Developing a Child-like Attitude

Today our Bible study will center on developing a childlike attitude. We know how little children are, and if they don't drop their pacifier, they're fine. So, little children are so malleable in every way their joints are flexible. They can throw their leg over their head and do all kinds of things and scratch everywhere over their back. So, children are flexible, they're teachable, they're pliable. They are humble, they're childlike. Notice the admonition here in Matthew 18. At the same time came their disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? That seemed to be one of the major themes of the disciples. So, you see, they were not all that much different from people today. Well, who is the greatest? How can I become the greatest? The answer from Jesus was rather surprising, I guess you would say. Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them and said, Verily I say unto you, Except you be converted, unless you turn yourself about, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So it seems one of the great requirements is to become like a little child in humility with a perfectly teachable attitude. Whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name receives me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, then it goes from that example to a believer, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Remember that Jesus said in Matthew 5.48 that we are to become perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect.

Paul was inspired to write in Hebrews 6.1, Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ let us go on to perfection. So becoming childlike, going on to perfection, are requirements for entering into the kingdom of God.

So I hope that we are maturing that we're becoming more and more able to be fed meat instead of milk. If you turn to 1 Corinthians 3 verse 2, the great rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians is 1 Corinthians 1.13, in which Paul asks the question, is Christ divided? In the rest of the book of Corinthians, this epistle is generally taken up with the resounding answer, No, Christ is not divided. In chapter 1, the Corinthians were divided over who is the greatest minister. Some say, I am of Cephas.

Some say, I am of Paul. Some say, I am of Christ, trumping them all. And so we come to 1 Corinthians 3, and Paul writes in verse 2, 1 Corinthians 3 verse 2, I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto, before this, in other words, you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able.

I hope that is not true of us, because this sermon will contain some rather strong meat, I would say. For you are yet carnal. In other words, you have a fleshly mind, not led by the Spirit, in all cases, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men.

For while one says, I am of Paul, another I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? So the fact that we are here today is not because of men. God has called you, He has drafted you into this way of life, in the Church of God.

And I hope and pray that we are able to endure sound doctrine, and that we are ready for meat. Today I hope to help each one of us, including myself, because I surely need this, to see ourselves as we really are so we can develop humility and a childlike attitude, just as the little children who are here today, especially those who are under six years of age. It seems that about six years ago, you go to school and you begin to lose your innocence.

One time I gave a sermon titled, Innocence Lost and Innocence Regained. The true Christian will regain their innocence, and they will not be plagued by pangs of guilt. Let's turn to Isaiah 53, prophecy, a Messianic prophecy. Isaiah 53, a Messianic prophecy, speaking of Jesus Christ, and what he would do, and how he would conduct himself, and what his attitude was. If Christ tells us to develop a childlike attitude, he must have also had a childlike attitude and fill that same kind of humility that he instructs us to be filled with. In Isaiah 53, 4, We can be made whole in every sense of the word, both physically and spiritually, especially spiritually.

This is basically spiritually oriented. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way. The eternal that laid on him, the iniquity, the lawlessness of us all. He was oppressed, was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.

He did not defend himself. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his sharers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation, for he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

God the Father sent his only begotten Son into the world, and the only begotten Son voluntarily laid down his life for each one of us. He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Eternal to bruise him. He had put him to grief. So Jesus Christ suffered the most ignominious kind of betrayal, mock trial, and then crucifixion on the stake. And how did he go through this? Notice verse 11. He shall see of the travail of his life-essent soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge, and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.

In Matthew 27, chapter 27, verse 24, beginning there, there is a long discourse with regard to Jesus Christ and what he went through in the mock trial, and how he responded to it. In Matthew 27 and verse 24.

