Luke 14, verse 11, as he also
said in Matthew 23, verse 11, our Lord says, Whosoever exalteth himself shall
be abased. He that humbleth herself shall
be exalted. That's the subject, that's the
title, humbling herself. Now this he said after much was
said and happened before this. It's all in context, verse 1. It came to pass As he went into
the house of one of the chief pharisees that he bred on the
seventh day, that they watched him. Who was in his house? The son of the Most High God,
condescended, came down to this place. He didn't have to. Oh my! And he went into some
people's houses, their villages. He's come into our house. We're not worthy. But that's
the house he comes into, remember? He said, go and see who's worthy.
And that means those that know they're not worthy. He came into
this house, one of the cheap Pharisees. Whose house was it? Did this house belong to this
Pharisee? Do our houses belong to us? No, the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof, the world, the inhabitants thereof,
everything in it. He loans us everything we have.
We don't get to keep it. We rent it. And the payment he,
the only payment he requires rent is thanks and use it for
other people. It's not ours. It's his. So he tells us to use what he
loaned us. Right? Chief Pharisee. A chief. Chief means first. That's what it means. Like the
police chief. The fire chief. The first. The highest in rank. Pharisee. Who's first? Christ is first. He's first and last. Didn't He
say, the first shall be last, the last shall be first? He's
a chief Pharisee. Pharisees were, the name means
separatist. They fancied themselves to be
separate from common people. Over and above. Holier than thou,
you know. Better than. smarter, wiser and
all that. Our Lord, every time He said
Pharisee, He called them a hypocrite. Every time. He didn't pronounce
woe on them. Hypocrite means an actor. It
means playing a part. They were playing, pretending
to be something they weren't. Don't do it. Whenever we pretend
to be something that we're not, We're being a Pharisee, a self-righteous
Pharisee. Just be what you are. I mean,
confess. This is the whole subject, the
whole lesson our Lord is teaching us. Take your rightful place. All of us. All of us. Well, he
went there to eat bread, did he? Did he come there to eat
bread? Did he go to the well that day to get water from that
woman? No. He is the brick. But he came
here, he had an appointment. As always, he had an appointment
with someone. He arranged a meeting with one
of his sheep, a man that had sickness. Well, verse 1 says,
they watched him. Who? Who was there? Verse 7,
he put forth a parable to those which were bidden. Now, this
chief Pharisee, he didn't invite. He didn't invite the publicans
in the heart. I don't think this man with the palsy was invited.
I think he just came in like Mary Magdalene. Because the Lord
bid them. But this Pharisee, he invited
those that he could get something from. Those who were high and
muckety-muck. They watched him. They were watching
him. Curious, they were. Maybe interested,
yes. But most of them had an evil
intent in their minds. He knew their thoughts. Most
of them were watching him to find something wrong. something
that they might accuse him of, to catch him. They were listening
to him, trying to catch him at his word, to find something to
hold against him. Oh, my. If we come to this service,
or any service for that matter, out of mere curiosity, to watch
the proceedings, I don't think we know the Lord. True worshippers. It says, the
Father seeketh such to worship Him in spirit and truth. True
worshippers. Those who come to God's house
to worship the Lord. He counted it a privilege. He
counted it a great blessing. He counted it just an undeserved
privilege to hear God's Word, to sing these songs, to call
upon the Lord, and to read God's Word. What a blessed privilege.
had someone, not too long ago, request to receive the bulletins.
