Pride and Humility — Romans 12

0:00 I've really enjoyed, preparing for this, and and, what I've also enjoyed is asking people, you know, you know, what they thought about Pride and... The Pride and Humility study so far. And, I think my favorite response so far has been from mister Meng, and he just said, I I hate it. And and, you know, it... It's perfect...

0:20 It... And as we'll talk about it more, it's... That resounds. So let's, let's open with a word of prayer. Heavenly father, Lord, we just thank you.

0:31 As a song we just sang, Lord, we thank you for your grace. Your grace that saves us, your your love that that compels us. Lord, the love that brought that brought you to the cross. Lord, we just thank you for you. We thank you for your son.

0:46 Lord, we pray as we open up your word this morning that you bless it. Lord, that you bless me, you bless all of us, lord and and that we can heed the words from you, Lord. And so we just pray that... And we just ask, that you would be with us this morning. In Jesus' name.

1:05 Amen. So preparing for, the Pride and Humility study, it's been a couple of things. It's been challenging. It's been stirring, and it's also been pretty fun. At home, you know, the the whole...

1:18 The past full month, Colin's sinking in his chair now. The past month, time and time again, you know, we we... Lightheartedly, but still, it's a serious thing. We we would call each other out on on... And when we're acting in pride.

1:30 Right? And and, you know, we would laugh about it, but it was it was still true that, you know, at that time, that person was acting in pride and we... You know, we'd call each other out. So that's been fun. It's been challenging because, I I I'm unqualified and I'm sure a lot of people would say they're unqualified.

1:48 You know, you're supposed to teach on something that you feel like you've overcome, that you've, you know, that that you've kind of mastered, I guess. Right? And and when it comes to pride, I'm pretty terrible at that. And, it's been stirring because this study, has forced me and it's something you have to to force yourself. It's a conscious choice you have to make.

2:06 It's forced me to evaluate myself and seek the faults in areas where I have pride in my life that I formerly didn't know. And and I hope that it's doing the same for all of you guys. And so before we, get into the new things, let's let's review. This is the the fourth this is the fourth study now on on pride and humility. And so we're just gonna point out a couple of things.

2:30 I'm sure we're probably past the point where we need to define pride, but we're gonna define it again. And Phil... I think Phil did it last week or so. Phil, do you got the the definition of pride that we've been talking about? Yep.

2:43 Yeah. A higher view of me than is true. I don't have $5 on me, but I'm sorry. A higher view of me than is true. And so mister Boss mister Boss, he opened up the pride and humility study and the points that we can get from that, this isn't all the points, but just some that that pride spoils all the good.

3:02 It goes before the fall as as we read in Genesis three. Pride goes before the fall. Pride is a big me and a little God. Pride claims. In our pride, we claim I know better than God.

3:13 And in the end, it's an abomination to the Lord. Mister Hilton, the next week, read from Romans chapter two. And a couple things that we can pull from that is that pride blinds us to our own faults and it clouds our vision. And in pride, we judge and we seek the worst in others while at the same time when we do those same same things, those same things that we had faults with, we give ourselves leniency. We give our we give ourselves grace.

3:39 We we give ourselves excuses. And and that's that's acting in our pride. And we can go further to to... If we wanna sum up pride, we can go... I put all the bible verses and things like that.

3:52 Let's see if, it'd be a good thing if I turn it on first. Let's see if it'll... Point to your dopple when you put it in computer. Point to what? The dongle you put in the computer.

4:09 No? One second. Is it the arrow button? The arrow button takes me back. Here, one one moment.

4:22 It was working earlier. Now it doesn't wanna work anymore. I'm able to... No. I can't.

4:30 The back and forth arrow should be working. What? Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's not working on my Mac either.

4:41 This is this is fun. Alright. I don't know what... Wow. Alright.

4:53 Can we... There's a proverb about heating the list. I I saw I saw a counsel in this. I saw a counsel. I don't know what is...

5:03 It's not responding to... You have a MacBook too? No. Don't Obviously, I'm own that garbage. This is why.

5:12 Gotta learn things the hard way sometimes. Well, it's like it's it's scrolling on this. It's scrolling on this, but maybe I gotta take it. Do mean? It's like the...

