Brethren, let's turn in our Bibles
to Exodus 10. Verse 3 says, And Moses and Aaron
came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord
God of the Hebrews. How long wilt thou refuse to
humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may
serve me. Else if thou refuse to let my
people go, behold, tomorrow will I bring the locusts into thy
coasts, and they shall cover the face of the earth, that one
cannot be able to see the earth. And they shall eat the residue
of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail,
and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field.
And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants,
and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers nor
thy father's fathers have seen since the day that they were
upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself and went
out from Pharaoh. Now we dealt with the question
that God asked Pharaoh. We dealt with this question in
our question series, but I want to preach it this morning a little
differently. I want each of us to hear this
question that God asked personally. I want us to hear
God ask this of us personally. To the sinner who has yet to
repent and yet to cast his care on Christ, God says, how long
will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? To the one who's not
submitted to God's Word, to how God saves His people, God says,
how long will you refuse to submit to My Word, to Me? To those that
are in trial, suffering in trial, God says, how long will you refuse
to humble yourself before me? To those that are dissatisfied
where God has put them in the world and they murmur against
their place in life, God says, how long will you refuse to humble
yourself before me? And to any believer here that
thinks, well, I don't need to hear this word, I don't need
to hear this sermon, God says, how long will you refuse to humble
yourself before Him? First of all, let me ask myself
this question. Do I need to be humbled before
God? Do I need to be more humbled
before God? Let me consider my heart and
my actions just a minute. Our triune God in Christ does
as He will in heaven and in earth. Everything that comes to pass
is His will. From the weather to the salvation
of His people and everything in between, it's all the will
of God. Now, am I in submission to God's
will? Do I rejoice or do I murmur against
God's providence? Even not murmuring against the
weather. I need to be humble. I need to
be humbled. The things that please God, that's
God's will. We've looked at these before,
but this is a good place to review these. It pleased God to choose
whom He would. He said, the Lord will not forsake
His people for His great name's sake, because it has pleased
the Lord to make you His people. Have I been humbled to rejoice
in God's electing grace? In God's free grace to choose
whom He will? I know every believer has. We've
been humbled to rejoice in that. Why then do we sometimes think
that God will forsake us? We need to be humbled, don't
we? It pleased God to bruise Christ, our substitute, in our
place. Scripture says, "...it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied." That's what pleased means in
this verse. He'll be satisfied. It satisfied God, His justice
to bruise His Son. He'll see the travail of His
soul and He'll be satisfied. By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Now has God humbled me so that
I rejoice in His particular redemption that He has accomplished for
His people? Do I rejoice in this? Then why do I find myself sometimes
looking to something in me? Why would I look at myself for
anything I need with God? I need to be humbled from that.
It pleased God that in all things He might have the preeminence,
for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
Have I been humbled to find all my fullness in Christ? Then why
do I sometimes look to this world and try to find fullness in this
world, happiness in this world? I need to be humbled from that.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Has God humbled me by this means? Has He strengthened me by this
means so often? And why do I sometimes grow so
cold at hearing the gospel? How long before you humble yourself
before me, God said? I need this gospel bread more
than I need my daily bread. That's what Scripture said. It
pleased God to reveal His Son in the hearts of His people at
His predestinated time. Scriptures, Paul said, when it
pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called
me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. That's when God revealed
Christ in him, when it pleased God. As God made me rejoice in
His timing, then why do I murmur against His timing? Scripture says it pleased God
that each of His elect come to Him through God-given faith in
Christ. Scripture says without faith
it's impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is and he must believe that He alone is the
rewarder of them that seek Him. He alone can save. That's what
faith believes. Has God humbled me to believe
Christ? then for you who have not confessed
Him publicly, why have you not confessed Him? If God has given
you faith in Christ, why haven't you confessed Him in believers'
baptism? And if He has given us faith and we have confessed
Him publicly, that He is all our salvation, why then are we
sometimes so full of unbelief? We need to be humbled. It pleases
God to gather His people together in and by Christ. Ephesians 1
says, having made known unto us the mystery of His will according
to His good pleasure which He had purposed in Himself that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together
in one all things in Christ. He's talking about His people.
All His people in heaven and all His people in earth. He's
going to gather us all together in one and that one is Christ.
