Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the passage we read, 1 Peter
chapter 5, and reading for our text verse 6. 1 Peter 5 and verse
6. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 6. The apostle sets before the churches
here the path of humility. He begins with speaking to the
elders and giving them the responsibilities that they have, exhorting them
that they are to feed the flock of God which is among them, taking
the oversight thereof. And we might say, well, yes,
we can easily see how the apostle would speak to those that have
a position and responsibilities in the church, that he has something
to exhort them to do, something that is important that they fulfill
that office. And there is given to that a
promise as well, that when the chief shepherd shall appear,
he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. But then
he says in verse 5, likewise ye younger, and you think, well
likewise, what is the apostle meaning? He has spoken of specifically
the elders, what is their path, how they are to conduct themselves. So really what he's saying is
likewise, the younger have a way that they are to commit and to
conduct themselves as well. And he says, submit yourselves
unto the elder. If the elders have responsibility,
they are not to be lords over God's heritage, but examples
The younger also have a responsibility to submit themselves to their
eldership. It is a solemn mark of society
today in a complete rebellion against authority, not submitting
unto any authority at all, and that sadly is also very much
in the churches as well. The authority of the church is
despised and undermined. The authority of the elders is
as well. And the Lord speaks here through
Peter as reproof to that. But then he broadens that out
to everyone. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another. And be clothed with humility. What a picture. Clothing. That which we see that covers
our nakedness, that which men see, is to be humility. You know, if we look at someone,
we see them, but we see their clothes. You don't have to look
closely at it. It is very evident what that
person is wearing. And so he says, here, if people
look at you, what do they see? Do they see pride, arrogance,
or do they see humility? He says, For God resisteth the
proud and giveth grace to the humble. In the words of our text,
the exhortation, Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand
of God, that he may exalt you in due time. This is a vital
Christian grace. Humility is the way to a blessing,
the way to the grace of God. It's a very, very sad thing.
When pride rises, when pride is uppermost, God resisteth the proud. Wherever
there is trouble, in the Church of God, in the world as well,
You can almost certainly trace it. It is because of the pride
of man. He will not bow. He will not
submit. He will not bend. We are proud
by nature. It's one of the most solemn fruits
of the fall, that which flows forth from listening to Satan,
who would say, hath God said? Now, first parents, rather than
listen to the Lord their Creator, they listen to Satan. They really
rise up in rebellion, as if that they should be greater than God. So this is a vital word, a practical
word. The vital grace. The grace that
where it is lacking, there is trouble, there is strife, there's
divisions. And where it is in evidence,
there is the blessing of the Lord. So on to look then with
the Lord's help this morning at four points. Firstly, the
mighty hand of God. Secondly, being under the mighty
hand of God. And thirdly, the reason that
is given to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. And then lastly, what it is to
humble ourselves. If we are to obey this exhortation
and walk in this path, we need to know something of what it
is, what the end result will be. But firstly, the mighty hand
of God. It is good for us to be reminded
of the greatness of God. We can easily overlook it, we
take for granted, as we see the creation, many things. And yet we would remember that
the God whom we serve, the God of the Bible, is the God of creation. That with one word, he spoke
this world into existence. By his word the sun, the moon,
the stars were formed, the earth and all that is in it. He spake
and it was done. The mighty God, those things
that are so great, so vast, and yet also that which is so small
that man cannot see it with the naked eye. It must be seen with
a microscope. Those tiny, tiny things. I've
marveled as I've seen this little speck moving across the room. And if we were to look closely,
or look under a micro, or under even a magnifying glass, you
see there is a little creature. And it's got legs, it's got life,
it's got moving. And there it is, so tiny and
small. Smaller than any piece in a watch
or a thing that man can make. And God has made them all. Every
atom, everything in this world didn't just happen. It was created. Created by this mighty God, the
mighty hand of God. And then from the creation, we
see the flood, that God was able to destroy this world and then
raise it up again through Noah. We see the judgments on Sodom
and Gomorrah. We hear the word of the Lord,
