Grace for Humility (Jan 6, 2019)

Alright, welcome this morning and so great to worship God and being his house today. I want to thank all you guys who are Faithful Servants in her church and siding you you're the God has a head for us and very excited about what guys going to do in 2019 your Garrison Baptist Church want to thank our deacons for their faithful service and they did a lot more than just come up and do the welcome on Sunday mornings in the tell you but I appreciate a J in the club that he he gave me this morning for food. I always happy to get a plug for food. I remember the first of Islam L AJ Styles and they moved here from Kentucky. And so I gain some of my perspective about Kentucky from that first visit and I thought the national or state past. I must be wrestling in Kentucky if I know it was a great visit.

Did I tell you about this morning James chapter 4? James chapter 4 I want to share this morning. That's the first Sunday of our new year and that's really great to be able to celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ knowing that we live in a place where we had the freedom to do that. I thank God for this great country and for the freedoms that we enjoy here and the opportunity that God has set forth in this upcoming year the wonderful thing about you know, the Bible says the guys want to goes before us and prepares away. And when I think about what preparations guys making ahead of time for our church in this new year, it's going to be amazing. That's it. Even though he's going before I said when we get to the Future day Center Church guys is going to have the provisions Air Force and I'm so thankful for that because God always does that and God responds to our knees always in his grace his gray. She know we have needs God responds to her knees & Grace and we respond to his grace and faith. And so we see a lot of things in scripture when it Amsa God's grace about how you treat us and how he deals with us. One of the greatest thing that God does in his grace is that he saves us God gives us Saving Grace. The Bible said for by Grace you have been saved through faith is not of ourselves, but it's a gift of God. Not of Works lest anyone should boast he gives us not only saving grace but over and over in scripture and then our last person like we experience God's sustaining Grace. I got sustained just in some hard times maybe you or your family is going through some hard times now or just come out of some difficult times and you felt experience at sustaining grace of God, you know, Paul was at a place like that in his life and he had a thorn that he asked God to remove 3 * Paul prayed for God to remove is someone in this way and God responds to him was my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. And so he gives us that kind of sustaining Grace and saving grace he gives us a Define Grace Grace to grow Peter writes about that very thing and then pause well, but the scripture says that grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so were called to grow in that Grace is well and to be more like Jesus Christ that this morning. I want to share with you a message about a different way to God appropriates his grace. You might not have thought of it in this life. But you may have but God gives us Grace for humility say would rather Mike. I don't want really necessarily humility in my life and let me tell you for the believer humility is without exception need for for us that we cannot follow Jesus Christ without humility here. Today is is the text in this text. We see God saying that he gives Grace for you and I experiencing humility in our Lives. Why is humidity so important we use some reasons why I think it's in poor before we get in our texts because of Sale value on humility in our life in now, we probably won't make the effort or we won't agree with God or the word about it. But let me give you some reasons why someone poured one of those raisins humility is important in the Believers. Why is that nothing can be accomplished for god without humility that there's nothing that weekend do for hand that has any Eternal value without humility in the verses about to read that the Bible says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So if we're going to plan on doing anything for God or accomplishing anything in any Ministry that that that were involved in whether our church are garrisoned by the church with her not we're going to have a successful year for God's glory this year really is dependent on our humility and God gives us the grace for the humidity in our lives today and said we can accomplish anything. Apart from you mail in our lives because the opposite of that of course is pride and arrogance is self sufficiency and itself dependency and we can't do anything that that has any value to God in in our own self. So important. Another reason not only that but also we can never live the full victory of Christ that's available Force without humility. He says he's versus he says submit to God resist the devil play. This is our big as the enemy do enjoy experiencing the victory that we have in Jesus Christ is our enemy saying Bible says, he's always walking around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He's always probing in our lives is always pushing. He's always examined. He's always looking for a way to come in and to establish a strong holding her life. Is that kind of being are you wants to come in and in our wise he wants to 425 place in us that he can really I operate from in really affect all of our lives. And so if we're going to have any Victory or for one experience the victory that Jesus Christ gives to us on the cross. Then that Victory is experiencing our humility and humbleness make sense. You can never really be a disciple of Christ apart from UNLV about James says you're Drawing Near to God will never draw near to him apart from that Spirit of humility because we'll never send need to draw near to him. They'll never be a desire if we're trying to fulfill or live our life and our own strength make their own choices are on the season will never draw near to God. And so until we have that sense of humility that comes by the grace of God. You said Grace are gifts from God humility is a gift from God till we realize that in our lives. We're not going to draw me and if we don't draw near to him will never be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Another one is hearing from him is extremely difficult without being humble. Hearing from here. I've ever seen says humble yourselves and he will lift you up right and wrong closer to God. I don't know about you the older I get the closer. I need to be the people to hear tell me why I say, hey, man, you got a husband to the older you get the better your license if I'll be able to spouse because you have to get closer to try to communicate even so so, you