Confronting Pride with Humility. Humility is the "dress code" for God's Kingdom!

[0:00] You get up in the morning and you roll out of bed and you wonder what am I going to wear today? And you go to the wardrobe and you think about what am I going to wear?

[0:12] ! And you think will I wear long sleeves or short sleeves? Shall I wear formal dress or informal casual? Work clothes, play clothes, sunshiny weather clothes or rainy weather clothes?

[0:25] I want to tell you that there is one essential clothing item, one essential clothing item that you must absolutely wear. Day in, day out.

[0:37] And this is an item that's never out of fashion. It's never inappropriate, whatever the weather and whatever your activity that you're up to. It certainly is always fitting and it's never immodest.

[0:50] And you're always making a powerful fashion statement every time you wear it. Actually it shows you up when you're not wearing it. I want to tell you that this is an outfit that looks good on you.

[1:03] It really does. And you absolutely must have this in your wardrobe. It is suitable for each and every one of us. And it's actually a required dress code for this church.

[1:14] What is this item? This must have dress code is humility. It's humility. And 1 Peter 5.5 it says, Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.

[1:26] Yea, all of you, be subject one to another. And be clothed with, clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble.

[1:39] Powerful dress code. Humility. It's the dress code of God's kingdom, isn't it? And it's true that I need it.

[1:51] I'm preaching to myself, I need humility. This is a wonderful garment. A wonderful garment to wear. We can wear it. We can put off the old man and put on the new man.

[2:02] We can be clothed with, be clothed with humility. Humility. Tonight, talking about the subject, humility, versus the alternative to humility, pride.

[2:13] And Proverbs tells us many things about pride, about humility. One is familiar, no doubt, Proverbs 16, 18. Pride goeth before destruction.

[2:25] And a haughty spirit before a fall. Pride goes before destruction. A haughty spirit, like this prideful spirit, is going to be before a fall.

[2:38] And humility, when you think about it, it's ascribing all that we are, all that we have to the grace of God. That's what we must give praise for, isn't it? It's only the grace of God that we can give thanks for our salvation and every good thing that comes to us.

[2:55] Jeremiah 9, 23, it says, Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches.

[3:07] But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, the Lord, which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

[3:22] For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Humility gives God the glory. Humility pleases God always. And you may have heard how I won a badge for humility, but they took it away because I wore it.

[3:39] I'd like to tell you tonight how I have attained humility. I wrote the book titled, How I learnt Humility. How I learnt to be humble. I'm proud to have achieved such great humility.

[3:51] Honestly, I can't say that I've achieved it. Not yet. I'm still working on it. I'm still a work in progress. Of course, I'm thinking of it flippant here, but the idea that if you had humility, if you claim to be humble, and you told people that, you'd be bragging, so you wouldn't be humble anymore.

[4:08] So it's kind of ironic, isn't it? That we can't really say we've arrived. But there are some good humility role models. There are some good role models for humility in the Bible.

[4:21] Moses for one. And we read about Moses, Numbers 12, 3, says, Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.

[4:32] He was a humble man. He was a meek man. And the Bible commends him for that. We know Moses was used of God to take God's people out of Egypt, receiving the Ten Commandments, mightily used of God.

[4:52] And time and again, he sought the Lord for God's guidance, for God's direction, to intercede for the people. What made Moses great was he was humble.

[5:04] Now he still had his moments though too. As he had warts and all, as the Bible tells us about most folk, there's always room for improvement. But yet Moses was more humble than anyone else.

[5:17] So we could take a page out of Moses' book. On the other hand, our world often exalts pride, doesn't it? It exalts pride. And self. The selfie world, isn't it?

[5:29] The Facebook world. And Moses faced up to one of the proudest men of all, Pharaoh. We see that encounter, for example, in Exodus 10, verse 3. It reads, And so, Pharaoh was rebuked that he lacked humility.

[6:00] It was missing as he hardened his heart, as we know the story goes. And pride became his downfall. True humility. Think of it. There's many scriptural examples.

