May it please God to bless us
together as we meditate in his word this morning. Let's turn
to the first epistle of Peter, chapter five, and we'll read
verses six and seven. The first epistle of Peter, chapter
five, and reading verses six and seven. 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. Sometimes we read of people having
a motto, and perhaps they have a motto for a year, or perhaps
a letter time. As I thought on these words here
this morning, the 6th and 7th verses, it would be good if all
of us have these verses before our minds as we proceed throughout
this year. They may be a wonderful influence
for us in order to direct ourselves before God and before the world
as we should. It is a truly wonderful statement
that the Apostle Peter was able to set before us. So just to
read it again, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand
of God that he may exhort you in due time, casting all your
care upon him for he careth for you. That's a wonderful promise,
isn't it? To think that God cares for us. realise He looks upon us He does
not deal with us as our sins deserve but He cares for us I read that chapter in the Philippians
part of the second chapter which gives us a wonderful direction
for our lives now and indeed throughout our lives and perhaps
especially as we enter this new year and in the 5th verse of
the 2nd chapter of Philippians we read this let this mind be
in you which was also in Christ Jesus so the Apostle Paul here
states this great truth let this mind be in you it's not something
which is not known because it is set before
us here in the verses which follow And the great thing is, which
was also in Christ Jesus. The sixth verse reads, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. Well, we should be very thankful
that God in his wonderful wisdom and love has given us such a
great and glorious statement for us to consider, for us to
ponder. And here we have then the Lord
Jesus Christ, this wonderful description of him as he came
into this sinful world for that divine purpose to save, to redeem
our souls from all our sin and to bless us with that good hope
of eternal life through what he has done. And so we should
not pass by such a great and glorious statement as this, but
made himself of no reputation. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
this is the Almighty God, this is the creator of all things,
this great and glorious God, so high, so lifted up, so wonderful
and yet condescended, gloriously, graciously, but made himself
of no reputation. Reminds us of what Paul tells
us of himself less than the least of all saints. It shows forth
a wonderful favour and a wonderful blessing if the Lord gives us
this desire to truly be found following the way of the Saviour,
the way of the Apostles. Lord, we are thankful that the
Lord has given us a very clear picture of these things and yet
so often we seem to ignore them and we seem to go our own way
and the reason the reason is told us in the chapter we read
because the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom
he may devour and he is at enmity with God and therefore he is
at enmity with us and his great concern his great desire is to
turn us away from the things of God And so we should be very
thankful the Lord has granted us such a very clear picture
of the Saviour's life and as a wonderful example for you and
me today. Because it's a blessing if we
are found a true follower of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And that's not just my vain words. It is that which the word of
God has given us. This blessed Jesus who made himself
of no reputation and then he took upon him the form of a servant,
willing to serve. That should be our concern also,
that we should be willing to serve God and willing to serve
one another. not to follow our own life, our
own pattern, our own desires, but to recognize the great truth
of such a word, who took upon him the form of a servant, was
made in the likeness of man, and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself. The Lord humbled himself. He
was perfect. He was sinless. And yet we're
told here, he humbled himself this really picks up the words
on this 6th verse in this 5th chapter of 1 Peter where the
Apostle says humble yourselves humble yourselves you see this
is opposite to our nature by nature we are proud we are self-confident
what a blessing it is But the Lord gives us that grace to humble
ourselves and to follow this example of the Lord Jesus who
humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. This means he became obedient
and willingly obedient to do his father's will. What a wonderful
example. What a wonderful testimony. we
have here and may we be able to take it to heart and to be
concerned that we in our little lives may also be willing to
become obedient unto our God in whatever path in whatever
way that may be and of course for the Blessed Savior it was
unto death even the death of the cross but you see there was
a a wonderful result and a wonderful prospect, because we're told,
for God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name, that the name of Jesus every knee should
bow. What a wonderful thing it is
to know that we have such a risen saviour. But in this, again coming
back to Peter, We have these words, humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time. We can look forward, can't we,
through our life. We look in our life and through
our life to the end of our life, when by the grace of God we shall
be exalted and to be found with Christ in glory. So there is
a wonderful prospect before us for the people of God and the
Apostle just goes on we just run on a few a few words further
when he says that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow
things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father it's good isn't it to
have such words to instruct us it's not something again which
is optional, it's really that which is the true favour and
blessing of those who are the true followers of the Saviour.
