SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 21 verse 1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: He turns it wherever he will.
SPEAKER_00: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh weighs the heart.
SPEAKER_00: To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked are sin.
SPEAKER_00: They're sin.
SPEAKER_00: This is the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: The Heisenberg uncertainty principle is a principle that basically teaches you cannot know both the position and speed of a particle, like a photon or electron.
SPEAKER_00: You can't know both with certainty.
SPEAKER_00: Once you know the position of a photon or electron, you fail to know its speed.
SPEAKER_00: And once you know its speed, you fail to know its position.
SPEAKER_00: You can't know both at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is like that.
SPEAKER_00: Once you say you have humility, you no longer have humility.
SPEAKER_00: But the flip side of that is also true.
SPEAKER_00: Once you say, I don't have humility, you're confessing to be an unrepentant sin.
SPEAKER_00: So it's not okay for you to say, I'm not humble and I'm not working on it, kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's, you know, pride is a sin.
SPEAKER_00: But you know the flip side of that.
SPEAKER_00: Truth is a razor's edge here.
SPEAKER_00: You fall off the other side and just say, I'm so thankful, I've grown in so much humility this year.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so humble, and this is this will be a blessing to you all.
SPEAKER_00: My humility will, right now.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do that either.
SPEAKER_00: Both are heirs.
SPEAKER_00: That's a problem because humility in many ways is the essence of Christian character.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 20, verse 19 provides a positive example.
SPEAKER_00: In Acts chapter 20, verse 19, Paul is speaking to the Ephesian elders.
SPEAKER_00: This is where he pours out his heart to them.
SPEAKER_00: He's weeping with tears about the false teachers who are going to come in and ravage the church.
SPEAKER_00: While he's doing that, remember, he tells them that while he was with them, he served the Lord with tears, trials, and humility.
SPEAKER_00: So he says that.
SPEAKER_00: He tells those elders, I want you to follow my pattern because I served you with humility.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 4.
SPEAKER_00: He says very similar thing.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Acts 20 is given to the Ephesian elders, Ephesians 4, written to them as well.
SPEAKER_00: He repeats that same thing, and he challenges us, everybody who reads the book of Ephesians, to serve the Lord with gentleness and humility, bearing with one another.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 2, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: We read it for a scripture reading tonight.
SPEAKER_00: Similar context, but makes it practical.
SPEAKER_00: He says, in humility, count others more significant than yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: That's baseline Christian ethics here.
SPEAKER_00: You count other people as more important than you.
SPEAKER_00: Or more some translations say more significant than you.
SPEAKER_00: They have more value than you.
SPEAKER_00: That's your own accounting, your own reckoning.
SPEAKER_00: And the skeptic hears that and thinks, but if everybody did that, there wouldn't be a hierarchy.
SPEAKER_00: Aha.
SPEAKER_00: If everybody counted others more important than themselves, then there would nobody be left to be first.
SPEAKER_00: That's the model in Philippians chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, who emptied himself, taking on the form and the nature of a servant.
SPEAKER_00: Peter tells us the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Peter commands us to clothe yourselves, all of you, he says, with humility towards one another.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he ends 1 Peter, 1 Peter 5 5, saying that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_00: That's 1 Peter 5 5.
SPEAKER_00: Very similar to what you see here in the book of Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord opposes the proud.
SPEAKER_00: His eyes go to and fro, though looking for the humble.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Proverbs pits humility and pride with each other.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what Peter does and Jesus does and Paul does that as well.
SPEAKER_00: Pride in the Bible is often put in tension with humility.
SPEAKER_00: Pride is the opposite of humility.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is thinking of others first, pride is thinking of yourself first.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is putting yourself last, pride is putting yourself as far away from last as you can possibly be.
SPEAKER_00: You are either wise or a fool.
SPEAKER_00: You're either kind or you're violent.
SPEAKER_00: You're either humble or you are proud.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs does have a lot to say about humility.
SPEAKER_00: By my count, there's 18 different verses in Proverbs 11 through 29 that deal with humility.
SPEAKER_00: Now, like most of the ethical teaching in Proverbs, they are addressed in contrasting form.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, kindness to violence, righteousness to evil, work with lazy, confronting with forgiveness, and pride with humility.
SPEAKER_00: Now, first you have to understand why humility is so important in the book of Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: Because remember that Proverbs, more than anything else, is about living in wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: That's the main point of the book of Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: It's teaching you how to live wisely.
SPEAKER_00: And I've said just about every sermon through Proverbs so far, wise living means that you are understanding the way God made the world and you're living in accordance with that.
SPEAKER_00: And the metaphor of a river, I think, is very helpful.
SPEAKER_00: God is the fountain, the world is the river, and the wise person discerns how the river is supposed to be moving and moves with it.
SPEAKER_00: The wise person, that's wisdom in every category here.
SPEAKER_00: See the book of Proverbs: parenting, marriage, working, forgiving, communication, speech, every category.
SPEAKER_00: Wisdom is the art of figuring out how God made the world and living in accordance with that.
SPEAKER_00: The fool doesn't get that.
SPEAKER_00: The fool tries to swim upstream.
SPEAKER_00: The fool goes against the way God made the world.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why the life of the fool is hard.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the bottom line in Proverbs: the life of the fool is just hard.
SPEAKER_00: Hard, hard, hard.
SPEAKER_00: Nowhere is that more evident than with pride.
SPEAKER_00: Because of all the sins, pride is the sin that says, I understand the way the world works better than everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: So God's giving you in the Word the way the world works, go this way.
SPEAKER_00: And a helpful analogy for me that I read in a commentary that stuck with me.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you drop something, it falls.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way God made the world.
SPEAKER_00: Now, wisdom is being able to study that and use that kind of truth to your advantage throughout your life in a thousand different ways that I'm sure you can think of on your own.
SPEAKER_00: The proud person looks for a way around that, refuses to bend his knee to that, etc.
SPEAKER_00: Which is silly when you're dropping anything.
