Now last Sunday, we began a message
on the subject of pride and humility. And we read for our text out
of the book of Peter, 1 Peter chapter 5. So if you'd want to
turn there, I'll read just a couple of verses here, and then we'll
begin our message by turning to a passage in Matthew chapter
20. But here in 1 Peter chapter 5,
let me begin by reading verse 5 and 6. This is 1 Peter chapter 5, verse
5. Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. As we explained last week, this
has to do with the younger elders submitting themselves unto those
that have been in the service of the Lord for a number of years,
and also it would include the younger men of the church subjecting
themselves unto the older men in the church, giving respect
unto age. 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. Now you might want to put a marker
there if you have one. We may turn back there a little
later, but in Matthew chapter 20, if you would turn there with
me please. I'd like to begin reading with
verse 17. We're going to kind of cut in.
I will not go back over. Everything we had to say last
week, we'll cut in to the middle here about where we were when
we left off. But in Matthew chapter 20, beginning
with verse 17, And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve
disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go
up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto
the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death. and shall deliver him to the
Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him, and the third
day he shall rise again. Then came to him the mother of
Zebedee's children, which were John and James, James and John,
with her sons, worshiping him, and desiring a certain thing
of him. And he said unto her, What wilt
thou? She saith unto him, Grant that
these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand, the other
on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
Ye know not what ye ask. Pardon me. Are ye able to drink
of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the
baptism that I'm baptized with, they say unto him, we are able. And he saith unto them, you shall
drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that
I'm baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and
on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them
for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard
it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren." Twelve
disciples. When the ten heard it, they were
moved with indignation against the two brethren. James and John. But Jesus called them unto him
and said, Ye 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 whosoever
will be chief among you, let him be your servant. 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 last week as we
were talking about pride, it was suggested after the meeting
that possibly there's nobody that ever lived that didn't have
pride. And I suggested this thought, that is, that I believe that
when a man was created by God that he certainly did have a
measure of pride. I think it would be very difficult
for anyone to live without having some pride. I think pride is
necessary for an individual to take care properly of himself,
for him to take care of his family, for him to take care of his property,
for him to do the things that needful and necessary in this
life to be a good citizen and to be responsible toward God
and toward the using of the means that God has put into his hands. But I do think that like many
other things or might we say all faculties of man after the
fall, we see that that part of man is also fallen. And we recognize
that many, many times it's like the appetites of the flesh. There's
nothing wrong with having an appetite for a good meal. When
somebody is hungry, somebody said the best sauce for a good
meal is hunger. And so if you're hungry, there's
nothing like having a good appetite and being able to partake and
enjoy a good meal. But then many times the appetite
gets He gets out of counter, and as we say, we know that part
of a man fell too. And a man can become a glutton,
he can become a drunkard, an alcoholic. And this is because
this appetite that he had, which was legitimate, that God gave
him when he was created, when man was created, it got out of
control. and there are other appetites
that we could mention also. And so we see that when it's
when pride takes over a man. Now a man, maybe we can say that
a man cannot live without a degree of pride and there's nobody that
can say he doesn't have pride or she doesn't have pride because
all of us do have and none have so much as the individual says
he has none. And Brother Whitkey over here
mentioned last week at the close of the service that humility
is that rare quality that when one thinks he has it, it's gone. And it is true, very much true. But let me say that a man, while
he cannot live without a measure of pride, he certainly can live
without humility. And a lot of people in this world
that have not an ounce of humility. But in the church of our Lord
Jesus Christ, there is a great need for us to have humility,
to be clothed upon with humility. Now I've chosen these verses
here for us to begin with today, here in Matthew chapter 20, because
I believe that these verses will best set forth what we are going
to say this morning and that will lead us in the right direction
to the understanding about how we can come to be clothed upon
with humility as the Lord's living family. Now, our Lord Jesus,
in verse 17, has told his disciples, and the first thing that we notice
here in these verses is that our Lord makes a clear announcement
here of his approaching death. He says, And Jesus, going up
to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and
said unto them. He took these twelve disciples