When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, Pilate really did not want to sentence Jesus Christ to death and turn him over to the Jewish authorities, because, remember, Pilate's wife had told him that she had suffered many things the night before in a dream because of, quote, this man and to be careful how you deal with him. But when he came down to it, Pilate asked the people, whom shall I release unto you? Marabbas, who was a known robber, might have been a murderer, or Jesus Christ. So they cried out for Marabbas to be released, to be set free. Jesus Christ was turned over to the Roman authorities to be crucified. The Jews, in essence, passed the sentence. The Romans carried it out. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See you to it. I don't want to have anything to do with it. Then entered all the people and said, His blood be on us and our children. Of course, if you read the history of the Jews for the past two thousand years, they have suffered many, many things. And as a whole, as a nation, they rejected him at that time. Of course, there were many who turned to Christ at that time. And of course, the first converts were basically Jews and some proselytes who were gathered there together on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent. Then released Heba, Rama said to them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the commons hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. They stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had planted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knees before him and mocked him, saying, Hey, old king of the Jews, how about where you are now? You said you are the king to this end. Was I born? And they spit upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head. And after they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they were coming to a place called Golgotha, the place of the skull, outside of the city proper, when they came to Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink, mingle with gall. And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him. They drove nails into his hands and to his feet.

And they parted his garments, castling lots that he might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down, they watched him there and set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Look where he is now, nailed to the stake.

Then were two thieves crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And they that passed by, and they that passed by, reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, You that destroyed the temple and built it in three days, save yourself. If you be the Son of God, come down from the stake. Likewise also the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and elders said, He saved others himself. He cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the stake, and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have. For he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And when the ninth hour came, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lamas, abashthani, that is to say, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Some of them that stood there, when they heard that said, This man calls for Elijah. And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elijah will come save him. Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, the breath of life, and he died. He went through all of this, and he did not defend himself. He knew that God was his defense. He knew that God was his deliverer. He knew that God would raise him from the dead. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was full of faith. Self-defense and justification are perhaps the greatest obstacles to developing a childlike attitude.

What is your immediate reaction when someone corrects you or when someone calls you a bad name? When Adam and Eve sinned, their first response was to try to hide from God. They covered themselves with fig leaves. Then when God called for them and found them, Adam, while he was his woman, you gave to me. He tried to blame others. In fact, he blamed both Eve and God. He said, the first woman you gave to me, and he tried to justify himself. Blame and justify, hide, blame, justify, are three of the usual responses that we get.

So what is our immediate reaction? We need to learn to disarm the persecutor or accuser. You look at Romans 12 and verse 20.

Remember the book of Romans from chapter 12 to the end of the chapter basically tells you how to go on to perfection and how to become a living sacrifice. See, Romans 12.1 says, Now in Romans 12, we have a whole series of admonitions with regard to how we should conduct our lives. But this one in verse 20, Therefore if your enemy hunger feed him, if he thirst give him drink, for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Really, the way that the world is trying to solve its problems today is just the opposite. Because we go to war in the name of good. We're good. We're righteous. And we are going to make the rest of the world like us. And so we will go kill as many of you as we need to before you surrender. But killing people does not change their heart and mind. That is a spiritual matter. And it's only the word and spirit of God that convict them that can change. As children, probably all of us were teased by relatives, peers, even sometimes by our parents. I remember to this day one of the names I was called and some of my reactions to those names. Several years ago, and this was probably, what, thirty-something years ago, one and I were visiting my brother. He was here with his wife, last Sabbath.

We were visiting my brother and his youngest son, Kevin. Kevin was the doctor who took care of me when I was in the hospital during the feast. But Kevin was down on the floor. He was about three and a half, and he was playing with some toys. I just looked at him and sort of tried to tease him and said, Kevin, you're just an old duck. And Kevin looked up around and said, ho ho, look at the dog. Call me an old duck. You're totally disarmed. What are you going to say to that? Not upset or anything like that. That's the way he is today. The way he is today. And to everybody that I saw, the staff, nurses in the hospitals, oh, your nephew. We just love him to death. We just love him to death. But many of us, when we are teased, and I know that I didn't react that way oftentimes, when we are teased or corrected, are not able to react, and really, the word is not react, it's respond. See, there's a difference between response and react. A reaction is like, I'm coming fast, or a speck of dust is coming toward your eye, and you blink your eye, you didn't think. So oftentimes, what we do in self-defense is that we don't think, and we just blur something out. And in blurting it out, before thinking, oftentimes we are sorry that we did, the old saying that a mouth was in gear before my brain, or something like that. So, a measured response, a response that is thoughtful, seasoned with grace.

