today is the holiness of humility versus the profanity of pride. What I want to show is that this is one of the most essential themes running through the scriptures and one which directly determines the spiritual condition and eternal destiny of all men. Pride is the source of all of our woes and humility is the only remedy. The Bible says that there is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. Proverbs 16 25. And this is the way of pride that a man seeks. Pride seeks its own way, as expressed in the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley. It says, it matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. This is the heart of all sinners, even those poor wretched souls who live out on the streets. They can be just as proud as a billionaire. As long as they see themselves as the master of their own fate and the captain of their own soul, they will continue on in their prideful rebellion against the Holy One. And as Jesus said to the Pharisees, he will not come to me that you might have life. John 5 40. True biblical humility is the beauty of holiness, and there can be no holiness without humility. Jesus said, strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. Luke 13, 24, because unless you become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18, 3. Matthew Henry comments, humility is a lesson so hardly learned that we have need by all ways and means to be taught it. And so we will begin at the beginning to discover the source of true humility in the glorious doctrine of the Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father. Then we will look at the entrance of pride into the world through the fall of Satan and the fall of man. I hope to show you that absolute dominance of pride in the fallen nature and how impossible it is for us to escape it on our own. Then we will Consider the outworking of the humility of Christ, how he stooped low in his perfect obedience to the Father to lift us up, and how his humility becomes our humility, and how our salvation is utterly dependent on a humility which does not and cannot exist in the unregenerate heart. Then I will conclude with some thoughts about the ongoing battle with pride in the Christian and the continual need for humility. This is the fundamental principle at the heart of Christianity. Whoever exalted himself shall be abased, but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 14, 11. And this is the secret of the Christian life. When I am weak, then I am strong. Second Corinthians 12, 10. And he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. Second Corinthians 10, 17. But oh, how contrary these principles are to the thinking of the unregenerate man. Now, I'm going to begin with a doctrine that is commonly spoken about, I think, eternal generation, the eternal generation of the sun. And I want to first warn that we are not able to fully comprehend what the scriptures teach us regarding the triune God and the eternal generation of the sun. We are temporal creatures. And though God has given us an inkling of eternity in our hearts, we cannot fully comprehend how the Son is both begotten of the Father and Himself is eternal God. So just so that you are aware, we must humble ourselves and be humble before the Word of God right from the very beginning. So the first point is that the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." John 1 18. The only begotten Son is the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God. His existence is eternal with no beginning in time. His beginning is in the Father, who is eternal, The son is in the bosom of the father and he proceeded forth and came from God, John 8, 42. And again, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God, John 13, three, he said, I came forth from the father and I'm come into the world, John 16, 28. Another verse, who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature? The King James, the authorized version is a little confusing that it uses the words every creature in the old way, which means literally all of creation. The son of God is not a created being, but is eternally begotten of the father. And thus he has absolute preeminence over all of creation. This verse teaches that the person of the Son is identical to the person of the Father. He is the image of the invisible God. And by eternal generation, He is the firstborn over all creation. The next verse goes on to make it clear that He is the creator of all things. And in verse 18, Christ is called the firstborn from the dead, referring to the resurrection. So that is a distinct sense of being first born and has to be kept separate from the one in verse 15. I'm not sure if I mentioned that's Colossians 1.15 by the way. Next verse, and again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and let all the angels of God worship him, Hebrews 1.6. He is the first begotten sent into the world He is worshiped by angels and all of creation because he is not part of creation. He is the creator of the ends of the earth. The son is the exact representation of the father. And Hebrews 1.3 says that who being the brightness of his glory is an express image of his person. The first part of the verse equates him to the brightness of the Father's glory, in the sense of the brightness as of the light of the Son of itself, or of the Father himself. He is the brightness of the light, the light of light, as the confession says. And as John wrote, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, John 1 14. Jesus told Philip, he that has seen me has seen the father, John 14, nine, because the son is the exact representation of the father. The second part of the verse emphasizes even more the Greek word for image. And this is the same, the source of our English word character, but in the original Greek, it means The mark or the figure or letter stamped out by an instrument used in engraving or carving, like a mark or a figure stamped on or an impression, the exact expression or image of the person or thing, a precise reproduction in every respect. The person of the sun is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Next, the Son is named Jehovah many times in the Old Testament. I will just give one example, but there are many. Especially by comparison of the Old and the New Testament, we can see this very clearly. But I just want to bring to your attention Zechariah 2, verses 10 and 11, where we read, sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion. For lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee. sayeth the Lord." That Lord, all capital letters, it's Jehovah. That's the covenantal name of God. That's the speaker here. He's the one who's speaking, Lord Jehovah. I'll just use the word Jehovah. And many nations shall be joined to Jehovah in that day and shall be my people. And I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know Thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. So in this amazing verse, the speaker is none other than Jehovah himself. As it says, saith the Lord Jehovah. But then, most amazingly, Jehovah says that Jehovah of hosts will send him. Thus we have Jehovah being sent by Jehovah of hosts. And the claim is that his people will know that Jehovah of hosts has sent Jehovah. I count 33 times in the gospel of John where Jesus said that he was sent by the father. There's a major repetition of this idea and it comes to its climax in Jesus's high priestly prayer in John 17, where he said, Oh, righteous father, the world has not known me, but I have known me. And these have known that thou hast sent me." So that's a reflection back on Zechariah 2.10, and it's a claim that he is himself Jehovah. And so we are given the clear teaching that the Son is himself Jehovah. The name carries with it the entire idea of God's nature, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. There is one God only. We have to keep that in mind. There are three persons, but only one God. And we must humble ourselves before the word of God to even receive this truth. And we are finite creatures and not at all able to comprehend it fully. That's the one point that I want to make is that Christ is himself eternally God. And second point is that he is the son of the father. Jesus, I'm gonna give a few verses in a row here. Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. John 434. Again, I can do, I can of myself, I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of the father which hath sent me. John 5.30. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. John 6.38. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. John 14.31. The idea in all these verses is the humility of the Son. He did not seek to do his own will, with the will of the Father. His precious humility is glorious and astonishing and wholly dependent on Him being the Son of God. His perfect submission to the Father in all grace and humility shows the perfect beauty and harmony and love among the persons of Trinity. His exact equality with the Father in His intrinsic deity is one critical aspect of eternal generation and the other is his humility in his submission to the Father. We must hold both of these together with the fact that there is one and only one God and we are already over our heads. We must be extremely careful with the idea of eternal generation because it is beyond our comprehension. We must recognize from the outset that humility is required to accept this doctrine, which the scriptures teach clearly enough. And we will see that humility, that the humility of Christ is the absolute foundation of our salvation. His deity is absolutely essential for our salvation, but also his eternal sonship in which he willingly and with all joy and love submits himself to do the father's will His will, the Father's will, and the Holy Spirit's will are all numerically one. So His humility is perfectly consistent with His own nature. His humility does not diminish Him, but rather exalts the Father, who in turn glorifies the Son. And the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and Son. He glorifies Christ as Christ glorifies the Father. This is marvelous doctrine, But we must not let our pride and comprehension prevent us from believing what the scriptures clearly teach. Our minds, our minds are not the measure of the truth. God's mind is. And we must humbly accept our limitations and tremble before the word of God. Now, I'm going to move on to creation. And I'm going to start with angels. Just a few word about angels. The Bible presents us with different types of angels, different kinds, holy angels, like the cherubim, seraphim, and others seemingly referring to fallen angels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. Some angels have names that we are told, like Michael and Gabriel. But all angels are created beings, rational and moral agents, capable of understanding, judging right from wrong, choosing, and acting in accordance with their choices Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Hebrews 1.14. So shall it be at the end of the world, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just. Matthew 13.49. And now Satan is a fallen angel spoken of frequently in scripture as the prince of fallen angels and the ruler of this fallen world. few verses. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. Job 1 6. So the Bible there calls the angels the sons of God of creation, created sons of God, and Satan came among them. He was one of them. In Revelation 12 we read the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Revelation 12, 9. Satan is an angel of great power. Jude 9 says that Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuked thee. Given that archangel means chief of angels and that he was forced to give respect to Satan, must mean that Satan is more powerful and glorious than himself. And so as Paul wrote, as one star differeth from another star in glory, it seems reasonable to suppose that in his original created state, the one now called Satan, was perhaps the most glorious and powerful of all created beings. Oh, but oh, how he has fallen, and we will see in a few minutes. Next, the creation of mankind. Man is created in the image of God. God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him, male and female, created he them, Genesis 127. Men and women are equally created in the image of God. The woman was created from man, and man was created from the dust of the ground. Woman is, as it were, begotten of the man to be a partner to him. Paul wrote that man is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man, 1 Corinthians 11.7. But both are equal in being created in the image of God, as there's neither male nor female in Christ. They're all one and equal before God, all equally. This form of creation is, I think, a temporal reflection of the eternal generation of the sun, in which there is both a complete equality of persons and yet a willing submission on the part of one to the other. In marriage, the idea of the woman submitting to the man and the unconditional love and protection on the part of the man toward the woman. It's like the heart of Christian marriage. It's a reflection of the beauty of the Trinity and the perfect harmony within the Trinity. But that is a topic for another day. But continuing on with creation, Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with honor, glory, and honor. Psalm 8 5. Man was made lower than the angels because we are created as a union of body and spirit. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Genesis 2 7. The spiritual aspect of man is made in the image of God. We are capable of understanding, judging right from wrong, choosing and acting in accordance with our choices, just like the angels. By having a physical aspect to our nature, we are of the earth though, and like the beasts of the earth in that respect. We are limited in almost every way compared to angels. But man does have a spirit which is immortal, indestructible, And in this, we are like the angels. Psalm 8 is wonderful, actually, and introduces a central theme of this study, which is how we were made a little lower than the holy angels, but became profane through pride, and yet raised to holiness through the humility of Christ. Ultimately, by God's truly amazing grace, Those who are in Christ will be raised from the pits of hell into very union with the Son of God, seated with him on his throne, and raised above the angels in Christ. Paul wrote, Know ye not that we shall judge angels? 