Following Christ As A Saint & Sinner - Karlos Limtiaco - Session 2 - The Necessity of a Humble View of Self

OK guys, so we continue with this class following Christ as saint and sinner. Let's begin with a review. Last week, we directed our attention to the great commission there at the end of Matthew's Gospel. the great commission, it is a command.

we are called to go and Disciples and then we focused most of our time on the necessity of an exalted view of God. It is absolutely necessary that we cultivate in our own lives and in our ministries, in our discipling ministries, an exalted view of God. We must learn to link. The attributes of God to our daily lives, and we must help others to link the attributes of God to their daily lives.

When you think about it, how much would be accomplished if we truly believed in the sovereignty of God. How much would be accomplished if we truly believed that he works all things together for the good to those that love Him, all things. How much would be accomplished if we truly believed that he is wise and He does all things well, that He loves us and that He overflows with mercy to us, that He is kind to us. How much would be accomplished if we truly believed and understood that he is, he is holy, set apart, but in connection to the holiness, He is 100% pure in his being without spot, without wrinkle, without stain, without blemish.

If we truly believe that and we're gripped by the reality of who God is, much would be accomplished, and we need to learn how to, think. True thoughts about God and let those thoughts affect, impact our lives and then, and then help others to see how the attributes of God connect to their daily lives. And so we must therefore develop the discipline of meditating on the person and work of our triune God, and I intentionally use the word triune. There is so much that is packed into the understanding.

The distinct Christian understanding of a triune God. Anyway, there's, there's a lot that could be said there. I'm just gonna leave it at that. Developing and maintaining an exalted view of God is necessary for cultivating the attitude of humility, and so this is where we're headed today.

the necessity of humility, the necessity of humility. if we are going to be following Christ as saint and sinner and helping others to follow Christ as saint and sinner, humility is an absolute necessary ingredient, and if we really do see ourselves as saint and sinner both at the same time, it follows that we will be humble, we should be humble. And so let's consider a few quotes. In connection to humility.

If you plan to build a tall house of virtues, you must first lay deep foundations of humility, Augustine. I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ and the brightest evidences that He is indeed our Master, says John Newton. Humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all. Andrew Murray, his thought is that as we get caught up in a grand view of who our God is, then humility will follow.

The root of all virtue and grace, of all faith and acceptable worship, is that we know that we have nothing but what we receive and bow in deepest humility to wait upon God for it. For the Christian, let me just back up just a moment to say with these quotes, and this particular persons that I'm quoting from, I don't necessarily always believe with 100% of what they say all the time, OK? Andrew Murray happens to be one of those persons, but he has a lot of good to say, that we can glean from and so thus I've quoted him.

here's one from, AW Tozer who quoted from him a lot last week.

for the Christian, humility is absolutely indispensable. Without it there can be no self-knowledge, no repentance, no faith, no salvation. CS Lewis says a proud man is always looking down on things and people, and of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you. William Sloane Coffin says there is no smaller package in the world than a man be wrapped up in himself.

God help us not to be wrapped up in ourselves. Brett Hansen says, I've learned that Jesus is both terribly dangerous and terribly safe. For the proud. He is the biggest threat imaginable, and for the humble, He is the securest refuge.

Jerry Bridges, the character trait of humility is the 2nd most frequently taught trait in the New Testament, second only to love. And again Jerry Bridges, in the Greco-Roman world of Paul's day, humility was a despised trait. They viewed it as a sign of weakness, and our culture today is no different from that world of 2 1000 years ago. Maybe it's a little different in our Christian circles.

We may even admire humility in someone else, but we have little desire to practice it ourselves. Lord, please help us. To be humble. And of course we cannot be humble apart from his grace in our lives.

We absolutely need him to work in us humility and praise God that he is faithful to do that and God willing, we as His children are growing in this critical character quality of humility. And then Timothy Keller, he's such a quotable guy. He says this humility is so shy, if you begin talking about it, it leaves. We're done.

So here we go, a definition. the mindset of Christ, and I get this from, Stuart Scott. he's written a few books where he includes his understanding of humility, defines it, and, give some qualities of what true humility looks like, and we're going to take a look at those a bit later, but a definition of humility, it's the mindset of Christ, a servant's mindset, a focus on God and others, a pursuit of the recognition and the exaltation of God, and a desire to glorify and please God in all things and by all things He has given.

