Let's read this together, beginning
in verse 6. There's five words here that
are action words, verbs. If we can get these five words,
we'll have the title and we'll have the outline. The first word
is in verse 6, humble yourselves. Therefore, under the mighty hand
of God, that He may exalt you in due time. Here's the next
word. Casting. Casting. Casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. Here's the third word. Be. Be sober. Sober-minded. Not thinking too highly, be sober. Be vigilant, carefully watching. Because your adversary the devil,
as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. And
here's the fourth word, whom resist. Resist. Resist steadfast in the faith. Steadfast in the faith. That's
the only way we can resist. It's by faith. Here's the fifth
word. Knowing. Knowing. Knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. And this is part of that knowing
as well. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, After
that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. Now there's no sinner in this
world that's going to be saved apart from the mighty hand of
God, apart from the grace of God,
apart from the God of all grace doing the saving. No sinner can
be saved apart from Him. We can come into God's presence
like a proud rebel and we will be amazed. We will be cast out
or we can submit to God's way. Come to God the way God has said
he'll be approached and that's one way. That way is in his son
only. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the way. No man comes to the Father but
by me, he said. He's that way. It's a wonderful
message. This is a wonderfully good news
if we can get this by his grace because it means we don't have
to do anything. He's done it all. How foolish
we'd be to rise up in rebellion and say, no, I'm going to do
something. And God says, I'm going to do the work. I'm going
to do the work in bringing my people to myself. Well, these
five words, humble, cast, be, resist, and know. We're going
to look at these five words here this morning. Now, Peter's writing to believers
here. We know that because in verse
10 he says he's writing to those whom the God of all grace has
called unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. So this is who
we're writing to, writing to believers. This is a message
for believers, for every believer. This is a message for everybody
too that doesn't know Him, hasn't submitted to Him. Alright, here's
the first word. Humble yourselves. Look there
in verse 6. Humble yourselves, therefore. Humble. Come down. Be abased. Come down. Come down off our
high horse. Come down. He says therefore.
Why? Why? Look back at verse 5. At
the very end of verse 5. For God resisteth the proud. and giveth grace to the humble.
Pride's the very opposite of humility. Pride is the thing
God resists. Now, this is so simple. This
is so simple. When the child in the house rises
up against the father, do you find your father's hand to resist
you. You find your father's word to
resist you. You find your father's way to
resist you. When you rise up against your
father, you find him to resist you, don't you? Resist you. God
resisteth the proud. God resisteth the proud. We're
not nearly as righteous as we think we are, not at all. Not
wholly like we think we are. Not at all. Not in ourselves. We're not wise like we think
we are in ourselves. We're not as knowledgeable as
we think we are. We're not as deserving of anything
as we think we are. We're not as pretty as we think
we are. Nothing we think we are is how
it really is. We're proud of everything about
ourselves. God resisteth the proud, resisteth
the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. This is so simple. When the child humbles himself
under the father's authority, the father gives grace. I challenge
our young people here, try this. And just at home with your own
father, try this. Instead of trying to butt heads
with the head of the house, come to him and say, Dad, I need grace. I need you to teach me. I need
you to help me. I know the fathers in this congregation
that believe the Lord, and I guarantee you this, what you'll find, I
know what my children will find, peace, peace. find peace, you find grace, you
find a father who's all along just been doing what's best for
you and all along been doing what is going to be in your best
interest and for you. Well, how much more the God of
all grace? We talk about the God of all
grace. Every believer here, I was just so, the Lord just struck
me in my heart with his words this week. Oh, just come down under His
mighty hand and there we'll find grace. And it won't do any good
to resist Him. It won't do any good to kick
against Him. It won't do any good. God's going to have His
way. He's going to humble us. He's
going to humble us. Well, humble yourselves therefore,
he says, under the mighty hand of God. His hand's mighty. It's mighty to accomplish his
own righteousness. It's mighty to bring every one
of his children to himself. It's mighty to glorify his name.
