God has made this world to operate according to certain laws. There are laws in the natural realm, in this inanimate creation. There are also laws in our human body. And when we understand those laws, and submit ourselves to them, we get the benefit of those laws. Take electricity, for example. Electricity is something which man did not invent, but instead discovered. If Adam had known the principle, he could have had electricity in his time. But for thousands of years man lived without electricity. This is one example of the fact that when you discover the law, you get the benefit of it. It is the same with the human body. Medical research has discovered foods that are good for certain sickness, and foods that are bad. When we discover those laws and obey those laws, our physical life is healthier and we live longer. It is all the result of following God’s laws.
Now applying that spiritually, as long as man does not know God’s laws, he does not enjoy the benefit of them. Jesus said in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth (laws of the Spirit), and the truth shall set you free.” Jesus also said in John 14 and 16, about the Holy Spirit being the spirit of truth that had come to guide us into all the truth. And the more truth we know, the more we will be set free from bondage. If Christians are in bondage in any area, that is certainly not the will of God. God does not want any of His children to be in bondage. In the Old Testament we have that great story of the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt, which is written to show us that God never desires His children should be in bondage. But when we don’t know the truth and do not allow the Holy Spirit to show us the truths of Scripture, we remain in bondage. Or even if the Holy Spirit shows us certain laws and we don’t follow those laws, we still remain in bondage. For example, let us suppose that you have heart disease in your body. Medical research has proven that certain types of foods are not good for heart disease and your doctor tells you not to eat them. If you do not follow his advice, and get a heart attack, you can only blame yourself. You knew, but didn’t follow what you knew. There are many people like this who know but don’t follow. It is exactly the same in the Christian life. Some know the laws but don’t obey them and then they suffer loss.
One of these laws is the law of humility. We read of it in 1 Peter 5:5. “God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble.” This is an unchanging law of the Spirit. If you are humble you get the benefit of the grace; if you are proud God opposes you. This is a law that applies equally to the believer as well as to the unbeliever. It is like the law of gravity. If you jump off the roof of a building, the law of gravity does not find out first if you are a believer or an unbeliever. The law of gravity is the same whether you are a believer or an unbeliever. The law of gravity immediately begins to operate as soon as you step off the roof. And it makes no difference who you are. It is exactly the same here. If a person is proud, whether he is a believer or an unbeliever God will fight against him. Now, the devil is already fighting against people, the lusts of the flesh are fighting against people, and on top of that if God also fights against such people, there is no hope for such people. We have the devil fighting against us, we have our lusts fighting against us, we have human enemies fighting against us—our ONLY hope is if God doesn’t fight against us. But we say, “Does God fight against people?” Well, listen to God’s Word. The word resist means fight against. God does in fact fight against proud people. Sin came into the universe when an angel became proud. He was proud of his beauty, his intelligence, and his position. Do you think believers cannot be tempted to be proud of their physical beauty, mental abilities, or positions in the church? Christendom is full of people who are proud of some of these things. They are proud of their accomplishments, boasting of many, many things. And do you wonder why such Christians don’t make spiritual progress? Do you wonder why such Christians don’t draw close to God? Do you wonder why such Christians don’t know God? Do you wonder why when such Christians get up to speak their messages are boring and dead? It is because they don’t know God. They are not close to Him. There is no fire in their life because fire comes only from God. God gives grace to the humble. We could also say God always gives His grace to the humble. It’s a law that cannot be changed. It’s like saying water always flows down to the lowest place. If you want to collect water, make sure you are in the lowest place—you’ll get it first. That’s a law—it doesn’t change. Grace always flows down to the humblest person, always. Let us also consider what Peter says in verse 6, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” Now how do we understand God exalting us? Our understanding of the Bible depends on how our mind is oriented. If I am worldly in my thinking, I will read this verse as God exalting me in a worldly way. Making me a leader. Making me an elder. Putting me over people. Giving me authority over people. In other words if I humble myself for a little while, one day God will give me authority over people. I am sorry to disappoint you, because that is not what this verse is speaking about at all. It’s speaking about God exalting you over sin. Where sin comes under your feet. Not people. I’m not interested in having people under me, not at all. I’m called to be a servant, a slave. I don’t want people under me. But I want sin under my feet. God will exalt you over the devil. I want the devil under my feet. And if you are a serious Christian, you’d be far more interested in having sin and Satan under your feet, than people. The trouble with