1 Peter 5:5,6 Grace to the Humble

A young woman went to her pastor and said, "Pastor, I have a besetting sin, and I want your help. I come to church on Sunday and can't help thinking I'm the prettiest girl in the congregation. I know I ought not think that, but I can't help it. I want you to help me with it."

The pastor replied, "Mary, don't worry about it. In your case it's not a sin. It's just a horrible mistake."

Many times we make the same horrible mistake – of not seeing ourselves realistically – Much higher opinion of ourselves

A)And it affects our relationships w/ other people & our attitude about the Church – the body of Christ

B) If I were to give a theme to the first 11 verses of Ch. 5 of first Peter – Call it Body life

1) For We have seen how he begins w/ the Leadership in v.1-4 – The Heart of the Shepherd - Love / serve / Be example of Christ

C) Then he speaks to those who are younger – exhorting them to submit to the Elders – the Spiritual leaders in the flock

1)The issue of submission has already come up several times in this letter.

D)The apostle asked the church to submit to the govt, slaves to their masters, and he has dealt with the issue of submission in marriage.

1) Then he moves on to relationships within the body of Christ.

E) Apparently the younger men in the various churches to whom he was writing were struggling to submit to their godly, appointed elders,

1) especially in this time of political and social suffering.

F) I can understand their feelings. There was a time in my life younger days full of Pride/ I thought those in leadership in the Church didn’t have a clue

1) Out of touch – too soft – poor decisions -

I remember when our High school – fellowship @ CCCM /was going to lose our Pastor – In my mind the group was going so good

A)I was a Jr. in High School – I went to Pastor Chuck stood in line after a service –asked him that before he picked a new guy – come visit

B) It is one of those things I look back on now & hope that he has forgotten

C) Now what me & my friends , failed to realize was that the Chief Shepherd JESUS picked our leaders

1) To shepherd HIS flock and WE in turn were to submit to THEM & in doing so we were really submitting to HIM –

D) God had Chosen Pastor Chuck to lead CCCM & He would show Him who was supposed to be the High School Pastor

1) He did – Picked this Fiery little Italian Cimino – Best Ever

So Peter exhorts the younger People in the Body to respect & to submit to the Elders – then he says to the body at Large

all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility,

A)One of the distinguishing marks of the body of Christ – is there is a mutual submissiveness that is present – ranking ourselves under others

1) A heart attitude that expresses it self in actions – that says – I want to do what I can to Help my Bro/ Sis- Grow in the Lord – Be better people

B) It is an attitude that is to stand in great contrast to the Dog eat Dog world – that we live in where people Climb right over each other to Get ahead.

1) Instead in the Church we are to be models of those who take the Lower place so that others may be Exalted / built up / rewarded

C) At the heart of such a Lifestyle is HUMILITY –

1) Which is why Peter exhorts – Be clothed w/ Humility

D) In other words Let a Humble heart & actions be the Garment that covers your life

1) May it stand in Stark Contrast to the prideful attitudes that are so Prevalent in the world’s economy

When Hudson Taylor went into China as a Missionary – one of the things that he required of himself & those who worked w/ him

A)Is that they would dress like the Chinese commoners – off w\ American suits & they would wear the Chinese dress

B) This enraged some back here in the states – but Taylor’s heart was to be like the people he sought to minister to – not appear above them

1) It was a successful Plan – the act of humility – brought acceptance among the Chinese – Great & fruitful ministry was the result

C) Hudson Taylor had a good example to follow – Christ Jesus laid aside the robes of His Glory – came clothed like a common man

1) That he might touch men

D) To cloth ourselves in Humility is to see ourselves in the same place as those around us – put simply – Sinners in need of Grace

1) Accept for the grace of God there go I

Then Peter gives us a very good reason for Living in this way – quoting from Prov.3:34 - “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

A)The Phrase God resist the Proud is interesting – the word resist also translated opposed is a military term

B) It depicts a full army ready for battle !!! So in essence what Peter is suggesting is that God is in full battle array as it were against the Proud

C) See Pride is a Sin from which many others spring – Pride is the Starting point

1) Example : Pride is often at the Core of Lying – bearing a false witness

D) If I told the truth / if I expressed things the way the really are – people would think less of me - so I will embellish it a bit .

