If you would, open your Bibles
again to 1 Peter, chapter 5, passage of scripture by Brother
Dan Redforce a few moments ago. The title of the message is Humility,
the Wardrobe of God's Church. Now, humility is an important
part of the believer's wardrobe because humility enables each
child of God to fulfill our role in God's Church. And Peter has
some instructions for us here. First, he has some instructions
for elders. He's not speaking to older believers
here. He's speaking to men who hold
the office of elder, those whose job it is to teach God's Word.
Now, this is good instruction for all of us, for elders and
for all of God's church. If you're not an elder, this
will help you identify one. There's clear marks here. God's
elders. And humility is a must for an
elder. Humility is a must in God's preachers. We must be a humble servant of
God. We must be humble before him
whom we serve. He's the Almighty. If you're
going to serve him, you have to be humble before him. We must
be humble as we study the word of God, who's sufficient for
these things. We're humble. We're utterly dependent
upon God to reveal Himself to us in His Word. We must be humble
among God's people. You can't be the servant of men
unless you're humble. You think of the best preacher
you know, the best preacher you ever heard preached, I can guarantee
you this is true about that man. He's a humble man. Moses was
a humble man, wasn't he? He wasn't a wimp. He would not
back down from Pharaoh. But he was a humble man. David
was a humble man. By no stretch of the imagination
was David a coward. He was the only one who got there
and faced Goliath. But now he's a humble man, isn't
he? Nathan came to him and said, David, you're the man. He said,
you're right. God forgive me. He broke his
heart. He's a humble man. Our Lord Jesus
is a humble man. He's not a wimp. He's not a coward.
He's not powerless. But he's so humble. And aren't
you thankful? He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross.
Aren't you thankful? You can clothe yourself with
that same mind. Make this your wardrobe. Now, beginning in verse
1 of 1 Peter chapter 5. The elders which are among you
I absorb. Whom also an elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ. and also a partaker of the glory that should be revealed.
Right off the bat, Peter sets the example of humility for elders. I love the way he does this.
Peter could have used apostolic authority and said, brethren,
this is the way it is, and given orders, given us our marching
orders, couldn't he? But that's not what he did. Instead, he
said, I exhort you. And this word exhort means to
call to your side. It means to beg. It means to
encourage. It means to teach. Peter's got
something to teach his fellow elders. He doesn't talk down
to us. He said, come up here beside
me and let me teach you something that'll help you. How often do
you remember Brother Henry saying, let me give you something that'll
help you? That's what Peter's doing here. That's the way we're
to preach. Isn't that the kind of preaching
that blesses you? Let me give you something that'll help you.
And Peter gives us our message. He says he's an eyewitness of
the sufferings of Christ. And physically, Peter was an
eyewitness to all those sufferings of our Lord. Now, none of us
are eyewitnesses, but by faith we are, aren't we? By faith,
we're witnesses to the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. So
that's our message. Our message is Christ and Him
crucified. But if we're going to preach
Christ and Him crucified, In order to do that, you must do
two things. First, you must tell why. Why
was our Lord crucified? Because He was made to be sin
for His elect. That's why. Why was He crucified? He was crucified as a substitute
for somebody, for His elect. And He was made to be sin for
them. He bore their sin so they could
go free. And then, secondly, we must tell,
well, what did He accomplish? What did Christ accomplish in
His sufferings? Is he just an example? Is he hoping somebody
will believe him? No. He accomplished the eternal
salvation of every soul the Father gave him in the covenant of grace.
That's what he accomplished. And then here are the results
of Christ's sufferings. That we be partakers of the glory
which shall be revealed. That's the ultimate result of
the sufferings of Christ. That glory that Peter's talking
about, the same glory he talked about, we looked at this last
week in chapter 4, verse 13. But rejoice inasmuch as you are
partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. That glory
he's talking about is the glory that will be revealed when Christ
returns. And you're made just like him.
