May I please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Word. Let
us turn to the first epistle of Peter, chapter 5, and we'll
read verses 6 and 7. The first epistle of Peter, chapter
5, and reading verses 6 and 7. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God. that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. We should be very thankful really
that under the blessed influence of the Holy Spirit the Apostle
Peter was able to pen such words and quite clearly we know that
he was able to write in such a way because he had experienced
his own hard and proud heart and how he had experienced the
Lord's wonderful grace and wonderful mercy. We're thankful therefore
that He was led in that way. You may think of Peter, well,
poor Peter. Well, he was poor Peter. But
you see, the Lord has recorded such an account when he denied
his Lord and Master those three times, having previously been
so proud and so strong in his own strength to say that he would
never deny the Lord Jesus Christ. He would even die with him. You
see how left to ourselves, just for a mere moment, we won't be
any better person than Peter. But we should be thankful therefore
that the Lord in his mercy to the Church of God has recorded
such direction and blessing to us. And in the previous verse,
we read, yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed
with humility For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to
the humble. You see, by nature, we are proud
beings. Sometimes people are proud of
what they think, they're being humble, mock humility. We have to be very careful that
we don't pretend to be what we're not. And it's a great blessing
when God gives us grace to be humble. The Apostle Paul was
brought to that position to be humble and he tells us about
himself and he describes himself less than the least of all saints. Well, that was the effect of
the grace of God in the life of the Apostle Paul. Because
the Apostle Paul was a very proud man before that Damascus Road
experience. He pleased himself, He thought
he was doing God's service, but of course he was walking contrary
to God. And we need to be very aware
of that in our lives today. Perhaps we might think we're
very humble. We might think we're doing this
and we're doing that, but we may be walking contrary to God. Well, here we have a wonderful
statement here by the apostle when he's able to tell us that
all of you to be subject one to another and to be clothed
with humility. And you see, if a person is clothed,
you know what it's like, we can see the clothes, can't we? We
know what they're like. And so what a wonderful thing it is
when God gives grace to be humble, to wear this cloak or this clothes
humility. It's a grace of God, my friends.
And we're told to cover earnestly the best gifts, not the worst
gifts, the best gifts. And here is a gift which God
grants to seek to be humble and to be clothed with humility. And therefore, he comes and says,
therefore, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand
God. Well how few people today realize
the mighty hand of God and yet may God give us that right appreciation
of the greatness of God who spoke the world into being. What power
there was in the Word of God to do just that and my friends
today God's power has not lessened and we're thankful today that
we've can still observe the power of God in the conversion of sinners
when He speaks the Word and it is done. Proud beings, proud
sinners, God brings down. He lays them low. They realize
they are an unworthy sinner before a great almighty God. And they're thankful that they
haven't been cut off as a cumber of the ground. They haven't been
forsaken. And that's a mercy, isn't it?
As we consider ourselves and realize the Lord hasn't cast
us off. No, he's looked upon us in mercy. Sometimes I think of that wonderful
statement in Leviticus, when the Lord passed by and said, live. Well, that's
a wonderful mercy. If the Lord, and the Lord it
must be, passed by to you and me and has said, live, to our
souls, and we're blessed then, with the glorious gift of eternal
life. You see, it's so important, isn't
it, to receive such a word and such a gift. You know, you and
I can sit under the sound of the Gospel for years and never
hear it. It just goes over our head or
in one ear and out in the other. if the appointed time comes,
as the hymn writer says so very beautifully, not to propose,
but to call by grace. Yes, you see, when God calls,
there is a response, because it emanates from Almighty God. And you and I can't avoid it. because God knows what he will
do. Although perhaps initially we
may not want to hear such a word, we can bless God for his love
and mercy to such unworthy sinners. What do we find then? We find
the effect is this, he gives grace. He gives grace to submit
ourselves. He gives grace to humble ourselves
under the mighty hand of God. And whereas we were rebellious,
whereas we were perhaps saying, I will not have this man to reign
over me. Thankfully, God's grace is superior
and stronger than any resistance that you and I can put up. And
so what a blessing it is if we are the recipients of this grace
of God, this free unmerited favor which has brought us to this
very position as Peter was and as Peter recognizes And as Peter
now writes and says, humble yourselves, that's all of us. No true believer
can be excluded from this position. So it's a wonderful blessing
if tonight you and I can look into our hearts and trace out
God's work, not our work, God's work, And trace out there that
He has given us grace to humble ourselves under the mighty hand
of God. Well, you have to answer before
God. We can all look very prim and
proper. We can all be far off from God. But as I've already said, the
appointed time rolls on a pace. not to propose, but call by grace. And what a blessing, if that's occurred therefore
in our lives, and therefore brought us to be humble before God, that
the almighty ruler of all things has condescended to look upon
us and brought us down in our own estimation. You know, the
Apostle Paul thought, as I said, less than least of all saints.
