THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
Isn’t it a joy that we can open up God’s word and learn what God has to say for
our lives? We are going to be continuing on in our series today, ‘More Than a Man,’ and
the title of my message today is ‘The Rare Jewel of Humility.’
Humility is not something that comes naturally to us. No, by nature we are an
independent, self-centered, egotistical, self-reliant kind of people. Right? We just kind
of lay it out there like it is. I can tell you before I became a Christian; I wasn’t thinking
about God a whole lot. To go along with what they say in AA, I followed this motto: I
am not much, but I am all that I think about. And I will tell you that God wants us to be
humble people.
What does it mean to be humble? Humility is rightly appraising yourself in light
of who God is. Let me say that again. Humility is rightly appraising yourself in light of
who God is. Humility recognizes our own sense of nothingness. Humility realizes that
without God we are nothing. It is only because of His grace, it is only because of His
mercy, and it is only because of His love that He makes our lives count-worthy.
And so humility is something that we all want to see engraved in our lives.
Humility is a rare jewel. We don’t see it often. When you are in the presence of
humility, you will be humble, because humble people bring about something inside of us
that just makes us feel the greatness of God and the smallness of ourselves.
In fact, let me read you a couple of quotes on humility by Andrew Murray from
his little book called “Humility.” Check this quote out. “Pride can degrade the highest
angels into devils, and humility can raise fallen flesh and blood to the thrones of angels.”
Listen to this next one. “Humility is simply the sense of entire nothingness that comes
when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all.”
This message will go counter culture against everything we hear. Because our
culture feeds us and tells us how great we are. There is no god. You are god. You are
great. Life is all about you. Life is all about your desires and what you want. But then
God comes along and says no, you are a contingent being, you were created for me, and
you were created for my glory. I made you and you will never be fully fulfilled until you
find your meaning and purpose connected to me.
And so we come to this character today who was very, very humble in the Bible
named John the Baptist. Yes, he was bold as a lion, I mean, this guy was cutthroat. I
mean he would walk around and he would just lay it out like it was. But he was also
humble. And there is a misconception sometimes that you can’t be bold and humble at
the same time. Well, John the Baptist proves us wrong. John shows humility in his life.
He realized his own sense of nothingness, but he realized because of God that God made
his life great. And John was someone who was bold as a lion. Now I mentioned a few
weeks ago that John was a bit of an austere character. I shared with you how he ate
Page 1 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
locusts and wild honey. Right? So when John kind of felt hunger kicking in, he thought,
man, I’m craving some good locusts.
That’s a stretch for me. Right? When I start feeling hungry I might think of
McDonald’s French fries, or Coldstone’s chocolate cheesecake ice cream. Or a little
Outback for a Blooming Onion with mustard sauce. I have to be honest with you I have
never thought ‘if I could just find some locusts.’ And I will really be honest and say that
I haven’t seen a locust and thought to myself ‘if only I had some wild honey to put on
this locust, it would just make it be real nice.’ I just haven’t thought that way.
And I also have not felt the compulsion to show up to church in camel leather and
sandals. Or as I said a few weeks ago, ‘thongs.’ Apparently in California they don’t
know that thongs and sandals are synonyms because everyone looked at me kind of like
‘he said thongs in church.’ Hey, in California you wear thongs to church, but they are
sandals. Right?
But John the Baptist was different. He was different in several ways. And Jesus
said of him, “There was not another man born of woman who was greater than he.”
John couldn’t have found a slot to preach in the American church because he didn’t fit
our mold, because he was out there. And we always want to put people in our mold. We
want people to fit who we are. We want people that we resonate with. People can
struggle sometimes with why I wear jeans as a pastor. And it is because it is me. It is
who I am. I grew up in California and when I went to church for the first couple of times
I would wear shorts. And I would wear sandals and I would wear a hat. And I wore a
tank top with my tattoo hanging out. And it is weird to me when people make a big deal
about attire. It is strange. It is religious. Because God, frankly, used John the Baptist in
a great way with his camel skin. So next time someone struggles with me wearing jeans,
just think, thank God he didn’t show up in camel leather this morning. Thank God he is
not wearing sandals. What an improvement. Right?
