Clothe Yourselves With Humility: Part 1

Redeeming Grace Church

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So we return to 1st Peter and the message today I'd like to speak to you about is clothe yourselves with humility.

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This will be a first part of probably a three -part series. So turn with me please to 1st

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Peter chapter 5. 1st Peter chapter 5.

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Clothe yourselves with humility. Clothe yourselves with humility. And we're looking at verse 5 through 7.

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Like I said, we're not going to get this all in one service, but we're going to break it up.

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Beginning with verse 5. Hear the word of the Living God. You younger men likewise be subject to your elders and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.

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For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time.

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Casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. And we'll stop right there.

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May God richly bless the reading of his word from our ears to our heart that we may understand and perceive.

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What he has to speak to us today. Let's bow in prayer and ask our Lord to help us within this hour of worship.

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Our Father and our God, we do thank you for thy word. As you have said, thy word is truth.

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Thy word is truth. And we thank you for it. It comes to us. It comes to us on a sea of blood.

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It's in our language. Lord help us, O God. Not to take it for granted, but Lord to tremble before it.

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Sanctify us, O Lord. Cleanse us through thy word and change us,

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O God. And we pray that this is done by your blessed

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Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Holiness. And our prayer is that we may see

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Jesus. That we may see Jesus for thy glory. And we ask it in Jesus name.

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Amen. As I was reading R .C. Sproul's commentary on 1st and 2nd

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Peter, I thought this was very good. What he says about this particular section as we're about to study and to embark on it.

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By the way, we will only scratch the surface today. This will be an introduction. As I was reading this and studying it about pride and humility, pride and humility, you can run this through Genesis, the

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Revelation, the bookends when sin entered into the world. It's only just two chapters,

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I believe, in Genesis and two chapters at the last in Revelation that you don't see sin before sin coming to the world.

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But since sin is coming to this world, it's pride. Pride is the root of all sins.

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So this is a very critical message. And as I was studying this, I was asking the Lord, help me to take this more serious than ever in my entire life.

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And I was praying, God, you know what I mean. We know these things in our minds, but it really needs to penetrate in our hearts and our lives and the way we live and the way we live at home and the way we carry on at work and the way we talk and the way we our attitudes, our conducts.

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And this is so convicting. And I just, the more I studied it, the more I just kept going to scripture after scripture.

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I said, help me, Lord, to break this up, find this all over the Bible. But it's tremendous.

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But I like what R .C. Sproul said about this, and you know, his wisdom and his love and his compassion for the

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Lord Jesus and his passion for holiness. And he said this, quote,

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I find it fascinating throughout the New Testament, the use of garments portrays our redemptions.

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Most importantly, of course, is that cloak with which we are clothed by the righteousness of Jesus.

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We are told in scripture that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, Isaiah 64, 6.

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And if we stood before God on the basis of our righteousness, we would be as those who were naked and ashamed.

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And he goes on to say the very first act, I love this, the very first act of God's grace and redemption was to Adam and Eve.

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When guilty of the first sin, they fled from the presence of God and hid themselves because they were naked and ashamed.

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But instead of consigning Adam and Eve to perpetual shame and embarrassment, God, in his mercy, condescended to make clothes for them and hid their nakedness and covered their shame.

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In a sense, that first act of redemption foreshadowed the supreme act by which we would be clothed.

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Isn't that wonderful? Not with the skins of animals, but with the righteousness of Christ himself, end quote.

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There you have the gospel, beloved. The imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, his righteousness imputed to us by faith alone in what

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Jesus did and what he did living and dying. His act of obedience, his passive obedience.

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A lot of what we have to say about humility falls right in line with this because that's the theology of the Bible. And it is here in our text in 1

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Peter 5 that the apostle Peter admonishes his readers, the persecuted saints, as we looked in Asian Minor, throughout his five chapters, pastors, as we have come to now, he addresses the pastors, the leaders, and not only to wear the garment of righteousness of Christ, but also to be clothed in humility.

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Now, beloved, this is something that's basic Christianity 101, but don't you see the same thing

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I see today? It is so much missing among us, even among Christians. It's sad, but it's convicting to my own heart as well because I see so much pride in my own life.

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Clothe yourselves with humility. Clothe yourselves with humility. Well, in this particular section, all the way to verse 11, as you see, the apostle gives exhortations to humility, and that's what we're going to be looking at, to trust, vigilance, and constancy.

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You see this. It's basic fundamentals, attitudes to Christian living.

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It's basic Christianity 101. I like what Washer says. It's not radical

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Christian living. This is basic Christian living. It's basic. And the attitude to Christian living also goes into the way we think.

