God's Recipe for Revival — Erlo Stegen

Humility Under the Mighty Hand of God

We ask you, Lord, to please be with us now, take the service and let it be in your hands. Amen. Amen. In 1 Peter chapter 5, we find our text. From verse 5 to 11. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

But may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever, amen.

Now, this contains so much. We can never hope to finish this off even in a day. We would need many days to go into it. But I would like to highlight four particular points or subjects from this text. The first point being humility.

Humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God. Humbling yourself, submission is no small thing. In the life of a child of God, there is no beauty as attractive as that child of God being clothed with humility.

A person who is humble and submissive brings about a sweet fragrance. For God resists the proud. Pride is the very first thing about the devil. Haughtiness takes a person and makes him to belong in the devil's camp so that that person becomes one of Satan's indeed.

Pride, Self-Exaltation, and the Fall

But if you can humble yourself, you are a child of God. A true child of God. By lifting yourself up, exalting yourself, self-exaltation took Lucifer from being an angel to making him into a devil. Satan walked amongst the burning stones.

And he said to himself, I want to be like God. Through pride, through haughtiness, the first human beings became children of Satan. Adam and them. For Satan had whispered to them, look, if you take of this fruit, you will be like God.

Understand that haughtiness, puffing yourself up is a wicked thing. God has declared that he who exalts himself will be brought low, but he who humbles himself will be exalted by God. Even if we are in the kingdom of Satan, but by humbling ourselves, we find ourselves in the kingdom of God.

And we will live and abide in God's kingdom. I don't know why a person made just of dust can be proud about himself. I remember clearly that when the Lord was about to send revival as he was dealing with me, the very first thing was my pride.

When I saw clearly that God does resist the proud, you can make no progress if God himself is against you. Now, Satan is wicked. He resists, he fights against and attacks the children of God. But there is no enemy worse than having God as your enemy.

Martin Luther wrote that even if demons filled the whole earth, if the Lord is with them, Satan will not succeed. So let's be especially careful of the sin of pride because that haughtiness stops you from repenting.

It makes you incapable of confessing your sin. So let each one of us humble ourselves beneath the mighty hand of God. This sin has been around for a long time, even among nations where one nation rises and pushes itself up against another nation.

Heaven's Reversal of Earthly Status

Heaven is a terrible place. Because with many, even if God gave them permission to go into heaven, they would run out quicker than they had gone in. For in heaven, the least here on earth is the greatest up there.

And the greatest on earth is the least in heaven. And Jesus said on the day of judgment, he'll take the one who is the very lowest of the low in your eyes and say to you, what you've done to him, you've done to me personally.

A certain very wealthy lady who had a very high position arrived in heaven and having got there, she saw another lady, a black lady in a mansion or house bigger than the one she had on earth. And as the story goes, when she was shown her accommodation in heaven, it was just like a hovel of an old aged home.

Like the shanty of that black woman here.

She said, no Lord, there's some mistake here. And she said, Lord, I was far more important and surely my dignity deserves something more becoming to me. But the Lord said, hey, you're not on earth, you're in heaven here.

And the least on earth is the greatest in heaven and vice versa. Now that was a dream that that rich lady had. That dream turned her around. Her life was radically changed. She said, Lord, from now on, I want to live as the least, not the first.

Do you see why I say that heaven is a terrible place for many? It will be so awful that they will flee as quick as they can like rats scurry out of a shed. So pray and say, Lord, make me to be the least of all.

So that even when I'm speaking to others, I won't come across as being one who is exalted and better than they are, but be the least. I don't know whether you really understand this. The trouble is that people come into the service and demons must be in their ears because they listen, but they go out and one wonders, what have they heard?

Grace, Confession, and Justification

And here in this text of Peter's, it says, if you clothe yourself with humility, you humble yourself, you will receive grace. No one can enter into heaven except by the grace of God. There is no salvation outside of the grace of God.

But who receives grace? It is the one who humbles himself, who lowers themselves to be submissive to all. What is grace? One who receives grace receives with it the forgiveness and the cleansing from sin.

And with it the liberation from sin. That person who humbles himself, he receives grace. And no one in this world receives grace without humbling themselves. You see, it is difficult for a person to admit that they are a sinner.

Remember Jesus spoke about the two who went into the temple, the one was a Pharisee and the one was a publican. The Pharisee went straight to the front and looking upwards he said, Lord, I thank you that I am not like this tax collector there at the back.

He is a thief. He is immoral. He swears. But Lord, thankfully I don't do what he does. Here was this amazing Pharisee, he didn't drink, he didn't do all these bad things. He said, I am innocent of those terrible sins.

He was a good man who doesn't flirt around with other women.

Without lustful thoughts. He said, I thank you God, for I am not like that type of person. But the tax collector creeping in at the back, he beat his chest in remorse and he said, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

And he received grace. And Jesus said, that tax collector left the temple justified, but the Pharisee went out with his guilt. Very difficult to humble yourself, to lower yourself to admitting your sin.

This peacock spirit of pride in the heart. Just to say, I have sinned. But if it comes. But pride manages to apologize and keep its pride by saying, well, I did sin, but the reason is, and then the person justifies what they've done, whereas it shows their real wickedness, a true, truly humble person will not gather up excuses.

You heap sin upon sin. If while you're saying, Lord, I have sinned, you say, but these were the circumstances. This is what pushed me into it. You will just add to your sin. But the one who admits completely and says, I have sinned and doesn't bring about, bring any excuse.

That one receives justification. It is nonsense for a person to say, I've received grace. I've got it. If they have this pride, they, if they haven't said that they really are what they are and humble themselves.

