Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, I'm going to have you turn to the Book of James. We're going to continue our series.
[00:00:04] And two weeks ago, we had a guest last week. But two weeks ago I brought up a sermon entitled, basically, how to discover the way to transform your relationships. This is part two. So we're still in the Book of James, chapter four. And I read a little antidote I thought was kind of humorous. But in a certain pond on one of the farms in the east were two ducks and a frog.
[00:00:26] Now, these neighbors were the best of friends and played together. But as the hot summer days came along, the little pond started evaporating. And they soon realized that pretty soon there was going to be no water. Now, that was not a problem to the ducks because they knew they could fly off and find another pond, but they were a little bit concerned about their friend the frog. So finally it was decided that they would put a stick in each of their bills and the frog would hang onto the stick with his mouth and they would fly to another pond.
[00:00:55] And about this time, as they were flying, this farmer was out in his field and he looked up and he saw this, and he said, well, isn't that a clever idea? I wonder who thought of that. And the frog said, I did.
[00:01:09] Now we can chuckle there because we all know what happened. Simply being, you know, he had to take the credit. But the reality was, it's a long ways down. And Proverbs kind of reminds us that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
[00:01:27] Probably one of the most subtle temptations in our lives. And I think this is the core sin. As a matter of fact, if you study a little bit, you'll realize that even the devil himself was one of the highest angels. But he allowed pride to invade his space, and that's what brought him down.
[00:01:48] So it's insidious and it's the foundation of all sin. It can easily rear its ugly head and capture those who many times are extremely successful in life. They are talented, they have giftings, but how many know all of that comes from God. But a lot of times we end up taking credit for what God has endowed into our lives and the opportunities God brings to us and the people that come into our lives and share. And, you know, many of the things that make us successful in life really come from outside. And you could say, well, yeah, but I discipline myself. Well, you know what? I think that's even a gift from God. Some people are far more disciplined than other people. But in the book of Daniel, we Have a contrast between Daniel, a slave who had been taken captive, and the king who is now wanting an interpretation for a very troubling dream. As a matter of fact, at that point in time in human history, he actually ruled most of the known world. Can you imagine the power that this one person had? And he was despotic, if we can use that term. He was a tyrant. There was nobody that could question his rule. If they did, he just put him to death. And there was no question about it.
[00:03:02] This is a lot of power for a person. How many know power has a way of corrupting people? And you know, there's a saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely. And it was certainly true in Nebuchadnezzar's case.
[00:03:13] I mean, he amassed such wealth and power. As a matter of fact, he was one of the people who developed one of the two ancient wonders of the world. The first was the actual walls of Babylon were something to behold. But secondly, he developed the hanging gardens of Babylon, which he had built this magnificent garden for his wife because she had missed the vegetation of her own homeland.
[00:03:38] And so they built this palace somewhere else. But one day while strolling on the palace roof, he's musing over his own personal greatness and he's immediately struck down by almighty God and he loses his sanity. And the Bible says, and he spent seven times, which nobody knows what that really means, but certainly it was a season of his life where he now is out of his mind. And the Bible says he's groping around like an animal without the capacity to understand and reason. And at that moment you can't govern anything. And so they find him out there in the yard there with the animals. You know, says his fingernails are like claws of an eagle and you know, he's eating grass like a cow. I mean, can you imagine the pitiful plight that this all powerful person has? People are walking by, there's the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar. Isn't that something? And in one moment God brought him down that fast.
[00:04:37] Well, it says in Daniel chapter 4, verse 34, at the end of that time I, Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes towards heaven. This is such a powerful statement.
[00:04:50] And my sanity was restored. Folks, the moment we look up, our thinking comes back.
[00:04:57] You know, I'm going to say something. People who live in sin are not in their right mind.
[00:05:04] You say, what do you mean? I think it's a form of insanity. What do you mean by that, Pastor?
[00:05:09] I believe that sin is self destructive and sin not only destroys our lives. It destroys the lives of people around us. And nobody in their right mind would ever try to destroy themselves or the people around them whom they love.
[00:05:24] But that's what we end up doing when sin takes control of our lives and it happens over and over again.
[00:05:30] He says, then I praised the Most High, I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
[00:05:36] So God restored to him where this pride had stripped away from him, which was a sanity in needing to lead his people.
[00:05:44] And he later confessed. And those who walk in pride, Daniel, he says, this is Nebuchadnezzar's testimony.
[00:05:53] God is able to humble.
[00:05:55] How many can say, and I can attest to this in my own life, that pride will bring you down.
[00:06:01] Pride will humble you, pride will take you down.
[00:06:05] And God will allow things to happen in your life that will bring you down to a low point.