One scripture in the Bible says that, let your conversation be seasoned with grace. And we read from Isaiah, and also from Matthew, how Jesus responded. So I say once again, probably the greatest obstacle to a childlike attitude is self-defense. It's very important to learn to respond as Jesus did. The greatest burden and the heaviest yoke that most of us have placed on ourselves is self-defense. The greatest burden in life is dealing with self. I mean, I've got to deal with me, and that's quite a job. And you've got to deal with you, and that's probably quite a job. By that I mean the most difficult obstacle to deal with that stands between you and I and the kingdom of God itself. Now, you might say, well, I thought Satan was the number one enemy. Well, Satan is a great enemy. He's a deceiver and all the other adjectives we could describe to him. He is an adversary. He is a tempter. He's the accuser of the brethren. He's a god of this world. But when it comes down to it, who is your greatest obstacle for entering into the kingdom of God? It is ourselves. No, the devil did not make you do it. The devil did not make you do it. Quite frankly, we give the devil far too much credit. Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden and instructed by the eternal Creator God. Perfect environment, perfect teachers. Now, teachers, parents, and the environment are very important. Very important. Train up a child in the way that he should go. When he's old, he will not depart from it. Probably every parent in here can quote that scripture.

So teaching, parenting is very, very important. Having the right kind of environment. Could you imagine being placed in the Garden of Eden and having God as your teacher? And you think, if I had that, I would never go astray. And God even told Adam and Eve, He said, You can eat of every tree in the Garden, but the tree that is out there, called the knowledge of the tree of good and evil, you shall not eat of that, because in the day that you eat of that, you will begin to die. The wages of sin is death. And I don't care who you are, you're stationed in life, and all of that, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, unless we repent and exercise faith in the sacrifice of Christ, we are going to die. Satan didn't force Adam and Eve. Satan came along and he tempted especially Eve, and he deceived Eve. Then after Eve believed Satan's lie, Satan's big lie, one of the greatest lies of all time, you shall not surely die. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is inextricably linked to virtually every false religion on the face of the earth. And as I've said so often, why would a loving, rational God create an immortal soul, turn around, place it in a body that is subject to sin and death, and then challenge them to save their souls? Makes no sense at all. But people get so caught up in the emotion and in the culture in which they were reared that they really basically never even question some of these things.

So Satan came along and tempted Eve, and she succumbed. And then Eve took of the fruit and gave it to Adam, and he willingly went along with it. He gave in to the way of flesh. Who knows what Adam might have thought? Well, I'd be separated from this beautiful woman. I'd have to live alone. I would have to do this. I'd have to do that. And so he went along with it. Man was created subject to the pulls of the flesh. He was made subject to vanity. And a vain person is one who wants his thing now. Satan offered them immediate gratification, something to satiate the senses. Fill them up right now. You know, that old song says, You fill up my senses like John Denver said something. I don't know. And they accepted it.

So man was created this way. This does not mean that man was created a sinner, but he was created subject to these things. God said, after he had created Adam and Eve, that the creation was very good.

But man, apart from God, is morally illiterate. And these little children who are so humble right now, and so easy to be taught, they are morally illiterate. You could take a child from China, when they were a few months old, and bring it here, or vice versa, take a child from here and put it in a Chinese family, in Beijing or any other place you want to name there. And they would be reared by those parents in that culture, and they would basically take on the culture in which they're reared. That's how important it is with regard to the rearing of children.

We are morally illiterate, all of us, apart from God. We do not know the way to, it is not within man, to direct two steps. And we have to look to God for that knowledge. So how does sin occur? In James chapter 1, James chapter 1 and verse 13, here James shatters the notion that the devil made me do it. In James chapter 1 and verse 13, let no man say when he is tempted, tested, tried, I am tested or tried of God, where God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man. So we can't say, God made me do it. And as we read this, we can't say that the devil made us do it. Because if someone makes you do it, and it's not you that has chosen to do it, how could God hold you responsible?

