Want to Grow???

Hello Church! This Sunday night we will be beginning a new teaching series entitled “Discipleship Training: How to Help People Change.” The twelve-part study in God’s Word will equip all of us to be better disciples and disciple-makers.

OPBC will be using three teaching platforms as an opportunity to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
Beginning this Sunday night -The bi-monthly Sunday night series “Discipleship Training: How to Help People Change.”
The year-long NANC training beginning October 2011 at Christian Family Chapel.
A new home fellowship group taught by Pastor Brian entitled “How People Change.” The new home fellowship will be added to the other three in two months when we rotate groups.

We understand that although the entire church body will be greatly changed and challenged by the NANC training, all will probably not go through the entire NANC training program (the phases of the NANC training program were outlined in the March 6 pm service and in a follow-up e-mail to the church). We desire to equip the entire body for the work of the ministry (evangelism and discipleship) by providing several different opportunities for discipleship training (listed above). I am excited about the new opportunities we have to grow and change together. What can you do?

Read “Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands” by Paul Tripp.
Begin attending the bi-monthly Sunday night services beginning this Sunday night. If you cannot attend the services, they will be recorded and uploaded to the church website. If you do not have internet access, please ask the servant in the sound booth for a CD copy of the Sunday night messages that you miss.
Read, review, and discuss how to practice the sermon notes I will send out for the PM services.
Read the following introduction to the series:


The following are excerpts from Paul Tripp’s book recommended above:

I am persuaded that the church today has many more consumers than committed participants. For most of us, church is merely an event we attend or an organization we belong to. We do not see Christ’s Church as a calling that shapes our entire life. But consider this: we could never hire enough paid staff to meet the ministry needs of the average local church. The “passive body that pays the professionals” culture of the modern evangelical church must be forsaken for the ministry model God has so wisely ordained (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Sin alters every thought, word, desire, and deed. It created a world of double-mindedness and mixed motives, self-worship and self-absorption. People desire to be served, but they dislike serving. They crave control and nurture delusions of self-sufficiency. They forget their Creator, but worship His creation. Rather than loving people and using things to express it, people love things and use people to get them.
The primary battle today is fought and won in human hearts. People do not need mere principles or a system or redemption. People need a Redeemer named Jesus Christ. God has a huge toolbox for change and His principal tools are His Word and people. The adoption into the family of God was also a call to ministry, a call to be a part of the good work of the kingdom.
In personal ministry, I want to bring more than a heart of compassion, a willingness to listen, and a commitment to help bear someone’s burden. Though these are the sweet fruit of Christian love, I want to offer more. I want to bring the heart-changing truths of Scripture to people in the midst of their situations and relationships. Personal ministry is about loving and helping people, but in a way that includes bringing them God’s Word. It is true that there is more informal ministry than formal ministry in any given week. We should examine our counsel and advice we give in the million informal moments of everyday life. Why would teachers spend hours preparing to teach while we offer important personal direction without a second thought? We easily forget that God uses the little interactions of the day to apply the transforming power of Scripture to people’s hearts. We forget that God’s Word is our primary tool of change. Often, we come up with a little personal wisdom and personal experience and let the words fly. God is placing people next to people to create a system of intricate interdependencies and has ordained what we are to give each other in those relationships.
We need much more than practical advice on how to do the right thing in a particular situation. We need a message big enough to overcome our natural human instinct to live for our own glory, pursue our own happiness, and forget that our lives are much, much bigger than this little moment of life. Every day, in some way, we buy the lies of autonomy and self-sufficiency, worshiping the creation rather than its Creator.
As we know, life is all about Christ. There is one stage and it belongs to Christ. Any attempt to put ourselves in His place puts us in a war with Him. It is an intensely vertical war, a fight for divine glory, a plot to take the very position of God that people fight with every day. It is the drama that lies behind every sad earthly drama. Sin has made us glory robbers. We do not suffer well, because suffering interferes with our glory. We do not find relationships easy, because others compete with us for glory. We do not serve well, because in our quest for glory, we want to be served.
The central work of God’s kingdom is change. God accomplishes this work as the Holy Spirit empowers people to bring His Word to others. We bring more than solutions, strategies, principles, and commands. We bring the greatest story ever told - the story of the Redeemer. This is the work of the kingdom of God: people in the hands of the Redeemer, daily functioning as his tools of lasting change.

Looking forward to us all learning how to help one another grow and change!

Pastor Brian

The Renewed Mind and How to Have It (Desiring God Resources)

Romans 12:1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

As I have thought and prayed about these verses, it seems to me that there are two more very large issues we should deal with before moving on to verse 3. I would like to give a week to each of them.

“The Will of God”

One, which I hope to deal with next week, is the meaning of the term “the will of God.” Verse 2 says that we are to discern what is “the will of God.” It’s a very common phrase and I think that sometimes, when we use it, we may not know what we are talking about. That is not spiritually healthy. If you get into the habit of using religious language without knowing what you mean by it, you will increasingly become an empty shell. And many alien affections move into empty religious minds which have language but little or wrong content.

The term “the will of God” has at least two and possibly three biblical meanings. First, there is the sovereign will of God, that always comes to pass without fail. Second, there is the revealed will of God in the Bible—do not steal, do not lie, do not kill, do not covet—and this will of God often does not come to pass. And third, there is the path of wisdom and spontaneous godliness—wisdom where we consciously apply the word of God with our renewed minds to complex moral circumstances, and spontaneous godliness where we live most of our lives without conscious reflection on the hundreds of things we say and do all day. Next week we need to sort this out and ask what Paul is referring to in Romans 12:2.

Transformation by the Renewal of Your Mind

But today I want to focus on the phrase in Romans 12:2, “by the renewal of your mind.”Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We are perfectly useless as Christ-exalting Christians if all we do is conform to the world around us. And the key to not wasting our lives with this kind of success and prosperity, Paul says, it being transformed. “Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed.”