That's the glory that he is talking about. We're going to be made
just like Christ in that day for this reason. He was made
what we are, so that we would be made what he is. And then
Peter gives the threefold responsibility of elders. These can only be
done clothed with humility. The first responsibility of God's
elders, his preachers, is to feed the flock. See that in verse
two? Feed the flock of God, which is among you. Boy, didn't Peter
know that responsibility. He learned that lesson, didn't
he? But in order to learn it, Peter had to be humbled before
he could learn it and before he could do it. Look back at
John chapter 21. You know full well what I'm talking
about. After our Lord was crucified, Peter denied him three times,
and then he was crucified. He was buried. Peter couldn't
even wait the three days the Lord told him to wait. He quit
the ministry and went back to fishing. Went back to being a
professional fisherman. And then our Lord appeared to
him. You know all that that happened there. John 21, verse 15. So
when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He wasn't talking about
these other disciples there. He was talking about these boats
and these nets. Do you love me more than that profession, that
money-making venture? Do you love me more than these?
He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith unto him again the second
time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He said unto him, Yea,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed
my sheep. He saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Oh, Peter was grieved, because
he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? You know Peter
thought about those three times. He denied the Lord. Oh, he was
grieved. And he said unto him, Lord, thou
knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Now, that's going to take
humility, because read on, verse 18. Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself. You walked whether
you would. But when thou shalt be old, thou
shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee.
and carry thee whither thou wouldst not. This faith he signifying
by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this,
he saith unto him, Follow me. And this thing of feeding my
sheep, you follow me. Then Peter turning about, seeth
the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, which also leaned
on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that
betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, what
shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will,
that he tarry till I come, what's that to thee? You follow me. Now that's going to take some
humility in it. Peter's humbled now. Well, now he can be useful. Now that Peter's humbled, he
can be useful in feeding the sheep. And that's God, that's
the primary responsibility of God's elders. Feed the sheep. And sheep are fed in the green
pastures of God's Word. That's where God's sheep are
fed. We're to feed the sheep with Christ because he's the
bread of life. His flesh is meat indeed, his
blood is drink indeed. So the sheep are going to be
fed from, they're going to feed on Christ from his word. Now,
if you're going to feed sheep, granted, I don't believe I've
ever seen a shepherd, but I think I can say this as fact. If you're going to feed sheep,
you have to be familiar with the pasture. You're going to
have to be familiar where you can take those sheep and know
where they can get green grass. And I believe you have to work
at it. I don't believe shepherds are lazy men sitting around the
shade trees. I think they're hard working
men. Because God's under shepherds work hard, work hard in the study,
work hard in the study of God's word, seeking the pasture for
God's sheep. And I would imagine that from
time to time, shepherds have to walk a long way. Go find the
next passenger. This one, they beat it all up.
You know, we've got to go find a new one. He's got to walk a
long way to go scout out and find a place that's good for
the sheep. Well, that's exactly what you do with God's sheep.
If you love the Lord, you work hard at feeding the sheep. But
Peter says here, feed the flock of God which is among you, that
is, as much as in you is, as much ability as you've got, as
much ability as God's given you, Use it all in the study and preparation
and preaching of the gospel to feed God's sheep. Every time,
do your best. Every time. Just give it your
absolute best. Now, you may not have as much
ability as somebody else, but do the best you can. And God
will bless it. Because no man, I don't care
who he is, no man is sufficient for these things. So you do your
best. Now, God's not going to bless
sloth. You do your best and you rely on the Lord to give the
increase. And I also like this about elders, what Peter says,
you feed the flock of God, which is among you, among you, where
you're at. Elders serve at home. Now, I
enjoy conferences. I have for years gone, what Janice
says, a filler in or filled in for pastors in different places
in the had to be gone. And I've enjoyed that. I've enjoyed
meeting people and going to these places and preaching. I enjoy
that. But you know what I enjoy more?
Preaching right here. There's no place I'd rather be
than right here. This is the people that God's
given me to serve. This is the people God's given
me to feed. And I love it. I just would prefer to preach
here more than anywhere else. I kind of understand Our brother
Tom Harding. I mean, you can't hardly blast
a guy out of Pike County. I'm learning why. Home is where
the heart is. You feed the flock, which is
among you. Right where you're at. That's
your job. Secondly, God's elders are to
take the oversight of the flock. Peter says, taking the oversight
thereof. Verse 2. Not by constraint, but willingly.
