Communion Service - The Humble Soul

[0:00] If you would turn back with me please to that portion of scripture that we read in 1 Peter chapter 5. And we'll read again the second part of verse 5.

[0:10] 1 Peter chapter 5 and the second part of verse 5. Clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another.

[0:27] For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. For any visiting minister or preacher to go to a church and preach a sermon on humility.

[0:45] I would say they're on a hiding to nothing. But that's what our text has. Clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another.

[0:57] For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And there's nothing like the word of God to take us and to make us look inwardly at our own hearts.

[1:14] And when we look inwardly at our own hearts. We can do nothing but look upwardly. To the God who can, will and has promised to take our hearts and to humble them for us.

[1:36] The God who has promised to take away our hearts of stone. And to replace it with a heart of flesh that is soft.

[1:49] That is tender. And will one day be like the heart of Jesus Christ his own son.

[2:00] The God who comes into the lives of sinners and transforms them. The story is told of Cassius Clay.

[2:14] Do you remember Cassius Clay? Muhammad Ali, the great boxer. And the story is told way back in the 60s. Mr. Ali, he was then Cassius Clay.

[2:26] And he was only then a rising star of boxing. And he was on his way to become the champion of the world. And one day he was on a plane with his entourage.

[2:38] This big entourage. And he was on his way to a big fight. And he was feeling good. He was feeling confident. He was feeling that there was nobody like him in the whole world.

[2:52] And as he sat laughing and joking with his entourage. The stewardess walked up the aisle. And before they took off and she looked down and she saw that Cassius Clay had not fastened his seatbelt.

[3:08] She asked him to fasten his seatbelt. And Cassius Clay just ignored her. She asked him a second time, And please fasten your seatbelt.

[3:20] He ignored her again. And the third time she issued an order. Fasten your seatbelt, please. Now, now she had his attention.

[3:35] And Cassius Clay leaned over and he purred. And he said, Superman don't need no seatbelt. And she replied, Superman don't need no plane. Pride.

[3:49] Pride. It's in us all. Since the fall in the garden, We have been blighted with pride and with sin. C.S. Lewis says this about pride.

[4:03] He says, There is one vice of which no man in the world is free. Which everyone in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else. And of which hardly any people except Christians ever imagine that they are guilty of themselves.

[4:21] It was through pride that the devil became the devil, he says. Pride leads to every other vice.

[4:31] It is the complete anti-God state of mind. Our text tells us and commands us, Clothe yourselves, all of you with humility, toward one another.

[4:46] Wherefore God opposes the proud, But gives grace to the humble. And the greatest example of humility that this world shall ever witness, We read about there in Philippians chapter 2, Where the Son of God, The exalted Son of God, Would humble himself, And become obedient unto the point of death.

[5:17] And he would be crucified in your place, And in my place. Humility like no other. The greatest example of humility is Jesus.

[5:32] And nothing in this world will humble your heart, Or my hard heart. But contemplating and meditating and thinking, Upon all that Jesus has done for his people.

[5:50] Now a while ago I came across a sermon by a chap called Ebenezer Erskine. Now Ebenezer Erskine was one of the Marrow men, Who were around in the early 1700s.

[6:04] Erskine was a minister, And Erskine was a friend of Thomas Boston, And I came across this sermon where he, This is the title of the sermon, The Humble Soul, The Peculiar Favourite of Heaven.

[6:21] The Humble Soul, The Peculiar Favourite of Heaven. And what I did was, I took Erskine's six points, And I used it as a structure, As I studied this myself.

[6:34] And what Erskine did with this text, Clothe yourselves, All of you with humility. What Erskine did was, He asked six questions, Of the whole of scripture, Concerning the subject of humility.

[6:51] Now that's the way they used to preach sermons back then, But the sermons were two hours long, And I'm not going to be that long, Okay, So if we reach point two, I'll be quite happy. Now Erskine asked six questions.

[7:04] The first question he asked was, What is a humble soul? Number two, Why is the humble person, A peculiar favourite of heaven?

[7:16] And can this be proved, From the scriptures? Number three, He asked, Why does God appreciate the humble?

[7:26] Number four, He asked the question, What are the marks of a humble soul? What does it look like in a person? What are the marks of a humble soul?

[7:39] Number four, Number five was, Why should we seek a humble spirit? And number six, How do we attain a humble spirit?

[7:53] These were the questions that Erskine asked of the Bible, As he studied it. So number one, We'll start at the beginning. What is a humble spirit?

[8:09] Well, He broke it into three. And he looked at, Looking at ourselves, He says, The first thing we do is, We look at ourselves, And Erskine says, And the Bible commands us, Throughout the whole of the scriptures, That we are to have, We are to have, A sensible, And a realistic view, Of who we are.

[8:35] I am not worthy, Of the least of all the deeds, Of steadfast love, And all the faithfulness, That you have showed your servant. These were the words of Jacob, In Genesis 32, I am not worthy, Of the least of all of your blessings, Jacob said.

[8:54] Now Jacob was a man, Who had a heart of stone, And the Lord took him, And the Lord wrestled with him, Until he changed him. And then he says these words, I am not worthy, Of the least of all the deeds, Of all the steadfast love, That you have shown me.

[9:14] You know, We must never think, There is no one like us. We must never think, There is no one like us. That we come from, Such and such a family, Or we have friends, In high places, Or any of these things.

[9:33] The humble soul, The scripture teaches us, Makes little account, Of where we've come from. Listen to David, In 2 Samuel chapter 7, And verse 18, He says, Who am I, O Lord?

[9:50] He was a shepherd, On the hills, And the least in his family, And the Lord came, And he made him king. And David says, Who am I, O Lord?

[10:01] Who am I, O Lord? And what is my house, That you have brought me, To this place, To be king, Over all Israel? And yet, This was a small thing, In your eyes, David says.

[10:16] The story is told, Of Charles Spurgeon, And he was preaching, In the tabernacle, One night, And after he was preaching, He went to the door, To shake hands, With the congregation, As they were leaving, It must have taken quite a while, With all the thousands, That were there.

[10:32] And this young man, Came up to him, At the door, He had never seen, This young man before, This young man, Came up to him, And he couldn't wait, To tell Charles Spurgeon, Who he was, And he couldn't wait, To tell Spurgeon, What great family, He came from, And he couldn't wait, To tell the great preacher, What he did for a living, And Spurgeon, Remained silent, And just looked at him, And waited for him, To stop speaking, And he said, Young man, I don't care, Where you came from, I am only concerned, With where you are going, That is what concerns me, As a preacher, Of the word of God, I am only concerned, With where you are going, Clothe yourselves, All of you, With humility, The text tells us, The humble soul, Has low thoughts, On his or her abilities, For any work, Or service, Listen to the great apostle Paul,

[11:33] He says, We, Not that we are sufficient, In ourselves, Or claim anything, As coming from us, But our sufficiency, Comes from God, The great apostle Paul, Knew, That in and of himself, He was a weak, And fragile man, But yet the Lord, Had called him, And commissioned him, To a great work, And he knew, That everything he had, Came from God, He knew, He knew, He also says, Elsewhere, Not that I have already, Obtained this, I am not perfect, But he says, I press on, I move on, To make it my own, Because Christ Jesus, Has made me, His own, When the Lord Jesus Christ, Is everything to you, As he was to Paul, Then that is what, Humbles our souls, Now secondly,

[12:38] Concerning others, And we know, Because we know, The scriptures well, A humble spirit, A humble spirit, Will put others, Before themselves, It's what Jesus did, It's what our Lord, And saviour did, Our text in Philippians, Said, Do nothing from selfish, Ambition or conceit, But in humility, Count others, As more significant, Than yourselves, Philippians 2, 3, A humble spirit, Will never envy, The graces, And the gifts, Of other people, A humble spirit, Has a gracious, And a courteous, Attitude, Toward all people, I've told you before, The story of Abraham Lincoln, Where at Lincoln, And I've told you before, And I'm going to tell you again, He got caught up, In a situation, Where he wanted to please, A certain politician,

[13:40] So Lincoln, Issued a command, During the civil war, To move certain regiments, In the army, From one end of the country, To another end, To the other side, Of the country, And he did not consult, He did not consult, A secretary of war, Whose name was, Edwin Stanton, And when Stanton, Received the order, He actually refused, To carry it out, He refused to carry it out, And he said that, The president was a fool, And of course, Lincoln was told, Exactly what Stanton had said, And his reply was, If Stanton says, I'm a fool, Then I am definitely a fool, Because he's almost, Always right, And Stanton was right, They might have lost, The civil war, If Lincoln had carried on, He was the president, Of the United States, But yet, But yet, He was open, To correction, He was open, To correction,

[14:40] A humble spirit, Will be open, To correction, There's nothing, Like the word of God, To make us look inwardly, Is there? There's nothing, Like the word of God, To make us look, At ourselves, And see ourselves, In light of the scriptures, How about concerning God?

[15:05] Well, A humble spirit, Has a high view, Of God, A humble spirit, Has a holy fear, And a love, For God, A humble spirit, Will seek to be obedient, To the Lord, Who saved him, Or her, A humble spirit, Surrenders to God, And a humble spirit, Will surrender, To the will of God, The humble spirit, Will pray to the Lord, And say, Lord, You know best, What would you have me do, What would you have me do, Oh Lord?

[15:52] We worship a God, Who communicates to us, We worship a God, Who adds grace, Upon grace, Into the life, Of the believer, And our prayer, Should be, Lord, Where will you have me go, What will you have me do, Who do you want me to go, To speak to you, About the gospel, Lord, Show me, And the Lord does, Through the pages of scripture, And by the power, Of his holy spirit, But we must be open, We must be open, To listening, We must be open, To correction, When we go wrong, Because if you are anything like me, There is not a day, That goes by, Where I do not veer, To the right, And I do not veer, To the left, But I know, Because the pages of scripture, Tells me, That the Lord has me, By my right hand, And he is taking you,

[16:52] And me, On that narrow path, But as we walk, On that narrow path, We must be listening, Lord, What will you have me do, Do you remember, King David's words, When his own son, Rose up against him, And it broke, David's heart, When Absalom was killed, His own son, Tried to absorb, The kingdom away from him, The son whom he loved, The son whom he spoiled, Let him do to me, What seems good to him, David said, Let him do to me, What seems good to him, A humble spirit, Will say, He does not deal with us, According to our sins, Nor repay us, According to our iniquities, A humble spirit, Will see, That the cup,

[17:53] That was put into, Jesus' hand, The cup, That was put into, To his hand, Is far, A greater way, Of suffering, Than we will ever know, Listen to Erskine, On this point, He says, In a word, He says, The humble and lowly believer, Is content to be nothing, That Christ may be, All in all unto him, Content to be a fool, That Christ may be, His only wisdom, Content to be, As he really is in himself, A guilty, Condemned criminal, That Christ may be, His only righteousness, Content to be stripped, Of all his filthy rags, That he may be, Clothed in a borrowed robe, And that is what we are, As children of God, We are clothed, In a robe,

[18:57] That has been given to us, We are clothed, In the righteousness, And the goodness, And the holiness, Of Jesus Christ, And see that robe, That was dirty upon us, He took it, He's the one, Who took it, Point number one, What is a humble soul?

[19:30] The second question, That Erskine asked, Was why is the humble person, A peculiar favourite of heaven? And can I prove this, From the Bible?

[19:41] Well, You can look at, Any page of scripture, And you can prove this, From the Bible, Do you remember the story, Of Jesus, And the centurion, Do you remember, The centurion, Had a sick servant, In Matthew chapter 8, And do you remember, The centurion, Who wasn't a Jew, The centurion, He was a Gentile, He was a Roman, He was a high standing official, And he comes to Jesus, And he humbles himself, Before Jesus, Before all the Jews, And he humbles himself, At the feet of Jesus, And he knows, That it's only Jesus, That can cure his servant, And what were his words, Lord, I am not worthy, To have you come under my roof, But you only have to say, The word Lord Jesus, You only have to say the word, And my servant, Will be healed, And do you remember, The Lord Jesus' response, To this, To this act of humility, And this act of faith, Do you remember, He says, Truly I tell you, With no one in Israel,

[20:41] Amongst my own people, Truly I tell you, Nowhere in Israel, Have I found such faith, As in this centurion, Go, Centurion, Go, Go, He says, Let it be done, Just as you have believed, Faith, Please, Jesus, And even this faith, Is a gift from Jesus, Jesus says, Go, Let it be done, As you say, A peculiar favorite of heaven, Absolutely, Here's the centurion, He wasn't even a part, Of the people of God, He was a stranger, From a foreign land, And he comes, And he falls, At the feet of Jesus, Nowhere in Israel, Have I found such faith, And it's rather ironic,

[21:43] When you see, Jesus' own disciples, Who have been with him, For so long, They have been taught, By him for so long, And yet, They come to Jesus, And they say, Jesus, See, See, When you're ruling, In your kingdom, Can I ask a wee favor, Of you Jesus, And Jesus says, And Jesus says, What's that?

[22:10] Can I sit at your right hand? And can he sit at your left hand? And what does Jesus say? And what does Jesus say? You have no idea, What you are asking, You have no idea, What you are asking, For even the son of man, Came, Not to be served, But to, Serve, Not to be, Not to be served, But to serve, And to give his life, As a ransom, For many, You see these words, In Mark 10, And at verse 37, If Christ came to serve, What are we to do?

[22:59] We are to serve, We are to serve, Even in all our weakness, And even in all our frailty, And even in all our sin, We are to serve, So can it be proved, That the humble person, Is a peculiar favorite of heaven?

[23:24] Absolutely it can, Clothe yourselves, All of you with humility, God opposes the proud, But gives grace, To the humble, There is nothing like, The word of God, For us to look inwardly, And when we look inwardly, And when I look inwardly, And I see all my own pride, And all my own sin, I can do nothing else, But look to Jesus, Who is the answer, For us, Number three, Why does God, Appreciate the humble, Appreciate the humble, Well quite simply, It glorifies, His free, Grace, It glorifies, His free, Grace, There is not, One of us on this earth,

[24:25] Who deserves, Anything from God, But condemnation, And wrath, And what has he given us, But grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace, Why does God, Appreciate the humble, Well the humble person, If he was asked the question, What is your only comfort, In life, And in death, The Heidelberg catechism, Question and answer number one, What is your only comfort, In life and death, How would you answer that, To someone, Tomorrow at work, If somebody asked you, What is your only comfort, In life and death, Well listen to the catechism, I am not my own, But I belong, With body and soul, Both in life, And in death, To my faithful saviour, Jesus Christ, Because he has paid, For all of my sins, With his precious blood, And he has set me free, From all the power,

[25:25] Of the devil, He also preserves me, In such a way, That without the will, Of my heavenly father, Not a hair, Can fall from my head, Indeed all things, Must work together, For my salvation, Therefore by his holy spirit, He also assures me, Of eternal life, And he makes me, Heartily willing, And ready from now on, And from this day on, To live for him, I belong to Jesus, Jesus, The two men, Who wrote that catechism, Nearly 500 years ago, They were in their mid-twenties, They were in their mid-twenties, I am not my own, But I belong, Body and soul, To Jesus Christ, Because he has done it, All for me, You know,

[26:26] God appreciates, The humble soul, Because it is the fruit, Of his own spirit, That lives in your soul, If you are a Christian, And my soul, It is evidence, Of the Christian's union, With the Lord Jesus, This is the personality, That makes, The soul, Like Christ, The humble soul, Is the image, Of Christ, Who is the image, Of his father, God cannot, But have regard, For him, Or her, God appreciates, The humble spirit, Because the humble spirit, Glorifies his son, Jesus, That is what you, Are called to do, That is what I, Am called to do, In this short life,

[27:27] That we have, And this is a very short life, That we have, We are called, To glorify God, In all we say, In all we do, In all we think, With our very lives, With our hands, With our feet, With every part of us, To glorify, Christ, To a watching, World, A humble spirit, Glorifies, Jesus, A humble spirit, Glorifies, Jesus, Will we try one more, Will we go one more short, One short one, Okay, Where were we, Number four, Number four, What are the marks, Of a humble soul, Let's go and ask the question, So what are the marks, What does a humble Christian, Look like, What exactly, Does a humble Christian, Look like,

[28:28] And this is a real, Time of introspection, This is where we really, Look at our own hearts, The story is told, There was an interview, Of a man, This man, And he had worked, At the Grand Canyon, All his life, He was a tour guide, At the Grand Canyon, And he had been there, For 60 years, And he was just about, To retire, He was just about, To retire, And this reporter, Came up to interview him, And asked him questions, About his 50 years, At the Grand Canyon, And the reporter, Asked him, He says, He says, What's changed, Over these years, With the people, That come and go, What's different, And the old man, Thought to himself, And he contemplated, And he says, Well, A lot of things have changed, He says, But he says, Back in the day, When I started, He says, People used to come, On the buses, And the cars, And they used to stop, And they used to take out, Their cameras, And they used to take pictures, Of the canyon, Another picture,

[29:29] Of the canyon, Another picture, Of the canyon, A wonderful thing, I don't know, Anyone ever been, To the Grand Canyon, No? No? No? No one's ever been, Okay, Well, If you went, You would take a picture, Wouldn't you?

[29:40] I would anyway, He says, But he says, See today, He says, They get the thing, The picture, A big picture of himself, And there's a wee bit, Of the Grand Canyon, Behind them, And the old man, Couldn't understand this, He says, Things change, You know, Things change, I'm guilty of that as well, I was out for coffee, With my daughter, Darlene, A couple of Saturdays ago, And, Yeah, We both took a selfie, Of each other, With the cups of, She had the hot chocolate, I had the coffee, And sent it to her mum, A selfie, I'm not prone to selfies, But I was with my daughter, So I took over, But the Grand Canyon, Wasn't behind us, So what are the marks, Of a humble soul, Well the humble soul, Erskine tells us, Is at times, Too ashamed, Even to look up to heaven, The humble soul, Sometimes cannot,

[30:41] Even look up to heaven, Because of their sense, Of sin, And unworthiness, Do you remember, The tax collector, Do you remember, The tax collector, And the man, Praying in the temple, Do you remember, His prayer, God, Be merciful, To me, A sinner, God, Be merciful, To me, A sinner, And do you remember, The response of Jesus, I tell you, This man went down, To his house, Justified, Rather than the other, For everyone, Who exalts himself, Will be humbled, And the one, Who humbles himself, Will be exalted, Let's let God, Do the exalting, Let's let God, Do the exalting, The humble soul, Wonders, Why God, Has not cast him away, Or destroyed him, Erskine says, The humble soul,

[31:44] Wonders, Why the Lord, Has kept him, Or her, For so long, The humble soul, Is filled, Is filled, With the wonder, That God, Should stoop down, To people like us, We worship, We worship, A God, Who is beyond, All description, We worship, A God, Who came into, Time and space, In the form, Of Jesus Christ, His son, That blows, My mind, God, Came, In the person, Of Jesus, So, So that I, And you, Do not need, To die, In your sins, What a wonderful, God, We serve, What a wonderful, Wonderful,

[32:44] Savior, We worship, Here this evening, The humble soul, Says, If he was asked, The question, Or if she, Would ask the question, How are you, Righteous, Before God, There is none of us, Righteous, Before God, Unless, How are you, Righteous, Before God, Only by true faith, In Jesus Christ, Although my, Conscience, Accuses me, That I have, Grievously, Sinned, Against all, Of God's commandments, And I have, Never kept, Any of them, The catechism says, And I am, Still, Still to this day, I am, Still inclined, Toward evil, Yet, Yet, Yet, God, Without any, Merit of my own, Out of, Near, Grace, Imputes to me, The perfect,

[33:44] Satisfaction, The perfect, Holiness, And righteousness, Of Christ, He imputes that, To me, And he grants, All of these, To me, As if I had, Never had, Nor committed, Any sin, Did you hear that, But, He grants these, To me, As if I had, Never sinned, And as if I, As if I, Had accomplished, All the obedience, And everything, That Christ, Has rendered, For me, And all I have, To do, Is accept, This, I have to, Accept, This gift, That the Lord, Is giving me, With a believing, Heart, That offer, Of salvation, That gift, Of salvation, Is once again, On offer, Here this evening, It's there, Before us, For those, That are yet, Strangers to grace, As the old theologians, Used to say, Those that do not,

[34:45] Count themselves, Christians yet, Those who are, Yet outside of the fold, This offer, Of salvation, Is there today, It's there, Before us, It's there, In the pages, Of scripture, And the Lord, Has promised me, And he's promised, Every preacher, Of the word of God, That this preached, Word, Would be used, To humble our hearts, That is what the Lord, Does, When we've got, Nowhere else, To go, We have no more, Answers, Lord, I can do it, No longer, You have to, Take the reins, Of my life, You have promised, Me in your word, That you will save me, Others around me, Are getting saved, But I'm yet unsaved,

[35:47] You have promised, That you would save me, Believe in the Lord, Jesus Christ, And you will, Be saved, Be saved, And that is what, The Lord does, He enters, Into our hearts, And he changes us, And he humbles us, And he humbles us, But we're not to be, Doer, And we're not to be, Morose, With this humility, Comes great joy, A great joy, Because even Jesus, Because even Jesus, Going to the cross, The book of Hebrews, Tells us, He endured the cross, With great joy, Because he was going, To save you, And he was going, To save me, Three out of six,

[36:51] Ain't bad, We'll maybe do the other three, Another time, God willing, What's our text, Clothe yourselves, All of you with, Humility toward one another, For God opposes the proud, But gives grace, To the humble, There's nothing like, Looking inward, Is there?

[37:14] Because when we look inward, We look upward, I've kept you long enough, Let's pray, Gracious Lord, Indeed we thank you, For your word, And we thank you, For this free grace, And Lord we pray, That you would indeed, Even this evening, Enter into our hearts, Lord you have promised, To take away our sin, You have promised, Oh Lord, To work that work, Of sanctification, Within our hearts, And by the word of God, You will do this, You say in your word, So Lord help us, To look to Jesus, The one who endured, The one who humbled himself, The one who became obedient, And to the point of death, Lord bind us all together, Oh Lord, Help us to love one another,

[38:18] And to pray for one another, And Lord I pray, That over this weekend, You would be at work, Not only in the hearts, Of your people here, Oh Lord, That you would strengthen, Their faith, Especially those, Who are struggling, And perhaps lacking, In assurance, Lord, You have done it all, For them, We are all weak, We are all fragile, And we are all in need of you, Lord strengthen the faith, Of your people, But in particular, This evening, Oh Lord, We pray that you would continue, To work in the hearts, Of those, Of those, That are calling upon you, Even today, Lord, We pray from the depths, Of our hearts, And souls, That you would be at work, Because he who began, A good work, Will see it through, To its completion, So go before us,

[39:19] And exalt Jesus, In our midst, Over this weekend, And bless your word, As it's preached, And pardon us for sin, For Christ's sake, Amen.