The Road Of Humility The Upward Way

Good morning. Greet you all in Jesus name this morning. Blessing to be here today and all that we've heard already.

Maybe let's just bow for a word of prayer before we continue. Eternal Father, we are grateful today. We thank you for your blessings to us.

We thank you for what we heard. We thank you for your word that we can again hear it today. And Lord, we pray that you would just teach us through your word again.

Instruct us as you do. Help us to have open ears to hear what the Spirit says to us today. May our soil be ready to receive.

And Lord, keep the devil away that we that he would not just snatch the word out from us when it is shared. Lord, do help us. Father, lead and guide us.

Give me the right words to say that we need to hear and just lead and guide us and help us. In Jesus name, Amen. I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel this morning.

It's where we want to begin. 1 Samuel chapter 4 is where I want to take your mind. We're going to just to just lay a bit of a foundation in the sense of where I'm going and to get the story here to take you along.

I'll just read a verse here and there to get to take us along this journey. 1 Samuel 4 verse 1 we see that the word of the Lord, the word of Samuel came to Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside Ebenezer and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.

And so the the battle between the Philistines and Israel, especially during these days, the days of Samuel, the days of King David, was very, very fierce and you have an interesting happening here. This is when Eli is king, or sorry, Eli is high priest in the the tabernacle at that time. You have his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, being priests as well and helpers in the in the tabernacle and they are not it's not a very pleasant situation.

The Bible says that they because of their sin, people despise the offering of the Lord. And so it's actually a very sad day in the in the days of Israel at this time. And you have a battle here.

Verse 4 says the people sent to Shiloh that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts which dwelleth between the cherubim. So the idea was that because of what they were going through and the enemy that they faced, they certainly wanted all the power that was available to them on their side. And they decided that they would use the ark of the covenant as a good luck charm for their own benefit.

And so instead of seeking God and turning their hearts to God, they got an object and brought it out there to battle. Hophni and, or Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas there, were the ones that got it and you see that as they entered into the camp at that time, all the people of Israel were extremely excited because now God had entered into their camp. They were excited.

Verse 6 says and when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said what meaneth the noise of this great shout of the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp and the Philistines were afraid for they said God is come into the camp. And so that's the perception that the Philistines, the enemy, had. And they said woe unto us for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.

Woe unto us who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods. These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews as they have been to you.

Quit yourselves like men and fight. So in essence they were, they wanted them to be, to take courage and to fight. What ended up happening instead was that the ark was captured.

Verse 10 the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten and they fled every man into his tent and there was a very great slaughter for their fell of Israel, 30,000 footmen, and the ark of God was taken and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were slain. Verse 22 kind of sums it up very well. It says this is after childbirth and the death of of the Eli and some others it says the glory is departed from Israel for the ark of God is taken.

And so you had a very very sad day that happened here. The ark is captured and carried into enemy territory and here now we see a somewhat of a false picture of where God's presence is. Yes, God's presence was in that ark.

He represented that but God wasn't in a device and yet this this ark gets carried into the land of the Philistines and they bring it to Ashdod there, verse 1. Verse 6 then says, chapter 5, just continuing on, the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and destroyed them and smote them with emeralds even Ashdod and the coast thereof. I think some kind of tumors I think it was or some kind of sickness. I think to this day you actually don't exactly know what exactly it was some kind of growth and verse 7 and when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so they said the ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us.

And so it's interesting they immediately linked what these plagues, this difficulty that's happening to them, they link it to the ark and they said we want to get rid of this thing. We don't want it here and it was heavy upon them. So continue on there they send it away, they send it to another city of the Philistines, which is the I believe the town, verse 10 therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron, another city, and it came to pass that as the ark of God came into Ekron that the Ekronites cried out saying they have brought the ark of God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.

So again they looked at it as a curse. The ark just comes into their city and everybody there's a big uproar and says get rid of this thing. They hate us.

This thing's gonna kill us. That's why they're bringing it to us. Drop verse 12 Let's see, so well 11 so they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said send away of the ark of God to Israel and let it go again to his own place that it slay us not and our people for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city.

The hand of God was very heavy there. And so again the the people are attributing the the pain and suffering that they're going through directly to the ark of God coming into their midst. Verse 12 and the men that died not were smitten with the emeralds and the cry of the city of went up to heaven.

And so they they gather a meeting between the five lords of the Philistines and they say what can we do? I mean here we are. We're big trouble everywhere where we take this thing. Instead of our gods being able to destroy it.

It's it is destroying us no matter what happens. People die. People get sick and we are suffering incredibly.