SPEAKER_00: Like nobody is proud enough to think they can defy gravity, you know?
SPEAKER_00: What is this, wicked?
SPEAKER_00: The proud person tries to fight it.
SPEAKER_00: The proud person tries to go upstream and won't be teachable.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the proud person has such a hard life.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 28, 26 says it this way whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool.
SPEAKER_00: But he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the bottom line.
SPEAKER_00: That's true of all of Proverbs, of every category.
SPEAKER_00: The person who trusts his own thinking about something is foolish.
SPEAKER_00: He's fighting the fountain.
SPEAKER_00: He's going against the current.
SPEAKER_00: But the person who walks in wisdom will go with the flow, will go with the way God designed the world.
SPEAKER_00: You see in Proverbs 28, 26, this basic tension, your confidence demonstrates your spiritual state.
SPEAKER_00: The person who is confident in their own thinking is corrupt and lost.
SPEAKER_00: The person who is confident in Christ is free and delivered, is the language of Proverbs 28-26.
SPEAKER_00: You trust in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you know the truth, the truth sets you free.
SPEAKER_00: And you are free from the wages of sin and death.
SPEAKER_00: You are free from the folly of this world.
SPEAKER_00: You still care about the body of sin around you, of course, but you are free from its curse and you're free from its penalty.
SPEAKER_00: You're free from being pulled under.
SPEAKER_00: The wise person figures it out and is delivered.
SPEAKER_00: The foolish person fights upstream and it will be hard for him.
SPEAKER_00: The one who is confident in himself is lost.
SPEAKER_00: The one who is confident in Christ is delivered.
SPEAKER_00: In contrast, Proverbs 28, 26, the humble person is meek.
SPEAKER_00: And the meek person is flexible.
SPEAKER_00: The meek person is flexible.
SPEAKER_00: Not in the passive laissez-fier way, but in the understanding how God made the world way.
SPEAKER_00: The meek person goes with the flow because he understands the way God made the world.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm, you know, I'm a child of hippies.
SPEAKER_00: I've told you before, I'm so lucky my name is Jesse and not Gentle River, like it was close.
SPEAKER_00: So when I say the wise person goes with the flow, I'm not, don't hear me say the wise person fits in with the culture and fits in with the world and finds out whatever's in fashion and goes with that.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the manipulative person, that's the worldly person.
SPEAKER_00: That's not that's not good.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm talking wise person understands the moral and ethical way God made the world.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he goes along with.
SPEAKER_00: The wise person understands providence.
SPEAKER_00: The meek person understands providence and is directed by providence.
SPEAKER_00: That's meekness.
SPEAKER_00: It goes with the flow.
SPEAKER_00: Meek does not insist on its own way, but it adopts itself to the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: Meek understands providence.
SPEAKER_00: Now we often say that meekness is strength under control.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you've heard that said that a hundred times.
SPEAKER_00: Meek is strength under control.
SPEAKER_00: And that's true.
SPEAKER_00: That's half of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Meek is a word that is used for a broken animal, a broken stallion.
SPEAKER_00: That is a word that's used for him.
SPEAKER_00: But when you think of what that means, meek does not mean strength under control so that it stands there.
SPEAKER_00: The donkey is not meek.
SPEAKER_00: When you think of an animal that personifies stubbornness and pride and insolence, you think of the donkey.
SPEAKER_00: And that guy is broken.
SPEAKER_00: Like he's not he's not fighting you, he's not kicking at you.
SPEAKER_00: He's just dug in.
SPEAKER_00: He's not gonna move a mud.
SPEAKER_00: When he's done, he's done.
SPEAKER_00: That's not meek.
SPEAKER_00: So meek doesn't simply mean broken.
SPEAKER_00: Meek means broken for the purpose of being led.
SPEAKER_00: A meek person is led.
SPEAKER_00: That's the second half of it.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, meek is strength under control.
SPEAKER_00: That's true.
SPEAKER_00: Meek is strength under control, so that meek can be led.
SPEAKER_00: Led by the word of God, led by the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately led by providence.
SPEAKER_00: That's the meek person.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't insist on his own way.
SPEAKER_00: The meek person is not pulling his hair out when things aren't going right.
SPEAKER_00: That's the proud person.
SPEAKER_00: The proud person is so upset that things are not going the way they should.
SPEAKER_00: The meek person is not that way.
SPEAKER_00: Because the meek person is being led by providence.
SPEAKER_00: That is humility.
SPEAKER_00: Humility is thinking low of yourself, and meekness is walking in that lowness.
SPEAKER_00: Now it is wisdom to do that.
SPEAKER_00: It is wisdom to be meek and led by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: It is proud and arrogant to kick against Providence.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 16, 5 says something similar.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: Be assured he will not go unpunished.
SPEAKER_00: And this is some harsh language, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: If you are proud in heart, it's an abomination to Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: Abomination is the word for a sacrifice that's rejected.
SPEAKER_00: It's, you know, it defies the temple.
SPEAKER_00: It's the kind of sacrifice that you offer to the temple, the rabbis would be like tear the whole thing down and start over.
SPEAKER_00: Because that thing was on the altar.
SPEAKER_00: That's the proud person before God for worship.
SPEAKER_00: That's the abomination of desolation, is pride going to worship.
SPEAKER_00: And God will punish those people.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, why such harsh language?
SPEAKER_00: Because the proud person puts himself forward.
SPEAKER_00: That is an attempt to occupy a space that is held by God and God alone.
SPEAKER_00: There's only one Lord of the church.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is Lord of the Church.
SPEAKER_00: And when a person puts himself in the front and makes himself arrogant and he's the front of the line and he's you know he's the one in charge.
SPEAKER_00: It's his place and his people.
SPEAKER_00: That's arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: He's putting himself in a position that belongs to Jesus and Jesus alone.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says something similar.
SPEAKER_00: He says, you cannot serve both Christ and money.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: It's not that money is evil.
