Peter chapter 5, verse 7. By the way, do take note that
the men's meeting that was scheduled for this coming Saturday is not
going to happen. Many will have to be out of town
that weekend. We'll reschedule it and let you
know. First Peter chapter five, verse
seven. Cast all your anxiety on him
because he cares for you. None of us likes anxiety. You know, the word anxiety is
thrown around in our day a lot. And people don't understand that
it carries two sentences, or two senses in this day of modern
psychology. Everybody gets anxious about
things. That's just normal. And then there are those who
suffer from a medical condition. that may be aggravated by traumatic
experiences in life, that causes them to experience overwhelming
levels of anxiety, and this anxiety really is not founded or anchored
in reality. Now what our Lord is speaking
of here, or what the Lord is speaking of through the Apostle
Peter, is just the normal anxieties that all people bear. Cast your anxiety on him because
he cares for you. We don't like anxiety. This word
translated anxiety means essentially to be divided or torn apart. All of us experience that kind
of thing. Anxiety always pertains to the
future. We're wondering how things are
going to turn out. A lot of anxiety comes about through fear that
we will not be able to accomplish what we believe must be accomplished. Do you remember when our Lord
went to the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and the Lord was
teaching, and Mary And this was unusual for a woman to do. She
was in the room where the Lord was, or over where the Lord was.
I don't know how big the house was. But she was there sitting
down at his feet. Because of the culture, that
just wasn't normal. The men would have been listening
to the Lord. And the women would have been
busy tending to the affairs of the household, because there's
a lot of people there. And Martha said, teacher, you tell Mary to get
in here and help me. Because she's left this all to
me. It's just too much. Too much. And he said, Martha, Martha. You are anxious about many things. She's divided and torn apart
by those divided interests and goals and values. Martha wasn't an unbeliever.
She dearly loved the Lord. She probably wished she could
be in there with Mary. listening to what the Lord said.
But she had that kind of temperament. And there are people like that. You walk in the house and immediately
they're busy doing whatever they think needs to be doing. And
they take that into all life. And while there's a time and
place for that, it's not when the Lord's there.
And our Lord said, you're anxious about many things. Mary has chosen
the better part, the one thing, and that won't be taken away
from her. After all, the one Mary's listening
to fed 5,000 men plus their wives and children with five loaves
and two fishes. Really, Martha didn't have much to worry about.
The master could take care of it if need be. But she was operating
under that sense of obligation that the society put upon her
that when someone visits, especially someone so respected as the Lord
Jesus was among that group of people, everything's got to be
just right. The meat's got to be cooked precisely
right. You got to lay the vegetables
out so they're pretty. The bread can't be burnt. You know, all
that. And she is so busy. That's what anxiety is. And our
lives are naturally full of it. Why? Because this life, there's a lot involved in it. Many different things. Jobs, kids. automobiles, houses, fun. Many things that we desire, some
of which we think we must have. And the result is we're torn
in many directions. We're torn apart. We want to be free of anxiety,
but we want to be free of anxiety. We want to be free of a divided
heart and mind and being torn apart, but we don't want to give
up any of the things that are distracting us and pulling us
in multiple directions. Because we don't like anxiety,
we're desperate to get rid of it. And then we focus, when we
come to this verse, we're focusing on how to get rid of anxiety.
Because it says, cast all your anxiety on it. Well, how do you
do that? We want to know the plan. In the form of religion I was
brought up in, they had lots of plans for this, you know.
Programs. They had seminars for young people. I remember one called Basic Youth
Conflicts. And this guy had developed what
he claimed was, you know, how to, you know, you teach kids
this and this is going to get, well they're going to be pleasing
to God and have good and successful lives. There aren't any programs guaranteeing
that. But man likes a program. He likes
something that he can understand and he can fulfill the the details of it, and be guaranteed
a particular outcome. And there are plenty of people
willing to make really good living telling you how to do that. And
for the most part, it doesn't bother them whether it actually
works or not, as long as you pay for the program. But we have
this thing of coming to the scriptures with the same attitude. I want
the program. I want the stuff I can do. I want the pattern
to follow. The steps to take, A, B, C. So that when I'm done with A,
B, and C, I won't worry anymore. Well, it's actually in here. But you aren't going to like
it. That is not in your flesh. Before he said, cast all your
anxiety on him, notice what he says here. In verse five and six, young
men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older, all of
you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God
opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves,
therefore, under God's almighty hand, that he may lift you up
in due time. How many here want to be humble?
