(Divine Attributes) 14 the Humility of God — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Yes, Father, we do that in our heart this morning. We come to You.

Lo, having been brought, Lo, we come, Lo, to You. We worship You this morning, God. In all who You are, we worship You. We stand amazed at Your majesty. We stand amazed that You would reach down and meet our needs through Jesus Christ.

God, we thank You for all of that. Now again this morning, Lord, would You give us a glimpse. Lord, would You pull back the veil and let us see who You are, that we might be like You. Give us grace to do that this morning, Lord.

Lord, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. May we be seated. Draw nigh to God. There He stands. There He is. In all of His beauty, in all of His loveliness, in all of His strength, in all of His kindness, in all of His justice, in all of who He is waiting for us to draw nigh.

He will draw nigh to You. Now, that's quite a song, isn't it? It's one of those songs where the spirit of the music fits the spirit of the words. The humility of God this morning. The humility of God.

This session will be our last one on the actual attributes of God. Tomorrow's class will be given completely to applications and conclusions, as we look at how we can apply all of this which has come to our hearts, how we can apply it to our everyday lives.

Obviously, this doesn't mean a thing if it doesn't touch me, where I live every day in my real world with the people who are around me, my circle of influence. What good to learn what God is like if it does not affect my everyday life?

The Humility of God as a Divine Attribute

This last attribute that I want to cover this morning is one that I have never found addressed in all of my studies anywhere. The humility of God. Yet, I have not been able to shape the impressions from the Lord to speak on this subject.

My first impressions, I thought, no, no, that can't be an attribute of God. You know, He's way up there and way beyond, and He's all those things He talked about, and all that majesty, and all that power, and omniscience, and He's immutable, and He's infinite, and He's all of that.

Now, surely, surely not. Could God be humble? So, I have not been able to shape those impressions. So, here we go. And, I'm very open to correction if I'm not seeing this all right. In fact, on anything that I've said, I feel very shallow giving these teachings these three weeks.

So, I'm very glad for any corrections that you can give. But, God is humble. I have studied it in depth, and I can say now from my own heart, God is humble. Maybe this startles you at first, in light of some of the lofty attributes that we have looked at already.

But, should I remind you of that word, transcendent, again? Remember what it means? High above all. Not in height, but in the highest excellence. God is transcendent. He is so other than we can imagine.

Yes, I guess then He can be humble. Maybe you think this does not fit God, because He's the high and lofty one. But, remember, humility is the highest excellence in the Christian life, isn't it? If we stop and think about it, how can God ask us to be something that He is not?

Let's look at a definition, or some words which define humility. It means lowly, meek, modest. And that goes a lot deeper than close, but it does touch close. Modest, gentle, condescending, and to abase oneself.

Jesus Christ Reveals Divine Humility

When Jesus, the Word made flesh, dwelt among us, He only described His nature one time straight out. We do well to take notice of His description of Himself, and of His character. In Matthew chapter 11, in verse 28 through 30, He said these words.

Come unto Me personally.

Come unto Me personally.

That labor and are heavy laden, and I personally will give you rest. And by the way, that's the only way you'll get rest. Rest is in God. God is. He went on to say, take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, learn of Me personally.

For I am meek and lowly in heart, deep down in the depths of My being. I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest unto your souls. In My meek and lowly heart, ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. What a beautiful portrait of our God this morning. I am sure this one, this is one of the reasons why the sinners wanted to be with this holy man. Because he was meek and lowly in heart.

He didn't have a high, mighty attitude, but a meek and lowly attitude. Which, I believe, is a silent invitation to every other human being. Come, come to Me. It was like Christ was giving a silent invitation all the time.

Everywhere He went, because of His meek and lowly heart. And that invitation said, come, come near to Me. Come talk to Me. Come listen to Me. Come see Me. Come touch Me. Come see who I am. Come watch Me.

Come unto Me. It was a silent invitation, brethren, of the meek and lowly one. Our Jesus, remember what John the Baptist said? As he saw Him coming the first time?

The meek and lowly one? Remember what he said?

Behold, the Lamb. The Lamb. The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. He said, if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. He said, and My Father are one. Beautiful. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3 says of Jesus that He is the brightness of His glory.

The brightness of His Father's glory. And the express image of His Father's person. Paul said that Christ was the image of the invisible God. Christ was the visible image of the invisible God. God in His kindness, in His loving kindness, pulled back the veil.