SPEAKER_00: There's only room for one Lord in your life.
SPEAKER_00: You can't serve two masters.
SPEAKER_00: You'll end up loving one and hating the other.
SPEAKER_00: That's just axiomatic.
SPEAKER_00: The arrogant person is serving himself.
SPEAKER_00: The arrogant person puts himself at the front of the line.
SPEAKER_00: That's arrogance.
SPEAKER_00: Seeing everything through your own lens.
SPEAKER_00: You don't shouldn't see everything through your own lens.
SPEAKER_00: You see everything through the Lord's lens.
SPEAKER_00: You try to have his eyesight.
SPEAKER_00: That's why God calls it arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: That calls it an abomination.
SPEAKER_00: And this goes back to the original sin.
SPEAKER_00: Pride is exalting yourself against the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's ways that you can make almost every sin go back to being Adam and Eve sit in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: But pride has a special line back to Adam and Eve, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Remember what the devil told Adam and Eve?
SPEAKER_00: That if you eat the fruit, you can know the difference between good and evil and be like God.
SPEAKER_00: Without God.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the whole idea was that they didn't need to know the difference between good and evil.
SPEAKER_00: They were in a state of innocence because they were underneath God and his protection.
SPEAKER_00: Be fine with that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to be discerning, you just need to listen to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they listened to the devil because they wanted the knowledge of God, but without God.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to know there's a difference between good and evil, but without having to go through God and His Word.
SPEAKER_00: That was what the devil offered.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Adam and Eve took, and it plunged the human race into sin.
SPEAKER_00: That's one of the reasons that pride is such an abomination.
SPEAKER_00: God had told mankind what was good.
SPEAKER_00: Adam rejected God's word and pursued knowledge of good apart from the word and the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: And God judges that sin.
SPEAKER_00: That sin resulted in sin entering the world, and it results in destroying lives here and now.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 15, verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh tears down the house of the proud, but he maintains the widow's boundaries.
SPEAKER_00: God's eyes go to and fro throughout the earth, looking for the humble, of course, to show grace to, but he's also looking for the proud, and he will tear down their houses, is what it says.
SPEAKER_00: A proud person thinks himself in charge because he's built a house and a life for himself.
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
SPEAKER_00: God will dismantle it.
SPEAKER_00: God will tear it down brick by brick.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, he maintains the widow's boundaries.
SPEAKER_00: And remember, proverbs are, you know, they're proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Proverbs is Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: These aren't promises or guarantees or anything, they're proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: So generally speaking, proud people will come to a disastrous finish.
SPEAKER_00: So don't argue with this, be like, I know this one arrogant, proud guy, and he went to his grave arrogant and proud and rich.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Generally speaking, it doesn't happen that way.
SPEAKER_00: Generally speaking, the wheels come off the cart long before that.
SPEAKER_00: And generally speaking, God maintains the widow's boundaries, protects the widow's land, in other words.
SPEAKER_00: Generally speaking, yes, there's some examples of widows that are proud and arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you can think of a proud and arrogant widow.
SPEAKER_00: But generally speaking, widows are humble.
SPEAKER_00: Like they a person who's been married for decades and their husband has died is generally a very humble person.
SPEAKER_00: They're just, they have their situation.
SPEAKER_00: What are they?
SPEAKER_00: They pray for the church, they pray for people, they serve people behind the scenes.
SPEAKER_00: That's generally the widow's lot.
SPEAKER_00: And they accept it generally with joy.
SPEAKER_00: And God defends them.
SPEAKER_00: Now imagine pitting these two against each other.
SPEAKER_00: The proud, arrogant, He-Man person with a monstrous castle, and the poor widow with a postage stamp ties property, and any neutral observer would be like the proud monster guy, like he's winning.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Well, just wait until the Lord shows up, and that proud monster guy gets torn down.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the widow is like, you know, sipping ice tea in her porch and loving life.
SPEAKER_00: That vexes the proud person.
SPEAKER_00: That the widow has a defender in Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: The proud person always puts himself forward, and you know who doesn't do that?
SPEAKER_00: The stereotypical widow.
SPEAKER_00: The stereotypical widow is not pushing herself to the front of the line.
SPEAKER_00: She's just accepted the will of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, the proud person will crumble.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 16, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Pride goes before destruction.
SPEAKER_00: A haughty spirit before fall.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 18, 12 says something very similar.
SPEAKER_00: Before destruction is a man's heart, a man's heart is haughty.
SPEAKER_00: But humility comes before honor.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the sequence.
SPEAKER_00: The humble people will be honored because they understand the world.
SPEAKER_00: They're not honored for their humility.
SPEAKER_00: They're honored because they understand the way the world works.
SPEAKER_00: This goes back to wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: When you find somebody who understands the way God made the world, you respect that person.
SPEAKER_00: You look at that person and go, that guy is wise.
SPEAKER_00: And you respect them.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, it's the humble people that are ultimately respected.
SPEAKER_00: Not the proud, arrogant person.
SPEAKER_00: The proud, arrogant person is going to get destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: You see them now and they're proud and arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: You think they haven't been destroyed yet.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's coming.
SPEAKER_00: Pride goes first, then destruction in Proverbs 16, 18.
SPEAKER_00: The haughty spirit first, and then the fall.
SPEAKER_00: A man's heart is haughty in Proverbs 18, 12, and then destruction.
SPEAKER_00: But a person is humble and then honored.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the like paradoxical nature of this or the contradictory nature of this?
SPEAKER_00: The proud person, what does the proud person want?
SPEAKER_00: To be honored.
SPEAKER_00: What's going to happen?
SPEAKER_00: He's going to be mocked.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, what does the humble person want?
SPEAKER_00: Not to be honored.
SPEAKER_00: And what's going to happen?
SPEAKER_00: They're going to be honored.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you would think the proud person, if they were intuitive enough, they would say, okay, my goal in life is to be honored and respected and to be the first.