There is one word when it comes to dress code in the Bible that we need to keep
in mind and that is modesty. And that applies to men as well as to women. We are to be
modest. So if we are breaking the modesty code, let’s talk. But if we are being modest,
let’s not get religious. John the Baptist was simple.
So welcome to Life Fellowship in a suit and tie or welcome to Life Fellowship in
shorts and a tee shirt. We are glad you are here and we love the differences. And we
don’t expect you all to fit a certain mold here. And I don’t think Jesus does either.
We did not start this church to make everybody look alike. We did not start this
church for people who are healthy. We started this church because we believe the church
is a hospital for sick people. And I’m sick. I’m a sinner who desperately needs Jesus. I
am fallen. I am flawed. I make mistakes and I need God’s grace every waking moment
Page 2 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
of my life. I will let you down. Don’t put your faith and hope in me. Put your faith and
hope in Jesus. I will try to follow Christ wholeheartedly, but I will fail because I am
feeble and I am human. And I need Jesus to rescue me. “But who will rescue me from
this body of death? Thanks be to God.”
Okay, with that being said, as we are thinking about John the Baptist, we find that
he is different. He is weird. But guess what? He is humble. And that’s why I dig him.
He is a humble guy and we are going to learn some truths about humility today. And one
characteristic of a humble person is they are secure in their own skin. You are going to
see that with John right now that he is secure in his own skin.
Look with me if you will in John Chapter 1 and verse 19, and this is the testimony
of John. “When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are
you?” So let’s stop and let me give you a little bit of context. Here is John the Baptist;
he has an influential ministry out in the wilderness, wearing his camel leathers, wearing
his sandals, eating locusts and wild honey. And he is razor sharp in his message. And
John is out there preaching away God’s way, and basically there are all sorts of people
that are flocking to hear this guy. You know, it is kind of like when the Jonas Brothers
get big and all the kids start paying attention to them, or to Miley Cyrus. Or when Guns
and Roses came on the scene, or when Metallica came on the scene and people start
creating a movement and become followers. Well, this isn’t Metallica or Guns and Roses
or Miley Cyrus, it is John the Baptist. But nevertheless people are flocking to him.
There is a movement that’s arising and people are curious. And so the Pharisees send out
these priests and these Levites to go check out John the Baptist. Who is this guy? Is he a
renegade? Is he trying to start some new movement or some new ministry? Look into
him. Find out what is going on.
Religious people don’t like change. Religious people like everything to stay the
same way. And John the Baptist was a maverick. John the Baptist was out there and he
was raising questions. And the Pharisees want him checked out. And they say, “Who
are you.” That same question is going to be posed to Jesus in John Chapter 8 and verse
25 by religious people as well.
So in verse 20, John is going to let them know that he is humble, he is secure in
his own skin, and he says I am going to tell you this. I am not the Messiah. I am not the
Christ. “And did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.” Circle the word Christ.
It is the Hebrew equivalent of the word Messiah. And the Jewish people were looking
for the Messiah to come. Still today, those Jews that have not placed their faith in Jesus
are looking for the Messiah to come. And they wanted to know if John was the Messiah.
And he says he is not the Messiah.
Page 3 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
John did not have a Messianic complex. It would have been real easy with these
crowds of people for him to just say yeah, I’m he. I’m the man. But he was secure in his
own skin. And so he didn’t have to project something that he wasn’t. He was able to just
say that he was not the Christ. I am not the Messiah.
So then it says this, “They asked him, What then? Are you Elijah?” Now we
know the Jews also believed that Elijah was going to come again to prepare the way for
Jesus. Right? And so what they were wondering when they went out to meet John was
could he be a reincarnation of Elijah. They wanted to know if he was Elijah who had
come to prepare the way. And John is like – nope. That is not me. But interestingly
enough in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that Elijah has come to prepare the way
already. So we see some of John’s humility here. John didn’t even recognize how
profound the fulfilment of his ministry was that he was the Elijah like figure preparing
the way for Jesus.
Isn’t that neat? Sometimes God is using you in ways that you don’t even realize.
