[0:00] The following message is given by Walt Alexander, lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens, Tennessee.! For more information about Trinity Grace, please visit us at TrinityGraceAthens.com.
[0:13] ! Proverbs 29, verse 23. 29, verse 23. This is the Word of God. It says, Once pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
[0:35] It's the holy, inerrant, authoritative Word of God. One article I recently read began surprisingly.
[0:47] Here's something you probably didn't do this morning. You probably didn't look in the mirror and ask, Am I a jerk? But it seems like a reasonable question.
[0:59] The article continues, There are genuine jerks in the world. I'm sure we can get an amen from that. And many of those jerks have a pretty high opinion of themselves, but they don't think of themselves as jerks, because jerk self-knowledge is hard to come by.
[1:16] The article continues that We tend to have a good self-knowledge about a lot of things. You know, if we're someone who talks a little too much, or a little too little, then we tend to know that.
[1:31] Or if we're someone who's more or less athletic, or maybe more athletic, we tend to know that, even if reluctantly admit that too. But people who are jerks have a hard time coming by it.
[1:43] After all, how do you answer the question, Are you a self-important jerk? Of course not! I'm a great guy! The book of Proverbs has another word for jerk.
[1:56] Fool. While it may be hard to understand whether or not we are jerks, the book of Proverbs makes very clear who the fools are. Proverbs describes foolishness in careful detail.
[2:11] It says, Do you talk too much? Do you have a hard time listening? Are you hard-headed? Are you one of those guys that takes jokes too far?
[2:23] Takes arguments too far? Takes competitions too far? Are things peaceful when you're not around? Proverbs even says, Are you a preteen or a teenager?
[2:37] Well, then you might be a fool. Fool. While Proverbs describes foolishness in detail, it continually invites us to turn to wisdom.
[2:49] Last two, or previous two weeks, before I left on vacation, we kind of studied how Proverbs is inviting us to women, inviting us to wisdom, how not to be a fool. It kind of appeals to us.
[3:00] It invites us. It calls us. Because the beginning of wisdom is listening to what wisdom has to say. But Proverbs also invites us to wisdom by laying out two paths for life.
[3:14] Proverbs running throughout these verses are two paths for life. One of pride, one of humility. Life in the end boils down to two paths that you must choose between.
[3:26] One of pride and one of humility. In so many ways, pride often seems right. I mean, after all, if you don't look after yourself, who will? If you don't promote yourself, who will?
[3:40] But in the end, climbing high with pride only leads to foolishness. And humility seems so wrong. It seems stupid. How could it be good to deny yourself?
[3:53] How could it be good to watch someone else take honor that belongs to you? But bowing low to humility is a way to wisdom. Today, we're going to take up these subjects.
[4:03] We're going to take up pride and humility. We're going to try to take up the whole book of Proverbs and see what it says on these verses in so many ways because they're vital. Knowing the difference between pride and humility, knowing how you relate to pride and humility, is vital.
[4:16] John Stott said it this way in a wonderful quote, at every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is our greatest enemy and humility, our greatest friend.
[4:29] I mean, he couldn't make that point more hyperbolic. He couldn't emphasize it more at every stage of our Christian development, in every sphere of our Christian discipleship.
[4:40] Pride is our greatest enemy and humility, our greatest friend. We want to find out how to cultivate humility and weaken pride. So regardless of how long you've been a Christian, this battle, these paths are laid before you and they're laid before me.
[4:56] And where we're going is the way down of humility always leads up to honor. The way down of humility always leads up to honor. We're going to break this out three points.
[5:07] The first is the way of pride. The way of pride. As I said, the way of pride seems right. It's the way of this world.
[5:19] But the way of pride is the wrong way. It's the way of going up without going down. And only brings a harder fall in the end. But what is pride?
[5:30] You know, pride is one of those Christian words we throw around so much that it seems like the meaning has just, we fumbled the meaning and it's fallen out of this word. You know, sometimes we talk about pride with little more than a shrug of indifference or nonchalance.