Then in their in their meeting they decide in verse 7 there that they will take a cart a new cart and put two cows before that two kind that have never been in a yoke before and so this should theoretically by nature it should never work that these cows should be able to pull this this cart and they say their logic was that if this was of God then they will be dragged into there or the the cows will obey and they will take the ark back. And so we can read that there from verse 7 to verse 12. But I'd like to draw your attention just a little bit to the verse before so to verse 6 so in their discussion as they're discussing somebody seems to make an observation and this individual says this he says wherefore then do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts when he was wrought when he had wrought wonderfully among them did they not let the people go and they departed and so what I'd like to us to consider here even though these Philistines were suffering incredibly were Strongly felt like the pain and the suffering that they were enduring was directly linked to this arc being in the midst even though that the The people also felt like we do not want this arc in our midst constantly affecting it that way the it seems like there was a Stiffening of the neck of some of the maybe the leaders or some individuals who said there's no way That we're gonna send this thing back to Israel We're gonna keep it here and we're gonna hold it because we captured it in war it's our treasure and so we're no matter what we're gonna keep it and It's interesting that you have this humble man.

Whoever this man is whoever gives this advice here. He says Don't be like Pharaoh Remember remember what Pharaoh did? Pharaoh hardened his heart and what happened to him what happened to Egypt? I mean if Pharaoh on day one when Moses would have said How about you know, we want to leave God said we should leave if Pharaoh said there's the desert go He would have saved himself and his people would have saved their lives and their Empire and instead he hardened his heart and In his hardening of his heart. He caused utter destruction to come upon his land.

And so here The affair the Pharisees sorry the Philistines here are Noticing the pattern and they're saying look if we keep this thing here Just look at the past seven months. Look what's happening every place that the ark went people die people get sick They get tumors whatever happens and so look what's happening if we keep this thing here We are in essence Putting a death sentence upon us upon ourselves. And so he says do not Harden your heart like they did in Egypt We see we heard what God did to them.

Do we want God to do that to us today? I think is is in essence what they were saying and they loaded the ark or the ark onto the cart the cows went down lowing and they I think were Were redeemed from their sickness or or healed out and What I'd like us to consider and notice here is The aspect of humility the humility of these Philistines notice that they were the ones that had The the the mighty armory they were the ones that were the dominant power They were the ones that had taken the spoil of war. They were the ones that had had Taken the ark in battle and destroyed many an Israelite and when God's finger Came upon them instead of responding in pride as maybe they were as they were tempted to we see as That came into their heart their desire to keep it instead of responding in pride They had individuals in their midst who saw That when That their own pride can potentially bring their disaster and if they would respond in humility not hardening of the heart, but a softening of the heart a bending of the neck or a bowing of the head and a softening of the neck that was that response Brought deliverance to them. And so my subject this morning that I want to consider is on the subject of humility The road of humility the upward way The road of humility the upward way is what I have titled it So in Scripture Over and over we see these two pride and Humility are Contrasted they are compared over and over and somehow I don't totally understand what man's problem is, but somehow man has a tendency of Responding in pride they're constantly feeling like man feels like there's somebody special And I trust understand what I'm saying So these two are constantly compared pride and humility and I'm going to quickly go over several verses to just read them and or maybe even some cases phrases of verses and consider the contrast between pride and humility God resists the proud But giveth grace to the humble James 4 6 Whosoever exalted himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted Luke 14 11 a man's pride Shall bring him low but honor Shall uphold the humble in spirit Proverbs 29 23 Better it is to be of a an humble spirit with lowly With the lowly then to divide the spoil with the strong Proverbs 16 19 The Lord will destroy the house of the proud Proverbs 15 25 the meek shall inherit the earth and the abundance of peace Psalm 37 11 so the pride Are the proud their house will be destroyed the inheritors of the earth are those who are meek Who are humble? Verse that are sorry number six here Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall Proverbs 16 18 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven Matthew 18 4 and one more and Thou which art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought down to hell Matthew 11 23 humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up James 4 10 so the contrasting Sides of pride and humility and I mean we could probably look at dozens If not hundreds more where we see the same thing that we have so God nowhere that I'm aware of Speaks of pride except in terms of condemnation and reproach so God speaks of Pride in a negative way he nowhere speaks of humility except in tones of tenderness approbation and encouragement So let's look at a definition some definitions of pride and consider a little bit what it is Definite or sorry of humility not pride our subject today is is humility so the opposite of pride Proverbs 15 33 says before honor is humility Humility has been described as a temper of the soul that prepares us for faith It is generally guard regarded as a jewel Beautiful as a sentiment but scorned as an actual possession a jewel, which too few people are willing to wear in This respect it is like Christ who exemplified it in Perfection people are fond of exalting its virtues But they prefer to crucify it rather than to submit to it In the Bible humility is defined as an at a heart attitude of lowliness lowliness of mind recognizing one's total dependence on God's rather than self self exaltation We see that humility is a and a heart attitude not merely an outward demeanor One may not or one may put on an outward show of of humility But still have a heart full of pride and arrogance Jesus said that those who are poor in spirit Would have the kingdom of heaven it involves valuing others above oneself serving without seeking recognition and Remodeling the selfless obedient character of Jesus Christ who humbled himself even to death So there's some an explanation or a definition of what pride is or sorry what humility is and Yeah, consider some of those the definition there now we want to look at some evidence some different evidences of humility Humility ha is a Childlike spirit in Matthew 18 in Matthew 18 we see Let's turn there and maybe read a couple of verses Matthew 18 says It's wonderful The the people the disciples come to Jesus and saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus called a little child Unto him and set him in the midst of them and said verily.