That word is used one time in all the gospels, namely, about Jesus on the mountain of transfiguration (the mountain of “transformation”—same word, metemorphõthë): “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light” (Matthew 17:2-Mark 9:2).
The Transformation Is Not Just External

I point this out for one reason: to make the point that the nonconformity to the world does not primarily mean the external avoidance of worldly behaviors. That’s included. But you can avoid all kinds of worldly behaviors and not be transformed. “His face shown like the sun, and his clothes became white as light”! Something like that happens to us spiritually and morally. Mentally, first on the inside, and then, later at the resurrection on the outside. So Jesus says of us, at the resurrection: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43).

Transformation is not switching from the to-do list of the flesh to the to-do list of the law. When Paul replaces the list—the works—of the flesh, he does not replace it with the works of the law, but the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-22). The Christian alternative to immoral behaviors is not a new list of moral behaviors. It is the triumphant power and transformation of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ—our Savior, our Lord, our Treasure. “[God] has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6). So transformation is a profound, blood-bought, Spirit-wrought change from the inside out.

The Freedom of Being Enslaved to Christ

This is why the Christian life—though it is utterly submitted (Romans 8:7; 10:3), even enslaved (Romans 6:18, 22), to the revealed will of God—is described in the New Testament as radically free. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”(2 Corinthians 3:17). “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). You are free in Christ, because when you do from the inside what you love to do, you are free, if what you love to do is what you ought to do. And that’s what transformation means: when you are transformed in Christ you love to do what you ought to do. That’s freedom.

An Essential Means of Transformation: The Renewal of Your Mind

And in Romans 12:2 Paul now focuses on one essential means of transformation—“the renewal of your mind.” “Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Oh, how crucial this is!

* If you long to break loose from conformity to the world,
* if you long to be transformed and new from the inside out,
* if you long to be free from mere duty-driven Christianity and do what you love to do because what you love to do is what you ought to do,
* if you long to offer up your body as a living sacrifice so that your whole life becomes a spiritual act of worship and displays the worth of Christ above the worth of the world,

then give yourself with all your might to pursuing this—the renewal of your mind. Because the Bible says, this is the key to transformation. “Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”

What’s wrong with the human mind? Why does our mind need renewing? And what does this renewal look like? And how can we pursue and enjoy this renewal?
The Problem with Our Minds

There are many who think that the only problem with the human mind is that it doesn’t have access to all the knowledge it needs. So education becomes the great instrument of redemption—personal and social. If people just got more education they would not use their minds to invent elaborate scams, and sophisticated terrorist plots, and complex schemes for embezzling, and fast-talking, mentally nimble radio rudeness. If people just got more education!

The Bible has a far more profound analysis of the problem. In Ephesians 4:23 Paul uses a striking phrase to parallel Romans 12:2. He says, “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds.” Now what in the world is that? “The spirit of your mind.” It means at least this: the human mind is not a sophisticated computer managing data, which it then faithfully presents to the heart for appropriate emotional responses. The mind has a “spirit.” In other words, our mind has what we call a “mindset.” It doesn’t just have a view, it has a viewpoint. It doesn’t just have the power to perceive and detect; it also has a posture, a demeanor, a bearing, an attitude, a bent. “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

The problem with our minds is not merely that we are finite, and don’t have all the information. The problem is that our minds are fallen. They have a spirit, a bent, a mindset that is hostile to the absolute supremacy of God. Our minds are bent on not seeing God as infinitely more worthy of praise than we are, or the things we make or achieve.

This is what we saw last week in Romans 1:28, “Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind.” This is who we are by nature. We do not want to see God as worthy of knowing well and treasuring above all things. You know this is true about yourself because of how little effort you expend to know him, and because of how much effort it takes to make your mind spend any time getting to know God better. The Bible says we have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man” (Rom. 1:23). And the image in the mirror is the mortal image we worship most.

The Relationship Between Verses 1 and 2

That’s what’s wrong with our minds. This illumines the relationship between verses 1 and 2 of Romans 12. Verse 1 says that we should present our bodies—that is, our whole active life—as a living sacrifice which is our spiritual service of worship. So the aim of all life is worship. That is, we are to use our bodies—our whole lives—to display the worth of God and all that he is for us in Christ. Now it makes perfect sense when verse 2 says that, in order for that to happen, our minds must be renewed. Why? Because our minds are not by nature God-worshipping minds. They are by nature self-worshipping minds. That is the spirit of our minds.

Two Other Biblical Diagnoses of the Problem

Now before I turn to the remedy and how we find the renewal of mind God demands, consider two other biblical diagnoses of the problem. Consider the way Peter describes our mind-problem in 1 Peter 1:13-14, “Prepar[e]. . . your minds for action. . . . Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.” There is an ignorance of God—a willful suppression of the truth of God (Romans 1:18)—that makes us slaves to many passions and desires that would lose their power if we knew God as we ought (cf. 1 Thess. 4:5). “The passions of your former ignorance.” Paul calls these passions, “desires of deceit” (Eph. 4:22). They are life-ruining, worship-destroying desires, and they get their life and their power from the deceit of our minds. There is a kind of knowledge of God—a renewal of mind—that transforms us because it liberates us from the deceit and the power of alien passions.

The other biblical diagnosis is in Ephesians 4:17-18, “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” Paul takes us deeper than Peter here. He penetrates beneath the “futile mind” and the “darkened understanding” and the willful “ignorance” and says that it is all rooted in “the hardness of their heart.” Here is the deepest disease, infecting everything else. Our mental suppression of liberating truth is rooted in our hardness of heart. Our hard hearts will not submit to the supremacy of Christ, and therefore our blind minds cannot see the supremacy of Christ (cf. John 7:17).