[5:44] Like, it's just my pride. You know, I just have a pride problem or something like that. But if we really understand pride from the book of Proverbs, we will not talk that way. In a word, pride in the book of Proverbs is living without the fear of God, striving against God, and refusing to acknowledge dependence upon God.
[6:06] Pride is living without the fear of God, striving against God, and refusing to acknowledge dependence upon God. Pride is the oldest sin, as you know. It's what led Satan and the angels to fall from heaven because they wanted a better position, wanted a better seat at the table, wanted a little more prominence.
[6:24] It's what made Adam and Eve dissatisfied with the boundaries that the Lord has drawn and led them to strive against God. It's the root of all sin. It tells us that sin is not breaking a rule.
[6:35] Sin is refusing to fear the Lord and striving to rule yourself. That's the essence of pride. And all throughout, the Proverbs tell us that pride begins in the heart. Pride begins in the heart.
[6:47] If you want to flip over a few chapters of Proverbs 21, 24. We're going to hang here for just a moment. Pride begins in the heart. 21, 24 says, Scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.
[7:04] Scoffer is his name. The arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride. That's kind of a difficult sentence to understand because it's loaded with these words that are loaded with meaning.
[7:18] But the idea is that the man the Proverbs is describing is arrogant and haughty. He's arrogant. He thinks he's better than other people. He looks down on other people.
[7:29] I mean, you guys know that. Like, guys who look down their nose at you. I mean, that's arrogance. That my esteem of me is better than my esteem of you.
[7:39] And so I look down. So that's what arrogance means. So it's kind of this arrogant and this proud attitude towards one another. But it also says he's haughty.
[7:52] I think the idea is that his arrogant thoughts of himself have caused him to be consumed in himself. Just like a drunk man loses all perspective on life and his appetite just becomes more and more drink.
[8:07] His life reduces down to just more and more drink. The idea is that the haughty man is so consumed in his high thoughts of himself that his appetite boils down to just more and more things that stroke him.
[8:21] More and more things that applaud him. More and more things that approve and affirm him. And that's his arrogance. He strives to get bigger and bigger.
[8:32] I mean, his life boils down to fight and to look even better in people's eyes and in striving to become bigger and bigger, he becomes smaller and smaller. He becomes more and more wrapped up on himself.
[8:43] Stuart Scott says it well. The world's smallest package is a man wrapped up in himself. You've seen it. Pride left unattended to becomes this voracious appetite to be esteemed.
[9:01] It just craves us. What's going on? I mean, in so many ways, sometimes we think of pride as just a sense of accomplishment. You know, you cut the grass and you smell the way it smells.
[9:13] And for a guy that has a desk job, cutting the grass is a wonderful feeling because it's one thing you accomplish. And you can see, you know, especially a guy that writes words. But you have that feeling. Maybe it's that we think of pride as this sense of accomplishment, this sense of rest at a job well done.
[9:28] But these scriptures tell us that this arrogance and haughtiness is telling us that pride is a craving of the heart. Pride is a desire to be admired and appreciated.
[9:41] It's a hunger for respect. It's an attitude of heart that boils down into something we want and have begun to demand. Maybe it's something good. Maybe it's a good job. Maybe it's a child.
[9:53] Maybe it's a healthy marriage. Maybe it's affirmation in some kind. And yet it turns bad when it's all we want and all that we think we deserve. And this arrogant attitude obviously comes out in this haughtiness or this arrogance towards other people, this haughtiness that you see, that you interact with when you see somebody in the supermarket.
[10:11] But it also firstly comes out in our relation to God. The arrogant, haughty man or woman, this is the main problem, elevates himself against God.
[10:23] The angels say, holy, holy, holy, this is the Lord God almighty. Whole earth is full of his glory. And yet, yet this person said, my glory is more important than that. He moves from acknowledging his dependence upon God into declaring his deserving before God.