[6:11] We could think, for example, of the story of Jonathan. True humility is considering others above ourselves. It's selflessness. We think of Jonathan, who, despite being the heir to the throne, he recognised David's anointing by God.

[6:26] And he supported him. Jonathan put aside his own ambitions for the sake of God's plan and David's wellbeing. 1 Samuel 18, chapter 18 through 20.

[6:39] Another example is the Good Samaritan. He was selflessly used of God to help this beaten and robbed man when others were passing him by. And the certain Samaritan, the one we call the Good Samaritan, he showed what service and compassion looked like.

[6:56] David was one who humbled himself. He remained a humble man, faithful to God, even when he was facing death itself. And he was lifted to a high position in the kingdom, Daniel chapter 6.

[7:09] And then we think of another example, the story of Hannah. Shows a woman who humbly prayed to the Lord for a child. And then she dedicated Samuel, her child, to the Lord, as she demonstrated her trust and dependence on God.

[7:25] 1 Samuel, chapter 1. And then we think of our Lord himself, our Lord, as the ultimate, the ultimate model of humility. This one, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, born into obscurity to be our Saviour.

[7:41] Over and over our Lord commands humility. We see scriptures like this one, Isaiah 57, 15. For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also, that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

[8:07] So the Lord of glory, he's high and lifted up, he's high and lofty, he dwells in the high and holy place, and he also has a residence in the heart of the contrite, of the humble.

[8:19] It says God dwells with the one who has a humble spirit. So God commends a humble heart over and over again. You may ask the question, how can I be a better me? Become more like Jesus.

[8:31] That's the answer. How can I be better? How can I improve myself? The ultimate self-improvement is to become more like your Lord. It's to become more like him. And it's the way to grace. We see, but he giveth more grace.

[8:43] Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble. It's the way to grace, it's humility. And he gives more grace, but he resists the proud.

[8:54] Here is the way to honour too. It's by humility. Proverbs 22, 4, by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life. There's honour there.

[9:05] It's by humility. We can find a joy in serving our Lord. And as we humble ourselves, we'll find God's true purpose. We'll find that meaning that he wants for us to serve him, to love him, to know him.

[9:19] And of course, it's the way to fruitfulness too. We see our Lord tells, I am the vine, John 15, 5. I am the vine, ye are the branches. Here that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.

[9:34] For without me, you can do nothing. It's the way to a fruitful, effective service. To be a fruitful, effective believer, it's humility.

[9:46] And there's joy in serving and trusting God's plan. And humility, when you think about it, it makes us useful for God's kingdom. It makes us useful in his service.

[9:57] But we have an obstacle. We've got an obstacle to overcome. And the biggest enemy is our ego. It's our ego, isn't it? It gets in the way time and time again.

[10:10] Are we self-sufficient, self-reliant, or do we rely on God? Is he the one that we're relying on, not relying and trusting in ourselves? And really, servanthood is how a church thrives and survives.

[10:24] It's servanthood. It's not self-esteem that we need, but Christ-esteem. Not self-esteem, Christ-esteem. That we would esteem him. That we would honour him.

[10:35] That we'd lift him up. As John the Baptist testified, he must increase, but I must decrease. He must increase, but I must decrease.

[10:46] And it's possible to clothe yourselves, brothers and sisters, with humility. Think about that. Next time you go to the wardrobe, what am I going to wear today? What am I going to wear today? Be clothed with.

[10:57] Be clothed with humility. And James 4.10 tells us that we should humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

[11:11] Are we willing to serve others? It's taking the place of humility, isn't it? Willing to serve selflessly. To serve as unto the Lord. That he would be glorified.

[11:23] That we would be hidden. And that he would be the centre point. That he would be the focus of all. And when you get saved, in that moment, you get a brand new set of clothes. Of course, we get the new man.

[11:34] We put off the old man. As it were, a picture of clothing. Of the old ways. Of the old life. We put on the new man. Renewed unto righteousness and godliness. And we can think of being clothed with humility as that same picture.