[00:06:11] And that's actually a gift. I know that doesn't sound like a gift at the time, but in reality he wants to rebuild and he wants to rebuild differently. And you can see from the confession in Nebuchadnezzar, he started to recognize there was someone greater than himself and that was God Almighty. And I think that that's what has to happen in our culture today.
[00:06:32] Because we're living in a culture today that's secular humanistic, which really means that there's an absence of God in our thinking as a culture. I'm talking collectively.
[00:06:41] I know that there's exceptions. I know that you and I don't agree with that. You and I are counterculture. But the majority of people living in our nation today have no regard for.
[00:06:51] And they're living a very self sufficient life. And sometimes that mentality slips into our thinking.
[00:06:58] And pretty soon we get really busy with life. And pretty soon God is just kind of vacated out of our lives.
[00:07:06] And then we start living this very self sufficient life, which is really a form of pride, that somehow we think that we can operate in life apart from God.
[00:07:15] That's a very dangerous place to be. So what is pride?
[00:07:19] Well, I think pride is just living as if God doesn't exist.
[00:07:22] It's believing that we can be self sufficient. It's trusting in anything or anyone other than God. The only remedy for this problem is really we're going to see it today, a change of mind. We got to rethink things. And then there needs to be developed within our life a deep sense of reverence towards God.
[00:07:46] You know, Tremper Longman, who is an Old Testament scholar, he wrote this about this idea of the fear of the Lord. That word fear there is a very difficult word he says. He says it's the kind of emotion that rids pride and self sufficiency. How many go, I want to walk in the fear of God. I want to rid myself of pride and self sufficiency. This is not the kind of fear that John tells us. Perfect love casts out fear.
[00:08:10] The word fear here, as he says, is hard to translate it. Respect is too weak. Awe is a better, you know, better term. But we don't quite have a word in our language for it. The idea is that we're humbled by God.
[00:08:23] I mean, if you want to get the best experience of it, maybe an illustration of it. And you go to the book of Isaiah, chapter 6, when Isaiah has a vision of God who's high and lifted up, and Isaiah just comes unglued and he just says, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among people of an unclean lip.
[00:08:40] And he's humbled. This is a man who's a prophet. He's a righteous person, a believer. But when he sees God, he recognizes how far short he is of who God is. The nature of God is absolutely holy and it's terrifying. So pride then is at the root of every other sin. So how do we go about addressing the root issue of our sin, sin, nature? How do we deal with that?
[00:09:09] You know, as I said a couple weeks ago, I started that message on how to build healthy relationship, the way to healthy relationships. And I gave you one word. Does anybody remember that word?
[00:09:20] What's that?
[00:09:22] Submit. Submission. I talked about being submitted to God. And then we submit to one another. I'm going to give you a new word today to help you build meaningful and healthy relationships. So we gotta learn to submit.
[00:09:36] The second word is humility.
[00:09:39] People who are humble will have healthy relationships. And the reason why people are having difficult relationships, you want to get right down to it, it's pride.
[00:09:49] That's the heart of it. And we're going to talk about that today. And if you and I address the pride issue in our lives, we're going to have healthier relationships with our spouse, our children, our co workers, our bosses, if you're a boss, your employees, whatever it is, pride has to addressed in our souls. And you know you're going to have a better relationship with God. You're going to actually live a better life. You're going to live a happier life. Anybody interested in any of these things? I am. So I think we want to deal with this problem in our lives. So we're going to look at humility, which is another characteristic in a healthy relationship. But how do you go about walking in humility?
[00:10:31] That's a great question.
[00:10:33] You know, God has placed within us his own presence, his nature.
[00:10:39] This is the beautiful thing. When we humble ourselves before God and ask God to forgive us, it's not just that he takes our sins away. He Himself comes and lives inside of us. His Spirit does, and his nature comes inside of us. How many go, wow, that's amazing. And so the old nature, our sin nature, is still there, but now we have God's nature ruling and reigning. So now we're going to find out from Paul here in the book of Galatians a little bit about how God's divine nature not only is within us, but we have to submit to that divine nature within us. We have to yield ourselves to the Spirit of God, and then we end up experiencing the results of the Spirit in our lives. How many want to live with the results of God's spirit dominating your own sinful nature? I got my hand up. That's how I want to live. And that's how Paul describes it here in Galatians. He says, my brothers and sisters, you were called to be free.
[00:11:36] So God's calling us to freedom. But it's not freedom to sin. It's freedom from sin. And a lot of people get that confused. So now I'm a Christian. I have freedom now, but I have to make a choice. Am I going to choose to go back to sin, which brings me back into bondage, or am I going to choose to. To obey God and walk with God and do what God's asking me to do so I can experience the freedom from sin? He says, don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh or the sinful nature, but rather serve one another. How humbly in love.