[10:39] He has what the Proverbs call in 16, 5 and 21, 4, a proud heart. And often pride leads us to be angry with God.
[10:55] Sometimes people can talk about that like, like it's a good, you know, like, yeah, sometimes I'm angry with God. I think I understand what you're saying. I don't want to belittle that. But I also think that might be the most arrogant thing you could possibly say.
[11:09] You're going to demand the giver what he should give you. Scoffer is his name.
[11:23] So after describing this, man, scoff, it's an indictment. It's a scoffer. What he's saying is the arrogant, haughty man is a fool. Well, you can be successful.
[11:36] You can have the house, the family, the car, the boat, but if your heart is wrapped up in you, you are a fool. That's, that's the scriptures. But it comes out in our actions.
[11:49] So pride doesn't stay in the heart. Wouldn't it be nice if pride just stayed in the heart? It gets you, you know, I mean, all my most regrettable moments are when pride has not stayed in the heart. And he says, he says it comes out.
[12:00] He acts with arrogant pride. Look down there again in 21, 24. He, the scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride. Now, now that's strange, right? It's strange the way it's written.
[12:15] The arrogant man acts with arrogant pride. I mean, that, that seems very obvious, right? Like he's arrogant, so he's arrogant. Well, that's a little bit circular. I mean, that doesn't help me.
[12:26] But the idea actually is, what the author of Proverbs is trying to say is it's a way of intensification, you know, kind of like boys will be boys. Right? They're not going to have clean fingernails.
[12:40] You know, I mean, boys will be boys. They're going to get dirty. It's not talking about their gender. It's talking about the way they, boys will be boys because they get into everything, they mess up everything, their rooms are just messy.
[12:51] That's the idea. Well, that's what's going on here. The arrogant man, he acts with arrogant pride. Pride does not stay in. It breaks out in his actions in such a way that all see.
[13:04] Like the fool, the proud man is unteachable. He believes he's wise so he listens to no one and expects everyone to listen to him. The problem is he's not wise.
[13:16] He's wise in his own eyes, what scripture says. He's only wise in what he thinks and what he wants and not in the fear of God. He's hard to persuade, hard to convince, hard to work with. He has nothing to learn.
[13:30] J.C. Ryle says, pride never reigns anywhere so powerfully as in the heart of a young man. Scriptures say, folly is bound up in the heart of a young man.
[13:45] It's a warning. It's a warning to you. It's a warning to me. You look down on mom's opinion. Are you impatient with people older than you?
[14:01] Are you rude? Watch out. But pride's not a young man's game. There's not only a young man's game.
[14:11] As we grow older, we can begin to think that manhood equals not, or means not depending on other people. There's something good in that, right? Bear your own loaves, what Galatians 6 says.
[14:22] But there can be something very evil in it. This arrogant attitude of heart that cannot learn from others, definitely not others that are less successful than you, is arrogant.
[14:35] It's pride. J.I. Packer says, self-sufficiency is a no-no in the body of Christ. God will not prosper the pride of those who think they can get along without other Christians' help.
[14:48] Do you have three people in your life that would drop everything tomorrow morning to meet with you and help you? If you don't, you may not be teachable.
[15:05] The proud man is self-focused. It says, I think that's what's going on, the arrogant, haughty man. He's caught up in himself. His pride absorbs him in what he wants and what he needs so much so that he cannot see the needs of other people.
[15:18] He has haughty eyes, is the way 21.4 describes it. He only looks down. He only sees what he wants. He believes he deserves respect so he demands it. He believes he should be admired and esteemed so he refuses to soup down and serve anybody or to do anything that he doesn't decide is best for him.
[15:36] He finds it hard to let go of his money to help others. He finds it hard to support others. He finds it hard to thank and encourage others. He's self-focused. Now one thing, if you met with me tomorrow morning, you would learn about me very quick because I'm an arrogant man.
