19 Jan Gospel Humility

Read: Romans 9:6-13

Last Sunday, Pastor Ken preached from Romans 9:1-5 on the great sorrow and unceasing anguish of missing Christ. This Sunday, he will continue in Romans 9:6-13, considering God’s sovereign purpose of election. As we move into study of this weighty doctrine, we will undoubtedly be stretched to new levels of our faith. In preparing our hearts for our corporate gathering, let us pray that the Lord would grant us great humility and understanding of his Word. Further, let these words from Milton Vincent move you to further cultivate humility through the power of the gospel.

Heart Preparation

According to Scripture, God deliberately designed the gospel in such a way so as to strip me of pride and leave me without any grounds for boasting in myself whatsoever. This is actually a wonderful mercy from God, for pride is at the root of all my sin. Pride produced the first sin in the Garden, and pride always precedes every sinful stumbling in my life. Therefore, if I am to experience deliverance from sin, I must be delivered from the pride that produces it. Thankfully, the gospel is engineered to accomplish this deliverance.

Preaching the gospel to myself each day mounts a powerful assault against my pride and serves to establish humility in its place. Nothing suffocates my pride more than daily reminders regarding the glory of my God, the gravity of my sins, and the crucifixion of God’s own Son in my place. Also, the gracious love of God, lavished on me because of Christ’s death, is always humbling to remember, especially when viewed against the backdrop of the Hell I deserve.

Pride wilts in the atmosphere of the gospel; and the more pride is mortified within me, the less frequent are my moments of sinful contention with God and with others. Conversely, humility grows lushly in the atmosphere of the gospel, and the more humility flourishes within me, the more I experience God’s grace along with the strengthening His grace provides. Additionally, such humility intensifies my passion for God and causes my heart increasingly to thrill whenever He is praised.

“Cultivating Humility,” in A Gospel Primer for Christians, by Milton Vincent

Song List for Sunday
1. “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder,” by Daniel Renstrom
2. “All I Have Is Christ,” by Sovereign Grace Music
3. “Jesus, Thank You,” by Sovereign Grace Music
4. “O Church of Christ, Invincible,” by Matt Boswell
5. “Jesus Paid It All,” by Kristian Stanfill