Chapter 2 - Humility: The Secret of Redemption

 Chapter 2 - Humility: The Secret of Redemption 

Humility, the secret of redemption. 

 Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus who emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant and humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death. Therefore God also highly exalted Him. Philippians 2 : 5-7. 

 A tree can only grow from the root it comes from. Its entire life depends on the same life that was in the seed from  which it sprang. 

If we fully grasp this truth in relation to the first Adam and the second Adam Christ, it will greatly help us understand both our need for redemption and the nature of the redemption Jesus Christ brings. 

The need when Satan, the old serpent, who had been cast out of heaven for his pride and whose very nature is pride, tempted Eve, his words carried the poison of hell. When Eve listened and gave into the desire to be like God, knowing good and evil, that poison entered her soul, her body, and her life. It destroyed the humility and dependence on God that would have been her lasting joy. 

From that moment, her life and the life of the whole human race was corrupted at the root by pride, the very sin of Satan. 

Satan does not want to think with his Creator God. That is pride in its utmost level until it deceives itself. 

Whenever we are not thinking with God's mind, and His mind is in His written Word, the pride is taking over our being. 

All the misery this world has known, its wars, bloodshed, selfishness, suffering, ambition, jealousy, broken hearts, and bitter lives can all be traced back to the pride of Satan working in us and others. 

Pride made redemption necessary. 

And above all else, it is from pride that we need to be redeemed. 

How deeply we understand our need for redemption will depend on how clearly we see the awful power of pride that has taken hold of our nature. 

No natural tree can grow except from the root it came from. 

The power that Satan brought from hell and planted into human life is still at work daily, hourly across the world with great force. 

People suffer because of it. They fear it, resist it, run from it. Yet they do not know where it comes from or why it has such power. And so they do not know how it can be overcome. 

 Pride has its root and strength in a spiritual power that is not only within us but also outside of us. 

As much as we must confess and grieve over pride as our own sin, we must also recognize its origin in Satan. 

 If this understanding leads us to feel hopeless about ever overcoming it, that very despair can drive us sooner to the only power that can save us, the redemption found in the Lamb of God. 

Our ongoing exhausting struggle against pride in ourselves may feel even more hopeless when we see the spiritual   darkness behind it. But this utter despair can prepare us to receive and depend on a power outside of ourselves, the heavenly humility that Jesus brought to earth. 

This humility through the Lamb of God has come near to us to destroy Satan and his pride. 

No tree can grow except from the root it came from. 

Just as we must look to the first Adam and his fall to understand the depth and power of sin in us, so we must also know the second Adam, Christ, and His power to produce in us a life of humility that is as real, constant, and strong as our pride once was. 

Our life is now in Christ, more truly than it ever was in Adam. 

We are called to walk rooted in Him, to hold fast to the Head from whom the whole body grows with the growth that comes from God. 

The Life of God which entered human nature through the incarnation is now the root in which we are to live and grow. 

The same mighty power that worked in Christ from His birth to His resurrection is at work in us every day. 

What we need is to study, understand, and believe in the Life that has been revealed in Christ as the Life that now belongs to us, and to surrender to it so it may take full control of our being. 

With this in mind, it is essential that we think rightly about who Christ is, about what defines Him most deeply, and what is the heart of His character as our Redeemer. 

There is only one answer, His humility. 

What is the incarnation except His heavenly humility? His emptying Himself to become man. 

What is His earthly life except humility? His taking the form of a servant. 

What is His atonement except humility? He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. 

What is His ascension and glory except humility exalted to the highest place? Therefore, God highly exalted Him in heaven, in His birth, in His life, in His death, in His place on the throne. It is all humility.

 Christ is the humility of God made visible in human form. 

The Eternal Love lowering Itself, clothing Itself in  meekness and gentleness to win us, serve us, and save us. 

As God's love and condescension move Him to bless and serve all, so it was necessary that Jesus Christ be the humility of God in the flesh. 