now, John and James included, and He took them apart, and He
said to them, We're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of
Man is going to be betrayed, Under the chief priest and into
the scribes and they're going to condemn him to death talking
about himself that he's going to be condemned Unto death that
he's going to be betrayed and he's going to be delivered verse
19 to the Gentiles and he'll be mocked and scourged and they
will crucify him and then in the third day He shall rise again. He's going to come up out of
of the grave. Now, beloved, we see here that
in the next few verses where it talks about the mother of
Zebedee's children, she came worshiping the Lord Jesus and
came with these two boys desiring certain things. Keep in mind
that our Lord has just uttered these words about his impending
death, that he's going to suffer, that he's going to the cross,
that he's going to have to endure the terrible agonies brought
upon him by wicked men as he was approaching the hour of his
death. And then here comes this mother
of Zebedee's children, and she's worshiping him, and she desires
a certain thing of him. She has a certain request that
she wants to make. Now, we see clearly here that
our Lord Jesus Christ, as He is now listening to this question,
it being fresh upon His mind what He has already told His
disciples, that He would think, and you might think, well, they
would be thinking about His death. They'd be thinking about his
cross. They'd be thinking about his sufferings. But we see that
that's not the case. Because she says unto him, grant
that these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and
the other on the left in thy kingdom. Grant that they may
sit, one on the left, one on the right, in thy kingdom." Now,
we notice here the ignorance that is often missed, that is
often mixed with faith, even in those that are true believers
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say that because this woman
here was totally ignorant to the fact that you cannot have
the crown without the cross, and you cannot have the humility
without first being humbled that you must suffer before you can
be glorified, and she missed all of that. And so our Lord
Jesus answered and said in verse 22, you don't know what you ask.
You don't know what it is that you're asking for. You do not
understand here, you're ignorant of the truth here. He says, are
you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? Now when
he said that, he meant, are you able to suffer like I'm going
to? Are you able to endure, hear the mockery and the scourging? Are you able to endure the crucifixion
that I will endure? Are you able to do that? Meaning
that you cannot expect exaltation until you experience suffering. Until you go through the agony
and the suffering. Excuse me very much. Got one
of those. Need my peppermint oil this morning.
In other words, she was ignorant of the fact that these boys,
that they would not be able to have this position because they
must, first of all, go through the process. And he says, and
to be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with. And he's
not talking there about water baptism at all. He's talking
about the time of crucifixion and the time of suffering and
the time of enduring all that he must endure, implying that
in this world, and he goes on to say, ye shall drink indeed
of my cup. Now, he asked them, he said,
are you able to do this? And they said, why, we are able,
we're able, but you see, they're ignorant. They did not understand
what was involved in this. And many, many believers that
start out, they understand something about how God forgives sin, something
about how God puts away sin, and how that He forgives sinners,
and they understand something about the life of living for
the Lord, and so on and so forth, but they don't count the cost.
of what's involved in taking up one's cross and following
the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't understand how it's
necessary that the flesh be crucified before it can be glorified. They
don't understand the process. And so they said, we are able.
we are able. And he saith unto them, in verse
23, ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with
the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and
on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them
for whom it is prepared of my Father. Now the Lord Jesus says
it's going to happen, you're going to suffer, and we know
that all of the apostles did suffer martyrdom. They all suffered
martyrdom. They were put to death for their
faith. And so our Lord here is prophesying that James and John,
that they will indeed suffer like he did. Not exactly, totally,
utterly, but they will suffer as they follow their Lord. And
so Jesus says, it's been determined by my Father who will have this
honor. Who's going to have this honor
sitting on my right hand and on the left. And when, in verse
24, the ten heard it, they overheard the conversation and heard what
our Lord here was telling the mother of James and John, they
were moved with indignation against the two brethren. Now part of
the indignation that they had against these two brethren was
that they were covetous themselves of the position, and they felt
like maybe that they ought to have this honor, and so they
were indignant against these two brethren. But Jesus called
them unto him and 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 servant. And whosoever
will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Now then,
what our Lord is saying here is that the man in this world,
he's talking about how things are in this world and the principle
that governs men in this world. And he says the man in this world
who is the richest and the biggest and the strongest and the smartest
and has the most influence is going to run things in this world.
