Alright, let's turn to 1 Peter
chapter 5. I want to read a few scriptures
to you before we get into our text. The Lord God of heaven and earth
hates pride. The Scriptures tell us in Proverbs
6, 16, these six things doth the Lord hate. Yea, seven are
an abomination unto him. The first one is a proud look. And the rest of these spawn out
of pride. A proud look, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood. a heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
a false witness that speaketh lies, he that soweth discord
among brethren. This is a disease. Pride is a
disease that's detrimental to a believer and to an unbeliever. It's detrimental to the house
of the Lord, where the elder and with the younger. In the
last sentence of 1 Peter 5, in verse 5, we read this, God resisteth
the proud. God resisteth the proud. Pride is what makes every sinner
resist God. And it sounds like this, Thou
hast set in thine heart, that's where this pride originates in
the heart. Thou hast said in thy heart,
I will ascend into heaven. This is from Isaiah. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most
High. That's what pride Sounds like,
in the heart, I will, I will. And God resisted the proud. This is a war that you and I
will not win. If we decide we're going to go
on in our pride, and we read here that without any misunderstanding
that God resisted the proud, if we're going to fight against
God, we're going to lose. We're going to lose. That's a
fact. But notice this next phrase in
verse 5. And giveth grace to the humble. God resisted the proud and giveth
grace to the humble. Now how can any proud child of
Adam, how can any proud child of Adam, We who are so full of
pride by nature in everything we do, how is it that we can
ever hope for grace if He only gives grace to the humble? How can we hope for that? He
giveth grace to the humble. He resisted the proud and giveth
grace to the humble. How am I going to get grace? Grace always precedes grace. God's grace precedes His grace. In other words, it's by the free,
unmerited favor of God, by His grace, by which He first breaks
our proud heart, and makes us submissive to His will, abases
us, and causes us by His Spirit to receive His grace. It's by
the revelation of Christ in the heart that He brings us down. You know, remember Isaiah? When he said, in the year that
King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. And how did he see him? I saw
him high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. And
the cherubims flew, and I heard the sound, the exclamations of
the cherubim singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of glory. And what did Isaiah say when
he saw him? He said, and I said, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. I live in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. That's how we're going to be
brought down is when we see Christ. And the more proud we are, speaking
of I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, it's just a manifest
token of how proud we are and how far away we've come from
seeing Christ Jesus, the Lord of glory. Because you can't see
Him and walk around with that hard heart. Not when He works
His grace, He humbles you. And then He gives grace. We're still full of pride, the
believer's still full of pride, and yet God resists us in that
pride, and yet He still gives us grace and humbles us still
as believers. He does that. God resisted the
proud and giveth grace to the humble. He doesn't say God resisted
the proud, but He resists the proud and He gives grace to the
humble. James said it this way, Do you think that the scripture
saith in vain that the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to
envy? The spirit that's in you who
believe. Do you realize that the spirit that's in you, that
old nature, it lusts to envy. the Spirit that dwells in us,
but he giveth more grace. And James quotes this same scripture,
wherefore he saith, God resisted the proud, but giveth grace unto
them. The same grace by which He first
resists the proud and breaks that pride and that stony heart,
He continues to resist us in our pride and continues to abase
us and bring us down. Now what do we say to that? When
we behold this is what God shall do for His people, for the brethren,
then what do we say to these things? Look at verse 6. Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. Is there any point of doing anything
else? You're going to lose the battle.