If you raise your hand, you're probably full of pride. I do. See, I want to be humble. Humility
is not natural to us. In fact, we might say, oh man,
thou art pride. Pride gets us into every kind
of trouble possible. Pride is very simply being self-centered
and thinking more or better of ourselves than we have any right
to. How well do we have a right to
think about ourselves? How much good do you think we
are owed? You want what you're owed? You
know what we're owed? Hell. I've heard people say, God owes
every man a second chance. Really? The only thing God owes
man is hell, because we've worked for it. We've put in overtime. And if we want it, he'll give
it to us. He's a just God. The wages of
sin is death, and God never fails to pay his wages. So the very moment that we believe
that there is something in this life to which we are entitled,
a certain measure of joy, happiness, wealth, comfort, the moment we
do that we have stepped into pride. Now I'm not talking about
relationships with one another. I mean we can exhibit pride there
too, but I'm talking about pride in the sight of God, pride in
the face of God. God You shouldn't have done that. I didn't deserve that. You didn't? The Old Testament says he has
not dealt with us according to our transgressions. And while
there are not that many people in the world who would acknowledge
that, the truth is it's true for every person alive. Until a person is in hell suffering
the wrath of God, he must confess, God has not yet dealt with me
according to my transgressions. He's treating me better than
I deserve. Humble yourselves. Humble yourselves
under God's almighty hand. What's that mean? Well, his hand
controls everything. And you can be sure of this.
His hand will get its way. And the best thing for you to
do is humble yourselves under it. best thing for me to do. I try
to avoid saying that. It's us. We all need to do it.
I don't want to act like I'm up here on some high and mighty
platform. It's only, what, one, two, three,
four, five, or six steps. I'm not that high. And it really
doesn't mean anything. I'm just up here so you can see
me. I'm no different than you. I have an idea of what I want
my life to be. I have some goals. Getting a
little late for long-term goals, but I still got some goals. Some
things I want. Quite frankly, some things I'll
be upset if I don't get them. Humble yourselves under God's
mighty hand. Humility is, I'll call it the
second best relief for anxiety. If you are humble, if you're
humble under God's hand, you take whatever his hand gives
you submissively in the trust that no matter how it feels,
it's what's good for you. Is God your father? Peter talks about them having
the privilege of calling God, addressing God as Father. Is
God your Father? Well, you parents, is there anything
good you wouldn't do for your child if you could? Now, we as
parents, we have problems with wisdom. We don't always know
what's good for them. And even when we do, we may have problems
with ability. We just can't do it. But within the context or within
the restrictions of whatever wisdom you have and whatever
abilities you have, wouldn't you provide for your children
absolutely everything good for them? As the Lord said, if you being
evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
your heavenly Father Do you believe the Heavenly Father
is any less generous with his children? He never fails in wisdom. He always knows what's best.
And he never fails in power. He can always bring about what's
best. But we think we know what's best. You say, what makes you think
that? because we don't do what he says. If you think someone
knows best, you do what they tell you to do, right? I mean, you know, we go to the
doctor, and the doctor says, you've got X disease. Here's
the best thing for you to do. OK, I believe you, doctor. And
then you don't do it. You don't believe the doctor.
You either think his diagnosis is wrong or his therapy is wrong. Because if you believe that was
the best course, that's what you would do. And when we don't
do as our Lord tells us to do, we're saying, I know better than
you. See, I'd never do that. We're always doing that. We always
use our own wisdom. to figure out what's right. We
always try to, by our own power, gain what it is what we want. Humble yourselves under God's
mighty hand. It says he'll lift you up in
due time. Are you down? Is God's mighty
hand heavy on you? And by that I mean, has he ordained
for you a difficult providence? I'm not going to say bad, because
the Lord never does anything bad to his people. But that doesn't
mean it's pleasant, that doesn't mean it's easy. No man was ever loved by God
more than the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, was loved by God. And look what God did with him. And I'm not even talking about
the cross. I'm just talking about stuff he had to put up with in
this life. You may be at this time under
a heavy hand of providence. You may feel it will crush you.
Well, if you're his, it won't crush you. But it may hurt some. But here's
the thing. Humble yourselves under it. Don't
resist it. Don't say, OK, I'm going to give
God a week to get this taken care of. Humble yourselves. Humble yourselves
as the Lord Jesus Christ humbled himself before the Father when
he said, Father, if there's any way that this cup can pass from
me by any other means than me drinking it. Nevertheless, not
my will, but your will be done. There is the true expression
of humility before God. Not as I will, Lord. Whatever you will, whatever you
think's good, let that be done. He said, well, I was hoping for
something a little easier to get rid of anxiety. There isn't
an easier way. But he doesn't just leave us
there. After that, he says, casting
all your care upon him because he cares for you. I said we tend to focus on that
casting all your anxiety on him, because we'd sure like to find
a way to get rid of it. This occurred to me last night. I
don't know why this particular verse came up. Maybe it was something
I was reading. I now remember what it was. I
put an article by Brother Scott Richardson in the bulletin, and
he mentions this text. And I started thinking about
it. Just the last four words. He
cares for you. Let that sink in. Think about
all that that means. He cares for you. I don't really know how to get
my head wrapped around that. On the one hand, I know it's
true, but I live a lot of my life as though it's not. I fear. I'm often in a state of anxiety
that's paralyzing. And I don't mean you won't see
me walking around. Can't decide what to do, or if
I decide what to do, can't get myself doing it. Anxiety. Needless to say, when I read
those words in Brother Scott Richardson's article there, and
I began to ponder on that scripture, I just thought, oh, that wonder. He cares for me. All my life, I've been surrounded
by those who love me. And yet, he who loves me more
than any one of them or all of them put together, I'm more doubtful
of his love and care for me than I was of them. He cares for me. Think about
it. He cares for me. Who? God. And this isn't just that general
thing where people say, well, God loves everybody in the world.