[15:53] I'm a proud man trying to learn humility. I remember when we first got married, this was me. Self-focused to a T. I only found, what's the pride and prejudice like Mr. Darby or whatever, he only found something he could critique, something like that.
[16:13] I haven't actually watched a movie all the way. I tried to when I was in college, but it's like six hours long. Only the lonesome dove gets that.
[16:24] But that was me. Only found something I could critique. I thought it was Kim's fault.
[16:40] But the Lord pulled up a chair. No, no, no. This is you. You're self-focused. You're arrogance. The proud man is self-focused. The proud man is quarrelsome.
[16:50] Proverbs 28, 25 says, An arrogant man stirs up strife, but he who trusts the Lord will prosper. A proud man is always complaining, criticizing, and causing a conflict.
[17:01] His anger erupts not so much at someone breaking the law of God, but when others break his law. When they do what he doesn't think is right. So he boils over when dinner is cold, when plans are disrupted, when children interrupt, when friends disappoint.
[17:17] The proud man is always stirring up conflict. It begs us to ask, is the house happier before you arrive? Is the office happier when you're off?
[17:31] Pride gets out. It breaks out. It makes enemies with those around us, and it ends in destruction and death. Proverbs 16, 18 says, Pride goes before destruction and all he's spirit before a fall.
[17:44] Pride goes before the fall. The proud man doesn't look where he's going. He thinks he's climbing to the top, but really he's about to fall. He thinks he's secure because of his own self-assessment, his own assessment, his own wisdom in his own eyes.
[17:57] He thinks that means security for him, but it only seals his destruction. You remember Achilles' heel? It was foretold that he would die by an arrow through the foot, through the heel, so his mom dipped him in some river to give him invincible powers, but his foot didn't dip all the way in.
[18:21] He went on to become a great warrior, kind of like Samson, possessed great strength, yet his supposed strength could lead to his downfall because his heel, he had an Achilles heel.
[18:34] We have an Achilles heel. You have an Achilles heel. This side of Adam, we have an Achilles heel. We are arrogant. We're searching every room, every conversation, to try to put ourselves forward at the expense of someone else.
[18:55] Most sobering, according to the Proverbs, pride doesn't just lead to destruction like a natural consequence. Pride leads to destruction because of the judgment of God.
[19:07] Toward the scorners, Proverbs 3, 34, towards the scorners, he is scornful, but towards the humble, he gives favor. Towards the scorners, he's scornful, but to the humble, he gives favor. James 4 and 1 Peter 5 translate this, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
[19:22] God opposes the proud. He scorns the scorners. Scorners scorn him, so God scorns him back. God scorns him back. One author says, On no point is the mind of God more fully declared than against pride.
[19:37] On no point. Is that overstated? You know, on no point is it more fully declared than against pride. The Lord hates pride. Seven things I hate? Pride. Haughty eyes.
[19:49] The Lord opposes the arrogant heart. Proverbs 16, 5 says, Everyone who's arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured, he will not go unpunished. The arrogant, those who do not fear God, those who strive against God, those who do not acknowledge their dependence upon God, the Lord hates.
[20:05] It's a promise. A devastating promise. Pride will not go unpunished. The Lord will bring the arrogant down. The proud may prosper in this life, but they will bow before the Lord.
[20:22] The way of pride seems right, but it's going down. Point to the way of humility.
[20:32] The way of humility. Get into the good stuff. The way of humility. The way of humility, it seems wrong. It seems a step in the wrong direction. It seems to, but it is the way of going up by going down. What is humility?
[20:44] You know, Bernard de Clairvaux, one of those mystics, they asked him, what are the four cardinal virtues? He said, humility, humility, humility, and humility.
[20:56] That's it. Humility. It's remembering we're creatures and we're centered. It's not merely thinking less of yourself.