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The way we think. Brother Keith already brought this out, but in Colossians 3, set your mind on things above.

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Your mind. We should be heavenly minded. So this section actually gives us the conclusion of everything

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Peter has taught us by the Holy Spirit, God breathing through him. And this chapter is basically the application of everything that he has said up to this point.

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So we will be taking this in the series, breaking it into different parts. So let's look at it.

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Clothe yourselves with humility. Clothe yourselves with humility. It's a virtue that seems almost extinct. But yet the word of God commands us.

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Commands us. It's imperative to put this virtue on like a garment to serve one another.

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J .C. Rowell said that humility is the crowning virtue of the

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Christian life. I like that. There's a lot of virtues in the Christian life, but humility is the crowning virtue.

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May God help us by his Holy Spirit, not only to understand this great truth to the fullness, but practice it among each other.

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Now, I've broken down this section into three small, simple points, and it's very simple. And like I said, we're going to break ground today.

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But the first point is found in verse 5a, submission. We will look at submission.

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The second point, verse 5b to 6, verse 6, humility or humility.

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And that's where we're going to spend most of our time. And then the third, verse 7, is trust.

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Submission, humility, trust. Three great words.

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Actually, those three words can constitute the whole entire doctrine of salvation. If you look at it, in Christ that we submit to the authority of Jesus Christ, we humble ourselves before Christ, and we trust in Christ.

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There you have salvation all together. And not only salvation, you have sanctification.

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This is something we do throughout the Christian life. And that's work, isn't it? That God is in work.

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He's at work in us. So it is all in and through Jesus Christ and by his blessed

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Holy Spirit that helps us to walk the way we need to and that is which is pleasing to the

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Lord. So let us begin with the first point. That is submission. Submission. Look at verse 5a.

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It says, you younger men, likewise be subject to your elders. You younger men, likewise be subject to your elders.

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Be subject to your elders. The word likewise is an important word.

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It's used as a transitional word here in the NASB, but it can render in your translation, and you may have it, the

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ESV, I believe, has it in the same way. In chapter 3, verse 1, notice with me, if you go back a little bit there, we've already covered this ground, but notice what he said.

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Peter says, in the same way, or likewise, you wives, be subject to your own husbands.

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Now, he's speaking about submission there, and you see this as the theme throughout 1

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Peter is to be subject. And then again, if you notice in chapter 3, verse 7, he says, you husbands, in the same way, or likewise, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way.

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So in all three usages here in the word of God, it marks a change of focus.

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It marks a change of focus from one group to another group. That's the point of that word, likewise, in the same way.

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So in chapter 5, verse 1 through 4, Peter addresses the church leaders, as we've been looking at, the elders, the pastors, the leaders of the church, and now he has turned that focus to the congregation.

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There's an order. God always has a perfect order in everything, and why he says it, because of the authority that is given.

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And that's why he addresses the leaders, those who are most responsible, but now he's turning it to the congregation.

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And as shepherds submit to the chief shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, so the flock is to submit to their shepherds.

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And isn't this foundational? Isn't this a foundational attitude of every believer?

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Yes, it should be, because there is submission, submission, and we see this as a familiar thing throughout this epistle, submission.

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So no doubt the foundational truth of Christ's own church is that we see this in the life of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church, is the submission. Jesus Christ, when he came to this earth, even though he was

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God, we'll look at this more later on from chapter two of Philippians, but Jesus Christ submitted himself to the

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Father's will while he was here on this earth. So you see perfect submission in him.

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No one can even dare touch his submission because his submission was absolutely perfect.

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We fail in our submission so many times to the Lord, don't we? But we strive to be submissive to his authority, and when we are not submissive to his authority,

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I assure you there's a chastening rod that will come and the Lord lovingly corrects us.

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But Jesus submitted to the Father's will perfectly. We see this in the lives of the apostles, the apostles submitted to Christ's commands, to his authority.

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You see the authority coming down, the rank. Then we see this in the lives of the elders of the church.

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You see this throughout the book of Acts, and then we see it in the lives of the saints within the body of Christ.

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And although no one is exempt here from Peter's exhortation, that everyone is to be submissive to their elders.

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Now, Peter targets specifically the younger men. I find this interesting because it's right here people start to ask the question, why would he do that?

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Why does he target younger men first? Well, it's interesting that the text doesn't really say or give us any answers to that, does it?

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But I think it's the obvious. It doesn't need to be addressed in the scriptures because it's very obvious that young men tend to be the most aggressive and the most headstrong among the elderly and the more experienced and the women.

