Well, also play pray for the Joanne rule family. And so many others. I know there's others and I'm probably forgetting some and I apologize for that. But do do remember these and all again want to echo the praise. I remember a few weeks ago we we sat here and and offered prayers for God to send rain. Amen. He hears our prayers, praise God, gives me goosebumps. Thank and praise him for that. And continue to praise him for this. Let's continue to pray for Kathy Spangler. Let's continue to pray for the congregation here at St. Paul's. They are very uncertain of what their future looks like. So please remember them. It's very disheartening to them, as you can imagine it would be. Let's pray for Sam. Sam goes for surgery this week. And so remember him and also the healing thereafter on his knee. Let's pray for Bible school, again, that God would just give us. grace and strength for the weak, but also souls for the labors. Had a blessed privilege to talk to Cameron Goss this week, and some of you know Cameron, and I was so excited to talk to Cameron, but pray for Cameron, and I look forward, he says he's gonna be joining us here in a couple weeks, so let's pray for Cameron. Also wanna also ask for your prayers, It's amazing when you can't read your own writing. The Lord knows what it is. Anyway, it's necessary that I be humbled. That's what the message is about today. So let's go to the Lord in prayer this morning. Father, we thank you again. for your faithfulness, for your goodness. And God, we just praise you so much for everything that you have done. Father, you are so kind to us. And in your grace and your mercy, Lord, you come and flood our hearts with joy, unspeakable and full of glory. And as we've just sung, praise him, praise him. Father, I pray that our mouths would become tired and our muscles in our face would become overworked with our praise. to you because God, you are so worthy. You're so worthy, God. Father, my heart today is just full of your goodness and thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us. This morning, we just cast our cares as well upon you, Lord. Lord, in anticipation of the grace that you promise, we praise you for the grace that we've received, and we praise you for the grace that we are receiving. We praise you, God, for that which is coming. We know, God, because you're faithful, that we can trust in this truth. So Lord, we ask for your help and strength and encouragement to these families, Lord, that have lost loved ones. Father, would you just surround them with your grace and comfort, but also Lord, as your people, help us to be comforting and encouraging to those around us in need that are hurting and broken. Father, we pray also for those that are in need of a healing touch. And God, we just lift up to you once again, Kathy, and ask God that you would continue, Lord, both body and spirit to strengthen her and help her. We pray, Lord, for Sam as he goes for this surgery this week, that God, you would just give him strength as well. And Father, that you would be with the doctor, Lord, that does the procedure and for his recuperation. God, we pray for your blessing upon him. pray also for bonnie parker as she has come through a surgery this week and ask for your strength in her healing process as well lord we pray for the bible school that's going to be taking place here lord willing we pray god that you would just help each one of us father to to join in to hold the rope for one another god we would together join hands and father that we would work and labor for the master we know god that you're coming we know that christ is coming So Father, I pray that until Christ comes, that we would be found faithful, working, and ready. Lord, I pray that you would just also be with the folks of St. Paul's Church in here and ask God for your help and strength for them. And Lord, that you would just lead, guide, and direct in all these things. Father, we know that you're able to do this. Father, we pray also for families, marriages, Lord, our homes, and we ask God for your strength. We ask God for fidelity. We ask God for faithfulness. We ask God for sanctification. that, Lord, you would conform us more and more to your image. God, that we would just give you thanks and praise for all that you've done, for what you're doing, and for what you're going to do. We give you praise in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. If you have your Bibles, would you turn with me at this time to 1 Peter and chapter number 5. 1 Peter and chapter number 5. Ceiling fans are certainly nice because the pressure is downward. This is going to be a problem, but I'll tell you what, the air feels really good. First Peter in chapter number five this morning. And we're going to be picking up somewhat of an overlap in the text this week from last week. And I'll just say this on the front end that that chapter and verse divisions are very helpful. but I don't think that all of them were placed accurately. And in first Peter chapter number five, we have one of those examples of where if it were up to me, there would be a verse added in chapter number five, and it would come in verse number five, where there's a period after likewise, you are younger be subject to the elders period, then it should be verse six, but it's not. And, uh, and that doesn't change the meaning or the way that we understand it, but it would certainly make it a little simpler for, for