He also confessed he was the chief of sinners. And it's good
when the Holy Spirit brings us there. So we come to that place. nothing in our hand we bring,
simply to thy cross I cling, realising in me that is in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. It's a great blessing then to
have the evidence of the work and grace of God
in our souls, which brings us to a position like that. We may truly desire then to be
as nothing. Why? So that Christ may be all
and in all. By nature, we're not like that. By nature, we want to be important.
We want to be somebody. We want to be thought well of. Well, there's nothing wrong in
being thought well of. It depends what our attitude is. It depends
whether our desire is that Christ might be exalted through us,
through our life, or not. You see, the Word of God tells
us here, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.
that He may exhort you in due time. Exhort us to set forth
the blessing of the Lord, the mercy of the Lord, the favour
of the Lord, the love of the Lord to unworthy sinners. Well, you have to testify before
God. If God has come to you I brought
you to that position, because you see, if he has, it's a very
humbling experience, a very humbling evidence. The Lord has loved
you with everlasting love, because he hasn't left you. He hasn't
cast you aside. He hasn't put you in the rubbish
dump, as we all deserve to be. but it's because His mercy endureth
forever. And what a blessing if you and
I are the recipients of that mercy. And that mercy has attended
us right from the first breath of our life. What a favour it
is to be blessed with such a God who hasn't dealt with us as our
sins deserve? Have we stood before God and
had to cry out, guilty? Can't justify ourselves. There
may have been a time in our lives when we thought we weren't too
bad. It may be so tonight. You may think, well, there's
a lot of people worse than me. Really I'm not living quite such
a bad life and I do this and I do that. Well, come back to
the reality. To view yourself as God views
us. What a view that is. We don't
ever see ourselves totally as God sees us. My friends, it's
a good thing when you look at yourself and I look at myself.
and we see so much evil. Evil thoughts, perhaps, which
no one else knows about, but God does. Evil words, perhaps,
which we may say. Perhaps we wish we didn't. We
realize how sinful we are by nature. And therefore, when the
Holy Spirit convinces us of something of our true condition, that's
when we come to that condition of humbling ourselves, realizing
how bad we are. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God. The mighty hand of God. You see,
it means that God is raised up, in our view, as the great God. As the great God. What a mercy
it is. when we have a right view. And
pray that you might have a right view of the greatness of God.
Never have small views of God. Just consider who He is, what
He's done. Wonderful, isn't it, to think
that God looks down from heaven upon us. Utterly, utterly unworthy
sinners. Nothing in us. to merit, esteem,
or give my Creator delight, nothing at all. But it's all because
of His amazing love to unworthy sinners. And so says the Apostle
Peter, and it's lovely to read the epistles of Peter. He's a
man greatly blessed, a man who fell and sinned and was very
quick-tempered, and yet you see, He knew the Redeemer. He knew the blessing of God.
He knew the favor of God. And he could rejoice in his God.