[00:12:11] Oh, you got to underline that. Humbly in love. I got to serve people humbly in love. I got to serve my wife Patty, humbly and in love. I got to serve my husband, if you're a wife, humbly and in love. I got to serve my children humbly and in love. How many are catching on? That humbly and in love stuff is really, really important.
[00:12:31] And let me tell you something, if you yield to this and start to do this, it will change your marriage.
[00:12:38] You can go all the counseling you want to, but at the end of the day, I'm going to just say this. I'm not against counseling don't misunderstand. But I'm saying, why don't we just obey God's word?
[00:12:48] It can save a lot of heartache. You know, maybe today it's the beginning. We're going to have an opportunity to respond to God today and say, you know what? I've been walking in pride, and I got to humble myself. I got to humble myself and walk humbly in love.
[00:13:02] For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself if you bite and devour one another.
[00:13:12] Do you think he's talking here literally that we're biting and devouring each other, like we're eating each other? No, he's not using a figure of speech, right? He's saying every time you nip and talk and, you know, we could use a lot of stronger words, you know, criticize. I could go down a list of all the things we do with each other, with our mouths. He says, we're biting and devouring. Watch out or you're going to destroy each other. How many relationships get destroyed because we're of our mouths?
[00:13:44] You know, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if, you know, if you've got unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, you know, you don't deal with that junk down there. It's coming out through your mouth. You got to deal with the stuff at the deepest level, right? That's why we're going to the root today.
[00:13:58] We're not just trimming the branches back today, folks. We're digging down and taking the root. What's the root? Pride. Let's deal with that right in the core of our being, he says, so I say, live by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature of the flesh. For the sinful nature desires what's contrary to the spirit and the Spirit. What's contrary to the flesh or the sinful nature.
[00:14:19] They are now in conflict with each other. How many have ever noticed a little battle on the inside when you're a Christian now?
[00:14:24] You ever have those little moments?
[00:14:27] I know what I feel like doing, but I can't do that. I got to do something different, right? Don't you ever talk to yourself?
[00:14:34] How many here, talk to yourselves?
[00:14:36] I don't need to talk to myself. I answer myself.
[00:14:40] Some people go, you scare me, Pastor.
[00:14:43] It's biblical, you know, listen to the psalmist. Why are you disquieted, O my soul? Why are you down in the dumps?
[00:14:51] I will yet praise God. He's talking to himself. Smarten up, kid. You know better than that. Just start worshiping God. You see, he's actually talking to himself in the Psalms. I think we have to have a little conversation with ourselves going, you know, I know I'm irked by this, what just was said here, but I have one or two responses. I can irk back.
[00:15:09] I can render evil for evil, or I can decide, you know, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to listen, I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I'm not going to add any fuel to the fire. Proverbs 15. One says, soft answer turns away anger. And there's another one talks about how many know if you're in a conflict and you're not adding anything to the equation, pretty soon the fire's going out because they're throwing all the wood in, and pretty soon they're going to run out of ammo.
[00:15:32] But you ever notice when we're in a conflict, you know, one person says something that's a fire gets going, and then the other person throws a log in, and that just gets it bigger. And the other one, it just antes up, and pretty soon you got a raging bonfire. How many know if you got one person upset, I just let them talk.
[00:15:47] Let it get them all out of your system. Let them go for what they're worth. And pretty soon they just run out of gas, you know, and then they're upset because you're not saying anything. Are you not going to say anything? I go, what do you want me to say?
[00:16:01] You know, I'm just telling you. It's really important that we start realizing that we can either walk in the spirit or walk in the sinful nature.
[00:16:12] James has challenged us that we need to begin to look within ourselves to see how we might be contributing to the problem in our relationship.
[00:16:21] And two weeks ago, I pointed that out. He says, why is there fighting and quarrels among you? And then he talks about our own nature. So step one, you know, when there's a conflict, stop looking at the other person. Start looking at yourself and saying, what am I contributing to to make this worse? What can I do to change myself? What can I do on my part? I can't change another person.
[00:16:43] You know, I discovered I have a hard time changing myself.
[00:16:46] So that's not my job. My job isn't to change any of you, by the way. I'm totally relaxed about that. That's God's job, you know, My job is to cooperate with God's spirit working on me. That's what I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to change Patty. I'm not trying to change my kids. You know, I'm just loving on them, praying for them, doing good to them, blessing them. That's my goal. You know, I'm letting God work on them. Now, if I see a problem, you know, sometimes I'll say something. I'll just go, you know, I'm noticing something and this is really detrimental to your advancement. You know, I'm not here to criticize. I'm just pointing this out. It's, you know, because how many know we got blind spots? A lot of times we don't even realize we're doing stuff. We need a little help.
[00:17:27] So we're going to look at two steps in building healthy relationships as it pertains to humility. And the first one is recognizing the need for it. Humility is demonstrated by submitting to God's will as it's revealed through his Word.