This is the principle of the flesh and this is the way it
is here among the Gentiles. This is the way it is here in
this world, but it shall not be so with you, but it shall
not be so among you." In other words, our Lord here is teaching
a great truth, and that is how to really become great in the
sight of the Lord, how to really be a servant of God, and how
to look upon oneself in this world. Now, this is not the principle
of the kingdom of God. That is that we're the strongest
and the wisest and we're the richest and the man with the
most influence where he's the ruler in the church of God. Whoever
will be great, our Lord is teaching, whoever is considered great,
whoever is honored as great or looked on as great, Let him be
your servant, let him be your slave, and let him prove his
greatness by slaving on the behalf of the rest. Let him give his
life as a sacrifice unto the people, and in order that the
ways of the Lord will go forth, and that this man will be useful
in the service of the kingdom of God. We're to study to be
great. But listen to me, in the eyes of the Lord, beloved, not
in the eyes of the world. Well, if we're going about it
the wrong way, if we're studying to be great, we're studying how
to be full, and we ought to be studying how to be empty. In
other words, one ought not be trying to figure out how that
he could best be full in order that he might receive some accolades
from those that he's around, but he ought to study to be empty,
empty himself out of his feelings of pride and self-worth. We're
studying to be smart, and we ought to be studying how to be
a fool for Christ's sake. Beloved, there's a thin line,
and we need to recognize it, between trusting the Lord and
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and serving Him and giving one's
life over to Him. And we know that it's a direct
contradiction to the world, and as the world sees it, that those
that do so, Those that take up their cross and deny themselves
and follow the Lord, they're looked upon as being fools. And
you know, to be a fool for Christ's sake. Oh, it certainly would
be better to be a fool for Christ's sake than to be a fool for the
devil or fool for one's own sake. It certainly would be best. And
so we ought to study, not to be smart, but we ought to be
studying how to become a fool for Christ's sake. How we could
best take up our cross. and follow Him. We're studying
how to abound when we ought to be studying how to be abased.
Paul said, I know how to both abound and I know how to be abased. Now then, this is where the grace
and mercy of God is. is when we take the low road,
when we're clothed upon with humility, lowliness of mind,
rather than being full of pride and being jacked up in ourself
and thinking that we're something that we're not, then we ought
to take the low road. And that's where we're going
to find grace and the mercy of God, because God resisteth the
proud and he giveth grace unto the humble. Now in this world,
the fellow, as we said, that has the most is going to run
it, but it's not going to be, let me explain this a little
bit more. Christ, it says that even as
Christ, in verse 28, the Son of Man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. So the way to fullness is to
be empty. The way to wisdom is to become
a fool. The way to rule is to serve. And the way to learn to lead
is to learn to follow. And the way to learn to be great
is to be small before God. Now, when God destroys the pride
of a man's heart, he will then exalt his grace in that heart
and in that life. Now, I want us to talk a little
bit. There's five things that I believe that if one says, well,
how can I humble myself before God? How can I really be humble? How can I be as the Lord Jesus
Christ? And he is the example, even as
the son of man came not to be ministered to. The Lord Jesus
didn't come down here expecting somebody to minister to him.
He came here to minister himself. He came here to be a servant
and to give his life a ransom for many, and that's one of the
greatest statements in the Word of God, that Jesus came to give
his life a ransom for many. And there's certainly a great
Bible and Gospel truth there, and we may be able to touch on
it when we get a little further along in our message this morning.