[11:47] Of the clothes that we wear. Being clothed with humility. When someone sees you, they don't see someone big noting themselves. What they see is someone who's a servant of the king.

[11:59] They see Jesus in you. They see his likeness. And wouldn't it be wonderful if we had such a heart. Such an attitude. Such a mind. That we don't hanker after rewards.

[12:10] Or praise of men. We don't get our esteem there. We don't get our satisfaction there. We want our Lord to be glorified. We want the spotlight on him.

[12:21] That he would be the one in the limelight. And when we've done what is our duty to do. That will be simply our mind.

[12:32] That as in the picture here of the proverb here. For likewise when you shall have done all those things. Which I commanded you. Say we are unprofitable servants.

[12:44] We have done that which was our duty to do. It's not that we actually need any recognition. Or any recognition is warranted. We're just unprofitable servants.

[12:56] We've just done that which was our duty to do. And that's the kind of attitude we ought to have. Isn't it? We don't do anything for our Lord. It's not that we would get any acknowledgement. That he would be glorified.

[13:08] And so humility is something you actively put on. As you picture that. As you go to your wardrobe. Morning by morning. You put on the garment.

[13:19] Put on the clothing of humility. It's something you actively put on. That you clothe yourself with it. And it doesn't happen naturally. Because what we naturally would wear is our pride.

[13:31] It's pride that naturally happens. It's our flesh that naturally happens. It's our selfish nature that can often rise up. Pride is such an obstacle for humility.

[13:45] So you have to do something to put on humility. Intentionally. Deliberately. A deliberate act. Taking off the coat hanger. Taking off the pride.

[13:56] And get that garment of humility. And put it on. Being clothed with humility. Worth with humility. This is what we must do. And the counter to that.

[14:07] The contrary aspect to that is pride. Now I've got to acknowledge tonight. I did get a lot of inspiration from a recent sermon. I heard from Pastor Justin Cooper.

[14:18] So I've lifted quite a few ideas from that sermon. Because I thought it was so good. How he nailed it. So good. About pride. So I wanted to acknowledge him tonight. As a source for some of the content.

[14:31] That I'm going to share about pride. Because it's very meaningful and important for us. When we talk about humility. And think about the reverse of that.

[14:42] Think about the opposite of that. Because pride is such an obstacle. It's such a hindrance to us. That we've got to recognise that. And rather that we be clothed with humility.

[14:54] This is what we must do. And so we're exhorted. Let this mind be in you. Which was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind. His mind. As you can unpack later. As we will do.

[15:06] What that means. What it looks like. How our Lord is. Is. The ultimate model of humility. And this is the mindset. That we must adopt. You know. Repent.

[15:17] Change mind. Let this mind be in you. Get rid of the old mind. Get Christ's mind in you. It's a new mindset. It's a mind shift. To let this mind be in you. And it's a whole new way of thinking.

[15:28] That we adopt. And we can ask God to reveal areas of pride. That are in our hearts. And get rid of that garment. God doesn't want us to hanker after men's praise. But rather.

[15:39] To have that opposite. That we want to have a humility. That he would be glorified. Consider pride now. Think of that which is the opposite of humility.

[15:51] Pride. Pride. Think of the harm. That comes from pride. Pride. Is destructive. We have to struggle against it.

[16:02] The pride. That rises up. The flesh. The stuff we're made of. Pride. Pride. It wrecks things. It wrecks lives. Friendships.

[16:13] Marriages. Churches. Think about pride. What does the Bible tell us about pride? Proverbs 13.10. Only by pride cometh contention. But with the well advised is wisdom.

[16:26] Contention. Think of the wreckage that pride leaves behind. At the heart of church splits. We see pride. Pride. Pride.

[16:37] It's the sin of Sodom. The sin of Satan. Pride will actually keep us from salvation. Because we think we can go our own way. We don't need God.

[16:48] Of course we need to trust him. Not ourselves. Pride will keep us from usefulness for God's kingdom. Pride will destroy our effectiveness. As people of God.

[17:00] And think of our nation. We've just had pride month. Australia is a nation that suffers from pride. It's not a good thing.