Not for a filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Now, take the oversight. This does not mean being the
big boss, telling everybody what to do, when to do it, and how
to do it, like the old overseers in the Old South. This is not
what this means. The word that Peter uses means
to look after, to be aware of, to be aware of the needs of people.
And that's mostly done through preaching. Mostly that's done
through the preaching. This is our greatest need, to
hear Christ preach. But it's also done out of the
pulpit. A shepherd. He's doing his job. He's not
on a hill, far away, kind of, you know, taking the general
overview of the area. Shepherd is doing his job right
down there with the sheep, right in the pasture with the sheep,
protecting them from wolves and all these other things that shepherds
are supposed to do, you know. And that's got to be done, being
clothed with humility. Because Peter said, don't you
do this by constraint. It's not by force. You're not
being forced to do this. You do it willingly. of a ready,
willing mind. You elders, you teachers, you
serve, you teach, you do the job that God's called you to
do. Not because you're forced to, but because you love the
Lord. Isn't that what the Lord told
Peter? Peter, do you love me? Then, feed my sheep. Do it not because you have to,
but out of love for the Lord, love for his sheep. God's church
is not ruled by force. The church is ruled by love.
So don't you Take the oversight of the flock by force either.
You do it out of love. And then you elders, Peter said,
don't you serve for gain, for filthy lucre. Now the church
is to support the pastor so he can give his time to study and
prayer and feeding the sheep. And you all do that so well.
You're so generous. I just, you're kind. I love you. I thank God for you. And I know
why you do it. You love the Lord, too. You care
about the gospel being preached in this town. You care about
being preached to your children, to your grandchildren, to your
neighbors, to the people. You care about it, so you support
it. I know why you do. You love the Lord, and I'm thankful. I'm thankful for you. And you
know what? God's sheep typically are that
way. And if they're not, they're probably
a sick sheep. I mean, I've been to a lot of
places. God's sheep are a generous, giving people. That's just a
general mark of God's sheep. But a wolf sees that and comes
to take advantage of it. Now, God's servant's thankful
for it. A wolf will see that and come in sheep's clothing
and try to take advantage of it. A false prophet will fleece
the sheep to make merchandise of their souls for his own gain.
A false prophet will use the sheep to protect him and to provide
for him instead of the other way around. Him protecting them
and him feeding them. See, a false prophet is not feeding
the sheep. He's not looking after the sheep. But the nature of
sheep makes that possible for him to come in and do that because
they have a generous nature. He has a taking nature. And you
just be very careful of a man who's in the ministry for what
he can get out of it. Now, you may not know it, you
may not recognize it at first, but you watch and you generally
be able to tell. What's his motive? Is his motive
always he's angling and he's scheming, trying to get something
for himself? Maybe he's trying to get money or possessions,
or maybe he's trying to get power among people or applause or prestige,
you know, amongst people. When you see that, you'd be very
careful, very careful. When Jan was pregnant with Savannah,
Dan Colvin and I were going somewhere. Dan was going to preach. I was
going with him. And she was pregnant with Savannah. And we were talking
about this. Mind you, we just always had
this, it was our desire, our goal, we were going to do everything
we could do so that she could be a stay-at-home mother. We
just felt like that was the best way. We wanted her to be with
the children, raise them and teach them and so forth, you
know. And Dan told me, he said, I believe you're doing the right
thing. And this is the way he said it. You can pay somebody
to watch your children. You can't pay anybody to love
them. And the same thing is true of God's elders. You can't pay
a man to love you and watch for your soul. Only God can give
a man that heart. And I believe you recognize it.
And here is a mark of God's preachers every time. God's preachers will
not, will not take advantage of the sheep. This won't do it.
He won't take advantage of their kindness and their generosity.
His goal is not what he can get out of you. His goal is to win
your heart to Christ. Not even win your heart to himself,
but to win your heart to Christ. His goal is for you to be well
fed, to be protected from false doctrine that will poison your
soul. That's taking the oversight of the blind. Be watchful, watching
out for their needs. Third, elders are to be an example
to the flock. Verse three, neither being lords
over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. God's
preachers do not exercise dominion over the church. That's what
this phrase that Peter uses here, being lords over God's heritage. That's not exercising dominion
over the church. Everybody's not under the power
of the pastor and the control of the pastor. The sheep don't
belong to him. They belong to God. They're God's
sheep. You're just looking out for him. Now, it's clear that
the pastor has authority in the church, but pastors are not lords. Pastors are preachers. Pastors
are undersephires. Pastors are examples to the flock.
