Matthew chapter 11 and verse 29.
Jesus said, you know the text, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me for
I am meek and lowly in heart and
ye shall find rest unto your souls.
I read the text from the authorized version,
not because I believe the authorized version, that
is the King James version, is somehow more
inspired than any other version of the Bible,
although there are some who actually believe that,
you know, they believe that Paul and Peter
and John spoke in King James English.
Nor did I read the text because I
feel that all other English translations are somehow
inferior, no.
I read the authorized version because of one
word and the word is meek.
It's the only English translation that uses that.
All the modern, even my beloved new King
James uses the same word that your English
standard version uses or the new American standard
version uses and it's gentle.
And while the word meekness can mean gentle,
I don't think it's the best word to
convey what Jesus was trying to say to
those that day.
I think meek is the appropriate word and
should not be interpreted merely as gentleness because
meekness is more than gentleness.
Jesus wasn't always gentle.
Remember Lucy's question about Aslan?
Is he safe?
And the answer was, no, he's not safe,
but he's good.
Jesus was not always gentle, especially with those
who desecrated his father's house.
Remember, he made a whip out of cords
and drove out the money changers and turned
over the tables.
He wasn't very gentle as he lamented the
religious condition of his day and the leaders
when he called them, you brood of vipers.
I mean, you know, those are fighting words
and they took the challenge and not very
many days hence they crucified him.
Now he wasn't always gentle, but he was
always meek.
Is it wrong to interpret the word meek,
gentle?
No, not wrong, but you can't just leave
it with gentleness.
Meekness is much more than that.
It's much deeper than that.
It gets to the very character of a
person.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth.
The very first beatitude, the beginning beatitude, blessed
are the meek.
It's one of the qualities that is absolutely
foundational and necessary for you and I as
Christians.
The Christian life cannot be lived as the
New Testament orders without meekness.
You've got to be a meek person.
Why?
Because Jesus was meek.
If a whole goal of God in saving
you is to conform you to the image
of his son, then no wonder Jesus would
say, it's time for your lesson.
And here it is, learn of me for
I am meek and lowly.
Jesus is bidding you to come into his
classroom.
He's instructing you here this evening.
Christ is here.
One of the most blessed thoughts that I
know that warms my heart is that he
is omnipresent and that means he's always with
me no matter where I go, whether I
was in Portland, Maine last weekend or here
I am this weekend with you.
Wherever I am, there he is.
And he's in this room tonight to teach
us.
And what will he teach you?
What will he teach me?
How to be like him?
Learn of me.
And the thing that he says is I'm
meek.
This is a remarkable statement.
He could have said many different things.
Could he not?
He said he could have said I am
mighty, but he does not say I am
mighty.
Learn of me.
Why?
Because your mind is not in you.
It's not some self-help trick or remedy
to make us strong.
No, no.
Our strength is his.
Be strong in the Lord and the power
of his mind.
He could say be holy.
Learn of me for I am holy.
That he is.
But he doesn't say that.
He says be meek because I believe one
of the chief attributes of God is his
meekness, his humility.
Now Jesus uses two words here, meekness and
lowly or humble humility.
What's the difference between the two?
Really, actually none whatsoever.
They both really are synonyms, mean the same
thing.
However, I do think if you must draw
a distinction, if you must examine the frog's
hair, you will find that meekness is really
even foundational to humility.
I think meekness is the attitude that drives
humility.
Meekness is the cornerstone to humility.
Humility is your attitude about yourself in relationship
to others.
You don't seek the high end, you seek
the low end.
In other words, you don't seek the crown,
you seek the feet to wash them as
Christ did to serve one another.
The word really humble means to put yourself
low to the ground.
It's not to take the exalted position, but
to be willing to be a servant.
That's behavior, that's actions.
But those actions come out of a heart
motivated by meekness.
So what is meekness?
For years I defined it as I'd heard
others define it, velvet covered steel.
Have you ever heard it that way?
The idea is, is it strength?
It's again, gentle.
It's strength, not being abusive.
It's strength that's not weak.
But then again, that metaphor, I think we
miss really what Jesus is and what he's
asking us to learn with him.
And so after years of experience, years of
study, years of asking Lord, what is, what
are you?
Wouldn't you say you're meek?
What do you mean?
I think over the years I've come to
understand this and here's my definition.
And if you want to write it down
fine, but just remember where you heard it,
I expect some royalties.