5:22 It's scrolling on. Oh. Oh. There we go. Who knows what you did?

5:25 There we go. I I clicked the slide. I got... Just remember to do that next time. Okay?

5:30 Okay. Let's continue. So if you wanna sum up pride, we can look at... Uh-oh. Oh, because I I had to click back on this.

5:40 I see. Alright. Now click on that. No? There we go.

6:00 Pride puffs up. Pride is puffed up. Pride behaves rudely. Pride seeks its own. It's provoked.

6:05 It's evil. And in the end, as love never fails, pride always fails. And JC Schroeder hit on hit on... And I am gonna rely on on my paper notes here because I don't wanna click on this. So JC Schroeder, he hit on Philippians two and the humility, the mindset of Christ.

6:31 J. C. Schroeder said that humility is needed for unity in the body, the idea of let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus. So we're to follow Christ's example of servanthood, of taking the lower place, and of submission. And as a, a speaker in in the...

6:45 From the nineties, his name is Dean Sherman, he said regarding pride, pride is the wrong concept about yourself in contrast to God and others. And as we can read in Romans chapter 12 verse three, it says, for I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, that's pride, but to think soberly, that's humility, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. So humility is to think in sober judgment, in truth, and in reason. And that reason and truth can be found in the word of God. And so in humility, when we want to think of ourselves in humility, we don't purpose to think of ourselves less to the point of self degradation and and we'll see as our study there that might happen, we don't want to purpose do that, but might happen naturally when we are encountered with God.

7:32 When we encounter God, we'll see ourselves as less for sure but the idea of humility is to not think of ourselves at all. And so as JC said last week, humility manifests itself by not giving priority to ourselves in own in our own interests, but that to the interests of others, that to the interests of the body. And so, the goal to continue to address the problem of pride and humility, our goal today, the idea is to see God. To see God for who He is as the great I am and let that determine our course of action and our pursuit for humility. And so, one thing that that you can see in the world today in the world today, there's a total absence for fear and reverence and and there's a total absence for those who seek God.

8:20 As as Psalm fourteen two through three says, the Lord looks down from heaven upon the upon the children of men. See if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside. They have together become corrupt. There is none who does good.

8:33 No, not one. And so we look at the world today and, you know, it's the month of June. We didn't plan this but it just so happened to be the month of June of Pride Month. Right? And and what is America celebrating this month?

8:46 But they're they're celebrating something that's an abomination to the Lord. They're celebrating sin, and and and they're being... They're puffed up in their own sin. There's no there's no search for God. There's no reverence and fear for God in the world.

8:59 And in this church, we... In this church, in the capital c church, lowercase c church at WBF, there's the lack of it. And we need to be true to ourselves and sober judge, and we need to look at ourselves and and realize we lack fear and reverence, and we don't seek God enough. I And can say that as long as we're at WBF, as long as I'm at WBF, I can say that that there's a lack of fear and reverence for God. And so that's a problem that we need to address in our church, in our body.

9:29 And if we have the proper reverence and fear for God, how different could things be that we would act in humility and not in pride? And so, today, we're gonna see God. Now I don't wanna do any... Have any heretical teachings that that God the father is invisible. Right?

9:49 And he and he manifests himself... We'll see that he manifests himself in in his glory. He gives displays of his glory and we also see him, see God, the father, through his son Jesus Christ who's God in the flesh. And so we're gonna start off in Job 42 and I I... We're flipping around everywhere.

10:05 When it's a topical study like this and I have the whole bible at my hands, I can go anywhere I want. And so it was a dangerous thing. You shouldn't let me do it again. But we're gonna read first from Job 42. Job 42 verses one through six.

10:45 I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Job, his... I I see the, the interpretation of but now my eye sees you that that Job said, at first I had this under... I thought I had this understanding.

11:05 I heard of you. I had this understanding of you, but now that I truly see you and and before this, God had questioned Job and and and had talked to him and and challenged him saying, you know, like, who, like, who do you think you are? That's basically what God said to Job. Who do you think you are? Like, before the Almighty God, who do you think you are?