[21:06] It's not that. It's not even thinking of yourself less. It's thinking of yourself rightly. Understanding who you are before God, a creator and creature, distinction that you were created.
[21:19] He was not created. You are finite. He is not finite. He possesses all wisdom, all knowledge, but also he is holy and you are not holy. You are simple.
[21:29] Humility is living in the fear of God with an appropriate assessment of ourselves as creatures and sinners. And like pride, it begins in the heart. Proverbs 15, 33 says, the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom and humility comes before honor.
[21:44] Humility. Remember we studied this a couple of weeks ago. So humility is equated. It equals, defined by it, the fear of the Lord. You know, remember it's not terror. It's not cringing dread.
[21:55] It's not cowering fear. It is that attitude of heart. It says, I know you're great in power. I don't know why you're so good to me as a creature and so gracious to me as a sinner.
[22:07] And so the humble person fears the Lord because he knows his weakness and he knows his error in his ways, his sins. So he bows to listen, receive, and follow.
[22:18] Humility comes out in actions. The humble person listens. The proud person never hears, but the humble person listens. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of listening.
[22:34] In so many ways, in so many ways, this is a very odd activity to come in here and for the bulk of it, listen.
[22:46] But it reminds us that the primary activity of the church, this side of heaven, is the passive activity of listening. The first and primary activity of the church is to strain our attention to hear.
[22:57] Let him who has ears, let him hear. And that's what we do when we gather. So the humble person listens. The humble person understands. We're not in the age of the eye.
[23:08] We're in the age of the ear. And so we need to hear. We need the word of God. We need intake, not outtake, in order to make us more like Christ. But the humble person is teachable. The humble person, the idea is they don't just listen.
[23:19] They learn. They learn. Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There's more hope for him. No, more hope for a fool than to him.
[23:32] The humble person is teachable. The humble person changes. The humble person grows. The humble person seeks input. The humble person receives counsel.
[23:44] The humble person learns for others. The humble person asks questions. As you guys know, we sent Taylor to the pastor's college. One of the things I love and respect about Taylor, he asks a lot of questions.
[23:59] Not for mere knowledge, but because he wants to learn. In fact, last week I was interacting with some of the people from the pastor's college and they had a marriage night where you could come in and kind of ask any question about how to be married and be in the ministry or something like that.
[24:10] And Taylor broke the record. He had something like 19 questions. They asked for two or three. He had like 19 and they were specific.
[24:21] I mean, that's what that guy does. He wants to know what kind of toilet paper you use. I mean, he wants to know all the details of your life. He didn't ask them that, praise the Lord. But he asked questions.
[24:32] I just love that. Are you inquisitive? Are you a bump on the law? You know? Are you curious in a wonderful godly way so that you can learn?
[24:47] The humble person is teachable. The humble person learns in so many ways and they do get this input on so many ways but they learn through correction and discipline in a pronounced way. They learn through correction.
[24:59] One of my favorite proverbs is a rebuke right here in 1710. A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool. Think about that.
[25:12] The humble learn through reproof. They learn through correction. Now, lest we misunderstand, correction is something we should do but we should do carefully.
[25:32] Correction is not when you tell someone how they're annoying you. Correction is not when you corner someone and pressure them into spending their money like you, their free time like you, dressing like you, or something like that.
[25:54] Correction is not when we communicate our disapproval of others. Don't do that, please. Correction, this little sliver of category of our words that are very important, are when we challenge someone for how they are or appear to be not walking in light of what they believe.
[26:18] We don't meddle in the decisions of other people, but we have a responsibility to protect the witness.
[26:32] And so, when it's ways in which they're not walking in light of what they believe, what they confess, then we want to be loving enough. You know, I never forget being corrected for the very first time. I felt like I needed to go get a shower afterwards.
[26:43] A close friend of mine named Adam that corrected me like three months after being a Christian for saying something, slandering him, and he overheard it. And he corrected me.
