Series – How the kingdom humbles and exalts
Sermon – For whoever exalts himself will be humbled - part one
STATUS SYMBOLS
Proverbs 25:6–7 (NKJV) 6 Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, And do not stand in the place of the great; 7 For it is better that he say to you, “Come up here,” Than that you should be put lower …
Jerry Bridges describes a statement that he heard at a Bible study in January 1952. He said that “It literally changed his life” This one sentence changed how he viewed the Bible and changed how he lived his life every single day from that moment forward. The essence of the statement was this, “The Bible is meant to be applied in your everyday life.”That night, hearing that statement, he prayed, “God, starting tonight, would you help me to apply the Bible to my everyday life?”
EVERYDAY LIFE
Ephesians 4:1–2 (NKJV) 1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness…
Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
Colossians 3:12 put on . . . humility.
1 Peter 5:5: …all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility.
THE STORY
Luke 14:7-11
7 So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: 8 “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; 9 and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. 11 For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
WHY WALK IN HUMILITY?
1 Peter 5:5–6 (NKJV)
5 … be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
HUMILITY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Isaiah 57:15 (NKJV) 15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
POOR IN SPIRIT
Matthew 5:3 (NKJV)3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Luke 18:13 (NKJV) 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
HUMILITY AND THE GOSPEL
Galatians 3:10 (NKJV) 10 …“Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
The proud person is so busy judging the sins of other people that they have no time to see the sins of their own heart. Meanwhile, the humble person is so busy dealing with their own sins that they have no time to judge the sins of others. -Johnathan Edwards