And so of course we want to cultivate humility in our lives, but as we seek to disciple others, this is a very important virtue to see cultivated in their lives as well.

If, if God can use you to help others to grow in humility, by the grace of God, you have done a great job and all glory to Him and Him alone. OK, so various passages highlighting examples of humility. It starts with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the epitome of humbleness.

Notice what he says as he describes himself. He says, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. And you shall find rest for your souls. Just take note of the fact that of all of the ways in which Christ could have described Himself, he chooses these words as self-descriptions gentle, humble, humble in heart.

Philippians 2:8 in describing the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul says, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. By becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, a grand display of humility that Almighty God would see fit to enter this world and to take upon Himself human flesh. And to dwell among us from his birth all the way to his death, his life was marked by humility. He was absolutely humbled throughout his whole life, and, and the apostle Paul wants to draw the attention of the Philippians to that.

He humbled himself. By becoming obedient to the point of death, he did not have to do that, but for our sake he did. we looked at Isaiah chapter 6 last week, but just note that Isaiah, as he caught a vision of who God was, he was humbled. Woe is me, for I am undone.

I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst unclean people. He started by focusing on, after seeing God, His own inner depravity, and such is an attitude of humility. In Acts 20:19, the apostle Paul, he gathers the Ephesian elders together. He has a talk with them.

He's pouring out his heart to them. He says a lot to them, but amongst those things, he says, serving the Lord with all humility. And with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews, he's telling the Ephesian elders that I served the Lord with all humility. And I want you to consider the apostle Paul's self-evaluation.

This is helpful, I believe. Now, when you think about his ministry earlier on in his ministry as he's writing to the Corinthians, roughly speaking about 55 AD, listen to what he says, I am the least of the apostles. Note the comparison. Apostles.

I am the least of all of the apostles who am not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. And then we have a number of years later, who knows, anywhere from maybe 5 to 8 years later, as he writes to the Ephesians, he says to me the very least of all of the saints. This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and you'll notice here he's comparing himself with all of the saints. It started 58 years ago, a comparison with the apostles.

Here we have his comparison with all of the saints, right? You see this increasing humility being displayed in his life, and then we come to 1 Timothy 1:5, and this would be at least a few years later. where he says it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and, and, and notice he's comparing himself with sinners. He says, of whom I am the foremost of all.

That is humility displayed in his life, increasing measures of humility as he walks with the Lord over the course of time, his view of self becomes more and more debased, right? I am the chief of sinners. Man, that poor guy's got a self-esteem problem, doesn't he? No, he's got a good goddesseem because he takes that as the Supreme Court to look to God and be reminded of the unimaginable grace of God, right?

And so various passages highlighting reasons for humility. The bottom line, God is holy and we are sinful. He is. Perfect and pristine and unblemished.

And we have sinned and we have fallen short of the glory of God. In Adam, all have sinned, and that includes us. We are no better than Adam. Had we been in the garden, we would have eaten that fruit perhaps even faster than he did.

We can read about the fall and the effects of the fall in Genesis chapter 3. We can read more about the effects of sin in our lives as we study through the 1st 3 chapters of the book of Romans. And again, the apostle Paul in Romans, he says, there is no one righteous. What about me, Lord?

He follows up by saying, no, not even one. There is none who is righteous. In fact, We can read through. There is none righteous, not even one.

There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless.

There is none who does good. There is not even one. How's that for a description of self? So we have every reason to be humble.

Our own depravity, our own sin against the holy God. But, but not to despair, right? We have much reason for hope too because of Christ, because of his sacrifice for us. let's consider some passages highlighting the blessings of humility.

Proverbs 15:33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction, the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility. So humility is a path towards honor, honor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:12, before destruction, the heart of man is haughty, but humility goes before honor.

There is the blessing of humility. Those who are humble, can expect by God to be honored, if not in this life, at least in the life to come, right? And that is most important in the life to come. Proverbs 22:4.

The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life. And James 4:6 says that He gives a greater grace. Therefore, it says God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. See, God will exalt the humble.

God exalts the humble. He gives grace to the humble. And a little bit later, James in verse 10 of chapter 4 says, humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and what will the Lord do? He will exalt you.