[17:13] And there's a pride that parades within my human heart sometimes. Marches in my own heart every single day. I've got to recognize that pride.

[17:24] It's not a good thing. Pride is not a good thing. They might wave flags and rejoice in their pride. In their sin. But pride is not a good thing. And pride is something that's universal isn't it?

[17:37] It's a universal thing. Now they tell a story about the boxer Muhammad Ali. The greatest of all time. He would say. The greatest of all time. The boxer Muhammad Ali.

[17:49] And one day he boarded a plane for a flight. And the sign went on. Fasten your seat belts. And the stewardess noticed. Ali didn't have his seat belt on.

[18:00] And told him. Fasten your seat belts sir. And he says. Superman don't need no seat belts. He thought he was good. Superman don't need no seat belt. And the stewardess quit back.

[18:12] Superman don't need no airplane either. That told him about his pride. Pride didn't it? And we can all be like that. Pride. Think of it. Pride. Proverbs 21.4 it says.

[18:23] A high look. A proud heart. And the ploughing of the wicked is sin. So pride. It's that high look. It's that proud heart. It's sin. It's sin.

[18:34] Pride is sin. And every living breathing human has to deal with pride. Battle against that sin of pride.

[18:45] Pride is what makes a strong man weak. Pride is what makes an eloquent man unheard. Pride makes a man unwilling to receive correction or counsel.

[18:56] And he becomes unteachable. It's pride. A man's pride shall bring him low. But honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Pride is going to bring you low.

[19:07] It's going to bring destruction and loss. Pride has hindered so many believers more than any of Satan's other devices you could reckon. And pride is like this fiery dart that makes a man puffed up.

[19:22] Thinks of himself above. Thinks of himself superior over those around him. Pride. Pride has to be first and right.

[19:33] And always right. And thinks that it's always right. In Proverbs 6 we list six things that God hates. And the first one is a proud look.

[19:46] An arrogant look. These six things that the Lord hate. You can look at them. The first one. A proud look. A proud look.

[19:57] A proud look. Why does God hate pride? Pride is a violation of the commandment that we should have no other gods before him. Before the one who is God and God alone.

[20:10] And yet pride elevates man doesn't it? That a man full of pride sets himself up as a false god. Such that he gets so arrogant that he worships himself.

[20:27] As though he is God. And we say we're against idolaters. We can look at various religions and even churches where they've got statues and icons and such like.

[20:38] We're against idolatry. Yet we can often be the worst of idolaters. Because we bow down. Bow down. To our own self image.

[20:49] We're full of pride. Pride can be such a thing. Such an obstacle. And pride is the sin when you think of it. That ushered in every other sin that we know in the world today.

[21:00] Pride is the original sin. And still is that overwhelming sin. With the church in Corinth. And it's many different sins and corruption and chaos that was Corinth.

[21:13] What was the key problem? They were puffed up. Puffed up. With pride. Look at where pride came from. Lucifer was set to give the music around the throne to glorify God.

[21:27] But he said in his heart, I will exalt myself. If pride can turn a beautiful angel into a raging devil, what do you think pride can do for you?

[21:40] If you're wrapped up in yourself. Eve did not eat that forbidden fruit because she was hungry. Eve did not eat the fruit that was forbidden because it smelled nice or it was, you know, just to her liking.

[21:54] She ate it because she thought that she could exalt herself and bring herself into equal standing with God. That was the ultimate motive that she thought she could be as God.

[22:07] Will you have the wrath of God or the grace of God? It tells us Proverbs 3.34, Surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

[22:21] God is against the prideful, but he gives grace to the lowly. Think of it friends. God knows that the bad thing about pride is that a dope addict knows he's a dope addict.

[22:35] A thief knows he's a thief. A drunk knows that he's a drunk. But the prideful man, the prideful man, rarely admits that he is full of pride.

[22:48] A prideful man can't see it or won't acknowledge it. But we must.

[22:59] We must. I must. 1 John 2.16 tells us, The pride of life getting puffed up with the self.

