Good morning. Got a Bible? Go ahead and turn with me to first Peter, chapter five. First Peter, chapter five. We all love a good underdog story, right? Who doesn't love a good underdog story? We all do. We love the Rocky movies and the Rudy movies, and we love the fact that Kevin McAllister can get left home alone and still defeat the wet and the sticky bandits, right? We love those things. We love where somebody against all odds works really hard, uses their resources, and then rises to something great because of their hard work. Now, that's not new to us. That's been going on for centuries and centuries. Six centuries before Jesus even showed up on the scene, ASOP wrote a fable. All right, so many of you know those fables. One of them was called Hercules and the Wagoner. So the Wagoner, just being a guy who drives a wagon, well, one day he gets stuck in the mud. He gets stuck in the mud. He cries out in despair to Hercules. And Hercules responds, put your shoulder to the will. When you put your shoulder to the will, the gods only help those who help themselves. Now, just for clarity, if this is your first time, we don't believe in multiple gods. All right? There's one true God. All right? Just get that out there. But using this story, he's saying, like, the gods don't help those who don't help themselves. Several centuries later, Benjamin Franklin is writing in poor Richard's almanac, and he uses the phrase, God helps those who help themselves. God helps those who help themselves. Now, how many of you have heard that phrase before? God helps those who help themselves. There's been multiple surveys done about that quote, and one of the surveys was, what's your favorite Bible verse? And that was number one. The problem is, that's not a Bible verse. It's a lie. Actually, God doesn't simply, or God doesn't help those who help themselves is quite the opposite. God doesn't need our help. He's God. And God helps those who can't help themselves. God helps those who can't help themselves. And now that shows up in scripture all over the place. But let me give you a couple of examples of that. In Isaiah, chapter 25, verse four, it says this for you, God have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy and his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. So who is God? A stronghold for the poor, the needy, those in distress. He's a shelter from the storm, those that are suffering in heat, he's the shade for them. And then Paul says it this way in Romans, chapter five. For while we were still weak. Now, some of your translations may say, while you were still helpless, while we were still weak and helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. So who is God helping in these two texts? Just two examples. Some of the poor, the needy, the distressed, the suffering, the weak, the helpless and the ungodly. He's not just helping those who help themselves. He's helping other people. Hey, real quick, guys. If you got seats around you, if you could slide into the middle, we still got people looking for seats in the back. So if you could slide to the middle, that way they can grab a seat on the edge of the row. That would be really helpful. Okay, thank you, guys. I feel like we do that every week at 930. So maybe when you come in, just sit in the middle. That would be really helpful. All right, so who does God help? Who does God help? Is it just the poor and the needy and the distressed and the sufferers? Actually, there's more of a specific category that God is going to help. Now, if you've been here the last couple weeks, we're in an Advent series. We're anticipating the coming of Jesus in this Christmas season. And as we anticipate the coming of Jesus, the topic that we're talking about over these weeks is humility. So I'm giving you the answer here from the beginning. Who does God help? God helps the humble. God helps the humble. Now, that's just not my opinion. I want to show you that in the scripture this morning. But the bigger question is, what kind of help does God offer the humble? How does God help the humble? Because some of you have been walking in humility for years, or maybe you've got a situation in front of you where you need to humble yourself. What kind of help is God offering to you in that help? So turn with me again if you're in one Peter five, let me kind of give you, since we're jumping into chapter five, let me give you a little context of what's going on here. We looked at this passage partially last week. We'll look at different part of it this week. But in first Peter, it's a circular letter. So Peter has written to believers who are suffering. They've been persecuted, and now they're facing harassment and hostility, and they're in a really humble position, having to take a really humble posture. And he's written this letter, this circular, because it's written to a bunch of churches in the region of Asia Minor, like modern day Turkey. And so this letter was to be sent to one church. When they finished reading it, they were to send it to another church. And so it's meant for a lot of believers. And these people are again struggling. And Peter is writing to encourage them in the midst of their suffering to say, don't be surprised by your suffering, don't be ashamed by your suffering, actually rejoicing your suffering and glorify God in the midst of your suffering. So he's really wanting to write this encouraging letter to them. When we get to chapter five, he's going to specify a couple groups of people that he's trying to encourage. The first group were elders within the church. And at the beginning of chapter Five, what he is saying is, elders, there's a flock that you need to shepherd, and you need to shepherd that flock eagerly and willingly because they're suffering and you need to care deeply for them. Which leads us to verse five of chapter Five. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So he's already said, okay, elders, you need to shepherd this flock well, but younger people in the congregation, you need to submit to your elders as they shepherd you, you submit to them. And then he gives a command to every believer in those churches. And what was it? Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. Clothe yourselves with humility. Put on humility like a garment that you would put on. You wake up in the morning, you put your socks and shoes on, put the rest of your clothes on, and you put on humility. Now, the word picture that this audience would have getting based on this word, clothe yourselves, is the picture of a slave, and a slave putting on an apron or a towel wrapped around their waist or put into their belt to signify they were a slave versus a free person. He's going, that's how I want you to clothe yourselves. That's what humility looks like, taking on the very nature of a servant. I want every single one of you. He says, all of you, not just the elders, not just the younger people in the church, all of you, I want you to clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. Some of you may be reminded of John, chapter 13. It's not going to be on the screen, but in John chapter 13, Jesus is eating with his disciples. And as he eats with his disciples, he finishes the meal, and he kind of pushes back from the table and stands up and says he took off his outer garment. So he took off his coat, and then he took a towel and wrapped it around his waist. And then what does he proceed to do? He washes the disciples'feet. Jesus God in the form of flesh. God Almighty, the messiah, clothes himself with humility and washes his disciples'feet. That's amazing, right? That Jesus would do that. He's the example for us of clothing ourselves with humility. And who are to do it? Everybody. The young, the old, the men, the women, the husbands, the wives, the dads, the moms, the children, the bosses, the employees, the leaders, the followers, the wealthy, the poor. Everyone is to clothe themselves with humility. What does this look likE? In order to understand what humility, clothing yourself with humility looks like, I'm going to give you two examples from Jesus life. Two parables. So those are stories that are made up, but they prove to point to his audience. The first one is in Luke chapter 18. In Luke chapter 18, he tells them this. He says he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. So he's going to tell this story, and the whole point of the story is because there were people in the audience that he was telling this story to that were trusting in their own self righteousness. They thought, oh, I'm good here. I'm doing all the godly things. I'm going to trust that. So he tells them this. Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed. Thus, God, I thank you that I am not like the other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. Keep going. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breath, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now, at this point, I'm going to come back. Leave that there. If you're in that audience and you're a bunch of Pharisees, experts in the law, trusting your self righteousness, you hear Jesus start to tell this parable, and you're totally siding with your Pharisee friend. Like, yeah, he's doing the right thing. He's giving his ties, he's being generous. He's doing all this stuff. Yeah, he's better than the extortioners and the unjust and all that. He's better. But Jesus twists the plot at the end, right? Because there's this tax collector over there going off just hanging his head, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Who does Jesus confirm here? He says, I tell you this man, the tax collector, went down to his house, justified, declared righteous rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. So everybody's thinking, oh, yeah, the Pharisee. That's the one that's going to be exalted. And Jesus goes, not in my kingdom. Not the ones that trust in their own self righteousness. It's the ones who humble themselves and admit, I've got nothing righteous before you, a holy God. I'm going to exalt those people prior to this. In Luke Chapter 14, Jesus tells this other parable, and I'm going to set it up for you. So he's at the house of a Pharisee leader. So these are like the really religious people, again, trusting in their own self righteousness. And it's on the Sabbath, and in their laws, they weren't supposed to do much of anything on the Sabbath. So they're trying to catch Jesus like, hey, wonder if he's going to perform work on the Sabbath, because then we'll know he's not who he says he is. Well, there's a guy that needs healing. And Jesus goes like, yeah, I'm going to heal this guy. And he does. And they get all worked up about it, and he uses it as a teachable moment. And this is what he says. Now, he told a parable to those who were invited when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, so they showed up at this house that night. And I think, side note, we always say, like, oh, God, Jesus only hung out with the outcast, but he's literally having dinner at the house of a Pharisee religious leader at this point. So he hangs out with more than just that. So he's with them, and he notices as they come into the room, they're all choosing the places of honor to sit. And he goes, hey, your living is not aligning with my teaching. So that's when he tells this story. When you're invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him. And he who invited you both will come and say to you, give your place to this person, and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you're invited, go and sit in the lowest place so that when your host comes, he may say to you, friend, move up higher. Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. So Jesus tells this story about a real life example, not something that actually happened. But he goes, you're going to show up at a wedding feast one day. And for them, a wedding feast was a really special, important occasion. And what made it really special one? It's a wedding, but at the wedding, there's a specific seating arrangement, and all the most honored guests sat the closest to the couple. And then as guests were less distinguished, they sat further and further away. So Jesus is going, how many of you, when you showed up at the wedding, you would just go, take the place of honor? He's going because it's going to be pretty embarrassing when the host that invited you to the party to the wedding walks up to you and go like, hey, that's not your seat. You need to sit in the back. There's people more special and more honored than you. How embarrassing is that going to be? You're going to be humbled in your exaltation. Right? He goes, the better option for you guys would be this. You come in and you take the lowest place, not the distinguished place. And then maybe the host walks up to you at some point. He may not, but if he does, he could say, friend, you don't know. Don't sit here. You move up higher to a more distinguished place. The humble will be exalted. So what does clothing yourselves with humility look like here in these two parables? Clothing yourselves with humility means don't trust your own self righteousness. And also clothing yourself with humility means take in the lowest place in life. Take the lowest spot. Quit choosing and self promoting yourself and getting out there to try to get ahead and prove that you are better than you actually are. He goes, that's not clothing yourselves with humility. He goes, now, don't just take the bad seat because you're like, oh, I want everybody to look at me because I took the bad seat. That's prideful as well, right? Like, you want to delight in taking that. Jake gave the example or the definition last week of humility is being gladly preoccupied with God. Gladly preoccupied with God. Like, oh, I'll take the lowest seat. Sure, yeah, because I love God. I don't care about my place. I care about God more than that. Jesus is worth it. So when I think of this, what's the overlooked position, the underappreciated position? The first person that comes to my mind is a mom. A mom who serves faithfully and takes the lowest position and rarely ever gets a thank you from her kids. Right? You're just constantly taking the lowest position and serving your family over and over and over. And God's going, the humble will be exalted one day, but if you want to take the place of exaltation from the beginning, you're going to be humble later. So the surface issue was like, oh, you're choosing places of honor. The under the surface was, you're being prideful. And Jesus was trying to address that. So why would we do this? Why would we clothe ourselves with humility? Go back to one, Peter, five, five. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. And this is the reason. This is why you should clothe yourselves with humility. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Why should you clothe yourselves with humility instead of with pride? Because God opposes the proud. God is against the proud. Is that the team that you're standing on the field before a game and the other team runs out of the tunnel and it's God. How are you feeling about yourself in the middle of the football field like, oh, this is a great day. We're done, right? We have no chance. He's going, that's what you're doing. When you take up pride in your life, you are opposing God. So who is God helping? God gives grace to the humble. He's not helping the proud who trust in their own self righteousness. He's not helping those who Go after the places of honor. He's helping the humble. Those that are tapping out and saying, I can't, no, this battle is too big. I can't do this. I can't do this. It's the ones taking that lowest place. So God isn't simply just helping the poor and the needy and the distressed and the sufferer, because there are poor people who are proud people, there are sufferers who boast in that. And you're proud. He's going, I'm going to help the humble and the humble. Could be a poor person, could be a wealthy person, could be a person in distress. Could not be a person in distress who's going to walk in humility. So that's who God is offering help to. But what does that help look like? Go back again to verse five. God gives grace to the humble. How does God help? God helps the humble by providing grace for you now. God helps the humble by providing grace for you now. One Corinthians, chapter 15. Paul writes this. He says, for I'm the least of the apostles. Remember, he was the guy that was persecuting Christians. And then God changed his life radically. And then he starts telling everybody about Jesus and planning churches. So he goes, for I'm the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am and his grace toward me was not in vain. This is all about God's grace. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. So because we have been radically transformed by Jesus, do we just sit back? He goes, no, I worked really hard, but every time I worked, it was the grace of God working through me. The grace of God working through me. He goes, I was the least, but it's man. It's God's grace working through me. This is critical for us to understand because oftentimes when we think of grace, we just think about it in terms of our salvation, that God poured out his unmerited favor upon us to save us. And that is absolutely true. There's nothing that you can do to work to earn your relationship with God. It is all his grace. I don't think that's the grace that Paul is talking about. Like the grace that helps him work hard here. It's still unmerited favor, but it's moment by moment unmerited favor. It's moment by moment grace. It's not just grace for salvation, but it's this ever present readiness and willingness to do whatever we need. Now sometimes we get cloudy and we go, oh, I need something else. But God in His grace, he's willing to help, he's ready to help and he can help give you everything you need so that as you're walking in humility and you experience a humble circumstance, he goes, grace. There's Grace to help you keep moving forward. There is grace. I'm ready, and I want to pour out my grace upon you moment by moment grace not to just save you, but grace to sustain you as you walk in humility. That's what God is offering you in all the humble circumstances that you have the ability to walk in in your life. God is saying, my grace is with you. I want to give you grace. Trust them trust them that you can't in a situation and that you're not able in a situation. He goes, my grace is with you. I'm going to even help you breathe the next moment, and the next moment, and the next moment, I'm going to give you what you need. But it doesn't just stop with moment by moment grace for the humble. James, chapter four, says this, but he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So it seems like. It's like, oh, first, Peter said the same thing as James. Oh, maybe because God inspired it, right? So submit yourselves, therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And then this verse is awesome. What a promise. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. How does he say humble yourself? He says, draw near to the Lord. And what's the promise for those humble people who draw near to the Lord? God's going to draw near to you, not just moment by moment grace, but intimacy with God, grace, closeness with God, grace, and it gets better. Two Corinthians says this, so to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelation. So this is Paul talking. You're like, I don't know what that's talking about. Paul has, after he's been transformed by Christ, he's been able to be a witness of so many wonderful things from God. And he's saying, to keep me from becoming proud about all that I've seen God do, a thorn was given me in the flesh. Not a literal thorn here. All right? But there was something that happened to him. Now, we don't know exactly what the thorn in the flesh was. There's a lot of different options. It could have been like a physical ailment that God gave him. A lot of people would say, like, when Paul was. He was Saul at the time, went by Saul. When he is on the road to Damascus, he is met with a bright light, and that is where God changes his life. And people say, like, oh, the thorn was like, he was blind, so he didn't have great eyesight. So there was this thorn in his flesh. We don't know that for sure. Other people say, like, there was a sin, struggle, potentially in his life that he just couldn't seem to overcome. And it was always there. The temptation was always there. So he's given this thorn. We don't know what it was, but we're about to find out why he had this thorn in his flesh as a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. He had a thorn in his flesh. Whether a physical ailment, a certain sin, struggle, whatever it may be, to prevent him from being proud. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. God, take this away. God, take this away. God, take this away. But this is what God says to him, verse nine. But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ. Then I'm content. I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I'm strong. Guys, what kind of grace is God offering? The humble, moment by moment grace, closeness with him. Grace and empowering grace. When you go, man, I'm walking in humility again. I'm being trampled over. I'm taking the lowest place he goes, my Grace is sufficient. In your weakness, my Grace is sufficient. In your humility, my grace is sufficient. Let's go back to moms for a second. Pretend that there's a mom and she's been serving your children all day, and it's dinner time, and she's worked hard, and she's cooked an incredible meal. All right, totally hypothetical situation here right now. Just kidding. She's cooked this great meal. The hypothetical part is coming, right? But not really hypothetical. She's cooked a great meal. She sits it on the table, the kids run in, and this part of the meal is incredible. Homemade macaroni and cheese. And your little children run in and they go, what? What is this? I want the blue box macaroni and cheese. I want the Kraft macaroni and cheese. You're like, that would take eight minutes. This other macaroni and cheese took 1 hour for me to make. I loved you. I thought I would make you something wonderful, but nobody says thank you. And they complain the rest of the meal. Again, totally hypothetical. I don't know anything about this, but they complain the rest of the meal. And then at the end, the dad decides, like, okay, I'm a servant. I'm going to go upstairs and help get the kids ready for bed, mom ends up serving more, taking the lowest position and cleaning the kitchen. And by the end of it, just exhausted. Like, can I please just have a moment for myself? I've been giving my life away and putting. Taking the lowest place over and over and over, being