I say unto you except ye be converted and Become as little children. You shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven whosoever therefore shall humble himself as This little child the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven So as As when Jesus was asked about the demonstration of humility he doesn't He doesn't exemplify a person a great rabbi who is walking humility he takes a young child and uses that young child as an example of humility Similarly when when Christ is also exemplified in the spirit of humility here in the earth in the on the earth and in Philippians 2 We read this it says who? Thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation the thought of greatness had no part in his makeup through those Though since his humiliation God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name They who like Christ manifest a meek submissive childlike spirit as A manifest as is manifested in a child belong to God's little ones Who will be exalted in due time Christ like simplicity? Innocence and inability to harbor a grudge are evidence of true humility Another evidence is lowliness Humility may truly be described as being meek and lowly in heart This is the standard enjoyed upon Christian people in Ephesians 4 2 with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love It it has truly been said that such people never fall very far as It is only those who highly exalt themselves that get the hard tumbles in This connection it may be well to note that there is a difference between humility and humiliation as one is lowliness while the other as a rule is but wounded pride First Timothy 4 12 says let no man despise your youth here Paul is encouraging Timothy regarding being an example and then he says but be thou an example of the believers in word in conversation in charity and then he also says in spirit in Faith in purity and so he he mentions Even the fact that he's supposed to be an example in Spirit in in the spirit that comes out of Timothy he is supposed to be an example, and I think what he's referring to there is a spirit of Humility that comes out of him so another evidence of humility is meekness This one is very closely tied to lowliness the one before Meekness suggests further thought though the thought of being above taking offense Only by pride cometh contention When a man's pride is wounded he quickly resents it and the result is contention Usually with the tongue sometimes with fists sometimes with still more dangerous weapons But with the meek it is different Like this their Savior when they are reviled they revile not again when they are persecuted They suffer it in Meekness when treated in the way that carries insult to brought to the proud they bear it Meekly pray for their enemies thus heaping coals of fire upon their heads as Romans 12 says this is Meekness one of the assurance surest evidences of humility another evidence is Simplicity this may be evident in the countenance manners and in dress a This may be evident in the countenance and manners in dress the Bible says a proud look Define the Bible talks about a proud look which springs not from a humble heart a haughty bearing and Pumptuous display and clothing are never the result of humility in the heart humble people are recognized bear that by their unassuming manners and Simplicity marks both their appearance and their daily habits Boastfulness is absent from their speech gay clothing has no part in their attire and look of We are the people is never found in their countenance Number five a Modesty the big eye is Never on parade when the heart is filled with humility modesty is a natural fruit of Humility as Manifest in speech and appearance in the absence of self-conceit So why would we? Why would we value Humility, why would we feel like that? This is a virtue of something that we should embrace and endeavor to live after So I have several things here on this subject or on this question here why cherish humility? Why is it special number one God is pleased with it? anything of Which God speaks approvingly so often we emphatically So emphatically as he does of humility is worth having For God is never mistaken in his judgment Christ like humility is held to be the standard of greatness in the kingdom of heaven Christ like humility Number two it is commanded Saints are commanded to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God to put on Humbleness of mind be clothed with humility and walk with all Lowliness so each one of these God commands that we walk in humility Through humility Calamities are averted we are are much danger and difficulties can be avoided if we respond in humility Remember the accounts of the Ninevites, you know, Noah sorry, Jonah goes to Nineveh and preaches the message there of Salvation of deliverance of forgiveness and their response is one where they put on sackcloth they fast And because of their response God delivers the city of Nineveh consider Solomon's Prayer in the temple where he also prays that if people will humble themselves Turn to God then God should answer each one of these Emphasizes or gives us biblical examples of where We see individuals who responded in humility and then we see God's response in return So many similar instances are recorded in Scripture now speaking from maybe a negative point of view is There a single instance recorded in Scripture where God visited iniquity upon any people After they had humbled themselves before him something to think about when when we respond in humility God seems to honor and respond to that in a favorable manner So come much many calamities are averted to When we respond in humility Number four God condemns the the want of it or the lack of it See God hates a proud look Proverbs 6 7 he cannot do Do otherwise than to condemn pride wherever it is His condemnation of pride is as strong as his condemnation of humility Sorry as his commendation so number five It is the it is a treasure of in Estimatable value so it's very very valuable Proverbs 16 19 says better It is to be of an humble spirit With the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud Matthew 5 says this blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven and Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth two great blessings that We see the the value of humility It is humility is the gateway to the grace of God James 4 6 they who possess it are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven Do you want to be great in the kingdom of heaven? walk in humility by humility our riches honor and life Proverbs 22 The number six here why should we should cherish or embrace and love humility it has to do with our relationships with one another our Relationships are enhanced when there is humility it means not acting from selfish ambition or conceit but counting others as more significant Philippians 2 3 says let nothing be done through strife or vainglory But in lowliness of mind let each esteem each other better than themselves so our relationships be between with brothers and sisters with our spouses and with our children are very very much affected by our humility or by the lack thereof in our lives When we have done wrong in our relationships and we We say or we we simply use the words I am sorry Or I have done wrong and apologize for what we have done wrong in humility and humbling ourselves before those that we've Offended does wonders in restoring our Relationships and helps build them and keep them very very strong. I I Too had an incident here just yesterday.