[23:27] Pride. Pride. When you think of it, pride will hide itself behind every colour of skin. Pride is at home on every home on the street.

[23:39] In every land of our world, there's not a living, breathing individual tonight that does not battle with pride. Pride is at home in the shack and pride is at home in the mansion.

[23:53] Pride is found in the heart of a nobody and it reigns in the heart of one who thinks that they're a somebody. Pride will dwell in the spirit of a beggar as much as it dwells in the spirit of a wealthy man.

[24:05] Pride will show up draped in rags and pride will come adorned in silk. There's not a man alive that doesn't deal with pride. There's not a woman living that does not deal with pride.

[24:17] There's not a servant of God that will not battle with pride. Tonight, I wonder how many friendships have been lost because of pride. Friendship's broken.

[24:31] I was hearing a story this morning of a relationship damaged because of a misunderstanding. But pride can't reconcile the offended party.

[24:43] How sad it is. Pride. That's what it is. How many businesses have failed because of pride. How many marriages have ended up because of pride. How many ministries.

[24:55] How many preachers have fallen because of pride. How many churches have been destroyed because of pride. Pride turned the paradise of God into a curse.

[25:06] Pride turned the gift of life into a sentence of death. It's pride that keeps a man, a lost man, from running to Jesus to be saved. It's pride, isn't it?

[25:17] We get that when we're knocking on doors, talking to souls. And there's pride there. I'm good. That's one of the things people say.

[25:29] I've got my own religion. Pride keeps a lost man from running to Christ. And it's pride that keeps a saved man from walking with Christ and being spirit filled.

[25:45] Galatians 6.3 it says, For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. A man can think himself to be something.

[25:57] Again, I'm quoting some large part. I want to acknowledge Justin Cooper here. But tonight, if you investigate the crime scene of every divorce, the crime scene of every church split, the crime scene of every sin committed, you'll find the DNA of pride all over the scene.

[26:15] Tonight, pride has left a high body count, a scene of carnage and wreckage, and a long rap sheet in its wake. It's pride. It's at the centre of all of these things.

[26:28] Only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. Pride feeds contention because they don't say, actually, I could be wrong.

[26:43] Pride thinks it's the smartest. Pride believes it's the strongest. Pride believes it's sufficient. Sufficient. Pride thinks it smells the sweetest.

[26:54] Pride thinks it's the most successful. Pride will hunt the praise of men rather than hunt after and hunger for the hand of God, the blessing of God. Pride will say, applaud my singing.

[27:07] Pride will say, amen, my preaching. Pride will say, notice my presence. Pride says, I deserve this, that, and the other. I'll tell you what pride is.

[27:18] Pride is our ego invading the throne that is reserved for God and God alone. It's the ego. Pride is a liar. Pride is a liar. Pride embraces the crown and it hates the cross.

[27:31] It loves to be high and lifted up. And it hates to be meek and lowly. Pride. It's all about me, me, me. And it's never about him, him, him.

[27:45] Pride. An old Puritan preacher said, pride is spiritual drunkenness. It flies up like wine into the brain and intoxicates. Pride. The prideful can be so proud that they cannot see it.

[27:59] They cannot see the pride. But it exudes out of them. They cannot see it. I think about James and John when they said, Lord, let us sit here beside you in your kingdom.

[28:13] And they got a little bit out of line. And the Lord Jesus says, hey, listen, I didn't come to be ministered unto, but to minister, to give my life a ransom for many. And he said, the greatest among you won't be sitting on the throne.

[28:28] He will be the servant of all. But pride serves itself. Think of it, friends. Pride, it's infatuated with itself. Pride looks in the mirror and never sees a wrinkle.

[28:39] Pride lusts to have. Pride doesn't care who it hurts to get what it wants. I tell you what pride will do if you're not careful.

[28:50] Pride will bring the forbidden fruit right to your lips. Pride will cast Joseph into the pit. Pride will throw a spear at God's anointed. Pride is aching hiding the accursed thing in his tent.

