy,
according to His will. Not because we're deserving,
because He is merciful. Everything I have, He gave me.
Everything I know, He taught me. By nature, we're ignorant
and dumb. Everything, whatever we'll be,
is by His sovereign grace alone. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been made
sons of God by His grace. You see, other than the fact
that we are totally depraved and sinful and we have this flesh
to deal with every day, there's still a conflict in this heart
of the Spirit and the flesh of pride and humility. I would be
humble, but my pride won't let me." That's just how conflicted
we are. Unless God strips us and breaks
us, and our prayer is this, may God ever keep us humble before
his grace that we may say with Jacob, I'm not worthy of the
least of thy mercies and of thy truths. Are you worthy of any
mercy at all? Can't you say in your heart right
now, God ought to condemn me and send me eternal condemnation
right now? That's what I deserve? You really
don't believe in total depravity. You really don't believe that
you're a sinner. And you really don't believe
in total depravity unless you believe that I'm the totally
depraved man. I'm, when it's, God I thank you,
I'm not like other men are, what is that? Pride. Pride, pride,
pride. Now, two things, and I'll let
you go. Being humbled is the work of God's grace. We're not
that way naturally. Being humbled is the work of
God's grace. God who has begun a good work
in you will perform it, and finish it. I like what that proud King
Nebuchadnezzar said. Those that walk in pride, God
is able to abase. There is no heart too hardened
that the Lord cannot humble it, that the Lord cannot break it.
His Word is like a fire. His Word is like a hammer that
breaks the hard heart. Now, one prime example that we
have in scripture given to us, if you find the book of Acts
chapter 9, you remember a religious young man by the name, he was
a Pharisee, turn to Acts chapter 9, his name was Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus, he was of the
tribe of Benjamin, like his great-great-great-great-granddaddy, old King Saul. The tribe of Benjamin,
he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a very self-righteous,
self-centered man. And he was determined to stamp
out the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, being so full of religious
pride. Acts chapter 9 verse 1. And Saul,
yet breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples
of the Lord, went to the high priest, desired of him letters
to Damascus, to the synagogue, that if he found any of this
way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound
to Jerusalem. He's going to have them executed
to stamp out the name of Christ. And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light
from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying
unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art
thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus
whom thou persecuted. It's hard for thee to kick against
the pricks, the purpose of God. And he trembling, astonished,
said, Lord, what will you have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou us do. Here's a proud religious man
going about to stamp out the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
till he met the Master, till he met the Lord, till he was
unhorsed and put in the dust and he cried out from a broken
heart, Lord what would you have me to do? You see this thing
of being broken hearted is a work of God. And God must do this
for us. The Apostle Paul later wrote
this, wrote these words by inspiration. He said in Galatians 1.13, For
you have heard of my conversation in time past, in the Jews' religion,
how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted
it, and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my equals
in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions
of my father. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." Here's
a man that was full of pride, broken, humbled in the dust. Now, a humble man is A humble man is a humbled man. We'll never bow before the throne
of grace until we are bowed by the God of all grace. by his
sovereign and almighty grace. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of God's power." It's God who has saved us. It's God
who has called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to God's own purpose and grace. So being
humbled is a work of God's grace. Where does this humility of heart,
this broken heart over our sin and guilt before God, where does
this humility of heart and mind lead us unto? Where does it lead
us? Where does it leave us? Does
it leave us in despair? Oh, no. but rather hope in Christ. This is where this humility of
mine, brokenheartedness, conviction over sin, repentance toward God,
leads to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to despair, but to
hope in Christ. We have a good hope through grace. I repeat what I quoted earlier
from Psalm 34, verse 18. The Lord is nigh unto them of
a broken heart, save as such as be of a contrite spirit. To
know our sinfulness and our guilt before God is to begin to know
our need of Christ that makes us to look to Him in faith to
supply our every need according to the riches of His glory in
Christ Jesus. Now, I want you to find Luke
18, Luke chapter 18. Remember the two men that went
to the temple to pray? Two men went up to the temple
to pray, Luke 18, 10. The one a Pharisee full of pride,
religious pride, and the other a notable, humiliated, sinner
who is a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
with himself, God I thank Thee, I'm not as other men are, extortion
or unjust, adultery or even as this publican, I fast twice in
a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. Verse 13, the
publican standing afar off would not lift up so much his eyes
to heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. Verse 14, I tell you, this man
went down to his house justified rather than the other. Everyone
that exalted himself shall be abased, and those that humble
himself shall be exalted. You see, the way up is down.
The way up is down. As we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we also grow in humility of mind. Growth in grace is a growth downward. Downward. Remember I told you
growing in grace is like a cow's tail. Remember? Like a cow's
tail. The longer and the more it grows,
Closer it is to the ground. And that's what growing in grace
is. We think less and less of ourselves,
and we think more and more of Christ and the gospel of God's
grace. We see this in the writings of
the Apostle Paul. Listen to this progression of
growth in grace. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 9,
he said, I'm the least of the apostles because I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it. And then later on, he said
this in Ephesians 3. He said, I'm less than the least
of all the saints. Ephesians 3, 8. And then, as
he grew a little bit more in grace, in Romans 7, 24, he said,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? Oh, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's growing
in grace, is he not? And then, when he's in prison,
And writing back to Timothy, he said, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world to save sinners. He said, I'm the chief one. There's no one. as wicked and
guilty as I am. Those who are humbled by the
grace of God shall be exalted in the Lord Jesus Christ now
and forever in Him." I want you to turn to one more Scripture
with me. I told you there were four places. I'm going to try to look. Find
1 Peter chapter 5. Verse 4 says, "...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 shall be subject one
to another." This is 1 Peter 5. Be clothed with humility, for
God resisteth the proud. He gives grace to those humbled. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you."
Total dependence, humility, humility, humility of mind. Let me see
if I can find one more scripture. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you. Ephesians 4.1, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech
you that you walk worthy of the vocation which you are called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing
one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace. And then the Lord said this,
Let this mine be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, lowliness
of mind, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of man, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him. and giving him a name which
is above every name, for that name every knee should bow and
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. And here's our closing remarks
in a way of a prayer. O Lord, may our God be pleased
to so work on our heart to keep us, make us, and to keep us humble
before his throne. and keep us by His grace and
power from being filled with pride and lifted up with pride.
May we ever take our place before His throne as mercy beggars,
always looking to the Lord Jesus Christ to provide all things
for us. May we never, now listen to this,
may we never ever graduate from being a sinner saved by grace. May we never get beyond this. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works. Not of works, lest any man should
boast.