No, I'm just teasing.
Meekness is the ability to be virtuous without
feeling the necessity to prove it.
Now, I want to prove that to you
right now.
What is meekness?
It's the ability to be virtuous without feeling
the necessity to prove it.
There has never been man more virtuous than
Christ.
He was perfect in his attribute and in
his character.
He walked blameless before his father.
There was no variableness, no shadow of turning
with him.
He was the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He was perfect in his attitude.
He was perfect in his ways and he
felt no need to defend his perfection or
his obedience.
Do you ever see him defending his righteousness?
Do you ever see him being challenged, defending
his personal character?
This is meekness.
Here, I think you find the word's definition
in Jesus himself.
Meekness is this amazing ability as well as
quality to be virtuous without feeling the need
to prove to others that you're virtuous.
It means really to take no pride in
your righteousness.
To take no pride in your righteousness.
It is to be right without insisting you
are right.
Husbands, I might want to suggest that.
Wives, I might want to suggest that to
you.
You know he's wrong and that you are
right, but meekness says I won't insist upon
it.
It's to have the moral courage to stand
for what is right without being wounded if
you're accused of being wrong.
And perhaps the best way to describe it
is this.
Meekness is the Christ-like attribute that only
cares what God thinks about you and trusts
him with your reputation.
Look at Jesus.
See him there before the Sanhedrin.
What is the charge?
The charge is one.
Singular.
You are a blasphemer.
You've made yourself equal to God.
You're worthy of death.
And this is the accusation.
This is the charge that brings the judgment
of the Sanhedrin and all the nation of
Israel against Jesus.
He hangs on the cross with who?
Malfactors.
Criminals.
But never was there a man hanging on
a cross that was more right.
In fact, not only was he more right
than any other man hanging on a cross,
he was perfectly right.
He was the very epitome of righteousness.
He is the very revelation of God the
Father in all of his perfections.
For the word was made flesh and we
beheld his glory, the glory of the only
begotten, full of grace and truth.
And yet he's hanging on that cross as
a criminal, as a wrongdoer, as a sinner.
And he's perfectly willing to take to himself
such titles and to be thought of and
to be despised.
That's meekness.
My wife, Karen, asked me a question about
a statement she was reading in the book.
The book was Corrie Ten Boom's book, Tramp
for the Lord.
I don't know if you've ever read it.
And she asked me while she was reading,
what do you think she meant when she
said this?
And then she read the statement.
It's easier to surrender one's sins than one's
virtues.
Let me repeat that because it's kind of
tricky.
It's easier to surrender one's sins than one's
virtues.
What did she mean by that?
That was Karen's question.
Well, you got to understand the event in
her life that prompted this statement.
She was being detained in the airport right
after World War Two.
If you don't know anything about Corrie Ten
Boom, her and her sister were arrested by
the Gestapo, Nazi Germany, the secret police for
harboring Jews.
That was a felony.
It was a criminal case to do so.
And they were caught.
Her whole family, her father and her brother
died in a concentration camp.
And her sister Betty also died.
And she would had not God and his
providence had her released.
And it's after the war.
And she's traveling, preaching, sharing the gospel about
her events and learn and life in concentration
camp.
And she's crossed the border into an unnamed
country to share the gospel.
And she was asked by the customs agent
if she had anything to declare.
Well, she had taken out of her suitcase,
one pair, a single pair of nylon stockings
and laid it on the top of her
suitcase and told this agent, customs agent, she
was declaring her stockings.
He only saw the one pair that she
put on.
And when he rifled through her rest of
her luggage, he found three more and said
that she accused her of lying to him.
You only declared one.
You've got four.
And she tried to explain to the man
that she just simply put them, the one
pair on top of her suitcase as an
example of what she had to declare.
She never said how many she had.
And he began to attack her honesty by
accusing her of lying to him.
But he refused to believe her and proceeded
to carefully inspect everything that she was bringing
in all of her luggage.
And the delay caused her to miss her
next flight.
She stated that she was offended by the
man for not trusting her.
What was her problem that day?
The customs agent?
No, it wasn't.
It was her pride.
Her pride had been wounded.
And it was then in that moment, in
that story of her life, she learned that
it was less difficult to repent of your
vices than your virtues.
Miss Tim Boone put much value in her
integrity.
And when it was attacked, she became angry
and defensive.