If He's given you grace, humble yourself 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. Now, first of all tonight,
I want to talk to you who do not believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. You who don't believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, has God made you to see what you are? Is there anybody here who has
the sentence of death in yourself? Anybody here who's pressed beyond
measure above any strength that you have in yourself? Anybody
here like that? A sentence such as this is given
by the Spirit of God to cause that vessel of mercy not to trust
in themselves, but to trust in God who raiseth the dead. Oh,
I wish there'd be somebody, somebody who had this sentence of death
in themselves. The Spirit of God says, humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you
in due time. What is it to humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God? What is that? Well, first of
all, true humility involves confessing God to be who He is and for you
to be what you are. You remember the publican? The
publican smote upon his breath. It says he stood afar off And
he wouldn't lift up so much as his eyes toward God. But he smoked upon his breast. God's holy and you're sinning. God's holy and you're sinning. God is too holy to have anything
whatsoever to do with you. and you're too sinful for God
to have anything to do with you. The problem is not somebody else. The problem is not the environment
you're in or that you grew up in. That's not the problem. The
problem is you. The problem is you. God is infinitely
holy and you are absolutely undone and dead in sin. Is there anybody here like the
publican? He knew it. He knew who God is,
and he knew what he is. And he stood afar off, and he
wouldn't even lift his eyes up to heaven. And he smote upon
his breast. That's where the pollution's
at, in the heart. True humility involves begging
God for mercy. begging him to be merciful to
you. It's not calling on God and telling
him what you've done for him, or telling him what you're going
to do for him, or trying to bargain with God and get him to talk
to you into doing something for you. It's coming to God and asking
him if he will have mercy on you, just a dog who deserves
no mercy. That Republican said, God, be
merciful to me, a sinner. You and I don't have any ground
to stand upon ourselves. What do we have that we can bargain
with? What do we have that we can call upon God and expect
God to even listen to us, have anything to do with us whatsoever?
We have no merit. We've done nothing to merit anything.
We have no good in us. There's nothing about us that
would cause Him to look upon us. The only thing we can do
is ask Him to be merciful to us. To withhold from me what
I deserve, mercy. And to give me grace that I don't
deserve in Christ alone. And third thing, true humility,
is to believe on Christ Jesus that He's the only way in which
God will receive you. Christ has made perfect, full
satisfaction to God for His people. He has accomplished the redemption
of His people. He has completely, thoroughly
put away the sin of His people. And God promises He will remember
that sin no more. Has He bore witness in your heart
that this is true? Has He made you to realize and
to understand and to truly believe that this is so? Do you believe
God? You either do or you don't. Right
there where you sit right now, you either do or you don't. Confessing who God is, that He's
holy. Confessing what you are. dead
dog sinner. No ability in you, no strength
in you, a sinner in need of mercy and casting all your care on
God through Christ Jesus the Lord. This is what humility is
made out of. This is the substance of humility.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he
may exalt you in due time. The only way up with God is down
in the dust at Christ's feet. That's the only way. Now, I have
a word to you who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
6. Humble yourselves 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. Be turning with me over
to Luke 22. Peter learned this when he was
a lost sinner by God resisting him in his pride and giving Peter
grace, just as he did that publicly. And then as Peter grew in the knowledge of Christ
as a believer, Peter learned this by God resisting him in
his pride and giving him more grace. It was by grace upon grace,
both taught by the Lord and experienced by Peter by the Lord's all-wise,
providential working of all things together. The night the Lord
Jesus was betrayed, Scripture says in Luke 22, 21, I hope you
held your place back there in Luke, I mean in 1 Peter, we'll
be back there, but in Luke 22, 21, The Lord is going to be betrayed
this night, and he says this to them, Behold, the hand of
him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. And they began
to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do
this, that. And there was also a strife among
them. Which of them should be accounted
the greatest? What were they desiring? What
did they want? All of them were fighting about
this. His apostles, they were fighting about this. Who should
be the greatest? They were striving among themselves
and each one was giving his reasons to the others why he should be
accounted the greatest and why the others ought to submit to
him. We're not talking about who should be the greatest when
they get to heaven. That's not what they fight about.
They thought God was about to restore a kingdom on earth like
what they had experienced in the days of David. And what they're
asking is, Lord, when you're gone, who of us is going to take
the lead? And who's going to lead? And
Peter was saying, well, here's why I think I ought to do it.