who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass when the Lord
commandeth it not. Daniel, in interpreting the Dream
to Nebuchadnezzar of the image. He says it is the mighty God
that was revealing to Nebuchadnezzar that which was to come. And what
was being spoken of was of kingdoms. Kingdoms that were being raised
up and kingdoms that were being brought down. And we would remember
that still in all the nations of the earth and the conflicts
on the earth. The Lord is the order of it all. Man is not in control. God is
in control. The earth is the Lord's, and
he doeth according to his will, not only on earth, but in heaven
as well. And we are to pray, thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven. when the law was given and rehearsed
again in Deuteronomy 10. We have in verse 17, For the
Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God,
a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh
reward. He doth execute the judgment
of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, and
giveth him food and raiment. That mighty God, the God of heaven
and earth, and yet he humbleth himself to behold those upon
the earth and to look after those on the earth. He is good to all,
his tender mercies are over all his works. This is that great
God we have in Reminded in the Psalms as well, the Psalms, many
of them speak of the greatness of our God. Psalm 95 verse 3,
for the Lord is a great God and great King above all gods. And what goes before that? It's
a call to worship. O come and let us sing unto the
Lord, Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence
with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with songs. For the Lord is a great God and
a great King above all. gods and may we truly know this
God and humble ourselves before him. When Paul writes to Titus
he says the Church of God the way it is to walk is looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. May we never have small thoughts
of a great God. God's Word, reproved to man,
is thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself. But when the Lord truly blesses
a people, they won't have small thoughts of God. God is greatly
to be feared in the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence
of all them that are about him. The mighty hand of God is seen
in all the earth. It is a hand that has strength,
has power, has ability, And there's none that moves, does anything
without permission from this great God. He's not a helpless
God, that is what is set forth here. He's not just a mighty
God, but he's the mighty hand of God. He is not helpless. He is a mighty God who has a
mighty arm and a mighty hand and in salvation at hand is our
Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the arm of salvation. And that was what followed on
from, if we'd have read further in Titus, the great God and our
Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might
redeem us from all iniquity, purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works." We heard on Thursday about that
peculiar people and why they are referred to as such. Let us then think, secondly,
of being under the mighty hand of God. Our text says, humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God. What is meant by being under
the mighty hand of God? Well in one sense we think of
Pharaoh and Egypt when God was to bring out the children of
Israel from Egypt. God said that he raised up Pharaoh
to show forth his might and power in him. Pharaoh, he said, who
is the Lord that I should obey him? He was not submitting to
him, he was rebelling against him, but really Egypt and Pharaoh
were under the mighty hand of God. God was dealing with that
nation in the signs and wonders that he wrought. And really also
the children of Israel were under his hand because God was working
for them and working to bring them out from Egypt. You can then be under the hand
of God, the mighty hand of God, but not in a gracious way. under
that way of judgment, the same as those were that were in Sodom
and Gomorrah. In one sense, we all are under
the mighty hand of God. We are his creation. We are accountable
to him. And Paul says to those on Mars
Hill that in him we live and move and have our being. We are under the hand of God. And may we realize that. But may we know it especially
in the way of grace. And of course the Apostle is
here writing to the churches, the strangers scattered abroad,
and he's writing to those that do know the Lord's dealings at
hand, especially in the way of grace. And we need that. You know, it's the same mighty
hand of God that formed and created the earth, that has brought forth
salvation, that has brought forth his beloved Son, that were the
great miracle of God manifest in the flesh. Great is the mystery
of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. The greatest work
that man is the subject of is God's work in saving, in redemption,
and in the work of God's grace in a sinner's heart. And I say
this, that when God begins to work to save any individual here
below, they come in a feeling sense under the mighty hand of