Now, do you understand what she meant?
And isn't that true?
We're ready and willing to repent when God
exposes our sins.
But are you willing to repent your pride
and your righteousness?
And the problem is we often are proud
and don't even know how proud we are.
But let your character be attacked, whether it
be from a spouse or a family member
or a rank stranger.
Let them doubt your integrity.
Let them question your motives and see how
the anger rages.
See how you feel then and you will
know how meek you really are.
Here is our Lord Jesus.
He is crucified as an enemy of God,
cursed by man and even cursed by God.
And he was willing to suffer.
Why?
Because he was meek.
You said he suffered because of me.
Well, of course he did.
Yes, no doubt.
But it wasn't forced.
This is the nature of our God.
He's meek.
He's lowly.
He's humble.
Do you know how humble your God is?
Do you know how far he has to
step down to come and talk to you
and fellowship with you?
We sang some great hymns.
It wasn't the power of the stanzas that
brought him down from heaven.
No, no.
It was his meekness, his willingness to condescend
and rub soldiers' hearts, his heart with our
heart, with people who deserve it not.
Oh yeah, you're his child, but you don't
deserve any of God's loving kindness.
I'll tell you how far he has to
condescend to do that.
Infinity.
And he does so.
He delights to do so.
He feels no less in doing so.
Why?
Because he's meek and lowly.
Well, that's a tall order, isn't it?
It's kind of hard to keep my spirit
contained talking about this.
Trying to preserve the voice, but my heart
tells me, pump it out.
You're bragging on Jesus.
How can you do that softly and quietly?
Well, it's a tall order, isn't it?
Learn of me.
Be willing to repent of your virtues as
well as your vices.
Be willing to take no pride in your
spiritual advancement.
Be willing to advance and have no one
recognize your achievement.
Learn of me.
How do you do that?
Well, let me explain that the foundation of
meekness requires one thing.
You want to be meek like Jesus, you've
got to have one of his qualities, and
that is a real desire for God's will.
Turn in your Bibles to John 19 verses
10 and 11.
John's gospel, chapter 19, beginning with verse 10.
I'll give you all that I have tonight,
and Karen and mom and Victoria will have
just but a whisper tomorrow, and they'll probably
be happy.
John 19, beginning with verse 10, then Pilate
said to him, he's on trial.
Jesus is on trial.
Are you not speaking to me?
Notice the question.
Do you not know that I have power
to crucify you and power to release you?
Notice what Jesus answers.
Jesus answered, you could have no power at
all against me unless it had been given
you from above.
Therefore, the one who's delivered me to you
as the greater sin, what's his answer?
Sovereign will of God, his father.
I can set you free.
Why don't you just answer my questions?
And even without answering the questions, what was
Pilate's declaration?
What was his finding?
I find no fault in this man.
Right.
And Jesus does not concern himself that he
could be released.
The only thing that he desires is the
father's will to be done.
My friends, that is a sure sign of
your meekness.
How do you know if you're meek?
Let me give you an example.
You can remember this, I pray, and see
if you pass the test of meekness.
Meekness is evidenced by the sign, this sign.
You experience complete peace when obstacles arise to
your plans.
When you are at perfect peace, even when
all of your plans have fallen through and
have been destroyed, and yet you can rejoice,
that means you are a meek man or
woman.
Why can you and how can you do
that?
When you desire God's will above all things,
then problems give you no worry or fear.
Rather, they give you a kind of pleasure.
This is why meek people are so misunderstood.
The world cannot savvy how you tick.
They don't understand what pleases you.
And it's simple.
What pleases me is God's will.
I'm most delighted when God's will is being
accomplished.
And that means that when a problem does
arise, when my plans are thwarted or brought
to a screeching halt, I have a new
opportunity to see God's power.
This is the attitude of Christ as he
stands there before Pilate.
He's not worried about it.
He knows that God's will will be done,
and that's all he desires.
Let me give you another example from a
meek man.
Who was the meekest man on all the
earth described as such in the Old Testament?
His name is Moses.
And an example of meekness, again, gentleness is
not the right word, I don't think.
I think it's much deeper and stronger than
that.
The example of Moses' meekness is never more,
I think, better illustrated than in the crossing
of the Red Sea.
Moses and the children of Israel were clearly
manifested, showing that Moses was meek and the
people were not.
The Red Sea did not discourage Moses.