[00:17:43] How many go, that sounds good, Pastor. I know God's will is found in God's Word. Okay, so how can I submit to something when I'm ignorant of what I'm submitting to?
[00:17:54] It really precludes something. What do you mean precludes? It means I have to think about what God really requires of me.
[00:18:01] So that means I need to know what God requires of me. That means I need to know what the Bible says.
[00:18:06] Are we all tracking with me right now? How many are following this?
[00:18:10] So, okay, you know, people say I'm really, I'm a Christian, I'm following God, but I never read my Bible.
[00:18:17] Well, how are you going to get to know God?
[00:18:20] Makes no sense to me.
[00:18:22] That to me is so beyond my comprehension. I'll tell you why I'm going to help you out here today. This may totally, radically change the way you see things.
[00:18:35] I think we need to know what God says in order for us to do what God asks us to do.
[00:18:40] And you can't just come to church once a week and expect to really grow fast. It's never going to happen.
[00:18:46] You know, we need to really develop our own time with God. You know, I got up really early this morning.
[00:18:53] It must be at 4:30. I'm talking to God, I'm journaling with God, I'm praying. That's how I pray. I write it down. You know, it says here, I talked about this two weeks ago. The battle is not just within ourselves, but it's an out and out conflict.
[00:19:14] We're struggling against a strong tide of Human culture that's in rebellion against God. And we need to have a strong foundation in order to stand against our culture. How do you do that?
[00:19:25] Well, you got to stand on Christ. Well, how do you do that? You got to know what Christ expects of you. You need to know who he is. You need to spend time with him. You need to understand what he's saying. How many know, the 12 guys running around with Jesus, you know, 2,000 years ago, kind of figured out who Jesus was because they were hanging with him, right? And you know, Jesus was kind of pointing out a few problems in their lives. You know, come on, you got to shape up in this area. He did that.
[00:19:49] How many like it? You know, you don't need a whole bunch of people telling you how to shape up if you're spending time with God because he'll tell you how to shape up. And if you're listening to him, you will be shaping up.
[00:20:01] Then you eliminate, you know, one of the ways, one of the best way for God to change you is actually developing a discipline and developing time with God and beginning to understand what he's saying and begin to do what God is asking you to do. That's the number one way.
[00:20:16] You know, if you're not going to do that, then God's going to use people to speak into your life. And if you won't listen to people, then God's going to use terrible circumstances to get a hold of you and make you realize, hey, you're going in the wrong direction. God will do everything he can to keep you from going over the cliff. That's just the nature of God. He's loving. But James says something here in verse six, and I know we touched on this, but I want to come back to it because it states it so profoundly. He says, but he gives us more grace. What's grace? It's a gift. God gives us favor. How does He? What? What is it?
[00:20:43] That's why God says God opposes the problem but gives grace to the humble. Now, how many here in this room say, you know what? I really need God's assistance to make it through life. I got my hands up. I need God's favor to make it. Anybody besides me? There's a few of you. That's good. Your hands are going up. Good. I need God's favor to make it. But who does he give favor to?
[00:21:05] The humble. And what does he say about the proud?
[00:21:09] Good luck, buddy.
[00:21:11] Good luck, sister.
[00:21:13] Doesn't he say that?
[00:21:14] He says he resists them. He's not bailing Them, he's going to let their behavior take them right to wherever it's going to take them. So if you want to live a self sufficient life, God says, go for it kid, but it's going to end up bankrupting your soul. He says, I give grace, I give favor. I help the person who's no longer living a self sufficient life.
[00:21:40] I'm going to help the person who's developing a God dependent life. That's who I'm going to help.
[00:21:47] That's what I read in this passage. That's where I'm coming up with this idea.
[00:21:52] So I just wrote this down. We need to daily realize that we have to live in total dependence on God. So what does that mean on a practical level?
[00:22:03] Got to spend time with God opening the Word daily. I got to hear what he wants to communicate. And then I need to reflect on what is said. This is not okay. Did my devotions today? Check the box, move on.
[00:22:16] This is not legalism.
[00:22:18] This is sitting down with God and saying, okay, God, I can't make it today without you.
[00:22:25] I need to hear from you today. I need you to instruct me in the way I should go. You need to begin to give me an understanding of who you are and the way you think and the way you operate. So that I start having my mind renewed and changed. So that during the day, some of the things that I've been reading now are in my cylinder so that I'm using these things that day to help me navigate through life that day. And as I start to live like this on a daily basis now, all of a sudden God is guiding my life.
[00:22:59] Wow.