And their reason was, they said, we want to stay informed. Well, that's not the purpose of the
bulletin. It's to preach the gospel. Not for information, but for
the glory of God and the good of God's people, edification
of God's people. Do you remember in chapter 13,
verse 26, the people, you know, when the master rose up and closed
the door, and I'm bringing that message on the radio this coming
Sunday, strive to enter, once the door is shut. And they began
to say, well, we've eaten and drunk in your presence, verse
26, and thou hast taught in our streets. In other words, we've
eaten with you, we've attended, dinners and we heard you preach,
yes, but you didn't hear a thing. You
weren't there to hear me, you were there to socialize. I'm afraid it's true of many
that religion is just a social organization. So they watched
him, they came to watch him. But now, if we come to look to
him, Not just watching. Look to Him. Look at Psalm 123. You'll love
this. Psalm 123. If you love Him, you'll
love this. Psalm 123. If we come to look
to Him, if we come to call upon Him, to hear from Him, we'll
be saved. We are saved. We will be healed. Look at Psalm, our Lord said
in Psalm Isaiah 45, look unto me and be saved. Look unto me. Look to me. That means, well here it is,
Psalm 123. What does it mean to look to Him? Verse 1, Unto
thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heaven.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters,
as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress. So
our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy
upon us. Oh, have mercy upon us, O Lord. Have mercy upon us. Exceedingly
filled with contempt, our souls are filled with scorn. We look unto you as a maid to
her mistress, as servants to the master. I love that story
in 2 Chronicles 20, where Jehoshaphat,
oh don't you love this, says Jehoshaphat was the king, king
of Judah. And they were being assaulted.
by enemies much more powerful than that. And here's what Jehoshaphat
pray, O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? We have no might
against this great company that cometh against us, neither know
we what to do. Our eyes are upon Thee. And it
says, All Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones,
their wives and their children. That's what it means to look.
to the Lord. While many looked at Him and
watched Him, God's people looked to Him. There were some disciples
here, I guess, in this uninvited, but they were there, because
wherever the Lord went, they could come to Him. They were
there to hear Him, to look to Him. Verse 2, Behold, there was
a certain man before Him, which had the drops of a certain
man. All through Scripture it speaks
of certain men and women. These were people whom the Lord
chose. Oh, bless the Lord for His sovereign,
electing love, mercy, and grace that brought us to Him before
the Lord. Here we are. We stand, we sit,
tonight, hopefully, before the Lord. We come before the Lord. What did He say? Walk humbly
before Him. If He will, I will exalt Him.
God bless you. But it is God who brought us to come before
His presence. Let us come before His presence
singing, with joy, with rejoicing, with worship. Here we are. The
light is cast to the left. We've all made a decision, I
guess, to come here tonight, but the whole disposal is up
with the Lord. Aren't you glad? I'm so glad. He brought us here before Him
to hear His voice, to feel His touch. Well, this man did. He
said he had the dropsy. Now, that's what we know of now
as edema. You nurses know something about
swelling, that fluid built up in the lungs and extremities
and all that. That's fitting. Not sure the
purpose of this, except maybe that we all have spiritual dropsy. It's called pride. It swells
us up. It just fills us up with this
awful thing. It's called vain conceit, that's
what it's called. We have nothing to be proud of.
Nothing to be proud of. Alright, our Lord answering,
verse 3, answered these lawyers and Pharisees. Did you hear anybody
ask Him anything? No. But they were thinking. They were thinking in their minds,
weren't they? All of them were thinking. They were watching
him. They were evil intent. And running through there, is
he going to heal him on the Sabbath day? We'll catch him at this.
He's going to break the Sabbath day. He knew their thoughts. He knows our thoughts. And he answered. He spoke unto
the lawyers and the Pharisees. Lawyers. Is it lawful? Is it lawful to heal? Can you
see his piercing eye looking around that room? It's like that
woman that was caught in the act of adultery. They brought her, the law, brought
her to the one who wrote it. They said, Moses says, what do
you say? Oh, was she ever glad that they
brought her to him? He wrote it. He's the only one
that could absolve her. who could justify her pretty
fault. The only one who could remove. And he stooped down and
wrote in the dirt or sand or on the earth, didn't he? And
when it was all done, they were convicted from the oldest. No, I've never done that. After
what he wrote, they were all guilty of everything. The only
reason they hadn't done it was he kept it from them. That's
the only reason. And they all left. It was all
over. It was just him and that woman. When he raised himself up that
first time, he looked at those eyes of the flame of fire into
those lawyers who wanted to see this woman stoned. They wanted.