know without humility, we can't really hear clearly how God has a say this about life and Santilli draws us up close to him that we can really hear his voice and really respond as need. So there's a lot of value to humiliate men. I mean, yeah, we really need that as Believers. We need to be humble in a lot. And so that's why it's important. So James gives us some things about that. Listen what he says James chapter 4 beginning of her 6. I want to reverse and it says he gives more grace therefore. He says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble therefore submit to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw near to God and He will draw near to you cleanse your hands you Sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded lament and mourn and weep let your laughter return the morning in your joy to Gloom humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up now with me if you would have sworn less bright father was so thankful today for the encouragement. And instruction of your word this morning to help us to realize as those who love you. And that is so desire you in our hearts set. You give us Grace Grace its example in our salvation and in our growing relationship with your grace and sustains Us in storms in difficult times, but yet a Grace also. that produces in US a heart of humility a mind of humility Father we pray that we'll see not only the value of this humidity in our lives, but also father that we'll see how to cooperate with you and we can have a spirit emailed a father. I pray you'll take these viruses in these words Lord open. I understand into what they say and what they mean or help us a realize again. Thank God you and you alone are worthy of everything that we have and everything that we are and will praise you for that in Jesus name. Amen. No, she began to see what James riots about this. Very thing that said there's a couple things we have to realize if we're going to really truly accept God's grace in the expression if you mailed in my life because everything about us really resist female lead in it. I mean left it to her to her own thoughts in their own desires, we would choose self-promotion self-aggrandizement but yet the strength of humility in the power humility in the Believers life is is not inconsequential is Savannah fact, it's invaluable. It has to be a part of our experience in our carriage in a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's so that's true. Then what are some things about it? What was the share some things with you? That that have to be a part of our experience if we're going to be humble or for going to know that I'm a spirit. Listen, we're never going to be humble if you look at her seven until we settle this Authority in my life who's in charge, right? Who do we surrender to submit Our Lives to answer until we settle that issue Authority then there's never going to be the outgrowth of humility in our lives. Now. He says in verse 7. He says this therefore submit to God, what's that? Therefore there? If you go back two verse six, you'll find the answer. It's if we if we receive this Grace if God gives us more grace and will the recipients of Grace Paul says or are James says because of that we should be what we should be submission. We should submit to so settle the issue Authority first of all and understand that it comes through submission. Now, what about submission he gives us the explanation of authority in the terms of submission. He says submit to God right? It's God that we submit to the word submit or the idea submission to buy was always too. Voluntarily voluntarily, let me Express at let me hear the size that to voluntarily place in order underneath now who does James say that we need to submit to we place ourselves voluntarily in the order of God under him him first and then you and I second right? So it's all about knowing the place that Jesus Christ has no laughing hard. So in submission we choose is something that we choose to do the other words. We kind of this understanding you know that we want God we desire guide to be Lord in our lives that we submit to him. And so the idea is that we choose voluntarily to submit 10-cent someplace. That's when we use him. We also choose to agree with him about fitting into the body of Christ in the place and he's designed for us and other words we submit to him and to his plans. Make sense that God is our leader. He's our Sovereign. He's our King and our King gives us an assignment. And so when we submit to him we're saying Lord your Lord, but but you're not just Lord without a with it without anything but your your Lord with my cooperation to fit into the place that you make them in your body in the body of Christ. And so the the submission is the han-sol submitting to God is choosing. Thalia for him his way that's what's amazing is we just usually live from his wife and and we will follow him in that way and so he says submit not not only that but the expression of of authority in our lives is discipleship. How does that look when submission happens if we come to that place is the mission? How's it look like when we live it out, but it looks like discipleship following the Lord Jesus Christ being a follower of Jesus Christ was Jesus when he called his disciples. What did he call him, too? He said come after me follow me. Come to me. He's talking about following him. That's why the disciple as a follower follower who learns a follower who urinates are any lights follower who becomes the expression of the example of the following is someone who follows Jesus Christ as someone who Great deal like Jesus Christ. Jesus said it like this in their Luke 9:23. He says if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me. That's a concise definition What disciple is it? Is it someone who has a desire to follow Jesus Christ and then a desire to fall in they they lay down their life. They take up his his his life and they begin to follow him once I let me see when you deny yourself. When we deny our says, what do we do when we take up the person identity Jesus Christ Our Lord we belong then That I'm not my my own honor anymore. But I belong to Jesus Christ that I'm I'm his and so now as a Christian, where do I find my identity? I find my identity in Jesus Christ that I belong to him that I serve him that I'm a part of his body, you know, so often in the world today if you ask someone hey, you know, who are you and I began to try to Define themselves, right? If I ask you who you are. Who are you you may identify yourself another person while I'm so and so's husband. That's a long time and I first moved the day Jack and I got married. Nobody knew who I was I mean that they only need jacket shaver some abandoned. I think it's sending Baptist Church one one time and I don't know if you guys may remember Miss Ruby Fitzgerald Miss Raven came to me and said