He realized that this afforded him and Israel
to see the intervention of the Lord.
He knew they would see the mighty hand
of God, and they did.
But the people worried, complained, murmured, and said,
isn't this the reason we told you we
didn't want to come out with you?
Is it because there were no graves in
Egypt you brought us out here?
That was their complaint after seeing the ten
powerful miracles.
Why?
Because they're meek, not meek as he is.
They couldn't see what Moses saw.
You think Moses knew what to do?
No.
He's praying too, remember?
And God tells him to get up.
What are you praying for?
Tell the people to go straight forward.
Moses is praying because he's just simply needing
instructions, and God seems to insinuate, Moses, you
don't need instruction, you ought to know.
So what?
The Egyptians are behind you, so what the
Red Sea?
Just watch me.
No obstacle comes your way except by my
divine permission, and I mean to do something
with it.
Show my power.
And when you are so carried away, delighted,
and enthralled with God's will, you never will
see an obstacle again the same way.
That is at the heart of meekness, and
that's how you know you're meek or not.
What happens when the schedule goes awry?
What happens when there's not enough money to
stretch to cover the bills?
What happens when the doctor's diagnosis is not
what you'd hoped?
What rules your spirit?
The peace of God, the joy of knowing
that God's will will be accomplished, and that
he will have an opportunity to manifest himself
to you in a very special and extraordinary
way, or do you collapse under fear, anxiety,
and worry?
You may accurately discern the degree of your
surrender to the will of God in any
matter by the measure of impatience you feel
at any obstacle in your way.
To the degree self-will controls you, to
that degree you will feel anxious or angry
whenever your plans are hindered, instead of resting
in what?
Desperate dependency upon the Lord, leaving all difficulties
of the Lord to deal as he pleases.
You'll manipulate, maneuver, and scheme, and struggle to
remove the obstacles and fulfill your plans.
That's not meekness, that's the opposite.
Jesus said, learn of me for I'm meek
and I'm lonely.
I'm not there.
I need some more schooling in the school
of Jesus, but I am learning that his
will is best.
I am learning to start looking at my
problems differently.
I'm now learning what a fellow told me
many, many years ago.
He would never use the word problem.
He always substituted the word opportunity for the
word problem.
Well, that was just a self-help suggestion.
It was something he'd learned in sales training,
but now this has nothing to do about
sales training and achieving some goal, financial goal,
or some strata in the company.
No, no, this is the will of God
to see that every difficulty, every hindrance, every
obstacle is an opportunity.
Here's how, two ways, it's always an opportunity.
One of two ways, either God has allowed
the obstacle to come in order to display
his power, or secondly, he's stopping you from
doing something he doesn't want you to do.
Either way, God's will wins.
So why shouldn't you rejoice and be at
peace?
You can't lose if you're meek, but the
opposite of meekness is, no, no, we got
to solve this, and the problem solvers among
us, the task-oriented kind of individuals in
this room get to work, and the strategy
comes to life.
You lay awake at night, and you get
an idea, and you can't wait till the
crack of dawn to put it into practice
to see if it'll work, and if that
won't work, you'll try something else.
The opposite of meekness, and sometimes, as in
the case of our Lord Jesus Christ, he
uses enemies.
There are times when God delivers you from
the hands of your enemies, and then there
are times he delivers you into the hands
of your enemies.
I think of Joseph.
It's an obscure verse, but it's Genesis 39
verse 1, and now Joseph had been taken
down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of
Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, brought
him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him
down there.
Why?
The detail.
In chapter 47, the Lord told us that
the Ishmaelites had bought him, and had taken
him to Egypt.
Why does he insert it again?
It's one of those little obscure things that
we just kind of read over, and gloss
over, and say, I know that, and move
on.
One day, I read it, and I said,
why does he do that?
It dawned on me, who are the Ishmaelites?
The avowed enemies of God, God's people.
Ishmael, the older brother, the child of the
natural, the flesh, persecuted the child of promise,
Isaac, and since then, they've been doing it
all these years.
God turns Joseph over to his enemies, and
then there's Job.
You're studying Job on Sunday nights.
I'm sorry I'm not here to hear it,
but you remember that first chapter of Job,
and that great discussion between the Lord and
Lucifer.
The Lord said to Satan, have you considered
my servant Job?
But there's none like him on the earth,
a blameless and upright man, one who fears
God and shuns evil.