1 Corinthians 6. On the other hand, those outside of Christ, their end is to be tormented in the with the fallen angels for all eternity and all suffering God's wrath for their sin. The first question of the shorter catechism asks, what is the chief end of man? And the answer expresses this glorious thought. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. To glorify God requires the removal of pride at the core of our beings. And to enjoy him requires humility, the beauty of holiness, which rejects enjoyment of ourselves and the world and delights in the beauty of Christ alone as the highest and only true beauty. And the fall, the fall, pride brings us low. I'm going to start with Satan's pride and Satan's fall. But first, I want to take a minute to introduce a hermeneutical principle. In case you haven't heard the word hermeneutical or hermeneutics before, hermeneutics is the science of biblical interpretation. There are principles of hermeneutics which guide us to make sure that we get the proper meaning from scripture. We must be extremely careful how we approach and understand scripture. We must tremble before the word of God and make a conscious effort to learn how to properly read our Bibles. In this case, the principle I want to bring is that we must be careful to interpret the Old Testament by the teaching of the New Testament and not the other way around. I suppose it can be a matter of pride to think that we can plunge into the Old Testament and figure out exactly what it means. But unless you are very familiar with the New Testament, you might easily go astray. It says in Isaiah 66, 5, hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word. And we must tremble, lest we misinterpret God's word to the detriment of our own souls. We should all make a conscious effort to learn how to read our Bibles. And many excellent books have been written on biblical hermeneutics, but how few take the time to study them. So beginning with the New Testament, in 1 Timothy 3, Paul is talking about the requirements for elders and says that an elder must not be a new convert, lest being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. In 1 Timothy 3.6. Now this verse gives us the understanding that Satan's fall was the result of his pride. Paul warned against novices becoming elders because they might become puffed up with pride. come to think of themselves more highly than they ought, as Satan did, and so fell from his first estate. But this understanding then allows us to cautiously proceed into the Old Testament. And there are two passages in the Old Testament which give some insight into the fall of Satan. Both passages make it clear by the local context that they are addressing and describing men king of Babylon in the first case and the king of Tyre in the second. The second hermeneutical principle, which can't be overstressed, is that we must be guided by context, local context first and then even more broader context. In these two passages, the references to the human kings seem to be presented in a hyperbolic sense, exaggerating their pride to the point of what seems to be utter insanity, which is to paint them against the backdrop of the fall of Satan as a form of mockery and derision. The idea seems to me that the men, the pride of these men is shown to be ridiculous and overblown. They're puffed up with pride beyond the limits of mortal man. I think of it like an eclipse where we see the moon covering the sun, and we see the ring of the sun peeking out from around the moon. In these two verses, we'll see the human person in front being described, but Satan is behind. And we hear the stinging and the mocking condemnation of the astonishing pride of those earthly rulers. And we see around the edges the even more insane and outrageously delusional pride of Satan. It doesn't change anything that we learned from 1 Timothy 3, 6, but it does open it up to our understanding and is surely much more memorable. In fact, the language of scripture itself is glorious and humbling in its majesty. So the first passage we'll look at is in Isaiah 14, verses 12 to 14. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. This passage addresses the king of Babylon as the light bringer, commonly referencing the planet Venus, which in its cycle comes around to rise before the sun and shines brightly in the east just before the sun rises. The idea carries with it the idea of glory stealer, since by presaging the great light, it can easily come to be seen as having even some preeminence to that light. Going on in the text, it ascribes to this one, the king of Babylon, the absolutely insane idea that he could ascend into the heavens to become like the Most High. Scripture records for us Nebuchadnezzar's words. Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon. The king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built from the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? Daniel 4.30. Now, as proud as that obviously is, it is still somewhat short of the complete self-exaltation in Isaiah 14.14, which it seems Satan must have entertained in his heart in order to carry out his insane rebellion against the Most High. And ultimately that pride is at the root of every sin, each of which is ultimately an insane attempt to establish ourselves as the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong and power and ability. In the bottom line, when we choose to sin, we disregard the existence of God and attempt to make ourselves like the Most High. So being careful in our exegesis, and exegesis is the science of extracting meaning from scripture, in accordance with hermeneutical principles. We can say at the least that here in the retrospective glance at Satan, we see that pride is the cause of the rebellion against God. The idea that a creature could ascend the hill of God and exalt his throne above the stars of heaven is based on an exalted view of self that is quite far from reality. Pride blinded Satan to the reality that he is merely a creature. No matter how glorious he was or is in comparison to the other creatures, he is nothing at all in comparison to God. The delusional idea that Satan or the King of Babylon might contend with the Almighty is based in utter self-deception and blindness caused by his heart being filled with thoughts of his own worthiness. And this is nothing other than pride. As we go through the study, I hope it becomes clear how pride blinds men to the truth of God's glory. Pride gives us an inflated view of ourselves, which is detached from reality, and fills our souls with vain thoughts of our own glory, such that the glory of God is diminished in our minds. By way of an analogy, man-made lights, what astronomers call light pollution, The city lights prevent us from seeing the starry sky at night. We know that the heavens declare the glory of God and night unto night showeth forth knowledge. And this is surely intended to humble us because it reveals to us how infinitesimally small we are in comparison to the incomprehensible vastness of the universe revealed all around us. City lights represent the pride of