Sometimes He is just moving through you, working through you. And John didn’t even
realize that he was fulfilling certain prophecy that he had no idea that he was doing. God
was working through him. So he says that he was not the Christ. I am not Elijah. So
again what are we seeing? That he is secure in his own skin.
So now they are going to ask him if he is a prophet. Verse 21, “Are you that
prophet? And he answered. No.” This is very important. And this was not
unreasonable for the Jews to come out and ask John these questions. Why? Because the
Jews believed the Messiah was coming. The Jews believed that Elijah would come again
to prepare the way for the Messiah. The Jews believed that a prophet was coming. So
those were very legitimate questions.
But John says that he is not the prophet. In fact, we see this idea of a coming
prophet in Deuteronomy Chapter 18 and verses 15 and 18. “The Lord your God will
raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. It is to him
you shall listen. I will raise up for them a prophet like you and I will put my words in
his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him”
Now, Muslims take these verses and what a Muslim would do if you were
interacting with someone who is in Islam, they would say that the prophet that has been
raised up is Mohammed. They would apply that as Mohammed. They would say that
Mohammed is the fulfilment of Deuteronomy Chapter 18. But let me give you an
apologetic – remember the word apologetics comes from the Greek word apologia which
means ‘to defend.’ So let me give you a defence that you can share with a Muslim when
they try to say this verse applies to Mohammed. It doesn’t apply to Mohammed because
it says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you,
Page 4 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
from your brothers.” Mohammed was an Arabian from the loins of Ishmael. But Jesus,
who is the fulfilment of this, He is the prophet, and He came from the loins of Isaac. So
different lines. This is not talking about Arabian lineage that was totally opposed to
Isaac. Now it might fly over your head a little bit, but just hang in there, buckle up, we
will bring you out of the deep in a moment.
So here you see John the Baptist says that he is not Elijah, He was not the
Messiah, and he was not the prophet. So these priests and Levites are scratching their
heads. And I love John’s security. I love that he is secure in his own skin. I can tell you
before Jesus Christ became my Saviour and I gave my life to Him, I was so
uncomfortable in my own skin. I did not rest in my skin. I would see traits in other
people that I didn’t see in my own life and I would think, man, I wish I was more like
him. I wish I was smarter like that person. I wish that I had that kind of talent. I was
completely insecure in my own skin. And I will tell you it was a good thing for God to
give me the calling that he showed me for my life. And what that meant. It doesn’t mean
that you will never feel insecurities anymore.
But I want to tell you something. When you go around life going, man, I wish I
was more like Elijah or like that prophet over there, and not resting in who you are;
whenever you are wasting energies thinking about what you wish you were, you are not
maximizing the opportunity to be who God made you to be. And God has a special plan
for each of you just as He had a special plan for John the Baptist. And what He wants
you to be is not someone else. He wants you to maximize you. And so some of you
ladies who might struggle going well, I wish I looked more like her. Or I wish I had her
figure. Why don’t I have her long pretty, shiny, blond hair? You know what? God made
you the way you are and He loves you the way you are. And He will care for you and
you can find your rest, your security in Him. Those of you guys who work in the
corporate world and wish you were in someone else’s job, I wish I made more money, I
wish I had this or I wish I had that. And you start struggling, feeling like you are small
because you are not on the corporate ladder. Guess what? You can fulfil God’s plan for
your life, and you can be secure in your own skin, and you can know that God has
something special for you.
John the Baptist knew who he was. Let’s continue to read in verse 22, “So they
said to him, Then who are you?” We need to give an answer to those who ask us. What
do you say about yourself? Don’t you hate those kinds of questions? And John answers,
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord,
as the prophet Isaiah has said.” So what John said was that he was the fulfilment of
Isaiah Chapter 40 and verse 3. He was the one who was the voice out in the wilderness.
He embraced his role. He was not trying to be prophet. He was not trying to be Elijah.
He was not trying to be the Messiah. He was just a simple voice out in the wilderness
Page 5 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
pointing people to Jesus, preparing the way for Him. And John embraced it. Why?
Because humble people are secure in their own skins. They are not trying to one-up other
people. They are not trying to beat out other people. It is not a competition. It is a
completion. It is a completion of becoming who God made you to be. And John was just
a voice.
