Sin of Presumptuousness vs Humility

Happy Sabbath, everybody! I know you're pretty excited and very happy in every way. Good to see you. Hope this week hasn't been too hard for you. But even if it was here today, we can maybe take up a little time to rest a bit and to come and rejoice before God.

In the writing to Timothy, the apostle Paul gave him instructions for those who serve within the church. I want to read a scripture to you. You can write it down here in the introduction. But in 1 Timothy 3, verse 15, Paul said, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God and the pillar and the ground of truth.

And so Paul wanted to teach Timothy, so Timothy could teach the churches how that they should conduct themselves within the church of God. In other words, that word means how to reside or how to remain into the church of the living God and the house of God. I'm sure that some people, if you were to mention that to them, how do you conduct yourself in the church of God? They would say, why does it matter? Why does it matter? Well, brethren, we live in a society where not an awful lot matters to most people.

You know, if you notice the way people sometimes dress when they go to some of the events that take place even in the secular world. I remember one time that we had an activity, a Bible lecture, and a man looked like he had just flown in from Hawaii. The only thing he didn't have on was the Hawaiian hat, you know, and he had a short sun, he had his sandals on. And here we were going to talk about the Bible.

And so it really showed me that, again, most people don't think about how they conduct themselves around God, at least, and those things that have to do with God. You know, we live in a society where many do whatever they want, basically. You know, you look in the world and that is the way it really is. And woe to anyone who would stop them. You know, if they decide they're going to do something, you know, you can't stop them because they're going to probably say, don't you know who I am?

You know, that's happened to me before, where people have told me I couldn't do something. And I said to them, don't you know who I am? And of course, the answer was, no, I don't know who you are. And of course, I only said that in my mind, so I'm being facetious because I'm not that stupid to say something like that. But recently, you may have seen that in the California assembly, the sergeant of arms announced it would not let women enter the chamber with sleeveless attire unless a sweater or a coat was worn.

Let me tell you, I think that there's going to be a lot of feathers ruffled just by that rule. But you know, think about that. This is in California, and they're making rules that you can't come into the assembly chamber, you know, being sleeveless.

You know, you can't have your ladies can't come in with a sort of v-neck down to the navel. You know, they can't come in with other attire as well. And I was astounded to see that. That was in the Sacramento Bee, by the way, August 27th this year. And think about this, brethren. If somebody were to go ahead, even though they know this rule is enforced in the California assembly, if they were to go ahead and walk in to the chambers, you know, actually disobeying that particular rule, what would you call that?

Well, some people would probably call it a lot of a hutspah, you know. But I would call it presumptuousness, being presumptuous. Because the rules were created to raise the decorum of the assembly chambers. And I think that probably that was probably behind that. And the reason is, is that they do the people's business, you know, in the assembly. They have the responsibility of taking care of the people's business. Don't you think, brethren, that when they are passing laws that Californians are going to have to live by, don't you think that it should be a very sober and a very serious atmosphere?

Where those kinds of laws and statutes are being passed? You know, don't you think that they need to be very serious when they're making the laws that affect the people of the state of California? And let me tell you, I think there needs to be even more decorum, personally. Because if we look at the state of California now, we are in other shambles when it comes to, you know, paying our bills.

So there needs to be a lot more decorum in the chambers, you know, of the legislatures that are up in Sacramento, California. There needs to be a whole lot more gravity about the decisions that they make that affect, again, the people over which they have the responsibility of putting rules. And you know, when you think about it, there are a lot of judges in courts, and I'm sure that Mr.

Rorem could talk about that a whole lot more than I can. What they try to do is within the courtroom to have a certain level of decorum, a certain level of conduct that they expect people to live by, at least when they're going to be sitting behind that judgment seat in a chamber somewhere making decisions that, in some cases, are life and death decisions.

No, brother, there are examples in the Scriptures which show us it does matter for those of us who are called into the church of God today what our conduct is. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 10. In 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11, over here we have a story that is told by Paul. He talks about Israel in verse 1 and 2 there, and how they passed by the sea, and they were to be baptized, of course, through the passage symbolically through that sea. It talks about how, in fact, the people committed idolatry, how they sat down to eat and drink, and it says they rose up to play.

We know the events that took place after that, where so many were stricken down as a result of that because of their idolatry. But let's notice in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11 it says, Now all these things, it says, happen to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

And so when we read about some of these things, brethren, and when we see these examples, we should get the lesson that God intends to convey in these examples that we see within the Bible. Well, brother, let's discuss further today the sin of presumptuousness. Now, what does that word presumptuousness mean? Well, Miriam Webster says this, overstepping due bounds as of propriety or courtesy. In other words, taking liberties, as it goes on to say there in Webster's, taking liberties that we do not have.