And he could look forward to the time when he would be in
glory with his God. And it was Peter and Peter alone
that we read of in the Word of God that describes the Lord Jesus
Christ as precious. As he said, We're not redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation,
but with the precious blood of Christ. What a wonderful revelation that was to the Apostle Peter. What a blessing if it's a revelation
to you and me. To know that we are redeemed. with a precious Belial of Christ. It's almost beyond our comprehension to think that the Lord God should
condescend to suffer upon that cross at Calvary in order to
set us free. And as the Lord Jesus beautifully
said, and if the son therefore shall set you free, you shall
be free indeed. And that is a total freedom from
sin. Because it means, the Blessed
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ has stood in our place and he's
bore the punishment instead. And surely we have to come and testify and say, what a saviour,
what a saviour. Well, when the Lord gives us
a right understanding of these things, surely we can then come
and understand what the apostle says here. Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God. This great God has looked
upon us, has put his hand upon us, Oh yes, and he's taken us
in hand. And he's led us about, just like
Israel of old. He led them forth by the right
way. They might go to a city of habitation. And that's the end. That's a
direction. That's what you and I need. And therefore he says that he
may exalt you in due time. Yes, it's a time perhaps when
the Lord will lift us up, bring us into true liberty. Yes, what a blessed place it
is, you know. The Lord says where the spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty. And when you and I walk before
the Lord in accordance with his will, and in accordance with
his commands, there is liberty. Because we have the evidence
within that we are doing God's will. We're not walking contrary
to God. The Lord tells us, if you walk
contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you. How many people disbelieve
that? And they continue walking contrary
to God. They think they can do what they
want to. My friends, are you dishonouring
God? Are you walking contrary to him? Well, hear the word. If you walk contrary to me, I
will walk contrary to you. It's a very straight statement. It's a very solemn statement.
And my friends, may you and I be humbled to realize that the Lord
perhaps has not dealt with us as our sins deserve. And look
to the Lord that he will be with us and that he will guide us
and He will be gracious to us and bring us at last safely home
to our desired haven. Well, the Apostle, he goes on
having made that statement, and he comes and he says then, and
this is a wonderful encouragement, casting all your care, all your
care upon Him, for He careth for you. How often we fail to
realize that God really cares for us. And so often we continue
to try and to do things ourselves. You might think that we've cast
our care upon God, but have we cast all our care upon Him? That means committing everything
to Him. And that's realised the Lord
knows the end from the beginning. He knows what He's dealing with
us. You and I don't know. Therefore, it's a blessed position
to be in, to come and to cast all our care. That means what
it says. Everything in our little lives.
Don't try and manage things yourself. You won't do very well if you
do. How sad it is often we sometimes forget, don't we? Sometimes I
find doing things, I've got a problem and I'm trying to sort it and
I suddenly realise I haven't cast my care upon the Lord. Well,
you know, it's a wonderful and blessed relief when we are able
to come, burdened perhaps, perhaps one particular care, perhaps
many cares. Sometimes the Lord loads us well. Perhaps we need to be loaded
well. so that we do come to the Lord, so that we have to come
to the Lord. There's no one else to go to.
And then you see, in that wonderful
position to experience, He cares for us. He cares for us. Now then, the blessing is this. God brings us to carry loads
sometimes. And he brings us, therefore,
to come to our senses, as it were, and to look to the Saviour. We come then, casting all our
care upon Him. And what a blessing it is when,
through such positions and situations, the Lord comes and leads you
and me to Calvary, as I said this afternoon. There's no more
blessed place than Calvary and we can add the Garden of Gethsemane
because in those locations we observe with some clarity what
the Lord Jesus Christ suffered for our sakes in the cost of
our salvation. What a mercy when the Holy Spirit
brings us there to see what Jesus endured Yes, in Gethsemane, when
the Lord knew what was before him, he cried unto his father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, this
is the blessing, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. It's good to be submissive. It
really means that we're humbling ourselves. We're coming to the
Lord and we're saying, Lord, Not my will, but thine be done. It's a safe place. It's a good
place. It's a place of spiritual blessing.