So Satan answered the Lord and said, does
Job fear God for nothing?
Have you not made a hedge around him,
around his household, and around all that he
has on every side?
You've blessed the work of his hands, and
his possessions have increased in the land, but
now stretch out your hand and touch all
that he has, and he'll surely curse you
to your face.
Brother Kyle shared most aptly on that text.
Satan's argument is, no, I haven't considered your
servant Job, because I can't get to him.
And why would I even want to bother?
Why would he not want to serve you
when you bless him the way you do?
But you turn the tables on him.
You trade in his prosperity for poverty, and
see that he will not curse you.
And what does God say?
Behold, all that he has is in your
power, only do not lay a hand on
his person.
God turns us over to our enemies.
And then there's Peter.
One of the most remarkable discussions in all
of the Bible is the discussion of Jesus
to Peter in Luke 22, verses 31 and
32.
The Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has
asked for you that you may be sifted
as wheat.
But I've prayed for you that your faith
should not fail, and when thou art converted,
strengthen your brethren.
Isn't that a remarkable insight into some heavenly,
the heavenly realm?
I get some encouragement to know that Satan
can't touch me unless he has my daddy's
approval.
And my big brother's always there.
Now, I don't mean to be sacrilegious or
irreverent, but he is my father, and Jesus
is my older brother, my kinsman, redeemer of
my own blood and bone.
I have some comfort in that, but there's
no comfort to know that there are times
the father says yes, and the son says,
I'm praying for you.
He turns you over, and then there's Paul,
the great apostle Paul.
We wanted to come to you, he says
to the Thessalonians, even I, Paul, time and
again, but Satan hindered us.
And there he is at Philippi, he and
Silas, their feet and hands fastened to stalks
with their backs bruised and battered and bleeding.
Shipwrecked at Malta, messenger from Satan to buffet
him in the flesh.
He said a thorn in the flesh was
given to be a messenger of Satan to
buffet me.
But all of these men cannot be compared
to the sufferings of one.
Jesus Christ.
And even our Lord Jesus was turned over
to the enemy, handed over to him.
I wonder what kind of discussion there was
in heaven that day or prior to that
day.
I'm only speculative here, hypothesizing, thinking out loud.
I wonder if Satan and the Lord had
another discussion.
I wonder if the Lord allowed Satan to
approach his throne and said, have you considered
my servant, my son, that there is none
like him on the earth, a blameless and
not right man who fears God and shuns
evil.
And I wondered if that did happen, what
would Satan say?
Would he have said as he said in
the case of Job?
Yes, I've considered him, but he seems unsaleable.
I've done combat with him and he's too
strong for me.
And besides that, you have a hedger around
him and he's clothed with your power.
You've blessed the work of his hands.
He has power over sickness, might, demons, and
even death.
And he has followers and the world has
gone after him.
But now stretch out your hand and touch
him.
All that he has, make his disciples to
forsake him and deny him and betray him,
abandon him, turn your back on him, curse
him, and he shall surely curse you to
your face.
And the Lord says to Satan, behold, he
is in your hand.
Do not spare his life.
Now, of course, I don't know if that
conversation took place or not, but it's very
close to what happened.
He's turned over to his own enemies and
he does so with tranquility, full presence of
mind.
Oh yes.
You may cite to me the garden of
Gethsemane where he says his sorrow is to
the point of dying and he could die
of a broken heart over what is about
to approach.
But my dear friend, the man passed the
test in the garden.
Right.
Unlike our predecessor and ancestor Adam, who did
not pass his test, this one, this perfect
one, this holy man, under what a force
severe test and Adam or Eve put together.
And he passed.
He took the cup.
He took the cup from the father's hand
and he drank it.
Why?
Because he was meek and he was lonely.
I want you to see his heart.
Yes.
He loves you.
Yes.
God demonstrated his love for us and that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.
But listen to his heart.
Learn of me.
I'm making lonely.
That's how I can do this because in
the end, all I want is the father's
will.
And even if he turns me over to
my enemies, I can rejoice.
Now, what would be the purpose of doing
this in your life and the life of
our Lord?
It's namely one.
Actually, there's three.
But when it comes to you personally, it
is one to teach you humility and meekness.
It's to advance your sanctification and you're not
going to be any more sanctified than you
are meek and humble.
I'm sorry to tell you that.
I know that's not what you came to
hear tonight, but I'm glad the pastor did
pray.