I had a friend come into the store and he talked a little bit about We we just caught up a little bit I hadn't talked to him probably and I don't know four or five years and so just hey, how's it going? I used to work with his dad and his dad is a little bit on the older side already So I decided just ask them. So how's your dad doing? Anyway, and he said well his dad's working for him now He's I think mid 70s or low 70s But he's almost getting a little bit on the older side than to just stay at home But he he didn't want to instead of staying home He wanted to go he still wanted to continue to work and I said, well, that's not that's not bad I mean, I think gives him something to do and he said well, no the reason he doesn't want to be at home is because him and his mom didn't get along and He said That is why he said he just couldn't stay home with his with his wife And so then he had to get out of the house so he could do something and he said him him his own Relationship with his wife. He said I love being with my wife.

I love spending time with her I love teasing her and and joking around with her and going on trips together and doing all sorts of things like that us as a couple he said and he's kind of looking at his own parents and sad at their relationship in How it has developed over the years and I bring this out here. I give this story just in the sense of The aspect of humility when you and I have done wrong to our partner to our child to our parents even the idea that the power in humbling ourselves Does wonders in restoring that relationship? Years ago for and I still continue to think of this in my as I grow older I constantly ask myself. What kind of old man do I want to be and Will I be like in my observation I've watched old man They get bitter and they get angry and they get upset at the world and at those around them at there at those that are closest to them and they just become bitter and angry and I asked myself is that the kind of man that I want to become and I realize if I respond in Humility and walk with Christ today in obedience to his commands then I can hopefully Avoid an outcome like that when I am 60-70 80 years old and that's still something that I am pursuing that I will not become a bitter old man when I I mean when I'm 60 or 70 or however, however old is hey, however old is I'll say it that way some age is relevant, right, but the idea of humility in our Relationships Just put that out there again that if you want to build relationships you need to respond in humility years ago I also Think listening to some teaching or maybe I listen to somebody's testimony I forget exactly who said it, but he said that when they as a family wanted to plan something it wasn't a Always necessary that he as the dad got his way You know, let's let's do this or let's do that It was okay for them to sometimes for one of the children or his wife sometimes to get their preference And by humbling himself and doing what they wanted it But pulled the relationship between the family together now, I think it goes both ways it should not always be the children or just always be the other partner, but do you see how a response in humility will bring a person to a place where Relationships can be healed and Individuals can be pulled closer together from spouses to parents and children to Brothers and sisters.

I mean I've each and every one of those scenarios. I think is very very powerful now as Everything that we've read so far and looked at already regarding humility. We see that God's Blessing is upon Those that are humble God's blessing is upon humility, and if we respond with that if we respond in humility, then God's blessing will be upon us Okay continuing on here why The benefits or why we cherish humility You know why we cherish humility the seventh one and kind of my last one in this in this category Humility is the forerunner of True exaltation and that's kind of interesting.