Check is your wife and I thought you know, hey, I really arrived people know know who I am. So that thing kind of slipped somewhere along the way and so I took on the identity and sometimes it's because of our job. Do you know we say well I work at someone so I do this. So this is my vocation. This is my career. This is a trying to find herself and knows her listen as a reliever. You are Jesus's you belong then your heads and and instead of follow him is to affirm that I did in him. So now you see people on in Jesus said also take up your cross daily, you know that has to do about your purpose done it what was Jesus purpose. He had a specific purpose. He said that which is lost and so he gives and he said that was his cross and you take up yours. What's yours? What's God called you? What's the big thing in your life that you see yourself doing for the glory of Jesus? How can you do what you're doing and bring glory to him and what you're doing and that becomes your purpose in it to glorify him. And then he talks about following him take up your cross and follow him. Sometimes we have to rearrange our schedule to follow the lord Jesus Christ cuz he has different plans for us. And so we take up those plans and we follow me and so in all these things we are Disciples of Jesus Christ until we settle the issue Authority is in charge. Then we'll never be able to realize true humility. Because that humility is always in relationship of understanding who Jesus Christ is and let me give me a second thing. Not only that but will never be humble apart from pursuing god with with a fraction with great love and affection that he says is he says he'll draw near to you cleanse your hands you Sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded. So James just talking about some serious things here about affection about loving Jesus Christ. The first of all that better idea of drawing near to hand is is a And they ever a pursued by if I'm trying to get close to someone that I'm pursuing them. Moving toward that and so that's why the scripture says we ought to be doing while they draw near to God that is a process by the way. It didn't always happen immediately it we have a starting that process goes along the way and James gives us some Enlightenment about that. If you look at verse 4 in this process, he says cleanse your hands you Sinners you see one of the things that we're going to draw near to God that there has to be a daily with our unconfessed sin. Because you know the Bible tells is sin separates us from God. It will never be close to God until we deal with those things that we know that.