The Holy Spirit Renews the Mind

Which brings us finally to the remedy and how we obey Romans 12:2, “Be transformed in the renewal of your mind.” First, before we can do anything, a double action of the Holy Spirit is required. And then we join him in these two actions. The reason I say the Holy Spirit is required is because this word “renewal” in Romans 12:2 is only used one other place in all the Greek Bible, namely, Titus 3:5 where Paul says this: “[God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” There’s the word “renewal” which we’ve seen is so necessary. And it is renewal “of the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit renews the mind. It is first and decisively his work. We are radically dependent on him. Our efforts follow his initiatives and enablings.

The Double Work of the Holy Spirit

Now what is the double work that he must do to renew our minds so that all of life becomes worship? 2 Corinthians 3:18 sets the stage for the answer: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” What does the Spirit do to “transform” us into the image of the God-exalting Son of God? He enables us to “behold the glory of the Lord.” This is how the mind is renewed—by steadfastly gazing at the glories of Christ for what they really are.

But to enable us to do that, the Spirit must do a double work. He must work in two directions: from the outside in and from the inside out. He must work from the outside in by exposing the mind to Christ-exalting truth. That is, he must lead us to hear the gospel, to read the Bible, to study Christ-exalting writings of great, spiritual men, and to meditate on the perfections of Christ. This is exactly what our great enemy does not want us to do according to 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” Because to see that for what it really is, Paul says, will renew the mind and transform the life and produce unending worship.

And the Spirit must work from the inside out, breaking the hard heart that blinds and corrupts the mind. The Spirit must work from the outside in, through Christ-exalting truth, and from the inside out, through truth-embracing humility. If he only worked from the outside in, by presenting Christ-exalting truth to our minds but not breaking the hard heart and making humble, then the truth would be despised and rejected. And if he only humbled the hard heart, but put no Christ-exalting truth before the mind, there would be no Christ to embrace and no worship would happen.

What Then Shall We Do?

What then do we do in obedience to Romans 12:2, “Be transformed in the renewal of your mind”? We join the Holy Spirit in his precious and all-important work. We pursue Christ-exalting truth and we pray for truth-embracing humility.

Listen to rich expositions of the “gospel of the glory of Christ.” Read your Bible from cover to cover always in search of the revelation of the glory of Christ. Read and ponder the Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting writings of great, spiritual men and women. And form the habit of meditating on the perfections of Christ. And in it all pray, pray, pray that the Holy Spirit will renew your mind, that you may desire and approve the will of God, so that all of life will become worship to the glory of Christ.

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him.

God's Children Run Home When the Storm Comes

"O that I knew where I might find Him!" Job 23:3

In Job's uttermost extremity--he cried after the Lord. Just so, the longing desire of an afflicted child of God--is once more to see his Father's face! His first prayer is not, "O that I might be healed of the disease which now festers in every part of my body!" Nor even, "O that I might see my children restored from the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from the hand of the spoiler!" But the first and uppermost cry is, "O that I knew where I might find HIM who is my God! O that I might come even to His presence!"

God's children run home when the storm comes on! It is the heaven-born instinct of a gracious soul--to seek shelter from all troubles, beneath the wings of Jehovah. "He who has made God his refuge," might serve as the title of a true believer.

A hypocrite, when afflicted by God, resents the infliction and, like a slave, would run from the Master who has scourged him! But not so with the true heir of heaven--he kisses the hand which smote him--and seeks shelter from the rod, in the bosom of the God who frowned upon him!

Job's desire to commune with God was intensified, by the failure of all other sources of consolation. The patriarch turned away from his sorry friends, and looked up to the celestial throne--just as a traveler turns from his empty water bottle, and betakes himself with all speed to the well. He bids farewell to earth-born hopes, and cries, "O that I knew where I might find my God!"

Nothing teaches us so much the preciousness of the Creator--as when we learn the emptiness of all created things. Turning away with bitter scorn from earth's hives, where we find no honey--but many sharp stings; we rejoice to turn to Him whose faithful Word is sweeter than honey from the honeycomb.

In every trouble, we should first seek God's presence with us. Only let us enjoy His smile--and we can bear our daily cross with a willing heart, for His dear sake!

Spurgeon

Sermon Notes 3/27/11

Remember, if you read and don't listen you will probably miss the message. These are just my bullet points. Take it into your closet! Love you guys.

Pastor Brian

Orange Park Bible Church
(12) Genesis 2:4-17
Title: The Mind: Between Two Trees
Scripture Reading: Romans 8:1-17

1) Two weeks ago we talked about how we all "sinned" In Adam. We all would have done what Adam did because we all do what Adam did. One of the results of Adam's sin is known theologically as "imputation."
Imputation: We are born with wicked hearts/minds and a nature “bent” towards sin. Our hearts are sin factories, therefore we sin.

2) Romans 5: The Five Parallels between Adam and Christ with an emphasis on "much more." In Christ we are more than just “not guilty.” Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us. Therefore, we are judicially righteous in God’s sight (not merely morally neutral). Although we still have a nature “bent” towards sin, we have been given a new “heart” or “mind” that desires righteousness. We have a new factory. As we renew our minds, our nature is brought into conformity with the nature of Christ.

Walk with me through Romans:
· Romans 1: vv. 16-17 - The righteous shall live by faith (dependence).
Romans 1:18-2:5 – This is what happened in Genesis 1 and now the wrath of God abides on man
· Romans 2:6-13 – Covenant Language
· Romans 3:5-6a and then Romans 3:9-18
· Romans 4:1-3 – Language of Imputation “counted as” Compare with II Corinthians 5:21
· Romans 5: 5 contrasts vv. 15; 16; 17; 18; 19
· Romans 6: Released from Slavery to Sin Nature Inherited from Adam (this was our atonement) –vv. 1-7
· Romans 7: Released from Requirements of the Law for Prerequisite to Righteousness: 7:1 (The law is good); 7:10 (the law is meant for life, but only brings death); 7:21-25
· 8:1 is vital. 8:2-4 (the outworking of our righteous position and mind is righteousness.