preparation's sake when it comes to expositing the word. But nevertheless, if you found 1 Peter chapter number five, would you stand with me this morning in honor of reading God's word? For the sake of context, we're gonna be reading verses one through 11. First Peter chapter number five, beginning to read in verse number 11, or verse number one, the word of God says, so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." Here's our text for today. Likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. King James is hard to shake sometimes. Resist him firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world And after you have suffered a little while the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ is will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would add your blessing to your word. And we pray, dear God, that you would help us, Lord, to rightly divide the word, and that God, as we study your word, we understand that it studies us. And Father, I pray that we would be found today humbled by your word, that we would be found today faithful to your word, and that by your spirit, God, you would help us to obey it. God, I pray that as your servant today, that once again, you would empty me of self, Lord, fill me with your spirit, And God, help me to be a blessing to these, your people. God, we are in so need of your instruction. And Father, I pray that you would just once again, through your word, give us faithful instruction. And Lord, we praise and thank you for it all. In Jesus' name, amen. And amen. Thank you for standing. You may be seated. It's amazing how you can be reading a translation of the Bible and seeing the words there, and you're actually reading it in another translation. And that's exactly what I was doing. This text I have been so familiar with all my life, well, not all my life, but a majority of my life. And I've studied it mostly in the King James, and now as I study and read it in the ESV, it's hard sometimes to not read ahead, going before my own eyes. Anyway. As we come to this portion, verses 5 through 7 again, these are portions of scripture that many times are preached disjointed from the context in which they find themselves in. And here's the good news about that, that the principles that we would find in verses 5 through 7 are general statements of truth that apply to all people at all times in the body of Christ. But in order for us to understand what Peter was trying to accomplish in the broader scope, we cannot lose the context of these verses. It helps us to understand better what Peter was trying to get across. So my introduction this morning is going to help us to tie together the context of verses five through seven here in Peter's letter. in chapter number five. As we have now reached the final chapter of Peter's letter, we receive by the Holy Spirit's voice instructions concerning life within the household of God. Attitudes and actions go hand in hand. Our daily activities are a demonstration of what we truly believe, and more precisely, what we believe about God and our relationship with the body of Christ. To those whom Peter was writing, they were experiencing the promised sufferings of those who live godly lives in Christ Jesus. And they were doing so in a world that was growing increasingly hostile toward the truth. Well, we can find a lot of connection to that, amen? The encouragement for the faithful believers in chapter 4 and verse 19 is this, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good. We hear people and specifically preachers in most cases make the statement, God has a wonderful plan for your life. While I do not disagree with that statement, I wonder if their expectation and description of a wonderful plan includes suffering according to God's will while doing good. It's one thing to suffer for doing evil, but the promise of suffering for doing good? Who signs up for that? How does it even happen? The reality is that 21st century Christianity looks so much like the lost world that this kind of suffering is scarcely known. Compromise is the soup du jour. That's soup of the day. At the root of compromise is a diseased soil bed of biblical ignorance and doctrinal perversion. And who's to blame? Peter declares. Chapter 4, it's time for judgment to begin at the household of God. And immediately following this declaration, he says, so that I exhort the elders among you, shepherd the flock, exercise oversight, The integrity of the elders' leadership lies as a critical, foundational, and essential mark of a healthy church. Failure at this point will always lead to theological liberalism and congregational confusion. In other words, doctrine will become unbiblical and direction will be indescribable. Congregationalism versus an elder-led congregation is a seabed for disaster. When everyone is in charge, no one is in charge. Does that not make sense? It does. And so then, after Peter puts the Spirit's rod of instruction upon the backs of the elders, he zooms in, or I'm sorry, he zooms out, rather, and calls everyone, including the elders, to a position of humility. So as we've stated before, this is a message about humility. The title is Be Humble or Be Humbled. And I think we all can say that we have been humbled in many times and in many ways. There's an assumption that I make in the first point here, the sin of pride. Because the opposite of humility is pride. To not be humble is to be