They were bloody men. They wanted her to die. They
wanted her to be guilty. They wanted her to be punished
for not realizing that just as bad as her. That what they needed
was the same thing as she needed, mercy. And those eyes as a flame
of fire that see right through all of us. He raised himself
and said, whoever is without sin among you, cast a stone. There was only one person in
that room that could cast a stone. It was him. It was him. And he did. He did. And I can see his face looking
at these lawyers. Is it lawful? Hmm. Tell me, you
that desire to be under the law, Paul said, do you not hear it?
Hmm. They're guilty. Is it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath? Heal? They held their peace,
verse 4. This is what cowards do. Those
who won't own up to the truth. They just, I don't know. Yes,
you do. Yes, you do. They did. They held
their peace. They wouldn't have. So he took
this man. He took him. I love that phrase,
don't you? It means he took hold of him.
He took possession of him. He owned him before the world
began. He chose him before the world
began. He arranged this meeting before the world began. And here
came this man, my she, you want to hear my voice. And he took
hold of it. He laid hold of him. He laid
his hand on him and healed him. Now he laid hold of him. He took
him, laid hold of him, and then he let him go. Wait a minute. He apprehended
him to loose him. That's salvation. You know that?
That's salvation. Paul was captive to the law,
under the law, and the Lord came and convicted him of his sin, showed
him how he was guilty of everything the law said. Though he was a
Pharisee, though he was moral, though he thought he was blameless,
he showed him, you're guilty of everything. The law slew him. I'll say, okay, he was captive,
didn't know it. Held captive by the law. Guilty
as charged, didn't know it. Now he knows it. Then what did
the Lord do? He loosed him from the law. Free from the law. Oh, happy
condition. The Lord Jesus hath bled and
there is remission. Cursed by the law, bruised by
the fall, but the Lord Jesus God has freed us once for all. Our Lord said that He came to
take captivity captive. He looses a sinner from Satan,
from sin, from self, from the law, but He doesn't turn him
loose. Aren't you glad? Our Lord said,
if the truth shall, and I've misquoted this and I've heard
men misquote it, The truth shall, does it say, set you free? Make
you free. Make you free. He said, if the
Son shall make you free, you're free indeed. He makes you free
from the penalty. You're free from the penalty
of the Lord, free from the absolute reigning power of it. Someday
He's going to make us totally free from the presence of sin.
Totally free. But He doesn't set us free. He
now owns us. He now has hold of us. He now
has us with the cords of a man. We're his dog and we're on a
leash. You and I were talking about we need a short leash,
don't we? Don't let me go. Lord, don't
let go of me. Do you want to be let go? Don't
turn me loose. If you let go of me for one minute,
I'm going to run off. My dog Abner at one time, he loved me, I loved him, but you
know, a dog will be a dog. I guess he was chasing a deer
or something that he ran off, cost 40, and I didn't see him
for days. He was gone. I thought I'd lost
him forever. And I put out a reward, a bounty,
a ransom, and I found him. I paid the ransom. It's my dog. I wanted to shoot the person. But it was my dog, okay? I paid
the ransom. I brought him back home with
me. Buddy. And I was thinking about what
must have been going through his mind the whole time. Boy,
I had it so good at home. My mastery, I may never see him
again. My friends, my family. Oh, what
am I doing chasing a deer? Why did I leave? Oh, like the
prodigal son. And buddy, when I brought him
back, he wasn't hard to get out of my sight. That was day four. Brought him into town. Okay,
now we have a little lot and city streets. Stay right there.