[00:23:01] We have to have those instructions in our mind. We need to apply what we're reading and considering from God's word. James has challenged us earlier in the letter, don't just be a hearer of the Word of God, but be a doer. So it's not enough that I get all this information and knowledge. I could be a seminary professor and not even know God. And some of them are like that, unfortunately. They have intellect, they're brilliant. They can look at scripture, they can read Greek, they can read Hebrew, but they're not putting it into practice in their own lives. And, and then there are castaways.
[00:23:32] You go, how tragic. That's right, it is tragic.
[00:23:36] So I'm not asking you to be scholars or brilliant or any of those things. I'm just saying, listen, I want you to spend time every day saying, I'm going to get to know God, I'm going To read something from God's word. I'm going to meditate on this. I don't have to read a ton. It's not, you know, I'm used to reading the Bible in a year, but if you have to read it in two years, that's fine and dandy. It's better to read less and actually understand what you're reading and putting it into practice than getting a whole bunch of information and walking around popping off the answers. And it's not changing your life. And you're just annoying people.
[00:24:12] Usually that's what happens.
[00:24:15] So when we move about our day without a thought for God's enabling help, we find that we're prone to make poorer decisions that affect many areas of our lives. Isn't that true?
[00:24:26] So I'm telling you, slow it down.
[00:24:28] Connect with God. Hear what he's got to say to you. Understand what you should do.
[00:24:34] I don't know about you, but I get convicted. When I'm reading the Bible, I'm going, man, I've got to focus more on this. There's things here that are making me think about my own life. I'm examining my soul in light of what God's saying. And I say, am I actually doing this? I've got to step this up. Help me to be more like this, Lord.
[00:24:52] Make it your prayer. Lord, I see this deficiency in my life. Can you straighten me out here?
[00:24:57] God will answer those prayers. Believe me. He wants to.
[00:25:01] This decision to submit to God with our time is critical if we hope to overcome the strategies of the enemy which he's trying to defeat in your life.
[00:25:13] Listen, how many here say, if I was sitting in a conflict, a war, and you're on the front lines. I want you to think about this for a minute. This is dangerous stuff. Bullets are flying.
[00:25:23] You could be killed at any moment. You got an enemy against you, and he's got an objective. He's out to capture you or he's out to destroy you any way he can.
[00:25:33] He wants to nullify your effectiveness. I wonder how many Christians could say my life is totally nullified by the enemy. I've been captured a long time ago. I'm caught up in things of this world. I've allowed the wrong ambitions, the wrong goals. I'm pursuing the wrong stuff. I'm not seeking God's kingdom first in his righteousness. That's not what's happening in my life.
[00:25:55] You're already taken out of the battle. You're ineffective.
[00:25:59] Folks, I'm going to challenge you today.
[00:26:02] We're living in an hour. We can't fool around. We need to be more effective than we've ever been. We need to wake up. We need to get on the right path. We need to say, God, I'm going to put your kingdom first. Above everything else in my life, I'm going to seek you and your righteousness.
[00:26:16] Let me tell you something. Your life's going to change for the better.
[00:26:21] For the better.
[00:26:22] It won't be about you anymore. It'll be about other people. What God has in mind for you to be involved in. I think we often struggle with our attitudes and emotions.
[00:26:32] How many say, you know what, how many here? Everyone.
[00:26:35] You know, I battle with my emotions. Anybody besides the pastor willing to admit you battle your emotions?
[00:26:40] Why isn't every hand up? Come on, you guys. Are you dead?
[00:26:47] How many here? You say I even have temptations come against me?
[00:26:51] Okay, some of you are being real. That's good. We're all battling. Okay, how are we going to win? You know, I say the reason we get defeated is we're neglecting, submitting to ourselves to God, which opens up the strategies of the enemy in our lives. And he really takes advantage of those things because you go, where do you get this, Pastor? Submit yourself then to God and resist the devil and he will flee from you. God's calling us to resist.
[00:27:17] We need to be resisting. You know, you don't just give in to these things.
[00:27:22] Paul talks about the spiritual battle that we're engaged in. It's a daily battle. We need proper armament. Look at Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
[00:27:33] You know, you don't have to be strong in yourself. You need to be strong in God. There's a big difference.
[00:27:38] You know, I'm nothing. I know I'm weak. But you know what? I find my strength in him. God is my strength. God is my strong tower. God is the one I run to. I'm running to God continuously.
[00:27:51] And God goes, yeah, I'll take care of you, buddy. You know, just run here, hide behind me, right? Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It's against the rulers and the authorities and the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This is who we're battling against. We think it people. No way.
[00:28:11] It's against demonic forces. That's what he's telling us here. Then he goes on to say, well, you know, therefore, be strong, stand the tempter.
[00:28:23] The devil is called the tempter. That's one of his methods of defeating the believer. We all battle temptation. We need to understand is that temptation is not sin.
[00:28:33] It's acting on the temptation that becomes a sin.