[26:54] And it was such a word and season. It was so helpful. And the humble learned to love it. That's what he's saying. The humble love. Just study that. Who loves correction? In the book of Proverbs, the humble, the one who feels the Lord.
[27:09] They love it. Don't flatter me. Correct me. That's what I want. Serious. The humble also learn through discipline.
[27:21] They learn through adversity. Some people grow hard when times get tough. But the humble grows soft.
[27:33] Their true character comes out. Yeah, I recently listened to this book about President Garfield. Garfield was the 20th president and served for just over six months. As you know, he was shot.
[27:46] And he spent, shot three months into the presidency. He spent the rest of his life, the next three months, fighting the effects of being shot.
[28:00] It's brutal. I mean, he didn't die because he was shot. That's often, that's what I thought before I read the book. I didn't know my American history too well.
[28:12] He died of all the bacteria that got into his body when they were trying to discern where this bullet was. It's brutal.
[28:24] This book I read telling about his infection and fever and sores and abscess all over his body, draining pus. But they said Garfield's humility shined through it.
[28:39] This statement just blew me away. His friend said, throughout his long illness, I was most forcibly impressed with the manner in which those traits of his character, which are most winning in health, became intensified in illness.
[28:56] I was forcibly impressed that those traits, which were most winning, most commendable, most admirable in health, became intensified.
[29:10] He got more humble. That's what he's trying to say. He got more joyful. He got more grateful when they come in and change his wounds. He was thankful for another day. Thank you for changing my wounds. Thank you for digging in my body again.
[29:23] In so many ways, I could walk around this room this morning and talk about people whose humility has shined in trouble, in the discipline of adversity.
[29:35] The humble, learn. Mow me down. But I'll rise up humble. That's what happened.
[29:46] Thomas Watson said, a humble saint likes that condition what God sees best for him. A proud man complains that he has no more. A humble man wonders that he has so much. Now that'll make you sing and dance.
[29:58] I mean, that's amazing. The humble person listens. They learn. They grow. They don't fear God anymore. I mean, they don't fear man anymore.
[30:09] The fear of God drives out the fear of man in their house. In their life, they abandon the pursuit of affirmation and applause. That fallen instinct in us, it says, that Achilles heel in us, it says, look at me, you know?
[30:23] The pattern of life that uses our life and social media to curate, like an art gallery, neat things for people to see. The humble person abandons that.
[30:33] They abandon that pursuit. They abandon it because they want to please God. God. And humility leads to honor, blessing, and favor with God.
[30:44] Toward the scorners, he's scornable, but to the humble, he gives favor. He gives favor. His favor is fixed on the humble. The Lord, look, his eyes roam all throughout the earth, but his gaze, his gaze of grace is fixed on the humble.
[31:01] He gives favor. He gives honor. Honor is given, not taken, and he bestows it not on those who work hard or check all the right boxes, but on those who bow low in humility before him.
[31:13] Proverbs 22, 22, 4 says, the reward of humility is, the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
[31:26] Humility works. Humility pays off. Humility is the great dividend. I mean, it is the great provider. It's all you want.
[31:37] Humility gets it done. You know, it's funny, in our culture, that commends no one to cultivate humility, it's still true that the humble are most successful.
[31:57] In the best-selling book, Good to Great, business leader Jim Collins studied numerous companies and asked the question, can a good company become a great company? He's a business leader. And if so, how?
[32:10] So Collins and his team of researchers spent five years studying 11 companies to discern, well, what made this one good? What made this one great? What set them apart?
[32:22] I mean, it's just a very fascinating pursuit, a very fascinating study. In the end, Collins identified two specific qualities and business executives that made all the difference.
[32:35] All the difference, he said. The first was professional will. I mean, just that drive. That's obvious. I mean, a successful company is going to ride on the back of somebody who gets up early and bust it and goes to bed late.
