He mocks the mockers, but gives grace to the humble.Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble.Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.Surely he scoffeth at the scoffers; But he giveth grace unto the lowly.
3 sermons cite this verse
… The Bible says in James chapter 4 verse 6 that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. And so apparently the Pharisees are standing nearby and they hear Jesus saying these things, giving this teaching, and they ask him, well, are we blind? And Jesus' response to them is so perfect because he tells them, understand this, if you were blind, I could make you see because I could forgive you. I would forgive you of all your sin if you just acknowledge your need for me. This is exactly what Jesus does to the one who comes to him poor in spirit with an acknowledgement of their own spiritual bankruptcy. Jesus forgives that one. He gives grace to that one, the humble. But because the Pharisees were unwilling to do that, Jesus rebukes them by saying that their sin remained because they thought they saw. they thought they saw and so their sin remained whereas the better option would be to say I don't see Jesus would you make me see F.F. Bruce he commentates on this verse saying to be so self deceived as to shut one's eyes to the light is a desperate state to be in the light is there but if people refuse to avail themselves of it but rather deliberately reject it how can they be enlightened as Jesus said their sin remains and so I ask of you tonight can you see have your eyes been opened …
… in their epistles, and this is what they say. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Will you read that one with me? Let's put it back on the screen. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And then they say, therefore, because of this truth, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up. Now, this isn't only a biblical truth. This is a universal truth. I mean, it's just something that doesn't matter whether you believe in God or not. This is just a true statement. So I was thinking back this week, I was rereading Jim Collins' 2009 book, How the Mighty Fall. And he wrote the book called Good to Great. And he studied, you know, he's a researcher. He'd studied all kinds of American companies. And he'd found, you know, what separated the good from the merely good from the great. And then he began to look and notice that years later, many of those really great companies that he'd profiled in Good to Great had fallen and what had happened to these companies. And so he tried to understand what is it that leads to a company moving from greatness to death or insignificance. And he found there were five stages, but here was the first stage. The first stage was hubris born of success or pride born of success, right? And so it can happen to companies. It can happen to politicians. It can happen to preachers. It can happen to you. That when we give way to pride, we find just tragic …
… I mean, I should just stand here and say, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. and we should just meditate on that God opposes the proud. but gives grace to the humble. So there's a high and holy God. And he says he opposes the proud. That word for opposed is the word adversary. Same word used for Satan. This is the arrogant person God's opposed to. The humble person he's going to give grace to. Is there anything you want more than that? God's grace? God's presence with you? takes humility. This is why we seek humility. It's not just to be humble. It's because we want God. Would the people around you say that you're humble? Is that what you're known for? because humility is so elusive you know pride is so elusive people say pride is like bad breath you don't know you have it but everyone else does you know thing but it just never quite works and it's the same with pride we just can't see it in ourselves and the most arrogant people genuinely don't see it. …