"Adam" Is like the Heart
The Heart can be "set upon" or "eat of" the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Why is the heart central to change? Matthew 15:18-20

Proverbs 4:23; Romans 12:1-2 – Like Adam was called to guard and cultivate the garden, we are called to guard and cultivate the mind.

How do we live a life of fulfillment, satisfaction, and obedience? How to we love our Lord? Colossians 2:6-7

“Set Your Mind”

Colossians 3:2; II Corinthians 10:3-7; Romans 12:1-2

Matthew 15:18-20, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

· Everything we think, say, and do comes from the heart

By the Spirit

The means you use to mortify the flesh is always tied to motive.

You have two choices: You can change by using the flesh, or you can change by using the Spirit.

Motive: When using the flesh, your motive is to change behavior in order to please self. When using the Spirit, your motive is to change the heart, naturally resulting in behavioral change – in order to Love God and find your satisfaction in Him.

Examples: Begin practicing spiritual disciplines to win a girl’s attention. Begin desiring purity because you hate feeling guilty - by the flesh.

Lesson: Restraining sin is not mortifying grace. It is like trying to stop the flow of water by building a dam. Eventually the dam will break if the water continues to build. You want to cut it off at its source.

Marrying the Method (Set Your Mind) with the Means (by the Spirit)

HELPLESS AGGRESSION
DEPENDENT PERSISTENCE

SET YOUR MIND

As well might a poor man expect to be rich in this world without industry, or a weak man to become strong and healthy without food and exercise, as a Christian to be rich in faith and strong in the Lord without earnest endeavor and diligent effort. It is true that all our labors amount to nothing unless the Lord blesses them (Psalm 127:1), as it also is that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Nevertheless, God places no premium upon sloth, and has promised that "the soul of the diligent shall be made fat" (Proverbs 13:4). A farmer may be fully persuaded of his own helplessness to make his fields productive, he may realize that their fertility is dependent upon the sovereign will of God, and he may also be a firm believer in the efficacy of prayer; but unless he discharges his own duty his barns will be empty. So it is spiritually.

God has not called His people to be drones, nor to maintain an attitude of passiveness. No, He bids them work, toil, labor. The sad thing is that so many of them are engaged in the wrong task, or, at least, giving most of their attention to that which is incidental, and neglecting that which is essential and fundamental. "Keep thy heart with all diligence" (Proverbs 4:23): this is the great task which God has assigned unto each of His children. But oh, how sadly is the heart neglected! Of all their concerns and possessions, the least diligence is used by the vast majority of professing Christians in the keeping of their hearts. As long as they safeguard their other interests—their reputations, their bodies, their positions in the world—the heart may be left to take its own course.
Thus, for the Christian to "keep" his heart with all diligence means for him to pay close attention to the direction in which his affections are moving, to discover whether the things of the world are gaining a firmer and fuller hold over him or whether they are increasingly losing their charm for him. God has exhorted us, "Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2), and the heeding of this injunction calls for constant examination of the heart to discover whether or not it is becoming more and more dead unto this deceitful and perishing world, and whether heavenly things are those in which we find our chief and greatest delight.

This work of keeping the heart is the hardest of all.

"To shuffle over religious duties with a loose and heedless spirit will cost no great pains; but to set thyself before the Lord, and tie up thy loose and vain thoughts to a constant and serious attendance upon Him: this will cost something! To attain a facility and dexterity of language in prayer, and put thy meaning into apt and decent expressions, is easy; but to get thy heart broken for sin whilst thou art confessing it, be melted with free grace, whilst thou art blessing God for it, be really ashamed and humbled through the apprehensions of God’s infinite holiness, and to keep thy heart in this frame, not only in, but after duty, will surely cost thee some groans and travailing pain of soul. To repress the outward acts of sin, and compose the external acts of thy life in a laudable and comely manner, is no great matter—even carnal persons by the force of common principles can do this; but to kill the root of corruption within, to set and keep up an holy government over thy thoughts, to have all things lie straight and orderly in the heart, this is not easy" (John Flavel).

Getting air out of a glass..

BY THE SPIRIT (prayer is major here): There is a reason why you are incorporating so many disciplines and seeing very little consistency: you are not praying.

Illustrate with Hannah on the Swing; baking a cake; vine and branches

What is the Mission of the Church?

Sermon Notes from 3/20/2011

This is a great opportunity for meditation. Remember, the notes are my bullet points for preaching purposes and are not to be used as a substitute for the spoken message on Sunday morning. The notes are to be used as a supplement to the spoken message, prividing my presentation, Scripture references, and application points. Please let me know if you have any questions. I am providing these as a tool to help you meditate on the Word you have heard. God bless!

Genesis 2:4-17  The second Adam: Pardon and Perfection

The Covenant of Works

A covenant exists when there are multiple parties, a stipulation, a promise for obedience and a curse for disobedience.  Last week we discussed how Adam, and all of us as represented by Adam, were placed on probation under a covenant of works. The reason God did not make man perfectly righteous, without the ability to fall, was discussed last week.

The Bible is clear: In Genesis 3:22, God declares that if man were to eat of the tree of life, he would have lived forever. Romans 7:10, “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.”

God’s standard never changes. Remember a few weeks ago, when studying the Sabbath? Hebrews 4 tells us that the Sabbath was to be obeyed by Moses and Israel (4^th Commandment), by Joshua, by David, and the Hebrews (there still remains a rest for the people of God, so strive to enter into that rest).

We know from the overview of Genesis 1:1-2:3 that God created man on the sixth day, and that man never entered into Day 7 because of the fall in Genesis 3.  Therefore, throughout Scripture God holds out the command and promise of the “Sabbath” or “Rest.” Consequently, we see that as God required good works to enter into Heaven (righteousness or perfect obedience) that is still the unchangeable requirement of an unchangeable God.