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MacArthur says this in his commentary, quote, the church members, especially the young people, are to give honor, deference and respect to spiritual leadership.

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Submission is a fundamental attitude of spiritual maturity. Lack of submission to the elders not only makes the ministry difficult, but also forfeits

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God's grace, end quote. Now, let me add to that and thinking of along that line, a thought to that comment that MacArthur gives.

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It's a matter of submission that would not likely have been as much an issue for the women or the older, as I said, in the church because they were more experienced and more spiritually mature.

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It's usually the younger men that become very arrogant and are headstrong, like it said in that.

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But in calling the young to be subject to those over them in the Lord, Peter again uses the same

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Greek word. It's a military term that the word subject means to line up under.

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I love that because there is an authority that we line up under of that authority.

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But not only to the younger, but it's for all. Yes, the younger is called, first of all, to to do this, and there's a reason he calls everyone in the church to put aside self -promotion.

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Don't we see that everywhere? How to promote ourselves? We see this too often.

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It's our pride and our willingness and our respectfully place.

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And then we are to submit under the leadership of the shepherds of the church willingly, lovingly.

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So first there's submission, submission. That's all I want to say right there is much more that can be said on the subject of submission because it speaks of lining up under that authority.

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But you will see that humility, our second point, goes hand in glove with submission.

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Now, this is beautiful. Humility, now look at verse 5B, verse 6.

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And all of you, just not the younger. Now he turns the focus all of you.

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Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud that gives grace to the humble.

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Therefore, humble yourselves under, get that, there it is, under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time.

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Here we see that submission is inseparable.

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It's inseparably linked to the attitude of true humility.

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That's something we do not need to forget. Submission to God and true humility is always linked together.

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It's kind of like true repentance and faith. They're linked together, they're twins.

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Well, here you have another twin, a twin truth, because always the truly humble and only the humble will be truly submissive.

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And only the humble truly submit. Both of Peter's commands apply to all believers.

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Clothe yourselves with humility. Clothe yourselves with humility. Now, the word clothes, that is a wonderful word.

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In the Greek language, it literally means to tie something on oneself. It means to tie it on yourself, put it on.

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And the suggestion here is such as a work apron that was worn by slaves and servants to serve.

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We are to put on this apron like humility, and that's the way we are to do so.

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Here in this text, it describes figuratively covering oneself with an attitude of humility.

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It's an attitude, isn't it? And we must not forget this. An attitude of as one submits to authority over him.

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Now, as I was thinking about this and meditating on this, one of the greatest examples that is found in the scriptures in the word of God came to me.

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And I could not help but think, go with me, please, to Matthew's gospel, chapter eight,

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Matthew's gospel, chapter eight. And here we have a wonderful story that's given to us by a centurion, a

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Gentile. He comes to the Lord, imploring him, Matthew, chapter eight.

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Wonderful story here. And I want you to see this, how we see submission to authority and humility, how they're linked.

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That's what we're looking at. So we see the centurion's servant is healed. Verse five, let's just kind of break this down verse at a time, and I'd like to comment on some important truths here.

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But verse five says, and when Jesus entered in Capernaum, a centurion came to him, imploring him.

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Now, let me stop right there. If you go back a few chapters, in chapter four, verse 13, we read that Jesus leaves

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Nazareth. He's not accepted there, right? A prophet is not without honor except his own town.

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Now, he's actually cast out. He's rejected by his own family. He's rejected by the people of Nazareth.

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So he goes to Capernaum. And this is a fulfillment of prophecy, actually.

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So as he comes to Capernaum, it says that he settled in Capernaum, he settled there, which is by the sea.

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That is the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee. And this was important because in that particular area, it was a trade town.

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It was a trade route. And this was also the home of Peter and Andrew, the home of James and John, and also the home of Levi, which is

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Matthew. But the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter nine, verse one, says of this non -Jewish town, a

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Gentile town, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, speaking of the

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Sea of Galilee, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the

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Gentiles. And then it goes on and says, and while these people sat in darkness, a great light has come, and that speaks of Jesus Christ.

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It's a fulfillment of that prophecy as Jesus settles in Capernaum. It's a non -Jewish town.

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Now we see a non -Jewish man that comes to Jesus. He's a Gentile. He's a centurion

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Roman soldier. He comes to them and, as you well know, is the

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Roman military officer basically commanded a hundred men that was under him in that military.

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So this man understands authority. He understands military rank. Now, we don't have time to go there, but if you reference

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Luke's gospel, chapter seven, verse three through six, it tells us and it indicates to us that the indicates that the centurion appealed to Jesus through intermediaries, through other people that he employs him.

