Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of 1 Peter, chapter 5. 1 Peter, chapter 5. I'm going to be looking at verses
6 and 7. 1 Peter, chapter 5, verses 6
and 7. Let's read those verses, then
I will ask our Lord's blessing on his word. Humble yourselves, therefore,
unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening, we
thank you for the blessing of being able to assemble ourselves
together. Lord, we know, according to your
word, there's a special blessing, a special presence when your
church is assembled, that you are in the midst of that place
where two or three are gathered together in your name. Lord,
bless our hearts tonight. Lord, cause us to hear, cause
us to believe, and to understand for Christ's sake. Amen. There is a blessed command that's
given in these verses this evening that every believer truly wants
to obey in his heart. casting all your care, all your
distraction, all your anxieties, casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. It matters to Him. It matters. Now there's three things that
I know about care. Anxiety. frustrations, distractions. Number one, we all have them. Number two, we are commanded
to cast them upon the Lord. And I want to do that, Freddie.
I want to do that. I want to. And number three,
the reason is that we're commanded to do that is because He cares
for His people. He cares. Now the heart to do that, the
heart to cast our care upon Him is not found in the natural man.
Man, by nature, does not know God. That's life eternal, that
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. So man is not born with a heart
to cast his care upon the Lord. You know why? Because man thinks
he knows best. Man thinks he knows the right
thing to do. Now I want you, here's the key,
here's the key, the heart of casting ourselves upon the Lord,
casting our cares. Verse 6, humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due
time. That's the same meaning as, despise
not thou the chastening of the Lord. When you're rebuked of
the Lord, don't despise His chastening. Now we're proud by nature, self-centered,
and we must be shown what we are. It's needful. David said, it's good that I've
been afflicted. and I might know, see, discover
your statutes. Here we're commanded to bear
with patience, humble yourself before or under, therefore under
the mighty hand of God. Bear with patience. We're going
to be made to mourn over indwelling sin. You're going to see it. The Lord is going to teach us
what we are. Humbling yourself. There is an
admittance of unworthiness. There's a heart of praise and
blessing as the Lord reveals to us what we are in bringing
us down. We're going to have to be brought
down. He's going to exalt us in due time. I'm going to say
a thing about that in a minute, but humble yourself. You know the first thing that
a believer is going to say when he hears this? Lord, help me. Help me. I've got this in my
head. I want my heart to know it. I
want to know this. I want to do this. I want to. I want to. It is only
His mighty hand that brings these things about. Humble yourself. His hand that no man, the scripture
says, can stay, that is prevent or control. I know this. I know that He rules in heaven
and earth. He's revealed to His people all
things. All things. Everything. All of them. Oh, how quickly I can preach
this and I forget it that quickly. All things. Whatever happened
today at work, fellas, ladies, whatever happened, whatever happened,
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are thee called according to His purpose, according to
His purpose. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. He does all things. He works
all things. Therefore, humble yourself under
the mighty hand of God. To acknowledge that He worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will is by the grace
of God that you believe that. To possess that heart that would
bow is by God's good pleasure to
give you that heart. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing and he doeth, he doeth. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven, among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? That last portion right there,
I've always wondered. I mean, you can say it, you know,
what doest thou? But here's the bottom line. He
gives no account to the children of men. He doesn't owe anybody
an explanation. Why would God Almighty be pleased
to show mercy to one and to pass by another? We're beyond our pay grade here. Why does God Almighty do anything
that He does? Because He's pleased to do so.
Humble yourself unto the mighty hand of God. Almighty God is
sovereign in creation, in providence, in salvation. Therefore, humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He, the scripture
says, may exalt you in due time. According to His Word, sooner
or later, It says that He may exalt you in His time. Sooner or later, He's going to
exalt His people. Now, I can read some examples
in Scripture. Those that by the grace of God
were brought to humble themselves, to be humbled before the Lord. You remember that Syrophoenician
woman that came to the Lord and asked the Lord's help for her
daughter? And he said, it's not meat, not
fit to give the children's bread to dogs. Buddy, let me tell you something.
Somebody say, boy, that's awful hard. But let me tell you, by
the grace of God, he'd given that woman a heart. He had given
that woman a heart. He had given that woman a heart
of humility. You know how I know that? Because
he said to her, woman, great is thy faith. She bowed before
him. She said, Lord, you're right. But even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. Great is thy faith. Blind Barnabas
sitting on the side of the road. The Lord gave him a heart to
cry out, Jesus thou son of David. That's the title of the Messiah. He heard that Jesus of Nazareth
was coming by. That's what he heard. And he
said, Jesus thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they tried
to get him to quiet down. He cried the louder, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy. He humbled, he humbled before
the Lord. And the Lord asked him, he said,
what do you want? He said, I want to be able to see. And he saw. Saw. There was a woman who had
an issue of blood, spent all of her money on doctors, you
know, None the better. By the grace of God, she had
a heart to come to Him. And she said in her heart, Spirit
of God, wrote down what she thought. If I can touch but the hem of
His garment, I'll be made whole. And she came, and people were
everywhere. He was walking through the crowd,
and she touched him. And he stopped. And he said,
somebody touched me. And his disciples, you know the
story. They said, well, a lot of people touched you. He said,
no, I felt virtue has gone out of me. And he looked at her,
and she was fearful, bowing down. He said, woman, thy faith hath
made you whole. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God. You say, I don't think I can.