Saved by Works? Man gets into Heaven because he passes or fails the covenant of works. For Adam, the difference between life and death was not forgiveness or neutrality, but righteousness. Notice the same covenantal language throughout the Bible:

·         God said to Cain, “Why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, you will be accepted. If you do not, sin is crouching at your door, but you must rule over it (Genesis 4:6-7).

·         Turn and read Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (Moses)

·         Exodus 19:3-6

·         Joshua 24:14-28

·         “And behold, a man came up to him, saying ‘Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?’ And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:16-17).

·         “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “Depart from me you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23).

·         Matthew 5:20; Matthew 5:48 (the demand for righteousness to enter Heaven)

·         “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:6-8).

Man’s original state was a state of probation: he remained in possession of what he had, so long as he did not commit sin, but it was not a state in which the continuance of his religious and moral status could be guaranteed to him. Adam was not doomed to death, yet was not immortal either – his fate depended upon his works. Passing probation and walking in obedience promised man an irrevocable state of righteousness and communion with the Father (Genesis 3:22).

Through the Cross and the atonement of Christ alone, we would have been “reset” back to probation. In Christ, we have not only pardon, but pardon and perfection.

Westminster Shorter Catechism: Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, AND accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone (Answer 33).

Not Only “Not Guilty”

Atonement and Justification or Righteousness

Even before the entrance of sin in the world Adam needed to be justified, that is, he needed a judicial declaration granting him the right to eternal life. Consider Adam as he was before the fall, innocent and without sin. He did not yet possess eternal life. Adam was not yet mortal (destined to die) as we are, yet he was not immortal either (he could die). According to Genesis 2, God entered into a covenant with Adam in order to give him the possibility of gaining the right to eternal life. God wanted to see that man would submit and would love Him, as displayed through obedience.

Just as one sinful act brought man under condemnation, eternal wrath, and perpetual sin - because it was committed against an eternal God, one act of righteousness would have brought man into eternal bliss and perpetual obedience.

Justification here includes but goes beyond the forgiveness of sins. It refers to our being declared righteous in God’s sight on the basis of Christ’s righteousness, even though we are guilty sinners who deserve a) God’s wrath b) the requirement for adherence to the law

·         Romans 5:6-21 – especially v. 10 (5 parallels between Adam and Christ)***

John Piper’s Argument:

2 Corinthians 5:21

It follows from the parallel with Christ’s being “made sin” for us. Christ is “made sin” not in the

sense that he becomes a sinner, but in the sense that our sins are imputed to him. But if Christ’s being made sin for us implies the imputation of our sin to Christ, then it is not arbitrary or unnatural to construe the parallel—our “becoming the righteousness of God in him”—as the imputation of God’s righteousness to us. We “become” God’s righteousness the way Christ “was made” our sin. He did not become morally sinful in the imputation; we do not become morally righteous in the imputation. He was counted as having our sin; we are counted as having God’s righteousness. The meaning of the expression is explained by the prophecy of Isaiah 53:6: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Our sin, with all its guilt and shame, was imputed to Him, put to His account, reckoned as if it were His—even though it was not. Or, to back up a few verses, in the words of Isaiah 53:4: "He hath borne our grief, and carried our sorrows."This is the reality of imputation.

·         Romans 4:22-25

·         II Corinthians 5:21

Phil Johnson’s Argument:

Imputation Explained: Does Jesus' life count for me, or just His death?

In what sense was Christ like Adam? Just as Adam stood in relationship to the human race as our head and representative, Christ stands in relationship to the redeemed race as our head and representative. Again, by withstanding temptation, Christ did for us what Adam failed to do. That's why Paul says in Romans 5:19: "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

Again and again, Scripture says Jesus' death is what made atonement for our sins (I Corinthians 15:3; Romans 5:10; I Peter 1:18-19).

But is there any sense in which His life also had redemptive significance? I believe there is. Throughout His earthly life, Christ was acting as our substitute, so that everything He did as a man, He did on our behalf. And everything He did ultimately contributed to our redemption.There's a reason why Christ did not simply take on the body of a human adult and visit earth for a weekend in that full-grown incarnate form, die, and then ascend to heaven. Would simply dying in human form, apart from living a complete human life, have provided the same kind of sufficient atonement for us? Apparently not. There is great significance in Luke 4 (Jesus’ wilderness temptation). Jesus did not have to do “works of righteousness” to be righteous.
Meanwhile, keep this principle in mind: Christ's life, and not His death only, contributes something vital to our redemption.

It means that God treated Him as if He were the very embodiment of everything vile, and contemptible, and base, and evil—and He did that "for us."

Christ was as far from sin as we are from righteousness.

And as we're about to see, Paul is actually describing a double imputation in this verse (2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, the imputation goes both ways: the believer's guilt imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness reckoned to the believer.

·         Jesus became sin for us (II Corinthians 5:21) – Jesus never sinned and never became a sinner. Jesus “bore” our sin and God poured His wrath out upon Christ as He should have us. Although Jesus was not a sinner, God treated Him as He was because Jesus bore our sin.

·         Jesus became our righteousness by imputing His righteousness to us (II Corinthians 5:21). Although we are not perfectly righteous, Christ has given us His righteousness just as He bore our sin. Although we are not perfect, God treats us as though we are judicially perfect because Christ did, as our representative (Luke 4), what Adam failed to do (Genesis 2-3). Our imputed righteousness gives us the ability to live practically righteous on a daily basis (we will discuss this next week).

Some Implications

·         People outside of Christ are under God’s wrath because they are sinners, not because they sin. You sin because you are a sinner; you do not become a sinner because you sin.

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all SINNED” (Romans 5:12). This is why it was important that last week I prove the point – everyone would have done exactly as Adam did in disobeying God and failing probation.