It's mighty to call out his people. It's mighty to provide everything
for his people. It's mighty to lift his people
up out of the dung heap that he found us in. It's mighty to
lift us up in all our tribulations and trials. He sent them. He
sent them for the purpose of bringing us down. And it's only
after He's brought us down that His mighty hand will reach forth
and pick us up and bring us back up. And He'll lift us up in the
end. He'll exalt His children, each one of His children, to
heaven's glory in the end. His hand's mighty to do this.
The one who held, Isaiah said, He held the waters in the palm
of his hand. All the while, that's a mighty
hand. A mighty hand. A mighty hand. I can remember
looking at my father's hands. You ever done that? I can remember
just looking at my dad's hands. Sometimes they'd be all scarred
up where he'd been working on the car or something. Sometimes
they'd be very firm in abasing me. Sometimes they'd be reaching
out and touching me so that my heart was just open and brought
into peace out of fear and out of trembling and made to know
I have a mighty hand protecting me. Oh, what about God's hand? This mighty hand. Mighty hand. And it says that He may exalt
you in due time. Everybody that's going to be
exalted, everybody that's going to be exalted in grace, in regeneration,
in being made new, and being kept and being brought into His
presence. Every single sinner who shall
be exalted will be exalted only by God's hand. It will not be
by our hand. It will not be by our hand. It's
going to be by God's hand. And it's going to be in God's
time. He that humbleth himself, he exalts him in due time. When we want God to have the
glory, when we want the Father to have the glory, you know what
the child will do? When he wants the child, just in your house
and in my house, when my children want their father to be glorified,
you know what they'll do in love? They'll humble themselves under
my hand and trust me to provide for them. And you know what they'll
find? A father who's delighting to
do that. Oh, the Scripture says that the
Spirit of God be not grieved. Don't we know what that feeling's
like as parents, as fathers and mothers, is to be grieved, to
be grieved over how the children are serving? We know that, don't
we? God says humble under his hand,
he'll exalt in due time. Here's the second word. The second
word is casting. Look at verse 7. Casting all
your care upon him for he careth for you. Now get the tense of
that word casting. It's not past tense. It's right
now. It's continually casting. This
is a continual thing. Continually casting. Now what
are we casting? All your care. All your care. Not some of your care. Not most
of your care. All of your care. All. All of it. Somebody might say,
well, brother, I have a lot of care. You have the care of being
justified from all your sin before God. Has God taken care of that? Has he taken care of that for
you, for me? This is what the scripture says.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who's he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, that's risen again, even at the right hand
of God who makes intercession for us. We need to be made the
righteousness of God. We have the care of being made
the righteousness of God. You who've been called into His
eternal glory by His grace, has He taken care of that for you?
Made the righteousness of God in us. Let's look at these scriptures,
Romans 5, 19. Let's be reminded here about
this now, about this is the care we have, Romans 5, 19. As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners." We were made sinners two ways. We were
made sinners legally, guilty when Adam sinned, and we were
made sinners when we were born of that corrupt seed of Adam. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Declared not guilty and born
of the incorruptible seed. Made righteous. Made righteous. How real have we been made sinners?
That's how real God says we've been made righteous. That's how
real. Made righteous. Two different
men dwelling, not us. Two different people dwelling
in a believer. An old man who is Adam and a new man. who's made in the image of God,
recreated after righteousness and true holiness, after God's
image, made righteous. Look over at Romans 8, 4. Look
at Romans 8, 4. This is our care. This is our
care. This is the chief preeminent
care of everybody in this room that we have. We have a need
of this. And there's some people in this room God's provided this
for. He's done it. He's taken care of it. It's been
done. Look at Romans 8. What the law
could not do, Romans 8, 3. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son. You see, He provided. He provided
the care His people needed. God sending His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, being made a sacrifice
in the place of His people, substitute in the place of His people. He
condemned sin in the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law, his very law, the righteousness of God might be fulfilled in
us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Look now
over at Romans 10 and look at verse 3. What is that righteousness
of the law fulfilled? Oh, that means now I, he's done
all this for me so that now I can actually fulfill the law myself.