filled with pride. And we're jumping in here in verse 5 in the second part, where Peter says, "...clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility one toward another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Peter uses a word here in verse number five that is nowhere else found in the entire canon of scripture. The word that is translated clothe and the phrase specific clothe yourselves. It is it closely resembles another word, and I'm going to spare you from the pronunciations of these words because I know I won't do them right and they really won't mean anything to you otherwise. But but the word that is translated clothe has a has a Another variation of it, which is translated as an outer garment with strings that was worn by slaves. And this specific garment, that this other word that looks exactly like to clothe yourself, which is describing the garment of a slave, it was the means by which slaves were distinguished between a free person and a slave. And I find that extremely interesting because Peter uses that word, no doubt, by the Spirit's inspiration for a very specific purpose. In other words, right from the very beginning, as he calls us to clothe ourselves with humility, he's assuming that we take this place of being what? being a servant, a slave, a slave for the sake of Christ. Peter's instruction here is to clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. And it has little to do or nothing to do with a piece of clothing that you put on, but rather it's referring metaphorically to an attitude of our heart and of our minds. Humility in the Greek, specifically it means, literally or rather, it means lowliness of mind, the esteeming of ourselves small, and having the correct estimate of ourselves. I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating that we seem to hear from the culture at large that people struggle with a low self-esteem. And the truth of the matter is, it's that is actually not the problem. It's because they esteem themselves too highly that they're struggling. And the reason they're struggling with what has clinically been labeled low self-esteem is actually pride in their hearts because they want everybody else to draw their attention to them. You don't have to say amen. It's true. It's true. But amen, Israel. Now the most helpful way for me to understand humility and for us to understand it is to look at the opposite of humility, which is the pride, or I'm sorry, the sin of pride. The word pride, as found in verse five here, it shows itself in various ways. And these are some of the ways that pride demonstrates itself. And it's also important, I think, to point out the word pride, if you take its parts, literally speaking, in the Greek, it means to over shine. Isn't that interesting? To over shine. But again, it shows itself in these various ways. Sometimes it's in boasting that we would say, well, I can do. X, Y, Z, right? I can, I can do this. It can show itself in vainglory, that is to say, look what I've done, right? Vainglory says, look what I've done. Haughtiness, where we have a critical spirit towards another when we say things like, well, they're just, insert the adjective you'd like to describe another. Or it could also be found in considering yourself better in knowledge or action than someone else. And that would express itself in things like, do you have any idea what I know about that? That's pride. Or simply a lack of respect for someone else. Man. How many times do we hear that person is worthless? I remember years ago, I was talking to a man and someone else nearby was brought up, and this was the exact remark that I heard come from this man's mouth. He's a no account. That's exactly what he called him. And I'm like, oh, OK. Do you know what that is? That's pride. To look at another with that kind of disdain, Pride demonstrates itself in demanding one's own way. In other words, we say, this is how it's going to be done, right? It's all rooted in the sin of pride. And ultimately, this sin of pride is especially grievous to God because of the very nature of the sin. Ultimately, pride exalts oneself to where only God himself belongs. Right? God is the one who's seated on the throne. Not us. Amen? None of us. You know what we are? Elementally speaking, we're dirt. We're dirt. Out of the dirt, out of the dust of the ground, God made man. And he breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. We're dirt. God is the only one that deserves this exalted position. And we can say that with certainty because ultimately it was both pride in Satan and man which led to the fall of mankind into sin and misery. Specifically, Satan, filled with pride, wanted to be God. And then Adam and Eve's sin was pried in three ways. One, they questioned the authority of God's word. And two, they desired to be elevated themselves to the level of God. And thirdly, they were seeking satisfaction in something other than what God had supplied so graciously and completely in himself. and in creation. And so their pride was the root of their sin in not trusting God fully. Because this is true, now the seed of that same sin that was in our first parents, our federal representative Adam, the seed of pride is found in every single human heart. The seed of pride is in you and I because of the sin of Adam and Eve. Amen. without a doubt. Now, Peter focuses specifically here on two spheres of pride. He does so, and I find it