A Core Called Humility

Title of today's sermon is, A Core Called Humility. A Core Called Humility. Could almost all sin be traced to, at its core, a lack of humility? Has the lack of humility, I guess you would call it pride, been a root cause for most of the sins? Since original sin? You may say, well, no, no. I can think of sins that don't involve the lack of humility or the excess of pride. But are you sure? As we will look at that today, hopefully we can see. I discussed this topic about three weeks ago over dinner on Saturday night with our deacon from Trinidad, Dale Bessesser. And as we went through these things, I went back to my hotel room at night and stayed up till about 1 o'clock working on this message because it intrigued me, as Dale has a way of doing sometimes, to me. And the first thing that ran across my mind, when I was looking at this pride issue and humility, of course, being from Nashville, growing up there, there's a country song for everything, right? Even things you don't want to hear about. There's a country song. But I remember growing up, and there was a singer-songwriter named Roger Miller, King of the Road, Chug Love, various songs that he recorded. He wrote so many others. But he wrote a song and recorded it. Later, it was re-recorded by Brooks and Dunn, called Husbands and Wives. I don't know if any of you remember that song. But it had a line in it that I could not forget. And it says, pride is the chief cause in the decline in the numbers of husbands and wives. Pride is the chief cause in the decline in the numbers of husbands and wives. Roger Miller should have known he had three wives. So I thought about this, and as I was thinking about what we would be doing during the next few weeks, as we are in the examining process, I asked that let us examine through some scriptures today my hypothesis of pride. And that pride and the lack of it could all be tied back to sin. Pride versus humility.

You ever thought about it? It's a fight for the ages. It's been going on and on and on. And it lives on today, in my life, in probably your life, unless you have too much pride to admit it. And then you have problems. But Adam and Eve bought the pride prize that was dangled in front of them. Did they not? Now, I don't think it was an apple. Most people think it's an apple. That's why they call the Adam's apple, and the man who got it caught in his throat don't think that's it. Okay? Many of the Hebrew scholars say it was pomegranate. But I don't know anybody that's still hanging around that would know that. But just think about that. A piece of fruit was dangled in front of them, and Satan had to be the greatest salesman the world has ever known. And he may still be today. Because he not only sold them a piece of fruit, a bite of a piece of fruit in exchange for what? Eternal life. Is that a salesman or what? Fruit, eternal life. Eternal life of fruit. I think I'll choose fruit. Somebody's got to be a really good salesman for that to happen. But they both bought it. Abeneath both bought it. But see, Satan sells pride as a way of life. Does he not? If you follow his patterns. And as we look at Scripture, we can see, even back with Moses, who was considered the most humble man, walking the earth at the time. And he bought it, too. He was almost there to go into the Promised Land. And the people were complaining again. Right, Maryse? They were complaining, and he was so tired of it. That he goes up and tells God about it. God says, and if you read the account in Numbers 20, if it wasn't so pathetic, it'd be humorous. Because Aaron and Moses were getting bent all out of sheep. They'd heard this for a very long time. Wasn't anything new. And God just says, okay, just here's a rock, go speak to the rock, and water will come out, and they can have all the water they want for themselves and their flocks. Moses got what he wanted. But what does he do? He walks back, and he said, you rebels! Do we, Adam, his brother, Aaron and him, do we have to bring water to you? And he struck, struck the rock, not once, but twice. I want to be struck and I won't get out. You know? It's like... and that one act, attitude, cost him from going into the Promised Land. It's not even 120 anyway, but still, it's what he wanted. At least he got to look at it. But Satan sold the bill of goods even to Moses, and he can sell a bill of goods to us, and it's about attitude. He sells you something that he wants at the core of you, and the last thing he wants to see in the core of you is humility, because that's not what it is in his core. It's pride, as we will see today. But even David bought into it. I bring these cases up because, hey, if Moses can be influenced, David could be influenced. David was fine. God was with him. Everything was going good, and David decides, oh, Joab? Go count my troops. Let's just see how big we are. Joab's, I don't think you want to do that. Joab? When Joab starts correcting you morally, it's an issue. Okay? He said, don't think you want to? Yeah, go out and count them. And he did.