Come over here, James. Let me talk to you. I'll tell
you why I think I ought to be leading the pack. And James would go over here
and say, John, let me tell you why I think I ought to be. And
they were striving among themselves, all of them wanting to be the
one. Do you remember back in Luke
22? Go back to 1 Peter 5 and look
at verse 2. This was Peter's exhortation
to the elders. What he was doing when they were
striving, they were striving over who would be lords over
God's heritage. Now look what he says here in
1 Peter 5. to the elders. Feed the flock
of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by
constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready
mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being
examples to the flock. Look down at verse 5. Likewise,
ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. 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. Now I want you to think about
something. Hold your place here, go back to Luke 22. When they
were thinking that they had some sufficiency in themselves, This
is what this striving was about. It was coming from this pride,
this proud look of, I tell you, I should be the Lord. I should be the one to take His
place. And when they were thinking they
had, they were thinking they had sufficiency to do this. They
were thinking that they should be accounted greater than the
other one. Now, if they were left in that,
if they were left there in that spot, would they have been able
to feed the flock of God? Not at all. There's no food for
sheep with those who are filled with pride. You won't get any
sheep food there. Who think there's some sufficiency
in them, that they ought to be accounted the great. You won't
get sheep food there. Would they have been able to willingly take
the oversight of God's people? Willingness comes by the constraint
of the love of Christ working in the heart. Not by pride. Not by pride. When that one that
you've felt so comfortable with and you have had such sweet fellowship
with and you've been given the responsibility to teach them
and guide them and lead them and to preach the gospel to them
and they just Do something that just takes all the wind out of
your sails and completely, thoroughly discourages and disappoints you,
and you see how horribly sinful and evil and wretched the thing
is that they've done. If you don't have this love of
Christ constraining you in the heart, that's creating a submissive,
humble spirit, you know what you'll do? You'll take the whip
of the law. And in that same pride by which
you're constrained, you'll try to constrain them with the same
pride by shaming them, by whipping them, by lashing them, by yoking
them, by commanding them. And that's not grace. That's
not grace. That's not a heart of grace that's
working inside my own heart if I do that. And you don't want
that. Do you? You want that? I don't
think you do. I don't want that. I don't want
that. I want somebody who's constrained
by the love of Christ for them, who understands I was, I was,
I am that wretched, discouraging, disappointed sinner to my Lord. That's what I am. And I'm constrained by His love
for me and how mercifully He's dealt with me. And so I'm going
to go in that constraint of love to them and mercifully just point
them to Christ. It takes Humility and not pride
to do that. Would they have been able to
do so to feed the flock of God and to take the constraint willingly?
Would they have been able to do it of a ready mind or would
it have been for filthy lucrecy? Which would it have been? Everything
they're doing is filthy. Right now, everything Peter and
John and James and all of them are doing is absolutely filthy. And they're desiring to have
great gain by their filthiness. That's what they're desiring.
Would they have been examples to the flock? Or would they be
like those who exalt themselves and try to be lords over God's
heritage? If God would have left them here,
which one? Well, let's see what the Lord said. What was the problem?
Luke 22, 25. And He said unto them, The kings
of the Gentiles heathen kings, unbelieving, graceless kings,
exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority
upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so." I love
it when God says, shall, because I'm thankful He resists the proud,
because I'm proud by nature. Steve, I'm glad He does it. I'm glad he breaks my proud heart.
And he says, you shall not be so. But he that's greatest among
you, let him be as the younger. And he that is chief, as he that
doth serve. For which is greater? Huh? Oh, they were striving, said,
I want to be, I ought to be accounted the greatest. I'll be the count
of the greatest, so I should be the one who has this oversight
and who's running the show and things. Listen to what the Lord
said. Which one is greater? Which one
is greater? He that sits at meat or he that
serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat?
Anybody could tell that. The greater man, the king sits
down at the table and people serve him, right? But listen
to this righteousness. Listen to this pure, sinless,
spotless perfection. For I'm among you as He that
serveth. The King. Do you see how lovingly
and willingly He's taking the oversight of them? Of a ready
mind, not for any filthy lube, not for any filthy... He's just
gently teaching them the truth. and telling them what shall be.