Stay right there. Never ran off. Oh Lord, don't
let me run off. Don't tear me loose. So he took
him. Healed him, let him go. And he answered them again. Now,
they didn't say anything, but he answered them again. Our Lord,
His Word answers everything. The Word of God is quick and
powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword. The Scripture says, it
pierces and divides and asunder the joints and the marrow, all
naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have today. And our Lord answers everything
if men would just ask. The answer then said, which of
you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will not
straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? Well, I couldn't
answer again. Wouldn't. Do you remember the woman with
the issue of The spirit of infirmity, 18 years, remember he healed
her in the previous chapter, and they said, you can't do that
on Sabbath. Can you believe that? They weren't interested in souls
of men. They were covetous men. They were evil men. Which of you, he said, man's
not interested in salvation of others? I'm going to say, if he only
wants to save his own ass, An ox. The Lord wrote that, didn't
he? Not interested in other people.
It's only when Christ is formed in you that you have a true interest
in other people. Man loves himself. That's what
this is all about. That's what the Lord is teaching.
He put forth a parable, beginning in verse 7. He put forth a parable
to those which were bidden. And we're going to look Sunday
at the marriage supper, bidden. It's all about being bidden,
bidden, bidden, bidden. Who's going to be there? Who
does the Lord bid? Who's going to be in the marriage
supper? He keeps talking about this throughout this chapter. And He put forth this parable
to those which were bidden, those that came there, these Pharisees
and these scribes. And He marked how they chose
a chief room. He was there early, our Lord.
was there and up here. Appreciative. Appreciative of
the service he was getting, the food that he was preparing. Yes,
nobody more appreciative. Nobody. Nobody appreciates the
servants more than him. You know good and well he thanked
the servants for serving him. No idea. And he watched the people
coming in, these dignitaries, learn. And they began to look
for their chief room, chief seats. They were all in rank and order,
like maybe the senator of the Congress would come in. And he watched them. And he said,
verse 8, Now 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. If they knew who this was in
this house, they would have all been sitting on the floor at
his feet like Mary Magdalene would. That's where they would
have been sitting. And they would have told him,
you go up to that chief Pharisee, he'd have rent his garments if
he didn't know who this was. I'm no chief. You're the chief. You're first. Forgive me for playing this part. When you're bidding of any man
to the wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest the
more honorable man than thou be bidding of him. And he that
bathed thee and him come and say to you, get up. You don't
belong in that chair. Give this man place. And you
begin with shame to take the lowest room. Humiliation. Verse 10, he says, when thou
art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room. The lowest room. That when he that bathed thee
cometh, he may say unto thee, friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou
have worship in the presence of them that sit at me. What
our Lord is teaching us here is that we take our rightful
place. What is our rightful place? Well,
where did we come from? Where did the Lord find it? He
said, Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou retire. It was Abraham that came before
the Lord, and Abraham was the greatest man of God at that time. And he came before the Lord and
said, I'm just dust and ashes. That's what I'm going to turn
into. I'm a nobody. And he made a request to the
Lord. Let's take our place in the dust and the dirt. That's
where he put Saul of Tarsus. Saul who was riding his high
horse. And the Lord in great mercy and grace humbled him.
He that walketh in pride, he's able to abase It doesn't take much for our
Lord to bring him down. Not much. Turn to Isaiah chapter 2 with
me. Isaiah chapter 2. Look at several
scriptures on this thing of pride. And then we'll look at what it
means to humble ourselves. Isaiah chapter 2. Scripture says
in Proverbs, six things the Lord hates. Day seven are an abomination. And you know what the first thing
is. It's a proud look. Proud look. And you know what
characterizes this generation? These last days and perilous
times. Listen. Here's what it says. The last
days and perilous times. It's never been more true of
an age than it is now. Men should be lovers of their
own selves. Love themselves. They love to
talk about themselves. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers. You know, a blasphemer is one
who takes for himself what belongs only to God. Proud. Boasters. Boasters. Look at Isaiah
chapter 2. Isaiah 2 and verse 10. Enter into the rock. What is
that? That's Christ crucified. Hide thee in the dust for fear
of the Lord. The glory of His Majesty, Brother
John, read Psalm 2 tonight. That was fitting, John. Very
fitting. He said, I've set my King on my holy hill of Zion.