But humble yourself. How can I be clothed upon with
humility. How can I be humble so that it
appears on the outer surface of my life as if, just like people
can look upon you and tell by what you're wearing, whether
you're fixed up for Sunday or whether you're fixed up for just
an ordinary work day or whatever, how can people look upon you
and say that person is a humble person, that person is a serving
person, That person is one who is willing to be used by God
in whatever way that God would have him to be used. First of
all, I think it begins when a person actually sees himself as he is
before God. Beloved, there can be no humility
in an individual who does not know himself as God sees him,
does not see himself in a state of nature as God sees him. Now
it's a very traumatic experience. It's horribly distasteful for
God to show an individual exactly what they are in a state of nature. I read in Job 42 and verse 5
and 6 where Job said, I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes. Now, beloved, it'll never
get a hold of you, it'll never get a grip on you. I mean true
humility will never get a grip on you until we know ourself
in a state of nature, until we know that we're sinners before
God. and that there are no good thing in us. Paul said, I know,
and this is after he become educated in the ways of God. This is after
he understood himself. He said, there in me, that is
in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. Now, when we see
God in his holiness, then we're going to have a degree of humility. We must have, because we cannot
be the same. I read in Isaiah 6 and verse
5, where Isaiah said, I am undone. He said, Woe is me, because I
am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell
in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen
the King, the Lord of hosts. And so, beloved, when you see
the King, I mean, I said earlier, or I said I think when I prayed,
that these truths are very difficult to preach and to teach. Only
God can reveal them. And if God does a work in you
whereby he reveals himself in your heart and shows you himself
and shows you your own depraved nature and heart, then you cannot
help but begin to show some degree of humility. Now, when a man
shows off a 10 carat diamond ring, nobody's going to show
off a 1 quarter carat ring. They're just not going to do
that. And what that is, is an illustration. When you see God,
you're going to lose sight of yourself. You're not going to
be taken up with yourself if you ever see God. Just like you'll
never be really puffed up and proud of your 1 fourth carat.
Diamond ring if you ever see a 10 carat diamond ring, and
so that's the way I would like to illustrate that this morning
It's like the fella said if they call on us when we get to heaven
for a testimony He says I hope that I won't have to follow Noah
Well, you know, Noah, when he was here in the world, he built
an ark. He did much for the honor and glory of God in a desperate
and sick and testing day. But, and many of us have done
very little or nothing in the work of God. So we wouldn't want
to have to follow Noah, would we? And so that again illustrates
the fact that once a man really sees the true and sees the true
and living God, then he's not going to be taken up with himself.
He will be down on himself and he won't push himself out and
be so full of pride. Well, I believe that all true
believers that they have a degree of abhorrence for themselves. And this is just like Job said. He said, I've heard of you with
the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you, therefore I
abhor myself. And that word means to hate.