And let us, humans, get a glimpse of His glory. You want to see what God is like? Study the life of the Lord Jesus. He was the visible image of the invisible God. I like that statement. What was Jesus saying in giving this picture of His character?

He was saying, I am humility.

Walking around in human flesh.

This is divine humility incarnated.

And His name is Jesus.

Divine humility incarnated.

And His name is Jesus. Hallelujah.

The Apostle John, the beloved, the one who leaned his head upon Jesus' breast, said, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory. We watched that man. And we saw the Father's coming out of His life.

We saw the holy attributes of His Father shining out of Him.

We beheld His glory.

It wasn't a bright light. It wasn't a beautiful color. It wasn't a fearful sight of some glowing ambers. No, we watched the Word made flesh dwelling among us. And we beheld Him. And we saw Him. And we beheld His glory.

And it was the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Hallelujah. He was just like His dad. Hallelujah. Just like His dad. He was the outshining of God's divine nature walking around on earth. And He was humble.

1 John 1 -2 says it this way, again John speaking,. For the life was manifested and we have seen it. Oh, I would have loved to have been there. But yet, I have Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The life was manifested and we have seen it.

And bear witness and show unto you that eternal life. Which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. And that word manifest means to show clearly. There's no question anymore. We saw clearly. The life was manifested and we saw Him.

The Humble Setting of the Incarnation

You know, I've always felt that God hid His Son in a setting of poverty and humility to keep His arrival a mystery. Now, this is still true. Because God does do that as we've learned. He is a mysterious God.

But, the setting is more than just a hiding place. As I have been meditating upon this attribute of God. That setting was more than just a hiding place.

It was a dwelling place.

For the high and lofty One who inhabited eternity. Who became flesh and dwelt among us. It is an unveiling of who God is. Yet still, the proud will not see Him. They will not see Him there in His dwelling place.

Think about it. A lowly handmaiden for a mother. A poor carpenter for a father. No room in the inn and therefore a stable to be born in. And the lowly shepherds, they get to announce the good news. And a simple home life of a carpenter's son to grow up in.

Back to the words of our definition of humility. Lowly, meek, modest, gentle, condescending and to abase oneself. That fits that lowly setting very well, doesn't it? These words fit the character of our blessed Lord Jesus perfectly.

Think about the word condescension. It means for one who is higher to come down to one who is lower. Hallelujah! We've been seeing that the last two days. What about the phrase to abase oneself? Jesus did this all His life on the earth.

He denied Himself, His good self, and submitted His self to His Father's will in everything. That means if He had a good idea, He didn't go by what He thought. He went by what His Father wanted in everything.

He abased Himself and submitted Himself to His Father's will in everything. Humility is one of the main laws or principles of the Kingdom for us, isn't it? We know that. Surely the King of the Kingdom will also follow His own laws.

Which laws are given as an expression of His character like all the laws in the Bible are. Surely the King of the Kingdom will follow His own law. And He did. In Matthew chapter 18 and verse 1, we have a beautiful portion of Scripture.

At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Notice He didn't say, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom on the earth?

Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? What's it like in the Kingdom of Heaven, Lord? Who is the greatest there? Tell me! This is not the law of the Kingdom on earth. This is the law of the Kingdom of Heaven.

And Jesus called a little child unto Him and set Him in the midst of them. Heaven? Lofty out there, way up there. So different, so far away, so far above everything that I can imagine. Heaven? And He goes and gets a little child.

They must have been scratching their head at that move. Jesus called a little child unto Him and set Him in the midst of them. And said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is exactly what Jesus did with His Father while He was on the earth. He became, as a little child, had no will about anything.

And just did His Father's will. He humbled Himself and yielded to His Father's will in everything. This is exactly what Jesus did with His Father. No will of His own, though He was the Son of God. If Jesus can do that, then you can also do that.

The King Who Serves His Subjects

In the Kingdom of Heaven, the King of the Kingdom is the greatest slave among all of His subjects. Hallelujah! Think about it. He is the greatest slave of all of His subjects. Now, this is a different King.

You know, in times past, I might have thought, OK, this is the laws of the Kingdom. But the King is sitting there on His throne in all of His subjects, among His subjects. The law of the Kingdom is, the greatest is the servant of all.

But that's not right. That's not the right way to look at it. Shall the King of the Kingdom live by a different law than all of His subjects? No way. The King of the Kingdom is the slave of them all. This is humility.