[29:03] It's pride that binds heavy burdens upon men. It's pride that widens the borders of their garments. It's pride that wants to be seen on the streets and loved in the uppermost rooms at the feast.

[29:15] It's pride that thinks it deserves some glory. It's pride that thinks that it is strong. It's pride. If not correct, it does much damage.

[29:26] It destroys our lives. And the problem with pride is you can't correct it. You can't challenge it. You can't question it. You can't instruct it because it only thinks it knows it all.

[29:39] And pride will envy everything that anyone else has that it thinks it deserves. Pride will brag on of its works and yet miss the weightier matters of the law.

[29:53] Think of it, friends. Pride is a scorner. Pride is wrathful. Pride is a deluder. Pride is a destroyer. Pride is a liar. Pride is a robber. Pride is a conspirator.

[30:05] Pride is a separator. Pride is a persecutor. What a shame that a preacher would be full of pride. Who thinks he deserves anything. All we deserve is hell.

[30:17] All I deserve is hell. I'm nothing but a lump of old flesh. And I deserve wrath and judgment. If it were not for the grace of God, I would not be here.

[30:29] O wretched man that I am. That should be our heart, shouldn't it? O wretched man that I am. Here's what to do with pride. I say take your pride and take a nail and nail it and drive it.

[30:42] Drive the nail in and crucify, crucify the pride, crucify the flesh. Death to pride tonight. Let that be our heart tonight.

[30:53] What stops revival? Pride. What cripples the church? Pride. What hinders prayer? Pride. What weakens faith? Pride. What silences the gospel?

[31:04] Pride. What refuses mercy? Pride. What frustrates grace? Pride. What kills the spirit? Pride. What limits love? Pride. What harbours bitterness?

[31:15] Pride. Pride is ungodly. It's unholy. Pride is unspiritual. And it's blatantly not Christian. And so I'm preaching to myself.

[31:28] This is not in any way against anyone present or anyone watching. It's what the word of God tells us about pride. It's our common enemy. Amen.

[31:39] How different is that pride from our precious Lord, our precious saviour, who made himself of no reputation, who being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man.

[32:03] Think of it. The Lord of glory humbled himself, became a man, became a servant, became a crucified form, a bleeding, mangled mess of a man.

[32:29] He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I'll tell you what humility is. Humility is God. Humility is God riding in the womb of a young woman.

[32:40] Humility is God being birthed in a stable. Humility is God despised by brethren. Humility is God accused and slandered. Humility is God betrayed and arrested.

[32:51] Humility is God being beaten and bludgeoned. Humility is God being spat upon and scourged. Humility is God stretching out his body, crucified to a tree.

[33:02] Humility is God having thorns driven into his skull, into his brow. Humility is the Lord saying, I forgive them from the cross. How far from the average believer of today.

[33:17] We can walk around like a peacock. But rather let us say, I'm a wretched man. A wretched man. I'm just a worm. That's all I am.

[33:28] I ought to be lower than the dirt. Death to pride. Death to pride. Think of it. That's why there's division. Pride. That's why there's backbiting and gossip.

[33:39] Because men are full of pride. And it's in me. Rather seek humility. Seek humility. That's my plea tonight. I'm not saying there's any problem in our church or anything by saying all of those things.

[33:51] But it's just this common, that can be what can happen in a church. That can be what can happen. When people of God get together, they've still got flesh there. There's still flesh in us.

[34:02] So, rather seek that God will notice our humility. That the attitude will be sweet. That we'll have the attitude, I'm a servant. I'm a nobody. But thank God for his saving grace.

[34:14] I'm a nothing. But yet, he has saved me. He's chosen me as a vessel to fill with his self. I'm just a clay vessel. I'm a sinner saved by grace.

[34:25] And it's only by the grace of God we can think, where would we be but for the grace? Where would we be but for the grace of God? We'd be in a lot of trouble.

[34:36] Headed for hell. If not already there. Wrapped up in the world and its ways. Humility. Humility. So different from pride. We think of it, the dress code.

[34:48] Brother, sister, think of the dress code. When you go to the wardrobe, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. We may say, when is the due time?