He said, you serve the Lord with fear. You rejoice with trembling.
Oh, kiss the Son. Not His cheek as an equal. His
feet, like Mary Magdalene, as a lowly person. Verse 11 of Isaiah
2, The lofty looks of man shall be humble. The haughtiness of
men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. He says he's going to bring down
every high mountain. Verse 14, it's lifted up, the
hills, every high tower. Boy, he did that in New York
City, didn't he? Verse 16, the ships of Tarsus.
All pleasant pictures, the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, the
haughtiness of man shall be made known, the Lord alone shall be
exalted in that day. All your idols, all these superstars
and sports stars and rock star boys, put a brief halt on it. Look at Isaiah 23, I never forget.
I was reading this as a young believer. It made a real impression
on me. Isaiah 23, verse 9. Isaiah 23,
9. Now, whatever the Lord purposes,
He's going to do. It says in verse 9, the Lord
of hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory,
to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. And a
little later in Luke, the Lord says, that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. Why does the Lord hate pride
so much? Because it's us taking credit
and glory for what God has done. What God has given. It's called
vain glory. Because we have none. We have
nothing but shame. Was it Daniel who said, confusion
effaces for long a day? Shame. It is self-conceit, is
what it is. We have nothing to be conceited
of, but we're conceited in ourselves. It's thinking we're something.
You know, the Scripture says, if any man thinks he's something,
when he's nothing, he won't deceive him. It's thinking we can do
something. When our Lord said, without me,
You can do nothing. It's thinking we've earned or
produced or attained something by our own works and our own
energy, our own efforts, our own wisdom, our own abilities.
It's thinking we have done these things. What do we have? We have
not received. Jeremiah 9 says, Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom. Now these three things is what
we think we know, it's what we think we can do, and it's what
we have that people glory in. These three things. Let not the
wise man glory in his wisdom. The Lord just sent a German,
we'd be a Babylon idiot. Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. Every one of us are going to
turn into little babies again. Somebody is going to have to
carry us around. Maybe. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. What do we have that the Lord
didn't give us? Of His grace have all we received.
Grace. It's all been a gift. And so
for us to take pride in anything we know, knowledge does what? It will give you the drops. It
will puff you up. We know nothing yet as we ought
to know. Well, everything we can do, he
gives us the ability to do it. I love music. I've been listening
to violin. I bought a violin, trying to
play it. So I've been listening to these
masters, these concert violinists. It's pretty amazing. It is amazing. Some of them I listen to and
I think, how is that humanly possible? I've seen guitar players and
this and that, and I think, how is that humanly possible? It's
a gift. So we should not be amazed at
people. Ever. We should not treat them
like they're gods come down with all these, it's a gift. Surgeons. We don't glory in and give them
glory. I'm amazed at what Brother Ron
went through, and here he's back with us. But I'm not amazed by
the man who did the surgery. I'm amazed at God who gave man
this ability. Aren't you? I mean, thank you,
Lord, for giving somebody, putting the world in their heart, and
sending them to a university. And God did that for Ron Fanning.
He's elect. Everything's for the kingdom
of God for His people. Everything exists for God's people. He has a man go through twelve,
sixteen years of school to become a surgeon, to operate on one
man. You reckon? He did. The Lord came down, left the
nine and nine for one. A nobody in the world. Somebody
to God. Oh, let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom. Don't be amazed by people and
things. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't bow and scrape
to them. Don't, you know, ooh and ah,
you know, oh wow, you're so... He's a nothing. If he doesn't
know God, he's a fool. And God gave him an ability to
do something for his people, for his kingdom. That's the only
reason. And then he's going to cast him
away. Isn't that right? Done with it.
