Saving grace is for the humble, those with a beatitude attitude, those who are spiritually bankrupt,

know it, mourn over their bankruptcy, come to the Lord meekly, almost hesitant to come into

his presence.

They're so ashamed, but they're so hungry, they'll come because they know what they most need.

They lack. Welcome to Grace to You, featuring the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. I'm your host,

Phil Johnson. It's said that the man who stands straightest in the battle with sin is the man

who bows lowest in the presence of God. Of course,

you're always in God's presence, so the question is, how low are you bowing? In other words,

how are you doing at humbling yourself before God? Consider that today as we continue John

MacArthur's series titled The Pillars of Christian Character.

John will show you the importance of cultivating humility and help you shun the myth that self-confidence

is the key to success. Follow along in your Bible now as John begins the lesson.

We have been looking at the anatomy of the church, looking at what are the ingredients,

the essential elements and components and features of church life. What should a church be?

The church is in an identity crisis. It is kind of struggling to figure out what its identity

should be. Some churches are struggling with figure out what its identity should be.

Some churches are struggling with the substance of that identity and others are struggling

with the style of that identity.

We have to go back to the Word of God to understand what are the absolute essentials and

that's what we're endeavoring to do, and we're borrowing the wonderful imagery of the

metaphor of the body of Christ which our Lord gave through the Apostle Paul in the New Testament.

We're extending in a little bit to talk about the anatomy of the church.

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