helpful, I hope it helps you, I find it helpful to think about these things under the description of horizontally and vertically, okay? Horizontally, we're talking about interpersonal relationships, and vertically, we're talking about relationship between God and man. And Peter touches on two in verse five of our horizontal relationships, right? All verses one through four, we looked at last week and explained the duties of an elder, the characteristics of that elder, and the function, all those things, the way that an elder is to handle themselves and to lead the flock of God. And then verse five, he says, likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. So in verse 5, we see the horizontal humility between leadership and congregation, right? And then secondly, in verse 5, we see this general statement of humility one toward another. So horizontally speaking, we cannot be prideful between between pastor, elder, and parishioner, and we can also not be pride-filled between congregants, that is, brothers and sisters in Christ, all of us together. And then vertically speaking, he touches on this in verse six. He says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you. So he hits both the horizontal and the vertical aspects of the problem of pride. And now we're going to use Peter because as I was thinking about the ways that we could explain this and exposit this through the scriptures, Peter himself is a is a great illustration in his life as to that we can see this sin in particular in action. If you'd like to turn there, go to John Chapter 13, the Gospel of John and Chapter 13. And this this should be familiar to us. This is the the scene of the upper room. Right? So this is nearly the last point in Jesus' earthly life and ministry. And John's gospel spends the first 11 chapters running through about 30 years in general, three years in particular of the life of Christ. And when we get to chapter number 12, he puts the brakes on and we slow way down. And we look at a detailed interaction between Christ and his disciples. And in John chapter 13, we have this beautiful scene of the Lord's Supper. Now, I can assure you that it looked nothing like that, okay? But anyway, let's not get sidetracked. I just had to say that. What did it look like? Chapter 13 of John, verse one. Now, before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it in the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water in a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Then he came to Simon Peter. Here's Simon's response. He said to Jesus, Lord, do you wash my feet? Right? It was a question that was given as a statement, right? Lord, You're going to wash my feet? Right? Why would he say that? Because he thought he was above this. You're going to wash my feet? No. You're not washing my feet. Notice the exchange. Verse 10. Or I'm sorry, verse 9. Or verse 8, sorry. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Really? Jesus answered him, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. And Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. He completely missed it. He didn't understand what Jesus was doing. Jesus says to him, the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you. Now, can I put it in these terms that the moment that we took in this worship service before God to confess our sins before God was a moment of us going to Christ and asking him to wash our feet, amen? We're already clean because of the blood of Christ, which cleanses us and makes us whole. But daily we are living our lives in the world and we're walking through the dirt of the world. And as we participate in this world, not being of the world, we see things. We think things, we hear and say things, and we do things that make us soiled, so to speak. And we need to humbly go before Christ and seek his cleansing, right? This is the principle that Jesus was teaching the disciples. And Peter, in his rejecting this, not understanding it fully on this side of it, but truly understanding it later, He's exercising and demonstrating the pride that was in His heart, but not only there not only there in Luke's gospel and chapter 22 verses 31 through 35 we find another account and this is not all that long after John chapter 13 in John or in Luke's gospel chapter 22 verses 31 through 35 Listen to this. It says Simon Simon behold Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. Pause for a minute. Jesus speaking this, I want us to not miss this. Does Jesus have the authority and power to not allow Satan to do something? Absolutely. But does he permit him at times? to do things to even his own children. He does. And this is a perfect example. Satan wants to sift you like wheat, Peter. What does Jesus say though? But I have prayed for you, praise God for the prayers of Christ, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, or now listen, it's not the same word, but it's the same principle. When you have humbled yourself, right? When you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Peter, you need to be humbled and when you are, use your humility to turn around and help someone else, right? That's exactly what Jesus is telling him. He says, verse 33, Peter said to him, Lord, here he comes again, Lord, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. pride. Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me. Can I just put it this way? Peter understood well what it meant to struggle with pride, but he also understood well what it meant to be humbled by the gracious hand of a loving God. So let's move from there, sorry. I could just keep going on that, but for sake of time and for sake of not kicking a dead horse, let's move on. Notice next, the severity of God towards pride. The severity of God towards pride. Now, let me just again remind us here that this letter is to who? It's to the church, amen? It's to the believers, it's to the body of Christ that Peter is writing this letter and he says here in verse number five that we should have humility toward one another for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Now surely, surely he doesn't mean that God is against his children. Does he? That's the question we need to ask. And listen, I don't think that we can overstate the serious nature of God's position in dealing with this sin. The word opposes, it's a compound word, antitaso, and its literal arrangement and meaning, anti is against and taso is to arrange. So suffice it to say that it literally means that God arranges against those who are what? Proud. And so we can rightly deduce from this that that is to say that God arranges sovereignly, providentially against the sin of proud, even inside of the life of his own children. And I think that we would miss the point entirely if we fail to apply this to our spheres defined previously. God opposes the proud horizontally, and he also opposes the proud vertically. It's not to say that he only opposes our pride when it's toward him. He also opposes our pride when it comes unilaterally. That is between, or not unilaterally, but laterally between one another. And so the question that I would impose knowing this is, who wants to have God arranged against them? Not I, amen, not I. Peter says this under the inspiration and the authority of God, but also as one who experienced firsthand what this was like. Peter's emphasis here, this point with the use of the phrase, to add the emphasis rather, under the mighty hand of God, which draws our attention to so many Old Testament examples of God's mighty hands. in exodus chapter 9 and verse 3 we're in the midst of of of moses being sent to go and to deliver the children of israel out of the land of egypt and over and over again there's a hardening within the heart of pharaoh there's a hardening by god in the heart of pharaoh and moses says behold he's speaking to pharaoh here he says behold the hand of the lord will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. And it did. It did. Psalm 32, this is David concerning his sin with Bathsheba. And he says, for day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by heat of the summer. David understood well that the hand of God, the mighty hand of God, in a humbling fashion upon his life. One of the most amazing places, or I shouldn't say amazing, but one of the places that I particularly enjoy seeing the story that's taking place, but also we find this example very vividly is in 1 Samuel. in chapter number five. You can turn there if you'd like. First Samuel in chapter number five. And what we find here is that the Philistines had captured the Ark of God. They had captured the Ark of the Covenant. And they're not God's people. And they take the Ark of the Covenant into their camp. And as the Ark of God enters into the camp of the enemy, so to speak, listen to what happens. When the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had felled face down onto the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. Here you go, little fella, stand back up. What's the matter with you, right? Verse four, but when they arose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. Verse five, this is why the priests of Dagon and all who entered the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashdod to this day. Now that's just silly, that's just silly. But anyway, verse six, the hand of the Lord was what? Heavy against the people of Ashdod. And he terrified and inflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. Sorry, we're going to read this whole chapter. It's so good. Verse seven. And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, things were, they said, the Ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us. Why? For his hand is hard against us and against Dagon, our God. Now, isn't it amazing when even lost people recognize that the hand of God is heavy on them. Verse eight. So they said and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, What shall we do with the ark of of God of Israel? They answered, Let the ark of God of Israel be brought around to geth. So they brought the ark of God of Israel there. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a great, a very great panic. And he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. So what did they do next? They send the ark to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, they have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people. They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its own place that it may not kill us and our people. For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. Why? The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven. Listen, all that to say this, God takes the sin of pride very seriously. He not only to his enemies, but also to his own people. We can go to Acts chapter five and we read about Ananias and Sapphira who come before Peter, they come before the apostles and they lie to the Holy Spirit about selling a piece of ground and what happens? instantly, both of them separately die before God. And can I tell you that yes, their sin ultimately was lying to the Holy Spirit, but the reason that they did so was because they had pride in their heart, thinking that they could actually get away with it, right? But here's the good news. The good news is their sympathy of God toward the humble. Isn't it amazing even among God's enemies? We go back to 1 Samuel in chapter number five and we continue to read about the Philistines. God, or he stayed his hand against them with fooling with the ark of God. He was merciful to them, right? Because why? They humbled themselves under the mighty hand of God and God stopped what he was doing when they did so. and their sympathy of God towards the humble in that God gives grace to the humble, and he does so at the proper time that he may exalt you. God's gift of grace to the humble is simply to say that there is favor from God to those who would humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. This is not an exhaustive list, but there is sustaining grace. in the moments of our lives when we would be tending to prone to pride, the sin of pride, we would say in our heart that, I'm not sure how I can make it. I'm not sure how I can do this. And we need to be reminded that God's grace is sufficient, amen? There's enabling grace that when we face a situation in our hearts and our lives that is prone to build up inside of us pride, and we say to ourselves, I'm not sure that I can do this, right? with God all things are possible. And then there's also exalting grace that at the proper time, who gets to decide the proper time? That's right, God does, why? Because he knows. Right? This is sovereignty 101. This is omnipotence 101. God is in control. And at the proper time, he will exalt you. He will literally, it means to raise you up, to lift you up. Now let's tie some things together here. We looked at the upper room. We looked at Peter and his promise of being sifted like wheat, that he was gonna be shaken up. And this is what my mind thought of. for all of us, for all of us. Before exaltation comes humiliation, right? Before there's a title, and listen, we have been given a new name, amen? God has given us a new name. As his children, we receive a new name. And there is a title to be obtained in this glorious place we think of as heaven, but before that, there's a towel. Right? Before the title comes a towel. Before the crown comes a cross. If any man would come after me, let him take up his own cross. Amen? Before the title, there's a towel. Before the crown, there is a cross. Before honor, there has to be humility. first beatitude on the Sermon of the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And we find in the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee and Luke Chapter 18, verses 19 to 14, Jesus tells this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. Right? Can you smell the pride in the Pharisee's heart? But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. There's sympathy of God toward the humble. So what's the solution to our pride? Because listen, all of us, All of us, to some degree or another, in one way or another, are guilty of this sin. Amen. I hope you know that, or I need to start over. Solution of pride, clothe yourselves with humility. Humble yourselves, casting all your cares on him because he cares for you. Humility is willful submission. In other words, God will use means to bring about your humbling, but ultimately it comes as an act of our will that we humble ourselves. Amen? We have to do that. Humility must be put on. It's an attitude which is inward, not something that is external. So the command is to humble yourselves and all the phrase, Although the phrase casting comes after and would appear to be a second commandment, this is important, it's actually not. The imperative in this statement is humble yourselves. And so following this is casting all your cares on him. It's actually directly connected to humbling yourselves. And I hate to get all technical on you, but It's because of the tense of this word in the Greek. It is the aortas participle and this to cast. It literally means to throw upon is used here in a sense of relational trust. So when we put it together, we understand this, that we throw our burdens, throw our anxiety upon God, the one to whom we must submit our lives to. And the only way or the only time in which we actually cast ourselves upon God is when we first humbled ourselves. Amen? There is no prayer in a pride-filled heart. The pride-filled heart says, I'm going to do it my way. I'm going to fix this problem because I have the ability to do so. It's pride. It's pride. And the most humbling thing we can do is cast our anxieties on Him. And we can do so because at the heart of the matter, at the heart of the matter is the heart of God. I love this. Why can we do this with certainty? Why can we cast our anxieties, our burdens on Him as we're humbling ourselves? It's because He cares about us. Because He cares for you. He cares for you. He cares for me. He cares for all of His children. And we hear this, we hear this in Psalm 55 in verse 22. It says, cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. Casting though, listen, this is important. Casting is unidirectional, right? There's