[00:28:37] Okay, so let's take a look at Jesus.
[00:28:40] Jesus is sinless, by the way, and he is tempted. As a matter of fact, in Matthew, it says for us, he's led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted.
[00:28:50] That's interesting.
[00:28:52] Led by the Spirit to be tempted. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Jesus taught us how to pray that prayer. But after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, we read what he's hungry. And the Satan comes along and says, hey, why don't you turn these stones into bread? Satisfy your craving, your need, you know, for food.
[00:29:13] So how did Jesus handle this temptation? How did he overcome it? Well, first of all, earlier, just prior to this temptation, where was he? He was at the baptism.
[00:29:24] And the Father spoke and he said, you're my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
[00:29:30] Jesus knew who he was.
[00:29:32] Go back to the story and the temptation. He goes, if you're the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. Jesus goes, I don't need to prove anything. I know who I am. Here's number one.
[00:29:41] Begin to learn your identity in Christ.
[00:29:45] Find out who you are. You know what I told Chris, our middle school pastor? I said, here's what I want you to do when you start with these middle schoolers. I want you to teach from Ephesians, chapter one. I want you to teach them who Christ is and who they are in Christ. I want you to teach them their spiritual identity. Because right now, that's where the enemy is, attacking young people who are you.
[00:30:07] Teach them who they are.
[00:30:11] And you know what? He's a good young man. He listened to me. I gave him all my notes. We went over the lesson plans every single time I went over it with him to make sure that he was speaking at a middle school level and he was telling them who they were in Christ.
[00:30:25] We got some really exciting young people right now.
[00:30:28] They know who they are.
[00:30:30] Is that important?
[00:30:32] It's critical. Okay. But I'm going to say that to you as adults. You need to know who you are in Christ. Okay? Now secondly, Jesus knew that the essence of that temptation was to make the temporal life the priority over that which is eternal in nature.
[00:30:48] Okay?
[00:30:50] Now remember, James is talking about worldliness here in chapter 4, verse 4.
[00:30:54] Worldliness is living as if God does not matter.
[00:30:58] Here's what I want you to hear.
[00:31:00] Do you make the spiritual the priority in your life over the material?
[00:31:05] And if you don't, you're defeated.
[00:31:07] It's just that simple. He's got you. That's a temptation.
[00:31:11] You have to make a choice here. You have to put the spiritual ahead of the temporal. Now, Jesus quotes the scripture, Matthew 4. 4. He says it's written. What's written? Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 13 says, man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
[00:31:32] What will sustain your life?
[00:31:34] Just like food sustains your body, your physical body, God's word sustains your soul.
[00:31:42] So if you and I are not eating God's word every day, we're not that strong.
[00:31:47] I'm trying to help you to be strong believers. That's my goal.
[00:31:51] I'm helping you to become powerhouses for God. I'm helping you to become the person God designed you to be. I want you to understand what I'm saying to you. I'm not saying it in any sort of a negative sort of way to you. I'm telling you this is what you need to do. And if you don't, you're going to suffer. And I don't want you to suffer. I'm on your side. God's on your side. You need to know that.
[00:32:13] Okay?
[00:32:15] Some might ask, well, why did the Holy Spirit lead Jesus in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil? That's a good question.
[00:32:21] Some of you may have thought of that, maybe others of you haven't, but here's the reason.
[00:32:27] And I like how Tremper Longman frames it. He says the very structure of Jesus ministry parallels the experience of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. Remember what happened to them? God delivered them.
[00:32:37] Then they got in the wilderness and they totally failed.
[00:32:40] Whereas Jesus is succeeding in doing what the Father's will is.
[00:32:46] Jesus, baptism mirrors the crossing of the sea. And then he goes into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights to mirror the 40 years.
[00:32:54] And he experiences the temptations that the Israelites experienced in the 40 years in the wilderness. The same temptation that they experienced, tempted by food.
[00:33:05] Remember, they got manna from heaven, but they were complaining, they didn't like it. So they were complaining about the food issue.
[00:33:12] And Jesus overcame that by saying, hey, you don't live by bread. Don't focus on this. Yeah, we need it. But that's not the priority. That's what Jesus is talking about, is priority.
[00:33:22] Then the third temptation is to worship Satan. Remember, Satan has the gall to say to Jesus Bow down and worship me. I'll give you all the kingdoms of this world. Jesus goes, no way, I'm not going to do that.
[00:33:34] But the Israelites, they were in the wilderness. What happened? They failed that test because they created a golden calf. They bowed down to a golden calf, which is an idol, which is really what? It's a demon. And so people who are involved in idolatry are actually worshiping demons. And a lot of North American Christians don't think that they're demon worshippers. But I'll tell you right now, if we put something ahead of God that's an idol and therefore what we're actually worship is a demon. And one of the great demons that North Americans are worshiping is money.