In God's church, there's no clergy-laity division. None. No believer is
more important than another, ever. No believer is on a higher
plane than another believer. They're all equal. Every child
of God is equal in Christ. You're made just like Christ.
How much better can you be? They're all equal. Every child
of God. Now, there are different levels of maturity, different
responsibilities, different callings. But even though there are different
callings, different levels of maturity, that doesn't make one
more important than another, does it? You all have family
reunions. I'm sorry, Mom, I try to avoid
them. I just don't really enjoy them
that much, but a lot of people do. And when you go to family
reunions, you have people of all ages, don't you? You got
old people, you got babies, you got everybody in between. Who's
most important? In that big gathering, who's
the most important? Typically, you see, the old people, are
they most important? The matriarch and the patriarch, are they most
important? Typically, you find them holding the babies, loving
on the babies, getting their picture taken with the babies.
Well, who's most important? They all are. You can do without
one of them. You need them all. That's God's
church. Now, this is more important than
another. The Apostle Paul, after all he did in the service of
the Lord, he wrote the lion's share of the New Testament, all
of the epistles. What did he say? I'm not worthy. to be called an apostle. You
want to talk about the greatest and the least? Paul said, I'm
less than the least of all the saints. That's humility. And God used that name, didn't
he? Look at Matthew chapter 20. Matthew 20 verse 25. But Jesus called them unto him,
and he said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise
dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority
upon them, but it shall not be so among you. But whosoever will
be great among you, let him be your minister. And that word
is waiter or deacon. Let him be your waiter. Let him
be the one who waits tables if he wants to be the greatest.
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.
Now get this, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Now that puts it all in perspective,
doesn't it? One more scripture, 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. 2 Corinthians 1 verse 23. Moreover, I call God for a record
upon my soul that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth.
The Apostle Paul had authority, didn't he? Well, did he want
to go around swinging that stick? Absolutely not. Look at verse
24. Not for that we have dominion over your faith. What's our job? What's our responsibility? Helpers
of your joy, for by faith you stand. That's what I'm talking
about. God's preachers. are to be examples. They're to be examples of faith,
examples of honesty and kindness, examples of a work ethic. They're
nothing worse than a lazy preacher. Just nothing worse than that. They're to be an example of a
work ethic, to be an example of good conduct out in the community.
Pastors are to be examples. You ought to see me practice
what I preach. And I'll tell you one clear way
to set that example. is to preach Christ clearly and
consistently every time. Never wavering from telling the
truth. Salvation is for me and you. It's for me. That's the
way I ought to preach it. I know you need salvation, but
brother, I do too. This gospel that I preach is
the gospel I need. I preach the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace, because I need grace more than anybody. I preach the gospel of mercy
to sinners in Christ Jesus for this reason. I need mercy more
than anybody. I need mercy. I preach the gospel of forgiveness
of sins in Christ Jesus, because I need forgiveness every moment. I need forgiveness. I preach
God's love for sinners because I'm a sinner and I need God to
love me or I'll never love Him. I need God to choose me or I'll
never choose Him. I need God to save me or I'll
be damned. I need that more than anybody
in this room. The Gospel that I preach meets
my need as a sinner. And if you're a sinner, it'll
meet yours too. If you're a sheep, I'll feed you too. Now you follow
me as I follow Christ. And Peter says, you do all this,
you fulfill this function that God's given you. And when Christ
returns, you'll receive a crown of glory. See that verse four?