I hate myself. All flesh, the Bible says, is
grass. All the glory of the flesh is
as the flower of the field, and it'll all perish. It wilts and
dies away. All of the pride of the flesh. Now all pride, I think, really
is born when we compare ourselves with someone else. Daniel said,
when he saw the Lord, all of his comeliness melted away. Now we can look at a lot of people
and it will puff us up. We'll look at people sometimes
and say, well, I know more than that fellow knows. Well, I'm
smarter than he is, or that I've got a better grasp of that truth
than what they have, and so on and so forth. But, beloved, when
we see the Lord, and this is the point, this is what I'm talking
about. God must be revealed to your heart, or you can forget
about having true Bible humility. It's when you know the Lord and
see the Lord and in your own heart that you'll be able to
get started on this road to being clothed with humility. Then secondly,
let me say that true humility is being able to disclaim any
personal righteousness. Now, we make great boast here
in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. We preach his righteousness. We speak of his righteousness,
as David said, all the day long. Our message is the righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ and how believers become righteous
in him through faith. and how that his righteousness
is imputed to those that believe on him. And that is our message. But now, beloved, when it comes
to personal righteousness, And when we're able to disclaim any
personal righteousness, even to seeing sin in the best that
I am and the best that I do, then we're getting somewhere
with this humility. Do you know, my friend, that
humility can only grow in that kind of a soil where that an
individual can weep over the sins that they have. Now, all
of us can weep over the sins that we have, that we know about,
that are out and out evil and wicked. We can weep over those
sins and we can bring them to the cross for cleansing. But
what about the good works that we do? Well, the Bible says in
Isaiah 64 and 6, But we're all as an unclean thing, and all
of our righteousness are as filthy rags before God. What about our
good works? All of us says, well, sure, my
sin is bad, and I don't want to talk about my sin. No, but
what about your good works, and what about all that which you
think is real good? Do you know that there's enough
selfishness in us that there is enough sin in our prayers
and selfishness in our prayers to send us to hell if it were
not for the grace of God. Now, if God were to judge me
on the basis of the best thing that I ever did, I'd be turned
down. I'd be rejected. Now just remember
what I'm saying. I'm talking about those that
are so full of pride that they believe that God's head is turned
toward them in favor because of their righteousness and their
merit and their goodness. There are some people who actually
believe that God causes it to rain more on them than He does
other people, and that is because they have a particular righteousness
or goodness about them which is not so. It is not so, and
there's no humility in that. That's pride, is what that is.
But God is in mercy. He causes it to rain on the just
and the unjust. But there's enough pride and
selfishness in us to lay claim to God's favor on that basis
without ever coming to the place where we really understand and
where we give up the thought that there's anything about us
that is meritorious toward God. There is nothing about us that
is meritorious toward God. Our Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus. God looks upon him. Oh Lord,
look upon him and then look upon me. Have favor unto me even as
he deserves that you have favor upon him. I'm talking about how
we can get this business of humility in our hearts. Now true humility
in the third place is ascribing all I am and have to the grace
of God. And that's just not popping off.
Beloved, it's true. All that we have, all that we
have and all that we are, we are by the grace of God. In 1
Corinthians 15, verse 9 and 10, Paul talked about how he labored
more abundantly than all the other apostles. But he said,
yet it was not I, but it was the grace of God that was in
me. It was the grace of God that was in me. And so, beloved, when
we serve the Lord and we serve him faithfully, we know it's
because of God's good hand upon us. And whenever we can serve,
and when we can be nothing in our own sight, it's all of grace. Now a man can receive nothing,
we're told in John 3 and 27, except to be given to him from
heaven. So if an individual is able,
to humble himself before God and able to pray and beg God
for his favor through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he has enough wisdom and spiritual understanding to do that, then,
beloved, it's all of grace, and it's because God has been pleased
to give it to him. Well, what do you have that he
did not give you? You have breath, you have health,
you have life, You have physical strength, you have mental capacity,
you have moral stability, spiritual life, maybe the spirit of God
is in you. Emotionally, you're sound and
able. Well, all is of God, my friend. And it comes to this, that if
you're willing to admit that God has blessed you with these
things, humble yourself and receive them as a gift from Him and be
still and quit popping off about how much different you are than
everybody else. These things come from the living
God. And in every good and perfect