Not many wise men of the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. Why? Because they think there's something.
You see your calling, brethren? He went on to say in 1 Corinthians
1, he said, God has chosen things that are what? Naught. Nothings. Nobodies. Why? They're going to give Him all
the glory. If they know anything, if they have anything, if they
can do anything, they're going to give Him the glory. I was going to have you turn
and run out of time, but James 4 says, humble yourself. Peter
says, humble yourself, humble yourself. He says here in verse
11, whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased. Every proud
sinner is going to be brought down. Some in his mercy and love
and grace he brings down to save them. Others he's going to cast
away. And we all were so lifted up
in pride before we knew Him, and at times we still get lifted
up, and it's only God's mercy and grace that doesn't cast us
out. Because He remembers His covenant. Now here's the line. He that
humbleth himself shall be exalted. Who does the Lord dwell with?
Him who is poor and of contrite, spirit and trembleth, At my word,
to this man will I look, poor, contrite, humble, he that humbleth
himself. How do we humble ourselves? Let
me close with this. How do we humble ourselves? First
of all, our Lord said, if you come after me, deny yourself. Just deny yourself. Put yourself
in his rightful place. That's what he said. Put yourself
in your rightful place, in the dust. Here's what Paul said in
Romans 7. Now Paul, he was the theologian. He was the chief apostle. A little
while later, the disciples are going to have strife. And this
is where strife comes from. We all think we're something
when we're nothing. It's strife again. You offended
me. How can you offend a worm? Well, you can if they get proud. They all argued who was the chief
apostle. They'd only been with the Lord
a year or two. I started thinking about this, Kelly, when he found
those fishermen. You know what a fisherman smells
like? We've come in after a day fishing and our wives say, take
your clothes off outside. Sweat and smell, you know, a
bunch of guys around each other. They don't care what... They
don't care. And fishing? They stunk. And the Lord came,
saved them, cleaned them up. They forgot what they were, where
He found them. Just like that. We're somebody. No, you're not. Remember the
pit from which you were digged? Put yourself in the rightful
place. Paul wrote Romans 7, didn't he? After all that he wrote in
Romans, he came to Romans 7, he said, now in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. He says, I used to think I could
do anything. He said, now the things I would,
I do not. The things I don't want to do,
that's what I do. I wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver
me? I can't do anything. Oh, thank God for Jesus Christ. Put yourself in the right place.
Hate yourself. There's an article I've had in the bulletin several
times. I've got it in the back of my Bible. Dying to self. It
says when you're forgotten or neglected or purposely said it
not and you don't hurt, it doesn't hurt you, you're not insulted,
that's dying to self. When you're good as evil is spoken
of, when your wishes are crossed, your opinions are ridiculed and
you don't get angry in your heart, that's dying to self. When you
patiently bear anything that happens to you, any annoyance
or anything, that's dying to self. When you're content with
anything, that's dying to self. When you never care to refer
to yourself or hear your name spoken again, that's dying to self. You don't
want to talk about yourself, don't want to give your opinion,
that's dying to self. When you can see your brother
prosper, have his needs met, him prosper more than you, and
you be happy, that's dying to self. When you can receive correction
and reproof from somebody younger or less than you maybe, and you
don't resent it, that's dying to self. And I added this, when
you can count all your righteousness, everything you've ever done,
it might be good as filthy rags. And look to Christ and love Him.
That's dying to sell. We need a lot more to find them. It's to put yourself... How do
we humble ourselves? Put ourselves in our rightful
place? It's to put ourselves under the Word, because nothing
will humble us like God's Word. Nothing. Put ourselves under
God's Word. I read Ezekiel 36 again today. He said, I'm not doing this for
your sake. Read it for yourself, Ezekiel
36. He said, I'm not doing this for your sake Israel. You profane
my name. I'm doing this for my holy name
sake. And he went on to say, this is what I'm going to do
for you. Went on and on, I will take you. I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart. I'll put my spirit in you. I'll
teach you. I'll do this. I'll do that. And he said, in
the end, you're going to loathe yourself. You're going to be
ashamed of yourself. And you're going to be really
thankful for everything I've done. Put yourself under the Word.