And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown
of glory that fadeth not away. Now, this does not mean, this
is not saying, Scripture never teaches this, that there are
rewards in heaven. Some people will be wearing bigger
crowns than others, or more crowns than others. I'd have a hard
time keeping one on my head, much less a stack of them. That's
not what this is talking about. If you're clothed with humility,
you can avoid that kind of thinking. This crown that Peter's talking
about is the crown. It's the mark. It's the covering
that will be given to every believer, without exception. Not just to
elders, but to every believer. If you look in 2 Timothy chapter
4, I'll show you that. This is talking about the crown
that is given to every believer. Look at verse 7 here, 2 Timothy
4. Paul says, I fought a good fight.
I finished my course. I kept the faith. Henceforth,
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also. that love his appearing. This
crown is the crown of righteousness that's given to all of God's
people. It's being made as righteous as Christ himself. You can't
get a better version than that. That's the crown, the covering
that's given to all of God's people. Now here's, this is God's
instructions to the elders. Now here's instructions to all
the church, verse 5. 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. Now, you younger in age,
you're younger in age, you're younger in the faith, submit
yourselves to the elder. Submit yourself to the pastor,
and the teachers, and these older believers. Now, the pastor does
have authority. You submit to his authority.
But this is not authority that holds you under his thumb. It's
authority to watch for your soul. Look at Hebrews chapter 13. This
is the authority that Peter's talking about. Same authority
the writer of Hebrews speaks of. It's the authority to watch
for your soul. And you'd be wise to submit to
that authority. It's for your joy, for your benefit.
Hebrews 13 verse 17. Obey them that have the rule
over you and submit yourselves. For they watch for your souls
as they that must give account. that they may do it with joy
and not with grief, for that's unprofitable for you. Not unprofitable
for them, he says it's unprofitable for you. I must give account
for my preaching to you. I have to give an account for
that. And that account will be joy if God gives you faith to
believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And my account
that I must give will be an account of grief if you never believe
the gospel the church preached. See, it's profitable for you
that you submit yourself to the gospel of God, that you submit
yourself to the righteousness of Christ. It's your profit.
It's the greatest profit you'll ever have, the greatest benefit
that you'll ever have. And it will be our joy together
in heaven if God gives it to you, if you submit yourself to
this. Now, you younger, submit yourselves to the elder. Secondly,
for this reason, They've walked roads you haven't walked yet.
It could be they know something you don't. It's very possible
they know something that you don't. You know, I thought of
this illustration. If I want to know something about
aircraft, guess who I'd talk to? I'd talk to Bob Boyd. Boyd, I love you, but I wouldn't
talk to you. You're a Navy man. You know about boats. He knows
about airplanes. That's who I'd go talk to. And
here's what I bet you. He knows things about an airplane
I don't even dream even exist. But he knows. He's flown them.
He's been down that road. The same thing applies to this
walk into life and certainly in the gospel. Listen to these
older believers. They've learned things from experience
that you haven't experienced yet. These men who preach the
gospel to you, listen to them. They worked hard to find a message,
to find God's message for you tonight. And listen, it's not
right just because I said it. I may come off that way sometimes
at home. I hope I don't here. But it's
not right just because I said it. But I hope that you'll at
least listen to what I'm telling you and think about it before
you dismiss it. God is my witness. I try to make
what I tell you come from God's Word, not what I think. So I
hope you think about it now before you dismiss it. Here's instruction
for all of us. Submit yourselves to the elder
and be clothed, be covered with humility. Don't just submit to
the pastor. Don't just submit to the elders,
to the teachers. You submit yourself to everybody in the church. Now,
I was with you just for this thing about submitting to the
pastor. I can see that. The elders, I can see that. But
now you're stepping on my toes. Submit to everybody? That's what
God's word says. Submit yourselves to everybody,
to each other. Submit yourselves. You know why
that's hard to do? We're not humble by nature. This doesn't come from our first
birth, this humility. But think about why this is important.
The purpose of the church is to preach the gospel. That's
our purpose. Our purpose is to give the public
a place where they can gather together in public worship and
hear of the Savior, that their souls may be saved. That's the
role of the church. Well, the church will fulfill
that role much better if the people who make up the church,
the church is not a building. You're the church. The church
is people. If the people make up the church,
are at peace with one another. They submit to one another. If
they're clothed with humility and they'll be subject one to
another, that'll promote unity and that'll keep peace. Then
you can worship. I don't see that it's possible
you can worship in an atmosphere where there's not peace and unity.
I don't see where it's possible. So be subject one to another.