God. God begins a work in them. We read, He which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. So there is a beginning when
the mighty hand of God in saving is upon a person, upon a sinner. So it begins, it begins by a
work of grace. Sometimes There may be those
things that precede that, things that happen in our lives, may
be tragedies, may be losses and trials. God says of his people,
I've chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. It may be through
affliction and sickness that God has awakened us to a need
and to consider where will we be when our mortal life is finished. When we must die, where will
our soul be? And under that mighty hand of
God, under the call by grace, when the new birth is given,
the Lord quickens a soul, makes him alive, gives him new ears,
new eyes, new feeling, new life. I give unto them eternal life,
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out
of my hand. then they come under the teaching
of God. When the children of Israel were
brought out of Egypt, they were brought into the wilderness,
and for 40 years they were given the law of God, they were given
the teaching of God, they had to know that man did not live
by bread only, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth
of God. They depended upon the manner
given by the miraculous hand of God, from the water that flowed
from the rocks smitten by God. These things the children of
Israel walk through and we read that all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord. He shall teach them as in the
way that he seemeth fit. He instructs them and guides
them. They need to be taught that they
are sinners. They may need to be taught that
this is not their rest, it is polluted. They need to be taught
that they have a soul, that they are mortal. They need to be taught
that they have to do with this great God, this mighty God, and
that they must stand before Him. They're given the fear of the
Lord, He becomes a real reality to them. And under His hand,
they are taught those vital, vital truths of God. the truths
of redemption, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only name
given among men, whereby we must be saved, not by deeds of righteousness,
which we have done, but by his grace, his mercy, he saved us,
not according to our works, but according to his grace. And so
it is under that hand of God. And many a soul, as the Lord
begins to deal with them, they don't realise it, they don't
know that it is God's hand. They may kick against it, rebel
against it. The changes that are wrought
in their lives, the things that are touched, the things that
are marred, the things that are done to make them sick of self,
the things that are done to truly humble them, galling to flesh. Those things that they are totally
ashamed of, what they have done and said and walked in. It is
the hand of God upon a sinner. And when the Lord puts forth
his hand, you and I will not be able to get out from under
that. However much we kick and rebel and fret, we will not be
able to One is brought under the hand
of God when he chastens. David, for his sin, the sword
shall not depart from thy house. And the rest of his life he was
under the hand of God in that way as the sword was in his house. Absalom, Amnon, all of the things
that happened unto him. Now, no chastening. Seemeth,
for the present, seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless
afterward. But under that chastening, it
is under God's hand. It may be as well. The Lord sees
fit to lay affliction upon us. The pain's here. Troubles here,
weakness, illness, sickness. The Lord's hand, the mighty hand
of God that can touch a man and take away his strength at a moment. He weakened my strength in the
way. Tribulation, providences, solemn
thing, it was said, with Egypt as they followed Israel through
into the Red Sea. They said, the Lord fighteth
for Israel. What was he doing? He's taking
off their chariot wheels so that they drive them heavily, things
going wrong. That was not in a saving way.
There's a way of judgment, most solemn thing. But sometimes the
Lord in mercy does it, to open the ears of His children. One
thing after another goes wrong. The chariot wheels, as it were,
are taken off. Troubles, disappointments, frustrations. The Lord knows how to prepare
a soul and open their ear And though it may begin in a way
that they fret, they rebel, they kick, they try their hardest
to get out from under his hand, to fix things themselves. If
money can fix it, they would. If friends can be called in to
fix it, they will. If more time, then they'll spend
more hours into the night watchers to do it. They will do it. Anything, anything but to acknowledge
the hand of God. anything but to bow before Him
and to be taught by Him or to acknowledge that the Lord has
any controversy with us or any dealings with us. Man's heart does not bow easy. There is a reason, a reason for
the exhortation that is here. You might think, if the Lord
is working in my heart, if he's given me his grace, then I'll
have a lovely frame, a gracious frame, a right frame. I'll be such a godly person,
a lovely person. No. It brings out first what
we really are. We don't bow before the Lord.