But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

Now Satan played a great role with Eve, but yet Eve, in the final analysis, he didn't take, some say it's an apple, whatever it was, he didn't take it and cram it down her throat. She voluntarily, she saw that it was good for food, pleasing to the eye, lust to the flesh, lust to the eyes, a pride of life, and she ate it. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed, and when lust hath conceived, think it over, mull it over, think about it. It brings forth sin, and oftentimes people are swept up by emotion and the people that surround, oh go ahead, try it just once, just one time, one little old joint, that's not going to hurt you, one beer, under age people.

I would advise that you stay away from joints regardless of how old you are.

And sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren. So everything that comes into the conscious stream of awareness is stored in our storehouse of memories, what the psychologists call the subconscious. And anything that is stored in the storehouse of memories or subconscious can be emitted into the conscious mind. And that's why it's so important that the things that go into your mind are the things that are profitable, the things that edify, that comfort, that exhort.

And that's why it is so difficult for people who have grown up in an abusive situation with abusive parents, an abusive environment, and all the other things you can talk about it, why they oftentimes struggle so much. But even with all of that said, when all is said and done, we are responsible, and we must stand before God. And how can God hold us accountable for sin unless we make a conscious decision to disobey? So the devil did not make you sin.

He may have played a big role in Satan as the God of this world. He is the spirit, the power of the air that now works in the children of disobedience. That's what Paul writes in Ephesians 2, verses 1, 2, and 3, wherein we all had our conduct in times past. We've all walked that way.

But regardless of all these factors, God still holds us accountable. Let's look at Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5, beginning with verse 8. Ephesians 5, Ephesians chapter 5, beginning with verse 8. So many things can lead a person to being much more apt to sin the way they were reared, friends, environment. And Paul speaks to that here, as we will note, in Ephesians 5, verse 8. For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the eternal walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. So one of the things, if you want a childlike attitude and you want to overcome sin, of course, is you separate those who are from those who are bearing fruits of darkness. And it's not too difficult to discern who is bearing the fruits of darkness, but rather reprove them. They don't have anything to do with it. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever does make manifest is light. And of course, the word of God is that light. Jesus Christ said that He is the light of the world, and that David writes in Psalm 119, verse 97, that your word is a light into my path and a lamp under my feet.

And then we are challenged by Jesus Christ Himself. In Matthew, I think it's chapter 5, to be the light of the world. It says, you are the light of the world.

Redeeming the time. That means buying it back, making the best use of it that you possibly can. Because the days are evil.

We live in a critical, crucial time in human history. In one sense, it's amazing that we still have the appearance of sort of normality. But yet, at the same time, we know what is working underneath.

That the prince of the power of darkness is there. And he's ever clawing and scratching, and wanting to be released and to blindness. Wherefore, be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Eternal is. And the Word of God reveals what His will is. And be not drunk with wine wherein His excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Eternal. So that is one of the great ways whereby you can overcome a lot of things, is through singing hymns. I do it quite often to myself. There's something about music. We were talking about the storehouse and memories of subconscious. And I don't think anybody can exactly explain this as to why. That anything that is connected with music is more apt to be emitted into the conscious mind than just verbiage alone. So you might be sitting there, and you might have this song going through your head. Or you may have never thought of this song for a long time. And suddenly, here it is. You're humming it, or it's there, and going through your mind. So filling your mind with spiritual songs and hymns, and even singing those. And reading the psalms, I like to listen to good classical music. Because there's something about that in the... I'm talking about good classical. The harmony of it somehow helps to organize the mind in the right way.

And it has been proved that one of the ways that you can enhance the learning ability of your children, even beginning in the womb, is to play good classical music.

Oftentimes, we will speak, as we've already mentioned, before our mind is in gear. Instead of responding, we react, and we just blur something out that we might be sorry for. Christ states that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Now, I know that I've spoken at times, and just reacting, and sometimes trying to say something cute. That I say things... I didn't mean it that way. I really don't mean that. But, once words go out of your mouth, it's very difficult to bring them back. You can apologize, but you really can't bring them back.