The word of the Lord to Peter and the others is this. This
is what he was saying to them. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God, that He might exalt you in due time, casting all
your care upon Him, for He careth for you. That's what he was telling
them. Now watch this, Luke 22, 28.
Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. You
reckon that was one of the reasons they were saying I ought to be
the greatest? I was the first one he called. I was the first
one that joined with him. I've been with him this whole
time. I've been with him a lot longer than y'all have. But does he say, Peter, you have
been the one that's been with me the longest to my temptations?
Or John, you've been the one that's been with me the longest
to my temptations? He says, plural, ye. are they which have continued
with me in my temptation." He doesn't exalt one of them above
the other one, does He? Not at all. He chose them by grace. He called
them by grace. He redeemed them by grace. He
kept them by grace. Where was any boasting that they
had in themselves? It was all excluded. But He says
of all of them, you've been with me in my temptations. Look at
verse 29. And I appoint unto you a kingdom. Not just one of them. Not just
certain one of them. He's talking, he's saying this
to all of them equally the same. I appoint unto you a kingdom
as my father hath appointed unto me. But he says I do it. He's telling them this. Humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God Not that you exalt yourself
in your time, but that He may exalt you in His time, in due
time, in God's time. Verse 30, that ye, there he is,
plural, all of you, indeed, all of God's saints, listen to me
now, this doesn't just apply to his apostles, this is all
of God's saints equally. Ye, that ye may eat and drink
at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel." You see, He's putting them all on one level
field that grace puts every believer on. And he's telling them all,
it's going to be not because you're exalting yourselves and
striving to be a benefactor whereby others are benefited by you and
make other people feel like that you're God's greatest gift to
them. That's not how it's going to
be. I'm going to do this for each of you the same. And you're
going to sit at my table in my kingdom. And he said in one of
the other Gospels, and I'm going to come forth in my kingdom,
in heaven's glory, in the new heavens and the new earth, I'm
going to come forth and serve you. That's righteousness, Lenore.
That's righteousness that you and I can't even fathom in our
minds. That the King of heaven and earth,
who has all right to the throne of God's glory, is going to come
forth and set me down at His table, in His kingdom, and He's
going to serve me just like a servant like He served me in this earth.
What He said. What He said. You see, that's
true humility. That's true love. That's true
righteousness. That's true holiness is what
that is. Now are you sure, Clay, that he's saying he's going to
give everybody this throne? He's going to give everybody
right to his table? He's going to do all this the same for all
his saints? I thought some was going to have more in heaven
and some were going to have less in heaven and some was going
to have a bigger mansion and some was going to have a little
mansion and all that. That's filthy lucre. That's striving
for being a mercenary. God don't operate that way. What's
our treasure? It's the pearl of great price.
Why do you think the scripture says that the streets in heaven
are going to be paved with gold? Why? It's going to be such a
common useless thing that you just walk on it. Not something you strive after
and want to beat and kill and injure one another over. It's
nothing. Why? Because you've got Christ. I had one of these poor little
Mormon boys ask me one day in my house, sitting in my living
room. Well, he told me, he said, the difference, he said, you're
going to go to heaven, but the difference is I'm going to be
at a better spot in heaven than you're going to be. I said, is
Christ going to be in my spot? He said, well, yeah. I said,
well, I don't care where you are. Long as I'm with Him, that's
all I care about. I got the Pearl of Great Price.
I got everything. Are you sure, Clay, that that's
what he's talking about? Turn to 1 Samuel 2, verse 8. He's saying here how He killeth
and maketh alive, He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth
up, He maketh poor, He maketh rich, He bringeth low, He lifteth
up. Look at verse 8, He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and
lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes
and to make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars
of the earth are the Lord's. This is His people. It's His
doing. It's His work. We're here with
His workmanship. And He has set the world upon
them. This is the Lord's work. And He gives His people to inherit
the throne of glory. Look at Revelation 3, 21. What does He say right here?