[32:47] I mean, a professional drive that can't be quenched. It's kind of a self-initiating type posture. But the second one is not obvious.
[32:58] He said, his research concluded, the quality was modest, self-effacing. His researchers said that good to great leaders never wanted to become larger than life heroes.
[33:10] They were continually described as quiet, humble, modest, shy, gracious, mild mannered, self-effacing, understated. He said, they often took no credit for the good things that happened and took all the credit for the bad things that happened.
[33:30] That's, I mean, in some ways, it is surprising, but in other ways, it's not. I mean, who wants to follow a boss that cares only about himself? But if it's somebody like that, it's amazing to follow him.
[33:40] Well, unlike the honor of this world that does, based on what we see in other people that they're appropriately modest, we kind of fall and the living God sees our hearts in every act of humility, of denying ourselves, preferring others, listening intently, receiving counsel, welcoming and reproof, bowing low in trouble and pain, living for the approval of God alone and the living God showers from heaven blessings on the humility.
[34:05] While humility and executives may gather and attract the esteem and admiration of co-workers, humility and image bearers attracts the esteem and blessing of God.
[34:15] He gives grace to the humble. He gives riches, financial blessing. Need a little Kenneth Copeland to help us out with that.
[34:27] He gives honor, you know, he gives social blessings. He gives honor before men and before God. He gives personal blessing. The way down of humility always leads up to honor. Point three, the way of the cross.
[34:40] So, what do we make of all this? The way down is always up. I mean, is this just a Proverbs thing? I think that's what we should ask. There's something more significant going on. I think the theme of the way down is always up is the main theme of the entire Bible.
[34:55] Whoever exalts himself will be brought low. That's what it says. Adam exalted himself and defines him with a curse. Pharaoh exalted himself, hardening his heart and was destroyed. The Israelites exalted themselves and complaining and were not allowed to enter the promised land.
[35:08] Saul exalted himself and was cast off. Nebuchadnezzar exalted himself and was humbled and so on and so on and so on. But whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Abraham humbled himself in faith and received the righteousness of God and was exalted as the father of all nations.
[35:24] Joseph humbled himself in being sold into slavery and into Pharaoh's house into prison and was exalted over all men of his day giving food to the surrounding nations. David humbled himself repeatedly and despite discipline God exalted him promised that his son from his son would come the king who would be on the throne forever.
[35:44] Solomon humbled himself as if her wisdom was exalted as the wisest man on earth and so on and so on and so on. Why is that there? Why are these stories there? Why? Why are they in our Bible?
[35:55] Well because the theme of the main theme of the Bible is this and the main theme of the gospel is this the way down is always up. The way down is always up.
[36:05] Here we see it in the gospel itself the son of God though he through whom all things were made enter humanity humbling himself. He was obedient in every word thought and deed. He never once sinned in pride but always did the will of his father.
[36:18] He always did what was right and good and loving and kind. He was perfect without sin. He chose to become obedient though obedient to the death on the cross. He said I take up my cross no one takes it from me I take it up I've set my face like flint to go to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed.
[36:37] And he takes up the cross he's obedient to God he endures God's just furious wrath for the hatred of sin for our sin and for our pride he endured all the hostility of those who would trust in him he endured all the humility and humiliation and destruction that our pride deserves there on the cross the scorner scorn the scorner not for his scorning but for our scorning for our arrogance that placed him on that cross and he died he went down all the way down but scriptures say on the third day he rose again from the dead defeating sin and death sometime later he ascended into heaven was seated at the right hand of the majesty of God on high far above all rule and authority and power and dominion above every name that is named he's given the name that is above all names crowned with glory and honor and majesty why?