Look at Romans 10, 3. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness. That's not God's righteousness,
that God did something for you so now that you can fulfill the
law. No, no, no, no, no. That's being ignorant of God's
righteousness. God has provided all the care of that for his
people and made us righteous. Listen to this. Being ignorant
of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. Who is he? It's His Son. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
righteousness for Christ. Verse 4, Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. He's
the end. I look back at Romans 8 with
me just a moment. At Romans 8. If He's provided all of this
care for His children, has He provided this care for you? Has
He provided this greatest of all care for you and for me?
Then will he not provide all lesser care that we have? Look at Romans 8 here, and he says
in verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation? Oh, there's a lot of that. Brother,
you don't know the cares I have in my trials. The care's been
provided for. been provided for already. Shall
tribulation, shall distress, shall persecution, shall famine,
shall nakedness, or peril, or sword. That next verse says,
we're just sheep accounted for the slaughter. All day long like
sheep being slaughtered. You feel like that? You feel
like all day long you're as helpless as a sheep being taken to the
slaughter? That's what it is to be humbled under His mighty
hand, to realize I'm just a dumb sheep, as helpless as a sheep
that's just about to be slaughtered. No, verse 37, and all these things
were more than conquerors through Him that loved us. through Him
that's already accomplished the work of making His people the
righteousness of God in Him. We're more than conquerors through
Him and nothing's going to separate what we need from Him. So He
tells us back here now, look back in our text at 1 Peter 5
and verse 7, casting All your care. We've seen all
these different trials as we've studied through this epistle
of Peter. We've seen all these various trials that Peter has
said that the believer is going to come under. And now we come
to this end and he doesn't leave one of these cares out. He says,
the Spirit of God says, cast all your care. Now where do we
cast it? Cast all your care upon Him. When I think of the word casting,
I think of fishing, that's what I think about. Like a rod and
reel, you cast, you make a cast. Some of you fish grew up fishing
in the ocean. And when you fish in the ocean,
you just wear a cast. Well, whenever I grew up fishing
for a largemouth bass, and when you cast for a largemouth bass,
you aim at a specific spot when you cast. There's a hot, hot
day, and the weather's real, the sun's You're beaming down
and the water's shallow and you pull up next to a cypress tree
and you want to throw that lure right on the shady side of that
tree. Because on that hot day, that's
where that largemouth bass is going to be. He's going to be
sitting there in the shade, eating and getting fat. And you throw
that little jointed minnow there and you let all the waves go
out from around it. There's nothing around it. And
you just jiggle it. And it'll scare you to death
when he just engulfs that thing and takes it. On the winter day,
when it's cold, you want to throw on the other side in the sun,
because he'll be laid up right there in that sun. We cast with an aim, not just
cast at a venture, not just so to the wind. It's casting all
our care upon him. in a specific, on a specific
one. What a God, what a God who says,
humble yourself under my mighty hand and cast all your care upon
me. Isn't that, what a God, what
a gracious father we have. For he careth for you. Look at that, he careth for you.
Who does it? This one whose hand is mighty.
This one whose man is mighty. He's the savior in the sense
that he's the one in whom all men in this world move and live
and have our being. But whenever He saves, the Scriptures
declare over and over, He saves with a particular saving grace. He saves a people He's chosen.
He saves a people that He Himself has paid their debt. He Himself has specifically accomplished
their salvation by His own obedience and death on the cross. He's
done this. And he calls them, and he keeps
them. And so that this word, when it
comes to his children, this word is intimately personal for each
one. He says, he careth for you. I want to just stop and I want
to think about Clay Curtis. And I want you to stop and you
think about yourself, you who've been called and rest in him."
This is what he says, intimately personal, he careth for you. So the first word's humble, humble
yourself under his mighty hand. Second word's cast, all you care
upon him, casting continually, never stop. Here's the third
word, be, be, 1 Peter 5.8, be sober, calm, collected in spirit,
not thinking too highly of ourselves, not thinking too seriously either,
not taking ourselves to, we can be guilty of not being sober
when we think too critically of ourselves, as much as when
we don't think critically enough of ourselves. We crush ourselves. We can crush ourselves. Be sober. Be vigilant. Actively watchful. Actively watchful. Because your
adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom
he may devour. We have a very real adversary.