You rise up, we kick, we struggle. What was said of Paul, Saul of
Tarsus, when the Lord appeared on the Damascus road, it is hard
for thee to kick against the pricks. What pricks? We're not
told, but no doubt pricks of conscience and things that have
happened that he just wasn't listening to the word of the
Lord. And that is implied here. Here is souls that are under
the hand of God, and they need an exhortation. Because naturally,
we are not humbling. Naturally, we are rising up. And he's also then bound up in
our next point as well. that before we leave this point,
it is a great blessing to be under the hand of God. That might
not sound very encouraging, when you might think that everything
is going wrong, and the Lord's hand seems so against you. We
think of Naomi in the book of Ruth. She said, the Lord's hand
has gone out against me. She had been bereaved of her
husband, her two sons. She says, don't call me Naomi,
which is pleasant, but Mara, which is bitter. The Lord hath
dealt bitterly with me. But she was humbled under the
hand of God. And I would say in this, in being
under the hand of God, how much better to be there than the Lord
saying, just let them go. Let them go, let them have their
fill of this world. Let them just be without God
and without hope in the world. Let my hand be far off from them. I'm not going to touch them,
deal with them, not going to hurt them, not going to bless
them, not going to have anything to do with them. You read, a
child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. God doesn't
leave his children to themselves. And it is a great blessing. If
you and I are brought up short and we find that we just cannot
do as we want to do, that we are under the mighty hand of
God and get out from it, we cannot. You might have tried many times.
You think of the woman in the scriptures that was afflicted
with the issue of blood 12 years. And she'd spent her all on physicians. What was she trying to do? Get
out from under the hand of God, the mighty hand of God. Did it
work? No, it didn't work. Was it a blessing that it didn't
work? Yes, it was. Because it brought her at last
to the Lord. and brought her to be cured by
Him miraculously. There's a good thing. If we cannot get out from the
hand of the Lord except He blesses us. So then I want to look then in
our third point. The reason given to humble ourselves
under God's hand. That reason is given here. Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may
exalt you in due time. The humbling is bringing down,
that he may exalt you. And remember this, this mighty
hand of God, not only is mighty to bring down, but he's mighty
to bring up as well. He that smites is He that blesses. Show a man that God has by His
mighty hand convinced them of their sin and brought them as
a guilty hell-deserving sinner, and I'll show you a man that
that same God will exalt and show His beloved Son and Saviour
and exalt His dear people as being partners with His throne
and heirs together. of the grace of God, because
this is the reason given for that humbling and to bow before
God's hand. And I said before, we might have
the mistaken thought, well, if it is God's hand, then I will
be humble and gracious and low, but no. The reason why we are to humble
ourselves is that the Lord would give grace. We have in verse
5, Be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud. And that is what we are. Before
being humbled, we're proud. We will not have this man to
reign over us. He will not guide our lives.