SPEAKER_00: The way to get there would be to humble, be humble and be the last.
SPEAKER_00: And they would get what they want, but they can't reason that way because they're proud.
SPEAKER_00: Remember?
SPEAKER_00: They're proud.
SPEAKER_00: It's like here's the one secret that all proud people hate.
SPEAKER_00: I shouldn't tell you this, it'll offend all the proud people.
SPEAKER_00: And the one secret, they don't want to get out, is the way to be first is to be last.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if everybody knew that, then everybody was first.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know, but not everybody knows that.
SPEAKER_00: Not everybody knows that.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 28, 11.
SPEAKER_00: A rich man is wise in his own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: But a poor man who has understanding will find him out.
SPEAKER_00: The rich person thinks, man, look at my bank account.
SPEAKER_00: Woohoo! And the poor person looks at that guy and goes, What a clown that guy is.
SPEAKER_00: What a clown.
SPEAKER_00: Here's your choice.
SPEAKER_00: Would you rather have wealth or humility?
SPEAKER_00: You get to choose one.
SPEAKER_00: Would you rather be rich or humble?
SPEAKER_00: And so many people choose wealth, and what's going to happen?
SPEAKER_00: They're just they're going to be destroyed.
SPEAKER_00: But the humble person will be honored.
SPEAKER_00: The humble person sees through.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 28, 11 is kind of a funny verse because the rich man thinks he's all that because of his money, but the poor people, they see through him, they recognize the guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but do you know who I am?
SPEAKER_00: It's the kind of person who says, Do you know who I am?
SPEAKER_00: I make more money in one day than you make all years.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of person.
SPEAKER_00: And the poor person is like, Man, I go to bed tonight praying that I don't become you in the morning.
SPEAKER_00: There's more to life than wealth.
SPEAKER_00: Namely, wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: The rich man ascribes his success to his own worldly wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: That's why this is a new is basically repeated in 1 Timothy 6.17.
SPEAKER_00: As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud in their own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: That's a good command for rich people.
SPEAKER_00: Rich people in the church, do not be proud.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul says.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, be humble.
SPEAKER_00: So, how do you walk in humility?
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you asked.
SPEAKER_00: I present to you the humble person's guide to humility.
SPEAKER_00: The humble person's guide to humility.
SPEAKER_00: 1999.
SPEAKER_00: Get your own copy.
SPEAKER_00: The humble person's guide to humility.
SPEAKER_00: I have five steps to being a humble person.
SPEAKER_00: These steps are rooted in wisdom, tested throughout the ages, verified by the Lord Himself.
SPEAKER_00: You want to choose humility, you choose between riches and humility.
SPEAKER_00: You say, I choose humility.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, I'll tell you how to choose humility.
SPEAKER_00: There's five ways to choose humility.
SPEAKER_00: The first is to fear Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: If humility is bending your knee to the will of the Lord, then that starts with knowing the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You can't discern his will if you don't know who he is.
SPEAKER_00: You can't be wise unless you understand the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, we we know this.
SPEAKER_00: The road to humility starts where all good roads do, namely with the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 15, 33.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of Yahweh is instruction and wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
SPEAKER_00: See how they're linked?
SPEAKER_00: I had this verse up earlier to show you the focus on the second half, but now I want to focus on the first half.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of Yahweh is instruction and wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be taught in humility, you start by fearing the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Without humility, honor would be a temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Because pride wants to be honored.
SPEAKER_00: If you look at Proverbs 15, 33, humility comes for honor.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have humility, the honoring would be a temptation to pride and arrogance and destruction.
SPEAKER_00: But with humility, the honor is a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Because the humble person has his faith and his life rooted in the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Moses and David shepherded sheep for a long time before they shepherded people.
SPEAKER_00: There's an order to that.
SPEAKER_00: Care for the sheep, care for the people.
SPEAKER_00: That's humility.
SPEAKER_00: That is the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Moses was in Pharaoh's house.
SPEAKER_00: And you think this Exodus would just have saved decades of Israelite slavery if you cut out those years shepherding.
SPEAKER_00: Like what are they doing there?
SPEAKER_00: Moses was in Pharaoh's house.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be the leader of Israel's people, didn't he?
SPEAKER_00: He was in the house.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to be the leader of Israel's people.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted to deliver them.
SPEAKER_00: Rise up, Israelites, and unite.
SPEAKER_00: That was Moses' chant.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, spend, you know, some decades out with the sheep first.
SPEAKER_00: And you bring him back.
SPEAKER_00: When he comes back, he's so old.
SPEAKER_00: So old.
SPEAKER_00: But now he's ready to lead.
SPEAKER_00: Humility first and then honor.
SPEAKER_00: He had to learn to fear the Lord in humility.
SPEAKER_00: And this is all over the book of Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: I won't put all the verses on the screen, but Proverbs 1.7, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 129, you can choose to fear Yahweh and find knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 3.7, don't be wise in your own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, fear Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 14, 27, the fear of Yahweh is the fountain of life.
SPEAKER_00: I mean the fear of Yahweh leads to life and blessing and honor.
SPEAKER_00: You fear God, you understand what he's doing in the world.
SPEAKER_00: The proud person receives judgment because they don't fear God.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the example of Christ is so critical.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not account a quality with God, something to be grasped.
SPEAKER_00: What a cool word Paul uses.
SPEAKER_00: Held onto, clinched onto, but emptied himself, and you know this is addition or subtraction by addition.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't empty himself as his divine nature.
SPEAKER_00: He takes on a human nature, robes himself in humanity, adds a human nature, descends to earth, born a human birth, lives a human life.
SPEAKER_00: That is humility.
SPEAKER_00: That leads to him being exalted.
SPEAKER_00: That leads to his resurrection, his ascension to heaven, where at the name of Christ every knee will bow in heaven and on earth.
SPEAKER_00: The road to humility leads to the cross, but that road leads to glory.
SPEAKER_00: So first, you want to be humble?
SPEAKER_00: Fear Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: Give your life to him.
