Alright, let's turn back to John
chapter 1. A few weeks ago, before we started
this study in John, we looked at this text. I thought about
skipping it because I thought we just looked at this. We looked at John representing
the law. And the purpose of the law was
to point men and women to Christ. That's what we looked at. Now, in light of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Word that was made flesh, this time as I read it,
I noticed the humility of our brother John. The Lord gave us an example of
some real humility right here. I love John. He's our brother. I'm thankful for him. He's a
man who's been given eyes to see the true God, and he shows
some real humility. So let's read this one more time,
okay? In light of humility, let's read
this one more time. Verse 19 says, But this is the
record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from
Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed and denied
not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him,
What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith,
I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he
answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who
art thou that we may give an answer to them that sent us?
What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, I am the voice of
one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. Our Lord spake often of humility. He talked about it a lot. It's absurd that we dead, stinking,
worthless, rotting, filthy sinners are just so proud of ourselves.
Isn't that absurd? But our Lord lovingly, gently,
continually reminds us, He exhorts us and He commands us to humble
ourselves. Turn with me over to Luke 14. How many parables did our Lord
give on humility? He said there was a man who had
gained much and he stored it in his barns. and it kept increasing and he
got more and he got more. Instead of using it for the good
of others, he said, what I'm going to do is I'm going to tear
down my barns and build bigger barns. And the Lord said, fool,
tonight your soul is required of you. Humble yourself. How many times did our Lord teach
by example? He actually stooped down and
washed the disciples' feet. Can you imagine that? The God,
I don't even want to wash my own feet. What if the God stooped down
and washed your feet? They're thinking, Lord, what
are you doing? He said, as I've done for you,
you do it for each other. He said, learn of me, I am meek
and I'm lowly in heart. Lowly in heart. Luke 14, look
at verse 7. Our Lord put forth a parable
to those which were bidden when He marked how they chose out
the chief rooms, the high seats, saying unto them, When thou art
bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room,
lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of him. And he
that bade thee and him come and say to thee, give this man place,
and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. You have
to take the walk of shame, you have to come down. Verse 10,
But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room,
that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend,
go up higher. Then shalt thou have worship
in the presence of them that sit at meet with thee. For whosoever
exalteth himself shall be abased. And he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. The title of tonight's message
is, A Message for Me. A Lesson in Humility. Our Lord taught this over and
over, and I want the Lord to teach me something about this.
I really do. I hope He teaches you something
about this. But this is a message for me.
This is a lesson in humility. Now let's hear the words of God's
preacher Solomon. Turn with me to Ecclesiastes
chapter 5. After Proverbs, Ecclesiastes
chapter 5. Let's take a few minutes to study
verses 1 and 2. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 1 says,
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more
ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they
consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, And
let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou
upon earth, therefore let thy words be few." Now the reason
I say this is a message for me is because when we get together,
I say more than anybody. I do more talking than anybody. Look at the end of verse 3 right
here in Ecclesiastes 5. It says, A fool's voice is known
by a multitude of words. It just keeps talking and talking
and talking. Lord, teach us all. Teach us
all. We want to hear from You. We
want to hear from Him. Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth.
It says in verse 1, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house
of God. The house of God is the place
that the Lord has chosen to gather His people. This is His house. We come here for one purpose,
to worship God. This is the house of God. And
He says, keep thy foot when you go to that house. Hold your place
here in Ecclesiastes and turn to Exodus 3. Exodus chapter 3, and let's look
at verse 5. The Lord God said, draw not nigh
hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground. What He's saying when He says,
keep thy foot is, Remember where you're standing. It's holy ground. There's nothing holy about these
concrete blocks and this plaster. This is just wood, hay and stubble. But we're in the presence of
God when we meet here. When we meet here, we're calling
on the Lord to come meet with us. We pray and we beg Him every
single time to send His Spirit to us. We're not asking figuratively,
we're asking literally. Literally. He said where two
or three are gathered in my name, I'm there. I believe with every fiber of
my heart, I truly do, I believe the Lord is here. I
really do. If we're met here to worship
His holy name, I believe the Lord is in this place. I told you this before, but it
was such a blessing to me. Hannah and I, we had the opportunity
to go to Mexico once. She was pregnant with Isabella.
We went to these different pueblos. I got to make it to a couple
of them before I got sick. And then I didn't get to go to
anything else. But Brother Paul, Hannah's dad, and
Brother Cody, Paul was preaching and Brother Cody was translating. The people down there, they love
the gospel. They sing at the top of their
lungs. They're in those little concrete buildings and they just
sing at the top of their lungs. And the Lord blessed the message,
just really blessed the message to everybody who could hear.
And after that, the pastor of that church in that Pueblo stood
up and he said in Spanish, tonight God is in this Pueblo. He was
right. If we're met here in His name
and we call on Him, He's here. He's here. He's saying, remember when you
come to the house of God for the purpose of true worship,
you're in the presence of God. This is serious. What we do is
so serious. Let us humble ourselves as though
we could see Him. as though we could see Him. How
would we act if we could actually see Him? Let us conduct ourselves
as though we could see Him right now. It says back in Ecclesiastes
5 verse 1, Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God,
and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools,
for they consider not that they do evil. Let us be more ready
to hear what God has to say than what any of us have to say,
starting with me. I don't even want to hear what
I have to say. I really don't. I don't want to hear what I have
to say. I don't care what I think. I
really don't. I pray and I beg that the Lord
would speak. I pray the Lord would speak. How do we become more ready? I prepared for this tonight.