The anecdote for popping off... Let's look at that. In Psalm 119 and verse 9... Psalm 119 and verse 9... This is one of the great ways that you can also overcome compulsive, addictive behavior.

Some people are addicted to pornography. Some are addicted to abbot forms of sex. Some are addicted to alcohol. Some are addicted to drugs. Some are addicted to almost like evil thoughts. How do you purge your conscience, and how do you purge your mind? Psalm 119 is a great place to read. Psalm 119 verse 9... Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to your word. With my whole heart have I sought you. O let me not wander from your commandments. Your word have I hidden in mine heart that I might not sin against you. So once again it goes into this doorhouse of memories. Of what is in your mind and what is in your heart. That is what you're apt to come out of you. Now in Psalm 119, one of the great things about Psalm 119 is that all of these command verses... ...where the psalmist is crying out to God. Look at verse 33. Teach me, O Lord. Verse 34, Give me understanding. 35, look at this, Make me to go in the path of your commandments. Verse 36, incline my heart. Verse 37, Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. Establish your word. Turn away my reproach. You'll have longed after your precepts. It just goes on and on with these pleading commands to God to help me. And so here's a great place to help cure many of the ills that beset our very lives in essence.

You know, Adam and Eve sinned and being deceived is no excuse. As sad as that might sound, I mean, just because you're deceived, because there is an anecdote, as it were, for being deceived. And that is to love the truth. You're familiar with 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 10 and 11, where it says, For this cause, because they receive not the love of the truth, therefore God shall send them grand delusion.

So God will go a certain way. But the great way to prevent being deceived is to love the truth. Apart from God, His Word, and His Holy Spirit, man is at the mercy of the flesh and Satan. Let me say that again. Apart from God's Spirit and His Word, man is at the mercy of His flesh and Satan. Now, there are people, they talk about, well, He's an old gentleman, or He is a fine lady. And there are people who have not been called into the truth, but basically they conduct themselves in a refined way. They're gracious, they're nice, they're courteous, and all of those kinds of things. And that's good, as far as it will take you. But that alone will not take you into the kingdom of God and the understanding of really who and what man really is. Let's look at Jeremiah 10 and verse 23.

In Jeremiah 10 and verse 23, Oh, eternal, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps. So, once again, that's the basis of me saying that apart from God, His Word, His Spirit, that we are at the mercy of the flesh and Satan. And, as I said, it is possible for people who have not been called into the truth if they have been reared properly and understand certain things that they can conduct themselves in a gracious way, a gracious manner. And perhaps be more gracious and courteous than some of us are. You also look at Jeremiah 17.9. The heart is deceitful above all things.

And people talk about, well, just in my heart, I know it. Well, it better believe that what is in your heart, or whatever your conscience is, your sense of right and wrong, squares with the Word of God. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So, flesh defends self, and flesh desires to make flesh look good. Now, let's look at Romans 8.31. Romans 8.31, everybody should be able to quote 31. 8.31. If you can't, then put it in your storehouse today. Romans 8.31. What shall we say, then, to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

God is for you. God is for every human being that has ever been born. God wants every human being that has ever been born, or ever will be born, to be in his family. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How much does he want us there? He gave his only son. How shall he not with him also free to give us all things? God in Christ wants to give us freely all good things. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. We cannot justify ourselves. When all is said and done, we cannot defend ourselves. We cannot deliver ourselves. We surely cannot save ourselves in the eternal sense. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yes, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? All of those things are physical things. Paul basically lists every possible thing that can separate you from the love of God except self.