11:23 And he's... Job says, therefore, I bore myself and repent in dust and ashes. That's what he said before the almighty God. In Isaiah chapter six verses one through five, we'll flip there. I'll flip there at least as long as I can find it.

11:42 Put little little cheat cards on there for me. Isaiah chapter six starting in verse one. In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood Seraphim. Each one had six wings with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

12:02 And one cried to another and said, holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke. So I said, woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. And so Isaiah, he saw the glory of the lord and what did it do?

12:31 He saw himself in sober judgment. He said, woe is me for I am undone because I'm a man of unclean lips. He says, I'm a sinner. Like, woe is me. Like, he saw the holiness of God and what it pointed out, his own sinfulness, that he is unworthy, that he is nothing.

12:46 Isaiah 40 says that that those who are are against the Lord, that that that the Lord God looks at the nations as as nothing and less than nothing, that we're nothing before Him in comparison to His glory. And then going on in Ezekiel one verse 26. Well, I guess I could just read it right behind me, guess. I can do that. That would probably be quicker.

13:19 But one verse 26, it says, and above the firmament over their heads. So this is this is Ezekiel trying to describe. He's seeing the throne of God right now and and here's him attempting to describe it. And above the firmament over their heads was a likeness of a throne, an appearance like a sapphire stone on the li... An appearance like a sapphire stone.

13:41 On the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Also from the appearance of his waist and upward, I saw as it were the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it. And from the appearance of his waist and downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire with brightness all around, like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. So was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

14:08 And then Ezekiel three fifteen, it says here, then I came to the captives at Tel Aviv who dwelt by the River Shabar, and I sat where they sat and remained there astonished among them seven days. So we see these three accounts of of these servants who who saw the Lord and who saw God and their reactions and this reals reveals just a couple of of God's attributes and so we're gonna look at Job first. He says, I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. To be able to do everything, God has to be omnipotent. That means he's all powerful.

14:43 God has all power and there's not... He has no limit to his power and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. That means that there... That points out that that God's authority. We have God who's who's king of kings and lord of lords.

14:59 We have kings on this earth like king Charles, king, you know, whoever... Whichever king is alive right now. And... But God, the father, Jesus Christ, he is the king, and the king has all authority. So God is sovereign.

15:12 He has full sovereignty. There's no one who God answers to. Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I've uttered what I did not understand. You wanna know what God will never say?

15:24 He will never say, I have uttered what I did not understand. God is all knowing. He is he is omniscient. Omniscient is all knowing. There's there's nothing that God has ever learned, can ever learn, or will ever learn.

15:37 He knows all things. Things too wonderful for me which I did not know. And so therefore, Job's reaction, therefore I bore myself and repent in dust and ashes. We see in Isaiah chapter six, holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts. And so God is holy.

15:53 He is perfect. He is set apart. That God is without fault, without blemish. And that's what... That being holy means that He is He is He is whole and we are not.

16:06 And so... And then we can also go on in Ezekiel one twenty six. Does anyone know what Ezekiel... Like, can anyone draw what he was trying to describe there? I don't think so.

16:17 You know, if if, at a crime scene, you imagine at a crime scene, if someone had tried to, you know, draw the criminal and those kind of things, and if Ezekiel was one and he was describing like this, I mean, the guy would have probably quit, I would think. Right? And so, but what does it point out about God is that that God is indescribable. He's incomprehensible. That God is so far above our understanding that that we just can't describe it.

17:08 He is the creator of time. And Him being eternal, that He made time, He made matter, He made space. One second. I gotta look at my notes just to make sure I'm I'm not losing my place. But, that he is eternal and and so we know that that God is not bound by time or space.

17:34 You know, He is sovereign. He has all authority. And and ultimately, God is infinite. That all these things He has to the fullest. And so when we say that God is eternal, we say that God is love.

17:45 We say that God is mercy. All these things that that we can't we can't... There's no bound to it, that God is not bound. And so, real quick, I do wanna read. This is a book called The Knowledge of the Holy.