You know, it's like in the case of the legislature. They have the authority to make the decision that they made about proper conduct and decorum. And if somebody, again, goes against that, that is being presumptuous. And, of course, in our society, a lot of people take liberties, don't they, that really don't deserve to have at all. A lot of people, again, step over lines that they should not step over. Let's go back to the book of Leviticus to introduce this topic of presumptuousness. In the book of Leviticus, of course, Leviticus is a book that was primarily written for the priests, you know, to show them what they should do on various and sundry holy days and activities that were done by the priesthood.

And when we begin to look in chapter 8, I'm not going to read from chapter 8, but we see that here that God is consecrating Aaron and his sons as priests. And this was a very sober, a very sober occasion, by the way, in how it was treated. How Aaron was to be made a priest and his sons were given that responsibility, that authority in administering the different things that were given to do in the Leviticus, Levitical priesthood.

But as we go on down here in chapter 9, we see some other festivities are taking place. I want you to notice here, they're doing an offering on the altar that is there at the tabernacle. But here in Leviticus 9 and verse 22, it says, And then Aaron, after he has been consecrated here is the high priest, Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people and blessed them and came down, it says, offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and peace offerings.

And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people. And it says then that then the glory of the eternal appeared to all the people. You know, what again exactly was shown there and portrayed there, we do not know.

But maybe there was a cloud that was there and perhaps also lightnings that were taking place. There was a manifestation of something that occurred there that day. And the glory of the eternal probably similar, but maybe not as thunderous as it was when the law was given from Sinai.

But a tremendous demonstration of God's power so that the people again were stricken by it in terms of amazement. But it says in verse 24, and fire came out from before the eternal and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. Like an atomic power here that just disintegrates all of it. And it says, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and they fell on their faces. And so this was a tremendous thing that took place showing how God was pleased about what had happened and was talked about in chapter 8 and chapter 9 as well.

But, you know, we see again that the children of Israel here were so amazed about it, they fell on their faces before God. I'm sure it was one of those events that probably took the breath away from these people. Just an amazing thing that happened that day.

But let's notice what happens in the very next chapter here. In chapter 10, in verse 1, it says, In other words, something that God had forbidden from being done.

You know, God had given specific instructions about what the high priest was to wear, how they were to wash themselves. They were given specific instructions about everything that was put in the tabernacle. God gave these instructions to them. You know, do it this way. He gave them specific instructions and they offered strange fire or unauthorized fire there, as it mentions. And as a result of it, let's notice on down here in verse 2.

So fire went out from the eternal. This time the fire went out not to consume an offering that was there. And it says, it devoured them. And they died before the eternal. And so they offered a fire that God had not instructed them to do. They commanded them to do. And they died before the eternal. And that fire came out and they fell dead before God.

In verse 3, and it says, And Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people I must be glorified. And so here God, through Moses, had to take Aaron aside and say, Look Aaron, as God has told me, if you come before him, you need to treat him as holy. And you need to glorify him if you're going to come before God.

And so Aaron held his peace. Can you imagine how hard this was for Aaron at that time to see his children stricken down right there, you might say, in a split second before him. And so Aaron held his peace. And then Moses called Mishael and Eliphon and the sons of Uzziah, the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, Come near, carry your brothers from before the sanctuary out of the camp. Just take them on out, he said. And so they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said to Aaron and to Eliezer and Ithamar, his sons, Do not uncover your heads, nor tear your clothes, lest you die.

And wrath come upon all the people, but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Eternal has kindled. In verse 7 it says, And you shall not go out from the door of the Tabardot-Nacola meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Eternal is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. I think that probably that sense sobriety didn't. In all of the camp of Israel. And certainly right there with Moses and Aaron and all of those people, they realized that at that time God meant business. You know, that when he tells you something that you were to do, God means business.

He means you better do it. If you've been instructed in doing these things. We see again in Leviticus 9 and verse 22 that what had happened there, how the fire coming from God, proceeding from God consumed that offering. But here in Leviticus 10 and verse 2, you know, where it consumed or it killed, in this case, these two sons of Nadab and Abihu.

And what do we learn from these two examples? Well, number one, one of them indicated God's acceptance and God's blessing by the fire consuming the offering. And number two, the other indicated God's rejection and a curse where the fire killed Nadab and Abihu. And so, you know, we sometimes wonder, well, why are these kinds of accounts? Are they in the Bible?

Well, it's like we read in 1 Corinthians 10. It's for us so that we understand that yes, there is a proper decorum before God. Let's go over to Romans 15 and verse 4 so that we realize, brethren, that, you know, we, as some people in this world do, they look at the Old Testament and say, well, that was for the Old Testament times. We don't have to worry about that. Here in Romans 15 and verse 4, you might say the other scripture we read in 1 Corinthians 10 was more sober-minded in the approach.