It seems almost a little bit backwards In the sense that you know, the Bible says if you humble yourselves and God will lift you up So if your motive is to be lifted up Well humble yourself and then God will and so in a sense it almost seems a little bit backwards, but I think I It's not I don't at all I don't think what God is saying I think God is instead saying if we humble ourselves Then we will get exalted in a way that is honoring and glorifying to God versus a selfish prideful exaltation so the forerunner to To exaltation is humility. We see this actually Philippians 2 Jesus did this and we see other accounts as well I'm going to read my paragraph here that I have to Make sure I don't miss anything Has it ever occurred to you how frequently the Bible connects the idea of humility with that of exaltation? While we should never assume a feigned humility for the hope of the exaltation which humility brings It is important to know that the path of pride Invariably leads to disaster While there is glory ahead for all who humbly submit themselves to God Neither is it necessary for us to be anxious about? When and how and by what means that exaltation will be brought about I? Think this is important God will attend to all that so we don't need to worry about how we will be exalted We leave that in God's hand we humble ourselves and let The exalting or allow the exalting to be or leave the exalting to God What we want is to trust in God to be true to his word to keep humble to stay at the foot of the cross Remembering that the promises of God to the humble are both sure and steadfast Again like I said God's Blessing is upon Humility and if you want God to bless you Pursue humility if you want God to oppose you then pursue pride Be proudful be filled with pride you will be opposed by God All right a few other thoughts here on on Humility We should avoid and assumed humility this Voluntary humility is what the King James say calls it or a or a will worship in Colossians Some people recognize the merits of humility covet it because of its excellence or because of the exaltation Either in the sight of God or men that it is supposed to bring. This is the thing that the Bible warns us against Humility is from the inside out not from the outside in People who assume an attitude of being proud of their humility Will soon will someday awaken to the fact that they are simply proud of their delusion not of their humility For they really never had the genuine article for humility takes wings and flies after the moment that pride enters the heart a Humble spirit From within that comes out that displays on the countenance of an individual not a where a person Puts on a show for other people to appear religious God another observation God hears the prayers of the humble the Bible says he forgetteth not The cry of the humble I already referenced the Ninevites, you know here they are in sackcloth and ashes before God humbling themselves and God Responded with deliverance.

I think my personal opinion is that I think Jonah Was upset that God would deliver the Ninevites God Jonah wanted them punished And Jonah, I I think he did not like them maybe I'm saying that mildly I think God Jonah wanted them punished. Is that sometimes our our we look at somebody maybe somebody's hurt us and we look at them and we say oh, I wish God would just hurt that person and God God in if they respond and if we respond in humility God in turn will give grace Yes to them, but also to us and so the Ninevites turned and God had mercy on them Hezekiah is another one Hezekiah and his pride humbled himself Before God when Sheneca rib wanted to come and destroy him and because of Hezekiah's humility Judah lasted another I think another 400 years before the ultimate Babylonian destruction and where before the temple was destroyed so the humility when we respond in humility God hears our prayers The third one here some observations as we as an example of humility Let's study the life of Christ if we consider a perfect example of humility we see the example of Jesus, I mean we could look at Philippians 2 and I think it's the seven fold downward steps of Christ and my opening paragraph there where we a lot of people Highlights humility as a jewel that they love to talk about but don't want to wear Very important and Christ not only talked about it taught it He lived it wherever he went it is better fourth observation It is better to let God exalt us than to try to exalt ourselves The world would tell you That in business in order to advance in order to get that promotion Make sure that everybody knows how hard you work Make sure that you do that big project and your names all over it and you will get the recognition for that big project and then you will be promoted or get that big bonus or Move forward in that way do everything you can so everybody will know it was you Don't give the credit to somebody else because then they might get the benefit take it for yourself and God says Wait a minute let Me be the one that can that will exalt you see in human in it is human to have ambitions to rise and it is God's will that we do rise but the two ways to of Rising are as opposite from each other as the day is from the night One is an attempt did rising by the power of man the other a real exaltation by the power of God you may think that your Present position is not commemorate in you for your ability Perhaps not But are you sure? That God who knows all things has overlooked the fact and may it not be possible that your vaulting ambition More than any other any other one thing stands in the way of your highest usefulness in other words if you want recognition in God a being who is in infinitely more capable of Selecting a place for you Then you are in for selecting one for yourself If you take or would take your place humbly at the foot of the cross Bring all your talents to the altar and humbly pray Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? He could place you here and place you in eternity in a place much better Advantage than you possibly can yourself The Bible says in 1st Peter 5 humble yourselves Therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time May God add his blessings