But let's go back to original sin. Someone want to tell me where original sin is? In the Bible?

Genesis 2, Genesis 3, original sin. Now, original sin goes back to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. See? The rebellion against God, doesn't it? Took place before man was even here. Yet the world talks about original sin, but you go back, and you see the original sin. Isaiah 14, he said, you have said in your hearts, I will ascend into Heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.

Pride there? Little pride. That's why it even gives us that insight in Isaiah and Ezekiel of what happened millions of years before even Earth. It was thought about being populated and turned into the Garden of Eden. Ezekiel 27, it says, your heart was lifted up. Talking about Satan. His heart was lifted up. Lifted up of what? Pride! Pride! Pride and humility are diametrically opposite in the spectrum of all human motives. We're on each end. Pride, humility. One social scientist. Pseudo-psychology. I read a few years ago. Said that, this man stated, and I think there's a point to it, that all humans are motivated by two things. Everyone of us, we do something to gain pleasure or we do something to avoid pain. Think about it. Whatever you do, is it to gain pleasure for you or to avoid pain? Can't say I buy it 100%, but something to it when you start thinking about it. We start this process of developing our core at a very young age, don't we? It starts to develop this core inside of us of humility or pride. Haven't we all seen little kids that walk around like they own the place? And we've also seen humble little children that you're just like, oh, this. Mary and I would have had a dozen if we could have had one like that.

You ever felt in your core when you were young? Teachers were idiots. Right, William? You've seen that before? That parents are a joke. That your boss is just plain dumb. Right? And it all started somewhere. Scriptures tell us that Lucifer was perfect till iniquity, our sin, was found in him. He was perfect until something, sin, showed up, and then what did his core become? That's why we have to be very careful, don't we? Because we're influenced. You live in this world. You drive traffic. You're influenced. Especially around Miami.

Maybe you say, well, I'm humble. I'm humble to the point I'm proud of my humility. But we all get to thinking about that. I was thinking about the story of the day as I was driving down towards Miami. And I thought about it. Why are all the drivers driving faster and you considered maniacs and all those that drive slower and you are idiots? I've thought that myself. I've thought about people. Look at that. I'm not in a hurry and all of a sudden somebody is jets around me and I'm going to look at that jerk. Well, I don't know. Something may be wrong, you know? But I'm bringing my judgment out. Let's look at what most people consider original sin, if you will go with me to Genesis 3. And over to Genesis 3. That's what most people consider original sin. Genesis 3 and verse 1 from the New King James Version. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, as God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, you may eat, we may eat the fruit of the tree of the garden, but the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God says you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.

And then Satan shows up and shows off. He does. And he, as I like to coin the phrase, demonstrated to them. He demonstrated this kind of pride. Because in verse 4, and the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. That's amazing, because the original Hebrew says, no, you will not die. Boom! It's laid out there to where he's just saying, no, you will not die. What's he doing? Calling God a liar, right? And he's saying, I know better than God.

Verse 5, for God knows, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Pride! Your eyes will be opened. Satan invokes pride into the human experience on earth. He has to. He can't help it. Pride defines him. It's at his very core. Just read Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. There's your two witnesses. So his sales pitch that day to Adam and Eve was, I know more than God. I know more than God, and you can too. And they bought it. They bought it. And it's worked ever since, and it sometimes works on us.

And it begins to change your core when you begin to buy into this. Think of all the commandments that have been broken through the time that were influenced by this mindset, Lucifer's mindset. He has to smile. It goes right down his alley. See, he said, or he referred to them, they had, Adam and Eve had all the right information. They just didn't have all the information.