Remember when the King laid aside His robes and picked up a towel and got a basin of water and knelt down and washed the feet of all of His disciples? The King of the Kingdom is the greatest slave of them all.

The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. That's what the King of the Kingdom did. In all humility, He laid down His life for His friends. The King of the Kingdom is the greatest slave among them.

He gives, He cares, He watches over all, never sleeping, He feeds, He cares, even for the little sparrows. Every one of them, not one of them falls to the ground without Him knowing it. Look at His care.

Remember our definition of mercy? Yesterday, to stoop in kindness and pity to meet the needs of another. Our God is a humble, merciful God who is continually reaching down into our lives and meeting our needs.

What a picture of humility. And think of it. This is the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity. You say, Brother Denny, that doesn't make sense. You mean you haven't got that figured out yet? It doesn't have to make sense.

We're talking about God. The God of the universe. We're not talking about a man. We're talking about God. Let's look at Philippians chapter 2. Thank you, Owen, for giving those verses this morning in your meditations.

Christ's Self-Emptying and Obedience

The humility of God. In Philippians chapter 2, we're going to read from verse 3 through 11. We have the portion of Scripture that the theologians call the kenosis. Or the great self-emptying of Christ in the incarnation.

The kenosis. The great self-emptying of Christ. Where Christ made seven steps downward in His humiliation and died on the cross for humanity. Hear these words as they flow in their context. Paul is admonishing the Philippians here in verse 3.

He says, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Which, by the way, comes by pride. Pride, strife, and vain glory. The root of the whole thing is pride. But, in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

Or may I just paraphrase here a little? More important than me. Let each esteem the others more important than me. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. This was Christ's earthly ministry to a T.

He did not look on his own things, but his whole earthly ministry was looking on the things of others. All of you, Christ said in His heart. You are more important than me. And my plans and my desires, you are more important than me.

The next verse. Let this mind, that we just looked at, let this mind, this attitude, be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Remember the words of humility. Lowly, meek, modest, gentle, condescending.

Yes, let this mind, this attitude, be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who? Being in the form of God. Possessing the fullness of the attributes of God. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no refutation.

He stripped himself of all rightful dignity. And took upon him the form of a servant. And was made in the likeness of men. Think of the distance, brethren. Think of the distance. We have been studying God for three weeks now.

He is very transcendent in our minds. He is so far other than we are. Think of the distance that Christ came. I mean, this is a futile illustration, but I think we can grasp it a little. It would be like you becoming an ant.

And putting yourself into an ant's body and living in an ant's world after you have lived the way you live. Think of the distance. And being found in fashion as a man. He found himself a man. Now, I don't know when that happened, but there had to be a time.

Remember, he was just a little baby. And he grew in stature and in favor and in wisdom. He grew. There came a point in time when he understood who he was. Remember there when he was 12 years old? That time they went to the temple.

And his father and mother thought he was with the relatives. And they went off and left him in Jerusalem. And they found him three days later sitting with the doctors and the lawyers. Hearing them and asking them questions.

And everyone marveled at the way this young fellow, 12 years old, knew all these things. And his father's mother came to him and said,.

Son, what have you been doing?

Your father and I have sought the sorrowing. And Jesus seemed a bit surprised in his innocence there. And said, What? Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business? Somewhere in there, he found himself in fashion as a man.

And at that point, he humbled himself. He humbled himself. And he became obedient. And not only did he become obedient, but he became obedient unto death. And not only did he become obedient unto death, He became obedient unto the death of the cross.

The most shameful agony. The most painful agony. Even the death of the cross. As we looked at here a couple of days ago. We're looking at the humility of God. And the law of humility in the kingdom of heaven.

See, it's not the law of humility on earth. It's not just the law of humility for us men and women on earth. It is the law of humility in the kingdom of heaven. You doubt it? Look at the next verse. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, And given him a name which is above every name.

You see that? The law of humility is the law of humility in heaven. And Christ, he lived out that law so beautifully. In and through the incarnation and the suffering and the dying of the cross. Wherefore, God his father highly exalted him.

Whosoever humbles himself shall be exalted. We know it. We all know it. God is humble. In his essential being, he is humble. He is lowly. We spoke the other day about the love of God manifested in the cross.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost giving themselves in love for man. But think about it now again today. What condescension. What humility. For the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. What humility.