E) Many murders & fights are the reaction to someone’s Pride being wounded

Spurgeon: PRIDE is so natural to fallen man that it springs up in his heart like weeds in a watered garden,. It is an all pervading sin, and smothers all things like dust in the roads, or flour in the mill.

Pride is hard to get rid of .If killed it revives, if buried it bursts the tomb.

You may hunt down this fox, and think you have destroyed it, and lo! your

very exultation is pride. Pride is a sin with a thousand lives; it seems impossible to kill it, it flourishes on that which should be its poison, glorying in its shame. It is a sin with a thousand shapes; by perpetual change it escapes capture. To die to pride and self, one would need to die himself.

In Prov. 6 it says There are six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: the first thing that tops the List is A proud look,

A)Pride was the sin that turned Lucifer into Satan – got him kicked out of Heaven Conceit is the devil's gift to little men.

B) Pride was the sin of Adam & Eve – eating the forbidden fruit – Be like God Knowing both good & evil

WW “The pride of life” is one of the commodities that the world system offers and most people will pay anything to acquire it.

Pride, like the magnet, constantly points to one object: self.

A)A proud person signals his pride like a flashing red light at an intersection.

He displays how "great" he is by his walk, his talk, and his mannerisms

B) But Pride is such ugly thing like a snake ugly / but just think if you saw it sticking out of the stomach of a Friend

1) That is what pride is like – The head & voice of the serpent – protruding

from a persons life

C) I have a dear friend – Brilliant young guy – just gifted intelligent – sky is the limit – nothing that he can’t do – many gifts

1) Problem is He knows it – Pride – over shadows every good trait / all the gifts – ( Instead of his life being a Platform for God’s glory )

D) His Pride detracts from God’s Glory – UGLINESS -

Pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick except the one who has it.

E) Sad because I know for the Lord to really use Him – I know that He is going to have to strip him & break him of that pride

1) And I am not looking forward to seeing that

F) Said of Moses – 40yrs somebody – I can do anything I put my mind to / 40yrs nobody – God called him – I CAN’T - but God could

1) LAST 40 yrs leading everybody

Spurgeon rightfully said

I do not believe that God ever fills a cup which was not empty; or that he ever fills a man’s mouth with his word while that man has his mouth full of his own words.

But the Bible is Clear that Pride Comes before __________ & a Haughty Spirit before a Fall –

A)Jesus said in Matt 23:12 whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

B) Seen over & over in the pages of Scripture – those who would seek to prop themselves up in Pride – The Lord Pulls down

1) Those who have a humble opinion of themselves – The Lord pulls up

So God sets His face in Battle array against the Proud – But He gives GRACE to the humble – GRACE is what we desperately need

A)Grace = God’s Undeserved Favor –

B) The Word grace originated from a Hebrew word that meant to bend or stoop and by it came to include the idea of condescending favor

1) Unmerited undeserved Blessing from God

C) Barnhouse – put it well when he said : love that goes upward is WORSHIP / Love that goes outward is AFFECTION

1) But Love that comes downward is GRACE

D) G.R.A.C.E. - What are some of those Riches – Here is a Partial list

You are beyond Condemnation – Rom. 8:1

You are delivered from the law Rom. 7:6

You are near to God – Eph.2:13

You are delivered from the power of evil – Col. 1:13

You are a member of his Kingdom – Col . 1;13

You are Justified Rom. 5:1

You are Adopted – Rom.8:15

You have access to God – Eph.2:18

You are part of His priesthood 1 Pet.2:5

You will never be abandoned – Heb.13:5

You have an imperishable inheritance 1 Pet.1;4

You are member of His body / branch in the vine / stone in the building/ a bride for the groom

P.C. Grace transforms desolate & bleak plains into rich, green, pastures. It Changes grit your teeth duty into loving, enthusiastic service. It exchanges the tears & guilt of our own self effort for the eternal thrill & laughter of freely offered pleasures at the right hand of God – Grace changes everything

We have been given every blessing possible in Christ- Comes thru the Vehicle of God’s Grace

A)Now when Peter says that God resist the Proud but gives grace to the Humble doesn’t mean that – God will not show grace to the Proud person –

B) Because he does every day

1) Rom. 5:20 Sin abounded – grace abounded all the more

C) The very fact that the Proud sinner isn’t immediately done in – Consumed by the all consuming fire of God is an act of Grace

1) The very fact that the Proud Boaster & Blasphemer isn’t – struck by lightning the minute he opens his mouth is because of grace

