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WEEKLY
Volume 1 Number 52
27 May 2007
God’s Grace to the Humble
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the Sunday Worship Service, 2 pm, May 20, 2007)
Text:
James 4:6
We have desired, expected, and prayed for God’s grace and blessings. It is by God’s grace that we have known Him, the living and true God, that we have been saved in Christ, and that we have been providentially taken good care of so far. Yes, we are to give thanks, praise and glory to the Lord for His grace and for all good things He has done in our lives.
How can you and I find favour before God and obtain His grace? It is humility. Absolutely correct! Calvin also had three first principles for studying theology, and that is humility, humility and humility. Amazingly, the apostles Peter and James had the same saying in 1 Peter 5:5 and James 4:6: “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” Truly, both of them had the same training under their Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself and washed their feet and was willing to be crucified on the cross for their sins and for the sins of the world including yours and mine. First, let us understand the meaning of grace and then get some Biblical principles to continuously enjoy God’s grace and blessings.
The Meaning of Grace
What does grace mean? Briefly and simply, God’s grace is God’s love, mercy, favour, and blessings toward mankind, especially toward His children regardless of their merits.
Understanding the Scriptures, we may see God’s common grace for all mankind and His special grace for the elect or His children. We are to be grateful to God for His common grace or general blessings toward us on this earth and in this universe such as the rain, the sunshine, seasons, fruitful crops, etc. (Matt. 5:45; Acts 14:17), as well as God’s sovereign control over human history and over everything, especially God’s greatest gift for mankind: His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who came into the world as a perfect God-Man to die for the sins of mankind and to rise again for the justification and salvation of everyone who believes and receives Him as his personal Lord and Saviour (John 3:16). When sinners reject God’s common grace, especially God’s salvation in Christ, God is righteous and vindicated to condemn them to Hell due to their accountability. Even though God has shown His common grace toward mankind, the total depravity and rebellion of human hearts prevent them from sincerely believing and submitting themselves to their Creator and Saviour. As a result, we see that if we are cast into Hell, we do deserve it.
However, we do give thanks to God for His special grace, saving grace or irresistible grace (Calvin’s TULIP) that, by His great love and His election of grace, He has drawn us to Him (John 6:44, 65), quickened us together with Christ (Eph 2:1, 5), delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into His kingdom (Col 1:13), even granted us faith to believe and to be saved (Eph 2:8) and justified (Rom 3:24). My friends, all is by God’s grace. All glory and praise be unto Him!
Let us simplify God’s grace by what our Lord Jesus has done for us. First, we are sinners deserving the condemnation of eternal fire, and Christ did die for us and bear all our sins and curse. Thus, we are saved by God’s grace in Christ’s atoning death. Next, we are to keep God’s moral law and commandments, but with our own efforts we cannot but by the power of Christ and His Spirit. (Rom 7:18-25; 8:3-4). Thus, we can live a godly life by God’s grace. Many of us have experienced that we are saved by God’s grace, but not many of us experience that we are living by God’s grace, “Not I, but Christ” (Gal 2:20). Finally, we are so weak that we do not know whether we may be faithful to the Lord until the end by our own strength while facing all the trials of life and the snares and temptations of Satan, but also by God’s grace, we can be sure that we shall be kept safe in the Lord’s mighty hands and be saved forever (John 10:28-30). All is by God’s grace, my friends. Let us praise the Lord and give all glory and thanks unto Him.
Therefore, not only have we been saved by God’s grace, but we also may live a victorious life by God’s grace and be kept safe and faithful unto the end by God’s grace. Truly, God’s grace is always sufficient for us (2 Cor 12:9) to carry us through all the trials of life, the difficulties, infirmities, troubles, hardships, testing, temptations, and so on as long as we humbly rely on Him and hide ourselves in Him.
God Resists the Proud
Next, we are going to deal with what hinders us from God’s grace, as “God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble.” The term ‘proud’, in Greek,
huperéphanos, is a combination of huper (above) and phainomai (to appear, to show). This term signifies “showing oneself above others, preeminent, superior.” It is always used in the Scripture in the bad sense of “arrogant, disdainful, proud,” therefore, the proud are those who think highly of themselves, who show themselves above others, and who, with their self-important, self-centred, and self-righteous attitude, despise others. We can see this proud attitude in the parable of the Lord Jesus telling about a Pharisee who boasts about his good works before God and despises a publican who pleads for God’s mercy upon him, the sinner! We also see this arrogant attitude in Diotrephes (3 John 9), who loved to have the preeminence among the believers and refused to receive others, even the apostle John!
My friends, how easy we get into this proud attitude when we are better than others, more intelligent, more successful, and more popular than others! How more dangerous it is when we are spiritually proud and think that we are more godly, holy, righteous, and spiritual than others! May the Lord keep us humble before Him all the time so that we may enjoy His grace more and more.