You can separate yourself if you choose to do so from the love of God. But if you have the attitude, the childlike attitude of verse 36, and to take on this attitude and become so childlike an attitude that you can say, for your sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, to come to that state of humility, that anything we internalize and realize, that anything we get above death is a gift, because we've all sinned and we are worthy of death if we want to look at it from the point of who is worthy and not worthy. But regardless of how many sins or what kind of sins, God can justify and forgive us and remove our sin as far as the east is from the west. Know in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I mean, all of these things can be defeated, but self also must be defeated. Our number one enemy, I believe, is ourselves. Self is the only thing that can separate you from the love of Jesus Christ, and if we have the attitude of verse 36, even self will not separate you from the love of Jesus Christ. Satan is the God of this world. He's responsible for the great consumer society that gnaws and chips away at our very fabric every day. The great consumer society that appeals to the baser elements of human flesh and the desires of the flesh, the glamour, the glitz, sex, eat, drink, have pleasure, have fun, remain youthful, do whatever it takes, but let's have fun. But Satan, your neighbor, the consumer society, or any external force you want to name, is not able to separate you from the love of Christ without your consent. Many of us have not come to the point that the comic strip character came to. We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us. The greatest burden of life will be removed when we no longer feel that we have to defend ourselves. Look at Psalm 51, David's Psalm of Repentance, after his great sins with Bathsheba and Uriah, and Nathan brought it to his attention. In Psalm 51, See, when you come to that point that you turn it over to God and look to God for your defense. A non-defensive person realizes that he is but clay, and that his relationship with his maker is, direct my steps, mow me, make me, shape me in your way. He's willing to be corrected. He's willing to be taught. He's willing to be shaped according to God's will for his life. God is our defense. Time after time, the various writers in the book of Psalms cries out, and I'll just read one verse. Let's look at Psalm 59. This is by no means the only place. We have three verses in Psalm 59, but there are many other places. Psalm 59, verse 9, Because of his strength will await upon him, for God is my defense. Verse 16, verse 16, But I will sing of your power, yes, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning. For you have been my defense and refuge. We sang the song during the hymn service, God is my refuge, a present aid. He is my strength. You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble, and to you, O my strength, will I sing, for God is my defense and the God of my mercy. It is God who justifies, as we read from Romans 8.33.

Defensive people have little capacity to accept shame, humiliation, or correction since they are easily upset. They are careful to protect themselves from getting hurt. Consequently, they preface their remarks with negative things or glowing positive things about themselves. It might be their health, their inability to sleep, their looks, their possessions, their background, their education, and infinite item. They preface that up front so you'll understand them. If they don't measure up, kind of think, well, this is because I didn't get enough sleep last night. Or I'm so tired. Or I'm this way. Or I'm that way. When Mary and Joseph offered the sacrifice that was commanded in the law of Moses for the birth of a male child, they brought a turtledove, showing that they did not have sufficient funds to buy a lamb. That Joseph and Mary were from what you would call the poorer class in the nation of Israel or Judah at that time. Jesus Christ was, in the physical sense, the son of a poor carpenter from Nazareth. But nowhere in the Bible do you find Jesus Christ deprecating himself or boasting of himself. He taught them as one having authority, but he did not apologize or make excuses for his background. Oh, I'm just from Nazareth. You know no good thing can come from Nazareth. My father Joseph, he's really poor. He's just a little carpenter. He ekes out a living there. So he didn't say any of these things. But some others said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Some said, we were not born of fornication.

But Jesus never said, woe is me. I'm the son of the poor little old carpenter Joseph. You know, we grew up in that lowly place called Nazareth. The paradox of woe is me people is that they tell you how lowly they are, and almost with the same breath, how God has blessed them. It's almost like because I am so lowly, God has blessed me. The implication is the odds have been against me, but God has been especially good to me. You should thank God for your blessings and give Him all the credit, but you shouldn't boast to others. You're implying that because you are the way you are, God has blessed you, and has been especially good to you.

You should thank God and give Him the credit.

He has not dealt with any of us according to our iniquity. And all of our righteousness is His filthy rags and His sight. And it rains on the just and the unjust. That's one of the great lessons that most people have not learned.

Jesus spoke with authority. He said He was the Son of God. He said, I've glorified you on the earth, speaking of His Father. He said, I've finished the work you gave me to do. He also approached God, the Father, boldly in prayer and said, Father, the hours come. Glorify your Son that your Son also may glorify you. And He also prayed that He would restore unto Him the glory that He had with Him before the world began. He didn't spend 30 minutes deprecating Himself, but His attitude was one of absolute humility.