SPEAKER_00: See the example of Jesus Christ from heaven to earth.
SPEAKER_00: Receive Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Understand that your sin deserves judgment from God.
SPEAKER_00: The proud person deserves judgment from God.
SPEAKER_00: We read that earlier.
SPEAKER_00: The haughty person will be judged by God for his sin.
SPEAKER_00: Pride is a sin, and God will judge it.
SPEAKER_00: It deserves damnation.
SPEAKER_00: God places that sin on Christ, punishes Christ for that sin.
SPEAKER_00: He goes to the grave, he rises from the grave on the third day, offering forgiveness to those who are humble enough to receive it.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot be humble without the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Humility goes to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: So step one, fear Yahweh, go to Christ, go to the cross, receive forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: Step two, be teachable.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, you're a Christian now.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you got through step one.
SPEAKER_00: You repented of your sins.
SPEAKER_00: You gave your life to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Good job so far.
SPEAKER_00: Next step for humility is be teachable.
SPEAKER_00: Because remember, pride at its core is opposed to being teachable.
SPEAKER_00: Pride does not want to be taught.
SPEAKER_00: Pride knows all things.
SPEAKER_00: Pride is omniscient.
SPEAKER_00: It does not want to be taught or instructed.
SPEAKER_00: So don't be like that.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be humble, then be teachable.
SPEAKER_00: Be teachable.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 16, 25.
SPEAKER_00: There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
SPEAKER_00: Or every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Yahweh judges the heart.
SPEAKER_00: So notice in chapter 16, verse 25, it's a contrast between right and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so the person thinks he's on the right way, but oh he dies.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the video game, do I go left or right?
SPEAKER_00: I choose left.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you're dead.
SPEAKER_00: Wrong choice.
SPEAKER_00: The next verse, though, the next verse, 21.2, the contrast is not between white, right, and wrong.
SPEAKER_00: In 21.2, the contrast is between your eyes and God's eyes.
SPEAKER_00: You know, people are very fond of saying, we talked about this this morning, are very fond of saying that they always try to do the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's a classic American example.
SPEAKER_00: What's going to happen to you and a di?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because God knows I always try to do what is right.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when the Bible uses that phrase, in the Bible, when somebody says I always try to do what is right, it's not good.
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the clearest examples of how the American ethic can be like the opposite of the Bible ethic.
SPEAKER_00: In our American culture, saying I always try to do what is right is called, is good and virtuous.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Judges, the days where the Israelites had no king, everyone did what was right in their own eyes, that's a statement that deserves judgment from God.
SPEAKER_00: It's so bad.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do what is right in your own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: That's the problem.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a corrupt judge saying, Hey, hey, I'm a great judge.
SPEAKER_00: I always rule for whoever gives me the most money.
SPEAKER_00: It's very consistent.
SPEAKER_00: That's what it's like being a person who says, Oh, I always do what is right in my own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: I'm very consistent.
SPEAKER_00: I always choose according to my greatest desire.
SPEAKER_00: I always rule in whatever I think is best for me.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's right.
SPEAKER_00: That's the proud, arrogant person.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be like that.
SPEAKER_00: The proud person is not teachable because they think they are right.
SPEAKER_00: This is the problem with works righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Every person thinks they're doing good.
SPEAKER_00: The person who says I'm going to heaven when I die because I'm a good person has missed anthropology 101, flunked out of her martiology.
SPEAKER_00: It's a sign of judgment for somebody who says they're doing what is right in their own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: That's Proverbs 21, too.
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, of course everybody does what's right in their own eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
SPEAKER_00: Obviously.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not good.
SPEAKER_00: The contrast here is not between right and wrong, but between pride and humility.
SPEAKER_00: So when you repent of your pride, you take on your humility, you're back to Proverbs 15, 33.
SPEAKER_00: The fear of Yahweh is the instruction of wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
SPEAKER_00: You bow your knee before the Lord, you don't put yourself forward, and you receive his instruction.
SPEAKER_00: The flip side of this verse is Proverbs 26, 12.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, poor person.
SPEAKER_00: There's more hope for a fool than for that guy.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what Proverbs says about being a fool.
SPEAKER_00: It's very bad to be a fool in Proverbs.
SPEAKER_00: But man, it's better to be a fool than a proud person.
SPEAKER_00: You see a man who's rise in his own eyes, there's no hope for him.
SPEAKER_00: You can't help that person.
SPEAKER_00: You can't come along to that person and put your arm around him and say, hey, you're walking in pride and arrogance, and this doesn't go well, because that's the nature of their pride and arrogance.
SPEAKER_00: They're not going to listen to you.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the language of Proverbs 26:12.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see a man?
SPEAKER_00: Why would Solomon say that?
SPEAKER_00: Because he wants you to stop and ask yourself that question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that person?
SPEAKER_00: Like just pause for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Take Solomon at his word here.
SPEAKER_00: Pause for a second and ask yourself: can I think of a person who's always right in his own eyes?
SPEAKER_00: Like, think of that person.
SPEAKER_00: Yikes.
SPEAKER_00: There's no hope for that person.
SPEAKER_00: There is more hope for a fool than for the person you're thinking of right now.
SPEAKER_00: Charles Bridges has a has a funny line.
SPEAKER_00: He says, that kind of person has castled himself in his own conceit.
SPEAKER_00: Or I would say it this way: he's housed himself in his own holiness.
SPEAKER_00: He's built a castle out of his own arrogance, and there is no breach.
SPEAKER_00: His moat is insurmountable.
SPEAKER_00: The only reason that kind of person thinks he's wise is because he doesn't know what wisdom is.
SPEAKER_00: The person who is not teachable has no hope.
SPEAKER_00: They're not teachable because they know everything.
SPEAKER_00: So pray that you wouldn't be that kind of person.
SPEAKER_00: That person's in a pickle because they can't see beyond their own nose.