And so He remains even now, the meek and lowly Lamb of God, reigning in the midst of the throne. 

If this is the root of the tree, then its nature must appear in every branch, every leaf, and every fruit. 

If humility is the first and all-encompassing grace in the life of Jesus Christ, if humility is the very secret of His atonement, then the health and strength of our spiritual lives will fully depend on putting this grace first as well. 

We must make humility the main thing we admire in Christ, the chief thing we ask from Him and the one thing for which we are willing to give up all else. 

We must understand two things. 

First, our salvation is nothing else but being saved from ourselves, that is from what we are by nature. 

Second, in the whole order of things, nothing could be our salvation except the humility of God, which is beyond all description. 

For this reason, the first unchanging condition Jesus Christ sets before fallen mankind is, "Unless a man denies   himself, he cannot be my disciple." 

The requirements of discipleship, found primarily in Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23, which state that a person must deny themselves, take up their cross (ready and willing to die), and follow Him to be His disciple

Self is the whole evil of our fallen nature. Self-denial is the way to be saved. 

Jesus Christ , God's Humility is our saviour. 

Self is the root, the branches, and the tree of all evil in our fallen state. 

Every sin of human beings and  fallen angels has its birth in the pride of self. 

In contrast, every virtue of the heavenly life is born of   humility. 

Humility alone forms the unbridgeable gulf between heaven and hell. 

What then is the great struggle for eternal life? 

It is the battle between pride and humility. 

These are the two ruling powers, the two kingdoms fighting for the eternal possession of man. 

There has only ever been one true humility, the humility of Christ. 

Pride and self, rule man completely until man receives all from Christ. 

Only he fights the good fight whose struggle is to see his self-worshiping nature from Adam put to death by the supernatural humility of Christ living in him. 

For sister in Christ, only she fights the good fight whose struggle is to see her self-worshiping nature from Eve put to death by the supernatural humility of Christ living in her. 

Is it any wonder that the Christian life is often weak and fruitless when the very root of Christ's life is neglected or even unknown? 

Is it any wonder that so few believers experience the joy of salvation when the very thing that gave Christ His joy and through which He brings joy to us is so rarely pursued until we seek a humility that is satisfied with nothing less than the death of self. 

That like Jesus gives up all human praise to seek only the honor that comes from God. 

That truly counts itself as nothing so that God may be everything and Christ alone be exalted. 

 Until then, there is little hope that our religion will have the power to overcome the world. 

I urge you with all my heart. If you have never seriously considered the great lack of humility in your own life or in the church around you, stop and ask yourself whether you truly see the spirit of the meek and lowly Lamb of God in those who bear His name. 

Think of how much unloving behavior, how much disregard for the needs, feelings, and weaknesses of others. 

How many harsh or hasty words so often excused as being merely honest or direct? 

How many displays of irritation, sensitivity, temper, bitterness, or distance in relationships. 

All of it comes from pride which always seeks self. 

Let your eyes be open to see how this dark, yes, even devilish pride creeps in everywhere, even among gatherings of God's people. 

Ask yourself, what would happen in your heart, in your church, in the world, if believers were truly led by the humility of  Lord Jesus Christ in all their dealings with others? 

Would not it be right for our hearts to cry out day and   night, "Oh, for the humility of Jesus Christ in me and in all who follow Him." 

Fix your heart honestly on your own lack of this humility, the humility revealed in Christ's life and throughout His redeeming work, and you will begin to feel that you have never truly known Christ as He is or what His salvation really means. 

Believers, study the humility of Lord Jesus Christ. 

It is the secret, the hidden root of your redemption. 

Go deeper into it every day. Believe with all your heart that this same Jesus Christ whose divine humility heart that salvation for you now lives to dwell in you and work within you, making you into what the Father God has always desired you to be.

Chapter 3. The humility of Jesus. ( continue here )