From the highest place of glory to the lowest place of suffering and shame. What a display of his holy attribute. What a beautifying of his mysterious character. To on top of all of that which we have looked at.

To take humility and clothe this beautiful, glorious being that we call God.

To clothe him in humility.

Oh, what a beautifying of all of those staggering, majestic attributes that we've been looking at. To take and clothe them all with humility. Only God would do that. What a crown for the high and lofty one.

Prophetic Pictures of the Humble King

Amen. Listen to the words of Zechariah 9 .9. It means so much more to me now. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee.

He is coming, O Israel.

He is coming, your king. He is coming. He is just and having salvation. Lowly and riding upon an ass. And upon the court, the foal of an ass. There he is. There is your king, Israel. Behold, he is coming.

He will come to your city. And you will see him. But will you see him? He is just. Having salvation. Lowly. Riding on a donkey. That's what the poor people rode on, by the way. It wasn't a white horse.

It was a donkey. Psalm 138, verse 6, says these words. Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly. But the proud he knoweth afar off. Consider the great sin of pride with Lucifer in light of this attribute.

Maybe this attribute is the reason why Lucifer could even have the crazy notion that he could take God's place. Because God is humble. Psalm 113, verse 4 -7, says these words. The Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens.

Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high? Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth? Because God is humble. He delights in doing this. And reaches down to the lowest.

The next verse says, He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill. So, look at that. See the picture. He's high and he dwelleth on high. And he humbles himself to look down in the affairs of the heavens and the earth.

Comes down even further than that. And reaches down and lifts up the poor and the needy and the lowly that are here upon the earth. And because of his humility he delights in doing it. Let's return again to the text that we have often looked into in these studies.

It seems to be an inexhaustible text. Isaiah 57 and verse 15. Remember it? You could probably almost quote it by heart by now. And let us see what we can learn about God in this text again. We're going to read verse 14 with verse 15.

Isaiah says, Cast ye up. Cast ye up. Prepare the way. Take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people. And the stumbling block is their pride and their wickedness. Why, Isaiah? For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy.

God's Dwelling with the Humble and Contrite

I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and a humble spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. In this text we see that there are three places where Jehovah, the eternal self-existent one dwells.

Three, not two. Three. Three places where he feels at home. For no one dwells where they do not feel comfortable and at home. Amen? Three places where Jehovah, the eternal self-existent one dwells and feels at home.

Number one. He inhabiteth eternity. Ah, he feels at home there because of his immensity and his vastness. He fills all of heaven and earth. And inhabits eternity because of his immensity. He feels very much at home there.

Number two. He feels at home in the high and holy place. That place of his throne. That place where we have seen him sitting at times in our studies here. It is a holy place. It is the place where the seraphim are there, remember?

Flapping their wings and crying, Holy, holy, holy. He feels at home in that place because he is holy. And number three. He also feels at home in the heart of a broken and a humble man. And why? Because he is humble.

That is why. That is why he feels at home in the heart of a broken, contrite man. Because he is humble. Make sense? Let us consider the Holy Ghost in the light of the humility of God. Just for a few moments.

The Holy Spirit is gentleness. Which is one of the words for humility. One of the fruits of the Spirit is gentleness. David said, speaking of the Lord's presence in his own life, he said these words, Thy gentleness hath made me great.

Hear those words. Thy gentleness hath made me great. Now that is an interesting insight as you look at the life of David, who was the warrior king that he was, to make such a statement as that. Thy gentleness hath made me great.

Also, Jesus, our Lord Jesus, was filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit in all that he did. Amen? The Bible says that the Father gave not the Spirit by measure unto him. In other words, he was filled with all the fullness of the Holy Ghost.

He did not have a measure, but the Father gave not the Spirit by measure to him. He was filled with all the fullness of God. The holy, humble life that he lived, the lamb-like life that he lived, even to the place of laying down like a meek little lamb and dying, was done by the power of the gentle, lowly, humble Spirit of the living God.

Amen? If we stop and think about it, we know that God the Spirit is humble. Let's look at revival history as a good example. Every time there has ever been an outpouring of the presence of God in the midst of the people of God, there was mass brokenness and humility.

Isn't that right, Brother John? Remember your history there years ago? There in that little church. Wherever there's an outpouring of God's presence among his people, there is mass brokenness and humility.

Do you know why? Because the Holy Spirit is humble. That's why. It wasn't one here and one there and everybody else was just kind of normal. No. The whole bunch was captivated and brought into such a place of brokenness and humility.