I love the humility. Who are you? John can’t even say he is like this great
character. He just says he is a voice. He was just a voice. I love the statement of one of
the great puritans, who when someone said he was a great person, he replied “I am like a
gnat on the tail of a horse.” Or when a lady walked up to George Whitfield and said he
was such a great person. He was a great evangelist, the Billy Graham of that time. And
Mr. Whitfield replied and said, “Lady, if you could see my heart, you would spit in my
face.” He was a man who knew his own sin. A man who knew his own brokenness.
John the Baptist was secure in his own skin. So humble people can be that way.
But not only are humble people secure in their own skin, but humble people make little of
themselves in order to make much of Jesus. Let me say that again. They make little of
themselves in order to make much of Jesus. Look with me at verse 24, “Now they had
been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, Then why are you baptizing, if you are
neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” So these priests and Levites sent by
the Pharisees to find out who John was then asked him what he was doing, as he had no
credibility. If he was merely some voice howling out in the wilderness what was he
doing baptizing people? Why are you doing this? Who do you think that you are, John?
What are your credentials to baptize people?
That was basically what they were asking him in that moment. Who do you think
you are? And when you are a humble person, just be ready for some attacks from time to
time. You just be self-effacing and people will give you a little bit of a hard time. Like,
who do you think you are? What makes you think you are so great? What makes you
think this of yourself? What makes you qualified to baptize?
So let’s see what John has to say in verse 26, “John answered them, I baptize
with water.” Now let me stop for a moment before we kind of develop my point.
Understand John’s baptism is different than our baptism today. Okay? John did a water
baptism, and we do water baptism today, right? But John’s baptism was preparatory.
People would come out in a dedicated sense to cleanse themselves. And by being
baptized it showed that they wanted to be cleansed, and they were preparing themselves
for the Messiah that was to come. And that is why they were getting baptized. It might
seem weird in our culture when you look back, but that is all it was. There were groves
of people that went out and they wanted to be ready for the Messiah when He came. And
so John was out there and it was just symbolic of the fact that they were ready to be
cleansed by the Messiah. And so it was a dedication in nature.
Page 6 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
Now John’s baptism was preparatorial. It was preparing people for the Messiah
to come. Our baptism is a realized baptism. We look back at Jesus who already came.
Their baptism was looking forward to the Messiah to come. And so it is different. They
look forward to a Messiah who could cleanse them. We celebrate through our baptism
the Messiah who has already cleansed us. And so there is a distinction that I want to
draw before I set this verse up.
So it says, “John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands
one you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not
worthy to untie.” And John is referring to Jesus. He made little of himself to make
much of Jesus. He speaks about his sandals. And it was common in the ancient world
that they would walk around in sandals. And your feet would get really dusty as you
were walking the roads. And as John was walking around he basically said this about the
Messiah. He said he was so unworthy, he was so undeserving to be a voice for Him. He
even felt unworthy to untie the strap of His sandals. I mean can you imagine that?
Sometimes we rush into the presence of God as Christians and go, how dare you, God, to
cause this in my life? And here is John saying he didn’t feel worthy to untie his sandals.
He was humble. He made little of himself in that moment speaking about how small he
was and showing how grand Jesus is. Why? He wanted to make much of Jesus, much of
Him.
In John Chapter 3 we are going to see a neat verse. I love it. It is a verse that I
pray most often before I even get up to preach. I have prayed it for years. And John said
this about Jesus. “He must become greater, and I must become less.” Another version
says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” We can never be a pleasing child of God
if we are worried about ‘us increasing.’ You see, the way to glorify God is through us
decreasing. It is quite an enigma, I know. You’ve come to church today and now you’re
thinking you mean to tell me I’ve come to church today to find out how I need to become
small so God can be seen as big through me? Yes! You mean to tell me that I need to
come to church today so that I can admit that I am utterly weak and nothing without Jesus
so that God could be glorified through my life? Yes! Yes, that is exactly right. And
when you realize that, you will not be at the center of your world any longer. God will,
and He will be in the right place. And in that moment you will feel more alive than ever
before.
