I is the Center of Humility

And we see all of these 3 things: I is the center of pride, pride comes before a fall and GHod opposes the proud in a very famous biblical pasage that describes the prince of Pride himself in his great fall from heaven.

Isaiah 14:12–15 ESV

12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! 13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

In this passage we see God’s fierce opposition in v15. we see his fall in v12.

and you will notice the repatition of the phraise “I”.

I will ascend. I will be above the stars. I will set m y throne on high. I will sit on the mount. I will ascend above the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.

Clearly, I is the center of pride.

And what it is, it is simply the belief that you can do things apart from God.

Apart from His Devine favor on one his redeemed or apart from his universdal graces on everyone.

As God’s redeemed we know that apart from the grace of God we cannot do anything.

John 15:5 ESV

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

And even if you are not part of fedemption, God still supplies you with living graces you need to survive, things like Air, a working brain, sunlight, rain.

Matthew 5:45 ESV

45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

And so anytime there is a neglect on God’s grace and i false sense of ‘I can do this on my own” arises - that is pride.

So careful must we be against this temptation of self presumption that God says:

James 4:13–16 ESV

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

So this evening i want to encourge you to turn from all forms of pride. I want you to do this sermons namesake:

Put the I in Humility.

The passage in Isiah where Satan keeps saying I, I , I - that passage is all about pride. But i want to share another psaage in the bible, a passage which also features a lot of trhe word “I”, but instead of being all about pride - this one is all about humility.

Can you tell the difference?

Psalm 77:1–6 ESV

1 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. 3 When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah 4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I consider the days of old, the years long ago. 6 I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search:

Psalm 77:10–20 ESV

10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. 15 You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah 16 When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid; indeed, the deep trembled. 17 The clouds poured out water; the skies gave forth thunder; your arrows flashed on every side. 18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind; your lightnings lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook. 19 Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen. 20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

What is the difference between these two passages? Satan is talking about all the things he believes he can do. The Psalmest is speaking about all the things he CANNOT do, but only God can.

And as he focus on God something powerful happens at V13 - He stops using the phrase I completely and beings using the word “YOU” or “YOUR”.

In other words, as he meditated on God, there came a point, the point of true humble worship - where he forgot about himself completely.

A place where God and His glory filled the whole world and there is no place left for any throught of yourself.

A place where God fills your view, your life, your prayers and in the presence of his glory all you can do is bow down and worship him.

Thats what humility is. Is is the moment you know that you are saved by grace.

That you live by grace.

That you have a family by grace.

That you have a roof over your head by grace.

That you have warm clothes by grace.

That you are healthy by grace.

1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Did you know that human being were made for this planet? we cannot survive on any other.

if we were to fly you to mars and you stepped out of the ship - you would be dead before both your feet touched the ground.

There are in 95% carbon Dioxide - so high that the first breath would cause your lungs to collapse.

The temperature is -125C would is cold enough to flash freeze your blood in less than a second.

Why am i telling you this? Mars is not a place where life can exists.

And in the same way - a live lived in a full understanding and appreciation of God’s amazing grace - is a very hostile environment for pride.

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