Let's consider various passages highlighting the command. For humility in Ephesians 4:1, the apostle Paul says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, I entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. After giving to us the gospel, after blasting the reader with the gospel, just flooding the reader's life with gospel truth, he then says, I entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. And then he goes on to describe the worthy walk, right, and notice the first word that he uses with all humility and gentleness.

Sounds a little bit like the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Be like him, be like the one who in all humility saved you, bled his blood for you, came for you, rescued you, made you a new creature in Christ, OK. And be like him. So again, the worthy walk is marked by humility.

Philippians 2:3. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself. We are to have humble mindsets, thinking lowly of self and thinking more highly of others around us. Colossians 3:12, and so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved.

When that you're chosen, holy and beloved, then it follows, I think, that we ought to be able to, to do what we're being called to do here. Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, put on humility. Let yourself be clothed in humility. James 1:21.

Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility, receive the word implanted. We are to have humble dispositions to the word of God, placing ourselves in submission to the word of God. Understanding that it is authoritative and sufficient for our lives and in all humility we are to to receive the word like even now we are to be receiving the word because a lot of what I'm sharing with you just reading scriptures to you receiving it with all humility.

This reminds me, of a friend of mine.

many years ago I lived on the island of Guam, even way back when I was single, lived on the island of Guam and there was a brother there at that church in Guam from Haiti of very humble origins, very humble origins, Doctor Marceline Charles. And I'll never forget while I was there in Guam, Doctor Marceline Charles, he would always find a way to be blessed by the Lord's Day message. And I came from Cornerstone with my critiques and my judgments and my criticisms, my arrogance and pride, I come to this church in Guam and, and, and it was very easy for me in my heart to be critical of those that were seeking to minister the word of God and they're not like Pastor Milton.

Can you feel the pride, the arrogance, and, and, and I would even, in slanderous ways speak negative about what happened from the pulpit.

I And and Brother Marceline. I never heard a negative word from his mouth. It was almost as if all you had to say was Jesus. And his heart would fill with joy.

Now, I'm not saying that it isn't important to have quality teaching coming from the pulpit. I get that. But what I am saying is that there was a humility that was on display where he was able, and this dude, if you saw his Bible. Every single page was chocker full of notes.

He had no room in his Bible for any more notes. He just didn't like and I'm talking. Leviticus. I, I, I'm not joking.

you, you, you, you do this number through his Bible and it's like, he was a guy who, his, his niece by marriage happens to attend Cornerstone and his niece, used to live with her auntie and uncle Marceline, and she said you, you could hear his devotions every morning. For a couple of hours, he would be reading the scripture aloud and he would be praying aloud with passion and enthusiasm, he'd get up and spend 2 hours with God before he went off to go to work. And just a man of humility and I'll never forget one time, someone said something about just, they said something that basically amounted to praise of him.

And on the spot, he broke down.

He just completely broke down before the Sunday school class. And I believe with sincerity of heart, rebuked the compliment to say there is only one who is good. Don't get excited about me, but be excited about God's work of grace if you see it in my life. There was this humility that just flowed from the heart of Brother Marceline and Charles.

anyway, what verse am I on here? I got sidetracked. Which one? OK, I find it in my notes.

OK, to sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted, and humble in spirit. Let all. We're all to be humble in spirit. First Peter 5:5.

You younger men likewise be subject to your elders, and all of you, every single last one of you, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another, and he gives a good reason to do so, for God is opposed to the proud, but He gives grace. To the humble James echoes that same sentiment in 4:10. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. First Peter 5:6.

OK, we've got that. Let me see where am I? oh. OK, page 4.

Page, So hopefully we, we can understand and appreciate the importance. Of humility. Am I on the right page for it? Yeah.

OK, OK. Let us consider some manifestations of humility. What does it look like? OK, this is important.

What does it look like? Number one, recognizing and trusting God's character, recognizing and trusting God's character. If we can throughout the day as situations arise, allow our thinking to first go towards who God is, his character, it's gonna help us. In our sanctification, in our growth as we live as saint and sinner, it's going to serve us well to just simply, recognize his character again, coming back to last week, have a big view of God.