a lot of Christian leaders today is, that they have people under them, but sin is not under them, the devil is not under them. The devil runs rampant in their organizations. Sin overcomes these people in their life. But if you humble yourself, God will exalt you spiritually. This exaltation has nothing to do with leadership or authority. God is speaking about overcoming sin, the lusts in our flesh, and Satan. Everybody in the world has got sin sitting on top of his head, the devil is sitting on top of his head, but the one who humbles himself, God gives him grace. And grace exalts him over the things that were sitting on his head. Sin and Satan. And they come under his feet. Romans 16:20 says the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. He’s not only going to be under my feet, but he’s going to be crushed under my feet. He was already defeated on Calvary 2000 years ago. And Romans 16 was written 30 years after Calvary. And 30 years after Calvary, the Holy Spirits says through the Apostle Paul to the Christians at Rome, the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet. Jesus already defeated him on Calvary, but he is still being permitted to attack God’s people, so God’s people can have the joy of crushing Satan under their feet. There is an example of this in the Old Testament. When Joshua went with the Children of Israel into Canaan, when he defeated some kings, he brought those kings and made them bow down and he got the leaders of Israel to put their feet on top of the necks of these kings. And the leaders of Israel stood with their feet on top of the necks of these kings and Joshua said, “Thus will the Lord do to all the kings of the Canaanites.” That’s what the Lord says to His people. If you will humble yourself under My mighty hands, I will give you such grace, that Satan will never have anymore power over you. He will be under your feet. Satan will not have power in your home. Satan will not have power in your churches. He’ll be under your feet. Every demon will be under your feet. Sin will not rule over you. There is a promise like that in Romans 6. Romans 6:14 says, “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” The Old Covenant was symbolized by the word “law.” The New Covenant is represented by the word “grace.” Moses came down from the mountain and brought the law. Jesus went up to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit who brought grace. But that grace is not available for everyone. There is a law—the law of humility. God gives His grace to the humble. Some people just want forgiveness for their sins. “ If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins,” and that is as far as they want to go. So if you want only forgiveness of sins, I have nothing to tell you, because even in the Old Testament they had forgiveness of sins. In Psalm 103, David could stand in the tabernacle and say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul...who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who blesses your life with good things so that your life is renewed like the eagles.” You know what all they had in the Old Testament? They had forgiveness of sins, healing, and material prosperity. A gospel that preaches forgiveness of sins, healing from sickness, and material prosperity is a Psalm 103 gospel. It’s an Old Testament gospel. It’s a gospel, sure. All I say is that it is a gospel that was preached 3000 years ago. What is the thing that Jesus brought which David could not thank the Lord for? He could not say, “Bless the Lord who gives me victory over sin, so that sin does not rule over me.” He could never say that, because he was not under grace. So when the believer also stops where David stops, he is living in 1000 BC. He has not understood what grace can do. Romans 6:14 says, when you come under grace, you get something more that David had. Sin comes under your feet. Sin that was ruling you comes under your feet. That violent temper that you have, comes under your feet. Anger does not rule you anymore. It comes under your feet. Bitterness, your heart is no longer bitter with people—it comes under your feet. You are no longer jealous of somebody who has more than you or who is better than you are, it comes under your feet. Dirty thoughts, which rule the minds of so many people, stop ruling the mind. It comes under your feet. You need grace. And God gives His grace to the humble. Grace is a tremendous power. Grace is power. The Holy Spirit is called “The Spirit of Grace.” 2 Corinthians 12 speaks very clearly that God speaks of His grace as His power. When the Apostle Paul is giving his personal testimony about how he sought the Lord to remove a thorn from his flesh, the Lord did not grant his prayer. But the Lord said in verse 9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength (the word is dunamis in the Greek or power) is made perfect in weakness.” So there in that one sentence, we see God’s grace equals God’s power. Grace strengthens the heart’s defenses so that the enemy cannot come in. When the heart is not strengthened by grace, temptation will come knocking at the door of my heart and comes right in. Whether it’s anger, or dirty thoughts, or bitterness, or jealousy, or the love of money, or anything, it finds easy entrance into a person’s heart, because it is not strengthened by grace. So, don’t let the devil lead you to be occupied with unimportant things in the Christian life. One of the devil’s major tactics is to make us major on minor issues and to glory in the fact that we’ve got the right doctrine on some trivial, minor issue in Scripture, which is not the main thing. What is the most major issue? Let’s ask ourselves, “Why did Jesus come?” The first promise in the New Testament is the word which the angel told Joseph in Matthew 1:21. “You must call his name Jesus, He shall save His people from their