D) But the unbowed proud soul – never really gets to enjoy the Grace that God gives especially in it’s fullness

DAVID & MEPH. – Jonathan’s crippled son

A)The common practice was to do away w/ the relatives of any remaining rivals – any potential threats

B) David brings him in – treats him like one of his own sons – live in the Palace & eat at the kings table

1) That is Grace – that is a picture of what God has done for us – because of our relationship w/ Christ

C) But what if MEPH. Refused – what if He protested I am of noble blood – I deserve to be king – rallies a small army

1) David would have had no other Choice but to oppose Him

D) God has extended his hand of Grace to man – but there are those who won’t accept it – Good enough – own merit – Insult to God’s Grace

1) FIND FALL MISERABLY SHORT – Judging by the wrong standard

E) Those who defiantly – say I won’t accept the Grace of God – I will have no God reigning over me –

1) God will oppose them – In Grace he will first seek to bring them down that they might be Humbled & turn to Him –

F) If that doesn’t work their fate will be Judgment

It is humility of heart that puts us in the place to receive of the grace that God has for us – we recognize the need

A)And the Lord has an abundance of Grace to Give

Sam Dunncannan - Ministry pictures to w/ poems or verses to give to people in his church.

1) Came across a picture of Niagara falls - couldn’t find right thing to match w/ it until heard Ira Sankey sing this Hymn

Have you on the Lord believed? Still there is more to follow -

Of his grace have you received? Still there's more to follow

Oh, the grace the Father shows, Still there s more to follow

Freely He His Brace bestows, Still there's more to follow.

More and more and more and more, Always more to follow;

Oh, His matchless, boundless love, Still there's more to follow – Always …More to follow

It is always an unpleasant thing to be reading an article in a Magazine or a newspaper & where just engrossed in the story

A)And then you turn the page & read TO BE CONTINUED

B) Yet those words can be a blessing in our lives when applied to other areas – especially as it relates to the Love & Grace of God –

1) available to those who are in CHRIST

C) Never turn the page & read- All used up / end of the Story- but it always reads – TO BE CONTINUED

It is like an endless Chain – a stream that continues to flow mile after mile thru all types of terrain

A)Spurgeon put it this way : All the volumes that record the dealings of Divine Grace are but a part of series that is to be Continued

B) God is ready to give grace to those who Know that they need for the situation that for which it is necessary

1) Back in Ch.1 Peter spoke of various trials that the believers go thru

C) We noted that the word various meant – many-colored.-

1) The trials that we go thru come in many different colors / Shapes & Sizes

D) But in (1Pet 4:10). Peter uses that word - one other time and it is to describe the grace of God

1) ( Manifold – many colored Grace of God)

The Connection presents an awesome truth !!!

Our troubles may be many-colored, but so is the grace of God; there is no color in the human situation which that grace cannot match.

A)There is a grace to match every trial and there is no trial without its grace.

B)As we go thru the Trial – the Lord reveals that His Grace is Sufficient. His power is made perfect in our times of weakness

1) Paul says therefore I will glory in my infirmity – for when I am weak then I am strong – His power working in my weakness

So having a humble heart puts us in that place of being able to receive & enjoy the grace of God – w/ that in mind Peter says

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

A) The wording that Peter uses here I think is the key to having a Humble heart – Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God

A) Humility is birthed in the Heart when I see myself in light God

1) Pretty good baseball player – NY Met Scouting team

B) Saw myself in same light as those guys – not as good

C) Same is true of the Lord – Isa. Woe is you / Woe is me –UNDONE

1) Poverty of Spirit

D) So Humility is born when I see myself in light of God /

1)But Pride is birthed & fostered when man sees himself apart from God

The Need that we have to continually be amazed by the Glory of God

A)Beach - Fri night - Prov.8:29

He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command,

B) That is first step toward –Humility being captured w/ God –

1) NOTE: God exalts the Humble in DUE TIME

Now I want to finish this morning – w/ this thought – although this text is directly addressed to the Unbeliever – there is application

A)See – There is an abundance of Grace from God – available to every man & woman here today

B) But in order to receive of that Grace – We must Humble ourselves

1) For the unbeliever that means – REALIZE – sinner

C) Realize only Christ can save – You – bow the Knee – Accept His gracious invitation to come & live at the Palace

1) Not just in the family – but fully healed of your crippled state

Moses / Samson / Peter / Paul / Pharaoh