Pride Cannot Live Beneath the Cross!
The sermon emphasizes the importance of humility, using the example of Christ's humility to illustrate the need to humble ourselves before God.
C.H. Spurgeon emphasizes the profound humility of Jesus, who exemplified servanthood by washing His disciples' feet and ultimately sacrificing Himself on the cross. He urges believers to reflect on Christ's suffering and the depths of His love, which should lead to a humbling realization of our own need for grace. Spurgeon challenges followers of Christ to abandon pride and embrace humility, recognizing that true understanding of Jesus compels us to bow before Him. The sermon highlights that pride cannot coexist with the awareness of Christ's sacrifice and love. Ultimately, Spurgeon calls for a transformation in our hearts, encouraging us to live out the humility we learn at the foot of the cross.
Text
"He humbled Himself." Philippians 2:8
Jesus is the great teacher of 'humility of heart'. We need daily to learn of Him. See the Master taking a towel and washing His disciples feet! Follower of Christ--will you not humble yourself? See Him as the Servant of servants--and surely you cannot be proud! Is not this sentence the compendium of His biography, "He humbled Himself"? Was He not on earth, always stripping off first one robe of honor and then another--until, naked, He was fastened to the cross; and there did He not empty out His inmost self, pouring out His life-blood, giving up for all of us, until they laid Him penniless in a borrowed grave?
How low was our dear Redeemer brought! How then can we be proud?
Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed. See His thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills; see His hands and feet given up to the rough iron spikes, and His whole self to mockery and scorn; see the bitterness, and the pangs, and the throes of inward grief, showing themselves in His outward frame; hear the horrid shriek, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me!"
If you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross--you have never seen it! If you are not humbled in the presence of Jesus--you do not know Him. You were so lost that nothing could save you--but the sacrifice of God's only begotten Son. Think of that, and as Jesus stooped for you--bow yourself in humility at His feet.
A sense of Christ's amazing love to us--has a greater tendency to humble us, than even a consciousness of our own guilt. May the Lord bring us in contemplation, to Calvary. Then our position will no longer be that of pompous pride--but we shall take the humble place of one who loves much--because much has been forgiven him. Pride cannot live beneath the cross! Let us sit there and learn our lesson--and then rise and carry it into practice!
Sermon Outline
- The Humility of Christ
- The Example of Christ
- The Effect of the Cross
- Pride cannot live beneath the cross
- A sense of Christ's amazing love humbles us
Key Quotes
“He humbled Himself.” — C.H. Spurgeon
“Pride cannot live beneath the cross!” — C.H. Spurgeon
“See His thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with encrimsoned rills;” — C.H. Spurgeon
Application Points
- We should strive to be humble, just like Christ, by daily studying His example and seeing His humility.
- A sense of Christ's amazing love can humble us more than even a consciousness of our own guilt.
- We should sit at the foot of the cross and learn from its example, then rise and carry humility into practice.