“Pride, we may be sure will keep us out of God’s presence, because it would not suffer angels themselves to stay in it” (Edward Pelling, 1692).
James 4:6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”
The pride of man hates true grace and hates being cast upon the mercy and choice of God. The proud heart of man wants to have his own choice and way and hates being in the hands of a sovereign God and in desperate need of sovereign grace (the only kind of grace that there is). God opposes the proud and certainly does not give them the grace that they hate, but in His kindness and goodness He does break the hearts of some of the proud and works the humility of His Son in them and so gives grace to the humble.
The Lord Jesus Christ was and is the supreme standard and example of humility. In that perfect humility, He was upheld by the Spirit and lived in perfect dependence upon God in all things and at all times. While we tend to think of His humility as having to do with His incarnation in taking human flesh to Himself, there was a lot more to it than that. When Christ took humanity to Himself, He did not view equality with God as something to be grasped or held onto, but instead He emptied Himself and took the very nature of a servant in taking human flesh to Himself. This was indeed a stupendous act of humility, but if we would think of the glory of God in His triune being it should not surprise us to think of such a great God acting in line with true greatness. We are told in the Gospels that those who are truly humble are the ones that are truly great in the kingdom, so it should not surprise us that the Lord of glory is the greatest and the most humble.
The Lord Jesus did not think of the eternal glories of heaven too much to give when He took the nature of a servant to Himself, so when on earth He was not born into a royal family. He was not born in a palace and in the lap of luxury, but instead He chose to be born in a stable and to common people (externally). The sovereign Lord of the universe took human flesh to Himself and chose to live in a way in which He had no pillow but used a rock for a pillow. He chose to live in a way that at times He had to do miracles in order to feed those who flocked to hear Him preach. He did not have a house, several items of clothing, and seemed to hunger and thirst as the poor. In all that He did He lived in complete submission to the Father.
Those who truly believe in, are united to, and have Christ as their life have access to true humility. The life of Christ in His people is a humble life that is lived in pursuit of the glory of God. It is not that the people of God must work up humility and do things that give them humility, but instead the people of God must seek the Lord for death to self and to have the life of Christ in them. When Christ lives in His people, then His people have a life of true humility in them. Those who do not have Christ in them live lives of pride which is really the proud devil working his nature in and through them. This is simply to say that as the devil is the father of all lies, so he is the father of all pride and all pride is a lie. But the Lord Jesus Christ is the father of all humility.
Jesus Himself proclaimed to sinners that all those who were weary and heavy-laden were to come to Him. Why were they to come to Him? What were they to learn from Him? “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Mat 11:29). People are to come to Christ and learn from Him, and it seems clear that of the things that they are to learn is gentleness and humility because that is how Christ is. This also shows the horrible and despicable pride of man in refusing to come to Christ and learn humility which is to refuse to be like Christ and is to refuse the life of Christ. Men love their pride and hate true humility, though out of their pride they don’t want to appear proud and so will take a pseudo-humility to themselves. That actually condemns them.
The proud hearts of men resist and refuse humility and that demonstrates a monstrous pride. They refuse the Lord Jesus as their model and turn with disgust from grace alone which saves. The proud hearts of men would take Christ as Savior if all He would do is keep them from hell, but they will not have Christ as Lord and as their very life. The proud hearts of men fight and resist true humility and true resignation to God, though they will do things “for God” as long as they retain control and can do as their proud hearts desire. But the true Lord Jesus is the true Savior and He will save men from their pride or they are not truly saved. Hell is full of proud men and devils, but heaven is filled with the humble Savior and humble men that He has saved by grace alone. In the words of Zephaniah, “Seek the LORD, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’S anger” (2:3). We cannot seek true humility unless we seek the humble Savior. We cannot live humbly unless we have the humble Savior living His life in us by grace alone. The Lord Jesus is Savior of His people, and that includes being saved from pride.
God Loves... Himself 
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