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  A LIFE OF REVERENT HUMILITY BEFORE GOD
  by Jeremy Utley
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of reverent humility in
our lives, focusing on how we should view trials, God's love, and His
Word. It challenges the listeners to shift from entitlement to seeing
trials as a privilege to glorify God, to recognize God's love as a
reflection of His worth rather than our own, and to acknowledge our
absolute need for God to remind us of His Word. The message highlights
the need for humility in every aspect of our walk with God.

Duration: 26:35 Topics: "Reverent Humility", "Trials as Privilege"
Scripture References: 1 Peter 2:19, 1 Timothy 1:16, Ezekiel 36:22, Luke 22:60, Luke 24:45

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of reverent humility in our lives,
focusing on how we should view trials, God's love, and His Word. It
challenges the listeners to shift from entitlement to seeing trials as a
privilege to glorify God, to recognize God's love as a reflection of His
worth rather than our own, and to acknowledge our absolute need for God
to remind us of His Word. The message highlights the need for humility
in every aspect of our walk with God.

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CONTENT
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Turn with me please to Isaiah chapter 52. I'd like to continue in the
spirit of the song we just sang. I don't know if you've thought much
about those words that we sang, but I would encourage you to think about
what you just sang to the Lord, what we just sang together.

We'll wish we had given him more. Do you believe that? Hopefully,
hopefully you do, hopefully I do, but to me, what should be one of the
marks of my life if I believe in the light of his face when I see him,
I'll wish that I had given him more. I think one defining mark that
that's true for me in my life is that my life will be characterized by a
reverent humility, that there'd be a reverent humility that marks my
life.

And that's what I wanted to talk a little bit about today. I really
appreciate that song choice because I feel that that's, it's so
important to really let that message grab a hold of our hearts that when
we see him, we'll wish we had given him more. I believe that's true.

If you look with me, as I said at Isaiah chapter 52, and if you look at
the, this truth came home to my heart as I was reading the Bible
recently, verse 13, it's speaking here about the final day, maybe that
day in the light of that heavenly place, and it's speaking here about
what the response of kings is going to be when they see Jesus Christ
highly exalted. It says in verse 13, Isaiah 52 verse 13, He will be
admired more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. Thus,
he will sprinkle many nations.

