Blessed assurance, the Lord Jesus
is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. Do you know that in glory, we're
gonna know he's mine. We're gonna know that. A wife needs to know that her
husband loves her. A wife needs to know that. Children need to know that their
parents love them and that they're going to care
for them and that they're going to protect them and they're going
to provide for them. The same thing applies to God's
people. The bride of Christ needs to
know that Christ her husband loves her. She needs to know
that. And the children of God the father
need to know that their heavenly father loves them. The children of the heavenly
father, they need to know this is us. We need to know that our
heavenly father loves us and is going to care for us and is
going to protect us and is going to provide for us. That blessed assurance is our
foretaste of glory divine. That's what it is, that blessed,
precious assurance. Is there anything more wonderful?
and needful for you as a believer. And only believers can enter
into this. But those that God has called to be believers, is
there anything more wonderful and more needful for you than
knowing, being absolutely assured from God's word that Christ loves
you? You. Is there anything that feeds
your soul? We just ask the Lord to feed
us. If he would be willing by his
spirit, Lord, we are here for a heavenly meal. We're here for
living water and heavenly bread, which is a who and a who. And
is there anything that feeds us, feeds our soul more than
being told from God's word that Christ the Savior died for you? Don't you love those moments
when you, you know, from God's word, he's talking about me. Not just his people. We know
that he died for his people, but you. God emptied heaven for you. Think about that. I love that
old song that Ed Hale sings. As poor wretched sinners, no
God and no hope, it seems there was no one to help. But God in
his mercy, salvation supplied, emptied heaven and came down
himself. And a ransom was found. He came
down for you. He suffered the shame of the
cross and he was forsaken of his father and he bore that unimaginable
punishment for you. Is there anything that feeds
your soul and brings faith and brings trust and brings comfort
and brings assurance to your heart like that does? I love
the sure and the absolute promises that God has given in his word.
I love how absolute his word to his people is. I want to look
at a couple of those promises tonight here in First Peter five,
verse six, it says, 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. Now for the purpose
of assurance, that blessed assurance. I want us to look at this promise
in light of this question. How can I know if I'm a you? He said, casting all your care
upon him, for he careth for you. How can I know if I'm a you? He cares for you. I want to be
a you. How can I know if I'm a you?
Well, first, let's see who he's talking to. In verse one, Peter
said, the elders, which are among you, I exhort, whether they are
elders in age or elders in position, an elder is one who handles spiritual
matters in the church, pastors, preachers, teachers. Peter went on to say, I am also
an elder. Deacons handle the physical matters
in the church. They build church buildings and
they maintain church buildings. They take care of the physical
needs of the people in the church. So elders take care of spiritual
needs. Deacons take care of physical
needs. And Peter said in verse one, the elders, which are among
you, I exhort who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ. That's what all of God's preachers
are, and that's what all of God's people are. It was revealed to
a man named Simeon. I love the story of that man.
It was revealed to him that he would not see death until he
had seen the Lord's Christ. And that same thing is revealed
to all of God's people. God's people who are the you,
they see the sufferings of Christ to be their salvation. They see
the sufferings of Christ. They see it to be all of their
salvation. They see the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ. And by faith, they're made to
be a partaker of that glory. They lay hold of Christ. the
sufferings of Christ. They enter in to the sufferings
of Christ. They are persuaded of the fact
and they embrace the fact that his sufferings are their only
hope of glory. So Peter said in verse one, the
elders, which are among you, I exhort who am also an elder
and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed. 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. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. So first he's talking to pastors.
This promise that's given in verse seven is given to pastors.
And I cannot tell you how many times as a preacher, as a pastor,
I can't tell you how many times I've relied on this promise.
I cling to this promise. Most of the times before I stand
up to preach, this verse of scripture goes through my mind. He said, cast all your care upon
him. He cares for you. I care how
our worship services go. I just do. I care about what is said in
the message. How clearly the message is set
forth. I care about that. It's a care. It's a burden. It's a deep desire. I'm constantly asking the Lord
to guard my tongue. Lord, please don't let me say
something that's not of you. And Lord, please give me the
words to glorify you and praise you. honor you. I care about whether or not you
all, and me included, are fed. I care about whether or not our
souls are blessed. But here's the thing about all
that. None of it's in my hands. Not one bit. If I could, I would
bless you. If I could, I would feed you.
If I could, I would make every worship service so glorious.