But here, this is very sober-minded as well, but it means it in a different way. In Romans 15 and verse 4, it says, for whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning. Well, let's remember that, brethren, that the Old Testament was written for us so that we would learn things, that we, through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. Might have hope. And the reason, of course, is that we wouldn't do the things that other people have done. And these valuable lessons, brethren, are just as valuable for us today. And then we need to remember again what God says in these cases.

You know, we come to know what God expects, don't we? By reading these things. That God does indeed, when he says something, he means business. He means we better carry through and do it. You know, Moses understood God by what he told Aaron and his sons. Look, you know, you better not, again, get, you know, somber and morose and tear your clothes before God in this. He says that God's not going to be pleased with you if you do that.

And so Moses knew God. And, of course, in this case, Aaron came to know God in a different way than he had ever known God before. Now, what did Nadab and Abihu do so wrong? I'll tell you what, I would want to know. If I'd been there, I would have wanted to know, what did these guys do wrong? You know how people are today, brethren. If somebody suffers something, a punishment or whatever, you know, oftentimes in the world today, you have probably, you know, if it's a major event, millions of people are going to stand up and protest.

You know, it's like during the time of Cora, Datha, and Abihu, what do the people say, brethren, afterwards? You know, when God punished, you know, the, in the case of Cora and his families, and they were put to death, what did people say? They told Moses, you've killed the people of God! You see, they came back and they started accusing. And that's the way people tend to be.

But in this case, I think the most important question for us to ask, what did Nadab and Abihu do so wrong? That God was so displeased with them. You know, we need to, again, understand this. Now, several explanations have been given about this, and these are the explanations that have been given.

They may have put hot coals in their sensors that were not from the altar, you know, so this may have been one of the things that they did, let's go over to Leviticus 16. Over here in Leviticus 16, we see, talking about here, about the Day of Atonement, as a matter of fact, which we'll be discussing in just a little while.

We'll be too many more weeks before that occurs. But in Leviticus 16 here, and down to verse 12, let's notice here, and it says, speaking of Aaron, it says, then he shall take a sensor full of burning coals of fire from the altar, before the eternal.

And so here, Aaron had to take the coals from the altar.

That's where, you know, he was commanded to do that. And again, these are the instructions that were given to them.

Let's go over to Exodus 30, just a few scriptures over here to compare, to see again what they may have done wrong, that God did what he did.

But in Exodus 30, verse 1, it says, and you shall make an altar to burn incense on, and you shall make it of acacia wood.

And so God gave specific types of woods that were to be used for the sensors.

The incense that was made, by the way, was not just any incense. If you've been to some of the Oriental countries, like Thailand and other countries, you know, the temples, they burned incense.

Well, there was certain incense that was burned by Aaron and his sons. They were instructed to use.

Going on down here, let's go down to verse 9.

It says, and you shall not offer strange incense on it, or a burnt offering or a grain offering, nor shall you pour a drink offering on it. So they couldn't use strange fire, and they could not use strange incense as well.

And so they may have done these things that day.

So there was a lawful or authorized incense and an authorized way to have coals that were in the sensors.

And another explanation of this particular account here is they may have, again, filled their sensors at the wrong time.

At the wrong time.

So there was a specific time that they were instructed of God to do these things every day.

And we know this on down here. Let's go down to Exodus 30 now in verse 7 and 8.

It says, And Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. So there was a certain time in the morning where he was to burn incense.

And it says, And when Aaron likes the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the eternal throughout your generations.

And so it may have very well been that, again, they did those sensors wrong.

They may have used, again, illegal or unauthorized incense in the process of taking care of these responsibilities as well.

And I think a third explanation, which is quite reasonable to assume as well.

These men probably were fairly young men.

I don't know that that is necessarily an explanation for their actions.

But I think it's fairly reasonable to assume that they were drinking.

They may have been even intoxicated when they were performing these duties.

And, you know, we, of course, if any of you had any association with the priests of the universal church, there's been many a priest that has gotten drunk on the sacraments.

Unfortunately, you know, people not just eating the wafers but drinking the wine that is left over. So this is not something that's unlikely to happen.

But in this particular case, let's go on down to in Exodus 30 here, or Leviticus 10. I guess we're going to go back to Leviticus chapter 10.

Leviticus 10 and verse 8. Let's begin in verse 8 because here it says, Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, this is just after this event has taken place, saying, Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink. So again, either they were drinking some sort of alcoholic beverage or they were drunk.

He says, You nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, and there's a lesson, by the way, right here for any of us right now within the church, is that we don't want to come into the church drinking.

You know, of course, there's some people, you know, unfortunately, that imbibe of alcoholic beverages, but you don't want to come, you know, it's not necessarily wrong to, again, have a glass of wine or something, but you certainly don't want to be tipsy, you know, when you come into the church. I think we all understand that, don't we? I'm sure you would want me to stand up here and give a sermon if I've had a few. You probably wouldn't want me to speak at all if I've had a few. And I wouldn't have a few, by the way, in terms of that. But, you know, you want somebody who's going to instruct you, you want somebody who is going to give you the words of God and explain them to you to be very sober-minded, because it's very serious, isn't it? You know, how would you like your legislators in Sacramento? You know, all of those guys up there making the laws for the state to be intoxicated. Well, they may very well be, but I'm sure none of us would want that, would we? But, you know, not to make light of what God is saying here, but I think we can see that there's certainly things that we need to learn when we are coming before God, particularly. But it says, that you may distinguish, well, it goes on to say, lest you die.

And so the instructions are, if you come before God and you've been abiding, you might die.

And it says that it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, that you may distinguish between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean.

And it says that you may teach the children of Israel. So this was not just for the priesthood.

You can teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the eternal has spoken to them by the hand of Moses. And so everybody was to be instructed about these things. These were serious things as far as God was concerned. You know, sometimes we think that, you know, God does not have decorum. He does have decorum. Sometimes people think, well, it doesn't matter what you wear to church. We better think again. It does matter to God. Meaning, go read the scriptures about how God told the priest to dress and instructed them about that. You know, it matters these things do. It matters if we come well groomed before God. These things may seem very superficial, but rather they are very serious things to think about when we come into the presence of God.

And so we see here that there are these three reasons overall. They may have put coals in their censors that were not from the altar, which God again instructed that they not do. They may have filled their censors at the wrong time and utilized them again unlawfully. They may have actually used the wrong incense, you know, with those censors as well.

And finally, it may be reasonable to assume that they were drinking or intoxicated. The sin was probably a combination of all three of those, you know, those things that they did wrong.

And God saw and God reacted in that way and in that manner to teach a lesson to the house of Aaron. And I'm very probably assured that they did not make the same mistake twice. Now, what lessons, brethren, can we learn from these things? Again, those people upon whom the ends of the world have come, who we are. Well, these are two basic lessons, brethren, that we can learn from this example right here. Number one, those who approach God must regard Him as holy. Let's keep in mind when we come before God on the Sabbath that we need to do that, that we're coming before God. And we should regard Him as holy. And that's expressed there in Leviticus 10 and verse 3, first part of verse 3. And holy means He is set apart. It means He is consecrated, and He is to be treated in a very special way. You know, it's amazing how the pagans are with regard to the things that they consider to be holy. I mentioned to you here that I took pictures, in fact, which probably to them would be some sort of a sacrilege to take pictures of these things. But I took a picture of someone bowing before Buddha and just praying up and down like this. And the person really had their hearts in, you know, praying to this idol that was nothing but jade. It was jade. God was a stone idol, if you will. But, brethren, they treated it in a holy manner. They burned incense to this false God that was nothing. I think, brethren, we know God is a living God. He is a real God. And God, of course, has power. And we know God has love. He is, of course, His love. He's defined His love. But God also makes judgments as well. And we need to keep that in mind about God. And so, when we approach to God, we need to remember He is holy. He is holy. And if we want the blessings of God, you know, we don't want that fire to consume the offering that we give to God. And we don't want God to turn, you know, against us. We want His favor.

Then we need to, again, treat God in a holy manner. Inevitably, the actions of Nadab and Abihu did not show respect to God. And secondarily, the lesson that we learn, brethren, is God must be glorified. God must be glorified. And that's the second part of that verse 3 in Leviticus 10.

And this word means to honor God, to honor God. You know, in the actions of Nadab and Abihu, therefore, did not honor God. It didn't show the honor, the right honor. And in fact, it showed their utter presumptuousness. You know, they were operating otherwise out of the liberty that God had given them, specifically in the temple. And, you know, God wanted certainly the whole nation of Israel, the children of Israel, to learn from this example. You remember the man who was gathering sticks on the Sabbath? You know, God told Israel they had to put him to death because he was working on the Sabbath. And that lesson was for all of Israel to learn from. And, you know, I'm sure after that time that the people were much more respectful of the Sabbath in the way that they did things. Well, brethren, within our lives, are we striving to do what God commands us to do or not? Are we? Are we striving to obey God? Or do we think God will be pleased with us no matter what we do? No matter what we do? Again, this should show us that God isn't pleased with everything that everybody does. And I think certainly God shows mercy to us in our lives, but we have these examples. They're really powerful examples to show us we need to have that respect for God and to glorify God and to treat Him as somebody that is far and above beyond what a human being is. I think sometimes people treat God like He's a man, like He's a human being. We know that Jesus Christ knows what it is like to be a human being and has conveyed that to the Father, I'm sure, His personal experience. But even Jesus Christ is God, and He should be honored. He should be respected. You know, again, are we trying to do that? Or do we think God, again, is going to be pleased no matter what we do? And I think sometimes carnally we think that it really doesn't matter, but brethren, it really does, and we ought to consider what we do. I'm not going to go to these scriptures, but in Hebrews 13 and verse 8, what does it say over there, brethren? It says, Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday, and forever. And so God doesn't change. You know, if He was displeased with something during the time of Moses, He would be displeased with it today. In Malachi 3 verse 6, it says, For I am the Eternal, I do not change.

Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. If God was prone to change, He would have blotted out Israel a long time ago. But He's made certain promises to Israel. He's made promises to Abraham. He's made promises to David. You see, God doesn't change. He's made these promises, and He's made promises that are written in the Bible, brethren, for us, for us. And so God, out of His mercy, because of what He's trying to do for all of us, brethren, He has kept working with Israel in spite of their rebelliousness and in spite of the way that they are. And He's doing it for us. Can we really get that message, brethren? Can we really understand how God, frankly, has had to be very tolerant? He was very tolerant with Israel in so many ways. Very patient! I don't know about you, but I think He's very patient with me.

Now, you may think that as well, but I think He's been patient with all of us, hasn't He?

Because how many times have we fallen down and gotten back up?

How many times have we maybe gone up about three notches and fallen back four notches?

But He's been merciful to us, brethren. And time and again in the Bible, God teaches us a lesson of not being presumptuous.

Now, we think of so many examples in the Bible. In fact, I started making a list of all the examples in the Bible where presumption ended up killing somebody. Somebody died because they were presumptuous. Take the time, brethren, to write down how many times?

Remember the man who slew Saul in the case of Saul. And he brought the head of Saul, not the head of Saul, but he went to David and said that Saul had encouraged him to thrust them through. And so he did. And David ended up putting that man to death because he was presumptuous to kill God's anointed. There are many examples in the Bible that we could look into, us, remember, in that case in the Ark. There are so many, many examples, in fact, you could make a whole sermon just going through all of these examples showing how presumption ended up in somebody's suffering or somebody being put to death. Let me talk about one of the examples, though, specifically, and that is Moses. Of all people who you would think would not be presumptuous, Moses himself was presumptuous before God. At one time, you remember, God told Moses to strike the rock that he would get water out of the rock if he struck the rock. And that was in Exodus 17, by the way, and we're going to go there in a few minutes. And another time, God told him to speak to the rock. I find that always interesting how God dealt with Moses in different ways. He says, okay, Moses, this time what I want you to do is I want you to hit the rock. And the water came gushing out. Next time he says, now what I want you to do is I just want you to speak to the rock.

You know, do you ever think about, brethren, how God sometimes tests us in those ways?

What do you think the lesson was that God wanted Moses to learn? Anybody? Do what I tell you to do.

You do what I tell you to do, and God would bless him. Let's go to Exodus 17, Exodus 17, and verse 6. And we're just going to read one Scripture over here so it won't be too much to read. But in Exodus 17 and here in verse 6, now here Israel is coming out of Egypt.

They're right at the very beginning of the Exodus. But here in Exodus 17 and down in verse 6, here God is talking to Moses. Let's begin in verse 5, and the eternal said to Moses, go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel and take it in your hand, your rod, which you struck the river and go. And it says, Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and the water will come out of it that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So God looked down on Moses and said, That's good, Moses. You learned that lesson. And Moses did it right. Now, after a long time had passed, let's go over here in Numbers. And think about the fact, brethren, that Moses was the acne of authority with physical Israel. Of course, God was the king over Israel. We know that. But he was the acne, at least of physical leadership at that time. He had been for many years when this particular incident occurs. But in Numbers 20, let's notice in Numbers 20 in verse 8 to begin with, it says, Your God is talking to Moses, verse 7, he says, I want you to take the rod, and you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together, speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water. Therefore, or thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.

And it says, So Moses took the rod from before the eternal as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Here now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock? And then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod, and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. That shows one example, a lesson here where God backs up the leader. In this case, he backed up Moses before the people. But notice the very next verse here in verse 12, And then the eternal spoke to Moses and Aaron, and he said, Because you did not believe me to hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. And this was the water of Maribah.

And it's interesting that this was the same place where Moses, in that case, struck the rock on the way out of Egypt. And he comes here, and he does what God tells him not to do. And God says, Okay, Moses, because you have done this, you're not going to be allowed to go on in and see the Promised Land. God allowed him, remember, to climb up on the mountain. He was able to see it in the distance. He could see Promised Land there. He could have been there in a matter of days. And yet he did not allow him to do that. You know, Moses was a human being, just like all of us, a man of like passions. And perhaps he allowed himself to think above about himself what he ought to as a person, as a human being. And maybe his anger with Israel got the better of them as well. No, I'm sure that the children of Israel never affected his attitude.

When you work for people, I'll tell you, when you're dealing with people, you're going to be inclined to get upset at least a time or two in your life. Particularly if you're trying to take care of all these people, you know, what were there maybe two and a half million people? You're trying to feed them. You're trying to give water for them. And, you know, other things that they're going to need. Of course, their clothes didn't wear out, did they? God said their sandals did not wear out in all those 40 years, but there were other things that were necessary that were to be provided. But Moses was human. He allowed these things, and he became presumptuous before God.

Another example was Saul. Saul was another, by the way, person who became presumptuous. Let's look at this particular example over here in 1 Samuel chapter 15. You remember that Saul was sent of God to blot out the Amalekites because of how treacherous the Amalekites were toward Israel. God says, I want you to wipe them out, you know, get rid of everything and destroy it. And, of course, part of the reason was probably God knew that the Amalekites were going to be a pain in the side for Israel if they didn't. If the Amalekites were there, there were always going to be a problem.

And you remember the story about what happened where they were able to get the better of the Amalekites, and they could have wiped them out. But what happened is they kept Agag the king, and they also kept the best of the flocks that were there. And when Samuel went up to talk to Saul, you know, Saul comes out and he says, you know, that he had obeyed the voice of the Eternal. And old Samuel, he was a very old man by this time, and he said, well, what is this? I hear the bleeding of sheep, if that's so. If you did what God told you to do because you were supposed to wipe him out, Samuel told him. And, you know, it's interesting also how Saul apparently was so excited when Samuel came about it. You can probably, even in the words here, the excitement in his voice, oh, we've done what God commanded us to do. And, of course, Samuel was not pleased at all.

Let's break into the story here down in 1 Samuel 15. It says, and then Samuel said to Saul, be quiet. Can you imagine telling the king over Israel to shut up? Just shut up.

And he was an old man, and he probably just, you know, when you get to be old, you know, apparently you can say certain things that you can't say when you're young. Of course, I haven't gotten to that point yet. But, but Samuel said, won't you just shut up?

And he says, and I will tell you what the Lord, the eternal, said to me last night.

You think you please God. I want to tell you what God said to me last night.

And by that time, I'm sure that the king had swallowed his gum.

And he said, say on, speak on. So Samuel said, when you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel and did not the eternal, noint you king over Israel?

Isn't that what God did with you? And now the eternal sent you on a mission. He gave you a job and said, go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the eternal? Why did you not swoop down on the spoil and do evil in the sight of the eternal? So God considered it evil. And Samuel here considered it be evil, what had happened and what had occurred. And God here through Samuel was telling Saul, you know, when you were small in your own eyes, you became the king over Israel.

And here what has happened is, in this case, Saul has become presumptuous. He displayed it by what he did and by what he said. And so there are many examples in the Bible, brethren, of being presumptuous. In other words, taking liberties that you have not been given, what has not been instructed, what has not been taught. Well, brethren, what is the antidote for presumptuousness?

What is the antidote? You know, we all always would like to have something that will solve this problem of maybe being haughty, being presumptuous. Well, in Micah 6 and verse 8, Micah 6 and verse 8, Micah says this, He has shown you, O man, what is good and what does the eternal require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. And so the antidote, brethren, is humility. Having humility.

Now, a sixth century BC philosopher, his name is Lao Tse, he made this statement. He says, I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness, the second, frugality. The third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others.

Be gentle, and it says, and you can be bold. Be frugal, and you can be liberal.

Avoid putting yourself before others, and you can become a leader among men. In other words, humility allows us to be leaders. We can humble ourselves before God. God can use us. And this is what God was saying to Saul here, when you were little in your own eyes, did not make you king. And you know, you read about Saul before he was ever called, you know, and remember he was going searching for the mules of his dad, the donkeys of his dad, and he seemed to be a very obedient kind of person, and his approach, and he was very respectful of Samuel. Remember the story in the account about that? What happened to him? Well, again, he became presumptuous. He lost that humility, which he needs, and what we all need. You know, so we need to walk in humility at all times. Romans 12 and verse 3 tells us there, and I'll just read it to you if you want to write it down, but it says, For I say, through the grace given unto me, hear Paul talking, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

So we need to again be humble before God. Quite frankly, sometimes we think too much of ourselves.

It's amazing when we start out in life, like with Saul, when God says, when you were small in your own eyes, we start out in life not thinking much of ourselves, and sometimes we can grow to the point to where then we think too much of ourselves. So there's a balance in it.

You know, parents, when you're trying to instill self-worth into your children, make sure that you remind each of them that they're going to just be men and women.

Not gods, but men and women. And the important thing is to make sure that we have good character.

I think it's wrong to teach a child, well, you're going to be the leader of everybody.

You're going to be in charge of everybody. You know, you're going to be high up and over everybody else. Now, that's teaching young people vanity. And it's like the self-esteem movement in California. Many of the teachers found out, well, that hasn't worked very well.

Now, my son has a lot of self-esteem, but he's flunking out of math.

My daughter's got a lot of self-esteem, but they don't seem to be able to pass the grades and to do those things that are required of them in the classroom. And so we need to remember that, brethren. Remind you, brethren, what was it like for you when you first walked into Sabbath services? You know, how did you feel when you came to church for the first time? Did you feel pretty humble? Did you feel pretty small? You know, when I first came to the church, I think I called everybody Mr. Of course, I was very young. I, you know, was like 18, 17, 18 years of age. So I was very young. But somebody came and told me that they had been in the church five years. I thought, wow, you're practically God, you know. But do you remember how you felt? We need to remember, again, where we came from. We never forget, again, that, you know, when we first came to the church, we didn't think we were high and mighty, and we shouldn't be thinking that way today, either.

And again, I don't know anybody here that thinks that way. If you're here, would you raise your hand? No, I'm just kidding. I don't think there's anybody here that way. Let's go to Psalm 131. Psalm 131. David was an interesting fellow. And I think that probably his brothers kept him humble.

You remember when Samuel went to the house of Jesse, and he was trying to find the man that God was going to use as the next king over Israel.

David was sort of an afterthought. So all the big, tall boys, the older boys, came before Samuel, and I guess God was whispering that Samuel's here and saying, no, that's not it. The next one came along, saying, oh, he's got to be handsome, he's tall. And God says, no, that's not it.

Next one comes, and finally, after he's gone through every one of the sons, Samuel says, you have any other children? He says, well, yeah, we got David. He's out there with a sheep.

So he was sort of an afterthought. And when David came, of course, he was the one. But let's notice in Psalm 131 why God chose him. Because here David is talking. He says, Lord, he says, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty, and neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. So David's approach was, Lord, there's some things too high for me, so I don't even trouble myself for that.

I know I can't do it. He realized, again, his limitations. And he said, surely I have calmed and quieted my soul. Now, there's something about a man or a woman who can realize their limitations, what they can't do, and what they can't do. And usually, you know, when you see something that really is not your business, you know it right away. And you just quiet. Like David talks about here, he quieted his soul. He calmed himself and said, that's my business. And so, again, we need to learn that. David had the right attitude, and he became king over Israel. And he realized, again, these important matters. Let's go to Proverbs 25. Proverbs 25.

Proverbs chapter 25, on down here in verse 6, there's so much wisdom, again, about humility in the Proverbs, especially. In Proverbs 25, down in verse 6, it says, do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, and do not stand in the place of the great.

And it says, for it is better that he say to you, come up here, than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen.

So, you know, it's always good, you know, if you're in a situation, maybe a formal situation, or situation that you're unfamiliar with, you don't know what to do, it's always good to sort of to hang back about a bit and find out what you're supposed to do. And, you know, if somebody doesn't recognize you and say, hey, come up, sit up at the head table here. I think Jesus Christ talked about that, didn't he? He talked about that we should not be respecter persons, and we, as God's people, should not be respecters of persons, but that doesn't mean everybody in the world isn't respecter persons. So, it's far better, again, to show humility so that you don't have the negative results. It's better to have an attitude that everybody else is better than you are, frankly.

Everybody else deserves something more than we do. We have that attitude, rather than we'll never get in trouble. And, of course, we shouldn't necessarily have the attitude about ourselves that everybody else is smarter than we are, everybody else, because we're normal people. What I'm talking about here is humility. Humility. Having humility. In Philippians, you won't need to turn there because you should be familiar with it, but Philippians 2 and verses 3 through 5. It says, "...let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem the other better than themselves." Just what I'm telling you here. What Paul says, and it says, "...look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others, and let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." So, this is the way Jesus Christ thought. That others, you know, he should treat better than he treats himself.