·         I John was written to give us assurance of our salvation. The chief evidence Scripture gives for a man who is born-again is obedience to God’s Word. Read Romans 6:1-11. Just as a “sin factory” wants to sin and cannot do otherwise, a “righteous factory” produces works of righteousness. Your justification does not depend on your sanctification, but your progressive sanctification must naturally follow your justification. We live with great hope and worship that God, in Christ, has forgiven us of our sin. However, we must live with equal hope that God has provided us with the ability to be obedient and to live joyful, God-honoring lives here on earth.

·         Understanding the Covenant of Works and Imputation would keep us from moralism, legalism, and works-based righteousness (the loss of salvation). “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (I Corinthians 15:17-19). How could we continue to feel as if we gain merit or favor with God because of our works when our righteousness is based solely on the righteousness of Christ?

·         Heaven: We are wrong to think that the “environment and circumstances” of Heaven are what keeps us from falling into sin again. Adam was in the perfect environment. You say, “Satan will be locked away.” It is not Satan who tempts, but Satan’s temptation that makes evident our deepest desire to sit upon God’s throne. If perpetual obedience and sinless existence were contingent upon environment and circumstance, Satan nor Adam would have sinned. It is the imputed righteousness of Christ that preserves us every moment in Heaven.

Last week, we saw why all of man is born lost (works or imputed sin). This week we have seen the basis on which man is saved (atonement and works or imputed righteousness). Next week I would like to examine how Genesis 2:4-17 instructs us how to live lives of obedience and joy while on this earth.

Heart Work

    "To shuffle over religious duties with a loose and heedless spirit will cost no great pains; but to set thyself before the Lord, and tie up thy loose and vain thoughts to a constant and serious attendance upon Him: this will cost something! To attain a facility and dexterity of language in prayer, and put thy meaning into apt and decent expressions, is easy; but to get thy heart broken for sin whilst thou art confessing it, be melted with free grace, whilst thou art blessing God for it, be really ashamed and humbled through the apprehensions of God’s infinite holiness, and to keep thy heart in this frame, not only in, but after duty, will surely cost thee some groans and travailing pain of soul. To repress the outward acts of sin, and compose the external acts of thy life in a laudable and comely manner, is no great matter—even carnal persons by the force of common principles can do this; but to kill the root of corruption within, to set and keep up an holy government over thy thoughts, to have all things lie straight and orderly in the heart, this is not easy" (John Flavel).

Not Just "Not Guilty"

Hello Church. I was cruising around the blog world today and found this. I thought it was a neat "coincidence" in light of our study Sunday. I hope if serves as edification for you.

Pastor Brian

The truth is that our redemption depends not only on Christ’s substitutionary death, but his substitutionary life as well. In fact, J. Gresham Machen’s last recorded words (sent by telegram to his friend and colleague, John Murray) were, “So thankful for Christ’s active obedience; no hope without it!” He understood that apart from Christ’s law fulfilling life, there is NO righteousness to impute…and we are, therefore, left dressed in our own filthy rags.

In his excellent book, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, John Murray writes:

The real use and purpose of the formula (active and passive obedience) is to emphasize the two distinct aspects of our Lord’s vicarious obedience. The truth expressed rests upon the recognition that the law of God has both penal sanctions and positive demands. It demands not only the full discharge of its precepts but also the infliction of penalty for all infractions and shortcomings. It is this twofold demand of the law of God which is taken into account when we speak of the active and passive obedience of Christ. Christ as the vicar of his people came under the curse and condemnation due to sin and he also fulfilled the law of God in all its positive requirements. In other words, he took care of the guilt of sin and perfectly fulfilled the demands of righteousness. He perfectly met both the penal and the preceptive requirements of God’s law. The passive obedience refers to the former and the active obedience to the latter.

Christ’s life, in other words, is just as central to our rescue as his death. As I’ve said before, we are not saved apart from the law. Rather, we are saved in Christ who perfectly kept the law on our behalf. Michael Horton points this out in his excellent essay “Obedience is Better than Sacrifice”:

As important as it is that Christ bore the penalty of our sins on the cross, it is just as important that he triumphed over the powers of evil and recapitulated the history of fallen humanity and Israel. Adam was commanded to obey God’s law and failed, Israel was commanded to obey God’s law and failed, but Christ came into this world and completed a life of perfect obedience to the law of his Father. Christ the righteous One was indeed the Last Adam, the True Israel…We have not only been forgiven on the basis of Christ’s curse-bearing death, but justified on the basis of his probation-fulfilling life.

This is nothing new…it’s been a stamp of historic Reformed theological conviction for centuries as Heidelberg Catechism question 60 shows:

God imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of  Christ, as if I had never committed any sin, and myself had accomplished all the  obedience which  Christ has rendered for me.

So, Christ’s death is not the center of the Gospel anymore than Christ’s life is the center of the Gospel. One without the other fails to bring about redemption. It’s much more theologically accurate to say that Christ himself is the center of the Gospel (incarnation, life, death, resurrection, ascension, session, and promised return). I think this is a really big deal because the practical life implications of neglecting the totality of Christ’s person and work are disastrous.

I had the opportunity to point this out recently on a panel discussion in Orlando. I think much more work needs to be done in this area.

Just thinking out loud…and raising a warning flag!

- Tullian Tchividjian

Help with Thinking Rightly While Suffering:

The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but the well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose of God in the universe – the glorification of the grace and power of his Son - the grace and power that bore Him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done.

John Piper

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Faith upholds a Christian under all trials, by assuring him that every painful dispensation is under the direction of his Lord; that chastisements are a token of His love; that the season, measure, and continuance of his sufferings, are appointed by Infinite Wisdom, and designed to work for his everlasting good; and that grace and strength shall be afforded him, according to his need.

John Newton

Letters.