sins.” It is not saying, “He will forgive their sins.” That is in Psalms 103. He will save His people from their sins. Now when Moses said that God had come to save them from the Egyptians, what did it mean? It meant only one thing. The Egyptians would not rule over them anymore. That is the distinctive feature of the New Testament. So whenever I’m defeated by any sin, and I believe that Romans 6:14 is true, I must say that in that moment I did not get grace. Every single time you shout at your wife or your husband, it’s because you did not get grace at that moment. It is amazing! I have seen people who say the Holy Spirit gives me other tongues but He doesn’t control their mother tongue. What sort of spirit is that? It is not the spirit of grace. If He doesn’t deliver you, I don’t know which spirit you have. The Spirit of God brings sin under our feet. It is the Spirit of Grace. It is because you have not followed that law of humility, that you don’t have it. There is no partiality with God. All people are the same. It doesn’t make any difference if you are 15 years old or 70 years old. God’s laws are the same. God gives grace to the humble. What difference does it make if that person is 10 years old or 100 years old? God opposes the proud. Is he proud? If so, God will fight against him. Is he humble? God will give him grace.
So, whenever a person is defeated by any sin and says, “Oh, these dirty thoughts—they enslave me. I try and I try and I fall and I fall and fall and fall.” What is the reason? Be honest. Is God’s Word true or not? Romans 3:3 says, “Let God be true and every man a liar.” Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will not pass away. God says, “Sin shall not rule over you when you are under grace.” I believe that with all my heart. This man who is failing must get honest and admit, “for some reason, I am not getting grace.” I believe one of the first things we need is honesty. And humility and honesty are very closely connected. They are like twins. The humble man is always honest. He will not pretend that he has something he doesn’t have. The proud man is dishonest. There are different groups that have preached holiness through the centuries. There were certain people who preached the doctrine of entire sanctification. They taught that God does such a work, that He burns up the flesh and the person is entirely sanctified and he cannot sin again. But some of these people sinned after that. They didn’t know what to do because they had already testified that they were already sanctified. So you know what they did? The human mind is very clever and the devil is always there to assist them. They called their failures “mistakes.” So when they “slipped up” they called it a “mistake.” But the unfortunate thing is, the blood of Jesus does not cleanse mistakes. It only cleanses sin. So they had to remain with their sin calling it “mistakes”. And they began backsliding and some of them fell into adultery. Why did this happen to them? It was because they were dishonest. When they sinned, they gave it some other name. Don’t give sin any other name. If you give it any other name, you will never be cleansed from it. The blood of Jesus cleanses sin. If you confess your sin as sin, the blood of Jesus will cleanse you. But if you are dishonest and call it by some other name, the blood will not cleanse you. Be honest. 1 John 2 says, “These things have I written unto you, that ye sin not, but if any man sin....” 1 John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” He includes himself. I am not saying that we can come to a life where it is impossible to sin. Such a life does not exist on this earth. We have to wait till we go to heaven for that. But what I am saying is this, we can have victory so that falling becomes a rare event. None of us can say today in the physical realm that I will never fall down. You might fall down the steps. It can happen to any of us. There is a lot of difference between you falling and an 11-month-old child falling. Once upon a time, you were an 11-month-old child and you were trying to walk and you fell and got up perhaps 20 times a day. There is a difference between that time and the present. Now your falls are rare. You still can’t say, “I never fall.” But it is so rare. You have learned to walk. We can learn to walk in victory. Grace is given so that we overcome sin. So when we fall into sin and lose our temper, or have a dirty thought, or have bitterness, or jealousy or any thing, all we need to ask is this one question. “Lord, where was I proud? Where was I proud, because in this moment a few seconds ago you didn’t give me grace? And you automatically give grace to every humble person. In this moment when I was tempted, you did not support me. You left me alone. Where was I proud?” And God may show you. We can be strong in ourselves. We can have a strength that comes from our confidence in ourselves. God has to make us weak, before He can give us grace. Are you content with difficulties? Paul was. When most people have difficulties, they say, “Lord, get rid of it.” It is good to pray like that, but there may be some situations where God does not remove those difficulties. God uses those persecutions, those distresses, insults, and even those physical weaknesses. These things serve to keep us humble. This is particularly so if God is using you, anointing you, and loves you. He never wants to become your enemy. That’s why He gives you physical weaknesses in your body. That’s why He allows people to insult you left and right and center. That’s why He allows you to go through many distresses. That’s why He allows you to be persecuted. That’s why He allows you to face difficulties. This is all for Christ’s sake. Paul says, “For when I am weak, then am I strong.” This is the law of humility. In the Christian life, it’s when I am weak, then am I strong.