Let us learn from several characters in the Scripture, and then keep ourselves humble before God. The first character is Satan, who used to be a bright archangel Lucifer and he was cast down to the earth and will be cast down to the hell because he lifted himself up, his “I,” and exalted himself against the Most High (Isa 14:12-15). Who’s next? It’s Eve. When she was tempted, also by Satan, to eat the forbidden fruit in order to be “as gods,” and because of this proud desire, she fell into his trap and was cursed. And her husband Adam, who put himself and his wife above God and His commandment, also failed and was cursed (Gen 3:1-19). Here we see that the proud do not want to be under the control of God, but to be independent, to be “gods” themselves! Really, God resists the proud! The verb “resist” literally means “set an army in array against, arrange in battle against, set oneself in opposition to.” Consider how God resisted Miriam when she proudly spoke against Moses (Num 12:1-15), King Saul for his arrogant disobedience (1 Sam 15), King David for numbering his people with a proud attitude (2 Sam 24), King Uzziah for proudly burning incense in the temple (2 Chro 26:16-20), King Nebuchadnezzar for proud boasting about his kingdom (Dan 4:28-37), King Herod Agrippa I for proudly accepting the glory and honour due to God alone (Acts 12:20-23), and so forth.
My friends, God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), and He surely resists the proud! Let us learn from the Book of Proverbs:
“The LORD will destroy the house of the proud” (15:25),
“Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD”
(16:5), “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin”
(21:4), “When pride cometh, then cometh shame”
(11:2), “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (16:18).
We see that a proud heart is sin before God and a proud look is an abomination unto Him. Surely the proud will be resisted. The Lord Jesus says, “for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Lk 18:14). May God keep us humble before Him always, so that we may always obtain His grace!
Keep Ourselves Humble before God
Having learnt how God surely resists the proud, let us humble ourselves before the Lord because He gives grace unto the humble. Let us draw some principles based on the Scripture to keep us humble to obtain His grace.
Know God and to Know Oneself: The most important thing to keep us humble is the real knowledge of God and of ourselves. The more we know God and ourselves, the more we humble ourselves. This is true. Let us have a look at the life of the apostle Paul. He used to be a blasphemer and a persecutor (1 Tim 1:13), but by God’s grace and mercy, he was converted and humbly served the Lord and God’s people. And the more he knew his God and himself, the more he humbled himself. In his first epistle to the Corinthians (c. AD. 54), he confessed, “I am the least of the apostles, that I am not meet to be called an apostle” (1 Cor 15:9). Then in his epistle to the Ephesians (c. AD. 60), he confessed, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints” (Eph 3:8). And then in his first epistle to Timothy several years later (c. AD. 62), he confessed, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am the chief” (1 Tim 1:15). Consider the prophet Isaiah, who seeing the glory of the Lord, confessed, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa 6:5). Look at Job who only after God had spoken to him directly did say, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6).
My friends, if we are still proud and not sincerely humble before God, it means that we come short of the knowledge of God and of ourselves. Let us learn more about God and about ourselves by reading God’s Word, the Scriptures, with a prayerful heart for the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
Appreciate God’s Grace and Blessings: Next, to keep us humble, let us appreciate God’s grace with a heartfelt gratitude. Realizing that divine grace comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 1:3; Heb 10:29), we are not to forget all His grace and benefits (Deut 8; Ps 103:1-5). Truly, “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven” (John 3:27). Remembering this, we are to offer unto God thanksgiving and praise (Ps 50:14, 23) and give thanks in everything (1 Thess 5:18), and confess, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1 Cor 15:10).
Look unto Christ and Abide in Him: When we look unto Christ, our perfect Example, who is our God and Creator but humbled Himself to become a man, a servant, and be willing to endure the cross and die for our sins, we shall be humble. Moreover,
remembering Christ’s atoning death for us, we are reminded that all our best only deserves condemnation in hell, and this will keep us humble. Then, we are to abide in Christ with full submission and dependence for knowing that without Him we can do nothing, even to be sincerely humble before God!
Carry One’s Cross: Another attitude to keep us humble is to carry our cross, deny ourselves, and follow our Lord Jesus (Matt 16:24). It means that we are willing to put our “self” on the cross and say like Paul, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ” (Gal 2:20). By Christ’s cross, we also count that “the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world,” (Gal 6:14), yes, the world with all its vain glory, fame, ambitions, lusts, or pride of life.
Submit Oneself to the Holy Spirit and God’s Word: The Holy Spirit only glorifies the Lord Jesus (John 16:14), so if we submit ourselves to His control and God’s Word (Eph 5:18, Col 3:16), He will move us to glorify our Jesus Christ alone in our daily lives or ministry.
Fear God and Humbly Walk with Him: Let us read or hear God’s Word with trembling (Isa 66:2) and fear God because “the fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth” (Prov 8:13). God really requires us “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:8). The closer we walk with God, the more we humble ourselves!
Come to the Lord in Prayer: Finally, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16).
Conclusion
My friends, having learnt how God resists the proud and only gives grace to the humble, may God make us truly humble before Him, help us know more about Him and ourselves, appreciate His grace and blessings, take up our cross, submit ourselves to Him and His Word, look unto the Lord Jesus, humbly walk with Him, fear Him and come to Him in prayer. Then God will give us sufficient grace to live a victorious life and to endure everything with thanksgiving and faithfulness unto the end. All is by God’s grace, and all glory be unto Him alone!
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