Revelation 3, 21. To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and sat
down with my father in his throne. That's oneness. That's oneness
with God. That's an absence of sin. There's
an absence of striving. There's an absence of pride.
And it's all complete, perfect righteousness and conformity
to the image of Christ wherein there's no greater and lesser,
no rich and poor, no young and old, no male and female. He tells
us that's the case right now with God. for those who are in
the faith, and we'll be one in Him, and there won't be this
striving to be the greatest. There won't be that. There's
no second-class citizens in heaven. There's no greater and lesser.
But now, verse 4 in our text applies to every believer, whether
they're an elder or a younger. He says this, when the chief
shepherd shall appear, ye, all of you, the elders and the younger
likewise, Ye, every believer, shall receive a crown of glory
that fadeth not away. Glory, glory is the crown. Be
in heaven's glory with him and never, never be out of his presence.
What, what? You want something else besides
that? If you do, you hadn't seen him yet, you hadn't met him yet,
he hadn't entered into the heart yet. If there's something, you
got, you think there's something better than that. Matthew says this, and I want
you to see this too. Matthew 26. Matthew 26. Hold your place there in 1st
Peter. Matthew 26. We gotta stay with Peter here. We're learning how Peter learned,
how his pride was resisted, and how God gave him more grace,
and how he come to teach this that he's teaching in 1st Peter.
How'd he come to know this? I said to you by painful experience.
Now watch this, Matthew 26, 31. This is all in the midst of all
this taking place. Then saith Jesus unto them, all
ye shall be offended because of me of this night. All of you
sitting here striving over who's going to be the greatest, you're
all going to be offended because of me tonight. Where do you get
that? For it is written. These are
the scriptures. For it's written, I will smite
the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered
abroad. But he says this promise, but after I'm risen again, I
will go before you into Galilee. Now this was the word of God.
This was what was prophesied before in the prophets. This
is what was written down and recorded in the word of God.
This is what Christ came to fulfill. I will smite the shepherd and
the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. Now listen
to Peter in verse 33. Peter answered and said unto
him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, I won't
ever be offended. Oh, if he's left in that state,
won't Peter be some kind of teacher of the Word of God? The Word made flesh, standing
right in front of him, declaring to him, it is written in the
Word of God. The shepherds going to be smitten
and the sheep are going to be scattered. And Peter said, well,
that might be what the Word of God says, but I don't believe
it. If God leaves him in his pride, is he going to be a fit
servant to serve the Lord's people? Is he? Jesus said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, that this night before the cock crow,
thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter still said to her, Though
I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. And then all
the rest of those who were striving about why they ought to be greatest,
they all chimed in. Likewise also said all the disciples.
That's right. We all know that. I know the
Word of God might say that. You might say it, Lord, but you
don't know us. You don't know how strong we
are. Well, let's see about that. The Lord, what did Peter say
over there in that first thing? He said, be sober and be vigilant
because the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom
he may devour. He can only do that by permission. He's God's devil. He can't do
anything without permission. Job, have you considered my...
Satan, have you considered my servant Job? He can't do anything but what
God permits him to do. But by God's permission, Peter
and his others are They've been overtaken by Him, and He's begun
to sift them, and He's having a hate day in their midst, and
He's urging them to stand up for their rights, and to declare
their sufficiency and their strength, and why they ought to be the
greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, and how that Christ is wrong,
and how the Word is wrong, and how that they are fit. Oh, He's
having a hate day. That's why, what a word of caution,
be sober and be vigilant. And they didn't even know it
was happening. Now you think about who these folks are we're
talking about. This is the apostles. You think it could happen to
you and me? These are the apostles who walked with the Lord. Three
and a half years in this ministry with him. This is James, who
was his half-brother, who walked with him all his life. You think this could happen to
me and you? Verse 31, Luke 22, back over to Luke 22, verse 31.
The Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to
have you that he may sift you as wheat. Oh, Peter's still thinking,
I'm not going to forsake you though. And that's the sifting,
that's the pride, and that's the sifting. God resisteth the
proud and giveth grace to the humble. That's what he's doing
here with Peter. He's going to make Peter, he's
going to use Satan to bring Peter down, to make Peter see what
he is. Make him see what he is. What's his sufficiency? What's
Peter's sufficiency? What's my sufficiency and what's
your sufficiency? Verse 32, But I have prayed for
thee that thy faith fail not. When thou art converted, from
this pride. When I've brought you out of
this state of pride and brought you back into a state of humility,
then you strengthen your brethren. See, you can't do it when you're
full of pride. When you think you're full of
strength, you can't strengthen anybody. You got to be made to
see your utter weakness and be brought to have absolute no sufficiency
in you. And then God might just use you
to strengthen your brethren. Well, you know the story. It came to pass just as the Lord
said it would, and Peter denied the Lord the third time and looked
down at verse 61. Luke 22, 61. Peter denied Him
the third time, and immediately while he yet spake, the cock
crowed, and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. When was Isaiah
humbled? Huh? He said, when I saw the
Lord, I lifted up. When's Peter going to be humble?
When are you going to be humble? When am I going to be humble?
And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. Peter saw him. And immediately, Peter remembered the word of
the Lord. Now he had said unto him before
the cock crow, Thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out,
and he wept bitterly. He wept bitterly. A broken and
a contrite spirit. Now the Lord don't despise that.
How do you have that? By His grace. And yet Christ
went to the cross and he bore even the sin, this very sin that's
in me and that's in you who believe. He bore this sin for everyone
of the elect of God. This very type of sin, this filthy,
ugly sin that God said, I hate it. It's an abomination. And Christ Jesus was made that
abomination before God and was rejected of God and forsaken
of God on behalf of Peter. And He justified all for whom
He died. He sanctified all for whom He
died. He purged all for whom He died. He redeemed all for
whom He died. And you who are called by His
grace are given this sure promise. You're complete in Him. Now here's
what He did. He giveth more grace. He resisted
the proud and He resisted Peter and He brought Peter down. and
He gave us more grace. He not only told Peter this was
what was going to happen, but after He went to the cross and
bore Peter's sin in His own body on a tree, this same Lord of
glory, after He was risen, fulfilled His promise to Peter, and He
went to him, went ahead like He said He would, and He came
to him and He said, the third time He was with him, There's something about that,
I don't quite know what it is yet, but he didn't say anything
to him the first time. And at another occasion he was
with Peter, he didn't say anything to him that time. But the third
time when he was with Peter, he said, Peter, do you love me?