This is necessary. And so the humble person, they, they. They have a sense of who God is. Number 2, seeing yourself as having no right to question or judge an almighty and perfect God.

I believe for me personally that was one of the lessons I learned many years ago in studying through the book of Job. I came to the understanding that a part of what Job teaches us is that God is God and as such he has the right to do as he pleases. He can do as he pleases, and the only proper response to the sovereignty and the goodness and the love and the grace of Almighty God is to praise Him even in the difficulties that life brings our way. Job went through the wringer.

The Lord gives And the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That is some good counsel right there. But to be able to get to that place, that's a work of God, and that is a sign of humility in the life of a person.

That was a humble response on the part of Job, the Lord gives. And the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Another manifestation of humility is focusing on Christ.

Focusing on Christ. I believe it's Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 4 where the exhortation is to, to keep seeking the things above where Christ is. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ and God.

When Christ, who is your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory, right? But to keep seeking Him, focusing in on Christ. Right? Being gospel centered, if you will, being Christ-centered, thinking about his example.

And thinking about what he has done for us, should help us, in, in attaining to humility. Number 4, another manifestation of humility is biblical praying. Praying, praying to God and praying often, praying regularly, that is an indicator that that you need Him. That's a sign of humility, biblical praying.

I encourage you to consider the prayers of scripture, as prayers to model your prayer life after. Biblical praying. Number 5, being overwhelmed with God's undeserved grace and kindness, another manifestation of humility, just overwhelmed, overwhelmed, boy, if we can learn, that if I can learn how to be thankful to the Lord in all things, and that's what the scripture says, in all things give thanks, in all things, really? In all things give thanks.

Learn how to give thanks, and as you disciple people, help them to learn how to give thanks. Help them to see the silver lining, and maybe they, they can't see it. That's OK. The silver lining will be seen in due time.

Help them to know that. Help them to understand that. Help them to believe that God is at work and he's accomplishing some good, even though we might not be able to see it now, OK, again. And, being overwhelmed with God's undeserved grace and kindness.

thinking about the blood of Christ, He laid his life down for us on the cross, bled his blood for us, died the death, we deserve to die so that we would have eternal life. Our future is secure. And so again, being overwhelmed like, like as a sinner who has sinned against the holy God, he saw fit to die for me. Are you kidding me?

Are you kidding me? I love it where the apostle Paul says, God has called me, to, to, to, to preach, to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. I, I can't, I don't even understand what in the world I'm talking about here, like it's beyond my ability to fully comprehend. All I can say is this unfathomable riches, unfathomable, incomprehensible, beyond measure.

And so it's important to be overwhelmed with God's undeserved grace and kindness. Number 6, being thankful and grateful in general towards others. This speaks to me, as, as a husband who at times can be a little bit or maybe even a lot nitpicky, to my poor wife., learning to be thankful and grateful and appreciative and communicating that and letting that be the the the the the tone of my disposition. Just thankful.

Yeah, read through the apostle Paul like he, as he writes his epistles to, various churches. I thank my God upon my every remembrance for all of you, always remembering you, like he's just bubbling over. With thankfulness. He is so thankful, to God and, and, and for what God has done in the lives of these believers, in view of your participation in the gospel until now, writing, I think it's to the Philippians, just thankful for them, thankful and grateful.

and, and sometimes, to be quite honest, sometimes there's certain people, it's like, man, I have a hard time finding things to be thankful for, look for them, you'll find them. You'll find them. And and key in on those things. Number 7, being gentle and patient.

Again, this is a mark of humility. It's a manifestation of humility. Be gentle, being patient. Patience is a fruit of the spirit, gentleness is a fruit of the spirit.

We're called to be patient with all men. 1 Thessalonians 5:14, right? And I love that passage. I pick on it all of the time, but if you think about 1 Thessalonians 5:14, you've got the, the apostle Paul saying, Admonish the unruly, encourage the faint-hearted.

Help the weak Be patient with all men, with all people. So you've got these different categories of people who are struggling or whatever in different ways. You've got, you've got the unruly. They need admonishment.

You've got the faint of heart, the small-souled, the discouraged, encouraged. You've got the weak, those who might be physically weak, help them. Kinda reminds me a little bit. I've been thinking about this a little bit in connection to my dad.

