SERMON OUTLINE 5
God Gives Grace to the Humble
1 PETER 5:5
Note: It is recommended that you read chapter 6 in Unshakable Hope before the sermon so you will be acquainted with the stories and principles from Max Lucado.
I. INTRODUCTION
A. History is riddled with accounts of people who fell prey to the sin of pride.
1. Alexander the Great was a talented general and military leader who, in 334 BC, conquered the Persian Empire. But his pride compelled him to consider himself a god - which alienated his native Macedonians - and led him to overextend his forces. His zeal to conquer India might have also led to him contracting a fatal disease.
2. Charles d’Albret led a superior force of French fighters in 1415 against the English army at the Battle of Agincourt. The English were short of food, and all d’Albret had to do was block their route to English-held territory. But when the English advanced with flags flying, d’Albret took this as an insult and, in his pride, led his army across a field of sticky clay mud. The French soldiers were bogged down, which gave the English archers time to pick them off one by one and carry the day.
3. Napoleon was a talented general who by 1812 had conquered Europe and formed a French Empire. But his pride led him to believe he could conquer Russia - a mistake that cost him his army and his empire. As onewriter stated, “Napoleon, supreme egoist that he was, ignored the significance of the omens until he and his host were completely andirrevocably committed to an undertaking that was doomed.”
B. Each of these leaders - and many more since - learned the hard way what the apostle Peter pointed out: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5 NKJV). God delights to give grace to the humble. Today, we will explore this unshakable promise of God.
II. TEACHING
A. The problem with pride is that it causes us to reject God’s rightful place in our lives - which leads to devastating consequences.
1. Satan’s pride caused him to rebel against God and be cast out of heaven (see Isaiah 14:14; Ezekiel 28:17).
2. Adam and Eve’s desire to be like God plunged the world and human race into sin (see Genesis 3:5, 14 - 19, 24).
3. In Proverbs 16:18, we read, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (NIV).
B. One of the greatest examples of the negative effects of pride and its consequences is found in the story of Nebuchadnezzar.
1. Nebuchadnezzar was the king of a mighty empire. He built an impressive city, named Babylon, and at one time ruled the entire known world. The hanging gardens of Babylon were even considered one of the seven wonders of the world.
2. Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem and carried thousands of God’s people into captivity. Among his captives were four Jewish young men named Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
a. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to be worshiped (see Daniel 3:5).
b. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused, he had them thrown into a fiery furnace (see verse 21).
c. God delivered the three men from the flames - but the mighty king still did not humble himself.
3. God ultimately led Nebuchadnezzar to realize who was truly in charge.
a. God warned the Babylonian king, through Daniel’s interpretation of a dream, that judgment was coming to him (see Daniel 4:27).
b. But Nebuchadnezzar continued to boast about all of his accomplishments (see verses 39–30).
c. The king was transformed into an animal-like creature (an ox), who ate grass (see verse 33).
d. Nebuchadnezzar finally repented and confessed that God is able to humble the proud (see verse 37).
C. Exhibiting humility places God in his rightful place in our lives and positions us to receive his grace.
1. Humility is a character trait of Jesus.
a. Jesus said, “I am . . . humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29 NIV).
b. Even though he was God, he humbled himself. “Being in very nature God . . . he humbled himself” (Philippians 2:6, 8 NIV).
2. Humility acknowledges our total dependence on God.
a. Humility allows us to do what pride will not—confess our need for God and receive his grace. “I live in a high and holy place, but alsowith the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit” (Isaiah 57:15 NIV).
b. G.K. Chesterton wrote, “How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it. You would break out of this tiny and tawdry theatre in which your own little plot is always being played, and you would find yourself under a freer sky.”
C. Humility positions us to receive God’s grace.
1. Grace is only available from God, and he gives it freely. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8 NIV).
2. We not only are saved by grace, but we also live by grace. As Paul wrote,
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10 NIV).
III. APPLICATION
A. God resists the proud because the proud resist God.
1. God detests what pride does to his creation. “The LORD detests all the proud of heart” (Proverbs 16:5).
2. Pride causes us to want to be “king of the hill,” and our lives become all about us. We forget were are needy creatures who are dependent on God for our very lives.
B. Many people, including some Christians, live under the tyranny of one diabolical question: What are other people thinking of me?
1. The true and most important question is: What is God thinking of me?
The first question will lead us to pride, but the second question will leadmus to humility.
2. The Bible - almost from cover to cover - declares, “God is thinking of you with love, with a deep desire to be with you, and with the power to change your life into what he designed it to be.” We can quit striving and
begin resting in the great saving love of God.
3. What wreckage has pride produced in your life? What areas of pride do you need to acknowledge and confess?
4. Pride shipwrecks the soul. So confess your pride and take your place under his gracious care. The pathway of humility is the pathway of grace.