[00:34:09] Because you know what you say. But why do we do that, Pastor? Because we think money is going to provide for everything we need in life, when in reality it doesn't. And so if you talk to the rich and famous, they'll tell you it doesn't provide for everything they need in life. Because once you have the money, you still realize you have all these emotional needs. And God designed human beings with a vacuum within their soul so that they could only have that deep longing of the soul met when they came and encountered the true and the living God. We were designed to be in relationship with God. Well, let me move on to the second point because you know what? My time is slipping away.
[00:34:45] Second one is simple. Repent from our self sufficient attitudes and actions. It begins by humbling ourselves. You know, it's one thing to understand the problem, it's another thing to do something about the problem. You know, a lot of times we love it. We're very analytical. We diagnose the problem, but we don't address it. I don't want to stop it. Just here's the problem. Let's take a look at what can we do about it. Well, it begins by humbling ourselves. Pride is what keeps us from doing the right things and becoming the right kind of person.
[00:35:13] Why do we need to humble ourselves?
[00:35:16] Well, God's grace is only given to the humble.
[00:35:20] And pride resists God and pride resists help.
[00:35:25] And pride is always expressed in self sufficiency.
[00:35:29] I don't need anybody.
[00:35:31] I don't need anybody. Yeah, you do.
[00:35:34] Can I tell you right now, I meet with guys for prayer every Sunday morning. Have done this for over three decades, going on four decades. And you know what that says to. I say to them, I need you guys. And they're there and I open up. Philip, you were there I told you heard me this morning. I said, man, I need help. I need help. I need you guys to pray for me. Len, I asked you last week to pray for me, and you did. See, I recognize I can't do this.
[00:35:59] I need you guys.
[00:36:01] I need the people of God.
[00:36:04] So do you.
[00:36:05] We need each other, even though you may not think so, but you do.
[00:36:09] And that's part of humbling ourselves and admitting we have a need for one another. It's interesting. As we read through the Old Testament, one of the great lessons is that less is often more.
[00:36:20] What do you mean by that statement? Well, it's real simple. Think about it. I still remember doing a graduate study, and one of the assignments was, I want you to write about every weapons the Israelites used in the Book of Judges.
[00:36:32] Well, that was an interesting assignment. And when I got done, I realized what they had for weapons was nothing.
[00:36:38] And the point of the lesson was to simply show you that we're dependent on God. And I love how the psalmist frames it. Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. And, you know, when David came to fight against that giant, the problem with the Israelites was there's only two of them that had any swords, the king and his son. The rest of them had pitchforks and all kinds of crazy weaponry. They were like, remember the Philistines made sure they didn't have anybody to sharpen their implements. They had to go back there and check and make sure they were controlling them that way.
[00:37:14] Then you see, here's, you know, the giant coming out against David. I love this story. You know whom we putting our trust in? Human resources or God? Well, here's David. You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied this day. The Lord, not David. The Lord will deliver you into my hands and I will strike you down and cut off your head.
[00:37:40] This very day, I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there's a God in Israel.
[00:37:49] You know it's powerful. And all those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give all of you into our hands.
[00:38:01] You know what?
[00:38:03] Today we have all kinds of weaponry. It's very modernized and mechanistic.
[00:38:07] Who are we really trusting in David said, I'm trusting in God and let me tell you something. I don't know what giant you're facing today, but if you'll come in the name of the Lord, he'll take your giant down.
[00:38:20] Later in time, God spoke to the great challenges of those returning back from the exile. Those great challenges, they had all kinds of difficulties. And this is the message Zechariah gave to Zerubbabel. He said, this is the word of the Lord. Not by might nor by power, but by spirit, says the Lord Almighty God. So we need to submit to God, and when we submit to him, we overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.
[00:38:45] Michael Townsend says, submitting to God proves diametrically opposite to the world's self assertion, autonomy and power. Even Christians crusading for good causes or zealous in their altruism can become so fanatic in promoting their own personal agendas that they unwittingly wind up resisting God rather than the devil.
[00:39:06] That's powerful.
[00:39:08] What am I saying? What's he saying?
[00:39:11] He's saying, be careful what you're running after. You better have the mind of God. You better understand what God is asking. You know how many know we overcome evil by doing good?
[00:39:21] Many times we have to lay down our life in order to win the battle.
[00:39:25] You know, we're not willing to give up anything. I see too many Christians exerting their rights. I'm going. I look at Jesus, he's laying down his. I'm going to myself. I've got to learn to lay down my rights.
[00:39:37] This is a diametrically opposed expression. What I just said now compared to what most people are saying at this moment. And yet I'm telling you, you have to behave like Christ.