Some of my dad had a stroke like almost a year ago, and dad's just not what dad used to be because of the stroke. he now suffers from a form of dementia called vascular dementia, and, and, and, and he's weak. Help the weak. Be patient, be patient.

There have been a couple of times where, I confess I've lost my patience with my dad. Shame on me. Who in the world am I? That I would think it's OK for me to lose patience with my dad, shame on me.

Be patient with all men is what the Lord says. Be patient. Yeah, I know it's hard. That's why he says to be patient, because the rider knows it's hard.

It's not always easy. But you don't have a choice, be patient with all men. It's a sign of humility, gentleness, patience. Number 8, seeing yourself is no better than others.

Number 9, having an accurate view of your gifts and abilities, not false humility like, well, I have nothing to offer. No, you do have something to offer. You sure do. You certainly have something to offer.

And so what, acknowledge the fact that God has gifted you in unique and special ways, and he wants to use you and your giftedness for the purpose of building up the body. Have an accurate view of your gifts and abilities, but don't think too highly like, man, my aim is the best gift of all, like, give me a break, as if like the Lord needed me to exercise my gifts to accomplish like He, He could shelve me and he can get his thing done without any problem whatsoever. He could shelve any one of us, but what, it's a wonder, isn't it?

That he will use broken people to minister to broken people and to accomplish good in their lives.

Like, it's just, it's just a wonder. Right, we've got this treasure in earthen vessels, crackpots. And he sees fit to use us cracked pots to accomplish his good purposes in this fallen world. It's just an amazing thing, like, praise the Lord.

Being a good listener, right, the scripture says everyone is to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, quick to listen, listen, listen. don't, when you walk by someone say, hey, how are you doing? and they just walk right on by. You didn't care to listen to begin with.

Don't even ask them how they're doing. If you don't wanna stop and listen to how they're doing, be quick to listen. How are you doing? But I really wanna know.

I really want to know, how are you doing? And I will stop to take time even if my day is extremely busy. I'm not gonna make you feel like I am too busy to be with you. I'm going to be quick.

To listen. Being a good listener, that's a, that's a mark of humility, and I understand, sometimes we're so busy and we feel like we don't have time to listen. God help us to live life in such a way that it seems like we always have time to listen. Always have time to listen.

number 11, talking about others only if it is good or for their good. We need to talk about others behind their back, only if it's good, right? Only if it's good. Man, did you hear what such and such care group did?

They went out, they ministered like, man, what, did you hear what such and such person did? Man, they gave their car away to this person who had need. What? it talk about others only if it is good or for their good.

There are times in which, for example, we as elders, we do talk about people in our body. Lord willing, it is always out of love and care and concern and for their good. As shepherds of their souls, we come together and we talk about particular people or particular families, and we grieve and we mourn and we feel upset and, and, and we want, we want to help them to get to where we know God would have them to be. And so we will talk about others.

Right. But for their good, for their good. Number 12, be gladly submissive and obedient to those in authority. That's a sign of humility, submitting to those in authority.

That's what Christ did. He submitted to the authority of his father, and in a way you can say he submitted to us. He submitted to our need for a blood sacrifice so that we might have eternal life. What's the second plan?

being gladly submissive and obedient to those in authority. 13, preferring others over yourself, a mark of humility. we can watch what you wanna watch. We can go to the restaurant that you want to go to.

I really want a burrito. I don't want a salad. We, we, we can, we can go have a salad, honey. Preferring others over yourself.

Number 14, being thankful for criticism or reproof. Oh, thank you for bringing that to my attention. occasionally, and sometimes more than just occasionally, I'll get one of my kids, I've got 4 of them, so it increases the likelihood that this will happen, but they'll come to me and, and critique me about something. Recently, my son Caleb came to me and he needed to talk to me, and there were things about me that was bothering him, and so he brought it to my attention.

and, and, and a humble response would be to say thank you, son, thank you, son, and I try to be that way as much as I can. I don't know that I'm always humble in my responses. Sometimes there's defense. But humble responses, being thankful for the criticism of others, for reproof.

You see, we don't always see ourselves clearly, do we? And we need to understand that we don't necessarily see ourselves clearly, if, if you've got other people telling you that they observe this about you and, and it might be negative. But if they tell you that this is true about you, what, you're a little impatient. actually, Dad, you're quite a bit impatient sometimes.