Has God humbled me so that I rejoice that God makes His people one?
so that we'll never be forsaken, we always have brethren in this
world, we're one in Christ. Then why do I sometimes feel
like I'm suffering all alone? You know, that's the devil's
work. Remember Peter said, the same afflictions that are accomplished
in you are accomplished in your brethren. That means the same
suffering you're bearing, your other brethren are bearing it
too. But Satan would have us believe, I'm all alone. I'm all
alone. We need to be humble. God said,
Christ said, Fear not, little flot, for it's your Father's
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Have I been humble to
rejoice that all my salvation beginning to end is by the free
grace of God? He's going to give me the kingdom
of heaven. He already has in Christ. But
why then Do I find myself doubting? And find myself sometimes thinking
God's grace is not sufficient? I need to be humble. You see,
in all these things that we are looking at here, and we can all
look at these things and say, yes. If we are honest, if God
has made us honest, we look at these things and say, yes, I
need I need to be humbled before God. I need to be humbled more
before God. But you see, all these things,
brethren, are pride. That's what causes us all these
problems, is pride. And pride is the opposite of
humility. It's the opposite of being humbled.
Let's talk about what true humility is. True humility is not just
mournful speech and acting all bowed down and having a long
face and all of that. You can do all that and it can
cover up the fact that your heart is proud. That's not humility. Humility is resignation to God's
will. That's humility. It's being resigned
to God's Word, to submit to God's Word. Not just some of God's
Word, all of God's Word. It's being resigned to submit
to God's salvation through the preaching of the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ. It's to be brought to submit
to Christ Himself, in whom God saves His people. And it's a
gift. Humility is a gift that God gives. The Holy Spirit gives this in
regeneration and continues to humble us throughout our days,
throughout the life of faith. This is what true humility is.
Humility is the opposite of pride. All our problems come from pride.
When I'm in unbelief, I'm lifted up in pride. When I'm doubting
the sufficiency of God's grace, I'm lifted up in pride. If I
won't confess Him in faith, I'm lifted up in pride. If I doubt
His Word in any way, I'm lifted up in pride. All of these things,
pride is the cause of it. And pride is the opposite of
humility. Listen to these Scriptures that set pride as opposite of
humility. He said in Proverbs 11, 2, When
pride cometh, then cometh shame. Haven't we proved that so? When
pride comes, then comes shame. but with the lowly is wisdom. Proverbs 16, 19 says, Better
is it to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide
the spoil with the proud. It's better to be of a humble
spirit with those that may not have as much than to divide the
spoil and have great riches with those that are proud. Proverbs
29.23 says, A man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall
uphold the humble in spirit. See, we're talking about humility
in spirit. We're not talking about something
that's just outward in the flesh. It will affect you outwardly,
but it's humility of spirit. Did you know pride is the number
one thing that God hates? It's the number one thing God
hates. Scripture says, these six things does the Lord hate,
and seven are an abomination unto Him. Seven things the Lord
hates. Seven things that are an abomination
to Him. You know what the first one on
the list is? A proud look. We are guilty of pride of face.
Guilty of pride of place. Need to stop talking about north
and south. You know what the differences between North and
South are? Just different ways of manifesting depravity. That's
the difference. But it's all depravity. Pride
of place. Pride of grace. And pride of race. These are things God hates. He
said in Proverbs 16, 5, Everyone that's proud in heart is an abomination
to the Lord, though hand joined in hand he shall not be unpunished. God says, I will cause the arrogancy
of the proud to cease and I will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible. One of these days, everybody
that's proud, that meets God in that state, not having been
humbled and brought to faith in Christ, every one of them
are going to be brought down. Turn with me to Isaiah 14. I
want you to see where this pride originates and what the problem
is. Pride originates with Satan,
and it's what caused him to be cast out of heaven. Pride is
what caused God to cast him out of heaven. He was a created angel,
upright, and he pried. He would not have Christ reign
over him. God cast him out. And this is the same thing that
pride, that filled Adam's heart when he sided with his wife over
God, when he sided with Eve against God. Listen to this, 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 thine heart,
now listen to this pride, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most
high. God says, yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell to the sides of the pit. See, this is why all
unregenerate men think that salvation is by their will. It's because
this is what's filled the heart. Pride of will. I will. I will. Don't preach God's will
unless you bring it back around and say, it's up to my will.
That's in every unregenerate heart. But sadly, that's still
in every sinner that believes God in our old man. That's in
every one of us right now that believe God. Pride is our number
one chief enemy. It's what causes us to be lifted
up in self-righteousness and self-sanctification. It causes
us to look upon our brother like we're better than our brother.