Ask Him. Ask Him. Lord, teach me. Lord, help me. that he may exalt
you in due time. It might be a blind Bartimaeus.
It might be a woman with the issue of blood. Maybe it will,
maybe it will be, but I can tell you this for sure. There's coming
a time when the trump is going to sound. The dead in Christ
are going to rise. We're not going to prevent them,
those that are still on the earth. There's going to be some live
folks here when the Lord comes back. We're going to meet Him
in the air, so shall we ever be with the Lord. The day of
judgment has come. Separate the sheep from the goats.
Humble yourself. Therefore, under the mighty hand
of God who rules and reigns, He may exalt you in due time.
In verse 7 then, there's a colon after that. And verse 7 says,
casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Now listen to me, believer. I said a moment ago, we have
care. We have care. We're in this world.
And there's an old man that's still there. And we are compassed
about with these worries, anxieties, and fears, trials. And that old man does not care
to bow to him, but that new man does. That new man sees the cares that
encompasses him. He sees them. And it is to the
Lord's glory that he trusts Him. We're in this world. Not of it,
but we're in it. And we've got trials and tribulations
and problems just like everybody else. Everybody's got them. But
only a believer has a heart to cast all his care upon Him. Only a believer has that. I want
you to just keep your finger there for a second. Turn to Matthew
6. Matthew chapter 6. Years ago, I made this statement
recently. This particular passage of scripture
was such, I was going through a tremendously tough time in
my life. And this passage of scripture
was so comforting to me. Matthew 6, 27 to 34. Here we are, here we are. We're
in this world, not of it, but I'm telling you, you've got cares
concerning your family, your parents, you've got children
that may not know the Lord, and you desire, you desire God save
them. You pray for them daily. I know
you do. You pray for your kids. You pray
for them daily. You got your family, you got
your health, your welfare, your job, you got, you just, cares,
cares, cares. Listen to this, Matthew 6, verse
27. Which of you, by taking thought,
by worrying about it, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take your thought for
raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin, and yet I say unto you, it doesn't matter what men say,
he said, I say to you, that even Solomon in all of his glory was
not arrayed like one of these. Solomon was never clothed like
one of these lilies. Wherefore, if God so clothed
the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little
faith? Therefore take no thought, saying,
what shall we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal
shall we be clothed? For after all these things to
the Gentiles, unbelievers, That's what they seek. For your heavenly
Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Isn't
that comforting? Your heavenly Father knows. He
knows. He's aware. But seek ye first. Here's the priority. Above everything
else. Above everything else. I don't
want to get ahead of this. Lord willing, this is what I'm
going to be teaching on this passage this Saturday. But seek ye first the kingdom of God. Here's the
priority above everything else. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added
unto you. Your father knows you have needed
these things. He said, I'll provide. Take therefore
no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought
of the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. There may not be a tomorrow.
Don't worry about tomorrow. It's not going to change. It's
not going to get here any sooner. casting all your care. We all have care. But secondly, he told me to cast
my care upon him. What a liberating thought. What
a freedom. That's freedom. That's some freedom. I have care and He's commanded
me to cast it upon Him. For me not to do it is disobedience. For me not to do it is to disobey
Him. He told me, casting all your
care upon Him. I don't want to disobey Him.
What I do is I see the frailty of my flesh right here. To not cast my care upon Him,
to not trust Him, is to doubt Him. To not cast my care upon
Him is sin. It's what it is, it's disobedience. My care, my anxiety is no burden
to Him. He rules and reigns, He's all-powerful. Peter, when he penned this, he
learned this from experience. He walked with the Lord, witnessed
His majesty, His sufficiency. By faith, he saw His glory, His
strength. And even in his doubting, even
when he denied the Lord three times, God was merciful to him. Peter, lovest thou me more than
these? Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. You feed
my sheep. Casting all your care upon him. I started reading on this, studying
this passage. An event happened last Sunday
afternoon and this passage of scripture came to my mind and
I began studying tonight on this. And I got to thinking about casting
all of your care upon the Lord. How do you do that? What do you
do? As a young boy, I can remember
that we would go to my grandma and grandpa's house, my dad's,
and we went to granny's parents too, but this illustration came
to my mind. We would get in a car, and I
knew where we were going. We were going to Algoma, Mississippi. where my dad's from, Algoma,
Mississippi. I knew we were going there, but
you know what, especially if we was going at night, I didn't
have a clue. I had no clue which road was
going to turn on, I can remember my dad talking to his brothers
after we'd get there and he would tell them, he said, yeah, you
know, we came down 28 and got as far as Kosciuszko and then
we turned left and we headed over and hit this highway. You
know what I'm thinking? But you know I knew one thing.