Are really in opposition to God's will for a lie that Rebellion that send that's that that moves us away from God and said it gives us a place to draw near to him until we see those Bears out of the way whenever we will be closed soon. So one of the things that James says is that we need to cleanse our hands in other words. We need to we need to draw close to him back investing our sins. I can't draw near to God without without unwashed hands. Without being claimed beforehand, you know, when you look at the with the design of the temple is given the Old Testament of the Tabernacle you come in the Tabernacle, maybe a door that would open into the Tabernacle Lewis huge curtain first thing you'd come by as a Brazen altar the Brazen altar in the Tabernacle symbolizes their sacrifice of Jesus made for us. The next thing was the labor. It was a place where the priest wash her hands are people say I'm only wash their hands and so really the cleansing of our sin comes to the death of Jesus Christ. Zillow Zach and passenger confess will never be able to drop play soon. He says he goes on to say purify your hearts you double-minded. This has to do with how we think has to do with divided loyalties. Are we loyal to today? Jesus age? Can't serve two masters. I because if you try to serve two matches what have you hate one, you love the other you say wait, we can't we can't be so in love with the things around us and love the one who is above us. What we can always keep fixating our eyes on the things around us and forget about the one who who came down to earth to save us and so we have to realize that so if we want to drop clothes to wear to put in right perspective what all these things are. And we have to choose to serve in James goes on Salem it and mourn and weep. What's that humility morning weaving? I'm not sure I want to be humble. Listen. It's just a description the conviction that leads to repentance. I mean what happens when God begins to deal with us about our sin? about our apathy about AR Lack of love and loyalty then. all of a sudden we say bad in our lives because God begins to point it out and conviction comes and James is saying we should be broken over our sin. And in that broken this over on personal sin. And I can fashion that sin and God's forgiveness. The Bible says that he cleanses us from all unrighteousness and all of a sudden what happens we draw near to him. It on a quarter and so is process. Not only that but but it but it's it's with passion that we draw near to me. He says let your laughter be turned morning and your joy the Gloom kind of depressing thing and then we'll listen when we should feel deeply concerning. God will to have Deep Emotions about God and about our separation from him and I need to draw near to him that I want to be. Well be passionate about the things the Lord and I'm just talkin about he's talkin about our disconnect and how we need to deal with that and how we need to come back to him. And so share those kind of emotions out of run through us because I love forgot all to be deep in that I'll be strong. And so James is reminding us is that we really pursue god with passion. We come after him with great passion. And so sometimes Greyjoy doesn't come until we walk through the great times of sorrow and we dealt with the things that we need to but we do it because we love God. Let me give you a third thing. I want to close. This is that we need to think with a different attitude. If we're going to experience you build in our lives. We have to think what a different attitude Listen to what he says in verse 10. He says verscend.

This is how we ourselves inside of the Lord. Humble yourselves. That's the new attitude of humility. You see the context of Revenue attitude. That's what James is talking about is that there's a new way. He says humble yourselves in the sight of God. When we get the Lord in our sides.

We don't look so perfect. Okay, when we get a a vision of God in our hearts. Then we don't look so great. Isaiah chapter 6 is a great account of everything. The Bible says that Isaiah was mourning over the loss of Kings. I. And their Isaiah was and he was sitting in this place and and God begin to show him some things and he showed him himself seated high on a throne. And when Isaiah saw the Lord saw that vision of Lord and understand he went when he lifted his eyes up and he saw that Isaiah said, woe is me.

Ramadan he said I'm a man of unclean lips says I live amongst the people. lying lips Say Isaiah looked at God. He said, you know, I'm not as perfect as I thought it was. You know, sometimes we can get so self-absorbed that like that old country song. It's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way. All the sudden, you know what destroys at image of herself. is a look at who God is Peter saw Jesus do a miracle in the boat one day has ever fishing. Peter fell on his knees at the Majesty in the power of almighty God They said the part made from Simple Man. UCS only until we put that this decide if you mailed in contacts you see when we see God we're wretched sinners. If we're constantly licking herself or others, then we can we might be able to make a case and reminder. We're not as bad as we thought we were. When we say Jesus we are as bad as we thought we were and worse. Sarah has to do a contact if we want to take him to a different attitude than we need to be looking at Jesus for our standard. I need to be looking at him for example. And then there's a consequence of our attitude if we continue in that attitude of arrogance self-sufficiency and pry here's what happens. He says humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you if we continue in that the consequences is this God won't lift us up. We won't experience.

The hearts of his grace and of his mercy and other relationship that is called as have within will miss some of those glorious things that that that God has for us. If we live in our own self sufficiency if we live life the way that we choose to live life. For not putting Christ submitting to his authority his leadership. We don't answer that that question about Authority. If we don't really pursue in with our factions in what will happen is is that will miss His blessings will miss His blessings. He won't lift us to those higher places. So there's a consequence if we hold on to the attitude of pride and arrogance. He says in verse God resists the proud. But gives grace to the humble. What do you want? Did they do? You want Grace? God's grace or do you want to live with that opposition that barrier between God and yourself? I would miss you and let's try.