Kings will shut their mouths on account of him, for what had not been
told them they will see and what they had not heard they will
understand. And I was blessed to see, it says here, kings will shut
their mouths when they see the manifold wisdom of God revealed. because
it says he's gonna be high and lifted up he's gonna be exalted and I can
imagine that the kings of the earth say well how did he get there and
there's an unfortunate chapter division I think as brother Zach has
often told us the chapter divisions are put there much later but the
kings of the earth might say how did he get there then look with me in
Isaiah 53 verse 1 who has believed our message so whom is the arm of the
Lord been revealed how did he become high and lifted up he grew up like
a tender shoot before his father like a root out of parched ground he
had no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him nor
appearance that we should be attracted to him and I was blessed to see
it's unfathomable to think about it but how did he get to the point that
he was high and lifted up it says here he grew up it sounds crazy God
grew up Jesus Christ grew up and not like some majestic thing either it
says in my margin a tender shoots a suckling hardly noticeable easily
snuffed out imagine how vulnerable that life there was in the manger
when Jesus came to the earth he grew up before him the one who's highly
exalted and that's what it says in Philippians 2 for this reason God
highly exalted him why because he humbled himself and it's incredible to
see I can imagine the kings of the earth as they stand there on in the
light of that heavenly place saying wait what this one who's highly
exalted he grew up like a tender shoot and I think that the prophet
would say yes yeah he had no visible specialness of any kind that's why
you passed him by that's what I see here the kings of the earth are
gonna shut their mouths on account of him and I see the prophet saying
that's why you passed him by I believe that kings of the earth will
marvel at the manifold wisdom of God it says in 1st Corinthians chapter
1 in verse 27 God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame
the wise and the weak things of the world to shame the strong and it's
easy I don't know about you but for me as I read this I say what stupid
Kings what silly Kings you know that we can scoff because we we have
come to appreciate Christ in a certain measure how could they miss him
do you think that those Kings are gonna marvel those Kings are gonna
shut their mouths but I was challenged to see I don't know if you notice
but it shifts the language shifts it shifts from saying Kings will shut
their mouths to we the prophet continues that's he doesn't just say
that's why you kings of the earth passed him by he says he had no
stately form of majesty that we should look upon him nor appearance that
we should be attracted to him he was despised and forsaken a man of
stars he was despised and we not the kings of the earth we did not
esteem him and it struck me that shift from thinking of course the kings
of the earth miss him to thinking I missed him I would pass him by it
says in John chapter 1 that he came to his own and those who were his
own did not receive him and we can think he came to the earth and the
wise and exalted ones of the earth did not receive him but it says here
he was despised and we did not esteem him and what I took to my heart
was a warning of the Lord he said Jeremy you think that if you were
there at the cross you would have picked up the towel you think you'd be
wiping my brow you think what a shame these Romans crucified him or what
a shame that people left the scene of the cross beating their breasts as
it says or what a shame that the disciples fled you do the same thing
you're no different and the Lord challenged me don't kid myself with
thoughts about how could they how could those people neglect him I need
to see I am the one who crucified the Lord I neglected him don't lie to
myself he was despised and I did not esteem him and at this this whole
Isaiah 52 and 53 passage has a very different center if I think it's the
kings of the earth who didn't esteem him I have one attitude if I see by
and by when I look on his face I'll wish I'd given him more it's not
it's I think his new covenant disciples we have to be very very careful
not to have some haughty attitude yeah the people of this world don't
esteem Jesus Christ I didn't esteem him we have to make it personal I
did not esteem him he was despised and we need a revelation that's what
stood out to me it's not just the kings of the earth who are gonna shut
their mouths on account of him what had not been told them they will see
I believe one day I will shut my mouth on account of what had not been
told to me all the understanding that I did not have and to me what it
spoke to me was I need reverent humility before God I need to really see
it's not someone else who neglected Jesus I neglected Jesus and even
today he comes to me and I esteem him not as it says I despise I forsake
I have to see that the the biggest problem is me not the Romans not the
disciples who fled not the people who are there who beat their breasts
not the women who looked upon impotently me I'm the biggest problem and
if I really see that if I really take the song that we sang to heart
it'll produce a humility in my life a reverent humility Lord it's me the
problem is with no one else the problem is with me and I wanted to speak
about just three areas where I feel the Lord was challenging me to make
it practical how do I make reverent humility the mark of my life
practically speaking and three areas that I feel the Lord was
encouraging me to remember were trials is one to how I view God's love
and three how I think of God's Word and I want to speak about each of
those things very briefly reverent humility will be practical will be
made practical in my life by how I look at trials how I look at God's
love and how I look at God's Word and what I'd say about trials is we
have in our natural man a very very deep-seated sense of fairness and I
say that as an eldest child every oldest child in any family if you want
to know for example in my house growing up if you wanted to know how
many cinnamon rolls the middle child had you know who to ask that's the
eldest I could tell you down to two decimal places how many cinnamon
roll as everybody had out of the pan and by the looks on people's faces
who was most likely to give up their extra if I asked them nicely and at
what time right the eldest always has this very deeply ingrained sense
of fairness and I think it's part of our lives that and we can our
outlook towards God can be affected by our sense of fairness we can
think especially in regards to trials this isn't fair it's not fair and
what it spoke to me is if I have if my life is characterized by reverent