And He tells us then that every tongue, every tongue, your tongue,
my tongue, should confess that Jesus is Lord and the purpose,
the great and glorious purpose, to the glory of God the Father. How often we fail to recognise
and to remember and to realise that our little lives are for
the glory of God. We're not placed on this earth
just to run through this earth, to please ourselves and to try
and be eminent in the things of this life, but we are here
for the honour and glory of God. And so the Apostle comes The
Apostle Peter says, humble yourselves. Now, Peter was really well equipped,
wasn't he, to be able to write such words. You may well remember
that it was the Apostle Peter that was so confident in his
own ability. On that Passover night in the
upper room, when challenged by the Saviour, he said he would
never forsake him. In fact, he was willing to die
for him. He would never deny him. And yet you see, a few hours
later, Peter's position was very changed. That which he was very
confident in, of his own strength, was removed. And that which the
Saviour told him would come to pass, did come to pass, that
he denied his Lord and Master those three times. And not only
just in a casual way, but with oaths and curses. So we can see
here then that the blessed work of the Holy Spirit had truly
humbled the Apostle Peter and therefore he's able to exhort
the Church of God and to exhort us today to humble ourselves
under the mighty hand of God. This is really the secret isn't
it? It's to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. To realise that God's mighty
hand is over us, that God's mighty hand is upon us. And as we may
realise the greatness of our God and the wonderful privilege
it is to have this blessing, this glorious favour, that it
may truly affect us so that we are concerned to therefore humble
ourselves under this great mighty hand of God, that he may exhort
us in due time and then just passing on for a moment he tells
us this casting all your care upon him we all have cares every
one of us cares and he tells us not one care but casting all
your care every care upon him how we fail
to do that don't we how often therefore We struggle on ourselves. Struggle on bearing this and
bearing that and trying to work this out and trying to work that
out. Whereas the Word of God tells us so very simply, casting
all your care upon him. And that means what it says.
And then the great consolation, the wonderful reason, for he
careth for you. cares for us, each one of us. He's dealing with us. Remember,
in love to our souls. It's not in anger, it's in love. Casting all your care upon him,
for he careth for you. You may think, well, how can
God care for me? How can God ever look upon me?
I'm just too bad, I'm just too sinful, I'm just too vile. Well, this is the great and glorious
instruction of our God. We might just go back to the
fourth verse, which is a good word of instruction in this fifth
chapter. 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 this really means walking together in love
walking together in humility and not feeling that we are more
important not feeling that we deserve more attention than anyone
else But to be clothed with humility is a wonderful flavour. And remember,
God resisteth the proud. Perhaps we found the path not
very easy. Perhaps we found it rather difficult.
Perhaps we found that our prayers don't seem to have made any impression. Perhaps we've found that our
prayers don't seem to have entered in. the holy place it seems our
prayers haven't been heard well just ponder these words God resisted
the proud you see it may be that we have been maybe that we are
proud in our hearts and what's the result we've been resisted
our prayers haven't been received as we perhaps expected. Perhaps we may have thought we
had a right for our prayers to be heard and answered. And we
may have been rather upset because they haven't been. Well, that's
why we have a word to direct us like this. God resisted the
proud, but he gives grace to the humble. And that, of course,
is the free unmerited favour of God. And what can we make
of that? We can make this that you and
I will then be led to the Saviour. We will be led to see what He
suffered in order to atone for our sins. That is His grace. That is His favour to lead us
to the Saviour Himself. He gives grace. He gives these
blessings. He gives these favours, but it
is to a special people. It is a people who are humble. And therefore we can understand
the Apostle's statement, humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God that he may exhort you in due time. It would seem to state very clearly
that if we are not humble, then we cannot expect the blessing. We cannot expect God's favour. We cannot expect that God would
indeed exalt us in due time. So there is therefore surely
much need for all of us to pray for that grace that we may be
humbled under the mighty hand of God. There are very many examples
in the Word of God to encourage us and to direct us with regard
to this position, with regard to the needs to be blessed with
a humble spirit. You may remember King Josiah. He was a godly king. And he was only a boy when he
became king. He was only eight years old.
