Let’s start by looking at Proverbs and a couple of these great truths that’ll get us started on this subject.  And I want to talk about humility.  We’ll deal with both aspects, but with our understanding that we’re not seeking a humility that is manward, but we’re seeking the humility that is Godward which will enable us, through His grace, to fulfill that humility manward; amen?  Because without God’s help, we can’t.  Without that grace being given to us and that building up of that new man, we’re under that Adamic curse.  The jealousy and ambition and selfness that was the first expression of sin as Cain killed Abel.  And that’s what abides in man.  Proverbs 26 tells us, over in verse 12, that a man that’s wise in his own eyes, “there is more hope of a fool than for him.”  That would be something for us, I think, to take hold of; amen?  How wise are you tonight in your own eyes?  Whom do you trust more than yourself?  You see, a true humility allows us to trust gifts, the order of God, divine authority, divine order equally, if not to a greater trust than the natural man’s default to trust and reliance upon self.

I like—and I’m going to share a couple of the little quotes that I have written in the back of my Bible, but you’ve heard me say this a number of times, especially when we were emphasizing some of this a few years ago, but self-reliance is God defiance; amen?  Any time we’re relying upon ourself, we are in rebellion to God.  We don’t think of it as being that absolute, but it is.  He is Lord; amen?  Your duty daily is to die to yourself and rely upon God.  And that’s one of the greatest uses of the grace and the gifting of God’s faith working in us, the ability to trust him, to rely upon Him.  That’s what faith is in and of itself, in actuality.  Answer this question in your heart tonight: how much do I really trust God?  How much do I rely upon myself?  How wise am I in my own eyes?  Do I trust myself more than others?  Am I open to counsel?  How teachable am I?

I was reading in Ecclesiastes today, and in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, he makes a statement.  And it talks about a youth, and what he’s saying there in Ecclesiastes is that a youth is more productive—a youth who obeys is more productive than a haughty king, than an older, mature person that is no longer—I think it goes on and makes reference to—is no longer teachable.  That’s a powerful statement.  Some of us get to the age where we think we no longer need to be taught.  We’ve pretty much absorbed all that we need to and are very confident in ourselves.  There is more hope—there is more hope for a fool, the Scripture says.  A wise man in his own eyes—there’s more hope for a fool than for him.

So we go, and we understand—Romans, then, tells us, that we’re not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but to be sober and discreet in our thinking.  We feel that we’re there, but we only know when we’re opposed, don’t we?  We only know how humble our spirit is when we come up against opposition, against authority that is giving us directives other than what we would like to do.  Or we respond, many times, like Job’s comforters.  And we see anybody that comes to us as one of Job’s comforters— “They’re just here to harass me, and they really don’t have my interest at heart, et cetera.  They’re here to vaunt themselves and their wisdom and their opinions.”  But can I tell you something tonight?  God sends counselors to us; amen?  God sends—even a child that’s declaring His Word is to be recognized as the authority of God in our lives, because it’s not the vessel; it’s the Word of God; amen?