Do you know what it is to humble yourself, to cast yourself down, to lower yourself? Now I'm going quickly on to the next point. When you humble yourself, you find that your cares disappear. For he says here, take all your cares and cast them upon him.

Casting Cares Upon a Caring Heavenly Father

When you see the face of a little child, you see an expression of innocence. It's carefree. It doesn't carry anxieties. And that's why there's the expression, it's wonderful to be like a child. And the one who humbles himself will find riddance of their cares.

The problem is it's written upon our faces, our anxieties. What will I eat? What will I drink? Where will I get clothing? I have no shoes. I'm troubled. Those are your cares. Why? Because that person is not willing to humble themselves enough to trust in God to take all their cares.

Cares are troublesome. When you humble yourself, you find that your cares disappear. For he says here, take all your cares and cast them upon him.

The wage earner says, how am I going to make ends meet? The end of the month is here and I'm just into debt already. The farmer says, where am I going to get the rain from? It's dry. I've planted my crops.

Oh, there's too much rain. That farmer acts as if the weather was under his control. Another person becomes so troubled because of the cares of lack of goods in the house. There's no furniture. There's no table.

And they are then drawn into the sin of stealing. Some will even sell their bodies, prostitute themselves to bring in money to buy goods for the family. And it brings in things that are an abomination to God and the family.

But a child is carefree. It knows, I can leave everything over to my father, to my mother. My parents will see to it. Now we have a heavenly father and he cares for us. We mustn't try and lift ourselves up to the level of God and act as if all things are under our control.

Humility, Spiritual Warfare, and Victory

Then the final point is that the person who humbles himself gets victory from God over Satan. It says in verse 8, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

At the end of verse 10 it says, after you have suffered a little, even if you suffer, he will make you as it says in verse 10, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. If you humble yourself, God will give you victory over Satan and sin and death.

Some are very troubled. They say, well, I'm growing old now. How am I going to die? That's their anxiety. And then another person is simply a slave of sin. Just look at the wickedness, the stealing, the misery, the jails overflowing with people.

You can conquer all of that. There is no sin that cannot be conquered. Even Satan himself has no power to touch your life because he is restrained by God as you humble yourself beneath God's hand. Today we are offered the secret.

This is the key to revival, humbling yourself. There is nothing that cannot be conquered through humility. So the first point, where God says, if you humble yourself, you will receive grace. Even there where sin is powerful, God's grace is much more powerful and abundant.

Even if you are under a load of sin, say, God, I have sinned, forgive me. You will find grace. And don't be pharisaical about it. A certain preacher went to visit an old white lady in hospital. When he walked into the ward, she was so frail that she couldn't even shake hands, she couldn't move.

And everybody saw that she was dying. The preacher thought, well, let me see her quickly before she dies. And she, then when she saw the preacher come in, she said with a very faint, trembling voice,.

She says, oh, I'm such a big sinner. There's no sinner like me in this world. Why, said Tumfundis, oh, so it's true what I heard about you. That's what the preacher said.

That old lady sat up in bed and demanded, who's been spreading rumors about me? What has been said? Why, said he, and the preacher said, well, I've heard you say that you're a sinner more than all the others, that you're the greatest of sinners.

And I couldn't believe it, but I've heard it from you, so it must be true what I've heard.

A confession of sin like that is simply pretense, hypocritical. You're just remaining and clinging on to your sin if you confess like that. Her next words should have been rather, preacher, you're right, I am a dreadful sinner.

You're right, I am a dreadful sinner.

Paul, even as a mature Christian, an apostle, a leader in the church, said before the others in the church, I am the chief of sinners. I'm not worthy to be an apostle. He says, for I persecuted the church.

You see what true humility is about?

And all that I've got is just the grace of God.

If you're a sinner, ask yourself, am I truly remorseful? Do I truly admit what I am, or am I just messing around, being lighthearted, or just playing around?

Do I truly admit what I am, or am I just messing around, being lighthearted, or just playing around?

And you'll find that this is the answer for your cares and anxieties that just melt away as you humble yourself. This is a service for humiliation in that you humble yourself. Do it before you leave the service.

And humbling yourself brings you victory. The Lord gives you victory over Satan, demons, and your own sin. If you find that you're not being victorious, it's because pride still resides in you. Next Sunday, I will be preaching the Lord willing in Romania.

Next week. Next week, in Romania, and they've asked me to speak about being a victorious Christian. And as I read this text, I said, Lord, this is the answer. This is what I can share with those people in Romania.

This is how to be a true victor. Now I close. Is there still pride in you? If there is, cry to God that he would help you. For if there is still pride, God remains your enemy. Shall we bow our heads? We thank you, Lord, that we could hear your word.

The Closing Prayer for Humility and Grace

Lord, you've said to us today that we have to be clothed with humility, humbling ourselves underneath your mighty hand. Not excusing ourselves. Not protecting ourselves. But truly humbling ourselves, admitting what we are.

Saying, oh God, I am a sinner, so that we might receive grace from thee. And Lord, you have promised that if we humble ourselves beneath your hand, you will lift us up. You will lift us up in forgiving us our sins.

In washing us with your blood to be snow white. You lift us up in removing all our anxieties. Lord, grant that there wouldn't be a fool in our midst who says, I can't humble myself. But instead, may each one lower themselves, be the least, humble themselves.

To receive mercy from the oh God. Lord, we've heard how being proud puts us into Satan's camp. Our haughtiness makes us to belong to Satan. But Lord, we thank you that you have shown us the way to receive grace.

Amen.