Now what does that mean? What means bear one another's
burdens? Help each other out. And do your best never to offend
somebody. And if somebody does offend you,
maybe you can assume they didn't mean it. Maybe that wasn't really
what they meant. Maybe it didn't come out the
way that they meant it. Just don't be so critical. Don't be so critical. Give them
a break. You know, if I'm subject to you,
I'll put my needs behind your needs. Your needs come first.
Now that takes humility. But it'll promote peace, doesn't
it? Everyone knows burdens. Our children, little children,
sometimes they can't speak right. They don't use the right grammar
or something, you know, or they don't have the coordination to
drink out of a cup, so we give them a sippy cup. Well, you don't
ridicule them for it. You don't whack them upside the
head for it. You bear their burdens. Everyone
knows burdens. Everyone knows burdens. And that
takes humility. Humility is the opposite of pride. And here's why it's so important
to be clothed with humility, covered with humility, because
God resists the proud and He gives grace to the humble. Oh,
do you need grace? God resists the proud, but He
gives grace to the humble. God hates pride. And pride is
the opposite of humility, so we need to put that off. Put
pride off. Be closed with humility. In Proverbs
6, Solomon lists seven things God hates. The first one is a
proud look. Pride was the first sin. That pride preached glory. Lucifer said, I'll be like God.
And that was the first sin on earth too. Adam said the same
thing. I'll be like God. It's the first sin and it'll
be the last sin. The root of self-righteousness
is what makes a sinner refuse to submit to the righteousness
of Christ. Pride's the first sin and pride
is the last sin and it always, pride always leads to destruction. But look at Luke chapter 18.
Pride leads to destruction. What does humility lead to? First,
humility leads to justification. In Luke chapter 18, verse 10, two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood, he prayed thus with himself, God I thank thee that I am not
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess, full of pride. 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. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified rather than the other. For every one
that exalteth himself should be abased, but he that humbleth
himself should be exalted. Humility leads to justification.
Look at Job chapter 22. Secondly, humility leads to salvation. Now that's got my attention.
Humility leads to salvation. Because God gives grace to the
humble. Job 22 verse 29. When men are cast down, then
thou shalt say, theirs lifting up, and he shall save the humble
person. Humility leads to salvation through
Proverbs chapter 15. Third, humility leads to honor. It leads to justification. It
leads to salvation and humility leads to honor. Proverbs 15 verse
33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction
of wisdom and before honor is humility. Humility leads to honor. And last, humility, this is the
crown jewel of it all, humility makes us like Christ. Philippians
2, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. He
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but what did
he do? Humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Humility will make us like Christ. Now, what is humility? Let me
give you a few things in closing. What is humility? Well, humility,
first of all, is seeing what we are by nature. Humility is
seeing I don't have any personal righteousness. I can't do anything
good because everything I do is mixed with sin. That's humility. It's an accurate picture of yourself
by nature. Second, humility. is submission,
submission to the will of God without murmuring. Now, this
is what we all do. We murmur, I know. But when we
murmur, this is what we're saying. If I was God, I wouldn't do it
this way. I'd do it different. You know what that's saying?
I know a better way than God. That's not humble. Look at verse
six in our text. This is humility. Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time." Now, maybe I shouldn't, but this is what I always think
of when I read this verse. Right after 9-11, they gathered
together this group of yahoos in the National Cathedral, and
they were supposed to be preachers, and they all took their turns
from different denominations of faith preaching to the country,
President Bush and his wife sitting right there in the front row.
And they just mollycoddled the president, you know, it's ridiculous,
they're just, whatever. But this one man got up. I don't
know, I don't remember his name, I don't remember anything about
him, but I remember what he said. He looked at the president in
the best preacher voice, I wish I had that voice, he pointed
his finger at the president, he said, you humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God. Now I don't know anything about
that man, I don't know what he preaches or anything about him, but I
can tell you this, I admire his boldness. You humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God. Boy, that's good advice. That's
what God's Word says. You humble yourself under the
mighty hand of God. That mighty hand is the hand
of our heavenly Father. Our Father's hand. The almighty
hand. You know, children have a good
father. They don't hide from the hand of their father. They
don't shrink at the hand of their father. That's the Father's hand. That's the loving hand of the
Father. You're hid in the hollow of His
hand. Submit yourself under His hand.