And so he was going to give them a lot more information, which is scary. He wanted them to be like God. He wanted them to become like God. That's the sales pitch. And that we can all be as wise as God. Want what the Scriptures say? Only a fool says there is no God. Satan says there's God, but you can be as smart as him. You can be as smart as him.

You can direct your own life, be your own God. And we had to follow man. If man sinned. Can we begin to see the importance of having a core of humility compared to the core of pride? Because it's been a major stumbling block to so many. We saw Moses, right? And we saw David. And you can go to Luke 9, which is one of my most interesting stories of Christ. If I could go back and see the look on his face in Luke 9, about 50-something. They're going heading to Jerusalem. You've got all disciples there, and they come to Samaritan Village and Samaritan Village.

No, we want you to stay. If you're just going to be here for one night, move on down the road. We want you to be here for. We've got a lot of healing, got a lot of talk. We need to come here and spend a few days. They can't do that. They said, we move it on. James and John, sons of thunder? Because they turn to Christ when they hear this and say, Can we call fire down?

Do you want us to call fire down? Taking judgment upon themselves, didn't they? They're going to burn them up. The look on Christ's face had to be priceless. Because they were, this is towards the end of his ministry. Thought they would have known about it, but they were going to take care of it.

Why? Because they did not have that core of humility that Christ had. This is what he was trying to teach them. Contrast the core of humility to the core of pride. And we just looked at those few examples. And you see a man that walked on this earth for about 31-32 years with a core of humility. And yet, he was revered by followers. He had many followers and people who looked up to him and listened to him and followed him. And I'm talking about John the Baptist. And yet, John the Baptist said, made reference two or three places in the Bible, this man who's coming after me, I'm not even worthy to strap on his sandal. One says, I'm not even worthy to carry his sandal.

And when Christ asked to be baptized, what did he say? I don't need you to baptize me. I don't need to baptize you. And when his followers came to him in John 3, verse 30, and said, Look, they're all following Christ. They're all just leaving us and following him. Did he say, oh, let me get him back. I just need to speak louder. I need to baptize with more fury and passion. It's not what it's about. What is it? What is it? He said to his followers, I must decrease, and he must increase. And didn't bat an eye. Why? Because it was that core of humility. He didn't have the pride. Go over to Matthew 18. Matthew 18. Matthew 18, verse 1 through 3. Matthew 18, from the New King James Version. Matthew 18, verse 1, said, And Jesus called the little child to him, set him in the midst of them. Isn't that interesting? He didn't point to this little child. He pulled in the midst of them. Okay, I need a prop. So he pulled this little child and set him right in the middle of them. Because you have to remember the story, right? Where before when the children wanted to come and see him, they'd go, go, go. Couple of dogs or something. Just move out. Well, it wasn't like that. He said, no, bring this child in.

In verse 3, What's the word? Humble. Humble's himself as this little child is greatest in the kingdom of God.

Are we? Are we following that instruction? Paul talks in Romans, chapter 12 and verse 3. That way, you ought not to think more of yourself than you ought to. That's how one translation used two oaks in there. One says to not think more highly of yourself than you ought to. Why'd Paul say that? Because he knew. Paul knew what... I mean, if Paul had the core of humility, he'd have never had to be struck down blind, would he? He'd have never stood there and held the coats of the people who were picking up the rocks and laying those rocks into the body of Stephen. Book of Acts.

Are we cognizant of the pride that can and will grow without the core of humility? Because it will grow. Let's go over to Daniel 4. Classic example here. Daniel 4. Most of you probably know where I'm going to. Hopefully you will. Let's read a couple of verses here, as we know about the big king, the big dog. King of the world at the time, Nebuchadnezzar, is a world-ruling power. Had it all. Money, women, land, everything. Daniel 4. Daniel 4, in verse 30. Said the king, spoke, saying, Is this not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling, for my, what? Mighty! My mighty power. And for the honor of my majesty? Sounds like a politician or an actor or singer today, doesn't it?