So he says “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He says “I am not worthy
to untie the straps of His sandals.” I couldn’t help in my studies to think about John
saying that statement. And then thinking about Jesus in the upper room and there what
does He do for the disciples? He washes their feet. Jesus is God in the flesh, right? John
says about Jesus, “I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandals,” but then Jesus
later walked up to His disciples in the upper room and washed their feet. It was common
Page 7 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
in that culture to have your feet washed after walking around the dusty roads. Your feet
would get very dirty and they didn’t have Air Jordan back then. You wouldn’t have seen
Jesus sporting some Converse. I know if He came back today he would wear Chuck
Taylors, but He wore sandals back then. Okay? And in that moment in the upper room
He takes a water basin and He begins to wash the filthy, dirty feet of the disciples. Can
you imagine how small they felt in that moment, how unworthy they felt? Here was God
in the flesh washing their filthy feet.
That is what God does. He comes down and He washes away our filthy, rotten
sins. He loves us so much that He comes in and He knows that we have a guilt problem,
we have a sin problem, and He knows He can take care of all of it. He came to the world
to take our sins away. That is humility. Can you imagine that moment. See, humility,
when you are in its presence, you feel it. You feel overwhelmed by it. And the disciples
felt that they were in the presence of a very humble person. Do people feel in your
presence that they are around someone who is very self-effacing, someone that is
humble? Do people feel like you are someone that is not just this nit-picker that groans
and complains and grumbles and who is always uptight? Someone who just has a sour
attitude all the time? Or do they just sense something in you that is so grateful that you
can even have a Bible to read, so grateful that you can have a church to go to, so grateful
that you can even roll out of bed and have life?
I see this even as a pastor. Imagine having someone over for dinner. You cook a
nice meal, ladies, you offer someone dinner, you do everything you can to serve it, and
then the biscuits aren’t good. Or the steak isn’t good. I feel like that sometimes with my
sermons. I work real hard, put together this message to serve the body of Christ, and then
I realize I left that verse out. I tried to serve you a meal this morning. If I am doctrinally
off, then confront me because I need it. But sometimes we just nit-pick and we get selfcentered. We can do that. But John the Baptist shows humility in his life and I just can’t
help but think of Jesus bowing before His disciples and washing their feet. I would be
very uncomfortable with Jesus bowing before me to wash my feet, very, very
uncomfortable.
So we see this idea that humble people are secure in their own sins. Humble
people make little of themselves to make much of Jesus. And then finally humble people
eagerly and readily point people to Jesus. Okay? So we stop and we go are you secure in
your skin? We want you to be that way. God has a plan for your life and we want you to
rejoice in who He has made you to be. We want you to make much of Jesus. That is
your role in life. Be a person who brags on Jesus. Be a person that is excited about God.
Don’t be a boring, deadbeat Christian, a lifeless, passionate-less, lethargic follower of
Christ. Have life in your bones, excitement for Christ. And then eagerly and readily
point people to Jesus.
Page 8 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
Verse 29, “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” What a fantastic moment this must
have been. Go there with me. Get yourself in the wilderness and know for hundreds of
years, thousands of years, they have been prophesying about this Messiah that is going to
come. They have this sacrificial system that has been in place where people would
sacrifice lambs, goats and turtledoves. And they would offer these sacrifices so that they
could be right with God. And in this moment we see Jesus coming and John says,
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Can you imagine that
moment where John looks up and sees Jesus and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world.” At last He is here. I mean just imagine Jesus walking
toward John, just coming toward him, and John melts in this moment and says the words
that he has been longing to say, the phrase he was created to say, the sentence that he was
built for. And in this moment he takes the community around him and says it.
What a moment that much have been. I wonder if people fell on their face in that
moment and shout, he is here. Did they start shouting and celebrating that God in the
flesh was walking? That was what they were seeing. God is on the move and He is
coming closer to me with every step. What a moment. Imagine you being there. So that
is what God looks like when He walks. “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world. This is He of whom I said, After me comes a man who ranks before
me, because He was before me.”
What is John doing? He is saying that Jesus is eternal. “He ranks before me, He
was before me.” Who was born first? John was, he was born three months before Jesus.