Even when that hand is the hand of corruption, it's for my good. What are you afraid of? Don't
be afraid. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Submit
to His will. Third, look at Proverbs chapter
9. Humility is to receive instruction willingly. I quoted that earlier
about Nathan's telling David, you're the man. Human nature is saying, I am
not. I didn't do that. That's not me. You've got to
be talking about somebody else. Humility is saying, God be merciful. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this wicked evil in thy sight. Humility is
to receive instruction willingly. In Proverbs 9, verse 8. Reprove
not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man and he'll love
thee. Give instruction to a wise man
and he'll yet be wiser or he will be yet wiser. Teach a just
man and he'll increase in learning. I wrote down in my notes here,
this tells you how subtle pride is. Receive instruction willingly. I've got many things or I've
got some things is what I originally wrote. I've got some things to
learn. No, I don't. I've got many things I need to
learn. Submit willingly to teaching,
instruction. Fourth, humility is to bear injustices
and wrongs without seeking revenge, without looking to get back.
That's humility. Humility. Fifth, is to rejoice
in the blessing of others and not get jealous. The Lord blesses
someone with prosperity. Humility gives things instead
of, why couldn't you give that to me? That's not humble. Humility
rejoices in the prosperity of others. And last, humility is
being truly content with the lowest seat. And what's that
mean? Our Lord talked about, you know,
taking the lowest seat. It's what that means. Humility
doesn't have to be the center of attention all the time. Humility
is truly content. being the doorkeeper in God's
house rather than dwelling at ease in the tents of wickedness. Now, clothe yourself with humility. All right, I will. How can I
get it? How can I have humility? Well,
I'm telling you that's a harsh thing in this world to do. But
I know this, if you're going to have humility, you cannot
make humility your goal. If you make humility your goal,
As soon as you've reached it, you've lost it. Because you say,
I've reached my goal. I'm real goal-oriented. I feel
real good at the end of the day. I come out of the stage and answer,
how'd it go? And I say, it went great. If I could check off all
the things I want to do, that's when it went awful. If I didn't
check off very many. If you make humility your goal,
you check it off, you lost your goal. But I can tell you how
to get humility. You want to know? Come to Christ. You look to Christ. Oh, if you lay hold on Him, you'll
have every blessing, including humility. You come to Christ. You look to Christ. Once you
see Him, oh, then you'll see who you are. And the humility
will be no problem. Seeing yourself in life who He
is. Isaiah had a lot to say. Till when? When did Isaiah experience
humility? He said, one day I saw the Lord
high and lifted up. His train filled the temple.
The post moved the sound of His voice. And then I said, oh, I'm
undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. How
do you know that, Isaiah? I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. Job spent a lot of time justifying himself, didn't he? Maybe he's
right. Maybe he's wrong. But when do you get humility?
He said, I heard of you. Now may I see you. I put my hand over my mouth.
I'm not going to say another word. He's humbled. Why? Now
may I see you. Look to Christ. Look to Him.
Alright, let's bow in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we humbly
bow before Thy throne of grace. And we beg of Thee that You bless
the Word that's been preached to our hearts. Father, we beg
of Thee that You would, by Your infinite grace, enable us to
look to Christ. That with the eye of faith we
may be witnesses of His suffering. That we may see Him high and
lifted up. In His glory. In His power and
His majesty. And that we might bow to Him
and find in Him all we need. We beg of Thee that You would
enable us to see the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up as our sacrifice,
as our substitute. Oh, how that humbles our heart. Father, how we thank You. Oh,
how we thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. Enable us, Father,
to look to Him, to be humbled by seeing ourselves in the light
of who He is. Enable us to be humble and treat
your children, treat people with humility. Father, we praise You and protect
the love and the unity that we have here. We're so thankful
for and it's by Thy grace. Don't leave us to ourselves.
Don't let us mar this precious gift that you've given us, but
for your glory, for the good of your people, for the good
of your gospel, enable us to be clothed with humility. We
might support the gospel as you continue to bless it here for
many years, if it could be thy will. In the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, we give thanks. Amen.