I've seen it with my own eyes many times and experienced it in my own life many times. Almost everyone is in the dust. In my own experiences as a minister, I've learned. You know, you grapple with this whole thing about humility.

Okay, the Bible says I'm supposed to be humble. How do you be humble? That's an oft-asked question. Brother Denny, you talk about humility when you preach on revival. How can you be humble? Good question.

Well, I've learned this. I cannot be humble. I cannot be humble. But I've also learned this. When the Holy Ghost comes, I am humble. I am humble. As the Holy Spirit settles down on me at times of ministry, humility settles down on me.

God the Spirit is humble. And as I look back over my little experiences in my little ministry through the years, those times when God was working the mightiest, I just felt like a little boy standing there watching God do what he was doing.

And I knew without a doubt this has nothing to do with me at all. I'm just a little vessel here. And this is God working. And somehow humility just settles down upon your heart by the Spirit of the living God and you just come.

Let no man despise God when he brings you low. It's one of the most precious things that God can do for you is to bring you low. Do not despise those chastenings from the Lord. The Holy Spirit is humble.

God Humbles Himself to Be Our Father

And a few closing comments which will take me a few minutes. This God, all that he is, in all of his attributes, all that we have studied, this God humbles himself to be my Father. To be my Father and your Father.

He humbles himself to be our Father. The close, intimate, hands-on relationship of a father and a son. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. That we should be called the sons of God.

If we are the sons of God, then God is our Father. Jesus said these words to his disciples toward the inn after his resurrection. In John 20 and verse 17 he said, I ascend unto my Father and your Father.

To my God and your God. This God is our Father. 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 16. Again, I want you to notice the humility of our high and lofty God in these words. God promises, and by the way, this promise that we're reading, it is given several times throughout the Bible.

God keeps telling his people, this is what I want to be for you. This is what kind of relationship I want to have with you. And it is not fulfilled in its fullest sense until the book of Revelation. Did you read it there in the book of Revelation?

That is the uttermost, utmost fulfillment of this promise that we're going to look at. Yet, here we are as finite beings walking around on this earth, and God has promised to be our Father. With all the closeness and the intimate hands-on relationship that that involves, God has promised to be my Father.

He says, I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. This God, come dwell inside of me, and be among us, and make us his people. The next verse, wherefore, because he has made this promise, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.

I will receive you. I'm willing, God says. I humble myself to reach down into the affairs of your life. I'm willing to be your Father.

I'm willing to be close to you.

I'm willing to draw you close to me. I'm willing to walk with you through your everyday life. I'm willing to humble myself. Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, God says.

Hear his pleading heart because of his holiness. Hear it. I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty, the Lord Omnipotent. The Lord Omnipotent wants to be my Father?

Yes. He humbleth himself to be my Father. There is no greater, more lofty promise in this entire Bible than this promise. That God would be my intimate Father. And let me tell you something, He knows how to be a Father.

He is the Father in Heaven. You can trust this Father. He knows how to be a Father. Maybe some of you struggle with understanding God, because of some of the inconsistency of your earthly Father. Well, here is one Father that knows how to be a Father.

I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. My! The next verse says,. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, look at these promises that are given to us, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Are you willing to do that, young man? Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

Yes, he shall stand in a holy place. And God will be his Father if he washes his hands and cleanses his heart. Let us cleanse ourselves, brethren, from all filthiness of the flesh. Those are things we do.

And spirit. Those are things we think and feel. Inward things. The things that most times nobody else knows about, that are going on deep down inside of us. But remember, we have an omniscient God who sees everything and knows everything, who is reaching out His hands to us and saying, Come, my son, I will be your father.

Come, I will take you into my very heart and make you my son. That's what I want to do. But remember, you have to clean your heart. I've made the provision. I'm not asking you to do something that you cannot do.

I've made the provision through the cross. It's all done. Come. Come, He says. And don't just sit there stagnant now. No, don't do that. Perfect holiness. Bring your life to holy maturity in every area.

I want to be your father. If you'll let me be your father, we will. I'll take you by the hand and we will go. We will go forward. We will go forward. And we'll clean up your life. And we'll deal with the things that need to be dealt with.

And we'll change you. And we will walk together. From now all the way into eternity. We'll walk together. Are you willing for that? This God wants to be our father. Are you willing for that? Oh, Father, again this morning, we do not understand you, Lord.