human accomplishment and cause us to lose sight of the glory of God's infinitely more glorious creation, and thereby the holiness of humility is eclipsed by the profanity of pride. The second passage we will look at is in Ezekiel 28, verses 12 to 17. It's long, so if you want to turn, you're free. It starts, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God. And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you. Here we are confronted with the same exegetical challenges as in the passage in Isaiah 14. This passage is directly addressed to the King of Tyre. And as in Isaiah 14, the language is exaggerated beyond what is true of a mortal, what could even be true of a mortal and a sinful human being. It is said to the King of Tyre that he was perfect in his ways from the day he was created, which in my view is exaggerated to heap scorn and derision on him. However, it is literally true of Satan that he was created good and was perfect in his ways until sin was found in him. And so, as in Isaiah 14, the passage refers to the king of Tyre in light of a retrospective view of Satan and his downfall. And this passage gives us another clue as to what that sin was which led to his downfall. As Augustine wrote, it was pride that changed angels into devils Satan's heart was lifted up because of his beauty and splendor. And we can reasonably suppose that Satan was, we can, at least for the sake of argument, suppose that Satan was the first and greatest of all created beings and that he was more beautiful and had greater splendor than all the other creatures. And think for a minute, try to put yourself in that position of being the greatest of all creatures What a perilous and unstable position that is. As we can imagine that looking at himself in comparison to the rest of creation, he saw himself to be greater than all other creatures. And so by losing sight of the infinitely greater glory of God, infinitely greater glory of God, he came to imagine himself as comparable to God. And so it seems that the idea of rebellion must have formed in his heart. However grossly delusional this is in reality, by his self-exaltation and comparing himself with other creatures, somehow came to think that he was comparable to the Son of God, the eternally begotten Son of God, and capable of challenging the Almighty. Surely this is madness, but it not only brought down Satan, but also infected mankind as well. This is a critical principle that's tucked away in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 10, 12. They measure, they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. In order for Satan to have become puffed up with pride, he had to have begun measuring himself in comparison to the other created beings, the other angels. If he had kept his view on God and preserved his sense of the creature-creator distinction, then he would not have become proud. When Moses caught a glimpse of the Lord passing by, he made haste and bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. Exodus 34, 8. But when we measure ourselves by ourselves and compare ourselves among ourselves, We make fools of ourselves by seeking our own glory. And now Satan's pride infected mankind. Satan came and he said to them, to Eve, that you will be like God. Satan said to Eve, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, of the forbidden fruit, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3, 5. Here Satan paints God's command as withholding some good from mankind, thus making God out to be stingy and jealous, hindering the development of mankind to become like God. The reality is that God's commands are always for our good. Yes, God knew that their eyes would be opened if they sinned, but the knowledge of evil which opened their eyes was actual evil, and the knowledge came with death. Here's the truth. Man became idolaters, and falling for the lie of Satan, men rejected the wisdom of God on the basis of their own reason. Adam took the place of God in deciding and determining what was right for mankind, and he struck out on his own, following his own counsel and Satan's counsel. It is nothing other than pride to think that we know better than God. Adam became a law unto himself, He became autonomous. That's what the word autonomous means. Auto means self. And namas means law. Self-rule is the essence of pride. It's like the Frank Sinatra song, I did it my way. What could be more proud than setting oneself up as the measure of all things? The ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras claimed that man was the measure of all things. That embodies relativism, since each man is the interpreter of reality for himself and decides for himself what is right and wrong. This is like in the theme of the book of Judges, where every man did what was right in his own eyes. It says, in those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 17.6. And again, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise. Proverbs 12, 15. And as I said earlier, every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. Of course, the idea that man is autonomous is a lie. As Charles Bridges wrote, the proud person is Satan's throne. And Satan is pleased to feed the idea of man's autonomy because it is not man who is in control, but rather Satan himself. Turning from God leads to separation from God. God had threatened Adam and Eve with the curse. In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Genesis 2.17. And God's word is true. Even though Adam and Eve did not physically die the day they disobeyed God, they died spiritually. Sin separates us from a holy God. Your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." Isaiah 59, 2. Because God is life. God is life. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17, 3. And this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 1 John 5 11. Separation from God is spiritual death. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. Ephesians 4 18. So if you're in your pride, you are separated from God, you're alienated from the life of God and there is no life in you. There's only spiritual death. And spiritual death is pride and fed by pride. So now the topic is spiritual death. And pride constantly turns from God. Pride seeks to exalt self. we are instructed not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, which is in Romans 12, three. It's even more emphatic in the Greek. Paul is a play on words, which is even stronger. It says not to be high minded above what he ought to be minded. And that is one of the way that pride manifests itself. Worldly psychology talks about self-esteem. And there is a large and prosperous industry which focuses on helping people raise their self-esteem. And why is this such a large industry? Why are there so many people with low self-esteem? And does that mean that they're not proud people? No, it is the exact opposite. Proud people can have both low and high self-esteem. As a matter of fact, everyone who thinks about their self-esteem is prideful, even if their self-esteem is low and the worst. People with low self-esteem have to believe that they should esteem themselves more highly, and so they already esteem themselves worthy of being esteemed. In fact, it is their passion to seek to esteem themselves that they spend their money in a culture which is crafted altogether to generate feelings of of low self-esteem because if you're not a fashion model or a bodybuilder or drive the best car or live in the best house or however you rank yourself or measure yourself against other people, this world will make you feel inferior to others and then sell you products to help you feel better about yourself. And pride prevents us from seeking God. The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. Psalm 10, verse four. And Jesus said, but you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. John 5, 40. Pride brings a man low. When pride comes, then comes shame. Proverbs 11, two. By pride comes nothing but strife. Proverbs 13.10. Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though they join forces, none will go unpunished. Proverbs 16.5. Pride goes before destruction. Proverbs 16.18. A haughty look, proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked are sin. Proverbs 21.4. A man's pride will bring him low. Proverbs 29.23. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him. Habakkuk 2.4. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, you who say in your heart, Who will bring me down to the ground? Obadiah 1.3 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. 1 John 2.16 And God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. James 4.6 And again, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. First Peter 5.5. Here's the problem. Pride renders faith impossible. Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And that indeed, with men, this is impossible. Matthew 19.26. Men don't love riches for the sake of the riches themselves, but for the glory, the honor, the prestige, the comfort, the security, that the feeling of being rich, powerful, in control gives. All of this is pride. And Jesus said it keeps a man from entering the kingdom. Saving faith requires knowledge, belief, and most importantly, trust, the entire resting on the merits of Christ alone for salvation. And here is the offense of the gospel to human pride. The gospel is all about what Christ did for sinners and not one bit about what you can do for yourself. The gospel crushes human pride and must crush it all together. Pride and faith are mutually exclusive. Pride fills our minds with vain thoughts of self-esteem, but the gospel is all about Christ's esteem. The two are mutually exclusive. The natural man thinks of himself saying, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. But it is necessary to believe and understand the truth that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, Revelation 3, 17. We know not what we are while we live by the light of our own minds. When we compare ourselves among ourselves, We will never see ourselves in relation to the one who is glorious in holiness, fearful in praises and doing wonders, Exodus 15, 11. Even the witness of the glory of God and creation is insufficient to humble men unto saving faith, since in his pride, even when they knew God as revealed to the creation, they glorified him not as God and neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Romans 121. Proud people are not thankful people. Proud people believe that good is owed to them. The sense of entitlement that we have, we all naturally have this. And proud people complain when things go against them. We all tend to become angry when we don't get what we think we deserve. Remember how often the Israelites complained against God in the wilderness. There is an especially grievous example of this in Numbers 11. I quote, when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, and the Lord heard it, and his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. Numbers 11.1. The delivery from pride is a gift from God. We simply cannot arrive at it naturally. Pride is like a quicksand in which the more we struggle, the deeper down we go. We might try to humble ourselves in order to make ourselves feel better. But as soon as we achieve a little success, we immediately congratulate ourselves on our wonderful humility and actually become proud of our humility. Then we are even worse off than we were at the beginning. How truly the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? Jeremiah 17 9. And let's not forget about Satan. Paul wrote that the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Second Corinthians 4 4. Satan continually stirs up pride in the hearts of men, which blocks out the light of the gospel and prevents a man from seeing the light. Clearly, we must be taught by God. Everything is against the natural man, the world, the flesh, and the devil. God absolutely must reveal himself to us and humble us by his grace. It must be his initiative to make a fundamental change within us. and there is no possibility of assistance from us. But in his holiness, God would obliterate us by revealing himself to us. That is the dilemma that is resolved in the gospel. How can a holy God reveal himself to us in order to humble us unto saving faith without utterly destroying us in the process? Moses was sanctified enough to receive a glimpse of God and he immediately fell on the ground and worshiped. Isaiah suffered a mental breakdown from his vision of the glory of God. He cried out, woe is me, I am undone. Ezekiel sat astonished among the people after seeing a vision of God for seven days. Daniel fainted and was sick certain days, Daniel 827. These were holy men, highly sanctified, and yet even the slightest revelation of God broke them. Holiness requires humility. Humility is the beauty of holiness, and there can be no holiness without genuine humility. But how can God humble us unto saving faith without destroying us in the process? Again, Scripture says that without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. But we must see the Lord in order for the sight of him to humble us unto the realization of our utterly wretched and destitute condition, so that we can repent and believe the gospel. Jesus said, verily I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of God, into the kingdom of heaven, Matthew 18 three. And how does one become as a little child, except by being born again? There is no other way. Spiritual birth. The humility by which we are saved is the humility of Christ, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. Even the death of the cross, Philippians 2, 6-8. He is the Lord of glory, the eternally glorious and ever-blessed creator, equal with the Father in glory. And yet he is the humble one. He said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11, 29. If Christ had not humbled himself to die in the place of sinners, no one could have been saved. He submitted himself to be joined to a human nature, born of a woman, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. That's Hebrews 10, 5, Psalm 40, verses 7 and 8. The humility of Christ is our salvation. His delight to do his father's will is our salvation and led him to humble himself to the point of being spit upon by his own creatures. Paul wrote, had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2.8. Christ's death on the cross satisfied the Father's just wrath, and His perfect obedience must become our righteousness. But how can we receive Christ in His humility, being proud and obstinate creatures who naturally will not come to Him for life? Here's the answer. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4, 6. There's the answer. The God who commanded light to come out of darkness, the Father who spoke and His Word created light, this marvelous mystery of the Trinity, the Son of God is the Word of God. And the Father commanded that Christ, this word of God, shine in our hearts. The Holy Spirit must form Christ in our hearts. And by this, we are given the knowledge of the glory of God. This is the seed of humility, which is planted at the very core of our being, the heart of our heart, as it was where pride once ruled. Instead of pride, the face of Jesus Christ shines in the inner sanctum of our hearts. And this becomes the primary motivating factor in our lives from that moment on. It is a new spiritual principle of light, which shines where there had been only darkness. The knowledge of the glory of God humbles us completely. It is Christ's perfect humility formed in us, which is itself the glory of God. And when we see ourselves correctly, we see ourselves correctly for the first time in that light, in the light of the glory of God. We see for the first time that there is nothing good within us, nothing at all. We see no righteousness within ourselves, only an endless chain of sin upon sin, all having arisen from Adam's pride and Satan's pride before that. James wrote that we must receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. James 121, and Peter wrote that we are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. First Peter 123, J.A. Mottier wrote that the implanted word is able to save, It is undergirded by the vitality of the new nature and is backed up by every endowment and every perfect gift, verse 17, James 117. It just needs meekness to activate its immense powers. It is a Christ-like quality for he said, I am meek. And this is the result of Christ in the heart. By that meekness, we are enabled to truly receive Christ and to receive the blessings of union with Him, which are justification and adoption into the family of God as little children. We say, Abba, Father, Thy will be done. I must decrease and Thou must increase. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we are new creatures in Christ. All things have become new. The power of pride is broken at the core of our beings. And though we are yet far from holiness, yet far from being holy in ourselves, we are enabled to receive him by faith and being justified by faith to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. To be like a little child is to say, yes, Lord, Yes, Lord, you know perfectly and control all things perfectly. And I love you because you first loved me. You called me, you justified me, and now I rest and trust in Christ alone to place all my trust in him for eternal life. Dispose of me as you wish. Send me where you wish. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. John 3, 6 and John 6, 63. And so by the glorious grace of God begins the new life of spirit based on the humility of Christ formed in us. which humbles us and crushes our pride and enables us to receive him, we will come to him if we have Christ in our hearts and that humility to know that we must have him. We must have his life or we have no life. So that is how we enter in to the Christian life, and there is no other way. We must become like little children through regeneration, which is by the grace of God. Otherwise, pride locks us in to our unregenerate condition. It continually turns and suppresses the knowledge of God because it cannot bear with the idea of God. Pride seeks its own, and if it could extinguish God from reality, horrifying is every sin that we commit is in its own nature saying that we would ascend unto the mountain of God and become like the Most High ourselves. It's insanity. It's madness. But that is the essential nature of fallen man. And so as the Gadarene, once Christ heals us, we sit at his feet with a sound mind, understanding ourselves correctly. The Christian life. John Newton, the former slave trader, wrote this, whoever is truly humbled will not be easily angry, nor harsh or critical of others, He will be compassionate and tender to the infirmities of his fellow sinners, knowing that if there is a difference, it is grace alone which has made it. He knows that he has the seeds of every evil in his own heart. And under all trials and afflictions, he will look to the hand of the Lord and lay his mouth in the dust, acknowledging that he suffers much less than his iniquities have delivered. John Newton wrote down in a letter in April 1772. So this is not new. Though the Lord be high, yet he hath respect unto the lowly, that the proud he knoweth afar off. The one who has humility will be thankful. Thankfulness is a key aspect of humility. Jesus told us, Jesus healed the 10 lepers, and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell down on his face and his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. So Jesus answered and said, were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? More than I found any found who returned to give glory to God except this or Luke 17 verses 15 to 18. The nine were not even thankful such a for such a great blessing as being healed from leprosy. Christians are to be thankful in all circumstances. Andrew Murray wrote in his great book on humility. except with gratitude everything that comes from within or without, from friend or enemy, in nature or grace, to remind you of your need of humbling and to help you to it. If God has become your loving Father in Christ, then accept all things from the hand of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will, and whose will for you is your sanctification and glorification in Christ. Paul wrote, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. By him there, For let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." Hebrews 13, 15. Humility is expressed in thankfulness. And then just a few words about the ongoing battle with pride in the Christian life. Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased. And he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Matthew 23, 12. For whosoever exalted himself shall be abased. And he that humble himself shall be exalted. Luke 14, 11. Prayer is not about getting things from God. It is about being conformed to the will of God. Jesus gave the following parable concerning pride And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus said, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted. And you can read that in Luke 18 verses 9 to 14. This is our battle every time we go to pray. Whenever we go to prayer, we find that we are like the temple and two men appear. One seeks to glorify himself, by comparing himself with other men, as the Pharisee does. These are men, quote, which say, stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than thou. God said, these are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day. I forgot to put the reference to that. Oh, how deceptive is pride, how deadly it is to our souls. We must have a clear view of the glory of God to humble us, lest we be like the Pharisee who doesn't see himself in relation to God, but sees himself in relation to other men. This was the cause of Satan's downfall and continues to drag men to the lowest parts of hell every single day. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. Romans 3, 27. Why? Why? Thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. Exodus 34 14. And he's not jealous out of what we would call human jealousy. He's jealous because it's simply right and proper that he is the all glorious one and absolutely right and proper that he should be worshiped and glorified. There is no other. There is no other God and we and. If we are in our right minds, we will worship him. Because he is glorious above all things beyond our comprehension. So let me end with this verse. For thus sayeth 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. Isaiah 57, 15. Now let me just end with a quick review because we covered a lot of material. Verse one, we are lost through pride and it's only through humility, through the humility of the eternally begotten Son of God, who overcame the consequences of the pride of Satan by his own humility and the pride of the human heart by his willing humiliation of the death on the cross. Two, pride killed us and brings us low. It brought the curse upon human nature and all of creation. There is no way for fallen man to extricate himself from the bondage of pride. It traps him in like a hall of mirrors at every turn with no hope of escape. It is impossible for a man to come to saving faith apart from the implantation of the humility of Christ in the heart by the revelation of the glory of God. Three, The Word of God is the seed of humility, which reveals to us the glory of God and teaches us the terrible truth about ourselves, which we must receive with all meekness. For God alone is worthy of glory. And I pray that we would all receive the implanted Word with meekness. It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Romans 1 16. and abandon the vanity of self-esteem, and let it be replaced with Christ-esteem, for He alone is worthy of our esteem. Amen. Let the study please be for God's glory and for the salvation and the humbling of us all, because pride is such a problem for all of us, me especially, But thank everyone for your attention. If anyone has any questions at this point or scripture verses, please feel free to bring them forth. Yeah, I was wondering, Jim. Sorry about that. That was my speaker. Let me put it down here. I was wondering, that humility is the beauty of holiness. I know you probably gave us two or three hundred scripture verses, so I don't mean to ask you for another one, but is there, which is good that you gave us two or three hundred scripture verses, but is there a text that specifically says that? Well, probably not a single text that says it exactly that way. I say that. If we don't have humility, then. And we may be righteous, right? We may be good, or we may be all of those things, but what we lack still would be holiness. And the beauty of holiness is the idea that Christ alone is beautiful. And that is humility, I think. Yeah, yeah, I'm not disagreeing with you. I was just, uh, I think it's a really good point, actually, that humility is the beauty of holiness. Um, I'm just trying to think it through if there is an exact scripture that says that. Um, but I, I agree that the principle is, um, is throughout scripture. Um, definitely. Yeah, I mean, if we look at the fruits of the Spirit, and we see that there's categories of the fruits of the Spirit, there's righteousness, there's truth, and those things are what they are, right? Truth is truth, and righteousness is righteousness, but holiness, I'm sorry, but humility is what brings the beauty of it. I don't believe that there is a specific verse, but we worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, and that worship is humility. It requires humility. Does that make sense? 1 Chronicles 16, 29 says that, Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Bring an offering and come before him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And that's not righteousness. That's not truth. It seems to me a humility just by process of elimination is a thing that's left over. And when we see Christ, we see His humility is beautiful. It is beautiful. And amazing. With his, with his, with his, um, Moral excellence, also the beautiful, right? And his transcendence, and the other aspects of God's holiness. I'm trying to think of the three. One over last time was his transcendency, moral excellence, and the third slip of my mind. Well, the image of God in us, we have three aspects. We have a sense of truth. We know truth. We know true from false. We know right from wrong. That's another aspect that we can judge. And we also can judge beauty, whether something is ugly or beautiful. We all have opinions about that. And so those three aspects are unified in holiness. Righteousness and truth are the one thing that we see it but But humility seems to me to be that that sense of beauty But there's not a specific first it says it Right It says that Christ emptied himself I was just thinking of that, that he emptied himself, so he is the real picture of humility. Because he's God, he's King of kings and Lord of lords, and he said, okay, Father, I'll do what needs to be done because you want me to have a bride, so I'll empty myself from this throne and I'll go down there in that sin and misery and show them what humility is, so to speak. Could be the greatest paradox of all paradoxes, but yet what a glorious paradox it is that God would be humble. Why would God be humble? Yeah, it is. That's where eternal generation comes in, or the eternal begottenness of the Son. He is God of God, very God himself. Holy God. And yet he is the son of God and Jesus called God his God. I mean, how amazing is that for the son of God to call his father my God? After his resurrection, even when he appeared to Mary, he said, I ascend to my God and your God. And what an awesome humility is that. He deserves all worship and yet he humbles himself and even submits himself to the Father. And that's our salvation, that humility is the absolutely essential requirement for our salvation. Could we say that there's, and this just comes into my mind, but could we say that the Father is humble in desiring You know, all of his pleasure is satisfied in the Son and giving to the Son and choosing a bride for the Son, which is what brings Christ great joy. And the Holy Spirit, I think we see humility in the sense that the Spirit is submitted to the Father and the Son. and proceeding from the Father and Son. And it seems like there's this humility within the Trinity. There is a form of, I mean, the Father is, I don't know, I was thinking about that, whether the Father is humble. And I guess the one point that you made is about it, right? Like He does glorify the Son in order that the Son may glorify Him. There is a mutual relation and humility. It's a beautiful thing. In the middle of the Trinity, it's staggering. The more you think