17:58 I would recommend that that everybody, would read it. And on page 70, this is the transcendence of God. I just want to read this real quick. It says, Yeah, we must not compare the being of God with any other as we just now compare the mountain with the child. We must not think of God as highest in an ascending order of beings starting with a single cell and going on up from the fish to the bird to the animal to man to angel to cherub to God.

18:24 This would be to grant God eminence even preeminence but that is not enough. We must grant him transcendence in the fullest meaning of that word. Forever God stands apart and light unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar. For the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite.

18:46 The caterpillar and the archangel, though far removed from each other and the scale of created things, nevertheless one and that they are alike created. They both belong in the category of that which is not God and are separated from God by infinitude itself. And so all things are broken down in two categories, the creator and the created, and all fall short infinitely. And so this is who this is who our... This is who God is, and and for the sake of it being impossible to to to put him into a box, and and this is the thing about the world religions today, the false religions that the God of Allah, the God of Islam is is a false God.

19:22 He's a demon. And and conversations that that we... I've had with Muslims and and they can't reconcile that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and they can't reconcile things about the God of Christianity because they wanna be able to put God into a box and that's something that we can't do because any anytime that that we think that we can grasp God and put him into a box, he's no greater than us. If we're able to understand God, he's no greater than a human being. And so we need to give God the proper respect and reverence that that he's above our understanding, above our comprehension.

19:53 And so, the goal here is is to see a hint of the glory of God like Moses saw the back of of God's glory in the cleft of the rock. And so, to go on, we're gonna ask, is there any rhyme or reason to be puffed up, to be to be proud, to be prideful before God? The short answer is no, but but what we're gonna do is we're gonna we're gonna go to the word of God and and see what he says here. And so first, in Psalm one thirty verses... We'll start in verse three.

20:23 If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? And Psalm 14 verse one, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none who does good.

20:38 And so first, who... On our on our own, by ourselves, who could stand before God? And the answer is no one. And the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. We've all been fools at one time.

20:48 We've all... Those of us who are saved, those of us who have the Lord Jesus as our as our Lord and savior, we were fools at one time who said that there is no God. But to go further, that those who might say, I believe in God, well, in in the book of James, he says, oh, you say there's one God? Great. Even the demons do.

21:07 But if you say in your heart, there is no God. And so we might believe in one God, we... And even us as as Christians, we're still prone to be fools. You know, you know, some people are fools more than others. I'm looking at my little brothers, you know, but but...

21:24 Just kidding. But the fool has said in his heart there is no God. That in our lives in our lives, how often do we live? How... I I know I...

21:32 Because I do this. How often do I live as if there is no God? And and so they are... Have done abominable works. There is none who does good.

21:40 There is no one worthy. There is no one righteous before God. Our righteousness on our own is like filthy rags. But in verse four, it says, but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. So you wanna know something else about God is that God is the God of love.

21:56 God is God is the fullest of love and He's merciful and there's forgiveness with Him. And, let's find my little my little cheat note here in Psalm one thirty. We can go to Romans chapter five verse eight. You wanna know what love is? The world today...

22:23 That's lust, and lust is never loving. We think about things such as such as sex before marriage and and all those things that that's not love. This is what love is. This is what love is. Jesus said to his disciples that that no greater love than any man than this than for him to...

22:39 For then... For one to for one to lay one's life down for another. But but what we have here, and Jesus went above and beyond that. Romans five verse eight, but God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we are still sinners, Christ died for us. And Romans five eight...

22:57 Five ten says that we are enemies of God. We we are reconciled when we're enemies to God. And so those people that that, you know, those people that are an abomination to the Lord right now, we think about, you know, the pride month and all that kind of stuff. I keep on bringing it up because it's just so relevant today, but but Jesus Christ died for those people. And so we need to look at them too as as as people who are lost and in need of a savior and that they're not below the salvation of the Lord because the salvation of the Lord is is extended to everyone.

23:30 We wanna talk about the mercy of God. The mercy of God. God... The mercy of God is God's... Is His goodness encountered with our own our own misery, our own inability, our own incompetence.