A very real adversary. You know, these words are so
connected to each other. Humbling ourselves under his
mighty hand. That's the opposite of pride. Pride will Pride is the devil's playground. Pride. And casting all our care is the
opposite of unbelief. Yeah, it's the opposite of unbelief.
Believe in Him. Casting all care in His hand.
Believe and He's going to care for you. Unbelief is, oh, you
know, Whenever we think that way, when we think of being able
to provide for ourselves, and we think of being able to too
highly of ourselves, and we think this way, we become overtaken. We become, and we just, we become
overtaken. Have you ever become just overtaken
to where you just, you can't get free, you can't get yourself
out of that, Awful, awful place. He got you. But God's only permitting
us to be sifted by the devil. At his cry, he's gone. He leaves
us alone at his call. At his command, he does so. Anxious care. These things are
just detrimental to us. Peter said before, wherefore,
gird up the loins of your mind, and be sober, and hope to the
end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. I said to you before, in the
beginning, that revelation speaks, it does speak of the end, when
He's coming again. But you know how we're always
going to be delivered from this present trial and this present
devouring and sifting of Satan that these current trials will
undergo? At the revelation of Jesus Christ.
That's how we're delivered from Him. When we behold Him who cares
for us. That's when we're delivered.
And that goes right in with this next word, resist. Verse 9, whom
resist steadfast in the faith. He says, don't resist the mighty
hand of God, but resist the devil. Resist him. How do we resist
him? Faith gets behind Christ our shield and our defender.
You picture a battlefield and you picture somebody that just
thinks, I'm going to go out and I'm going to conquer. And I'm
going to get the victory. And I'm going to do it all by
myself, all by my strength, all by my ingenuity. I'm going to
do it. And walk out there into that
battlefield by ourselves without any help, without any shield,
without any defender, without God being with us, without Christ
being with us. Foolish, foolish endeavor. Faith
gets behind the shield. Christ is that shield. Faith
gets behind the defender. He is that defender. Faith gets
under this one who goes forth conquering and to conquer. Faith
gets under the mighty hand of this one casting all care upon
this one who goes forth and every dart that's set on fire and shot
at us from Satan. They might as well be shot into
a pool of water. Because he just puts them out.
He puts them out. That's how David went forth and
defeated Goliath. He went forth in his Redeemer. He went forth in Him. He went
forth trusting Him. All we're going to see is a man
go forth. All we're going to see is a man who doesn't have
any more today than he had tomorrow. A man that doesn't have... If
I have grace today, I don't care about tomorrow. There's plenty
of evil today. I need grace today. I need His
grace right now. I just need His grace today.
If He gives me grace today, I'm fine. And when tomorrow is today, He
gives me grace today, I'm fine. I'm fine. You don't have to be
overly anxious about tomorrow. He said, I'm giving you grace
for now. This is the one. We do, that's
how we resist him, steadfast in the faith, trusting, he's
giving me grace now. Here's the fourth word. We do
this knowing. What do we know? Verse nine.
Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren
that are in the world. Now this word same, we know that
our brethren are suffering the same way we are. You know, it
wasn't one of the disciples who was wondering who was going to
be greatest in the kingdom. They all were. They all were. It wasn't Peter only that was
saying, Lord, I won't, I won't deny you. They all were saying,
they were all saying it. We all have this very bad, every
brother in this world, every sister in this world, brothers
and sisters in Christ our Lord, we all have this terrible, terrible
problem. called pride, called sin. We have this very terrible problem
of wanting to cast all the care upon ourselves. We have this
very terrible problem of becoming drunk in that pride and drunk
in that unbelief and becoming careless and not watchful of
Him who is going to save us. And these same afflictions are
in all our brethren. And they are the same. You know,
the Father's given them. And the father only gives the
affliction in proportion as his child can handle it. So that
somebody that's been through my trial may look at it and say,
well, that's nothing. I've already been through that.
That's not really that big a deal. Well, it's the biggest deal I
ever faced right now. I may not look at your trial
and be able to understand it, because I've never been through
it. And think, well, I don't see how that's that big a deal.
