Sermon Detail

Strength for the Journey Resist the Devil and His Schemes (by Living in Humility)

September 17, 2023 | Buster Brown

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion."  Psalm 84:5-7

“Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."  1 Peter 5:5-8

“But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."  2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Take your stand against the forces of darkness by embracing the call to humility.

“Humility is simply the displacement of self by the enthronement of God.”  Andrew Murray, Humility

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.”  C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Humility is the overflow of treasuring the eternal love of the triune God fully accomplished on the cross.


Humility:

1. Is based on the wonder of the eternal love of God in Christ. 

“Christ’s heart is a steady reality flowing through time. It isn’t as if his heart throbbed for his people when he was on earth but has dissipated now that he is in heaven. It’s not that his heart was flowing forth in a burst of mercy that took him all the way to the cross but has now cooled down, settling back once more into kindly indifference. His heart is as drawn to his people now as ever it was in his incarnate state. And the present manifestation of his heart for his people is his constant interceding on their behalf.”  Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly, p.79 

2. Is observed and lived out in community.

3. Is aware that God opposes the proud but pours out empowering, joyful grace on the humble.

4. Is seen as we cast our burdens/anxieties on the Lord.

5. Leads to an attitude of self-controlled alertness (because the devil actively prowls).

"The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they be humbled; and to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support unto himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends."  Savoy Declaration of Faith, Chapter 5, Article 5

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."  2 Chronicles 7:14

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"  Micah 6:8

"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.'"  Isaiah 57:15

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."  John 15:5