gift, James says in James 1 17, is of God. Every good and perfect
gift cometh down from the Father above, with whom there is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning. Fourthly, let me
say the true humility is submitting quietly and willingly to trial. not kicking and screaming when
God brings you into trial. Now, the Lord giveth and the
Lord taketh away, Job said. It is the Lord. Let him do what
he will, Eli said, when the Lord had killed his two sons. And
so the point I'm trying to make here is this, that God's people
come under trial. They come under affliction. And
the Lord does chasten his people. The Lord does deal with his people. But beloved, we are to submit
ourselves to the trials and not act as if God was wrong in bringing
us into trial. Now some way or another, that
God has made a mistake, that He ought never to put trial in
my life, because my life is being lived in such a way that if anything,
all I should have is blessing, blessing, blessing always, and
I shouldn't be dealt with with the rod. Well, I dread trial. I don't know about you, but I
dread it. I've had trial, and I dread it. And I don't know this morning
anything else to say, but I know that trial is to be dreaded. It is to be dreaded. Now I know
that there are scriptures that indicate that we ought to count
it all joy. when we fall into different tribulation
and trial. But that's an extremely difficult
thing for a believer to do. It's extremely difficult. But
that verse is talking about the outcome of the trial. And when
we think about the outcome of the trial, and you can't have
the outcome without the trial, why then you can rejoice in that. But it is right. Trial is right. I dread it, but
I know it's right. When God sends trial into our
lives, it is right, and don't you doubt it. You humble yourself
and bow yourself down to whatever trial it is that God sends you
in your life, and be quiet before him. Be still before the Lord,
and follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was the
silent, suffering substitute, who opened not his mouth, but
kept his mouth shut when he was being tested and when he was
being tried. And those verses that I read
to you out of Isaiah 50 are so important for us to see. The
Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back. I was not rebellious. when you
brought me into that place of suffering. He said, I gave my
back to the smiters. Willfully, I gave my back. You might say of his own will,
he gave his back to those that would smite him. And my cheeks
to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from
shame and from spitting, for the Lord God will help me. He
believed that God was going to undertake for him and that the
Lord would deliver him. Therefore shall I not be confounded,
therefore have I set my face like a flint. I'm not going to
turn around. I'm not going to give up the
work that God has given me to do. I'm going to stay in the
way. I'm going to be faithful to God.
I'm going to persevere. This is our Lord speaking, and
he's the example to every one of us here as believers. Submit
ourselves to that which God has given us to do in this life. And he says, and I know that
I shall not be ashamed. I know that I'll not turn out
in the end to be ashamed. as I follow and as I do what
the Lord would have me to do, 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, true humility is the willingness,
let me say in the next place, the fifth place, it's a willingness
to receive instruction and counseling and rebuke. It's a willingness
to do that. Now, I realize that we are living
in the day of super sensitive Christians, when people are very,
very sensitive and they do not like for anyone to suggest to
them that they need some counseling or that they need to be rebuked. Now, Somebody recently, I forget who
it was now, that said something about Nathan that came to David
after David had sinned, and Nathan talked to him a little bit about
the circumstances of his sin. And David, of course, got a little
upset because he thought it was somebody else. And I'll not get
into the story, but yet Nathan said, thou art the man. You're
the man that has committed this sin. And I would like to say
that there's not many Nathans in the pulpit. who can, under
the direction and leadership of the Spirit of God, properly
rebuke and properly instruct and properly set forth the truth
to those that are being preached to in the church. But nevertheless,
when one comes in the Spirit of God and attempts to, in some
way or another, to counsel or instruct and rebuke us, We should
be patient under that and submit the best we can and listen carefully
to what's being said to us and not just fly off the handle and
say you've got no right to talk to me that way and so on and
so forth. We ought to submit ourselves the best we can if
we know and believe that that individual that's speaking to
us is an honest soul, one who really is concerned about our
welfare, and our lives being lived for the glory of God. And
then let me say that there's not many Davids either. There
are not many Davids in the world. who will take to this kind of
rebuke and this kind of instruction. Not very many who will say, I
am the man, I have sinned against the Lord. Not many will admit
to anything that is wrong in their life. And that also is
due to pride. And every one of us need to examine
ourselves in this particular area of our life to see what