And yet he says He was before me. Why? Because Jesus was more than a man. Jesus
was fully God and fully man. He eternally existed as God, but He became a man.
Let’s keep reading in verse 31, “I myself did not know Him.” What does John
mean? How do you say you did not know Jesus? Wasn’t He your second cousin? Look
at verse 33, “I, myself did not know Him.” So two times John says that. But John was
His second cousin, his mother Elizabeth and Jesus’ mother Mary were first cousins. So
they were second cousins. What did John mean he did not know Him? Well, John did
not know Him in this way. He had no idea that Jesus was the Saviour of the universe that
came to save us.
So how did John even recognize Jesus to begin with? Because humble people
readily and eagerly point people to Jesus. Verse 32, “And John bore witness saying, I
saw the Spirit descend from Heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him.” So John is
talking about Jesus’ baptism. Right? This is talking about Jesus’ baptism. John’s gospel
doesn’t describe the baptism, but you can go to the other gospels and see Jesus’ baptism.
So here John is describing Jesus’ baptism. Why? John was giving a prophetic word that
Page 9 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
when Jesus comes, when the Messiah comes, you will know it is Him because you will
see a dove descending upon Him. And so in this moment John realizes there He is.
Now a few weeks ago I was asked a very good question and it was this. Why in
the world did Jesus have to get baptized? You ever ask yourself that? Why did Jesus get
baptized? Let me share with you two reasons. He got baptized to identify with the
Jewish nation and the people He came to save. And He also was baptized because it
shows through His baptism that He was the one who came to take our place. And
through His baptism, when John said “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world,” and was then baptized, it was a picture that now going forth when you
are baptized it is remembering that He is the one that takes away your sins. And Jesus
was perfect. It says that “He was tempted in all of our ways yet without sin” in John
Chapter 4 and verse 12.
So John was all about pointing people to Jesus. He was about making much of
Jesus. I love this statement about Billy Graham when someone said hey, Billy, you must
feel pretty proud when you go into stadiums with a hundred thousand people and see all
those crowds. And Mr. Graham said, “Oh, no, no, no. I don’t feel any more proud than
the donkey felt carrying Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. I am just a donkey
carrying the messenger.” He was humble. He knew his role was to lift God up, to lift
Christ up.
And so John says in verse 33, “I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me
to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain,
this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and bear witness that this
is the Son of God.” What is the theme of the gospel of John? Jesus is the Son of God.
Here you have it.
And what does it say about Jesus? John says that he only baptizes with water but
Jesus is going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And that is what Jesus did. He dies on
the cross, forgives us of our sins, and when we believe Him, the Holy Spirit comes and
indwells in us, and lives in us. And now we have God living inside of us, empowering us
to live a Godly kind of life. And that is what happens. If you are not a Christian, you are
absent of God. When you become a believer, God becomes present within you. You
want a relationship where Jesus Christ sends His Holy Spirit to live in your heart and life,
to guide you through life, so that you can live above sin, so that you can walk in a way
that pleases God.
So John was about pointing people to Jesus. Why? Because that is what humble
people do. It wasn’t about pointing people to Himself. He wanted to point people to
Jesus. Is that your life? Are you marked by a person who is secure in your own skin?
That is a sign of humility. Another sign of humility is if you make little of yourself, but
Page 10 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
much of Jesus. Another sign of humility would be that you eagerly and readily point
people to Jesus. You are on the lookout to say, hey, He is the way out of this place. He
is our only hope.
Now, let me step back as I wrap up and answer this question for you. You want
to be humble and you just say, but how? How do I get humility in my life? Turn with
me to Isaiah Chapter 6. If you want humility in your life, you have to behold God. You
have to cultivate a habit of sitting in the presence of God. You have to get that down.
And I am not talking about religion. We have our quiet time, so let’s check that off the
list. No, I am just talking about we need to bask in the presence of God. We need time in
the Word, we need time in prayer, and then we can pray spontaneously throughout the
day. But it reeks of arrogance when we don’t sit ourselves down in the presence of God.