And the Lord did His Father's will. And it wasn't an easy path. Just because the Lord might give
us wonderful grace to commit ourselves to the Lord and humble
ourselves and seek the Lord will Lead us on. Don't expect an easy
path, but you can expect a good end. That's the blessing. You can expect a good end. And
what a mercy it is, therefore, if the Lord is gracious to us
and we do receive a good end. And the Lord Jesus, he speaks
of that, doesn't he? When he spoke to his disciples,
And he says this at the end of the 16th chapter, which was,
you may remember that wonderful account in the upper room to
his disciples starting at chapter 13. And he comes down to this
last section, last few verses, and he says in the very last
verse, verse 33, these things have I spoken unto you, that
in me you might have peace. That's a promise. In me ye might have peace, in
the world ye shall have tribulation. That's a promise. But be of good
cheer, I have overcome the world. That's the reality of religion. That's the path which the Lord
Jesus laid down. at the end of that wonderful
sermon to his disciples in the upper room. That's what he told
them. He said, I've spoken unto you
that ye might have peace in the world, ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And as we read in the Hebrews,
and we are more than conquerors through him. That's the secret. It's not our
strength. It's what Christ has done. So
then you go from Gethsemane. You come to the cross and we
see the blessed savior there, suffering all incarnate God could
bear with strength enough and none to spare. And what does
he face there? The hiding of his father's face. And what does he cry? My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And the Lord endured that
for his people, for his church. Let's not underestimate the greatness
of that occasion, the wonder of it, to think that the Lord
God himself The one who spoke the world into being. The one
who was so willing to suffer on that cross in order
to pay the price for your and my sins. Because without it,
there'd be no hope for us. But he willingly went to the
cross, knowing what he would have to endure, and to recognize that it was
done for such unworthy sinners. Well, casting all your care upon
him, for he careth for you. What an evidence of his care
for the church of God. What a wonderful consideration.
You see, that's why we need to tarry at Gethsemane and Calvary
so that the Lord may open our understanding to the greatness
of our salvation and to truly bless God for his great love,
wherewith he had loved us. Greater love has no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends. Yes, when
we do His will. Oh, you see, so often today,
people walk contrary to God. They walk their own way. They
walk their own way. They don't value the Savior. They don't have an understanding,
like Peter did, of the preciousness of the blood of Christ. You might
remember in the case of Peter, he denied his Lord those three
times, fulfilment of what the Lord had told him. And what happened
then? The Lord turned and looked upon
him. Perhaps we may have denied the
Lord, perhaps not in the same way. But you know, you and I
can deny the Lord quite easily by our actions. You know, sometimes
it's very easy when people say things perhaps that we don't
agree with and we don't say anything. We're cowardly. We're not honoring
our God. We're pandering to our own nature. Sad, isn't it? But what a blessing
if God gives us this ability to realize He cares for us. Then you see that changes. That'll
make a change in our attitude. It'll give us some understanding
of a debt we owe. You see we should never ever
be able to repay that debt. We can look forward perhaps to
the time when by the grace of God we shall be in glory to praise God from whom all blessings flow. I wonder perhaps if we look forward
to such a situation in glory. It should only be found there
because of God's love to us. It should only be found there
because He cares for us. It should only be found there
because He's loved us with everlasting love. Then you see, there will
be that wonderful time. Well, that's not a statement,
is it? a wonderful eternity in praising God. We will have great
cause to praise God. And I believe
it will be like this. We will praise God the Father.
We will praise God the Son. And we'll praise God the Holy
Spirit. And I believe this, that we shall
love God the Father, and we shall love God the Son, and we shall
love God the Holy Spirit. I wonder if you pondered that.