humility practically speaking I'll stop having an attitude of
entitlement that says I don't deserve this trial and I'll start having
an attitude I'll start looking at trials with a sense of privilege I
want you to look with me please at first Peter chapter 2 it's an
incredible verse verse 19 it says this finds favor or grace if for the
sake of conscience towards God a person bears up under sorrows when
suffering even unjustly what credit is there if when you are if you when
you sin and are treated harshly you endure it with patience but if when
you do what is right and you suffer for it this finds favor with God and
then he says you've been called for this purpose because Christ also
suffered for you and he left you an example for you to follow in his
steps he committed no sin and nor was any deceit found in his mouth yet
he was reviled and we can think how can this thing happen to me how can
this great injustice happen to me and what it reveals is we
misunderstand the gospel you know on you know people who don't know the
Lord yet they see you know how can good people suffer and it shows it
belies a misunderstanding about the seriousness of sin seriousness of
sin they haven't seen how sin totally breaks broke the world everything
in the world is broken because of sin but soulish Christians can
interact with trials and say this isn't what I signed up for I in so far
as we view trials with a sense of this is unfair what what it reveals is
we've got the wrong gospel we thought we had a gospel that said we were
exempted from difficulty but the gospel we've been given for sincere
Christians is to say you know what's unfair I can't believe I get to
follow in Jesus footsteps he left me this example and I get I have the
privilege of manifesting the life of Jesus Christ me a violent aggressor
me a blasphemer I shouldn't get to imitate Jesus Christ I shouldn't get
to part momentary light afflictions produced for me an eternal weight of
glory who am I you see how that sense of unfairness changes from
entitlement to it's a privilege to suffer it says in Hebrews 13 that you
joyfully accepted the seizure of your property what attitude did those
disciples have towards difficulty it wasn't the thought that they should
never have faced difficulty it was it's a privilege to be counted worthy
that's what it says in the book of Acts they rejoice that they were
counted worthy to suffer for the Lord's sake and if we want to have
reverent humility mark our lives practical outworking of that is we stop
thinking in terms of entitlement and we start thinking in terms of I
want to glorify the Lord every single area of my life and if he's
appointed this trial it's because he sees it's a way that Jesus Christ
can be exalted I don't want to miss that opportunity Jesus said in
Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount verse 11 blessed are you
when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you rejoice and be glad do I have that sense of reverent
wonder who am I that I could have rewards in heaven I who deserve hell
there's nothing fair about the gospel and eldest children especially if
you're an oldest child one thing you have to remember is the gospel is
not fair and you don't want it to be fair it's the most unfair thing in
the world praise God for the unfairness of the gospel that's the first
area reverent humility redefines our sense of fairness and our sense of
how we view trials but the second thing is reverent humility sees God's
love differently what I'm trying to describe just to make sure that
everybody's tracking with me is what is reverent humility look like
practically in our lives practically if you turn with me please to 1st
Timothy chapter 1 we start seeing God's love differently if you look
with me at verse 16 this is what Paul says for this reason I found mercy
so that in me is the foremost Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect
patience as an example for those who would believe in him so why did God
show us his love and we can see Paul as an example why does God show us
his love it doesn't have anything to do with us it has everything to do
with God he wanted to demonstrate his perfect patience you know who he
chose the most unlovely let me ask you a question children if you if you
heard one of you know one of the brothers in the church or someone out
at the park say I'm the strongest man in the world you said really prove
it to me and they said watch this I can take this phone and lift it over
my head what would you say would you say wow they're so strong no you'd
say you have to lift out something heavy right you don't prove you're
strong by lifting something light this doesn't show I'm strong in the
same way how does God prove his love by choosing that which is lovable
and saying look I'm so loving that'd be like God lifting a phone saying
he's strong no he chooses that which is the most unlovable for this
reason I was shown mercy so that in me the chief of sinners not that I'd
be shown to be so lovable but that God could demonstrate his perfect
patience and in the world today I hear so much Christian music talking
about God's love but you know what it's all about it's all about the
singer it's almost as if singers are saying I'm so lovely I'm so lovable
I'm so great and God loves me cuz I'm just wonderful that is not why God
loves us God loves us because we're totally unlovable and he
demonstrates his perfect strength by loving that which is unlovable and
if we have this view of God's love that puffs us up we're not humble
every time we're reminded of God's love you know what it should do it
should lift him up we should go are you serious you love me unfathomable
you must be so loving it's meant to exalt him and insofar as God's love
exalts us we're proud and practically speaking what humility looks like
is every time I hear a message about God's love it exalts him and it
puts me where I need to be which is at his feet look with me at Ezekiel
chapter 36 there's this amazing verse that speaks of the new covenant in
Ezekiel 36 verse that we love we love to mention it if you look with me
at verse 25 it's a new covenant promise in Ezekiel 36 verse 25 the Lord
says then I'm gonna sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean I
will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols and I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will
remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh
I'll put my spirit within you I will cause you to walk in my statutes
and I will and you will be careful to observe my ordinances this is an
incredible example of the new covenant promise I mean look can we get a
better description of the new covenant ego why Lord why would you do
this is it because I'm so lovable it's because I deserve it twice the
Lord answers that question in this same passage why is the Lord gonna do