Oh, they're the outsider looking in, they might have a better vantage point than I do. It, I've got this self-justifying mechanism in me that says no, no. But we really need to receive the input of others, being open and humble, and what, maybe we disagree, but at the very least say what, I appreciate that, I'll think about that and. thank you.

Thank you. 15, having a teachable spirit, it dovetails with what we've just said, just being teachable. And I think about, young people, I think so often they get to this point of like autonomy, independence, they're fighting for it, and it's really hard for them to be teachable, to be humble, and this is why I think, Solomon, the wisest man who had ever lived, in Proverbs, my son, listen to me. Listen, listen, and he gives reason after reason after reason why the son would do well to listen to the counsel, to the admonition, to the advice of the father.

My son listened to me. That's a sign of humility when you will listen to those in authority and have a teachable spirit and receive criticism. 16, seeking always to build up others, seeking always to build up others. Number 17, serving.

And being willing to serve in the most menial of tasks and to do so gladly. Again, in your discipling ministry, you wanna help those that you disciple to, to put on this virtue of humility. Help them to see the importance of it, the value of it, help them to understand what it looks like in their lives. Help them to walk.

In a Christ-like manner. Gentle and humble of spirit of heart. 18, a quickness in admitting when you are wrong. 19.

A quickness in granting and asking for forgiveness. 20 repenting of sin as a way of life. 21, minimizing others' sins or shortcomings in comparison to your own. You wanna, as it were, see the log in your own eye before you seek to remove the speck from your brother's eye, right?

Your perspective, like Paul should be, I am the chief of sinners. I'm the worst sinner I know. I've got so much in me that needs to be worked on. And so if you've got that disposition, then, if you are.

Spiritual, as Galatians chapter 6, Paul there talks about you who are spiritual, if you see someone caught in any trespass, you, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, like, like you can do that when your starting point is, is to see yourself as the chief of sinners. And then you can come to them humbly with, with grace, with compassion. This has application for us as parents. This has application for us as spouses, as we relate to the folks in our local church and our care groups and whatnot.

This has application. 22, being genuinely glad for others, being genuinely glad for others. And the 23 being honest and open about who they are in the areas in which they need growth again, these are just marks of humility and then 24. possessing close relationships.

As a general rule, those that are humble are going to be blessed with friendships, with relationships. If they've got this disposition of humility, there's, they're, they're gonna be attractive to other people. Other people will talk about them behind their back, that such and such. I just love that person.

They're such a blessing., there's a lot of people that my wife and I will talk about behind their backs, because of the humility that we see displayed in their life and just because of how gracious and, and how, how much of a blessing they are. One of those persons happens to be one of our elders, well, all of our elders' wives, but there's one, Lynette Kumamoto. My, my wife does her hair and it seems like every time Lynette leaves the house, later that evening or whenever, Marcy will inevitably say something to me about Lynette, and it's always nothing but good.

She just loves Lynette Kumamoto, And the thing is, is Lynette, man, she's got friends all over the place.

I think it's probably because she carries herself in a humble way. Well, Pride. Is the antithesis of humility. We know that we've focused our attention on humility.

We could spend some time talking about pride, but because of time, we're not gonna do that. but I wanna, end with this question and try to answer it briefly. What should we do when we observe pride in our lives? I submit to you, repent.

Godly sorrow, and I commend to you Psalm 51 as an example of repentance. The psalmist David, after being confronted over his adultery and murder, he completely breaks down. And that's what James in chapter 4 verses 6 to 10 says, weep and mourn and wail. When you are confronted by God with your sin, with your pride, with your lack of humility, just bring that before the Lord in total openness and transparency, in freedom, just come before and say, oh God, please forgive me, help me, let me grow in humility.

So let us go ahead and pray. Please pray for me as I gotta preach now. Lord, we thank you for your words. Lord, we do ask that you would help us at Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church to be a people that are increasingly marked.

By humility. I thank You, Lord, for all of the ways in which humility is on display. In the lives of the people here at Cornerstone. But Lord, we would be remiss, we would be guilty of pride if we were to conclude that we have no need for growth.

Help us, Lord, to be a humble people. We need you to do your work in us to cause us to grow. In humility. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.