He will not govern us. He will not dictate when we're
sick and when we're healthy and when we have prosperity and when
we have adversity. No, we will be in our own hand. But when we are humbled, we read
this, He resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Grace is given. You might say,
well, isn't grace needed to humble us, yes it is, but the Lord will
have us to walk out a path that is set before us that is to turn
us away from our rebelliousness, a path that is a right path. How often the exhortations of
the word, we're not able to perform them ourselves. But what is set
before us is the right way, a way that we are to seek to walk and
that as we walk it, the Lord gives grace. You think of those
that the, the lepers, the 10 lepers, and they besought the
Lord to heal them. And he said, go show yourselves
to the priest. And what if they just stood and
they said, no Lord, We can't, we're lepers, we're guilty. You
heal us and then we'll go to the priest. But as they were going, they
were healed. The impotent man, stretch forth thy hand. No, I
can't, Lord. I'm inability, I've no power. But in stretching it forth, the
power was given, the ability was given. The path that is set before us
may be before one that at this moment, this morning, you're
angry, you're fretting, you're kicking, you're replying against
the Lord. And I know that's lying. I know
what it is to have one thing after another go wrong instead
of my heart bowing, I've got more and more angry. I could
have thrown the word of God from one end of the room to another,
almost to the point of swearing. So angry with the Lord. Wanting to humble, but feeling
so opposite. Feeling so unhappy in my rebellions. But the Lord knew
how. with His mercy and goodness to
melt my heart and to soften it. But the path that is set before
us here and before all those that feel under the hand of God
is to get very, very low, to humble themselves. And may we
just so clearly see the path the Lord sets before us here,
under His hand, The way to blessing, the way to being exalted, is
humility. And it is in due time. We're
often impatient. We think, Lord, I've humbled
myself before you. You haven't blessed me, you haven't
lifted me up. In due time. There's a humbling in the timing
of the Lord as well. We like to think, yeah, I'll
humble before the Lord, but it's got to be my time and my way. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. The reason for humility, the
reason for humbling, while we're walking in pride, God will resist
you. Resist me, resist my prayers, that giveth grace to the humble,
saving grace, grace of humility, grace of prayer, grace of hope,
grace of comfort, grace of joy, grace of believing, the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ and fellowship with him in his sufferings,
who though he was the eternal God, yet he humbled himself and
became obedient unto the cross, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him, given him a name which is above every name. The path the
Lord walked was that way, humble, low, made himself of no reputation,
and that was the way to blessing, and that is the way to blessing
for us as well. There's no greater name that
we could be given than a sinner saved by grace, a sinner that
has been shown mercy, that has been exalted, to be no more a
stranger or a guest, but like a child at home, and to be blessed
in one's soul, brought out of the dungeon like Joseph was,
and he had to wait his time, due time, brought immediately
out and next done to Pharaoh. This is the reason for humbling, May we be helped in whatever
trying strokes the Lord is laying upon us, to bow before his hand. That thing that you're rebelling
against now, may you seek that help of God to humble yourselves
under his hand. Well, what is it? Let us look
in our last point then, if we are to walk in this path, We
are to humble ourselves. What is the path that we are
to walk? Well, it's the opposite of pride,
isn't it? To take the lowest place. If we're walking in pride now,
rebellion now, it's the opposite. It's the opposite. how many contrasts there are
in the Word of God. And there is in the context here
of the text, God resisteth the proud, giveth grace to the humble. The proud and the humble, very,
very different. Very different. So what are those
marks of humility? What is that which we are to
seek to do? We'd have owned God's hand. It
is the Lord's hand, not chance. You know, when the Ark went through
the land of the Philistines, even at the end, though death
and illness had followed that Ark all its way, they were still
uncertain. Is it the Lord's hand, or is
it a chance? So they put it on trial, put
the Ark on a cart, Put the yoke of oxen on them,
the calves at home. Did the oxen go home to their
calves? Or did they take the ark back
to Israel? They took it back to Israel,
lowing as they went. They had their answer, it was
the Lord's hand. But we can be like that too.