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Now, this is interesting. Why does he do that? Because of his humility. Here's a

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Gentile that's humble himself before the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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He implores Jesus in his humility. And what does he say?

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The first word that comes out of his mouth is, Lord, here's a Gentile, a non -Jewish man, unclean, and he recognizes the

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Jewish law that it's not right for him, for Jesus to come to his to his place because he sees himself as unclean.

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And he comes in humility, approaching Jesus. And he says, Lord, my servant is lying or the other's translation says thrown down.

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He's paralyzed at home. And it says in the text that he's fearfully tormented, he's fearfully tormented and he needs healing.

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But notice the first thing, like I said, he says, he says, Lord, verse seven, Jesus said to him,

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I will come and heal him. Willingly, our

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Savior and our Lord says, I will come and heal him. Now, let me stop right there.

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I don't know about you. You take you put yourself in the centurion's shoes.

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If Jesus were to say that to me and if I had my son or servant, whoever it may be, a friend, sick and paralyzed and fearfully tormented,

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Jesus says, I will come to your home and heal him. I will say, yes, Lord, thank you. But you know something?

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This, this centurion goes a step further. He goes a step further.

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Notice what this Roman centurion says in verse eight. But the centurion said,

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Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. Now, is that humility?

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Is that submission to authority? Listen, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof because he recognized the

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Jewish ceremonial law that Jesus was pure and clean and he was unclean, that he's defiled.

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That's what he's saying. He's basically saying I'm defiled. I'm unworthy for you to come.

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He says, but just say the word, just say the word and my servant will be healed.

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That is so powerful. In verse nine, then he explains, for I am, for I also am a man under authority with soldiers under me.

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And I say to this one, go and to he goes and to another come and he comes and to my slave do this and he does it.

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Excuse me. He understood authority.

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Excuse me. Beloved, this centurion understood the authority of Jesus Christ, but more, he believed that Jesus Christ was the

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Lord of the universe. That's the point. He understood who

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Jesus was. Now, how did he know that? Isn't it amazing that this is a

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Gentile and he knew who Jesus was? He employs

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Jesus in humility and he had enough faith to know that Jesus could heal merely speaking a word.

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That's powerful. A word. And how does

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Jesus respond to this? Isn't this beautiful? Verse 10, listen to what our

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Lord says. Now, when Jesus heard this, he marveled. This is

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Jesus. Jesus marvels and said to those who were following him, his disciples, and he basically points out a lesson.

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He says the truth here. He says, truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith.

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Very seldom. Jesus said great faith. He says it again to another woman that needed healing, cleansing.

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But here he says it to this centurion, such great faith with anyone in Israel.

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That's amazing. Amazing. Even some of Jesus's very own disciples didn't get it.

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They didn't see it that clearly. But the centurion Roman soldier understood that Jesus had absolute authority to speak the word and it would be good.

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I'm telling you, that's faith, that's great faith, such great faith that it caused the

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Lord Jesus Christ to marvel. Hebrews 11 6, I thought of it and it fits perfectly with this and without faith, it is impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe, listen to this, that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

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Here's a man that was diligently seeking God. He knew who he was. And guess what?

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Jesus marveled. You know what that means? He pleased the Lord. His faith pleased the Lord. This centurion pleased

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Jesus. How would you like? Very seldom this happens because most of the time when especially the

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Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus was always pointing out and rebuking them in love.

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But even the disciples, many times Jesus had to turn around and rebuke them. And here the centurion soldier was rewarded for his great faith.

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And then it says in verse 11, Jesus says, I'll say to you and listen to this warning in this, I say to you that many will come from the east and west and will recline at the table of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

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This is talking about the future of all those that are saved. Then he says, but there's something opposite of that, too.

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But the sons of the kingdom will be cast down into the outer darkness. That's hell under the wrath of God.

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That's what he's speaking of in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, we must get this straight.

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What does it mean by the sons of the kingdom at that of that particular phrase?

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There is speaking of the Jewish Hebrew nation of the physical heirs of the kingdom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, like the

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Pharisees. He says basically he told him that you're going to die in your sins because you do not believe who

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I am. You search the scriptures and they testify of me. He says, but you don't see it like that and you don't know who

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I am. And actually, if you know, of course, we know the story. It was the religious crowd that crucified

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Jesus Christ and put him to death. But he's and Jesus speaks to the

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Gentile centurion, then he turns around and he speaks to him personally and he says,

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Jesus said to him, go, it shall be done for you as you have believed.

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And the scripture says the servant was healed that very moment. Great faith, great faith.