One of you young people, you children can think if you were
now perhaps more than eight years old and you became king, well,
it would have been a very powerful place, wouldn't it? To realize
that everybody came and did what you said. Well, Josiah was only
eight years old when he became king. And we don't read much
about him for another 10 years. Another 10 years. And then he
recognised that the house of God was in disrepair and it needed
to be repaired. So he instructed it might be
so. And there was work done and when that work was being done,
the search was made and they found there the book of the law. And the Book of the Law, we can
assume, was the first five chapters in the Old Testament. There's
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The first five
books of Moses. And those five books gave a very
clear position as to how Israel should behave themselves and
what they should do. Well, it hadn't been read for
a long time. And they read it, the scribe,
Shaphan the scribe, he read it. And then he came and read it
before the king. And the king, when he heard it,
well, he realized what a tragic position it was. And this is
what he said. Well, thus saith the Lord, behold,
I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof,
even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath
read, because they have, this is Israel, have forsaken me and
have burned incense unto other gods, they might provoke me to
anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore, my wrath shall
be kindled against them in this place and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, which
sent you to inquire of the Lord, Thus shall he say to him, thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, as touching the words which thou
hast heard. And then he speaks here then
of Josiah. This is what he says about Josiah,
the king. Remember, he would have been
about 18 years old. And the Lord speaks through the
prophet to him and says, because thine heart was tender. That
means it wasn't hard. That means he wasn't rebellious
against God. Because thine heart was tender and thou hast humbled
thyself before the Lord. He was the king and yet you see
he humbled himself before God. When thou heardest what I spake
against this place and against the inhabitants thereof they
shall become a desolation and a curse and as rent thy clothes
wept before me I also have heard thee saith the Lord well that's
a good example for us in regards to humbling ourselves what did
he do well in those days they rent their clothes we don't have
to tear our clothes today but we can do what follows and wept
before me that means to cry before God because of the sinful condition
the things that we've done, our acts, our words, to weep before
God, to pray to God for forgiveness for all our sins. Now Israel
had departed greatly from God for so many years and it is very
hard to understand that here was a nation wonderfully blessed
of God and yet totally turning their back upon God. and yet
God didn't turn his back upon them that's amazing isn't it
and how wonderful it is for us today we perhaps look at ourselves
and realize that we haven't humbled ourselves before God but God
hasn't turned his back upon us his mercy is still lengthened
out and so here we have this statement that the God looked
upon Josiah and heard his I heard his prayers. I also heard thee,
saith the Lord. Well, what a wonderful mercy
that is. We can remember also King Hezekiah. Hezekiah, you see, the Lord dealt
with him. He brought an illness upon him. He brought an illness
upon him. I'm not told a great deal about
Hezekiah. But it was quite clear, therefore,
that he also was proud and that he needed to be humbled. And indeed, he was humbled. And God was gracious and God
did indeed. He cured him of his illness. What a blessing that was. What
a good thing it is sometimes to just remember these great
truths which are recorded in the word of God for our instruction. And in the book of the Chronicles
and the 32nd book of the Chronicles, we read this, sorry, 32nd chapter. In those days, Hezekiah was sick
to the death and prayed unto the Lord and his spaking gave
him a sign, but Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit
done unto him, for his heart was lifted up Therefore there
was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem. Notwithstanding,
Hezekiah humbled himself, the pride of his heart, both he and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord
came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. Remember what we
just read there. Hezekiah was sick unto death. The Lord gave him a sign. But
Hezekiah rendered not a gain according to the benefit done
unto him, but his heart was lifted up. Again, these words are a
great instruction for us, aren't they? There he was, about to
die, the Lord granted him 15 years, he was healed, and yet
we're told at that time his heart was lifted up. But, notwithstanding,
isn't it good in our lives? If perhaps we have, and notwithstanding,
our reaction, our life, our position, our thoughts, our words, has
been, and notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride
of his heart. Both he and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, there was a good knock-on effect. What a wonderful blessing
it is for us today if we humble ourselves whatever the situation
to realize how wonderful it is that God is kind and God is merciful
and you may remember the next chapter in Chronicles chapter
33 speaks about Manasseh now Manasseh was a young lad when
he became king also he was 12 years old a bit older than Josiah
But not much. Twelve years old. He began to
reign and he reigned fifty and five years. And what did he do? He did evil in the sight of the
Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord
had cast out before the children of Israel. Now, if we stop there,
we would think that he was a man who was never blessed and never
favoured. Well, God was very gracious to
him and we can read further on in this 33rd chapter and in the
10th verse the Lord spoke to Manasseh
and to his people but they would not hearken would not hearken
sometimes that's like us we don't listen to what God says wherefore
the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king
of Assyria which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him
with fetters and carried him to Babylon. So it wasn't a happy
scene was it? There he'd been disobeying God
and now he was carried a captive away. But then we read this and
this is good news. And when he was in affliction
he besought the Lord his God. What a change! He'd ignored God. Now, in this affliction, he besought
the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God
of his fathers and prayed unto him. And he was entreated of
him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem
into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord,
he was God. Sometimes the Lord brings us
into drastic situations to realise this great and glorious but very
simple truth, the Lord, He is God. The Lord rules and the Lord
reigns. Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God. And there was another character