And he said that to him three times. And he said, now feed my sheep. Now you can feed my sheep. There's
been so many times that I've stood where Peter is. And I've boasted of why I should
be the greatest. In my heart, to the walls in
my house when I'm all alone, audibly to them. To my wife,
to my brethren, in the midst of the church, Without the church,
there's been many times where I've stood right where Peter
stood with this proud, proud, rebellious heart, boasting of
why I ought to be accounted the greatest. But this same Lord Jesus Christ
who bore my sin in his own body on the tree has never failed
to fulfill his promise to me. and to come to me where I am,
and speak into my heart through that still small voice, through
the Holy Spirit, when I've turned to the left or to the right,
and say unto me, this is the way. Walk in it. It caused me
to go out and weep bitterly over what I've done. I've done the
very thing God said He hated. Well, now what's this food for
the sheep? The Lord told Peter, he said,
now you go feed my sheep. What is it? Turn back now to
1 Peter 5. What is this food for the sheep
of God that Peter is now fit to go deliver? What is it? What has he been taught in doctrine
and now been taught by experiencing it so that he knows that this
is not just a doctrine, it's reality. What is it now that
he says and teaches through his word? To you and me sitting right
here this day. Verse six. I'm sorry, verse five. End of
verse five. God resisted the proud and giveth
grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God that he, not you, he, May exalt
you in due time. His time, not your time. For
He careth for you. Don't forget that. If you start
thinking you're caring for yourself, you missed it. He's caring for
you. Careth continually, ongoing. Do this casting all your care
upon Him. Not just a little bit, all your
care upon Him. You think Peter knew what he
was talking about? He knew it, right? For he careth for you. And he says, be sober, be vigilant,
be always on guard, because you won't ever even know it. I'm
an apostle of the Lord, and I'm telling you, you won't ever even
know it, he's saying. Because your adversary the devil
is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Peter
knew by painful experience, and he's telling him, you're no match
for him. You're no match for him. How
are you going to resist him? Verse 9, Whom resists steadfast
in the faith. Don't take your eye off of Christ
Jesus the Lord. Don't turn and start looking
at yourself and your credentials and your history and your, your,
your, your, your and saying I will, I should, I ought to, I am, I
should be, I deserve what. Don't take your eye off Christ. The only way to resist him is
by holding up, hugging up, staying close up on Christ Jesus the
Lord. And know this. that your brethren
are going through the very same thing you're going through. They're
suffering the same afflictions that you're going through in
this world. Oh, the devil loves to make you think you're the
only one suffering what you're suffering. Oh, poor, pitiful
me. Don't nobody know what I'm going
through. Every one of you sitting right here going through the
exact same thing. Do you know that? There's not a one of you
not going through the exact same afflictions right here, right
now, and not a one of you that don't have the exact same need
as the Apostle Peter and as the man standing right before you.
Not a one of you. Verse 10. But this what Peter
learned. But the God of all grace. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto His eternal glory, by Jesus Christ, This
one whose grace can't be changed, who can't be thwarted, who can't
be frustrated, this one who called you by this power and this wisdom,
this one who called you unto eternal glory so that you have
everlasting, eternal security, and he did it all by the precious
blood of Jesus Christ, this one, after that you have suffered
a while. Maybe that's why he didn't say
anything to him. until the third time. Maybe Peter
needed to just suffer a little while. Not suffer in the sense that
he didn't get what he wanted, but suffer over the fact of what
he did to his Savior. Suffer over the fact that he's
the one that put him right there on that cross. that pride and
that stout-heartedness with which he was trying to prove himself
the greatest above his equals was what put Christ his Savior
on that cross. Maybe you just need to think
about that a little while. But after you've suffered a little
while in this present trial and in this whole trial of life, He'll make you perfect. He brought
Peter to see the end of the error. He brought him to see and all
his sufficiency was in Christ, he brought him to the perfection
of holiness to see that he's separated in Christ alone. He's
not separated by his own hand. When he did that, he established
Peter, and he strengthened Peter, and he settled Peter, and he
said, now you go strengthen the brethren with what you've learned.
And Peter says here, after you've suffered a while, he'll make
you perfect, he'll establish you, he'll strengthen you, and
he'll settle you. He'll do it through this trial.
He'll do it through the next one. Next time he has to resist
your pride and give you more grace, he'll do it then. And
he'll keep on doing it right up until that time when the death
rattles in your throat and you see that you really do have absolutely
no sufficiency in yourself whatsoever. And then after you've suffered
just a little while, He'll make you absolutely, perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ Jesus the Lord, established in an eternal
righteousness, absence of all sin, strengthened in his glorious
presence at his throne of grace, settled there at his feet forever,
where you will praise him forever and ever. And this will be your
song. At the end of each one of the trials, this one right
here and the next one, and the next one, and the end of the
last one. And when he's brought you over the Jordan to his throne
in glory, this will be your song. Verse 11, to him. Peter, I thought you thought
you were the greatest. No, no, not anymore. To him, to him be
glory. and dominion. I thought you had
some strength. The dominion is his. To him be
the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.