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So we see the centurion Roman soldier, a Gentile who humbled himself under the authority of Jesus Christ, see the connection, how you see submission and humility, go hand in glove.

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Always, it's an attitude, it's an attitude, and should not this attitude be in every Christian, just speak the word, just speak a word because he knew who

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Jesus was and also he knew who he was. He was unworthy and he was unclean.

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Submission and humility, go hand in glove. Now, if we go back to first Peter five, clothe yourselves with humility.

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Our entire being should be covered with the virtue of humility, with an attitude of humility as one who submits to authority over him.

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And under that authority as the Roman centurion soldier, that word humility again in the

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Greek, the word humility means lowliness of mind, lowliness of mind.

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Jesus is lowly in heart, meek and lowly in heart. Meekness is not weakness, lowliness of mind.

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It means self -abasement, to abase oneself. It describes the attitude of one who willingly serves even to the lowest task.

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Now, that reminds us of this incredible passage from Philippians.

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Go with me to Philippians, please. Philippians chapter two. Now, this whole chapter speaks about humility and he begins, the apostle

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Paul speaks of unity through humility. It's one of my favorite passages of Scripture in Philippians.

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But notice what it's, let me begin with verse three. Look at what the word of God says in verse three.

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Do nothing from selfishness. Do nothing from selfishness. That's convicting, isn't it?

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Or empty conceit. The old King James says, vainglory. But with humility of mind, there it is.

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Humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. More important.

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We're to be at the bottom of the rank, the lowly part. And then he says, do not merely look out for your own personal interests.

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There's no sin in that. But he says this, but also for the interests of others. Verse five.

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And notice what he says. Have this attitude. Again, it's an attitude. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.

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In verse seven, but he emptied himself. Now, let me stop right there. Think of that. Now, this takes us to a higher, much higher plane here, and it brings us down to the dirt because it's speaking of the great kenosis, the great kenosis, because it's the doctrine of Christ's self -emptying in his incarnation.

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What is it that he laid aside his heavenly glory? Now, he did not lay aside his deity because he was always deity.

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He did not lay that aside, but he laid aside the heavenly glory in which belonged to him and heaven's glory on his throne with his father.

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But his glory in heaven he had with the father throughout all eternity past. He put that aside.

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He laid it aside. And his personal, his intimate relationship that he had face to face, face with the father and his continuous personal enjoyment in that glory that he shared with the father, he laid it all aside.

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He laid aside his independent authority with his father and along with his father.

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And he put that aside in the incarnation as Jesus submitted himself to the will of the father.

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And he also set aside his voluntarily display of all the divine attributes that he had. This is glorious.

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Talking about humility. Listen to that. And then

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Jesus, when he was made flesh and he came to this earth as the son of man, he submitted himself not only to the will of the father, but also submitted himself to the spirit's direction as a man full of the

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Holy Spirit. So he set aside all that and he also set aside the eternal riches that he had with the father.

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All those eternal riches in glory. And then he came to earth and he was poor and he owned very little.

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The scripture says the birds have nests and the foxes have holes, but the son of man doesn't have a place to lay his head.

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Amazing that God, the creator of the ends of the earth, would stoop that low and humble himself.

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You see the humility in that? He laid all the glories and the riches and his prerogatives and all that aside to come to this earth, to go to a cross.

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And that's Paul's progress here. He's basically taking us. This is what

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Jesus did in the incarnation and in his life. And then eventually he goes to the cross. He humbled himself, taking the form of a bond slave and being made in the likeness of man, verse eight, being found in the appearance as a man.

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He humbled himself. Listen to that. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death on a cross.

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Oh, beloved, even after the humbling of the incarnation, Jesus goes a little further and he humbles himself in that and that he went to the cross and he did not demand human rights.

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No, but he subjected himself to the persecution and the sufferings of the hands of sinners and he submitted to the father's will.

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He says, not my will, but thine will be done. Isn't that amazing and humbling to even just to think of that?

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It humbles me just to think of that true humility right here, demonstrated perfect humility.

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No one can even touch this. As Jesus submitted to the father.

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Now, back to Peter, Peter says, as believers, clothe yourselves with humility, clothe yourselves with humility, that even in that day, in the early first century, humility, meekness was considered weakness.

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Matter of fact, it was considered being a coward in a sense, being very cowardly to be tolerated.

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And this is only to be tolerated in the submission of slaves in that time period.

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So as the apostle Peter wrote this verse, he likely recalled to Jesus another example.

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Go with me to John 13. Now, these are messages all of it's in itself, but here

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I'm almost positive and I'm going to say this and correct me if I'm wrong, that as Jesus, as Peter is writing this about submission,

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I'm sure he thought and recalled to Jesus humility as he washes the disciples feet in John chapter 13, verse four, got up from supper.