And of course, we know what happens. God decides to show him, you know, you're not that big of stuff. Matter of fact, I'm going to make you like an animal. You're going to wander around for seven years. Yep. Where the people had just turned him out into a field. I don't want that. Do you? I don't want God to have to do that to me. Because He would do it to us if we needed it. Hopefully we don't need it. Hopefully we don't need it. Well, Nebuchadnezzar found something out after doing that in verse 37. Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor myself. No. He'd learned. Praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven. All of whose works are truth in His ways justice. And those who walk in pride, He is able to abase. There is no greater statement of fact than that one. Took the most important man on the earth at the time in the eyes of the world. And turned him into an animal for seven years. And then he came back. He is able to abase. And those who walk in his pride, He is able to abase. If anybody could say that, it was Nebuchadnezzar. We've all gone through things where we've had our pride broken, where we've been abased. But I haven't seen any of you walking on all fours coming in here.

But God doesn't have to do that to us. And God has given us the Holy Spirit so that we can begin to strive to develop that core of humility. Which He needs. Let's go over to chapter 5 of Daniel. Chapter 5 and verse 20. It says, but when His heart, talking about Nebuchadnezzar's attitude here, but when His heart was lifted up and His Spirit was hardened in pride, pride, He was deposed from His kingly throne and they took His glory from Him.

It was needed. It was needed at that time. I'd like to go to me in amazing Scripture, which gives me a lot of relief. Because I have these issues and I've had them for a long time and I've worked towards overcoming my sins, but they always seem to pop up at the least favorite moment of mine. And I'm sure it's the same with you. And I have to humble myself before God. Too many times and have to say again, Father, I am sorry. And I think, is He ever going to get tired of this? But then I go to the Scripture. Go with me to 1 Kings. 1 Kings 21. Because I love history so much, this stands out to me.

1 Kings 21, verse 25, talking about Ahab and that wicked, wicked wife of his, Jezebel. They were two of the worst couples you could find married in the Bible. Bonnie and Clyde. They make Bonnie and Clyde look good. And it's just wicked people. But look in 1 Kings 22 and verse 25 here. 1 Kings 21. And there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord because Jezebel, his wife, had stirred him up. I've had my wife stir me up before, but not quite like that. Anyway, shape or form.

Caesar, what are you smiling about? Anybody in man's marriage, you get stirred up and you ask the wives, yeah, he can stir me up. Not in a good way. He says, his wife stirred him up, and he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all the Hamarites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. So it was when Ahab heard those words, because that's what he said, and he said, Elijah, go tell him.

God knows what you're doing. No more hide and seek. That Ahab tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his body, and fasted, and laid in sackcloth, and went about mourning. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tish by saying, See? See? How Ahab has humbled himself before me. Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring calamity in his days. A man as wicked as Ahab humbles himself, and God does what?

He accepts it. It's what he's looking for. And if he will accept that from Ahab, how much more should he accept it from us, who have his ear, who have his spirit, who have his word? When we say, I am humbled, God, I am changing. I don't want to do that. So even a bad guy is cut slack! A bad, bad guy! Doesn't he give us all? A little bit of hope this time of the year as we're examining ourselves and finding we're not that clean.

We're not that pure. But it's not something we can just beat ourselves up with and crawl in the corner and go, Oh God, beat me! No! He just wants to see us humbled. And living that way and having a core of humility. I remember the story of two preachers as they were practicing for their Sunday sermon on Saturday.

And so they came into the hall and nobody was there except the maintenance guy who was sweeping up in the back. And so they were working on this and one of them goes up and he falls on his knees as he's practicing what he's going to do the next day. And he says, I am nothing! And then he says, I am nothing! And then he goes, No, maybe I am nothing!

