Jeremy Utley - A Life of Reverent Humility Before God

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 saying 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 well 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 uh this 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 13 behold my servant will prosper he will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted just as many were astonished at you my people so his appearance was marred 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 going to be high and lifted up he's going to 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 his 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 to whom has 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 tinder chute 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 going to 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 first corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20 7 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 ships 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 or 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 oh 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'd 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 tenor 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 as 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 going to 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 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 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 were 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 uh the lord was encouraging me to remember were trials is one two how i view god's love and three how i think of god's word and i wanna 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 ask the eldest i could tell you down to two decimal places how many cinnamon rolls 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 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 said 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 un 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 it in so far as we view trials with a sense of this is unfair 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 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 two part momentary light afflictions produce 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 face 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 a 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 does reverent humility look like practically in our lives practically if you turn with me please to first timothy chapter one we start seeing god's love differently if you look with me at um 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 if you heard one of you know one of the brothers in the church or someone out of the park say i'm the strongest man in the world and 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 up 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 because 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 um 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 will 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 you go why lord why would you do this is it because i'm so lovable is it because i deserve it twice the lord answers that question in the same passage why is the lord going to do this look at 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 o house of israel that i am about to act but for 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 your 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 your 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 and flood our hearts i wish i had given him more i won't say while 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 spend 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 rooster crows jesus told him a 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 crowd 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 going to do it i'm going to 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 realize 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 the in heaven anytime i've obeyed that command you know who gets the credit for it he does because he's because everyone's going to 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 it 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 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 too 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 some is 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 and 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 irreverent humility just like we sang lord when i get to heaven i'm not going to look around at the kings of the earth and go these guys should have known i'm going to say i didn't even know i wish i had given him more that reverent humility should mark my life and three areas at least for me the lord's been reminding me are get rid of an attitude of longing for fairness and trials your entire life and 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 and even if i do remember i'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 the lord gets all the credit for it 100 i get zero percent credit lord i want that to be my life may god help me may help us all be um conduct ourselves with that humility for all of our days

Channel: NCCF Church

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Keywords: NCCF, CHRISTIAN

Id: Eb_9-nQ-VBQ

Length: 26min 35sec (1595 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021