As if some parts of our religion, our lives, we say, the Lord's
hand, the Lord's in that. But other parts, no, that's not
the Lord. That's not the Lord's hand. There
was a read of a most solemn case years ago, a report of a minister
that had one in his congregation that had a car accident. And
he quickly went to the hospital where they were, and he said,
I want to assure you, he said, the Lord had nothing to do with
that. It wasn't the Lord's hand at all. What kind of a minister,
what kind of a comfort would that be? That there is our lives,
and at just the time you needed the Lord, and to know He was
in control, to be told by a blind leader of the blind, the Lord
had nothing to do with it. How very different. The words of Eli, when Samuel
had to bring the message and concerning his sons and her solemn
reproof to Eli and what he was allowing them to do. It is the
Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Or the way that David acted as
he was fleeing from Absalom his own son. The conspiracy of that
time. Shimei. was going over along
the side, and as they were fleeing in such distress, he was adding
to their distress, throwing the dust and stones at him, cursing. And one in his company said to
David, let me go over and take off his hat. But David says,
let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be the Lord
will requite me good. for his cursing this day. David
humbled himself before God's hand. He stopped his mouth. He couldn't take vengeance. He
couldn't take matters in his own hands. Submission then. Submission to
the Lord's hand. Not murmuring. Not complaining. Not fretting. patient, undead,
repentant, searching, searching our hearts, exercising our hearts
like in Hebrews 12, those under chastening. No chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless
it yieldeth the appreciable fruits of righteousness unto them that
are exercised thereby. Humility is searching the heart,
exercise, thinking, praying. That is what follows after, isn't
it, in verse 7. Casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. This God, whose mighty hand is
upon you, careth for you. So how can that be so? Things
have all gone wrong. Does he not say, Romans 8, 28,
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. Those things that go wrong, those
troubles, those trials, when they work right under God's hand,
it works good for the soul, good for eternity. May we live for The good of our
soul, not just temporal things. The psalmist says, it is good
for me that I was afflicted. Before I was afflicted, I went
astray. But now, now is the returning. Now is the blessing of the Lord. Humility, what is it? It's the
attitude of mind. It's shown in our speech. shows
in our actions, our deportment. Dear Joan, when the Lord permitted
Satan to touch everything that he had, he says, the Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And we read that in all this.
Job sinned not with his lips. No doubt there was many things
going on in his heart, but with his lips he humbled himself unto
the mighty hand of God. And it was a mighty hand of God. When Aaron had to watch his two
sons slain before the Lord because they offered strange fire in
the wilderness, the Lord slew them. and we read an errand,
he held his pace. I've often marveled at that,
marveled at that. Would we, the Lord took away
at a stroke, the joy of our eyes, our children,
would we hold our pace? Would we really be humbled before
the Lord? Would we acknowledge his mighty
hand? This word, it's a practical application
to it. And the very context is not something that is easy,
but it is something that the new man of grace, that of which
the Lord has put that new nature within, will in effect say to
our old nature, this is not good. This pride, this rebelling, this
kicking. The way I want to go is to humble. I want to bow before the Lord.
I want to submit before the Lord. And there'll be this conflict
within. And the Lord knows. He sees it. He sees it. You know, our humility will never
be perfect. In all that we do, we will see
sin mixed with everything. But when the Lord is pleased
to open one's ear and cause that such a word of this is given
as it is this morning, and heard with an ear that is opened, and
that poor soul desires to humble themselves and seek to do so,
I know that we will find it. in the way like the prodigal
son found it. As he was beginning to return,
though he was a great way off, the Lord met him. His father
met him, ran unto him, fell on his neck and kissed him. The
Lord sees those struggles. He sees those souls that seeking
to humble themselves and to be brought low. And all the time
struggling with that proud, rebellious, independent spirit, He comes
and He gives grace for grace, and He gives more grace. And
He gives that grace to be meek and lowly and kind and humble
before Him. And in His time and way, He exalts,
He blesses, In Job's case, he gave him even in a material way,
more than what he had before. But there's no greater blessing
than to be blessed with a sweet token and seal of heaven, the
Lord's blessing that maketh rich and he addeth no soul within,
brought under the mighty hand of God, convinced as a sinner,
and then led forth to Calvary and brought forth to see the
Lord's suffering, made low for Him and raised up again, an empty
tomb, a risen Saviour, the debt paid, and to see upon all a token
of heaven, the Lord's kindness and goodness to us, in all what
we've been through, in all that He's done for us, to save us
and to deliver us from this present evil world. and make us a prepared
people for a prepared place. Again, I say that word. He which
hath begun a good work in you, and it is a mighty work under
the mighty hand of God, will perform it unto the day of Jesus
Christ. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
In due time, the Lord add his blessing. Amen.