SPEAKER_00: There's a Greek poem, a Greek poet who says this kind of person, quote, walks by the light of their own fire.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a funny line.
SPEAKER_00: I know you can't see very far with your own fire.
SPEAKER_00: It's not very portable unless you put it on a torch and then you're kind of stuck.
SPEAKER_00: It's so transient.
SPEAKER_00: You have no wisdom that lasts beyond your torch.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a good place to be in life.
SPEAKER_00: It's funny, but it's folly and it's sad.
SPEAKER_00: You fight this by being teachable.
SPEAKER_00: You fight this by going to God's word and say, Teach me things to do better.
SPEAKER_00: Show me sins to repent of.
SPEAKER_00: Put people around me that'll encourage me in life.
SPEAKER_00: Let me learn and grow.
SPEAKER_00: That's being teachable.
SPEAKER_00: Third.
SPEAKER_00: Let others be honored.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where things get practical.
SPEAKER_00: Let others be honored.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 25, verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great, for it's better to be told, come up here than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
SPEAKER_00: You know, one of those like fancy schmancy weddings.
SPEAKER_00: There's a hundred people there, whatever, 200 people there.
SPEAKER_00: But like the first few tables are all assigned.
SPEAKER_00: Like the family of the bride and groom and like their roommates in college, they're all assigned.
SPEAKER_00: And the rest of the tables are like general admission.
SPEAKER_00: The first tables have like the lobsters with names, and the back tables, there's like people throwing popcorn at you.
SPEAKER_00: You know those kind of weddings I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: And you walk in there, and you're like, should I go sit at one of those tables?
SPEAKER_00: After all, we were best friends in third grade.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Solomon says, sit in the back in the general admissions section.
SPEAKER_00: It's way better to have the mother of the bride come up to you and be like, oh, what are you doing back here?
SPEAKER_00: That's such a come on, of course we have a table for you.
SPEAKER_00: Then for you to be up front and the mother of the bride going, security, table two.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Solomon, oh, by the way, this proverb is taken by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you know this, Luke 14.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus takes this proverb and quotes it just about verbatim, then expands it to a parable if somebody does this in Luke 14.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus goes beyond this, by the way, to the flip side.
SPEAKER_00: And so he quotes this.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, also, if you're the host, don't just invite your best friends from college.
SPEAKER_00: If you're the host, he says, also invite the lame, the crippled, the beggars, those that can't invite you to their kids' wedding.
SPEAKER_00: So you were not repaid.
SPEAKER_00: That's the command.
SPEAKER_00: Now, when Jesus uses Proverbs 25, he's not using it because he's actually concerned about where you're going to sit at a wedding.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you understand that?
SPEAKER_00: He's not just talking about weddings.
SPEAKER_00: He's using weddings as a broader or as a narrow point of a broader truth.
SPEAKER_00: In life, don't put yourself first.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just talking about weddings, it's talking about every conceivable situation.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be the kind of person that goes to the front of the line.
SPEAKER_00: Rather let the host bring you forward.
SPEAKER_00: Be humble.
SPEAKER_00: Let other people be honored and not you.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 3, I was going to have you turn there, but it's just don't turn there.
SPEAKER_00: Just listen as I recount the story.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Just a crazy story at the end of John chapter 3, where Jesus is doing baptisms in the area where John was doing baptisms, and John moves down the river to get away from Jesus, to leave him his space.
SPEAKER_00: He just moves out of town and leaves him.
SPEAKER_00: And meanwhile, the crowds are growing for Jesus and declining for John.
SPEAKER_00: John, if you remember, and uh Ryan, I love your sermons, your sermon series on John the Baptist a couple years ago, just rocked my world thinking about him.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you look back to John the Baptist, he was, he was, he was famous.
SPEAKER_00: And there are some commentators that say that more people had seen John the Baptist alive than any other human being.
SPEAKER_00: Just so many tens of thousands, if not a hundred thousand or more people, came out to see John.
SPEAKER_00: And now that Jesus is there, John has to move.
SPEAKER_00: He got promoted to the minor, or he got demoted to the minor lease, got sent down.
SPEAKER_00: And then one of his disciples comes up to him and says, Teacher, that man that you baptized the other day?
SPEAKER_00: Why would he say that?
SPEAKER_00: Like just pause at that part of the story.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he say, the man that you baptized, does he not know Jesus' name?
SPEAKER_00: That's just so odd, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: That John the Baptist's disciples won't use Jesus' name around John.
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me of like in the political world when there's candidates debating and there's the old adage that a candidate shouldn't use his opponent's name on the debate stage because it just gives him free publicity.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you guys have heard that before.
SPEAKER_00: It's so dumb.
SPEAKER_00: Like somebody's not going to know Trump's name unless Biden says it.
SPEAKER_00: It's so insane.
SPEAKER_00: But why would the disciples not say Jesus' name to John?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is a sensitive subject, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: They're going up to John and they're like, I don't know if you've noticed, but there's not as many people here today as there was last week.
SPEAKER_00: Because that one guy who I can't quite remember, there was a voice from heaven that said it.
SPEAKER_00: And remember John's answer?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he's got to grow greater and I'll grow, I'll go less.
SPEAKER_00: He increases, I decrease.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way it's gonna be.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, My joy is complete.
SPEAKER_00: I love being, I love being last, John says.
SPEAKER_00: I love being last.
SPEAKER_00: And then he says, the best man at a wedding is not jealous that the groom of the wedding is smiling around his wife.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine being the best man at a wedding and getting angry that the groom seems happier with his wife than he is with you.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, yeah, but I'm his best friend.
SPEAKER_00: Homie, did you see what happened 10 minutes ago?
SPEAKER_00: No more.
SPEAKER_00: You're not his best friend anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: That ship sailed, brother.
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the popcorn.
SPEAKER_00: That's what John says.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, a good best man is excited, the groom is happy.
SPEAKER_00: It's all, you know, common illustration is what would you do if a church down the street was growing?
SPEAKER_00: You heard a church down the street was growing faster than Emmanuel is.
