Overview
Rev. Jon Ryan examines “How Important is Humility? Part 1” through 1 Peter 5, 1 Samuel 17, 1 Samuel 22, 2 Samuel 23, showing how david, great, humility shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding How Important is Humility? Part 1
Why is humility so important? If you could turn in your Bibles to Micah, probably not a book you go to very often. Micah, if you go maybe seven books from the New Testament, it’s Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, then Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. So if that helps you, or you can just listen, we’re going to go to Micah chapter six.
Humility is to have a modest or low view of your own importance. Pride is the opposite. And so humility is a lack of that pride and arrogance.
And here in Micah, the book of Micah chapter six, go to verse six, and we read, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed me, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. See, God’s not interested in all the sacrifices and the works that we can do to try to please him. It’s just he wants us to be good people.
He wants us to walk humbly, to recognize that it’s not with our own selves that we’re so important, but it’s with him, with God that makes us great. He makes us great. And so we love to be just, and to be merciful, and to be humble before him.
Now go almost all the way to the end of your Bible, to 1 Peter. 1 Peter, 2 Peter, then 1, 2, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. And in 1 Peter, we’re going to go to chapter 5. Peter was certainly a wonderful, wonderful disciple of Jesus Christ, and really, in many respects, he was Jesus Christ’s right-hand man.
Jesus continually looked to Peter in special times, and we learned great things about Peter as he opened up the new administration. Once Jesus Christ had died and God raised him from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God, just a short time after that, Peter stands up in the temple in Jerusalem and declared this new administration of grace that became available because of what Jesus Christ accomplished. And Peter was the leader of the church for quite a time.
And here at the end of his life, we get to write 1 and 2 Peter, and in 1 Peter chapter 5, we read in verse 5, Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.
Well, humility comes up, and humble comes up, and humble comes up again in those verses. So, God resists the proud, he gives grace to the humble. He wants us to walk with that humility before him.
So, it’s a tremendous thing that we get to do, to be a part of. Turn to the book of 1 Samuel. I think to give us a great understanding, to help us with this, I want to look at David.
David was a man after God’s own heart. And David was just such a tremendous man for God, even when he was young. And he walked with great humility, great confidence in God.
The Biblical Foundation
But his brothers, he was the youngest of seven brothers, and they really looked on him as just a little whippersnapper. And when there was a big war against the Philistines, David was back taking care of the sheep. And there was this big giant Goliath.
And you’re familiar with the story of David and Goliath. But I’m just going to show you a couple of verses here. 1 Samuel 17, and look what it says in verse 10.
1 Samuel 17, 10. And the Philistine said, this is the Goliath. The Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day.
Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul the king and all the Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. This man was literally a giant.
He’s close to nine feet or taller. I mean, really a big, big person. Verse 12.
Now David was the son of that epithrite of Bethlehem, Judah, whose name was Jesse. And he had eight sons. And the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.
So just tells us David was the youngest of his father’s sons. Now jump down to verse 26. So this giant is challenging Israel to a man to man fight.
He’s the champion. And in verse 26 of chapter 17, and David spake to the men that stood by him saying, what shall be done to the man that killeth his Philistine and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that should defy the armies of the living God? See, David, he’s not having bragging about how great he is. He’s bragging about how great his God is, who can stand up against the armies of the living God.
And yet everybody’s afraid. Verse 27. And the people answered him after this manner, saying, so shall it be done to the man that kills him.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
And Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. And he said, why camest thou down hither? And with whom has thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. See, his brother totally misses it.
David does not have pride and naughtiness of heart. He has confidence in the true God. And look at verse 37.
Verse 37. David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. He’s come to the king and said, I want to fight this man.
And the king says, you’re just a young man. You’re only 17 years old. But he’s saying, God, the Lord that delivered me, when he was taking care of the sheep, he was able to slay a lion that came in and slay a bear that came in.
And he said, this Philistine is going to be just like them. So this is David, this man that rises up to become the great leader of God’s people. We’re introduced to him in this situation where he is just a humble man.