And he's practicing this. And the other minister comes up there and he's going, I am nothing! I am nothing! And so after they feel like they have practiced it enough, they start walking to the back. And they're talking and the sweeper, the guy, maintenance guy, is coming up front and he felt touched. And he goes before the altar there and he falls down on his knees and says, God, I am nothing!

At which the two preachers in the back go, look at him! Who does he think he is saying he's nothing? Huh? We have to be careful sometimes, don't we? Proverbs 6 says that there are six things that God hates. No! Seven are abomination, right? What is the very first one? A proud look. A proud look. It's the one thing God hates and what do we see? I had to watch my Tennessee Vols play this weekend, day before yesterday, and they basketball and they almost won.

But they would hit a shot and it was like... And one guy kept going, when he did a shot, come back, play defense, don't do this, do this! They got beat. But you see that? A proud look, right? This is what God hates. Why? Because it shows what's at the core. And it's not a core humility, it's a core pride. You see it in the actors. Now they have a show, they used to show the Oscars, you know, every year show the picture. I haven't seen that in quite a while, where the best picture... But now they've got a two-hour show before the Oscars as these people that really think there's something go walking down the red carpet.

Doing this. Telling, oh yes, I got these Gucci shoes and I've got this. I mean, it's all about just arrogance, right?

Proverbs 21 verse 4 says, a haughty look, a proud heart, is a sin. Haudy look. What's haughty mean? Anybody? Haudy look. Anybody here want to come up and demonstrate a haughty look? I hope you have to act.

Because we see it all the time, don't we? If you want to see it, go down to Miami Beach. On the beach where they don't wear anything much, but they're so proud. Staffs are going on a cruise tomorrow. Mary and I got a short cruise a few months back, and it's amazing what people will wear when they don't need to be wearing it. You talk about pride. I mean, people wearing things that even swimsuit models shouldn't have been wearing.

But it's pride. It's a haughty look. And God says He hates it. I looked it up, haughty. We don't use that word. I'd never hear it. Maybe David uses it. I heard you rattle it off, so I thought, well, he's used to using haughty. It means vain, arrogant, conceited, snobbish, pompous, egotistical, smug, stuck up, superior, self-important, and condescending. Well, we see it a lot, don't we? And it's something that we have to make sure we stay away from.

Ezekiel 28 says that Satan, or Lucifer, his heart was lifted up because of his what? That's in 14 of Isaiah. Ezekiel, his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. His beauty. He was gorgeous! And he knew it. And we all seen people that way? It's in every school, isn't it? Oh, you see it there. Who thinks they are the best looking and everything? I flashed back 40 years ago, over 40 years. To my senior year in high school, I graduated with 317 in our class. 322, maybe it's 322. And so, at the end of the year, towards the end, we have a homecoming, where they would have the Homecoming Court.

And different than the other year, the Homecoming King and Queen were voted on at this school by the seniors. And so, they pull you into this big auditorium here, and you were going to be able to write down anybody's name in that room. Vote for Homecoming King and Queen. So, you kind of knew the time was coming up, because guys don't think about that.

But you knew walking down the hall, because there were always those two or three girls. They were good-looking, and I won't say their name just in case this goes back to them. But you knew the one or two names, and that was going to be it. The captain, the cheerleader, the one who's like this. You've seen them, right? And they would walk down the hall, and they'd give you the time of day, except a week before election. Hi, Chuck! Hi, Chuck! Hi, Chuck! You know, but it was obvious.

Now, the guys in my class, there were the rednecks, the jocks, the freaks, the frats, and then the average joes like me. And we all, towards being together for four years, by this time, we decided we knew the guy we were all voting for. So, if we all voted for the one guy, he was going to be Homecoming King. Because we like this guy. But then, the girl. We were sitting around talking, and we said, you know, Collier Critchlow, which was one of the freaks at the time, he had been with us, and he had beautiful blonde hair. He had hair down to here, you know, and he kept it so beautiful, and he always had his comb and comb in it.

