Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Proverbs 11. Proverbs chapter 11. Let's just
look at a couple of verses of scriptures for a few minutes. Proverbs 11. I'd like to just look at verses two
and three. You know, the last time we looked
at it in Proverbs, we looked at that first verse of a false
balance is an abomination. to the Lord, but a just weight
that is a perfect stone is His delight. Almighty God is going to be pleased with one. You know that. He is pleased
in His Son. All that is found in Christ you rest assured that any acceptance
before God Almighty is going to be found in the Lord Jesus. That's all our hope. That's all
our peace. Don't, right now, don't think that anything that
you've done. Don't think that anything you've
done is going to be the merit of salvation before God. Not even your faith. Remember, faith did not die for
you. Your faith is not the reason
that God accepts you. He accepts you if you're accepted. You're accepted in the Beloved. Your baptism is not the reason
that God accepts. Your church membership, not by works of righteousness
that we have done, but according to His mercy hath He saved us." Everything that a believer actually
does, whether they believe, trust, That is an exhibition of what
God Almighty has already done in you. It's an evidence of it. It is not the source of God's acceptance. All salvation is going to be
to His honor, glory, and praise. Man comes to Christ because God
gives him a heart to come. A false balance is an abomination
to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. Now, let's look
at verses 2 and 3. Now, when pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the
lowly is wisdom. I want you to notice something
in that first verse that we just looked at.
Verse 2. Do you notice the word when is in italics? So that means that really it
was added. It was added to attempt to make a verse of Scripture
more understandable. It wasn't there. And really,
You might take a word like that and add it to help to make it
understandable. It's a hindrance often. Just take it out. It's not when. Pride cometh. It's not if. No. The truth of the matter is
pride cometh. It's just like a weed. It comes
up in a garden. Do you know I have a garden?
Now, I didn't have one this year. Had one last year and year before
that. I didn't plant one weed that I know of. I didn't realize that they were
there. And do you know? They just came
up. You know why? Because they're
in the dirt. You know why pride cometh? Because
it's in man. It just cometh. It always cometh. Arrogance. Presumption. Pride. I swear to you. Pride has to do with my will. Pride is most exhibited by a
man thinking that he is able to approach God by his own ability,
by his own free will. Pride. The Lord says that no
man can come except my Father draw him. Yesterday we were talking about
that. Here is what false religion says. God draws all men. He's
drawing all men. No, He's not. You cannot find
in any Scripture where Almighty God is attempting to draw all
men. I can show you where my sheep
hear my voice and they follow. I can show you where all that
the Father giveth me shall come. I can show you some emphatics.
Pride says that I can do what God says I can't. This is nothing more than a matter
of the nature of Satan stamped in every man and every woman.
This is what Satan said in Isaiah 14. I will ascend above the heights
of the clouds. I will. Be as the Most High. Whenever someone tells you exercise
your free will, let me tell you what your free will is going
to do. I'm going to be like God. That's
what your free will will do. I will be like the Most High. Pride. Pride proceeds out of
the heart of man. And I'll tell you this, God hates
it. Hates a proud look. So man is born proud. He's proud
of himself. He's proud of his works. He's
proud of his will. But there's one end to pride. Here's what the Scripture
says, Pride cometh, then cometh shame. Shame. Disgrace. Destruction. Pride
tends to end gratitude. Man thinks that he can do something
for God, and basically what he's saying is, I really don't care
about salvation by grace. I don't like salvation by grace. Now I'm telling you, now you
think about this. If by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourself, that not of yourself, that not of
yourself, it's the gift of God. No, here's what man says, I don't
want that. I don't like the sound of that.
Salvation by grace? No, I don't think so. Give me
my free will. Pride cometh, then cometh shame
and destruction. But with the lowly is wisdom. With the humble, those that have
been made to have a right estimation of themselves, that's humility. Somebody that has a right estimation
of themselves. I'm telling you, it's by the
grace of God that a man can agree with the Holy Scriptures when
he he'll agree. Yes, I am. I am in myself. I do see myself a sinner. I had a man tell me one time
in Louisiana, I'm not going back. I'm not going back to that church.
It was a place where the gospel was being preached. He said,
I'm not going back there. And I tell you the reason I'm not going
back there. He told me I was a sinner. And He meant it. I'm not going with the lowly,
the humble. A man that has been brought down
to see something of himself sees something of his need. I need Him. I need God Almighty
to have mercy on me. I'm going to be honest with you,
I can't help myself. If I know something of God's
demand, if I realize that this is what it's going to take for
me to stand before God Almighty accepted, I must be holy. I've said before, how holy? Holy. There's one holy one. I must
be made holy. There's only one way. I'm going
to tell you something right now. Now you listen. There's one way. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am the way. I am the truth. I'm the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. And that does not mean that by
your free will and your free the experience and your decisions
and stuff like that, that God Almighty is going to accept you
because you did that. No. Somebody said, I don't believe
you. No, no, it's not that you don't
believe me. You don't believe God. Let me tell you what what we'll
all do if we don't bow to this Word. We're calling God a liar. I'm telling you, we call God
Almighty a liar when we don't believe His report with the lowly. There's wisdom. No man by nature
humbles himself. There's only one that ever humbled
himself. I am so eaten up with pride. I am not of myself. I just can't do it. Humble myself? Listen to this. 1 Philippians
2, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. What
is humility? What is it to humble yourself?