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Our Lord does not promise to change life for us; He does not promise to remove difficulties and trials and problems and tribulations; He does not say that He is going to cut out all the thorns and leave the roses with their wonderful perfume. No; He faces life realistically, and tells us that these are things to which the flesh is heir, and which are bound to come. But He assures us that we can so know Him that, whatever happens, we need never be frightened, we need never be alarmed.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, © Lloyd-Jones,1959-1960, p. 196. Used by Permission.

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Let Him therefore send and do what He will. By His grace, if we are His, we will face it, bow to it, accept it, and give thanks for it. God's Providence is always executed in the “wisest manner” possible. We are often unable to see and understand the reasons and causes for specific events in our lives, in the lives of others, or in the history of the world. But our lack of understanding does not prevent us from believing God.

Don Fortner

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For if [a Christian] cannot thank and praise God as well in calamities and sufferings as in prosperity and happiness, he is as far from the piety of a Christian as he that only loves them that love him is from the charity of a Christian. For to thank God only for such things as you like is no more a proper act of piety than to believe only what you see is an act of faith.  Resignation and thanksgiving to God are only acts of piety when they are acts of faith, trust and confidence in the divine goodness.

William Law

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"Saved Alone" was the message that Horatio Spafford received from his wife after the ship sank that was taking her and their four children to England in November, 1873.  After reuniting with his grieving wife at sea, the boat came near the area where his children had drowned.  It is speculated that at that time he wrote the words (contained in his famous hymn) that vividly described his own grief and faith: "When sorrows like sea billows roll - Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul."

Phyllis LePeau

How to Rejoice in any Situation, Zondervan, 1991, p. 11.

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Amid trials hard, temptations strong, and troubles constant, true faith is persevering faith.

Author Unknown

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If only for a moment, take your eyes off yourself and your circumstances, off the ways of this world and all rival claimants, and look at who God is. Ponder His mighty deeds. This isn’t to say your soul or circumstances aren’t important. It simply means that you are in the hands of an omnipotent God whose ability to act on your behalf is equaled only by His passionate affection for you as His child, whose strength is without end and whose sovereignty covers the expanse of the heavens. God’s desire isn’t to minimize your life and struggles and disappointments. His intent is for you to gain hope, knowing that nothing can wrench you from the loving arms of a God like this!

Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.100. www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.

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An evidence that our will has been broken is that we begin to thank God for that which once seemed so bitter, knowing that His will is good and that, in His time and in His way, He is able to make the most bitter waters sweet.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss 

A Place of Quiet Rest, Moody, 2000, p. 70.

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Though my natural instinct is to wish for a life free from pain, trouble, and adversity, I am learning to welcome anything that makes me conscious of my need for Him.  If prayer is birthed out of desperation, then anything that makes me desperate for God is a blessing… Puritan pastor William Gurnall makes this point in his writings, “The hungry man needs no help to teach him how to beg.”

Nancy Leigh DeMoss 

A Place of Quiet Rest, Moody, 2000, p. 235, 234.

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[When suffering] you need to seek help. This help comes first and finally from the living God. He hears, helps, strengthens, and vindicates those who rely on Him. If you look anywhere else first, you will set yourself up for a fall. You will get snared in bitterness and revenge (spurning God for your pride). You will flee in avoidance and addiction (spurning God for your false refuges and comforts). You will develop a perverted dependency on others (spurning God for your trust in man). Sadly, our culture has awakened countless people to think about what evil-doers (“abusers”) have done to them, but it has cast them upon their own resources as “abuse victims.” Yet victims can properly understand their own sins and sufferings, and God’s grace.

David Powlison

Seeing With New Eyes, P&R Publishers, 2003, p. 107.

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The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

George Muller

Signs of the Times. Christianity Today, v. 35, n. 95.

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Suffering is God’s surgery that leads to health when we respond by faith.

Ed Welch

Are You Humble Enough Not to Worry?

by John Piper

1 Peter 5:5-7

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because he cares for you.

Introduction

Humility is not a popular human trait in the modern world. It's not touted in the talk shows or celebrated in valedictorian speeches or commended in diversity seminars or listed with core values. And if you go to the massive self-help section of B. Dalton's or Barnes and Noble you won't find books on humility.
The basic reason for this is not hard to find: humility can only survive in the presence of God. When God goes, humility goes. In fact you might say that humility follows God like a shadow. We can expect to find humility applauded in our society as often as we find God applauded—which means almost never.
In September (12th) the Star Tribune carried a guest editorial that captured the atmosphere that asphyxiates humility:

There are some who naïvely cling to the nostalgic memory of God. The average churchgoer takes a few hours out of the week to experience the sacred . . . But the rest of the time, he is immersed in a society that no longer acknowledges God as an omniscient and omnipotent force to be loved and worshiped. . . Today we are too sophisticated for God. We can stand on our own; we are prepared and ready to choose and define our own existence.

In this atmosphere humility cannot survive. It disappears with God. When God is neglected, the runner up god takes his place, namely, man. And that by definition is the opposite of humility, namely, pride.
So the atmosphere we breathe is hostile to humility. And this text is utterly foreign to our times and utterly necessary. If what is said here doesn't take root in our lives, we will not be a Christian church; and we will not be salt and light for a perishing world.

Humility Is Essential to the Christian Life

The main point of this passage is that we Christians should be humble people. Three times the command comes in one form or another.

1. Verse 5a: "Younger men, be subject [i.e., be humble toward] to your elders."
2. Verse 5b: "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another."
3. Verse 6: "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God."

So the main point is plain in these three verses: humility is essential in the life of a Christian. It is a defining mark of a true Christian.

Four Incentives for Humility

So Peter also gives reasons or incentives—at least four.