This is pride, brethren. It's wicked. But just like pride
is the number one enemy and the number one thing God hates, humility,
a broken heart, a contrite spirit. This is what God loves. This
is what God will receive. Psalm 34, 18, The Lord is nigh
unto them that are of a broken heart, and save the such that
be of a contrite spirit. You know why God's near the humble
in heart? Because the humble in heart confess
their sins to God. They come to God not trying to
cover up, not being dishonest. They come fully confessing their
sins and mourning over their sins because it's against the
Lord Jesus Christ. We see what Christ paid to put
away our sin. God's near the brokenhearted
because we bow to God's Word. We bow to all of it. We don't
just bow to parts of it. We bow to all God's Word. and He's near them that are of
a broken heart because we believe on Christ for complete acceptance
with God. We trust Christ completely. We
don't want to find any other acceptance. We don't have any
other acceptance. Christ alone. Listen to Scripture. Behold, His soul which is lifted
up is not upright in Him, but the just shall live by His faith,
trusting Christ alone. That's pride. Pride is to be
lifted up. Humility is to trust Christ only.
Sacrifices. This is what God rejoices in,
in the broken hearted, because the sacrifices that we sacrifice
are praise and adoration for God for saving us in Christ by
His free grace. This is what pleases God, why
He is so near those that are humble. Psalm 51, 17, He said
the sacrifices of God The sacrifices of God, you want
to make a sacrifice to God? The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart of God that will not despise. Go over to Hosea 14 and look
at Hosea 14, look at verse 2. When we are in need, brethren,
when pride has lifted us up and we are in need, You see, let
me say this too, just like the pride is in our old man, everything
I just described as humbleness and broken heartedness, that's
what is in our new man. That's what makes up the new
man, a broken and a contrite spirit. So you got these two
opposite spirits in you. That's why Paul said in Romans
7, we can't do what we would. But then in Galatians he says,
but thanks to the Holy Spirit, He keeps that old man from doing
what he would. There's a constant warfare. But
when we're in need, look here, Hosea 14.2, take with you words. Don't come with sacrifices. This
is the sacrifice. Don't come with something you've
done. Take with you words and turn to the Lord and say unto
Him, here's the word. Take away all iniquity and receive
us graciously. Receive us by free grace. So
will we render the calves of our lips. So will we render sacrifices
from our lips. And we say this, Asher shall
not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we
say any more to the work of our hands, ye are our gods. For in
thee, watch this now, in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. You know what the fatherless
represent? You know what the orphan represent? Those who are humbled
and in need and helpless. In our Lord, the fatherless find
mercy. God says, I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely for my
anger is turned away from Him. Go with me to Luke 18, 9. I want
to show you our Lord's parable and just read this. But this
is our Lord's parable where He is comparing the proud Pharisee
with the humbled publican. And look at this, in Luke 18,
9, Christ spake this parable unto certain which trusted in
themselves that they were righteous and despised others. There's
the pride of the natural heart, trusting in ourselves that we're
righteous and despising others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee, I'm not as
other men are, extortioners and unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all
that I possess. 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 to me, a sinner. Now watch what Christ says. I
tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. And not only does God receive
the humbled, God also continually revives us in spirit. He said, Thus saith the high
and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,
I will 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. So, you see, the
Lord receives those that come to Him with a humbled heart,
just like He received the publican and said, He went down to his
house justified. But those that are proud in heart,
God not only will not receive the proud in heart, He's going
to bring the proud down. Now lastly, let me ask this question.
Where do sinners get this humble spirit? Where do we get this
humble spirit? If all we are by nature is proud,
where do we get this humble spirit? It comes from the preeminently
humbled one, the God-man, Christ Jesus. Isaiah 66, 2, the Lord
was talking about who's going to build His house. And He said,
To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word. I'll tell you who
is the preeminently poor one, the preeminent one who trembled
at God's Word, and that's Christ Jesus the God-man. And He's the
one God looks to to build His house. Let this man be in you,
which was also in Christ Jesus. who thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He is one with God. But He made
Himself of no reputation. He took upon Him the form of
a servant. And when He was made in the likeness
of men, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. And all of that, brethren, was
Him highly exalting God. Because when you're humbled,
you're making all your dependence to be entirely upon God, upon
the Lord. And that's highly exalting to
God. Scripture says, wherefore God also hath highly exalted
Christ, and given Him a name which is above every name. When
did He do that? He did it in His time. He lifted
up our Redeemer from the grave in His time, in God's time. He exalted Him because Christ
exalted Him. Listen to Christ's humility.
When the time came for Him to go to the Garden of Gethsemane
to be made sin for us, and then to face the awful, fierce wrath
of God's judgment, He said this, Now is my soul troubled. Now is my soul troubled. I can't
even imagine the trouble in His soul. And what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour,
but for this cause came I unto this hour. This is why I'm here,
He said. So, what did He say? Father,
glorify Thy name. Glorify Thy name. Christ illustrated
what He did for His people on the cross. And He illustrated
what He continually does for us as He purges us from our sin
and continually cleanseth us and purges our conscience daily.