I studied for this. I have notes on this. I didn't just walk in the door
and walk up into the pulpit and open the Bible and say, now I
wonder what I should preach on tonight. By God's mercy to me
and giving His message, I want to come ready. I want to come
ready. Here's the message to me. It
is infinitely more beneficial to you if I am more ready to
hear what God has to say than to just come up with my own sermon
and give the sacrifice of fools. Now here's the message to you.
Be more ready to hear. Here's the message to me. Here's
the message to you. Be more ready to hear. Come ready. Come ready. By God's gift and ability, let's
all prepare ourselves to hear. Again, I don't want to hear me. But let's prepare ourselves to
hear from God. May I not stand up in this pulpit
until I have first sat in a pew and called on the Lord to speak
to me before I preach. Prepare me to preach. Lord, give me Your Word to say. Give me Your instruction. Give
me Your message. That's the lesson to me. Send
Your Word. Speak for me. He told Peter,
I've prayed for you. Lord, pray for me. I need the
Lord to pray for me. May you not hear a message. Without
first sitting in that pew and calling on the Lord God, prepare
my heart to hear your message. Because if He does not, this
is the sacrifice of fools. You don't want to hear from me. Lord, make my heart ready to
hear. Prepare me. Make me more ready
to hear. I encourage us. I encourage us. When we're driving over, when
we're in our car driving over, let's call on the Lord for each
other. Prepare us for what we're about
to do. When we walk in and sit down, let's call on the Lord
again. Lord, prepare us for what we're
about to do. Just before I start, as you see
me grab this little recorder and I'm sitting here fiddling
with it, pray for me. Pray for me. Pray for us. Lord, prepare us. We're on holy ground. This is
holy ground. Ecclesiastes 5 verse 2 says,
Be not rash with thy mouth. That means don't be reckless,
don't be anxious. It says, And let not thine heart
be hasty to utter anything before God. We all know that old saying,
it's better for me to keep my mouth shut and let you think
I'm a fool than to open it and remove all
doubt. Well, the Lord God knows everything. Whether I say it
or not, He knows what's in my heart. It says in verse 2, God
is in heaven and thou upon earth. He knows all and He sees all
and He hears all. But for the sake of God's people,
our brethren, for the sake of moderation, for the sake of meekness,
it says in verse 2, let thy words be few. Now this is not saying
when you come to the house of God, don't talk to anybody and have a sad look on your face.
It's not saying that. This is not a house of bondage.
It's not a house of sadness. It's a house of joy. It's a house
of communication. It's a house of love. And it's
a house of humiliation. When we acknowledge what we are,
I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. When we acknowledge
who He is, He's the Holy God. And when we come here to acknowledge
what He did for us, He died for me. He died for me. How can we be anything other
than humble? Well, turn back with me to John
chapter 1. John 1, let's see the example
that the Lord gave us here in John. The Pharisees asked him, who
are you? In chapter 1 verse 19, this is
the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from
Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? He confessed and denied
not, but confessed, I'm not the Christ. And they asked him, what
then? Art thou Elias? And he said,
I'm not. Art thou that prophet? And he
answered, no. Then said they unto him, Who
art thou that we may give an answer to them that sin us? What
sayest thou of thyself? Now do you know what he could
have said? Do you know what he could have said? He could have
said, I'm the one the Old Testament prophesied about in Isaiah 40. I'm the one that said, all flesh
is grass. That was talking about me. He could have said, I'm the one
who has been filled with the Holy Ghost from my mother's womb. That's the truth. The Lord God
said it. He wrote it. He could have said, I'm the one
who God chose to prepare the way for Him. That's the truth. God wrote it down. He could have
said, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen
a greater than me. That's the truth. God wrote it. They said, are you Elijah? He
could have said, yes, I'm the one Malachi 4 is talking about. And it would have been true.
Jesus Christ said John the Baptist is the one I was talking about
in Malachi 4. But for the grace of God, that's
exactly what He would have done. That's exactly what He would
have done. That's exactly what He would have said. But God who
breaks a sinner and humbles a sinner. Religion is proud. Let me tell
you, everything I've done for Jesus, the Lord God breaks a
sinner and humbles a sinner. He gave him a heart to say, I'm
just a voice. That's all I am. I'm just a voice. He is the Word. Did you notice
that in the beginning was the Word? I'm just a voice. The voice of John is gone. The Word stands forever. Word on paper stands forever. I'm just a voice and He's the
Word. Let God be true. Let me be a
liar. He's the Savior. I'm just a sinner. He's the Redeemer. I'm just the
redeemed. He is life and I just live in
Him. That's all I am. Turn over to
John 3. John chapter 3, look at verse
30. John said, He must increase,
but I must decrease. Many men have said, and it's
so true, the way up is down. The way up is down. I want to show you three Scriptures
and I'll close. Go to Matthew 18. Matthew 18, and look at verse
2. And Jesus called a little child
unto Him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily
I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Lord, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. I can do nothing. I have nothing. And You're everything. Oh, let us humble ourselves.
Go with me to James chapter 4. James 4, look at verse 8. Draw
nigh to God, and He will 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. Let us humble ourselves
and He will lift us up. Go to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5 verse 5 says, Likewise,
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 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. How wise
would we be to humble ourselves? Humble ourselves. It's holy ground. This is holy
ground. This is a message for me. I want to hear it. I want to do it. May the Lord
teach us all to do this. Pray He'll bless His Word. Let's
stand together.