23:43 It says here in Colossians one thirteen fourteen, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins that he's delivered us. Other translations say rescued, that we couldn't do anything on our own. And so Hebrews ten eleven through fourteen and nineteen twenty two, turns out, mister Morris read this today, that how are... How is this forgiveness? How do we have this forgiveness?

24:11 Through the Lord Jesus Christ. And and I'm just gonna start at verse 12. But this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. And what's this what's this offering?

24:28 What's this sacrifice? But the work of the cross. Verse 19, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holies by the blood of of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. The boldness that that from the the fear and like, you think about in in the Old Testament, the high priest when he went into the holiest of holies, the tradition says that that he had to tie a rope around his around himself so that if if he sinned, then he he died in the holiest of holies and they would have to pull him out. But now that veil is torn and we have open access, we we can approach God with boldness.

25:07 So that's a beautiful thing from the Lord Jesus. And and the question here is is as we sang the the song of grace today, is there anything that we could have done to to earn that, to deserve that? And obviously, the answer is no. Says here in Ephesians two:eight-nine, For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. And first Corinthians four:seven says here, and this goes on to even in our daily lives, everything that we have is given.

25:37 Everything John John John the Baptist said that every good and perfect gift comes from above. Word James, one of the two. But first Corinthians four seven, for who makes you differ from another and what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you didn't indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? So all things that we have is from the Lord, is from God.

25:58 He has blessed us with everything. And so I hope all these things correlate. My my brain kinda kinda works crazy. Alright. I'm doing alright on time, I think.

26:10 But if you look at, you know, the... When I do math work, I... The the... Everything's kinda scrabbled around and and I have to have arrows pointing to, you know, the steps of of the math I take and it's it's horrible. It's a mess.

26:23 And so hopefully, this isn't like that. But what I... What the goal here is the goal here is to see God to see me. That when we see God, we see God as who He is and we and we exalt Him and lift Him up as who He is, we can see ourselves in sober judgment. We see...

26:38 We can see ourselves in humility, and therefore, can humble ourselves before the Lord and before men. And so all things are given to us from our eternal hope in heaven and Jesus Christ to the very breath you take right now, everything is given. And so what can I do? What's our response? Our response, should and it and it could and hopefully just by that...

27:02 Our our willingness that that we can say to God like, how can I repay? And obviously, we know we can't repay. We can't we can't repay the the debt that that Jesus paid. We can't do anything to give back to God that he would that we would be, I guess, the slate would be wiped clean, but he doesn't ask that of us. And so what can we say?

27:21 What can I do, Lord? We can ask God that. Micah six eight, he says, he has shown you, o man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. And so we can probably spend the next year on this verse, but we're just gonna focus on just for the next ten minutes to walk humbly with your God.

28:17 He who has seen me has seen the father. So how can you say show us the father? So see Jesus. And and what does this mean that we want to reflect Jesus Christ? Well, we saw that we...

28:29 JC Schroeder hit on this last week that they had this mindset, let this mind be in you, was also in Christ Jesus. And what did Christ Jesus do? But he came down from the highest point of exaltation. He came down from glory with the father and made himself a servant. Made himself below us and he died for us.

28:45 And and so that's what we're supposed to reflect. In second Corinthians three eighteen, that Paul says that we're we're changing as beholding in a mirror, changing from glory to glory. And what is that glory to glory but but changing to Jesus? Changing, transforming, being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. And so what does Roman eight Romans eight twenty nine say?

29:08 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So what's the question there that that God wants me to change? God wants me to... Yes. He wants me to be transformed.

29:21 Wants me to be less of Mason and more like Jesus. And so, that's God's earnest desire and we can only do that when we reflect Jesus Christ's humble mindset. Deflect. Now, who here likes to receive praise? You know, get attention, maybe a pat on the back.

29:41 Maybe let that pat on the back turn into a shoulder massage and, you know, all that kind of stuff. I do. You know, think, you know, Andy Morris, you know, his shoulder massage, I'll warn you, it hurts while you're in it but then it feels amazing afterward. Shelly's not here. Oh, Connor likes shoulder massages.