in the Word of God. You might remember in Daniel's
day a man called Belshazzar. He was a king. He was a king. But he was very different to
Manasseh. He was very different to Josiah. And we can read about him in
this book of Daniel and in chapter 5 we can read about what happens
to this king Belshazzar. You may be familiar, I won't
read it, it's a long chapter, in the fifth chapter in Daniel,
but it speaks about what he did. He had this great feast and he
took the cups from God's house and used those to drink wine. And he was in a very sad position,
really. And yet, you see, what happened
was Daniel was called to come and interpret the writing on
the wall. There'd been a hand, there'd
been this great feast, and all there. And the king had suddenly
seen this hand writing on the wall, writing on the wall. Do you know what it wrote? Mene,
mene, tekel, afason. This is what it means. Mene,
God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it. Thou weighed
in the balances and are found wanting. Thy kingdom is divided
and given to the Medes and Persians." Well, what happened to this king? That night he was slain. But what had Daniel said before
he gave this interpretation? He tells us this. He tells us,
he tells Belshazzar about his father Nebuchadnezzar. He told
him what Nebuchadnezzar had done. And then he says, And thou, his
son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest
all this. This is really a very solemn
warning. You see, Belshazzar knew how
God had appeared for his father, Nebuchadnezzar. And you and I
may have known of those things which Perhaps we've seen God
do, God appear. We've got the Bible to read which
explains to us so many great and glorious truths. And yet
perhaps our heart is still proud. We won't bow down to God. We
won't humble ourselves. We won't become as nothing. No, we're still enmity with God. Baal Shazam was not blessed he
was not given repentance he didn't turn from his sins he didn't
acknowledge all those things that he had done against his
God he continued and therefore the Lord took his life what a
solemn example we have humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God that he may exhort you in due time casting all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. There surely should be wonderful
relief to realise we have a God who cares for us and a wonderful
example of what we should do, casting all our care upon Him. While there are many words of
encouragement in the Word of God, to speak to us about such
truths, but the Psalmist David, he knew what it was to be proud,
he knew what it was to be humbled, and he was therefore able to
encourage us, as we've just read about casting our burden in the
55th Psalm, he tells us this in the 22nd verse, cast thy burden
upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee He shall sustain us you
see, if we receive that grace and it is grace, it is a favour
of God to be able to come and to cast our burdens we've been
carrying things we've been dragging along now we are burdened with
these things and we can't make much progress it seems to drag
us down and so The words here cast thy burden upon the Lord
and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous
to be removed. And also, I think Psalm 142 is
a very encouraging Psalm because here we have it again, David
praying. In terms of this, I cried out
to the Lord in my voice. With my voice unto the Lord did
I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him. I showed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed
within me, there we are, overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest
my path. In the way wherein I walked hath
a Privy laid a snare for me. merciful why are you giving us
these references? it's really just to show us the
wonderful compassion upon our God and I believe the great truth
is this that if the Lord brings us into these situations with
these cares, with these burdens is to direct us to none less
than the Saviour Himself who bore our burden who bore our
sins, who carried them so willingly, so that you and I might be set
free, casting all our care upon Him. What a mercy it is to have
such a Saviour, such a compassionate Saviour, who does not deal with
us as our sins deserve, casting all your care upon Him, for He
cared for you and remember then the wonderful words we read to
you in that second chapter of Philippians the Lord Jesus Christ
He humbled Himself He humbled Himself and the reason for you
and me He humbled Himself that He might indeed be that One who
was therefore in that perfect position that wonderful example
he did all that his father required of him nothing was lacking he
did his father's will throughout his life and even when he came
down to the end of his life in the Garden of Gethsemane there
he was if it be possible let this cut pass from me nevertheless
not my will but thine be done he submitted himself to his father
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, submitting
ourselves unto our God, casting all our care upon Him, for He
cares for you. And the glory of this position
is that it brings us into fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. If we have no burdens, we have
no difficulties, we have no trials, We have no position. We will
not understand anything of what the Christ endured for us. But as the Lord sees fit to bring
us to that position where we come without hope, without any
hope anywhere else than in what the Saviour has done for us and
brought to this position, casting all our care upon him. and with
this glorious and wonderful confidence for he careth for us for he careth
for you you see it's a very personal statement casting all your care
upon him for he careth for you what a blessing my friends to
think as we commence this new year on this first Lord's Day
to realise that here we have a word to encourage us. May this
word stay with us throughout the year, indeed throughout our
life, that it may be a glorious light to us. As we may perhaps
find ourselves as we progress through the year, sometimes in
times of darkness, sometimes in times of difficulty, sometimes
in great trials, we may need to examine ourselves. The reason for these things may
not always be very obvious, but perhaps there may be that pride
in our life which the Lord is graciously dealing with and making
us conformable unto his image. It's a blessing to know that
God's hand is upon us, that God's not leaving us, to our own devices. But his hand is upon us to make
us conformable unto his image and the reason for that to fit
and prepare us for our eternal home in glory. You see, no one
comes to heaven who is not prepared for that place of glory. The
Lord deals with his people to prepare them for that place and
therefore may we be able to thank God if we can recognise that
His hand is upon us He's dealing with us in love to our souls
and He gives us grace therefore to humble ourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God that He may exhort you in due
time casting all your care all your care Remember that all your
care upon him for he cares for you. Amen.