He illustrated it on the night that He bowed down and washed
the disciples' feet. Christ took off His garment and
girded Himself with a towel like He took off His glory and veiled
it and came down and took flesh and dwelt among us. And then
Christ bowed down to the saints' feet. He bowed down to the saints'
feet. Like He made Himself the least
on the cross. You know on Calvary's cross we
see Christ made the least of all men. That's why He bowed
down to the disciples' feet. They had not sunk that low. You
and I have not sunk that low. Except in Christ when He sunk
that low. And then He poured water into
a basin just like the blood and the water
poured out of His wounded side. Christ is our justification and
He is our sanctification. And then He washed the disciples'
feet just like He washed us on the cross and in regeneration
and continually by His blood. And then He stood back up and
he took his garment, put it back on, and he sat down. Just like
when he raised from the grave and went back into glory as the
glorified God-man and sat down at God's right hand. Brethren,
by making himself the very least, by humbling himself to the very
lowest low a man could humble himself, he saved his people. That's how he saved his people.
by humbling Himself. He said, so this is why He tells
us this, He that is least among you shall be called greatest
in the kingdom of heaven. Who's least among us? Christ
is. And He's greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. And then Christ said something
else to His apostles. I want you to go over there and
read it. John 13, 13. John 13, 13. Let's read this together. This is after he had washed their
feet. John 13, 13. He said, ìYou call me Master
and Lord, and you say, ìWell, for so I am.î If I then, your
Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash
one anotherís feet.î For I have given you an example that you
should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is
sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things,
happy are you if you do them. When the Spirit of Christ dwells
in our hearts, brethren, He gives a new heart. And that new heart
is a heart of love. It's a heart constrained by the
love of Christ. This is why John said, he that's
born of God loves. And he loves others that are
begotten of God. It's because this is the substance
of the new man. It's a humbled heart that loves
God's brethren. And so the humbled heart will
bow down to the feet of our brethren and wash their feet like Christ
bowed down and washed us completely. What does that mean? It means
the humbled that love their brethren regard our brethren better than
ourselves. We regard our brethren better
than ourselves. It means that we put the best
construction on misunderstandings. If it's not a total out and out
denial of Christ, We put the best construction on it. We cover
one another's sins. We carry one another's burdens.
I get so sick of seeing people, they'll see somebody do something
in a church or they'll hear something said or whatever and they make
a man an offender for a word and just right quick, oh, I can't
have anything to do with that. One time a faithful preacher,
I was in a great trial and we were having trouble and a faithful
preacher came to us and he said, would you depart your spouse
over this? It wasn't that important. They
weren't rejecting Christ. They weren't denying the gospel.
It wasn't that big a deal. If that happened, the Lord says,
those we love, we have to say, I love you, but I'm not going
to leave the gospel. But if it's not that big a deal,
we cover one another's sins and we barrier one another. We just put up with whatever
we have to put up with because we need the Gospel. We need Christ. We've got to have the Gospel
of Christ. That's why Paul said, charity never faileth. The love
God puts in the heart between brethren never fails. It never
fails. Love never forsakes the gospel.
Never. It never forsakes brethren. Because
God sustains the love that He puts in the heart so that we
love as God loves. How does God love? He never abandons
those He loves. He'll never abandon those He
loves. And that's how God's people love. That's how God's people
love. God's people can't abandon God's
people. Abandonment is a cruel thing. And God will humble His child.
Can He? Does He? And He will humble His
child and bring us to submit to Christ before He'll let us
depart from one another. God says to the sinner now who
refuses to confess Him in faith, How long would thou refuse to
humble thyself before Me? Let me tell you what's happening
if you refuse to bow to God. If you refuse to confess Christ,
you're treasuring up wrath against wrath towards that day of judgment. And you will be judged and you're
proving your ignorance because you're trying to do battle against
God. and you're in danger of the wrath of God every moment. So God says, how long before
you humble yourself before Me? And for you that have humbled
yourself before God, go to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. This is where He says that word
about the same afflictions accomplished in you as in your brethren. 1
Corinthians 5.5. Let's know what He says here. Verse 5, He says, "...Ye younger,
submit yourselves unto the elder. 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
unto the mighty hand of God, just as Christ did. that He may
exalt you in due time, just as God exalted Christ in due time.
Well, how do I humble myself before God? Casting all your
care upon Him, for He cares for you. That's what Christ did.
Didn't he? He committed it to Him that judgeth
righteously. He says here, this is what true
humility is, submitting it all, committing it all to Christ Jesus
our Lord. All our care submitted to Him. That's true humility. I pray
God will bless that. Amen.