Jesus said “Apart from me you can do nothing.” And when we roll out of bed and we
coast through our day and live our own merry way without camping out in the presence
of God, it reeks of arrogance. It shows God, I will take it my way today. We must get in
the presence of God if we want humility in our lives.
Isaiah Chapter 6 and verse 1, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and exalted, lifted up. And the train of His robe filled the
temple. Above Him stood the seraphims, which were six winged angels, with two he
covered His face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.” Think about this.
Angels that have never sinned cover themselves in the presence of God. They are so
overcome with His holiness.
And it says, “They called out to one another, saying Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory.” Check this out. They are in Heaven and
they realize that the whole earth is full of His glory. We are on earth and we struggle to
realize God’s glory here on earth. “And the foundations of the threshold shook at the
voice of Him who called. And the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Woe is me
for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of
unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts.”
So here is Isaiah and what makes him humble himself? He had to get a vision of
God. He had to see God in His holiness and in His splendour, and in His radiance. He
needed to see the blazing center of God’s glory. And in that moment, God made Himself
known to him. He had this vision of God, and what does he do? He becomes small. He
says, “Woe is me, for I am undone.” If you want to be a humble person, you have to
spend time in the presence of God. And the way to spend time in the presence of God is
getting in your Word, praying, chasing His heart and worshipping Him. Just remember
when you wake up tomorrow, and if you want to just go live your day your way, and not
pause for God, it is arrogant. It is completely prideful. It is saying, God, I don’t need
you. I will do it my way. But when we bow before him, and don’t do this religiously,
Page 11 of 12 pages
9/20/2009
THE RARE JEWEL OF HUMILITY
when we get in prayer we need to say I want you to be magnified in my life. I want you
to help me to see my sin. I want you to be glorified through my life. That is what God
wants you to do.
And I want to tell you something. Humility is a rare jewel. It is a rare jewel
because you can’t get many people to get in the presence of God. We don’t stay there
long enough. We get anxious, we get impatient, we get restless, and we don’t sit still.
We don’t really believe that when we wake up that getting in the Word is life. We don’t
really believe that God has promises for us. But guess what? He does. And so I
encourage you to do whatever you can to pursue at all costs a passionate, God-centered
life. That is our mission. That is what we are about. And the way that you do that is you
have to know who God is so you can know how to even follow Him to begin with.
So as the Worship Team comes, I want to talk about humility. I talked about how
John was one of the most humble people in all of Scripture, but there was one who was
even more humble. And it was the one John pointed to, and it was Jesus. And the
humblest act ever in the history of the world was when Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, was
dying on the cross for our sins. Think about how profound this is. Jesus eternally existed
as God, and then He became a man. Why? To die for those who cared nothing about
Him. To shed His blood for their sins. To become their Saviour. And He shed His blood
on the cross for our sins. Utter humility, that He would give His life on our behalf.
I would ask you, have you humbled yourself and said Jesus, I need you? Have
you humbled yourself and said Jesus, I want you to be the Lord of my life? Have you
humbled yourself and confessed that you believe Jesus died on the cross and arose from
the grave and said I want you to be my Saviour? If you want to know how Jesus will
become your Saviour, you just want to match one humble act with another humble act.
He humbly died for our sins, would you humbly call out to Him as your Saviour.
And you can pray in the quietness of your heart right now with me. Just pray this
if you want to know Jesus and you want to be forgiven of your sins, and you want to
know when you die you are going to Heaven: Dear Jesus, thank you for humbling
yourself, even to death on behalf of the sins of the world. I have sinned, I have offended
you with my life, I have not thought about you, I have not lived for you. You made me
yet I live as if you don’t exist. Would you forgive me? I receive your grace and I ask
you to get rid of my guilt. I ask you to help me to feel renewed. And I thank you that
you arose from the grave. And right here, right now, Jesus, I am giving you my life.
Here it is, take it, and send your Spirit to come live in me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
The preceding transcript was completed using raw audio recordings. As much as possible, it includes the actual
words of the message with minor grammatical changes and editorial clarifications to provide context. Hebrew
and Greek words are spelled using Google Translator and the actual spelling may be different in some cases.
Page 12 of 12 pages
9/20/2009