It's the biggest deal you've ever faced. And God's seen it. And he's seen it in direct proportion
to how his children can handle it. So it's as bad as his child's
ever handled at the time. And it's the same. We can rest
assured, yours is the same as mine, and mine is the same as
yours. So we don't get all puffed up and think, oh, well, you just
don't know how I'm hurting. Yes, yes, yes, you know how I
am. The same affliction, same affliction,
sent at the same hand of the same Father for the same purpose. But look at this, now this is
beautiful. I looked up every translation on this word and,
you know, all these, this word means this. It means these different,
these different words. But it says, afflictions accomplished. That just struck me when I read
that. Afflictions accomplished. And the word accomplished, it
does mean experienced in some of the things how the other translations
have it. But you know this word means
they have an end. They have an end. I want you
to get this and think about this. When Christ Jesus, my Redeemer,
went to the cross, there was an exact, an exact amount of
suffering predetermined to satisfy eternal, infinite justice. Exact. And there was no more
required to be paid. Our God's a just God. He doesn't
require more than is needed. He's a just God. And He gave,
He poured out on the Savior the exact amount. Already predetermined,
already fully determined, and He accomplished, he brought to
an end all that justice demanded. He brought it to an end. every
affliction that his children, and we're called to suffer for
his name. Remember Paul said, I fill up that which is left
behind of Christ. Suffering, fill it up. It means
there's some afflictions to be accomplished. It means God has,
this is a great, this thrills my soul. This doesn't trouble
me, this thrills me. When I go into the trial, when
I go into the affliction, when you go into the affliction, the
Lord has already predetermined the exact time, the exact amount
of suffering that His child will suffer. And He's not like fathers,
like we are fathers. He's not like us. We react. He's
already got it all determined. He's bringing it to pass exactly
as He will. And when it's filled up, when
it's completely accomplished His purpose in every individual
trial, in every individual believer, and in His whole church collectively,
when it's done, He says, enough. That's it. That's it. He will
not suffer you to be tried above that which you're able. He has
it exact predetermined. That just... That just gives
me so much... You know what it makes me want
to do? It makes me want to... It makes me want to bow down
under His mighty hand and cast all my care on Him. Because I
see what a mighty, conquering, wonderful God this is. That's
exactly what Peter is saying here when he says, verse 10,
Know your brethren are suffering the same, and know this, but
the God of all grace That's who He is, the God of all grace. What He's doing is grace. What
He's doing for me and for you is grace. It's His grace. It
may not seem like it at the time, but it's grace. It's all grace.
The God of all grace who hath called us, where's He called
us? Unto His eternal glory. Unto His eternal glory by Christ
Jesus. after that you have suffered
a while, the exact time when the affliction
is accomplished, when it's served its purpose, He'll make you perfect. Establish, strengthen, saddle
you. Saddle you. And He'll get all
the glory and all the dominion. And He'll make us say, oh, to Him be the glory and dominion
forever and ever. You see, brethren, I want you
to turn back and read one thing with me. Turn back to 1 Peter
2. Don't ever forget this. Don't ever forget this. 1 Peter 2.21, For even hereunto
were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us. leaving us an example that he
should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled not again.
When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to
him that judgeth righteously. You know what he did? He submitted
himself under the mighty hand of his father, and he cast all
his care into his hand. And he did so accomplishing all
the care of the salvation of all his people and the glory
of his father, glorifying his father. Who, look verse 24, his
own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. He had
to bear them, but that affliction was accomplished. It had an end.
And he cried out, it is finished, when it got finished. That we
being dead to sins, that's what he accomplished by it. Sure don't
feel like it, does it? But it is. It's so. We're dead
to sins as our Savior died. That's right. Should live unto righteousness.
By who? Look at that. Live unto righteousness
by whose? That righteousness is a person.
It's a big R. A person. By whose stripes you
were healed. For you were a sheep going astray,
discounted for the slaughter, but are now returned to the shepherd
and bishop of your souls. You see that? Now one more verse,
chapter 4, verse 12. So then he says here, Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try
you, as though some strange thing happened unto you, but rejoice
inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings. that
when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
joy. Amen.