I would. If I could, I would. But none of that is in my control. If God does not put the words
in my mouth to glorify Christ and to honor Christ and to praise
Christ, this tongue will never do it. It just will not do it. If God does not feed us, we will
never be fed. If God does not make the message
clear and plain and bless it to our hearts, our hearts will
not be blessed. So I constantly find myself saying,
Lord, this is my care and I'm casting it on you. I'm totally
casting it on you. I'm about to stand up and enter
into a deep care and I just cast it on you. Would you please speak
to your people? Would you please bless the word
and touch the hearts and speak to your people? And can I be
one of them? Speak to me too. I would urge each one of you,
beg him for that. Lord, you're the only one who
can do anything for me. You're the only one who can touch
my soul and speak to my heart. Would you please do that for
me? So Peter said, I'm speaking to those who've been called to
feed the flock and serve the flock. And I love what he said
in verse four. He said, when the chief shepherd
shall appear. Who is the chief shepherd? Jesus
Christ, our Lord. John 10 says, he is the good
shepherd. Hebrews 13 says, he is the great
shepherd. And first Peter five says, he
is the chief. shepherd. Why is he the chief,
greatest, good shepherd? Why is that? It's because he's the shepherd
that gave his life for the sheep. The only one that ever walked
the face of this earth that gave his life for all of his sheep. He made himself to be the lamb.
who wore that crown of thorns, the lamb slain, so his people
might receive, verse four says, a crown of glory that fadeth
not away. All of God's people are going
to receive a crown, all right? All of God's people are going
to receive a crown. 2 Timothy 4 calls it the crown
of righteousness. James 1 calls it the crown of
life. 1 Peter 5 calls it the crown
of glory. Christ died so that all of his
people could receive that crown. Now, where do you place a crown? If you were going to wear a crown,
where would you place it? On your head, right? Look with
me at Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1, this is speaking of Christ, verse
17. It says, and He is before all
things, and by Him all things consist. And he is the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Every soul that receives this
crown from God cries, place it on my head. You put it right
there on my head. Christ Jesus, my Lord and Savior. So back to our text, 1 Peter
5, this promise is to the elders.
Verse 5 says, likewise, ye younger submit yourselves unto the elder. And then he said, yea, all of
you be subject one to another. and be clothed with humility
for God resisted the proud and giveth grace to the humble. He's speaking to all of God's
people who have been clothed with humility and given grace. How can you tell who God has
given grace to? How can you really tell who God
has given grace to? They are clothed with humility. clothed with it, and I'm not
talking about, Peter is not talking about a worldly humility. He's talking about a spiritual
humility. That spiritual humility shows
forth. It is a humility before God when
it comes to the work and the credit and the glory of salvation. This is that humility. See if
this describes your, your acknowledgement of your heart, that desire in
your heart before God. Look with me at Psalm 115. How can you tell who God has
given grace to? They are completely clothed with
this humility. Psalm 115 verse 1 says, Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Is that the desire of our
heart? Really? Not unto us, Lord. Not
unto us. Not to me, to your name alone
give glory in all things, for all things. Turn with me over
to John chapter one. John 1 verse 19, it says, and
this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites
from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and
denied not, but confessed, I'm not the Christ. And they asked
him, what then, art thou Elias? And he said, I'm not. Art thou
that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said
they unto him, who art thou, that we may give an answer to
them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I'm the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord,
as said the prophet Isaiah. And they which were sent were
of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto
him, why baptizes thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor
Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them saying, I
baptize with water. But there standeth one among
you whom you know not. He it is who coming after me
is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it I'm not worthy
to unloose. These things were done in Beth-Aborah
beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him and said, behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world. That is the greatest
declaration ever told. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
Him. Just look to Him. They said,
who are you? What's your credentials? Just
look to Him. What do you have to say for yourself?
Look to Him. Look at chapter 3 right here
in John. John 3 verse 27 says, John answered and said, A man
can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. You
yourselves bear me witness that I said, I'm not the Christ, but
that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom,
which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of
the bridegroom's voice. This my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease." Is that you? Is that us? Honestly, in our
hearts, is Christ all and are we nothing? Must He increase and must we
decrease? We must. When it comes to our
hand having any part in salvation, when it comes to whether or not
we have any room for any glory or any credit in any work, do
we say, God forbid? Has that spiritual humility come
to us? That spiritual humility? If so,
then I believe we are a you. All right? That's who the you
are. If God has revealed those things
to us and revealed Christ to us and revealed ourselves to
us and caused us to cry, not unto us, it's unto you. Everything
is of you, for you, unto you. If that's the case, I believe
we're a you. And if we're a you, then this
is what Peter has to say to us. Go back with me to 1 Peter 5.