But a person who has to tell you how humble He is has not developed the kind of humility that our Savior Jesus Christ wants us to develop. Jesus Christ was an ambassador. He was a diplomat. He was, in a sense, a statesman, an educator, a teacher, our Savior, a ruler, a king, a leader, a priest. All of these things was Jesus Christ. And He was the most gracious, humble, and forgiving person who ever lived in the flesh. Lay not this charge to them, because they know not what they do. Christ was not a down and outer. He radiated enthusiasm and hope. He was confident about His Father Himself, others, and His goal and mission in life.

Just because you were in a certain condition when God called you, there's no reason to have a woe is me attitude and use that as a defense mechanism against developing genuine humility, which does not defend self. When you say, well, you have to understand what I'm like, or if you say, we're just the weak of the world, a degenerate man, and then time, you're defending the self. Let's notice something. Look at John 14. John 14. In John 14 and verse 12, I wonder if this Scripture has ever really taken root and whole with any of us. In John 14 verse 12, verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than thee shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. One of the things that grates on my nerves is for someone to say, oh well, that is just blank. Let's call it Don Joe. That's just Don Joe. Don Joe. That's just Don Joe being Don Joe. He's got to understand the way he is. So their obnoxious behavior is excused in the name of, that's just the way he is. I cannot find anywhere in the Bible where it says, well, now God, you just have to understand how I am. Instead, I find we should be diligently seeking to understand God in His way regardless of the way we are. And if we are not the way that He wants us to be, that we strive to be the way He wants us to be, I have found myself at times, well, that's just the way I'm wired. Well, rewire. Because we want to be in accord with the way that God wants us. We should be praying as David prayed in Psalm 139. Search me, O God, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. The Scriptures are clear that God understands us and how we are. He knows how we are. After all, He's our Creator. He made us, and so He surely understands us. Even Christ, our mediator and intercessor, lived in the flesh. And there was no temptation that has come upon man that Jesus Christ did not endure Himself. So we don't need to defend ourselves to God. Defending yourself to God is striving against your Maker. And that's what Job did for 31 chapters. He justified himself rather than justifying God. And Job was a clever conversationalist. And so are most defensive people. Defensive people like to dominate the conversation. They spend an enormous amount of time with people telling them about their personal feelings and attitudes. And frequently they will confess some of their weaknesses so others will understand them. Defensive persons believe that the better that they are understood, the more difficult it would be for others to reject them. The defensive person deceives himself, since he does not see himself as a foxy, tricky person, looking good and gaining the approval of others, who believe success can be equated with looking good in the eyes of others. He does not listen to the messages of the minister, friends, or subordinates who are trying to give him the instruction he needs for real growth. He sees himself as tactful, honest, straightforward. He feels that others have power to make him look good or bad. Now that may be true to a certain extent, but the bottom line is, what does God think? And so we go once again to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, have not charity, if I am not becoming as God is, I am becoming as sounding brass or tinkling cymbal.

So God wants us to rend our hearts, to become like he is, to trust him. Defensive persons don't understand. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and in due season he will exalt us. None of us may ever receive, quote, the just reward that we think we should have in this life. But the day is coming. You turn back a few pages in 1 Corinthians 4, and Paul addresses that as well. 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians 4.3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged to view, or of man's judgment. Yes, I judge not my own self. And he was meaning in the sense of comparing himself with others. For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified? So he writes in Romans 8, verse 33, which we read, it is God who justifies. And he that judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart, and then shall every man have praise of God. If you don't get it now, if you have qualified, you will receive it from the chief shepherd when he shall appear. Man may remove you from an office or responsibility, but no man can promote or demote you spiritually. Men can help you grow spiritually, and that is the chief function of the ministry. That is why Christ told Peter, Feed my sheep. However no man can demote you spiritually unless you allow it. Let no man take your crown.

So if you're going to be offended at men, and you're going to turn away from the church of God because of men, you will do it. If I were looking at men, I should have left the church of God a long time ago.