[00:39:47] I want you to think about that. Go home and meditate on that Jesus. You know, how do you win? Sometimes you win by losing.
[00:39:55] You give up.
[00:39:57] You know, there would be less marital conflict if we didn't have to win.
[00:40:05] It's really powerful. It's getting quiet in here, Pastor. You're really invading into our space, but it's the truth.
[00:40:12] Well, let me close with this.
[00:40:16] You can read the notes later on my blog, but I'll just close with this. Repentance is in order.
[00:40:25] Come near to God, he'll come near to you.
[00:40:28] Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. Wow, you double minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning, your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up. What's he saying to Us. What's James telling us?
[00:40:44] He says we've got to humble ourselves.
[00:40:47] We got to bow down to God and say, lord, pride.
[00:40:52] That's my biggest problem.
[00:40:54] I'm not doing what you're asking to do. I'm doing my own thing. You know, I say it in many different ways to our church. I go, who's in charge of your life, you or God? Who's calling the shots, you or God?
[00:41:05] Who's making the decisions, you or God?
[00:41:08] Are you doing what God's asking you to do? Are you doing your thing and asking God for help?
[00:41:13] See the big difference? Sometimes, not always, but sometimes it is different.
[00:41:19] Someone have a stand as we pray.
[00:41:24] And we're going to pray this prayer. God, search me.
[00:41:28] And would you address the root issue of pride in my heart?
[00:41:34] You know, help me to see myself as yous really see me. And you know what? It should bring us to the end of ourselves in a hurry.
[00:41:41] We should have kind of an Isaiah experience where I say, God, I'm undone.
[00:41:46] There's a brokenness that comes. And, you know, years ago when we had these great revival movements and there was all this controversy, I made a decision, a lot of pressure on a leader. You know, should we be doing this and should we be doing that? You know what? I decided I'm going to study the Bible and find out for myself what is real biblical revival. And I wrote my doctoral dissertation on it. And I came away with one great thought, that when you really have a revival, what's happening is that people, probably the first step is a spirit of brokenness and repentance, and we come to the end of ourselves.
[00:42:24] You know, actually, we're going to do prayer and fasting here next month for three days. And I've already chosen the text. It's found in 2nd Chronicles 7:14. If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways, you know, that's what we need to do.
[00:42:42] God will start healing things.
[00:42:44] You want our land to change?
[00:42:46] Humble yourself.
[00:42:48] You know, what are we doing? We're racing out there and fighting with other people, just causing conflict. It's not the right approach. Guys.
[00:42:56] Humble yourself.
[00:42:58] Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and He will lift you up. Isn't that beautiful? That's what James is telling us. And so, Father, I pray today that you will cause a spirit of humility to begin to permeate my own heart, in the heart of all my brothers and sisters, that we will walk humbly before you.
[00:43:17] We'll move away from Self sufficiency, Father. We'll stop looking to the human solution, Lord, while eyes will be fixed on you, Lord, I pray that a spirit of brokenness will begin to prevail in our spirits and we'll begin to realize, Lord, that I've been so busy judging everybody else. I've been so at wrong in so many situations. I've defended myself, I've been defensive, I've been critical, I've been angry, I've been judgmental.
[00:43:46] I just pray, Lord, even as I'm looking through this chapter, this chapter four, it's searching, it's searing, it's dividing, it's zeroing in on our own souls. And we're saying, lord, would you do a work of grace inside of us that we could humble ourselves and begin to think of others ahead of ourselves and begin to love people the way you do and to lay aside maybe some of our rights for the sake of the good of maybe my family or my children or, you know, the people around me. Lord, it doesn't have to be my way.
[00:44:21] I want it to be your way.
[00:44:23] And that I have enough confidence in you that if I lay down my rights that you're going to look out for me. But in the reality you're going to use me as an instrument of peace and bring hope and grace and help in broken situations. You're going to make us an instrument of your grace into people's lives because we are it's not no longer, it's not our agenda anymore.
[00:44:48] We're patiently waiting for you.
[00:44:51] We're waiting for you to change the other, not we're trying to make them change.
[00:44:57] We're loving people for just who they are, the way you love people. And it's your goodness and kindness that has led us to repentance and help us to realize that's what it takes to lead others to repentance.
[00:45:10] And we thank you for that, Father. We thank you for the work of grace that you're trying to bring into our lives.
[00:45:17] And Lord, help us. Yeah, we have lots of information, but Lord, we certainly lack wisdom because we really don't apply a lot of what your word says. And I pray from this day forward that we will begin to recognize the great necessity of spending time with you and cultivating this relationship and beginning to understand your word and not only to understand it with information, but to understand it as application for myself so that it would bring about personal transformation in my life.
[00:45:47] And we thank you for that, Lord.
[00:45:49] In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave today.