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He got up for supper, speaking of Jesus, laid aside his garments, taking a towel, he girded himself and he began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel and with which he was girded.

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So he came to Simon Peter and he said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

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Jesus answered and said to him, what I do, you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.

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Peter said to him, never shall you wash my feet. Now, there's some pride there, but notice the meek and lowly, our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus answered and he knew how to get to his heart.

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Listen to this. If you do, if I do not wash you, you have no part with me.

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Wow. Yeah, no part with me. And Simon Peter said to him,

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Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. He got it.

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He got the point, didn't he? Jesus said to him, he who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean and you are clean, but not all of you.

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Now, he's speaking of Judas Iscariot in verse 11, for he knew the one who was betraying him for this reason.

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He said, not all of you are clean. And Judas was not clean. Verse 12, so when he had washed their feet, notice this simple act of humility.

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Our Lord Jesus Christ, he washes their feet, dirty feet, and he'd taken his garments and reclined at the table again.

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And he said to them, do you know what I have done to you? There's a great lesson in this. This is the

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Lord of the church. This is the head of the church speaking and teaching the apostles. This is so important to the foundation of the church, the body of Christ.

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As an example, he says, and then he says, do you know what I have done to you? What a question.

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You call me teacher and Lord and you are right. And so I am. If I've been the

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Lord and teacher washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

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There's the clothing with humility. I really believe that Peter says when he says this back in first Peter five in this part, clothe yourselves with humility.

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He had to be thinking of Jesus, how he washed their feet.

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And then he says, for I gave you an example. Jesus said that you also should do as I did to you.

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Amazing, isn't it? The humility of Jesus in this and this is what Peter is saying.

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Clothe yourselves with humility. Well, as the apostle

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Peter wrote this verse, I'm sure he recalls this to mind. Well, my time is running very closely out and it gives me just enough time here to give us an application and I'm kind of given a lot here on the application.

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So let's look at it to reinforce his exhortation to humility for humility.

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The apostle Peter quotes Proverbs three thirty four. He quotes a proverb from chapter three, verse thirty four, for God is opposed to the proud.

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That gives grace to the humble beloved, this is the heart of everything he's saying right here. This is the meat between the bread.

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We got to get this because without question, the Lord is opposed or another translation, he resist.

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That's probably a little bit stronger language. I think God is he resists the proud. He will have nothing to do with the proud.

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Proverbs eleven. To says when pride comes, then comes dishonor.

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But with the humble, there is wisdom. Proverbs sixteen five, everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the

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Lord. That word abomination is a very strong word. It means God detests them. There is a hatred that God has toward pride.

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It is the taproot of all sins, folks, and it's a sin that is within all of us that must be dealt with in our sanctification.

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But he says, everyone, everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Be assured he will not go unpunished.

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Proverbs 16, 18 and 19 tells us what the things that God, well, now that's coming up here in chapter six.

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But listen to this pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be humble in spirit with the needy than to divide the spoils with the proud.

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Then God says in Isaiah 57, 15, for thus says the high and exalted one, the lofty one who lives forever, whose name is holy.

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I would dwell on high and a holy place. I dwell on a high and a holy place and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

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God dwells with those that are humble. God is the God of the humble and he resists the proud. He resists those that lift themselves up.

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By the way, like it says, it's an abomination. Those are an abomination. He detests them.

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He he's opposed to them. And as I was thinking a minute ago, Proverbs 6, 16 through 19, you know this.

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There are six things that the Lord hates. Seven are abomination to him. The first one on the list, haughty eyes, haughty look, haughty eyes, haughty, haughty eyes.

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I want you to get these these members of our body eyes, haughty, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who declares lies twice.

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He speaks about lies and and one who speaks strife among the brothers who sows discord among the brothers.

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Now, notice this haughty, haughty eyes, lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, a feet that runs rapidly to evil, a false witness who declares lies and one who speaks strife among the brothers.

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Now, notice that eyes, tongue, hands, heart, feet. What does that say about us?

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Our whole being is corrupt. We are depraved to the core.

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Preach this today. And most people say, I don't want to hear this. I want to hear what I want.

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Tell me something. Tell me that God loves me. Well, he does love us or he wouldn't be saying this because the law leads us to grace.

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We must know our depravity. And that's the problem. People, we do not know our depravity.

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The whole person is totally depraved. There's none righteous. No, not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, fall short of the glory of God.

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So basically, Peter is saying that the humble are given grace. God's going to give grace to the humble.