1 Peter 5 verse 6 says, Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Take your rightful place as a
sinner before him. Just take your rightful place
as a sinner before him, needing his mercy. needing His grace,
needing Christ Himself. That's a wonderful place to be.
That is a wonderful place to be, a helpless place in need
of Christ, in need of mercy, in need of grace. Because it
says, in His due time, He will exalt you. In His mercy, in His
grace, in Christ Himself, you you. I, um, sometimes it just really, I enter
into the fact that this is, this is to us. Our Lord is going to
return and gather his people to himself. And I believe it's
us. I believe he's going to gather
us to himself. We are going to live with him
forever. This is to you. Over in Matthew
23, you can turn there or I can read it to you, but Matthew 23
verse 12 says, Whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted. You know, when God moves on His
people, They willingly humble themselves. They cast themselves
down. They cast themselves before the
feet of Christ. John meant it when he said, I
must decrease. And whoever falls at the feet
of Christ, begging and pleading for mercy, according to the promise
of God, he is going to find it. He's gonna find mercy and grace
to help in time of need. Look at James 4 with me. James 4 verse 10 says, humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up."
That is a promise from God to you. That's a promise to you. And here's another promise of
God to you. All of His people, back in 1 Peter 5, verse 7, it
says, casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you. If God has caused you to cast
all your care upon him, and whenever we become children of God, we
do cast our care upon him, but not like we will in time. In time, the Lord will truly,
truly cause his people to cast their care upon him. He will
put all of us in a position to where we have no hope and no
choice but to completely cast all our care upon him. If God has caused you to cast
all your care upon him, that is the evidence that he cares
for you. Somebody went through much, much
tribulation one time. A believer went through much
tribulation and someone else said to him, boy, the Lord must
love you. If he has caused us to cast all
of our care on him, that's the evidence that he cares for us. If God has humbled you, humbled you before him, brought
you down, caused you to really beg and plead for mercy. Some
people will never know anything of that. Some people will never
know anything of that. But if God has truly caused you
from the depths of your soul to cry out, begging and pleading
for mercy, if he has caused you to sincerely say from your soul,
it is not my will, it is thine be done. Salvation is not in my hands,
it's in your hands alone. If God has humbled you before
him, then that is the evidence that he cares for you. And if
he cares for you, you can cast all your care upon him. When
that time comes, it will come. It's sad to say, but it's not
sad to say, because it's the evidence that He cares for us.
But when that time comes, you will experience worry, you will
experience fear. Do God's people experience worry, fear, doubt, anxiety? all of our care for
life, all of the care of our substance, all the care of our
family, all of our need, we can commit it all to Him. If the
Lord will give us the ability to, we can completely commit
it all to Him. Turn with me to one more place,
all right? Psalm 37. Psalm 37 verse 5 says, commit
thy way. And if you have a center margin
there, you can see that that means roll thy way upon. Roll your way over to the Lord. You ever get tired of hearing
that? Roll your way over to the Lord. Slide it over to him. Commit thy way unto the Lord, and then trust Him. Think about that. Trust Him. Trust Him. Commit thy way unto
the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Whatever your care is, Cast it
on the Lord and then trust Him. If we are in the middle of care,
roll it over to the Lord. If we have yet to experience
care, remember this for when it comes. Roll it over to the
Lord and then trust Him. Completely trust Him. Cast it
on the Lord. and then trust Him. Peter said,
cast all your care upon Him for He cares for you. Yes, you. Like when Paul said,
there's none that doeth good. No, not one. Peter's saying,
He cares for you. Yes, you. Yes. If all your care is on Him, And
I love the thought of this, but if all of your care is on Him,
then that means all of His care is on you. And He'll take care of you. Be
not dismayed whatever be tied. God will take care of you. Beneath
His wings of love abide, just live there. God will take care
of you. No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you. Lean weary one upon his breast,
God will take care of you. God will take care of you. Through
every day or all the way, he will take care of you. God will
take care of you. So take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Leave it there. Leave it there. I love how that song says that.
We need to be reminded. Leave it there. Leave it there. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Just trust and never doubt. He
will surely bring you out. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. Cast all your care upon Him.
He cares for you. All right, let's all stand together.
Hmm.