treated like a servant over and over and over. You're like, okay, I'm just going to go sit on the couch for a little bit. And then you're like, no, I can't sit on the couch. I'll get interrupted there as well. All right, so you go. You hide in the bathroom. All right, so you don't even need to go to the bathroom. You just hide in the bathroom because you don't think the kids will come in there, and within 30 seconds, like, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Mom, we need you. Help. Help. And it's just constant. All the moms are smiling and shaking their heads like, yes, I know this. All the dads are oblivious. No, I'm just kidding, right? Totally kidding. But it's this over and over. I'm going to take the lowest place. I'm going to take the lowest place. I'm going to be treated like a servant. I'm going to be treated like a servant because I'm going to walk in humility. And when I walk in humility and the banging on the bathroom door comes, I can gladly say, hey, what do you need? How can I help you? Because God's grace is sufficient in that moment, and God's grace is sufficient in the next moment, and God's grace is sufficient in the next moment and the next, and the next. And you go, God, I don't know how to do this, but I need your help. And he goes, oh, you want to draw near to me? I'm going to draw near to you in this moment, too. And I'm going to empower you to keep taking the lowest position, guys, that's the kind of humility that we want to walk in. It does that over and over and over. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from a book called Upside Down. It's the paradox of servant leadership. And in the book this guy writes, he says, you know, you're a servant not when you commit an act of service. So you know you're a servant. Not when you act like a servant, but when someone treats you like a servant and it no longer offends you. It's the moment that you sit down on the couch and you're like, I'm just going to take a break. And someone comes in and says, hey, I need you to do this. You're like, oh, again. But a true serVant. True humility goes, okay, how can I help God? I need you to sustain me. In Isaiah, chapter 66, verse two, says, this, all these things, my hand is made. And so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word, who is the one that gets God's attention? The humble. Isn't that a place that you want to be in your life, attracting the attention of God Almighty? And when God Almighty turns his attention to you as you walk in humility, God Almighty is saying, I'm going to give you grace, too, man. That's the kind of people we want to be. But God's grace gets better than that. Verses six and seven, say this at first. Peter, five. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. I'm not going to go into that whole verse again. Go listen to last week's sermon. Jake did much better than I would do right now. But the point here is so that at the proper time, God may exalt you. So God doesn't just help the humble by providing grace now, he helps the humble by promising exaltation to you later. God exalts the humble. We saw that in the two parables. We saw that in James. God exalts the humble. So it's not the lie that we talked about earlier. God helps those who help themselves. God actually exalts those who humble themselves. God exalts those who humble themselves. It's not just grace in the moment, but it's grace for eternity. So when is this proper time that Peter is talking about? We don't know the exact timeline. There's no promised timeline. But there's a time that this promise will come true. And humility waits for God's perfect timing. Humility doesn't fight for your own way in your own timing, but it waits faithfully for God's timing. At the beginning of first Peter in chapter one, he says it this way, therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober minded. Set your hope. So there's something that you're hoping for. I want you to set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you. And here's the time at the revelation of Jesus Christ, when will you be exalted? When Jesus comes back. We're talking about Advent here, we're talking about the first advent where Jesus first revealed himself. And we were anticipating that. And what Peter is saying, you can't just rest on that, but you got to rest on Jesus is coming back again and you will be exalted at that time. There's grace now and there's grace later. And what does this exaltation look like? Jump down to verses ten and eleven, and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you to him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. So what is this exaltation going to look like? Restoration, confirmation, strengthening and establishing. When you walk in humility, in the brokenness, when you're unsure, but you still walk in humility. When you feel weak and you walk in humility. When life feels unstable, but you continue to walk in humility, remember that at the proper time, God's going to exalt you. God exalts those who don't just demand their rights and try to squeeze everything out of this life, who don't self promote, they don't stay bitter, but they forgive. Those are the people that God's exalting. Why would you walk that kind of life though? That's a hard life to keep walking in humility over and over and over. Two Corinthians Paul says this so we do not lose heart. So don't give up, don't quit, keep walking in humility. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Now this is incredible. Here. For this light, momentary affliction, walking in humility, suffering that you're experiencing on this side of eternity is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we not look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. Guys, the unimaginable humility that God asks us to live out in this life will not compare to the unimaginable exaltation you will experience later. Whatever the humble circumstance, it won't compare. Guys, there's something better. There is something better to come. An eternal inheritance that won't fade, that won't spoil, and that is far more satisfying than anything this world has to offer. God promises empowering grace now and exalting grace to you later. Humility doesn't just look beyond your circumstances, it looks through your circumstances and it looks through your circumstances to a place that's coming one day to a promise and most importantly, to a glorious God. And the picture that we get of this is in Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea or evil was no more. And I saw the holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. And he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. As you walk in humility, don't miss what's to come. Now let's be clear. The promise of exaltation isn't the prize, though. We don't just go like, oh, I'm living in a mess now because I'm going to mansion in glory later. You have missed the point. You have missed the point that it's never been about you and will never be about you, and it's all about God. The point is that you will get to dwell with your God forever. So when you walk through the pit and you're trampled on and you're demeaned and you walk in humility, God will exalt you and bring you into his presence forever. And that is the greatest place you can ever be. Greatest place you can ever be. We're not talking about like some karma garbage like, oh, I'm going to be humble now so I can get something better later. No, I'm going to walk in humility now because if I'm gladly preoccupied with God now, what better could there be than I get to be with God forever? Nothing's better. So you walk in humility. Now. How do we wait for that day? Verses eight and nine. Be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. He goes, hey, I know it's hard to walk in humility, and I know you're in the midst of suffering right now, but one day there's going to be a better day. How do you wait? You are firm in your faith. How do we wait and walk in humility? We do it by faith. Firmness of faith is the key to humility, trusting the Lord. Humility is going to be fueled by God's promise for grace today and God's promise of exaltation tomorrow. You could also say it this way. Humble people trust God for grace now and later. Humble people trust God for grace now in the moment and one day later, whatever the situation is, God will deliver you. Whatever the situation is, if he doesn't deliver you on this side of eternity, his grace is sufficient for you still. So how can we remind ourselves and kind of refill on this kind of faith often? I'm going to give you three things, three chapters in the Scriptures that I want you to read this week because I think they're going to remind us of grace. The first one, I want you to read this on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. All right, super practical here. Tomorrow I want you to read Hebrews chapter eleven. In Hebrews chapter eleven, you're going to be reminded of all the saints who have walked before you in humility and waited for the promise. You need to know that you are not alone in humility, and there have been faithful saints for generations doing this same thing. So, Hebrews chapter eleven. On Monday, on Wednesday, I want you to remind yourself of what's to come, and read Revelation 21, what we just read about dwelling with God forever and what's to come when we're exalted with him. Hebrews Eleven on Monday, Revelation 21 on Wednesday. And then on Friday, read Philippians chapter two. To be reminded of Jesus, because this is what Philippians two five through eleven says. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth, and under the earth and every tongue. Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, Jesus. You think about Christmas time, Jesus, Son of God, being born and swaddled in cloths and lying in a manger. Humility from the beginning. Then he lives on this earth and walks 33 years in humility. Some of you are like man. It's hard to walk a week in humility. Jesus did it for 33 years, and his grace is sufficient for you. So he's humbled from the beginning. Swaddling cloths in a manger lives on this earth, takes the garment of a servant, of a slave, and washes his disciples feet because he didn't come to be served, but to serve. And then eventually, he stripped of his clothes and hung on a cross all those garments representing the humility of Jesus. But Jesus didn't stay dead. But he rises from the dead, and then he's exalted to the right hand of the Father. Jesus death, resurrection and exaltation is the foundation for our humility and hope that every day Jesus says, die to yourself. Walk in humility, and there's going to be a resurrection and an exaltation that's coming. Don't sit there. Don't stay there any longer. Christ. Exaltation is the grounds for our hope. If God can raise the dead and exalt him to the right hand of the Father, he can continue to walk with you as you walk in humility. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for Jesus. Thank you for the example that Jesus gave us. And help us, God, to be a church that walks with that kind of humility. Help us not to be marked as proud people, as self promoting people, as trusting in our righteousness, as people who look for our own honor. God, we want to be a people who are humbled before you, a holy God. And may you fulfill your promise, and we know you will because you are faithful. Pray this in Jesus name. Amen.