we're clothed upon with humility. If somebody were to come to us
and say, hey, I want to talk to you about this problem you
got. Well, what kind of an attitude would we have? And I'll tell
you, it's very difficult for us to submit ourselves and to
just accept it from wherever it comes from. Now, true humility
manifests itself in the proper attitude and spirit that we exhibit
toward other people. It's a principle, it's a spirit,
it's an attitude, and when we have it on as a garment, then people can see that principle
and that spirit and that attitude. And I'd like for us to turn in
our Bibles, and we're going to close in a few minutes, but I
want you to turn to the book of Philippians, chapter 2. And
I have a few verses here that I want us to think just a little
bit about. And as we pointed out in our last point here is
that true humility manifests itself in the proper attitude
and spirit towards other people. And I want to just think about
these verses here, the first eight verses in Philippians chapter
two, and then we will be done. But notice here, let me read
a couple of verses here. He says, if there be, this is
Paul writing to the church at Philippi, if there be therefore
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfill ye my joy,
that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord
and of one mind. And then verse 3, let nothing
be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better
than themselves. Now in this chapter, Paul urges
the believers to seek and to promote spiritual unity among
the church. Love and affection for one another
and humility, lowliness of mind are those things that he presses
upon them. And then in verse one, Paul gives
us these four arguments here for unity and peace. and love
in the Church of God among believers. If you and I belong to Christ,
I really do believe that we love each other. And 1 John says we
know that we've passed from death unto life because we love the
brethren. And we know we belong to Him
because we have loved one to another. Now then, here are these
four reasons that Paul gives us as to why we should have the
right spiritual attitude and why that we ought to think the
best of others and the worst of ourselves. Here they are.
If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, Now the word consolation
here means comfort or confidence. If we have any genuine ground
of hope, if we have any ground of comfort, any ground of confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's founded and based upon
his person and his righteousness, his death and his intercession
as our substitute and advocate before God, we ought to comfort
one another and build one another up in the hope and confidence
of the gospel. This is what we ought to do.
If we got any hope, if we got any confidence, then let that
leak out unto others around us and let us build them up. with
that same confidence and comfort that the Lord has comforted us.
Now, he says, secondly, if there be any comfort of love, if we
enjoy the comfort and the strength of God's love, the everlasting
love of the Father, the redeeming love of the Son, and the regenerating
love of the Holy Spirit, and the brotherly love that is put
into our hearts by the grace of God when we're converted,
then we ought to give one another the strength and the comfort
of that mutual love that we've experienced before God. Give
them the comfort that comes from the love of God in our own souls.
Number three, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if we have been
brought into fellowship with God and with one another by the
Spirit of grace, we should constantly strive to maintain and build
upon that blessed fellowship. We ought to build upon that fellowship. Any comfort of the Spirit. Have
you been affectionately called? Has God done anything in your
life by the Holy Spirit? Has He shed abroad the love of
God in your heart by the Spirit? Have you been affected by God's
Spirit? And the Bible says, if you have
not the Spirit of Christ, you're none of His. All true believers
have the Spirit. We walk not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwells in us. And so we should build upon that
blessed fellowship of the Spirit in the congregation of the Lord's
people. Number four, if any bowels and
mercies, if we have any real depth, to our spiritual experience,
any depth of affection, any real compassion and concern for Christ
and for his gospel and for his glory and one another. If our
religion is real, if it is more than lip service to God, let
us show that love and concern to one another. If our religion
is real, then let it be manifested to be real as we visit with,
work with, and deal with one another. If these things are
not in us, if they do not flow from our hearts to the hearts
and lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ, if we do not
truly love God's people, our religion is nothing but a vain
show of hypocrisy if these things is not real with us. But if these
things are in us, Paul says, fulfill you my joy that you be
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of
one mind. And verse 2, let all the family
of God be like-minded in all things. Let us be like-minded,
that means of the same mind, of one accord, in love and in
affection, in care, in unity, harmony and peace, in mind, purpose
and desire. These are the fruits and evidences
of inward grace. from god in our hearts let nothing
paul said to be done to strive for vain glory but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves that's