this look it with me it before and after he tells us why Ezekiel 36
verse 22 says therefore say to the house of Israel thus says the Lord
it's not for your sake Oh house of Israel that I'm about to act but from
my holy name and then again if you look just after this amazing new
covenant promise in verse 32 he says again I'm not doing this for your
sake declares the Lord let it be known to you what should God's love
tell us about it must tell us about him doesn't tell us about us it
tells us about him and reverent humility practically speaking always
sees God's incredible love as a reflection of his worth not as a
reflection of our own worth and the current that's out there today
that's trying to build us up saying you're worth it you're whatever
don't listen to it disciple Jesus Christ is worthy and the fact that he
loves us should demonstrate how much more loving and strong like a super
man lifting thousands and thousands of weight overhead we should say
it's impossible to love me if we hear any of these songs and think
anything other than it's totally impossible to love me something of the
spirit of this age has gotten into us and we need reverent humility to
come in flood our hearts I wish I had given him more I won't say wow
you're so lucky to have me I'll say I can't believe you chose me you
must have wanted to demonstrate patience beyond what anybody else could
have imagined Lord thank you the last area that I wanted to mention
practically speaking is reverent humility has to acknowledge my absolute
need in regard to God's Word for him to remind me of his word we'd spent
a lot of time focusing on memorizing God's Word in our church and in our
homes hopefully we're talking hopefully parents were obeying God's Word
which says talk about it when you walk on the on the road and put it on
your doorpost right we're talking about God's Word have I seen I am
totally helpless to remember God's Word unless he reminds me and my
memorization plan is useless unless the Holy Spirit brings his word to
my mind in the moment I need it look with me please at Luke chapter 22
this is the scene where Peter is broken over having denied Jesus
children you probably know the answer to this question what reminded
Peter that Jesus said he was going to deny him you remember he's at the
fire and three times he says I don't know this man and then what happens
yes a rooster crows yes that's what one of the children said a rooster
crows Jesus told him a cock will crow three times look with me and see
is that what reminded Peter Luke chapter 22 verse 60 Peter said man I
don't know what you're talking about immediately while he was still
speaking a rooster crowed then the Lord turned and looked at Peter and
Peter remembered the word of the Lord how he had told him did the
rooster remind Peter to me what blessed me to see no Jesus looked at him
and when Jesus looked at him Peter remembered his word and I want to
conduct myself with that reverent humility it doesn't matter how many
verses I've memorized Lord if you don't look at me and remind me of the
word which you've spoken I won't even if you give me all the signs
rooster can crow it won't do me any good unless you look at me Lord we
can see even just another go go to Luke chapter 24 my memory is
dependent upon Jesus initiative even I think it's really important by
the way because we can take a command like for example take every
thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ and we can say okay now
I'm gonna do it I'm gonna take every thought captive I don't know if
you've struggled with that or if you've if you've taken that verse
seriously but as I have you know what I realized my thoughts run rampant
unless what Jesus Christ looks at me and reminds me of his word and when
he says hey take that thought captive then I do it if he doesn't remind
me I don't take any thoughts captive and I praise God that it's that way
because he gets all in heaven anytime I've obeyed that command you know
who gets the credit for it he does because he's because everyone's gonna
see yep he reminded Jeremy again what credit do I get it's all his doing
and I saw in Luke chapter 24 it says on the road to Emmaus if you look
with me at verse 16 says their eyes were prevented from recognizing him
these are two disciples who are walking and Jesus joined them but they
didn't see and then if you look with me at verse 31 and we can see
that's what kind of the state of the natural man and our natural man
were incapable of seeing Jesus Christ their eyes were prevented and our
eyes were to once but then in verse 31 it says their eyes were opened in
the breaking of bread and they recognized him and we can see that as the
first work of grace of God that he opens our eyes but what's amazing to
me is go down to verse 45 14 verses later Jesus opened their minds to
understand the scriptures hang on 14 verses ago didn't the Lord open
their eyes not enough he had to open their minds to understand the
scriptures again and these same men you know what happened the Holy
Spirit had to come upon them and he opened their eyes again and what I
see here is something simple it's a simple point even after having seen
Jesus and recognized him I still have a need of his eye-opening power he
has to open my eyes to see his word again again and again and again so
these are just three simple areas I started out by saying we have our
lives should be marked by a reverent humility just like we sang Lord
when I get to heaven I'm not gonna look around at the kings of the earth
and go these guys should have known I'm gonna say I didn't even know I
wish I had given him more that reverent humility should mark my life in
three areas at least for me the Lord's been reminding me are get rid of
an attitude of longing for fairness in trials your entire life in
salvation is totally unfair praise God for it rejoice that you can be
counted worthy to suffer he left you an example to walk in his footsteps
second whenever I consider his love let it speak much of him not of me
his love says nothing about me it says everything about him and third
when I think about his word even when I seek to memorize his word
memorize it with all humility recognizing if he doesn't remind me I
won't remember even if I do remember it'll just be a work of the flesh
he's the one who has to look and stir and open my eyes and open my heart
again and again and again I want that reverent sense of total dependence
total leaning on the Lord Lord gets all the credit for it hundred
percent I get zero percent credit Lord I want that to be my life may God
help me may help us all be conduct ourselves with that humility for all
of our days

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/RRF_u46N9tM.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/jeremy-utley/a-life-of-reverent-humility-before-god/
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