29:57 Yeah, he does. Shelly, you know, her, you know, her shoulder massages put you to sleep. They're they're nice and gentle but anyway, anyway, I desire attention. I desire praise. And that's my fleshly nature that I want the attention to go to me.

30:12 I want to be exalted. And now receiving these things isn't inherently wrong in itself that that among the body, people here have the gift of encouragement. We're meant to encourage one another in the Lord but what's our response to that? Are we gonna be a sponge and absorb it and and and bring praise to ourselves and puff ourselves up? Or are we gonna deflect it to God?

30:34 And so that's the goal here to to, as in holding a mirror angled up towards the Lord, to just give it to the Lord and praise Him for everything that that He has given us and that He's done. And a great a great example of that, I always like to pick examples of people who are sinners like John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a sinner saved by grace, by way, you didn't know that. John one thirty five to 37 says here, again the next day John stood with two of his disciples and looking at Jesus as he walked, said, behold the lamb of God. The two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus.

31:05 The disciples of John, those who were with John, they left John, just deserted him, right, and followed Jesus. But John was deflecting. He was pointing people to Christ. And that's what we're to do. Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.

31:17 And then John three thirty, this is a great example of deflection here. He must increase, but I must decrease. And so that's what, we should desire to follow there. Going on. And let this attitude be in ourselves too in in Luke seventeen ten.

31:35 It says here, so likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do. So let that let that be our attitude before the Lord that that we're just doing what we ought to. We're just... There there...

31:48 There's no reward that we should get, but we should... We're just doing this for you, God. And then let's see. Make make... Before I click the next slide, make sure I got everything that I wanted to get.

32:20 They're already glorified. They already have they already have power and riches and wisdom. They have this to the fullest. They have strength and honor and glory and blessing to the fullest. And so how the heck how the heck do we do we increase what it what's impo...

32:33 Like how can God be exalted anymore? And... But the thing is the Lord is worthy of our power. He's worthy of our riches, our wisdom, our strength, our honor, our glory, and our blessing. William MacDonald, in in one of his, devotional books said that that God who who can't be exalted any higher than He is, all that we can do is to lower ourselves.

32:58 That from standing to kneeling, from kneeling to just falling down before Him. That's how... And obviously, I'm not talking about only physically. You can do it physically, but I'm talking about in our heart mindset that that we lower ourselves before the Lord. We humble ourselves before Him.

33:15 And so, another thing, as we talk about exaltation, what's amazing about exalting the Lord, about humbling ourselves before the Lord is that it says here, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. James four verse 10. I must have skipped verse six in an accident. Whoops. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.

33:39 That that it's a mutual relationship. It's a two way street. I guess you can say, you know, as mister Meng says, you scratch my he scratch my back, I scratch your back. Right? But, which is a beautiful thing.

33:49 Obviously, this shouldn't be our motivation that we would be exalted but we're gonna talk about forms of exaltation here. But but we look at Jesus Christ who humbled himself the most out of anyone who has ever lived and Jesus continues to live but we're talking about on this earth, he humbled himself on this earth more than anyone and so therefore He's exalted more than anyone. That that when God exalted Jesus, as J. C. Schroeder said, it was His it was His stamp of approval.

34:16 And so we have the same thing here with God that that first of all, when we when we humble ourselves before the Lord, casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you. And we'll read in Daniel chapter 10 here, verse 12. This is an... A messenger of the Lord came to Daniel and he said... Then he said to me, do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come because of your words.

34:42 So what's the first form of exaltation that we have is is fellowship with the Lord and when we humble ourselves before the Lord, we have the attention, have the ear of the Almighty God that He hears our words and He and He answers prayers. So answer to prayer, that's that's one of our exaltations when we humble ourselves before the Lord. Going on, and and and also what I wanna point out here that that it says here, you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God. That Daniel sought to do that. It's something he sought after.

35:17 He didn't perfect it. He didn't do it perfectly. But God, knowing that he is unapproachable, he is incomprehensible, that we can't do it perfectly, that even our own efforts that He honors those and and therefore He hears us. Isaiah six eight, we're gonna go back to, the, the prophets also that that we had talked about. Isaiah six eight says here, you know, I heard the voice of the Lord saying...