not an easy thing to do but in lowliness of mind take that position
that the brother is right the brother is better and i'll take
that position uh... that uh... if anybody's wrong
here it'll be me until proved otherwise And if we take this
kind of position, that will foster, I believe, much grace in and
among the Lord's people. Let nothing, he said, be done
through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than himself. Anything that is done
through strife, I believe, dishonors God. Would that be true? Anything that divides brethren,
is that not a reproach? to the Lord Jesus Christ, anything
that is born of contention, does that not cast a slur upon the
gospel of the grace of God? Absolutely. Look every man on
his own things, Paul said. But every man, look every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. That simply means that the way
to promote this unity and peace, this fellowship and love, is
to look out for and look after one another and quit looking
out all the time for yourself. Look out for somebody else. Don't
seek your own praise, but seek someone else's praise. Don't
promote yourself, promote someone else. Don't be concerned about
your own feelings, be concerned about your brother's feelings,
your sister's feelings in the Lord. Now upon what grounds can
anyone make such an appeal as Paul has here in these verses? Upon what grounds can we make
those appeals? Well, if you would, let this
mind be in you, this loving, self-abasing, self-sacrificing
mind, which was also in Christ Jesus. Look at it. Here where
he said, let this mind, in verse five, be in you, which was also
in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God. Now the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
God. And when he come into this world,
he laid aside, as it were, his divinity, took upon himself the
veil of our inferior clay, and he was both God and man, robed
and come into this world as a servant, but made himself with no reputation.
He was God, but he didn't set out to establish a reputation
as just being God alone, but he took upon himself the form
of a servant. And that's what Jesus was talking
about over in Matthew chapter 20 and verse 28 that we read
this morning, that he came not to be ministered into, but to
give his life a ransom for many. But he made himself with 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. the
Lord Jesus, heaven's best, the eternal Son of God, God's own
beloved Son, humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. You see how that humility worked
in our Lord Jesus Christ. He being God was willing to humble
himself and take upon himself willingly the spitting, the scourging,
and the crucifying, willing to take that upon himself, giving
his back willingly to the smiters, his cheek to those who would
pluck out the hair, really humbled himself when he could have called
10,000 angels and been delivered just like that. When he could
have delivered himself, wouldn't have had to suffer that, but
you and I would have went to hell unless somebody humbled
himself. And there's no soul gets to heaven
without going through this humiliation of our Lord. Our Lord went through
it. And it's through His humiliation,
Him being made what we are, that we can be made what He is. and
experience eternal everlasting life. And so, wherefore God,
now notice this, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him. We read those verses there in
1 Peter 5, where it said that humble yourself under the mighty
hand of God and he'll exalt you in due time. The Lord Jesus humbled
himself and God hath highly exalted him. giving Him a name which
is above every name, that at His name every knee would bow,
and every tongue would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father. So, beloved, Christ is the perfect
example. He came not to minister, but
to serve. He came to minister not to be
ministered to. He came not that some would serve
Him, but that He would serve others. And He has served the
many, not all, but the many. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed, that's the many. And the many that when they come
to the Lord Jesus, John 6, 37, Says, all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me, and they that come to me I will in no
wise cast out. That many, all that get to Christ, He doesn't
cast them out. That's the many. And all of those
that, the many sons that He'll bring home to glory, that's the
many. come to give his life a ransom
for many, to die, to shed his blood, to make atonement for
the many, as many as his obedience was imputed to. By the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Just the obedience of one will
make many righteous, the scripture says. And so, are you one of
those for whom the Lord Jesus Christ has died? Well, our Lord
thought not of himself, but of us. He served not himself but
us. He came not to be ministered
to but to minister and to give himself. And that's, as we said,
one of the weightiest truths in all the word of God. He came
to give himself as a ransom for many. And I'll tell you, this
business of humility is all wrapped up in one giving themself and
having the mentality of a servant and a slave. Not the mentality
of a king or the mentality of somebody who is highly exalted
in their own opinion of themselves. A submissive spirit and attitude. Well, this has not been a real
easy message to preach. It's been a little difficult.