He’s got great confidence in God. Go to about five chapters to 1 Samuel 22. So David does rise up to be the king.
And Saul, the previous king, is jealous, and he’s pursuing David, and he wants to defeat David. People are singing songs, Saul has killed thousands, but David’s killed tens of thousands. See, David was a great warrior in Saul’s army, in the army of Israel.
And yet Saul is moved to be jealous. Saul is prideful. And David, look, he gathers together with a group of people here in 1 Samuel 22, verse 1. David therefore departed thence, he has to hide from Saul, and escaped to the cave at Doolam.
And when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him. See, by now his brethren have recognized that David is a great man. No longer are they jealous of him.
But they’re coming to his aid and to his side. And they went down thither to him. And every man, this is verse 2, 1 Samuel 22, verse 2. And every man that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, three Ds, distress, indebted, and discontented, gathered themselves unto him.
Faith in Action
And he became a captain over them. And there were with him about 400 men. So that’s who David has gathered.
These people that, in many respects, are the outcasts of society. They’re discontented. They’re in distress.
They’re in debt. And yet he’s going to lead them, because he’s going to show them that God is greater than any of our obstacles. And that’s what David does.
He goes on, it’s recorded in so many chapters of this book of 1 Samuel, about who this man David was, what he accomplished, and how he was able to do so much for God’s people. So let’s go to the very end of his life. If you go with me to 1 Samuel, or 2 Samuel 23.
2 Samuel 23. On your way there, I want to mention that David wrote so many of the Psalms, and they just are so eloquent and wonderful, giving praise to God and telling of how wonderful God is, the rock, the one we run to for refuge. I want to read a verse to you.
You don’t have to turn there while you’re going to 2 Samuel. Proverbs 22, verse 4 says, By humility and the respect of the Lord are riches and honor and life. David certainly recognized this.
And by his humility, he received riches and honor, and had risen to be a great leader of God’s people. And here at the very end of his life, in 2 Samuel, chapter 23. I don’t know if I told you to go to chapter 23.
2 Samuel 23, listen to this. Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, And the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.
The God of Israel said, The rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruled over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds, as a tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain.
What a great description of this man that walked with God be like this beautiful morning, like the dew reflecting off the grass in the early morning. That’s how wonderful. And yet there’s opposition.
Walking in Love and Confidence
It says, if you go on, it says verse 5, Although my house be not so with God, yet hath he made me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire. Although he make it not to grow, but the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands, but the man that touches them. Now the sons of Belial, just to interject here, are the devil’s men.
These are the enemy. And they are going to continue to try to interfere like this giant that David had to take on when he was 17, threatening Israel. But David took him out with God’s help with a slingshot.
This great warrior was defeated by the 17-year-old man that trusted God. And what he’s saying here is that you cannot defeat these opponents of God just by your own power ability. It goes on to say for 2 Samuel 23, verse 7, But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear.
That’s figurative words saying he must have revelation. It’s got to be God that’s behind this to take on these wicked men. And they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.
And now it goes on to list some of David’s mighty men. These are the men, many of them that were there, like we read in 1 Samuel 22, those 400 men that came to him when Saul was pursuing. These be the names of, in verse 8, of the mighty men whom David had, the Taqmanite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains.
The same was Adino, the Enite, Idnite. He lifted up his spear against 800 whom he slew at one time. For somebody to take on 800 men definitely takes the spirit of God working in him.
After him was Eliezer, the son of Dodo, the Jehohit, one of the three mighty men with David. When they defied the Philistines that were gathered together to battle, the men of Israel were gone away. He arose and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clave into the sword.
And the Lord brought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to spoil. See, these men that learned from David how to walk with God and how to take on the enemy with God’s help. Verse 11, after him was Shammah, the son of Ege, the Harite.
And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, and there was a piece of ground full of lentils. And the people fled from the Philistines, but he stood in the midst of the ground, defended it, and slew the Philistines. And the Lord brought a great victory.