[35:01] Whenever he decides it to be. For the meantime, humble yourself. Humble yourself. Don't think, well, when am I going to get some credit for this? When am I going to get some exalting of myself?

[35:12] No, it's all about him. It's all about him. It's all about him. Humble yourselves, therefore. In due time, he will reward. He will bless. And that could be in glory. The due time could be in glory.

[35:24] For the meantime, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty, mighty hand of God. And friends, when you think of it, it's to deny ourselves, to take up our cross.

[35:35] It's to follow him. We're called to crucifixion. Self-abasement. Self-abasement. To submit to our Lord Jesus Christ. But he giveth more grace.

[35:46] He giveth more grace. Friends, it tells us, James 4, verse 6. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.

[35:57] He gives grace unto the humble. Pride must go to the cross. Pride. And die there. Humility prefers others over itself.

[36:10] Humility declares Christ Lord alone. Humility forgives people and allows forgiveness. Humility doesn't gossip to try to bring other people down.

[36:22] You know what humility does? It reaches down and it tries to bring you up. Humility runs away from strife. Humility hates vain glory. Humility suffers long and forbears.

[36:34] And we have to nail. Nail pride. Nail pride to the cross. Because God hates pride. He doesn't want it in me.

[36:45] And God didn't destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of sodomy. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of pride. That was the heart of it. And the bitter fruit of Sodom and Gomorrah.

[37:00] On that branch. But the plant was pride. It came forth from the seed of pride. If God hates pride enough to destroy Sodom, why would you and I want anything to do with it?

[37:18] Now this world exalts self-esteem, doesn't it? Self-love. Of course we're not saying go to some place of depression. But true satisfaction is that Christ would be glorified in you.

[37:33] That Christ would be exalted. Because God hates pride. And be honest with God tonight about pride. Ask God to deal with it. God helping you. That you can deal with it. You can deal with it.

[37:44] You can make some choices. Because there's nothing good in ourself. Anything good in me or that comes from me, it's all to him.

[37:55] It's all to his praise. God hates pride. Pride. And so be honest with God tonight about pride. Know this. God blesses humility. That's the wonderful blessing, isn't it?

[38:07] He gives grace. He gives grace. He gives more grace. Seek to serve others. And let go of wanting human recognition or reward or praise.

[38:19] You may never see it this side of glory. But human recognition and human esteem or human honour.

[38:30] We may not realise that. This side of glory. Have a heart to serve. With the mop. With the vacuum cleaner.

[38:41] With the feather duster. Give God the glory. Give God the glory. Adopt an attitude of humility. Look to serve not to be being served. Look to give rather than to receive.

[38:52] How can our attitudes and our behaviours be more humble? How can we be such a people that will show kindness and give and compassion.

[39:03] That will look on the interests of others. And will care. He giveth more grace. He giveth more grace. I know I need more grace. I know.

[39:14] More grace, Lord. More grace, Lord. He giveth more grace. He giveth grace. He giveth grace unto the humble. And don't forget. This essential garment.

[39:25] This essential garment. And wear it. Wear it. Every day. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you. Lord of glory. That you would come down.

[39:36] And take human form. And be a real man. And bear real pain. And bear our real sin. On your real body. On that real cross, Lord.

[39:48] That you would lay down your life for us. That we can know you as our saviour. And be unworthy. As we are.

[39:59] As we are. Lord, that it's all the more praise to you. That you give more grace. Lord, we pray help us with pride. That we'll recognise it. When it rears its ugly head.

[40:11] And we won't try to cover it up. We'll confess it. As it is a sin. Unto you, Lord God. Help us to crucify the flesh.

[40:22] The pride. The pridefulness. That we won't fall prey to it. And all of its damage. Pray for our friends. Our brothers and sisters.

[40:33] Our loved ones in our heart. That forgiveness would prevail. And love. Would be that overshadowing. Overwhelming. Blessing.

[40:45] That we'll have more grace. Day by day. That we'll be clothed with humility. In Jesus' precious name. Amen.