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He's going to give favor to the humble. But to those who are lifted up in their pride, God's going to resist them.

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Oh, stands in stark contrast to the proud who meet with a fierce resistance of almighty

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God. And let me ask this question, who can stand against that resistance?

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Who can stand against that resistance? God resists the proud. It comes to mind of someone in Daniel chapter four.

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Go away. Go with me very quickly. You know the story of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel chapter four.

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This is a fulfillment of a vision that was given. It's incredible.

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But this is a king. All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar, the king. Twelve months later, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace.

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Verse twenty eight. He was walking on the roof. Notice he was high.

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He was high in his eyes, but he was he was before he before God, he was low.

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But here he was on the roof of his royal palace of Babylon and the king reflected and said, is this not

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Babylon, the great which I myself notice that I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty.

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This is a king. How dare him say that? And while the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven.

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And said King Nebuchadnezzar, to you, it is declared sovereignty has been removed from you.

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This is God. And you will be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place will be with the beast of the field and you will be given grass to eat like cattle and seven periods of time.

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That basically means seven years, seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the most high is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes.

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And immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled and he was driven away from mankind and became

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I'm sorry, and began eating grass like cattle and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like birds claws.

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Basically, he was driven like a wild animal for seven years away from that area and like a beast.

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He became insane. God caused him to go insane because of his pride.

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In verse 34, but at the end of the period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven after seven years and my reason returned to me.

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You think he knew you think he got the lesson? He did. He says, I bless the most high and praised and honored him who lives forever.

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And this is what he said. His dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.

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And he does according to his will and the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can ward off his hand or say to him, what have you done?

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Yeah, he learned his lesson. And at that time, my reason returned to me. He basically repented and my majesty and my split and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom and counselors and nobles began seeking me out.

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And I was reestablished in my sovereignty. Surpassing greatness was added to me. He basically and notice verse 37.

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And I now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the king of heaven for all his works are true and his ways are just.

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And he is able to humble those who walk in pride. Isn't that what

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Peter is talking about? God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

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God knew how to humble this man. And he was a king that was boasting. I don't know if I have time to get to it.

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I don't. But there's another example and Lord willing, we'll look at this later on. But I was thinking of King Saul capturing.

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King King Agag. Showing him off as a trophy in his pride, and then he basically argues with the prophet

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Samuel about obedience, his obedience was only partial, but it was in his pride that King Saul captured

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Agag and kept him back for a trophy. And God says, no, you are to destroy all of everything.

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And he only gave partial obedience. And there's a debate whether he did it ignorantly or he really knew what he was doing, but nevertheless.

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He was wrong and he was focusing on the sacrifice, the sacrifice, the sacrifice,

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I'm going to sacrifice these things to the Lord, I'm going to give them back to the Lord. And no, he disobeyed God.

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God says you destroy all of them. Including the king. So, you know, the story there, but we'll look at that another time.

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But that's a great that's a great lesson as well. Well, here we see at verse six, notice verse six, therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time.

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Spurgeon says this pride is so natural to the fallen human beings that it springs up in the heart like weeds in a watered garden.

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We may hunt, we may hunt down this fox and think we have destroyed it, but our exaltation, exaltation is pride.

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None have more pride than those who driven I'm sorry, those who dream that they have none.

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Pride is a sin with a thousand lives and a thousand shapes. By perpetual change, it escapes capture.

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And then he says this, therefore, let us humble ourselves under the hand of God as creatures, under the hand of the creator, as chastened children under the father's rod.

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Many people have been humbled. Listen to this. Many people. How many people, you know, that's been in this situation, maybe yourself as well.

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Many people have been humbled, but yet they have not become humble. You hear that many people have been humbled, but yet they have not become humble.

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There's a great difference between the two things. If God withdraws his grace and allows a

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Christian to fall into sin, that that fall humbles him in the sight of people.

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And yet he may not be humble. He may never have a true sense of how evil his action has been.

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And he goes on to say this, he may still persevere in his pride and be far from humility.

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And the most hopeful way of avoiding this humbling affliction is to humble ourselves.

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And then he says this, let us humble, be humble that we may not be humbled.

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Oh, I love that. Let us be humble that we may not be humbled.

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Now, how can we do this now before I go to scripture, I got one more jewel here for you on the quote,

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Puritan Thomas Watson. He was basically writing this in commentary on our

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Lord's sermon on the mount, as Jesus began the Beatitudes, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Matthew 5 3. This is what he's basically saying on that, because it means to be bankrupt in spirit, be meek and humble ourselves.