And, of course, this is what humility is. And Christ set the example. He came to serve, remember, and not to be served. And he showed that in all that he did. Remember when he came in and he he took the towel, wrapped it around his waist, and he began to wash the disciples' feet, and he came to Judas' feet who was going to betray him, and he washed his feet, too. He said that we should love our enemies. And so, that's an attitude, brethren, of humility on the part of God's disciples and God's people. Let's go to Matthew chapter 23. Let's turn to Matthew 23. The words of Jesus Christ, again, over here in verses 11 and 12. Here he said in verse 11 of Matthew 23, But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. You know, we should have that attitude of getting down there and washing feet with everyone in the church. This is a humility that we ought to have. And whoever exalts himself will be humble, and he that humbles himself will be exalted. So, God calls upon us now, brethren, because, you know, he knows what he's going to have us do in the future. He knows, brethren, we're going to be kings and priests under him in the world of moral, because Christ is the Lord of lords. And he wants us, brethren, to have a humble attitude, a humble mind. And you know, the thing about humility, if somebody has humility, if all of us have humility, is we can come to agreements on things, and we can be in unity with each other if we all have humility. And that's, of course, what should happen if we're going to be like Jesus Christ. So, God knows his plans for us. He's going to make us kings and priests of the kingdom, but he wants us to now demonstrate that we can be people of humility, that that's a part of our character. Imagine, again, what it's going to be like to be a king. You know, what is it going to do to your mind to have a gold crown on your head? How's it going to affect you when people come before you asking your decisions on things, maybe over the 10 cities that you rule? You think, God wants somebody to sit upon that throne with the crown sort of over to the side, you know, and say, I've been working for this for a long time. Do you think that's what God wants in the kingdom? Of course, being facetious, but he wants people that have dignity. He wants people that are humble. And though you may have a lightning bolt in your hand, that you hide that lightning bolt and you only bring it out when you need to. And you don't want to ever bring it out. That's your attitude. Don't ever bring it out. And, brethren, if we treat people in a godly way, in a godly manner, we may never have to deal, you might say, from a very corrective standpoint.

Some might say, you know, if I talk about exalting themselves, you know, oh, not me, you know, I'm not that way. I don't have a problem with lack of humility.

You know, yes, we do. Every one of us do. And we really need to work at that, brethren, overcoming that lack of humility. And we need to remember who we are. Remember in 1 Corinthians 1, what are we called? The weak of the world. So, what do we have the boast about? What do any of us have the boast about? Somebody I'm sure is going to say, oh, not me. I'm not the weak of the world.

Well, if you're in here, you're with the wrong crowd. Let me tell you, we are all the weak of the world. But God has not called us to remain the weak of the world. See, one day we're going to be sitting on thrones. But He wants us, when we are given those jobs, you know, to conduct ourselves in a very humble way before God's heritage, which will then eventually be the whole earth. You know, if we don't retain a right attitude, let me tell you, brethren, we will fall. We will fail in the end. What happened to Saul? He didn't maintain that humility, and he failed as a result of it. I'm not going to go to this verse, but in Proverbs 15 and verse 33, what does it say there? It says, before honor is humility. So that's what I'm talking about, becoming kings and priests, brethren. Before honor is going to be given to us, there must be humility.

You know, Benjamin Franklin said this, to be humble to superiors is duty.

He said, to equals courtesy, to inferior's nobleness. Think about it. I think Ben Franklin's right to look at somebody, of course, I don't think we should look at people and say, I'm greater than you, even our minds and our heads. But if somebody is inferior to us, if we are humble before them, and if we have the right attitude, that is noble on part of God's people. Proverbs 16 and verse 18, again, I'll just read it to you because it's a short verse. It says, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. In other words, if we are not humble, brethren, we are going to fall. We're going to fail. I like what Abraham Lincoln said along these lines. He said, what kills the skunk is the publicity it gives itself. I want you to think about that a little bit. Maybe you'll laugh on the way home. What kills the skunk is the publicity it gives itself. So, brethren, if we want to sort of exalt ourselves and promote ourselves above what we ought, then we're like that skunk and we're providing a lot of publicity. But, boy, what does it smell like?

The Talmud says this. See, I told you you'd laugh on the way home.

I'm thinking about it now. I can't keep from laughing. But the Talmud says this, He who sacrifices a whole offering shall be rewarded for a whole offering.

He who offers a burnt offering shall have the reward of a burnt offering.

But he who offers humility to God and man shall be rewarded with a reward as if he had offered all the sacrifices in the world. Now, think about that again. Humility before God really does have its rewards in the end that God is wanting us to have that humility.

So, brethren, it is very easy for us to become complacent in our servants to God. We can come in here every Sabbath and we can sit down. We can begin to be kind of complacent in terms of how we do things. We can become that way with regard to how we dress. We can come that way by how we act, where we don't control our attitudes, where we allow ourselves, again, liberties that we should never allow ourselves, let alone coming before God, to have. And so, brethren, when that happens, we begin to get careless. We get presumptuous in our worship, in our service to God.

And we show disrespect and we disdain those things which truly we should be considered to be holy, those things that we should glorify and uphold in a very sobering and a very serious way. So I call upon you, brethren, let's shun presumptuousness, but let's hold on tightly to the attitude of humility to have that at all times before God and man. Let's be humble as God's people. Let us always show regard for God as holy. And, brethren, let's always glorify Him as He so deserves.