1. Verse 5b: "God is opposed to the proud." Nothing could be worse than to have an infinitely powerful and holy God opposed to you. So don't be proud.
2. Verse 5b: "God gives grace to the humble." And nothing could be better than to have an infinitely powerful and wise God treat us graciously. He does that to the humble. The reason is not that humility is a performance of virtue that earns grace but that humility is a confession of emptiness that receives grace. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
3. Verse 6: God will use his mighty hand to exalt the humble: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time."
4. Verse 7: God will use his mighty hand to care for the humble: "Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you."

Be a humble person because, if you are proud, God will be against you in your pride, but if you are humble he will give you grace, exalt you in due time, and care for you along the way so that you don't have to be anxious.

Two Questions

That's the basic message of the text. Now how shall it take root in our minds and hearts and make a powerful difference in the way we live to God's honor? Let me try to make it sink deeper into us by asking two questions:

1. What is pride and humility?
2. What is the connection between humility and not being anxious?

How Do Humility and Not Being Anxious Relate?

I'll start with the second one. Did you notice (in the NASB) the grammatical connection between verses 6 and 7? "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you." It's not merely a new sentence. It's a subordinate clause. "Humble yourselves . . . casting your anxieties on him." I think this means that casting your anxieties on God is an expression of humility. It's like saying, "Eat politely . . . chewing with your mouth shut." "Drive carefully . . . keeping your eyes open." "Be generous . . . inviting someone over on Thanksgiving."
"Humble yourselves . . . casting your anxieties on God." One way to be humble is to cast your anxieties on God. Which means that one hindrance to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that undue worry about your future is probably a form of pride.
Now there is more to say about that. But to feel the full force of it we need to answer the first question, and then come back to this connection between pride and anxiety.

What Is Pride and Humility?

The second question was, What is pride and humility?
I'll try to answer that with ten biblical observations about pride. Humility is the opposite.
1. Pride Is Self-Satisfaction
God says to Israel in Hosea 13:4–6,

I have been the Lord your God since the land of Egypt . . . 5 I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of drought. 6 As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, and being satisfied, their heart became proud; therefore, they forgot Me. (Cf. Jeremiah 49:4.)

2. Pride Is Self-Sufficiency and Self-Reliance
Moses warns the people of God in Deuteronomy 8:11–17 about what will happen when they have rest in the promised land:

Beware . . . 12 lest, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply . . . 14 then your heart becomes proud, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt . . . [and you] 17 say in your heart, "My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth."

God's goodness is turned into self-sufficiency.
3. Pride Considers Itself Above Instruction
In Jeremiah 13:9–10 God says to the people of Judah,

I will destroy the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts.

Pride stubbornly refuses to be taught the way of God, and makes its own wishes the measure of truth.
4. Pride Is Insubordinate
Psalm 119:21 says,

Thou dost rebuke the arrogant, the cursed who wander from Thy commandments.

When the commandments of God are spoken, pride turns away and will not submit. It rejects the right and authority of God to command.
5. Pride Takes Credit for What God Alone Does
One of the most vivid illustrations of this is the case of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

[Nebuchadnezzar said], "Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" 31 While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying, "King Nebuchadnezzar . . . sovereignty has been removed from you . . . 32 until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes." (Daniel 4:30–32)

Then, after his season of humiliation grazing in the fields like and ox, Nebuchadnezzar is restored and confesses,

Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride. (Daniel 4:37; cf. Isaiah 10:12)

6. Pride Exults in Being Made Much Of
Jesus indicted the religious leaders in Jerusalem:

And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi. (Matthew 23:6)

7. Pride Aspires to the Place of God
In our family devotions we just read the story of Herod's pride in Acts 12:

And on an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. 22 And the people kept crying out, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" 23 And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:21–23; cf. Isaiah 14:12–14)

8. Pride Opposes the Very Existence of God
Psalm 10:4:

The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek [God]. All his thoughts are, "There is no God."

Pride knows that the simplest solution for its own survival would be that there be no God at all. That would be, as the Nazi's might say, "The Final Solution" for the survival of pride.
It doesn't come as any surprise then that . . .
9. Pride Refuses to Trust in God
Proverbs 28:25 contrasts arrogance and trust:

An arrogant man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper.

Pride cannot trust God. The posture of trust is too weak. Too dependent. It calls too much attention to the strength and wisdom of another. Trusting God is the heartbeat of humility, the opposite of pride.
When pride keeps us from trusting in God to take care of us, there are two possibilities: one is that we feel a false security based on our own imagined power and shrewdness to avert catastrophe. The other is that we realize that we cannot guarantee our security, and so we feel anxious.
Which brings us to the tenth trait of pride and the final explanation about the connection between 1 Peter 5:6 and 7.
10. Pride Is Anxious About the Future
In Isaiah 51:12–13 God says to anxious Israel that their problem is pride.

I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, and of the son of man who is made like grass; 13 that you have forgotten the Lord your Maker?

Who do you think you are to be afraid? Sounds strange, doesn't it? But that's how subtle pride is. Pride is the root of our anxiety.

The Full Force of 1 Peter 5:6–7

Now we can see clearly and feel the force of 1 Peter 5:6–7,

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time . . .

How? In what way shall you humble yourselves? Answer (v. 7): by "casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you." In other words, the humblest thing in the world is to do what 1 Peter 4:19 says, "Entrust your soul to a faithful Creator." Casting your anxieties on God means trusting the promise that he cares for you and has the power and the wisdom to put that care to work in the most glorious way.
That trust is the opposite of pride. It's the essence of humility. It's the confidence that the mighty hand of God is not over you to crush you but to care for you just like the promise says. Don't be proud, but cast your anxieties on him because he will care for you.
Whenever your heart starts to be anxious about the future, preach to your heart and say, "Heart, who do you think you are to be afraid of the future and nullify the promise of God? No, heart, I will not exalt myself with anxiety. I will humble myself in peace and joy as I trust this precious and great promise of God—he cares for me.