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Listen, what he says to we are poor in spirit. We are not capable of receiving grace.

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He who is swollen with an opinion of self -excellency and self -sufficiency is not fit for Christ.

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He is full already. If the hand be full of pebbles, it cannot receive gold.

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The glass is first emptied before you pour wine. God first empties a man of himself before he pours in the precious wine of his grace till we are poor in spirit.

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Christ is never precious. That's Thomas Watson, those men knew

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God, didn't they? And they knew themselves. They knew that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

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Folks, I'm telling you, this is the theology of the Bible. We can't miss this.

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And there's one text that points us to this. Go with me to Luke 18. This is one of the greatest lessons on humility that you can read in the entirety of the

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Word of God. Eighteen, there's so many lessons, but this one here, this is a parable. Our Lord gives,

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Luke 18, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

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And notice in this parable, before we get to it, it illustrates perfectly how a sinner who is utterly devoid of personal righteousness may be declared righteous before a holy

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God through the act of repentant faith alone. Now, you see in this, we see this parable is addressed to the self -righteous

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Pharisee, the prideful, those who the Pharisees was lifted up in pride because they thought there was somebody, oh,

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I've got the knowledge of the law. I'm the theologian of the day. I know so much.

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They didn't know anything. They didn't know of themselves and they didn't know God. But notice this, the

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Pharisee were like that. And by the way, because of that, the Pharisees trusted in their own righteousness.

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They trusted in themselves, their own righteousness. That's contrary to the gospel.

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So in this parable, we see that the pride of the Pharisee, we see the humility of the tax collector, we see the

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Pharisee is self -exalting, we see the tax collector is self -abasing. The Pharisee exalts his own works.

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The tax collector sees his own unworthiness and sin and sees his own works as nothing.

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The Pharisee never sees his own pride and sin. He doesn't know himself because he doesn't know

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God. And yet the tax collector sees his own sin and his response is in humility and true repentance.

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He had no hope but to throw himself in the mercy of God. And notice what it says. Jesus says this.

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And he also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

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How many people you know like that? And viewed others with contempt.

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Now, let me give you a definition of contempt. That word contempt means it's a feeling that a person is beneath consideration.

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It is worthless, means worthless or even deserving scorn. So they viewed others with contempt.

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And then he gives the parable. Two men, two men went up to the temple to pray.

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They went to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

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The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself. Now, we'll stop right there.

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Notice this. He's praying to himself. He wants to hear himself speak.

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He wasn't really humbling himself as he is and was before God. He wanted to hear himself pray.

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So he prayed. He stood praying this to himself.

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God, I want you to circle in your Bible if you can, if you like to. How many times he says

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I? God, I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers and even like this tax collector.

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Verse 12, I fast twice a week. I pay tithes of all that I get.

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Now, I could be wrong, but I counted five times, five times in one verse or within two verses,

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I'm sorry. One is too many. I, I, I, I, that's his problem, pride.

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But verse 13, the tax collector standing some distance away. Now, notice that he's all he's not within a standing of a distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven.

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There you see humility. He's he doesn't even feel like he's worthy to even lift his eyes up, standing a distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breath, saying,

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God, notice the first word that comes out of his mouth, God. Be merciful to me, the sinner.

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That's it. It wasn't a long prayer. And Spurgeon even said this, it's not the length of our prayers, it's it's the simplicity and the depth of them as long as it reaches heaven.

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See, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, and I tell you,

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Jesus said this man went to his house justified. He was he had imputed righteousness given to him.

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Rather than the other, and then he says it for everyone who exalts himself.

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Will be humbled. But he who humbles himself.

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Will be exalted in that beautiful poor in spirit, may we humble ourselves so that we may not be humbled.

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Let's pray, Father. Oh, God. We thank you for this word,

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Lord, we desire to be right in the place of this, this unworthy tax collector.

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Knowing that our sin. Is nothing but detestable to you and our pride is a stench in your nostrils.

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Oh, God, cleanse us, I pray. Wash us thoroughly with your word. Because it's only the blood of Jesus that can do such a work within us.

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This goes deep within our innermost beings, all of us. Oh, God, our father.

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Humble us and Lord, if you don't humble us.

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We need to come humbling ourselves before you first. Or we will be humbled.

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One way or another, because our Lord Jesus Christ said everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, everyone that lifts himself up, just like Nebuchadnezzar.

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Lord, you humbled him, but he who humbles himself will be exalted like this tax collector.

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He chose to willingly come and he was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven because he knew he was nothing.

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That's what we are, Lord. Help us, help us, Lord, cleanse us, wash us, and may we be changed for your glory.