Here's what it is. It is to bow to God's will against
me. To bow to God's will against
myself. That's humility. To bow to God's
will against my will. And I'm telling you that a man
dead in trespass and sin will never Humility, it's to agree
with God Almighty concerning His will and His honor and His
purpose. It's to agree with God against
me. Whose side are you going to take
if Almighty God leaves you alone? Whose side are you going to take?
I'll tell you whose side you're going to take. You're going to
take yours. You'll take yours. How do I know
that? Because God said we would. That's
how I know it. He said, you will not come to
me. You will not and you cannot.
Man said, I don't know. That part about cannot, I might
not come today, but that part about cannot, I don't know about
that because no. The reason you say that, the
reason I'd say that, is because I'm so filled with pride, I'm
just not going to believe God. With the lowly, there's wisdom. With the lowly, there's Christ.
Christ is the wisdom of God. That's the truth. The integrity,
verse 3, of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness
of transgressors shall destroy them. The integrity. I look that word up, which I
try to do, I. I'm just I'm just not very smart. I just don't I just don't know
what words mean, so it's always good for me to look them up.
The word means the innocence, the innocence. The integrity,
the innocence of the upright shall guide them. Just those that have been made
humble, innocent, those with integrity before God, see what
they are. They walk in innocence. They walk in the Lord Jesus.
They walk by faith. They believe Him. They don't
walk by sight. They don't walk by what they
can figure out. I don't have sense enough to
walk. I don't know. Isn't it the right
thing? Lord, would You order my steps
this day? He said, the steps of a good
man. And I know it. You know they're not good in
themselves. You know they're good only. with the imputed righteousness
of Christ. You know that. The steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord. That's His promise. Ask Him. Lord, would You order my steps
today? I don't know. I don't know what
to do. I don't know. Those that have some integrity,
or those that have been made humble before Almighty God, Those
that's got some innocence. Those that have the righteousness
of Christ imputed to them. Innocent, not in themselves.
I'm not innocent. I've rebelled against God. I'm
not innocent in myself, but in Him. There's no condemnation
to those that be in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. But I think he's given me enough
sense to understand that I don't have anything to boast in because
I am what I am by the grace of God. What have I got to be proud
of? I know something about what I
am. And it embarrasses me. I know that this world is just
a world of danger. The integrity of the upright
shall guide them. I know that I must be led by
God's Word, by God's Spirit, by God's grace. I know that.
I know that. I don't have sense enough. Listen
to David, Psalm 119, 105. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path. The integrity of the upright
shall guide them. I want to know what God's got
to say. I'll tell you this. There's a
good source right here. There's a good source of God's
wisdom, God's power, God's Word, God's will. What do you think
we ought to do? What does God have to say about
it? Somebody came to Brother Henry one time. A woman came
to him and wanted to talk to him about marriage. And he said,
well, let's see what she said. Well, I don't care what the Bible
says. I want to know what you say about
it. He said, well, we don't have anything to talk about then. What does God have to say about
it? The integrity of the upright
shall guide them, but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy
them. The corruption. the twisted,
the perversion of transgressors. That word is traitors. Traitors. Those that are in rebellion against
God. God Almighty has one way, and
it is His Son. He is the perfect stone. He is
the balance. And everything else False balance
is an abomination. God hates it. Pride comes, then
shame. But those made humble before
God, those that are innocent, being robed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're going to be led in paths of righteousness
for His namesake. Lord, teach me. You know, that may sound like
just a very Simple? Almost too simple for people. Lord, I don't want to start this
day. Begin your day with Him. Before you open your Bible, ask
Him to speak to you. You can read the Bible and miss
just exactly what it had to say. He said, without Me, you can
do nothing. You can't even read. Look in His Word. Hear the preaching
of the Gospel. Listen, listen to what Almighty
God, listen to God's means. He said, I'll send you pastors
after my heart. They'll teach you. There's a
grave responsibility. May the Lord help me to not take
that lightly. I realize I'm standing before
many. I'm convinced of this. Many of
God's sheep. Those that He's everlastingly
loved. Those that He chose in Christ those that the Lord Jesus
Christ shed His blood for. Standing before you this morning,
I think to myself, what a responsibility. What a responsibility I have.
But listen to me. What a responsibility you have
to hear. We all must hear. I'm listening to the same thing
you are. Make much of hearing the Word of God. Make much of
God's Word. Make much of God's a fellowship
with Him in prayer. Make much of the means of grace. May Almighty God bless these
words to our heart, for Christ's sake. Amen.