Even if I get rebuked tonight in the
sermon is rebuking.
Well, here it is.
If you want to grow in your sanctification,
you won't be more like Jesus.
You're going to have to go to his
classroom and learn meekness and humility.
You see, in the case of Joseph, he
was not so humble.
A young man.
I can prove it to you.
He made sure his brothers knew that he
was not only the favorite son, but the
one who would one day rule over them.
I mean, listen, he cared a wee bit
too much about what his siblings thought about
him.
I know that if you tell a dream
and you get a negative reaction, why do
you do it a second time?
I'll tell you why you get second time.
You want to rub their noses in it.
That's what he was doing.
Don't tell me he's a humble young man.
He was preferred.
He was privileged and he was proud.
Lord had to get Joseph to experience his
blessings without being proud about them.
And that's what he has to do with
you and me.
If you stop and think about how blessed
we are, how good God has been to
you.
It's hard for me to imagine that you're
so holy tonight that you've never had to
battle.
I must be special.
God blesses me because, you know, I'm walking
obediently before him.
No, it's not why he blesses you.
He blesses you because he just loves you
undeserved kindness.
It's not about you.
It's about him.
The Lord had to get Joseph to experience
his blessings without being proud about it.
He needed to be virtuous without being vain.
And that's the work of sanctification.
Let's get you to be virtuous without being
vain about it.
And then Job, what did the trial prove
about Job?
There was a sliver of vain self-righteousness
running through that blameless heart.
And it was exposed through the endurance and
prolonging of the trial.
What about old Peter?
What did we discover with Peter being turned
over to Satan?
He too was a very proud man.
Lord, I'll never deny these guys.
Yeah, they'll do it.
Not me.
I'll go to prison with you.
I'll even die.
Hours later, he denies the Lord.
Right.
What about Paul's thorn in the flesh?
Why was a messenger of Satan given to
him?
He tells us unless I should be exalted
above measure by the abundance of the revelation,
a thorn in the flesh was given to
me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me
lest I'd be exalted above measure.
You hear what he's saying?
Paul is telling you he it's not that
I might be a proud man because of
all of this marvelous revelation given to me.
I would have been and to prevent it.
God has given me a messenger of Satan.
It's the lesson of meekness and humility to
be able to be so blessed by God
and not become proud because of it.
But there's another reason.
It's the advancement of the kingdom, the advancement
of the kingdom.
Who better to preach on the day of
Pentecost to a bunch of sinners and God
haters and deniers than the chief backslider himself,
the apostle Paul.
And who better to preach it without getting
proud about it?
For in one hour, he saw more people
say than Jesus did his entire ministry over
a course of three years.
And what about Paul's imprisonment in Philippi?
What about that?
The advancement of the kingdom.
There happened to be a Philippian jailer and
a household that needed the gospel.
Shipwreck at Malta.
No problem.
Paul is not worried, even though before they
step on that ship, he warns the centurion,
please don't do this.
I know this is not going to end
good, but much loss of life.
The centurion looks at the seafaring captain, a
man of the sea.
This has been his whole profession.
He looks at the apostle Paul, a preacher,
not the best one either.
Ah, captain, what do you think?
We'll be fine.
On board they go.
And then they end in shipwreck.
Why, why, why were they forwarded?
Why were they delayed?
Why?
I'll tell you why.
There are some ladies on an island that
needs to know that Jesus died for them
too.
You see, it wasn't a delay.
It wasn't a hindrance.
It wasn't an obstacle.
It was the will of God.
And a meek man could see that and
rejoice in it.
But there's one more reason.
As I've already alluded to, it's the revelation
of the power of God.
I told a group not too long ago,
I think I said this to you all
one time.
We all say, boy, I'd like to see
a miracle.
Boy, I wish we saw more miracles.
And I just tell you right now, no,
you don't.
You don't want to see a miracle because
you know what you got to have in
order to have a miracle.
You've got to be between a rock and
a hard place.
You've got to be in the place of
impossibility.
Now, how many of you want a miracle?
You see what I mean?
But thank God, his will often takes us
through the valley.
And there in the valley, he gets to
reveal his splendid power over all enemies and
triumphs over them.
There's our blessed Savior hanging there.
There he is on the cross.
And we look at those soldiers as they
jeer him, mock him by taking his poor
garment and gambling over it.