SPEAKER_00: What would you do?
SPEAKER_00: And of course, everybody's like, I'd rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but that's not, that's so far away from what John is experiencing.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a church down the road that's growing.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a guy that, I mean, I'm making this personal for me.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a guy that I baptized a few months ago.
SPEAKER_00: Jesse Azer.
SPEAKER_00: I baptized you a few months ago.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesse goes and plants a church in Gold's Gym on Sunday morning across the street.
SPEAKER_00: And then it's growing so much we don't get to use our parking lot anymore.
SPEAKER_00: It's going gangbusters over there, rocking out four services over there in Gold's Gym.
SPEAKER_00: And one of you comes up to me and is like, hey, just so you know that one guy that you baptized a while ago, he's kind of got a church across the street, and there's a lot of people that are, I know.
SPEAKER_00: I can see it out my window.
SPEAKER_00: That's not John's response.
SPEAKER_00: John's response is, that's great.
SPEAKER_00: That's great.
SPEAKER_00: How humbling that is.
SPEAKER_00: Now it's more than just church planning or baptizing.
SPEAKER_00: You understand this principle goes all over the place.
SPEAKER_00: Don't talk about yourself all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 27, verse 2, let another praise you and not your own mouth.
SPEAKER_00: A stranger and not your own lips.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to praise yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, yeah, but if I don't toot my own horn, who will?
SPEAKER_00: That's humility.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to talk about yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And this isn't just praising yourself.
SPEAKER_00: This is the kind of person that turns every conversation back to them.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how frustrating that can be?
SPEAKER_00: You're sitting in the kitchen after a Bible study, and you say, you know, I saw a fox in my backyard the other night, and somebody else is like, Yeah, I saw a fox eating something in my backyard.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, Yeah, well, I saw three foxes in my yard, and they say, I saw three foxes eating each other in my yard.
SPEAKER_00: It's just, and sometimes the people talk that way just because they're trying to, you know, after a Bible study, there's that, you know, the kitchen conversation after Bible study, you're just hanging out in the kitchen, you're trying to get the conversation moving.
SPEAKER_00: And so, hey, you told a story about this, and I have a story about this, and you're just being polite.
SPEAKER_00: But if that's the normal tenor of your conversation, do you realize you're always talking about yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Matthew Henry says it this way: quote, praise is a com a comely garment.
SPEAKER_00: Though thyself does wear it, another must put it on.
SPEAKER_00: Let other people talk about how good you are.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 27, 21.
SPEAKER_00: The crucible is for silver, the furnace is for gold.
SPEAKER_00: And a man is tested by praise.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is a way of sanctifying you and testing you and revealing you.
SPEAKER_00: For the humble person, praise is a test.
SPEAKER_00: Praise is a test.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody comes and says, Good sermon.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I know.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me more about that.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me three ways it was a good sermon.
SPEAKER_00: I'd like to hear it.
SPEAKER_00: Herod failed this test.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, people praised Herod for how good he spoke.
SPEAKER_00: They said, A voice of a God and not a man.
SPEAKER_00: And Herod said, What was that?
SPEAKER_00: One more time.
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't hear you in the back.
SPEAKER_00: And God killed him.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph passed the test.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel passed the test.
SPEAKER_00: What have you?
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to move more quickly here.
SPEAKER_00: Number four, don't be a mocker.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be a mocker.
SPEAKER_00: Mocking fans the flames of pride.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 21, 24 warns about this.
SPEAKER_00: Scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.
SPEAKER_00: Scoffer is what you call it.
SPEAKER_00: A scoffer is somebody who just makes fun of things.
SPEAKER_00: And mocking can poison an experience, can't you?
SPEAKER_00: It can darken a day.
SPEAKER_00: It can cloud what should be joyful.
SPEAKER_00: Mocking has a way of just ruining things.
SPEAKER_00: I was watching a movie with my family a few weeks ago, and I will refrain from naming what movie it is.
SPEAKER_00: And I was watching it and I was thinking, this is so like there's parts of it that were so cheesy.
SPEAKER_00: And they're just things that were just like so, in my estimation, not poorly done.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, not well done.
SPEAKER_00: And after watching the movie, my family was talking about how much they loved it and they liked it and they were so encouraged by it, and it was amazing.
SPEAKER_00: And I was so glad that I bit my tongue, although it's ruined now because they're here.
SPEAKER_00: I so glad because imagine had I been in the movie going like, really, that's the camera angle you choose for that.
SPEAKER_00: That's the actor you have to.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, come on now.
SPEAKER_00: You call that dialogue?
SPEAKER_00: Like, that would not have been helpful.
SPEAKER_00: And it would have ruined the experience for everybody else.
SPEAKER_00: So that's just a little movie at home.
SPEAKER_00: That is your whole life.
SPEAKER_00: And there are people that do that every which way.
SPEAKER_00: There are people that, in fact, they pride themselves on it.
SPEAKER_00: They're like, I'm just, I'm just a funny guy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just the guy in the meeting that has to say something funny.
SPEAKER_00: That's just who I am.
SPEAKER_00: That's it's it's actually how good of a sense of humor I have that means I speak like this.
SPEAKER_00: You really should be just thankful that I have such a good sense of humor around you.
SPEAKER_00: It's scoffing and it tears things down.
SPEAKER_00: And God will judge it.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed is the man, Psalm 1.1 says, who walks not in the counsel of the wicked and does not stand with the sinners or sit with the scoffers.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 9-7, which is outside of the window of Proverbs real looking up, but Proverbs 9 7 says that if you correct a scoffer, you only get abuse.
SPEAKER_00: They're not teachable.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 13:1, a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 14, 6, a scoffer seeks wisdom in vain.
SPEAKER_00: A scoffer is exalted, proud, arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: They're not meek, they're not humble, they're not teachable, they're not bearing with each other, and they end up backbiting each other.
SPEAKER_00: That's scoffing.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be like that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't tear things down because you're funny.