Your commitment is to God, to Christ, and the truth. Now men can help you. Men can harm you. So many people have left the church of God because they looked at various people, usually those in leadership, in the ministry, whatever, and said, well, this person is doing this or that or the other, or I heard this, and so they leave the church of God. You see, no man can take your crown unless you allow it. No man can demote you spiritually unless you allow it. Look at Psalm 75. In fact, people who may be demoted, and if they respond to it the way that God says to respond, it may be the greatest blessing that could come upon them. Because if they handle it in the way that God says to handle it, that is growing in grace and favor with God. And when all is said and done, what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own life essence? We are in this for eternal life, nothing less, and if we do not attain unto eternal life, and I know it's a gift, but that he that overcometh, so overcoming is involved. In Psalm 75, verse 6, for promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. It is said that God's throne is in the north country, but God is the judge. He puts down one and sets up another. For in the hand of the eternal there is a cup, and the wine is red. It is full of mixture, and he pours out of the same. But the dregs thereof, or all the wicked of the earth, shall wring them out and drink them. But I will declare forever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off, but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. See, there's no way. There's no way that man can demote you spiritually unless you allow it. Your attitude toward a person that mistreats you may vary. Instead of taking what he says in a childlike attitude and saying, Teach me, correct me, rebuke me, search me, see if there be any wrong thoughts or motives, some transfer their pricked heart toward the person who's trying to help you. It might be a minister, it might be a teacher, it might be a parent. But it is God's word that really convicts and cuts to the quick. Notice Hebrews 4 verse 12. In the scripture, you should be able to quote all of us. Hebrews 4 and verse 12.

In Hebrews 4 verse 12.

For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So if you want an analysis, you go to the word of God, our spiritual mirror, and there you will be revealed. So, brethren, I hope that we come to the point that we understand who our defender really is and what we really need to develop a childlike attitude.

Of course, there is a time to stand up and to be counted. Jesus Christ rebuked the scribes and Pharisees and called them white enseplikers and various other names. Jesus Christ drove the money changers out of the temple. He stood for that which was right. But at the same time, he did not defend himself. He did not try to deliver himself. Yes, he called them liars, cheats, vipers, snakes, white enseplikers. But Jesus defended his father, his disciples, his friends, and he gave his life for you and me.

Jesus defended principle and truth, but he never defended himself. He opened, not his mouth. Jesus Christ has set us an example. So let's look at this scripture. We're close there. 1 Peter 2, 18. 1 Peter 2, 18. 1 Peter 2 is a chapter that tells us how to grow in grace. This is a part of it. 1 Peter 2, 18. 3 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward, for this is...

4 King James says, Think worthy the great word of carous, it is the word for grace. 5 For this is grace. If a man, for conscience's sake, toward God, endure grief, suffering wrongfully. 6 For what glory is it when you be buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? 7 But if when you do well and suffer for it and take it patiently, this is... Guess what that Greek word is?

It is carous, translated acceptable here. This is divine favor with God. For even hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps, 8 who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who when he was revile, revile not again. 9 When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.

10 Whose own self beareth our sins, and his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness, 11 by whose stripes we were, ee-ah-om-e, made whole in every sense of the word. 12 For you were a sheep gone astray, but are now returned in the shepherd and bishop of your soul, your life essence. God wants us to be at peace with ourselves.

Get rid of that albatross that is hanging around your neck. 13 Forget self. Focus on God and Christ and others. Jesus Christ and his love is sufficient to sustain us. 14 Let him shape us, mold us, so we will be at peace with ourselves, free of guilt and shame, free of anxiety and worry. 15 Man cannot hurt you. The psalmist writes, I will not fear what man can do to me. 16 You will be confident and relax.

You will know and know that you know. 17 You won't be concerned about the style of your clothes, nor embarrassed by what you know or don't know. 18 You will be able to accept your physical features, accepting the things you can change, 19 and to change the things that you can. 20 Able to react to a failure without self-punishment. Not ashamed of your parents and background. 21 We are what we are. We came from where we came. We can all overcome all of this and much more. 22 God wants us to come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, 23 and to a perfect man, and to the measure, the stature, the fullness of Christ, 24 that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, 25 by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

26 But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things which is ahead even Christ.