[37:33] because of his humiliation because of his suffering because he went down obviously you have to go down with him in order to come to him you have to go down with him in order to come with him you guys say I was on that cross he stood in my place bore the wrath that I deserve my pride and my desire to elevate myself over other people is voracious and I need a savior but if you go down with him you're going to come up with him that's what the bible is all about yeah you might get your teeth kicked in for a couple years on earth but he says eternity will not compare to the immeasurable greatness of the inheritance you will receive for being with him that's incredible all this for arrogant sinners who deserve his righteous furious wrath so how do we respond two points repent of pride we have cancer if you're not a
[39:19] Christian that's what I invite you to do this morning repent of not fearing God repent of not giving him the glory he deserves repent of not living your life in obedience to his law repent for breaking out and demanding your own way and he'll receive you if you harden your heart you'll go down without him I mean if you're a Christian if you're like me you're convicted of pride of loving the praise of men of being critical being angry being quarrelsome being self absorbed who repent and receive forgiveness the promises for those who humble themselves not those who are humble that's wonderful news that you know last that just say build habits into your day to weaken pride and cultivate humility if pride is our greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend for all the days of our life then build habits to do it
[40:44] I mean you know there's tons of different resources you can go do this couple things I encourage you to do acknowledge your need for the Lord and your dependence upon God I don't know how many days I start my day with reciting Psalm 63 verses 1 through 8 to the Lord oh God you are my God earnestly I seek you my soul thirst for you my heart faints for you as in a dry and weary land where there is no water there's no water here I'm crying I need you you give all humankind life and breath and everything I want you I want to depend on you preach the gospel to yourself you are not self made you didn't get into this because of your background or your family or whatever preach the gospel it's a wonderful way to dethrone pride I am not my own I was bought with a price I've been crucified with Christ I no longer live today it is not about me give time to Bible reading and prayer you just got to do it it's a discipline but it's also a wonderful discipline to weaken pride throughout the day thank God for a meal sometimes I feel like
[41:53] I always felt like this when my grandpa we get into thanking God for a meal or into the prayer for the meal and it's kind of like they always kind of say a few things then there was kind of the back end slide out where it's like I forget all the little phrases but it's just all these phrases that he did every time he prayed well don't do that pause look at the food sometimes we'll ask our kids to pray for a meal and they thank God for every little noodle you know and the meatball and the cheese on top of the meatball you know it's like everything and the bread you know it's like but it's wonderful all of it's from his hand a wonderful way to weaken pride thank God for evidence grace you see the end of the day review the day I don't know how many moments at the end of the day I do try to thank God for anything good that was accomplished but this is what I don't know how many times I think Lord search me and know my heart see if there's any unclean way in me is there any thought that was ungodly is there any word that's often where I say okay I got to text that person as soon as I get up in the morning I got to say
[42:53] I shouldn't have said that prepare your heart to receive sleep I mean you know we should be the most dependent creatures we sleep one third of our life I mean if anything should announce to us that you are insignificant is that but you know but prepare yourself to sleep prepare yourself to receive this gift you know Piper would say sometimes he'll take up his hand and hold his wrist and hold his heartbeat and say each one of those heartbeats I could be gone each one everyone's a gift from him you doctors know how to find that real fast or nurses but even us can find it you know and maybe you haven't watched that but you just say Lord I'm receiving sleep now Victor Hugo says God is awake go to sleep the way down is always up the way down of humility always leads to honor it's the way of this world it's the way of the kingdom of God let us pray Father in heaven we thank you for these few minutes thank you for this word
[43:56] Lord we so want to turn from pride and to cultivate humility we pray that you would search us and see if there's any unclean way in us and lead us in the way of everlasting anything that we need to turn from anything that we need to see God anything we're convicted of Lord we confess now we turn from it so that we might rest on you rest in you lean not on our own understandings but acknowledge you trust that you'll make our path straight though we bow before you in our hearts declare that you are the king and we are absolutely dependent upon you you are our savior and so we worship you give to you the praise you deserve thank you Lord and praise you in Jesus name amen you've been listening to a message given by Walt
[44:57] Alexander lead pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Athens Tennessee for more information about Trinity Grace please visit us at