times where I think we think we've casted our burdens on the Lord And we've not. It's more like we're fishing. When I think of cast, I think of throwing a line out, right? And attached to that pole is a reel with a handle. And this is exactly what many of us do, is we throw it out, and then we click it. And that click means we have intentions of pulling it back in. Right? How many of us, let's be honest, Let's be honest, how many of us truly cast our cares, our burdens on the Lord? And like the old songwriter says, cast your burdens to the Lord and leave it there. If you trust and never doubt, he will surely bring you out. Take your burdens to the Lord and leave it there. And we can because He cares for you. He cares for us. The reason that humility makes so much sense is because God is so good. He's so kind. He's so merciful. He's so loving. And there's times where He ought to just take us and like a bug, squash us. But He doesn't because He loves us. and He cares for us, and He sustains us by His grace. So then, the solution to pride is trust. It's trust in the sovereign, omnipotent hand of God. If we are to clothe ourselves with humility and experience the grace of God's exaltation, we must be trusting fully in who God is. what he has done and what he promises he will do. You know, the most sobering reminder that we can find to humble us is to look at the cross of Christ. And when we look at the cross and we remember that it was because of my sin that put him there, that he who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. The most humbling reality of our lives is the blood and the cross, and praise God for the empty tomb, that he has already, once for all, made sacrifice for our pride. Amen? May it humble ourselves. Listen, maybe you're here today and you've never trusted in Christ. You've never humbled yourself in that fashion to agree with God that you are a sinner deserving of His wrath. Can I tell you that there is grace to be found. There is a forgiveness and pardon and sympathy in Christ for you if you will simply come to Him. If you will turn yourself, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your heart, but run to Jesus and lay hold of the grace of God that is for all who will call upon his name. He will receive you as one of his own because his son was humbled. so that you could be exalted. Praise, praise, praise be to God. Let's pray. Father we thank you once again for your word and oh Lord you've dealt with me all week on this text and you continue to do so even to this very moment and I praise you for it And Lord, I pray that as we come to the close of this service, that Father, you would just continue by your spirit to penetrate our hearts. And Father, help us to feel the weight of the word of God upon our lives in such a way, God, that we would cry out to you right here, right now. God, help us to be humble. Father, help us to love you. Help us, Lord, to experience the grace that comes as we humble ourselves between and with one another. And above you, Lord, as you are there seated and with us presently, you have a mighty hand. And I'm thankful that the mighty hand is a controlled hand. You'll not break the bruised reed. You'll not quench the smoking flax, but God, in your kindness, You give us grace, and Father, you care for us in such a wonderful way. And we know this because of Christ. We know this because there is an empty tomb. The sacrifice has been accepted. The joy of our salvation is accomplished in all that Christ has done. And Father, for this, we give you thanks and praise. Lord, help us as a people, as a church, as a body, as friends and family. Lord, help us to love one another in a humble way. And God, may you be glorified in everything that we say and everything we do. Lord, we love you. Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your long-suffering kindness. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for Christ Jesus, our Lord. And it's in his name we pray, amen. Thank you, Pastor, for the message this morning. If you take a hymnal and please stand and turn to page 254. I have no other argument. I have no other plea. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. It's our prayer that you know him today. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your savior this morning. You don't have to come to this altar up front, but I do ask if you have any questions, please do not leave without talking to someone. Of the church in the church 254 no other plea. My faith has found a resting place, not in device or decree. I trust the Ever-Living One, His roots for me He shall be. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves. This is my fear endowed. A sinful soul, I come to Him. He'll never cast me out. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is in her that Jesus died and that He died for me. My heart is beating on the Word, the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name, salvation through His blood. I need no other argument, I need no other peace. Did is he know that Jesus died and that he died for me? My great physician heals the sick, the lost he came to save. For me his precious blood he shed, for me his life he gave. I need no other argument. it is I leave you this morning with the words from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. The very God of peace sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. God bless you. You are dismissed.