about it, the more amazing it becomes. How can it be what it is? I would agree with you. It is more difficult. You know, the scripture would rarely, if ever, speak of the father's humility. It would be more difficult to see that. But the excellency of character is found in humility. So we'd have to, I think, at least assume to some degree, although things are hidden to us, we don't fully understand, as you said at the beginning. But we'd have to assume, I think, to some degree or somehow that the father is has that humility that Christ would have. If the Son came forth from the Father, then He has the same character as the Father, and the Son is humble, then the Father must be humble, even though the Scripture doesn't really talk that way. There is some mystery there, so we have to be careful and not extrapolate. The humility of the Son is clearly taught in Scripture and over and over and absolutely clear in Philippians 2. That humility, His humility, is our salvation. And without His humility, we are lost. Just like Satan, there's no redemption for him because there's no way for God's humility to enter into him. Again, that's it. He's lost forever because pride took its place in his heart. Another interesting, in Numbers 12, 3, it says, now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Moses was meeker than any other man on the face of the earth, and yet he acted very boldly at times and did things which to us might not seem meek, like grinding up the golden calf and calling for the slaughter of people. I mean, these are bold and strong actions, right? We tend to think of a person who's meek and humble as like a doormat who lets people walk all over him, but that's not the biblical idea, and that's not Moses for sure, nor Christ. He stood firm on the truth. He stood firm on God and in relation to the Father. and would not waver in any way from it. So that's real humility. It's sticking with God. And real humility is the ability to have our own reputation ruined and not and not try to preserve it. I mean, that's real humility. And when you stand for the truth, your reputation is going to be ruined. And for men, that is difficult. We don't want our reputation ruined, right? Unless we're regenerate and then we say, ruin it. I want Christ. That's the way Christ was. That's the way I want to be. And we see the great privilege of being in identification with him in his humility, in his He was so despised by men. And Moses, how much flack did Moses take for standing for the truth? And daily, I mean, the people would rail against him. They're carrying out the Father's holy will. Moses turned away from the pleasures of Egypt. and went away for a time and then came back and fulfilled the Father's holy will. That's what we're talking about, fulfilling his holy will. Absolutely. Does anybody else have anything to add, maybe? I still want to say one more thing, if I may. Oh yes, sure, sure. There is a danger, I think, and the idea of thinking too lowly of ourselves, such that we would say, oh, I'm so sinful, and I'm so wretched that God wouldn't save me. I've known people like that, that have this idea that they're too evil for God to save, and that they've done too many bad things that God wouldn't save them. And that may have seemed like a false kind of a humility, like, oh, I'm so wretched that God wouldn't even save me. But it's really pride wrapped up and to appear like humility, because really they're saying that pride is so deceptive and it can take multiple forms. And we all pray to it every single time almost because we're so destitute of humility in ourselves. And so I just wanted to add that in case anyone thinks, oh, I'm so sinful, God, wouldn't save me. Yes, he would. Yes, he would. Yeah, in most of those people, and Jim, in my years of dealing with down and outers, like the halfway house, it's very common to run into that type of an attitude. But 99% of them, if you drill down and it doesn't take long, they'll still say, I'm partially good and I'm partially bad. Pride is at the heart of that false humility. It's terribly disturbing that that could be the case, right? People out on the streets that we talk to, like the people that live out on the streets are so proud. And you would think, oh, they're wretched creatures, like they should be humble, but they're so proud of themselves for being able to live out on the streets and be the captain of their own fate. Entitlement is very common amongst people that are in that type of a situation. I've learned that over the years. That's definitely a form of pride. We better wrap it up. Does dad have anything or anybody else? Hello. Hi. Hi. I was looking at humility, and it says that it's the opposite of arrogance and pride and attitude, which rose out of the recognition that all we are and everything we own are gifts from God. Romans 12 and 3 and 1 Peter 5. And then I looked up meekness. And it says, meekness, a kind, gentle, and humble spirit. The meek will find spiritual satisfaction, Psalm 22, 26, and receive God's instructions, Psalm 25 and 9. And it says, Paul cited meekness as one of the fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5, 22, 23. Jesus declared that the meek will inherit the earth, Matthew 5, 5. And I was listening to Jim when he was saying, the fruits of the Spirit. We can't even get to that without being humble, you know. Because everything that we do of God, we have to have that humble spirit. And then that humble spirit goes into a meekness spirit, you know. You know, to be, you know, not to be fried and all those things. You know, we have to, we have to become humble in our walk with the Lord in order to get where we need to get and be what we need to be in God. That was just a little, not a little something, but something I wanted to add there. Yeah, there's such a close connection between love and humility, or compact humility, and from that love is where the fruit of the Spirit is found, and that love and humility are really the base of all the other fruits of the Spirit. Right. Yeah. Amen. Amen. Okay, I know it's getting late. Did you want to pray, Jim? Would you mind? I'll pray, sure. Okay, let's pray. Father in heaven, We thank you, oh God, what a truly, what a marvel it is to us. It's really past our finding out that God, the creator, almighty God of all things would be humble. How strange it seems, and yet how true it is, oh God, that the excellency of character is found in lowliness. And we praise you, oh Lord Jesus, Certainly, your humility is so clearly seen in the Word of God. And we praise you, Lord Jesus. I pray that you would work in us, that your humility, O Lord, would be seen in us, that we would be willing to lose our reputation, that we would be known as those who put others' needs before our own, O Lord. And Lord, help us, God, I know. We struggle with it, Lord, as exalting ourselves. It's so instinctive in us to exalt ourselves above others. Oh, Lord, humble us. Help us to see that we are the lowest and that Christ is all in all. Working in our hearts for your glory, we pray, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Okay, good. Good afternoon. Then we'll talk to you tomorrow. Good afternoon everyone. Come on. Okay.