I wonder if you felt sometimes the love of God the Father, the
love of God the Son, the love of God the Holy Spirit, and realized
they are all united together in the great and glorious work
of salvation to redeem our souls. Casting therefore all your care
upon him. Aren't we wretched, backward
sinners to so often forget to cast all
our care upon him? We struggle on. We battle on. Foolish people, aren't we? And
yet here we have a God who has promised He cares for us. You see, it's that God cares
for us, which He does. Every true believer, He cares
for us. And because He cares for us,
He will be with us through our life on this earth and at last
receive us into that desired haven. It's a wonderful prospect,
isn't it, I think. As we travel through this life,
this little world, this passing world, let's have a right appreciation
of it. Yes, it's soon going to disappear
for you and me. Soon for us. Time will be no
more. We shall then be in eternity. with a Saviour, that One who
has died for us forever, or else in hell with the great enemy
of souls, the devil. My friends, all of us will be
in one of those places. Let's not think there's some
escape route. No, my friends, every one of us will be in one
of those places and therefore What a wonderful blessing it
will be if by the grace of God we are found in this position,
realizing that Lord, the great God cares for us. Careth for you, careth for me. You know, that's what we should
pray for. That's what we should desire.
And then the apostle goes on just to say, The next verse,
therefore, with this great, wonderful promise, be sober, be vigilant. It's a good word, isn't it? Because
your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. And he never gives up, this sign
of the grave. He never gives up. But as I said
earlier, But we are more than conquerors through Him, our great
and glorious Saviour, who conquered the devil. Yes, and He died that
death upon the cross of Calvary and rose again, a risen Saviour. Do you rejoice tonight in a risen Saviour? On this Thanksgiving
day, it's a harvest Thanksgiving, It's good to thank God for the
harvest and as we've done so already today. But my friends,
we have so much more to thank God for. You and I could have
been born in some dark place of the world where the gospel
never come. The Lord has wonderfully favoured
every one of us here tonight to hear the gospel. My friends,
don't thrust it away. Don't ignore it. Don't think
it doesn't apply to us. We have a great Master, we have
a great God, we have a kind Saviour, we have a blessed Redeemer. But
oh my friends, don't let's trample these truths underfoot. And let's
realise what a debt we owe. What a debt we owe. The Saviour
paid that debt for us in shedding His blood upon that cross at
Calvary to redeem our souls. Without shedding of blood, There's
no remission, there's no forgiveness. But blessed be God, He died for
us, all those who are redeemed. Well, is your name, is my name
there amongst those for whom Christ
died? Amongst those who were redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ? Well, What's the answer tonight? Do you have the evidence that
you are redeemed? Have you the evidence therefore,
for he cares for you? Oh my friends, let us not just
pass by these things, nor may they be very weighty with us. And may our great concern be
to know, to know that we are redeemed. See, if we have the
evidence that God has called us out of darkness and nature
into the glorious light, it's the evidence that we are redeemed. And we can praise and bless God
for it. And have we praised God and blessed
God for it? It's one of the great lack today,
I think, of thanksgiving to our God. He's worthy. He's worthy. Have you thanked
God for salvation? Have you received? His salvation. If you have it, if you thank
God for it, we need to thank Him every day, don't we? That
He hasn't cast us off as a cumbra of the ground, where we come
and say, with a hymn writer, to God be the glory. He is indeed worthy of all acceptation. Well, hear these beautiful words,
aren't they? Humble yourselves. Humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God. That's really the secret. Under
God's hand. When he puts his hand upon us,
perhaps he stops us in our mad career. It's his hand. Do we come and say, "'Tis the
Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." The Lord never makes
any mistakes. Humble yourselves, therefore,
unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exhort you in due
time to be lifted up into heavenly places, to have fellowship with
a Saviour. Oh, my friends, the Apostle wanted
it, didn't he? You only have to read the third
of Philippians to see how the Apostle desired union with Christ. And oh, may you and I desire,
therefore, union with Christ under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care,
remember, not a little, all your care, upon him, nowhere else,
for he cares for you. Amen.