SPEAKER_00: That's pride and arrogance.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be humble?
SPEAKER_00: Z close your mouth.
SPEAKER_00: And number five, a Spanish word sneaks in.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquilo.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquilo is a great Spanish word.
SPEAKER_00: It's my favorite of all the Spanish words.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquilo.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, if you look up in a dictionary, it'll say it means.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquil, and that's, I mean, not really.
SPEAKER_00: I guess it technically means like lexically it means tranquil.
SPEAKER_00: But tranquilo, at least in Mexican Spanish, I don't know, you know, the Bolivian stuff we speak around here, but in Mexican Spanish, tranquilo means it's a it's a it's a mindset.
SPEAKER_00: It means just chill out a second.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquilo.
SPEAKER_00: Calm down.
SPEAKER_00: And just go with whatever is happening.
SPEAKER_00: That's tranquilo.
SPEAKER_00: You're not fighting.
SPEAKER_00: That's why it's different than tranquilo in English is like a smooth pond.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquilo in Spanish is more like you understand what's happening and you can adjust.
SPEAKER_00: You're not fighting against things.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquilo.
SPEAKER_00: The heart of humility is meekness.
SPEAKER_00: And the essence of meekness is surrounding yourself and humbling yourself to the purpose and the plans of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 27, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Don't bust about tomorrow, because you don't know what tomorrow's going to bring you.
SPEAKER_00: Ah, you know, I'm going to go to this city and make such and such a profit in that city.
SPEAKER_00: And you have no idea what's going to happen to you tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: You can make your plans, don't brag about it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't brag about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: You can plan, of course, the wise person plans, and Proverbs talks about that.
SPEAKER_00: You plant crops, of course you do.
SPEAKER_00: You do your work.
SPEAKER_00: You don't boast about tomorrow because you receive whatever tomorrow deals.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquilo.
SPEAKER_00: That's meek.
SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, boasting is bad for a thousand reasons, but it's interesting that Solomon bans boasting about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this puts it in the realm of athletics.
SPEAKER_00: You don't boast about winning tomorrow's game.
SPEAKER_00: My goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Ahab was a wicked, awful, terrible, no-good king with one of the funniest lines in the whole Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember when Ahab was going to war against Ben Hadad of Syria?
SPEAKER_00: And Ben Hadad sent a message and said, Give me all your money and all your women.
SPEAKER_00: And Ahab said, Okay.
SPEAKER_00: And then Ben Hadad said, And I want all the furniture in your house.
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_00: My wives, I was okay with.
SPEAKER_00: The couch?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: And so then he calls all his advisors together and says, Do you see what this guy's doing?
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to provoke me to war.
SPEAKER_00: So tell him no.
SPEAKER_00: And Ben Hadad messages back to Ahab and says, This time tomorrow, you'll be happy if you have dust to sit on.
SPEAKER_00: Forget your couches.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna have dust tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: And Ahab tells him, Let not one who's putting on his armor boast like one who's taking off his armor.
SPEAKER_00: What a great line that is.
SPEAKER_00: That's pride.
SPEAKER_00: That's arrogance.
SPEAKER_00: That's banking on tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: You trust the Lord's providence for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, yeah, but what if providence tomorrow leads me down a dark road?
SPEAKER_00: What if providence tomorrow brings sin and suffering in my life?
SPEAKER_00: What if providence leads to poverty?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I got a proverb for you.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 12, 9.
SPEAKER_00: Better to be lowly and have a servant than to play the great man and lack bread.
SPEAKER_00: In, you know, in English mind, having a servant means you're rich, not in the Hebrew mind.
SPEAKER_00: Having a being lowly with a servant means you're poor.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you got one servant.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever.
SPEAKER_00: It's better to be low with your one measly servant than to act all proud and arrogant, act like you're in charge of tomorrow, and act like you're in control of tomorrow, and you expect this tomorrow and that tomorrow, and this is gonna happen tomorrow, and that's gonna happen tomorrow, and then you're gonna go hungry, man.
SPEAKER_00: If God's providence is for you to be poor tomorrow, you being angry about it today is not gonna help.
SPEAKER_00: The only thing worse than a proud person is a proud person with nothing to be proud of.
SPEAKER_00: It's better to be competent enough to have one servant than to have an estate at the margins of your ability.
SPEAKER_00: The pride of life is not of God but of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Tranquilo just means that you are willing to walk through whatever door the Lord opens for you tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: You're not worrying about today.
SPEAKER_00: You're not pulling your hair out about today.
SPEAKER_00: I mean about tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: You know that tomorrow the Lord will give you the grace to deal with it.
SPEAKER_00: Conclusion of all this, Proverbs 29, 23.
SPEAKER_00: One's pride will bring him low, but one who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
SPEAKER_00: Your pride will end up crushing you.
SPEAKER_00: But the one who is low in spirit, who is humble, will be honored.
SPEAKER_00: That's just a restatement of Proverbs 15, 25, where we began tonight.
SPEAKER_00: A low person is honored.
SPEAKER_00: They will honestly be recognized as someone who understands the way that God made the world.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we're thankful for the gift of humility.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, there's no Christ without humility.
SPEAKER_00: There's no gospel without the humility of our Savior, who humbled himself, came to the cross, and gave his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we exalt in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We repent of our sin.
SPEAKER_00: We pray for grace to be made low.
SPEAKER_00: We want to be low.
SPEAKER_00: Guard our lips so we're not mocking, guard our lips so we're not talking about ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Help us be low so we can put our eyes up on Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We're all equal at the foot of the cross in that sense.
SPEAKER_00: We're all low.
SPEAKER_00: We're all sinners.
SPEAKER_00: Redeemed by your grace.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for the grace of Jesus Christ that saves us, that cleanses us.
SPEAKER_00: As we think about humility, we can't help but thinking about the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus giving his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_00: We give you thanks for that ransom in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, I would love to see you at Emanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to TMS.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.