So we decided, as a bunch of guys, we're all going to vote all for Collier Critchlow for the Queen. Yes! We already voted for the King when it was, so let's all vote for Collier Critchlow. So, every board spread around, and we're like this, and the girls are all walking into the room, like, you know, looking good, and we're just like, so we do! We write his name. And then we left, and then there was an announcement over the loudspeaker with all senior young men returned back to the hall, and we got you out.

Big time for it. Now, I wasn't converted then. As a matter of fact, if they had superlatives like, most likely to succeed, I probably would have won, most likely not to have been a minister, if that had been, but it wasn't. But all of us had proud. I was proud. I was confident. I had no real reason to be proud. I just did not care what other people thought of me, and that included God. And so, it was about self, it was about me. The core of me was self. It's something I've had to work over 40 years on, trying to make sure that the old me doesn't want to slip back in.

Change my core, because I realize by reading this, unless I change my core, and at my core is humility, I will not be in the kingdom of God. He doesn't need people like that in his kingdom. It's what he's been teaching all that time. C.S. Lewis wrote, A really humble man will not be thinking about humility. He will not be thinking about himself at all. Describing it's a way of life. I don't have to say, oh, I need to be humble, like the preachers. It must be something that we develop that is a part of us. As we let God's word and God's Spirit work in us.

In the physical world, at the gym, that you go to UFIT too. I think you said you did. I go to UFIT, whether you believe that or not. But when you work out, or if you're an athlete, or whatever it comes through, the core in the physical world is the stomach, it's the belly, the abdomen. It's the tie between the upper body and the lower body. It's how athletes, you know, it's their core. But that's not the same in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, it's right here. The spiritual world, it references our core being our heart. When God was ready to bring Israel, after 38 years of wandering in the wilderness, into the Promised Land. And so, He brings this new group of younger people to Him, similar to Sinai. And He pulls them together, and He gives them His commandments in Deuteronomy 5. Right? He lists them. And they made the same promise, Yes, you will be our God, and we will follow you. And you could see through the writings where God says, Oh, that they would have such a heart. Oh, that they would have such a heart. He didn't think it would last, but oh, if they would. What's He saying about us today? When we're trying, oh, that they would have such a heart. I want to have that heart. I want to have that core of humility. It's like helping people, stopping and helping and doing things for people, and not saying, Will somebody see me? It's like, This is what I do, because this is who I am. You don't even think anything about it.

So we wrap this up today. Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36.

And verse 26. Ezekiel 36, 26. I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. He says that in Ezekiel 11.19, the very same thing. This is what He wants. Because when you have a heart of stone, you have a heart of pride. And we see it magnified before us, day after day after day. That's why we have to go to God's Word, and it's so wonderful to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, where we can see humility personified for us. Walking in a world as we do. David realized it because in Psalm 51, David said, Go God, create in me a what? Clean heart. David knew he needed to change his heart because he got too big for his britches.

Do we? And he knew he needed God to help, to help change him. We may need to do the same thing because it's easy to clean a heart for just a short while. When you really start to have that as a part of your character. With children, it takes that, and it's amazing when you teach. And a young child even have it at a young age, even though they may get away from it, a lot of times it's still in there. They may just have to go through growing pains. But you know their heart. See, God knows us. He knows that what we are inside. And that's why it's so important during these days. Can we change? Well, the old saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig and you still have a what? Pig. Which means you can dress up like a Christian, you can talk all the talk, you can do all the stuff you want to do that's religious. But with God, it's what's in here that matters. He knows it. So, brethren, let us pray and ask God to help us. Help us all have a core of humility. Let it be a way of life. Will things go better in the church? Absolutely. Will things go better in your job? In your house? Absolutely. God knows that. That's why it's so important. It's time of the year as we examine ourselves and try to... Try to be better. Better people. Better Christians. Better saints. So it begins and ends here. So, will you join me this week as we pray, God? Give us a core of humility.