See, David’s men just were able to move with God’s backing. Verse 12, and three of the 30 chiefs went down and came to David in harvest time unto the cave of Adullam, and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephiam. And David was then in the hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
The Bethlehem is where that belonged to God’s people, but the enemy now has inhabited Bethlehem. And David is so distressed. And we read in verse 15, and David longed and said, oh, that one would give me a drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.
He just wished that Bethlehem still belonged to them, and they could just go and get the water there like they used to. But watch what happens here. I’ll read that verse again.
Verse 15, and David longed and said, oh, that one would give me a drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate. And the three mighty men break through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless, he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord and said, be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this.
Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore, he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men. See, what an amazing account.
These great soldiers of David just heard him saying, see, I wish we didn’t have to fight to get Bethlehem back, that we could just go and get water there like we used to. And they go and burst through, broke through the garrison of the Philistines and got water from the well of Bethlehem and brought it to David. And David says, see, you always give your best to God.
He said, I can’t drink this. This represents these men’s lives. They hazarded their lives to get me this water.
And so he gave it to God. He said, this is for you, God. And they go on and they won the battle.
See, David was this great man for God, and he instilled great confidence in God, in the people that were with him. That’s how they were able to bring Israel to these golden years. And they won battle after battle and continue to bring peace to Israel, ultimately, to where God said, David, I want you to build the temple.
Well, actually, I want a temple to be built. And David assembled all the necessary elements for it, all the parts for it. And then God said, your son, Solomon, is going to be the one to build it.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
You were a man of war. Solomon is going to build this because Solomon was a man of peace. And then that’s who this man was, this great man, David.
Let’s close. And James, way again at the back of your Bible, humility is such a big thing. And humility is very, it looks good on people.
You’d much rather be around somebody that’s humble than somebody that’s full of pride. We can walk with great humility. Our pride or our confidence can be in God, but humility is just what God desires for us.
Like we read at the beginning in 1 Peter 5, we’re to be clothed with humility. That’s what we’re to wear as our outer garment. In James 4, and look at verse 6, but he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you.
That’s God’s heart is for us to just be humble, to put on humility. And then with that comes God’s grace. We get what we don’t deserve.
Mercy is ours where we don’t get consequences when we do make a mistake. God is able to do away with the consequences and we can just walk with him and be great. We can be a part of God’s elect like he’s called us to be.
We are to walk humbly before our God. Heavenly father, I thank you for your love, your goodness, your grace, your mercy, and that we can have great confidence in you. That we have these great examples in the word like David, like Jesus Christ of how to walk with you.
And with that, we can overcome any obstacles. We can bring deliverance to ourselves and others. Thanks father for the greatness of who you are and what you’ve called us to in this day and time.
Thanks that we can continue to pay close attention to your direction, to the guidance that you provide us so that we can just see great successes in our lives as we go forward. Thanks in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Key Takeaways
- See, David was a great warrior in Saul’s army, in the army of Israel.
- And they are going to continue to try to interfere like this giant that David had to take on when he was 17, threatening Israel.
- These great soldiers of David just heard him saying, see, I wish we didn’t have to fight to get Bethlehem back, that we could just go and get water there like we used to.
- Like we read at the beginning in 1 Peter 5, we’re to be clothed with humility.
- That we have these great examples in the word like David, like Jesus Christ of how to walk with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “How Important is Humility? Part 1”?
Rev. Jon Ryan examines “How Important is Humility? Part 1” through 1 Peter 5, 1 Samuel 17, 1 Samuel 22, 2 Samuel 23, showing how david, great, humility shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from 1 Peter 5, 1 Samuel 17, 1 Samuel 22, 2 Samuel 23, Proverbs 22.
How can believers apply this teaching?
That we have these great examples in the word like David, like Jesus Christ of how to walk with you.
Scripture References
1 Peter 5; 1 Samuel 17; 1 Samuel 22; 2 Samuel 23; Proverbs 22; James 4
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