35:43 I need some water real quick. I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, here am I, send me. And what's our next exaltation here is that when we humble ourselves before God, we make ourselves ready to do his work. Ephesians two ten says here, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

36:09 When I think about when I think about something that you're proud of, right, we've trophies and awards before and you wanna put... You're proud of those things, wanna put those on the shelf. Right? But in our Christian walk, in our walk with the Lord, when we're proud, we're put on the shelf. And I think about my...

36:23 Our... One of our bookshelves at home that sits there and collects dust is never used, no book is ever taken off of there. That's us in our Christian walk that that when we're proud before God, that we put ourselves on the shelf in terms of service and and doing his will. And that's one one of our greatest purposes is to be his workmanship for good works for Christ Jesus, to do his work. And so when we humble ourselves before God, we're exalted exalted by doing what we're here on earth to do, which is to to glorify Christ.

37:15 Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. These things scary because obviously the prosperity gospels is a false gospel. It's a false teaching and this isn't a promise. It's just a general principle that that yes, there could be material blessing. There could be there could be temporal blessing, guess you can say, when we humble ourselves before God that we are to both...

37:37 Once again, we're to be stewards, that we can exalt God with our money, with our possessions, with whatever we have. We can exalt God and and take something temporal that we're not gonna take with us when we die. We're not gonna take our money, our things with us. What we can do is take those temporal things and use them for eternal purposes. Use them to glorify God.

37:57 Use them to bring people to Christ. That money has a power to do that because God gives it that power to do that. He's a giver of power. A general principle, my my my my thought here is let God be God. Then he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.

38:13 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And so what is this idea here is that that if God chooses to bless someone with some sort of temporal blessing, well then great, let God be God. And so he can choose to do that. In verse... Proverbs three nine ten, this is, honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase, so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.

38:39 And so with our temporal blessing that the Lord gives us, we can also exalt Him in return. And then the final, the most, I would say the most exciting, the most important exaltation, is our, I I guess you can call it our final exaltation. I don't know how to describe it actually, but but John eighteen thirty six a, Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world and neither is our final exaltation. Second Timothy two eleven twelve a says, this is a faithful saying, for if we died with him, we shall also live with him if we endure, we shall also reign with him. And so that's our exaltation there that that we're gonna reign with the Lord Jesus, that we're gonna be coming down in the clouds of heaven, when he when he returns, and we're gonna be with him, and then we're gonna reign with him and then we're gonna be with him for eternity, for the millennial reign and then eternity.

39:28 And and so that's our exaltation. One amazing thing. And going on... Oh, whoops. That must be the last slide.

39:36 Did I add anything else? I don't think so. In closing in closing, a couple of things, and and I'm probably saying this out of order. It's not, once again, my scrambled brain, and I think of things randomly. But first, walk in the spirit and you will fulfill the desires of the flesh.

39:53 When we act in pride, when we act in pride, it's nothing but flesh. And we know that in Romans eight, it says that that when we are in the flesh, it's impossible to submit to God. It's impossible to please God when we are in the flesh and that's when we are in pride. Humility is in the spirit. We can't be humble except if we have the holy...

40:12 We can't truly be humble except if we have the holy spirit with us, the holy spirit in us. And and so the idea here is humble thyself in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. And so whether that be your first time, to to... That you humble yourself to receive the saving grace of Jesus Christ because it takes... It's an act of humility to come to Lord Jesus.

40:38 It's an act of humility to to see yourself as I'm a wretched sinner in desperate need of a savior, and that's only found in Jesus Christ. And and to to think I'm a sinner who needs saving. It takes humility to do that, to see yourself as who you are. And... But even in in, I guess you can say, your old old years as Christian, as a believer, as a follower of Christ, to continue to to submit to God and let Him work through you.

41:04 And so, let's all strive to humble ourselves before Him. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you for this this time that we had together to to read from your word. Lord, we just pray that that through this this study, Lord, that we see you as who you are as high and lifted up, Lord, as king of kings and lord of lords and worthy of all praise, all blessing. Lord, worthy of of everything that we have.

42:09 If it's continued. And, I... We just thank you for Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.