My dad knew where he was going. And I trusted my dad. I knew
my dad cared, he knew where he was going. And you know, I didn't
even think about it. I'd lay up, head up on top back
behind the back seat and I could lay up there and stretch out
and look out the glass, just look at the stars, ride back
there. Whatever that was back there,
I laid up on it. Not a care in the world. And
when we got there, we were there. I didn't doubt, didn't question
the turns that he made to ask him, you sure? You know, I don't
think I'd have turned there. I didn't know where I was going. Cast all my care on him. It's to trust him. It's to believe
him. It's to hope in Him. This is
what it is to cast all your care upon Him. Rest in Him. Doesn't that have the sound of
peace? It's just trust. It's just, I'm
not in control. And I can sit with Mike and Fred
and worry over it. And you know what? All it's going
to do is just going to upset me. I'm going to just be upset. And I'm just going to sit there
and I'm going to doubt Him and be tore up inside. Casting all
your care upon Him. And here's the reason. He careth
for you. Cast all your care. Trust Me. Look to me, rest in me. Why? Because I care for you. I did not doubt for one second
when I'd go on those trips, go on vacation, it never entered
my mind that my mom or my dad was doing something for my hurt. It never crossed my mind. Why? I believed they loved me. I believe
that they had my best at heart. And I believe if anything happened
or thought that was going to happen, to me, they'd be the
first ones to defend me. He careth for you. Jeremiah 31.3 says, The Lord
hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. The scripture sets forth that
from before the foundation of the world, the Father chose a people in
Christ gave them to the Son as the surety,
chose them in Him, and looked to Him alone for their deliverance. He's the surety. Never look to
them again for satisfaction. Look to the surety. You know
why? He careth for you. Came into this world Born a hater
of God, despiser of God. And when it pleased God, it crossed
the path of the objects of His mercy with the gospel. Gave Him a heart to believe it.
Gave Him faith to trust Him. You know why? He careth for you. called him out of darkness, ministering spirits to watch
over him, protect him, all according to his good pleasure, because
he careth for you. And I'll tell you this, according
to his word, his promise, he said, I'm coming back for you.
That where I am, there you're going to be also. seated with
Him in the heavenlies, to ever be in the presence of Almighty
God. You know why? He careth for you. Why? Because it pleased Him to
do so. You that know Him, you know why
you're here tonight? You know why you have a heart
to be here? He careth for you. Why He raised up the gospel,
kept it here over 60 years? He careth for His people. He said, I'm never going to leave
you, I'm never going to forsake you. Casting all your care upon
Him, He careth for you. Casting your care upon Him is
to trust Him. Rest in Him. Believe Him. Believe that He's able. Believe
that He's got your best at heart for His glory. Years ago, I had a little construction
business in Louisiana. And my dad had started it. I ended up getting the construction
business and my brother ended up getting the restaurant. We worked and worked it for years
and it built up. It was a good business. And it
came time I was going to move. I was going to move from Louisiana
to Tennessee. One of the men that worked for
me, I talked to him and I told him, I said he wanted to buy
it, wanted to buy the business. And so we worked all the details
out and after he had bought the business, I got to thinking back
on years and years and years of construction and things that
come with it and problems and you're out there on a job and
you're building things that has to be engineered and this, that
and the other. I can remember how many times
I'd wake up in the middle of the night 1, 2 o'clock in the
morning. And once I woke up thinking about
the problems that we would have the day before or what we had
coming up, I could not go to sleep. Now, those of you that's
been in business before, and it's your responsibility. Carl, you know something like
this. You do. It's your responsibility to make sure everything's right.
I'd wake up, and once I woke up and looked at that clock,
I think, oh no, because I'm not going back to sleep. I'm there. I'm going to be right
there. And I'd lay there, and I'd try
to talk to myself and tell myself, just be all right. Don't worry
about it. It's going to be fine. It didn't
work. And after Ray bought that business,
I told him one day, I said, Ray, I'm going to give you some advice.
And I said, I believe it'll be a help to you. I hope it will.
I said, now that it's your responsibility to make sure that everything's
done, this, that, and the other, when you wake up in the middle
of the night, and you will, I said, try to remember this. I'm going
to talk to Marvin about this in the morning. And we'll work
this out. I said, because the middle of
the night is the worst time. It's always the worst time. But
I'm going to talk to him in the morning. And years after that,
he told me, he said, you will never know how many times I woke
up in the middle of the night. And he said, and thought about
that. And he said, was able to go back to sleep. Just thinking,
well, I'm going to talk to somebody about this that's been there. Child of God. casting all your
care upon him, for he careth for you. Lord, bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake.