The Essential Grace of Humility, Part 2

In this part of the sermon: Martin reiterates the previous sermon's theme of 'humility on the horizontal' (towards one another) and introduces the current sermon's focus on 'humility in the vertical'…

A brother's suggestion to title the previous sermon 'Humility on the Horizontal' is used to distinguish between humility in interpersonal relationships and humility before God.

that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you. The first category. The first category of general concern in this section is this matter of an appeal to all for humility. Humility with respect to one another. What one brother told me last week when I said, if you could give me a shorter title, he accommodated me and said I could have entitled the sermon, Humility on the Horizontal. And I thanked him. And so now I'm going to use his suggestion. Peter's emphasizing humility on the horizontal. He says, gird yourselves, apron yourselves with humility...

8:01 - 9:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Tie on the apron of humility in all your relationships to one another, recognizing God's principle of resisting the proud and giving grace to the humble.

The phrase 'apron yourselves with humility' is used as a metaphor for consciously adopting the garb of a servant in all relationships.

That's a command with a purpose in order that he may exalt you in due season. And then you have a participial construction. While humbling yourself, casting all your anxieties upon him. That's an attendant duty. With the humbling, you must be casting. The casting is to be the attendant duty of the humbling, and it is a duty with a reason. Casting all your care upon him because he cares for you. So then we take up the two verses then with those two very simple headings. A command with a purpose, verse six. Consider with me, first of all, the command. As surely as all of us, elders and all the m...

15:57 - 17:19 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is a familiar Old Testament expression describing God's irresistible actions in human affairs, whether in restraining and subduing his enemies, or in the defense and chastisement of his children and their ultimate del…

A commentator's description of 'the hand of God' as an Old Testament expression for God's irresistible actions in human affairs (restraining enemies, chastising children) is used to define the sermon's central concept.

Humble yourselves therefore not under God or before God, but under the mighty hand of God. So our humbling with reference to God focuses upon what Peter describes as the mighty hand of God. Now what does that mean? Well if you were to take your concordance, and I would urge you to do this from time to time, it's a wonderful study, and you look up hand of God, the hand of his might, and you will find that this is a rich Old Testament phrase in different ways, the hand of God, the mighty hand of God, the right hand of his power, and in all of those usages there is some expression of what one com...

19:28 - 20:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is a familiar Old Testament expression describing God's irresistible actions in human affairs, whether in restraining and subduing his enemies, or in the defense and chastisement of his children and their ultimate del…

Exodus 13:3, describing God bringing Israel out of Egypt 'by strength of hand,' illustrates God's mighty hand in deliverance and destruction of enemies.

in restraining and subduing his enemies, or in the defense and the chastisement of his children. Let's just look at a couple of examples, and then I hope that tweaks your interest and you'll look it out more thoroughly on your own. With respect to God bringing his people out of Egypt, how does he do it? Exodus 13 and verse 3.

20:49 - 21:11 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is a familiar Old Testament expression describing God's irresistible actions in human affairs, whether in restraining and subduing his enemies, or in the defense and chastisement of his children and their ultimate del…

1 Samuel 5-6, detailing God's judgment on the Philistines with tumors and the toppling of Dagon, illustrates God's 'heavy hand' in judgment, recognized even by pagans.

Exodus 13 and verse 3, and Moses said unto the people, Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand Jehovah brought you out from this place. You were delivered, a deliverance that meant the destruction of God's enemies, and the preservation of his people is described as a putting forth of the hand of Jehovah. Here is the mighty hand of God effecting the exodus, but now in 1 Samuel 5 and verse 6, we have another profuse use in this context of the concept of the hand of God, even by pagans. The situation is such that there's conflict be...

21:11 - 22:28 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that the command to humble oneself under the 'mighty hand of God' refers to God's irresistible actions in human affairs, whether in subduing enemies or chastising…

Psalm 32, where David says God's 'hand was heavy upon me,' illustrates God's concentrated fatherly displeasure upon a sinning child, connecting to the 'mighty hand of God' in chastisement.

This is God acting in a demonstrable way in judgment. And we can trace that out. You remember in Psalm 32, David says, day and night you're what? Your hand was heavy upon me.

23:30 - 23:43 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the posture of those who recognize God's right to bring what He is bringing upon you, never questioning 'why have you treated me thus?'

A quote from Scottish commentator John Brown, stating 'There is neither blind chance nor unintelligent necessity in God's world,' reinforces the doctrine of divine sovereignty over suffering.

They are to take the posture of those who recognize that God has every right to bring what he is bringing upon them, to allow them to feel the pinch and the pressure of the unbeliever, to allow them to feel that they are ungodly, and their ungodly words and actions, slandering them, lying about them. And he says to these believers, as surely as you have a mandate to apron yourselves with humility as you relate to one another, so humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. These afflictions to which you are exposed are the result of divine appointment and agency. Understand that, dear believe...

27:01 - 28:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Take the posture of those who recognize God's right to bring what He is bringing upon you, never questioning 'why have you treated me thus?'

Pastor Tripp's bristling indignation at people who say 'I am angry at God' is used to highlight the sinfulness of creaturely pride in questioning the Creator.

In Isaiah, his counsel stands, he will do all his pleasure. Then if the people of God, we have got to do something more than stoically bear up under it and hope that sooner or later the hand will be lifted, we are to humble ourselves. We are, as we saw last week, consciously to take the place of the creature who has no right to look up into the face of the Creator, not only never to say, why have you made me thus, but why have you treated me thus? As Pastor Tripp reminded us so vividly yesterday and bristled with holy wrath and indignation when he talked about having over the course of the yea...

28:14 - 29:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that God's mighty hand is purifying you, removing dross, and conforming you to the image of His Son through suffering.

A line from a hymn ('Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the promise is given, more happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven') is quoted to emphasize the security of believers rooted in God's immutable counsel and grace, even under His mighty hand.

Though the mighty hand of God has been put forth in ways that if you were ordering the affairs might be different, remember all that we've said that this mighty hand, this God has provided for you. The God whose mighty hand is upon you is the one who has given you an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, committed, as we heard in the previous hour, by that five-fold cord of sovereign grace and mercy to bring us safely to heaven. Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the promise is given, more happy, but not more secure, the glorified s...

30:26 - 31:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The purpose of humbling is God's exaltation 'in due time' (kairos). This could refer to the final consummation at Christ's second coming, or to a general principle of God's moral…

Job's response to losing everything ('The Lord gave. The Lord takes away. Blessed... is the name of God') is presented as an example of humbling oneself under the mighty hand of God, even without understanding the 'why'.

Stinking, rotten, creaturely, sinful pride. What did Job know? He died never knowing what we know when reading the book of Job. But when all was taken, he falls upon his face and does what?

34:15 - 34:30 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The purpose of humbling is God's exaltation 'in due time' (kairos). This could refer to the final consummation at Christ's second coming, or to a general principle of God's moral…

Moses' 40 years as a fugitive shepherd after murdering an Egyptian, followed by God calling him to lead Israel, illustrates God's pattern of humbling before exaltation.

Often when that work of humbling is done, there is an exaltation, even in this life. Can you think of some examples in the Old Testament? There's a young man filled with the knowledge of Egypt, skilled in languages, in military operations, in administration. His name is Moses.

37:13 - 37:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is a principle, operative even in this life, that the way up is indeed the way down.

Joseph's journey from a brash dream-teller to a pit, then slavery, then prison, before becoming prime minister of Egypt, illustrates God's way of humbling the proud and exalting the humble.

Think of Joseph. God gives him dreams. His father and his brothers are going to bow down to him. But God's got to humble him.

38:29 - 38:36 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is a principle, operative even in this life, that the way up is indeed the way down.

Nebuchadnezzar's seven years as a beast of the field until he acknowledged God, followed by the restoration of his kingdom, illustrates the principle that 'the way up is indeed the way down'.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, in kairos, in his time, in the appointed time. Think of Nebuchadnezzar. He's crawling around like a beast of the field. His fingernails grew, it says, like bird's claws, until he acknowledges that the Most High is God.

39:12 - 39:35 Read in full sermon

The point: If God has given you a good mind, recognize where it comes from and who sustains it, guarding against a 'swelled head'.

Nebuchadnezzar's boast 'This is my kingdom that I have built' is used as a warning against intellectual pride, reminding listeners that God can easily remove their abilities.

What have you that you did not receive? Remember Nebuchadnezzar. This is my kingdom that I have built. God says, I'll show you who's done it.

42:02 - 42:11 Read in full sermon

The point: Remember what you are as creatures, where you ought to be as a sinner, and what you are because of grace, to humble yourself under God's mighty hand.

The example of a burst blood vessel or occlusion in the brain causing a strong arm to go limp is used to illustrate the fragility of human abilities and to counter pride in physical coordination.

You see that round ball coming and you can hit it. Who makes you to differ? Who makes you to differ? We've seen what happened in recent days when one little blood vessel burst or when some occlusion occurs in one part of the brain.

42:50 - 43:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Be humbled now by God's grace, owning your creaturehood and sinfulness, and come to Christ for mercy, rather than being humbled by God's judgment in hell.

The parable of the publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18) is used to illustrate the contrast between the proud, self-exalting individual and the humble, sin-owning individual, and God's response to each.

The publican who owned his position as a creature accountable to God, as a sinner guilty before God, defiled and polluted, cried out, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Jesus said, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. The one who stood proud and unbent in the presence of God. As if to tell God, look what I've got, God, in case you didn't see it.

48:29 - 48:54 Read in full sermon