Jeering him as they nail on top the
king of the Jews, placing the crown, but
not a crown embedded with royal diadems, but
a crown of thorns.
There's that crowd of mockers as they come
by him, their beautiful priestly robes jutting out
their jaws, accustomed to deride someone and show
that this is a person, a person who
should be the object of derision.
Oh, you say, God, save yourself.
Come down on the cross.
Friends, there were others there jeering him that
day, tormenting his soul.
They're unseen and they're not heard by anyone
except Jesus.
David prophetically writes, my God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?
But David is not just communicating something that
he was enduring.
No, no.
He sends out a ray, a prophetic ray
that passes through the centuries into the future.
And Jesus takes those very words and expresses
his own soul.
My father, my God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?
Did you notice, did you notice my mistake?
My father?
No, he doesn't say my father.
Why not?
Every time he prays, he says, my father,
he teaches us his prayer.
He says, our father, this is the way
you'd pray our father.
But no, he doesn't address him as father.
But my God, why?
Because at that moment, the feeling, the consciousness
of the fathership, the fatherhood of God has
been severed, reached into his soul and ripped
out.
He doesn't sense that God smiles upon him
as a father to a son.
There are others there that are tormenting his
soul.
David gives us again another glimpse.
He's called them the bulls of Bashan.
It's a term that I believe is prophetic
of demonic powers themselves.
And there on Calvary's mountain, around the cross,
there he hangs.
Not only does he have the Gentile soldiers
who are mocking him and killing him and
treating him cruelly, not only does he have
the religious leaders taunting him, not only does
he have these passerbys jutting out their jaws
and wagging at him, but there are demonic
spirits.
All of hell is allowed to be released
upon the soul of our savior.
I wonder, I wonder if that legion of
demons whom he had set free from that
lone man wandering about in the tombs, if
they too were there that day mocking him,
yes, yes, you cast us out, but now
we have you.
Now we have you where we want you.
You're ours.
You've been turned over to us.
Even Jesus said that the prince of this
world has come in.
This is his hour.
It's been given over to him, including himself.
And all hell gives him their rage and
anger.
Do you not know they hate him?
He made them, but they also had them
expelled when they turned on him in heaven,
splendor and beauty.
There they were expelled.
Now with a vengeance, they wreak upon our
Lord, a torment and a pain and an
agony that you and I have no idea.
Why?
Yes.
For our sins.
Yes.
For our punishment.
Yes.
For our curse that he bore.
Yes.
But man could not have endured that had
he not been meek and lowly.
This was not an obstacle.
This was not God's will gone awry.
This was on God's timetable.
And three days later, Jesus had the last
word and demons scurried.
They tried to flee the tombs as fast
as they could.
They could not remain where the light of
God had burst forth and broke the bands
of death.
There comes for the conqueror.
There comes one.
Yes, meek and lowly, but overcomes all his
enemies.
Not so gentle, but very meek.
I was thinking the other day, what would
David have done?
Had he seen Jesus when he was on
this earth as a man?
Here was a man who'd take your head
off as quick as he batted an eye.
If you were his enemy, he was a
man's man.
He was a hero, was a champion of
Israel.
Saul has killed his thousands, but David has
killed his tens of thousands.
What would this warrior King done when he
looked into the eyes of this carpenter from
Nazareth?
I'll tell you what he would have done.
He would have seen a strength he had
never experienced before.
He would have witnessed and acknowledged that this
man was far stronger than him.
He would have seen the meekness and lowliness
of Jesus and he would have driven him
to his knees and utter worship.
This man wasn't just gentle.
He just wasn't mild.
No, no.
He was as strong as they come clothed
with infinite power and glory, but meek and
lowly.
And so I want to suggest to you
tonight, as we approach the table, you approach
the table of the Lord tomorrow, that you
too must be meek to be able to
be strong in the Lord.
I want to remind you of a passage.
I've already alluded to it a couple of
times tonight.
It's a second Corinthians 12, eight through 10.
This is Paul's argument for meekness.
Although the words not used in the text,
you can't read this understanding meekness and not
see it.
It's replete all through it.
You remember he's prayed three times verse eight
concerning this thing.
I pleaded with the Lord three times that
it might depart from me.
He didn't want it.
It's obvious.
He's not just a happy-go-lucky camper
who just says, okay, no problem.
No, no.
He's heard him in some fashion, whatever this
thorn in the flesh, this messenger from hell.
He prays, but the Lord answers and said,
my grace is sufficient for you.
For my strength is made perfect in weakness.
And maybe you'd like to be strong for
Jesus.
We want to be strong for Jesus.
Yes, the proud always do.
Meek realize they have no strength.
Right.
Let me understand this text.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Therefore his conclusion is this most gladly, most
gladly.
I'll rather boast in my infirmities.
That word means weakness that the power of
Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches
in need in persecution in distresses for Christ's
sake.
For when I am weak, and I am
strong, let me ask you, let's just be
honest.
You know, me, I know you, do you
really rejoice in infirmities, reproaches and needs, persecutions,
distresses.
Do you really do that?
Then I suggest more time in the school
of Jesus.
And don't worry, you don't have to double
enroll.
You're enrolled already.
Amen.
And you don't skip these classes.
You try, but you don't succeed.
You will never skip the class because the
teacher is always with you.
If you can't take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches
and needs and persecutions and in distresses, let
me suggest to you that you need to
redefine what you believe to be the successful
Christian life.
You need to begin to see that your
life has been bought with this price of
his precious blood that you will commemorate tomorrow
evening.
And it's more than a cracker and some
juice in a little bitty cup that will
not satisfy your thirst.
It's more than that.
My dear friends, it is emblematic of the
price, the infinite price that's been paid for
you.
You do not belong to yourself.
You belong to another.
You belong to God because you've been bought
both body and spirit.
You belong to God.
And in your servitude and enslavement to God,
God has purchased you to display to the
world that he doesn't work for strength, but
weakness.
That's what the cross is all about.
Weakness, death, hardship.
But in that weakness, power of God's revealed
because God's weakness is stronger than all hell
and all of humanity.
And that's how God is glorified.
As we discussed this morning about culture and
society, Pastor and I, and we talked about
roles and responsibilities in civil life and government.
I believe that if the church of Jesus
Christ said, I don't need, I don't need
the universal body.
I don't even believe that it requires half
of the Christians in America.
I believe if this church right here can
learn to embrace their weakness, things will start
to change.
I believe the environment of this area will
be transformed by you.
Few salt in light, because what you do
is you display the power of God because
the power of God's always revealed in human
weakness, not human strength.
But the problem with most of us, we
are weak in God's strength.
When we ought to be strong in him,
the sin of this moment of we, his
true children who know him, who are doctrinally
sound, our sin denied is that we're so
weak in his strength.
Why are we weak in his strength instead
of strong?
Because we're proud.
We want to solve our problems, our distresses.
We want to do the work of God
in our own way.
And we are not so meek to do
it his way, content, rejoicing, taking this strange
kind of pleasure and all of the obstacles
that the enemy is allowed to throw at
us because we've not learned that there's not
anything he can do but help us.
Why has Satan been allowed to remain as
long as he has to help us?
All he's there to do is prove how
weak you are.
And then when you've proven it and you've
embraced it and rejoice, then the power of
God burst forth just as much as it
did that morning on that third day as
light broke through the stone barrier and pushed
it back for all the world to know
he's not here.
He's risen.
Is he alive in you?
Of course he is.
If you're here, he's alive in you, but
you're too weak in his strength and too
strong in yours.
You're too strong in your weakness.
And so today I would just encourage you
to look at the cross with this thought
in mind.
Meek and lowly.
There's my sanctification.
There's the advancement of the kingdom and the
opportunity to see the power of God revealed.
May God help us to see it.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for helping me to get
through the message tonight.
And I pray that we will learn of
you, not of me or someone else, but
of you.
Expose our pride tonight.
Lord, it's what these services are about.
They're about being real with you and also
real with ourselves.
We don't mind being real with you because
you already know us.
It's that we just hate to know certain
things about ourselves.
You know me, Lord.
No, I want to be right.
I want to be perfect.
I want to be blameless.
I want to be upright.
And I want to be proud about it.
I thank you for what you're doing in
me and in this body of these believers,
these my friends.
Because what you're doing is you're showing us
how to embrace our weakness so that we
can be strong in you.
And that's what meekness is.
So Lord, do whatever you got to do
here tonight, tomorrow.
This is maybe a paradigm shift for some.
I know they won't maybe get it tonight,
but I'm trusting you.
If this is your word, you will bring
this understanding.
And for this, we thank you in Jesus
name.
Amen.