There is a lot of boasting in Christian circles. Those are the people who don’t get grace. Those are the people whom God opposes. You can have God on one of two sides. You can either have God in front of you, facing you and pushing you backwards, or you can have God behind you, pushing you forwards. Which do you want? You are the one who is going to determine whether God will be in front of you pushing you backwards, or behind you pushing you forwards. It’s not God who determines that. You determine that. Let us suppose that you have been a humble brother or sister for 10 years, and God has used you to do many things in His kingdom. The moment you become puffed up, and begin to think, “I’ve really done something for the Lord,” immediately God moves around from the back to the front and begins to push you back. Even if you’ve been faithful for 30 years, the law of gravity does not respect how many years you’ve been faithful. The moment you step off, you fall down. The law of humility works the same way. It is day by day. That is the reason why the Lord watches over those who have surrendered themselves totally to Him. He watches over them with a very jealous care. It is like a husband watching over his weak wife with a very jealous care. Jesus will watch over you with a very jealous care, protecting you from the things that will cause you to lose grace. He will not prevent you from losing money. Sometimes He may allow you to lose money, so that you don’t lose grace. Sometime He may allow you to lose your health, so that you don’t lose grace. God is not so interested in health and money, as all these health and wealth preachers are today. Don’t believe all those. God is interested in you losing sin and getting grace in your life and ministry. God wants you to live a useful life on earth. A life where you are so saturated with the grace of God that you live in victory over sin, and lead others to victory over sin.
Many people have asked me through the years, “Brother Zac, why can’t I get victory. I really believe what you preach, and I really want victory in my life.” And I say, “God wants to give you victory with humility.” The primary mark of genuine holiness is humility. A really holy man will be humble. We can think of anger or lustful thoughts as a hundred-foot pit. Maybe you are in that hundred foot pit. Maybe you are praying to God to deliver you from this hundred-foot pit. Now here is another one thousand-foot pit called spiritual pride. Suppose God delivers you from this hundred-foot pit of lust and anger and you fall into the thousand-foot pit of spiritual pride. What is that? Is that victory? That’s not victory at all. That’s why God allows us to be defeated, and defeated, and defeated until we are convinced we can never get victory. And when we are convinced we can never get victory, then the Lord comes and delivers us. And we cannot boast because we were convinced. We could never make it. We were like those disciples who went fishing and fishing and fishing and didn’t catch anything. And then Jesus came and filled their boats with fish. So that is why God allows us to be defeated. This is to humble us. And God knows the point in which we have been thoroughly defeated enough. That is how it was in my life. I was defeated and defeated, but I confessed my hope that one of these days sin will not rule over me. And I said, “Lord, I don’t care how long it takes, I want to come to that life unto grace where sin does not rule over me.” And it came. And it can come in your life too, if you persist. Be honest. Don’t call sin by any other name. When you have fallen, say you have fallen. Humble yourself. Go down and say, “Lord, I have fallen, forgive me, but I believe that grace will come upon my life one of these days and sin will come under my feet.” God gives His grace to the humble. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. All the circumstances that God sends into your life—Humble yourself. The difficult people that God sends into your life like thorns in the flesh. Don’t fight against those circumstances, don’t fight against God. Say, “Lord, these are necessary for me to humble me. I go down under them, I accept them.” One day you will find God exalts you. It’s up to us whether we get the benefit of this law of humility or whether we find God opposing us. Let’s choose wisely.