Put yourself under the hearing of God's Word. Read the Word. It'll humble you, and that's
good. That's good. Humble yourself by stop listening
to man. Men flatter you. Satan's behind
it. Flattery. Flattery. I'll tell
you what lies, deceit, flattery. It's all a lie. If anybody flatters
you, put your hands, your fingers in your ear. Don't listen. Don't
do it. And here's the cheap way. Look
at Philippians 2. Go to Philippians 2. Paul said
this. It was all over after he met
the Lord Jesus Christ and realized what the Lord had done for him,
brought him down, humbled him to show him what Christ had done
for him on Calvary's tree. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory. God forbid that I should glory. He amazed by it, taken up with
anything, anything. on this earth, or in heaven and
earth, save the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. Here it is. Here's
how we humble ourselves. Look at Christ crucified. He that was rich, if our sin
can pour. He was angels adored, men spit I did that. There was a time
I didn't care if he lived or died. And when I hear the gospel without
being broken hearted, I'm doing the same thing. He shouldn't have come, but he
did. This ought to humble me like
nothing else will. Here's what he said in Philippians
2, verse 2, "...fulfill my joy, that ye be like-minded, having
the same love of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory." They go together, vain glory,
strife. "...but in lowliness of mind.
Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every
man on his own thing, but every man on the things of others."
Why? Because that's exactly what our Lord did. He who was served
by angels, who created everything to serve Him, came down here
to be a servant. Peter got a little glimpse of
that. The Lord stooped down and washed his feet. Peter said,
don't do that, Lord. I need you to do that. Don't
do that. He said, Peter, do you know what
I've done for you? If I don't wash you, if I didn't come down
here, Save you from your sins, save you from your pride. I've
got to cast you out. Oh, man. This is the only thing
that really humbles. Let this mind, verse 5, be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who in the form of God
thought it not robbery, but equal with God, that made himself.
of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, made in
the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself and became obedient unto death, the death of the
cross. He who was holy, righteous, just,
Came down to a world full of unholy, filthy, vile, wretched
sinners, unjust, wretched, miserable, poor. But He was holy. Came down
here to be made sin that we might take what He did. What He did, He swapped places
with us. Gave us what He earned and He got what we earned. What do we got to boast in? That's
why Paul said, God forbid that I should be amazed by anything
but Him. Wherefore, here's what He did,
obedient unto death, the death of the cross, Christ crucified. Verse 9, Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted Him, he that humbleth himself shall be Exhausted. Oh, God has given him a name
of every name and every knee should bow. Every knee will. But right now, every knee should.
Things in heaven, things in earth, every tongue should confess.
No, but men think they're little lords. that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Humbly said. He that humbleth himself. And
this is, as I quoted, this is who the Lord is going to inhabit
His heaven and the earth with. Humble, brokenhearted, grateful,
thankful, blood washed, No good salaries. Nobody. From nowhere. Can't do anything. And he did it all. Christ did
it all. Hallelujah. Okay. Our Lord, thank you. Words are
shallow and feeble, but from our hearts we hope and pray that
we truly are thankful to you coming to this earth. Forgive
us, Lord, for any and all pride. Forgive us. Let us take our rightful
place always at Thy feet in the dust, looking up, looking unto
our Lord, Jesus Christ, in Him crucified. Let us not be listened
to or taken up with man, amazed by anything. Let us stand amazed
in the presence of the Lord Jesus. than no one else. I'm amazed
that he would come here for the likes of us. Thank you, Lord,
for your word. Thank you for your truth. In
Christ's name, amen.