Don't want to make a big argument about it, but that's not true.
Remember, God's love is not limited by a lack of wisdom or a lack
of strength. If you love something, someone,
you will do everything you can to bring about their good. And if you don't, then you don't
love them. You might like them a lot, but you don't love them.
Love never fails. Love will stretch itself to its
full length. to bring about that which is
good for its object. And there is no limit to the
full length of God in wisdom or in power. Consequently, we
know this, everybody who God loves will be with him forever. He's not gonna lose any of them. That makes sense to you? Makes
perfect sense to me. People that say, well, God loves
everybody. Well, then his love doesn't mean much. Because we
must conclude that the majority of the people in this world are
going to perish. Most of the people in this world,
God is going to judge them and consign them to eternal torment. What kind of love is that? Now, it's not as though I rejoice
in the fact that there are people whom the Lord does not love.
I mean, after all, he said, Jacob if I loved, Esau if I hated.
So we know there's at least one. I'm not rejoicing in the fact
that there's someone God doesn't love. Here's what I rejoice in.
Everyone he does love is eternally secured in him. And there's nothing in heaven,
earth, or hell that can separate us from that love or make that
love be ineffective. Caring and loving, pretty much
the same thing. He cares for you. I'm glad that you all care for
me. You care about me. You take care
of me within natural limitations. I appreciate that. God has no
natural limitations. God cares for me. This book is addressed to the
elect, strangers in the world, scattered hither and yon. All
you people of God, you who know the Lord Jesus Christ, who have
been made to see who he is and understand what he's done and
given grace to call upon his name and receive salvation to
you, the elect, strangers in this world. You don't belong
here. Scattered around, often separated from others that are
like you. God cares for you. He looks down on this world using
Figurative imagery here. When he looks on the world, it's as though to him it is all
darkness. But there's a light here and
a light there. The light that he put there, the light of his truth, the light
of his grace. You are special to him. Someday
he's going to destroy this world and everything and everyone in
it, but not you. Imagine the days of the flood
of Noah. God looks at the earth and the
only thing he sees is the water he sent to destroy everyone on
the face of the earth. But there's one little boat.
You say, that's a pretty big boat. Well, maybe his boat's
gone. But compared to the sea it's floating on, it doesn't have a chance. God sees
it. God cares about that boat and
the people in it and the animals in it. And though the waters
are heaving, heaving bad enough to break up that boat, Though the people inside probably
have a good deal of fear. And it doesn't smell good in
there. Because they kind of got to keep it shut up. It's like
living in a barn with the door shut. God cares about those people.
How do we know? They're on the top of the water. He cares. And you. You're in
a stormy world. God's judgment's all over the
face of this world in different forms, sometimes more severe
than other, but here we live. And we see it, but we need not be afraid. Why? God may be destroying the world,
but he's not destroying his people, he never will. He cares about
them. He, the one who said, let there
be light, and there was light. The one who said, let there be
radiant bodies up in the sky, sun, moon, and stars, and you
know what? Boom, there they are. The one who said, let the earth
bring forth animals after their kind, and it did. That's a pretty powerful word,
don't you think? And that one cares for you. This is the one who has created
every person to fulfill his purpose, whether they are believers or
not. He raised up Moses, but he also
raised up Pharaoh. We get all worried, you know,
well, that's not the guy I voted for. Now what's going to happen?
Exactly what God intended to happen all along, including that
guy getting in office. And it may look like a storm
to us, but understand this. You know that story of our Lord
out there on the boat and the storm comes along? And do you
know what they said to him? Don't you care, same word. Don't you care that we're dying
here? He stood up and he goes, peace,
be still. Wouldn't you like to see that?
The wind dies down, the waves quit, and it's like glass out
there. And you know why the wind and
the waves obeyed him so quickly? That's not the first time they
heard his voice. Why do you think the wind blew
in the first place? Why do you think the waves were
pounding against that ship in the first place? He called them
up, and then he settled them down. And in both the calling
them up and the settling down, he was caring for his own, even
while he was asleep. As a human being, he was asleep,
and yet he was caring for them. He cares for you, the one. who submitted himself to death,
even the death of the cross, consented, because it never could
have been done to him without his permission, without his allowing
it. He consented that his body be
subject to the most ignominious and one of the most painful forms
of death, and that his very soul be baptized as it were within
the wrath of God. That's the one that cares for
you. He, who three days later came
out of that tomb, alive forevermore, he cares for you. And he ascended to glory and
sits at the right hand of the Father, figuratively speaking,
the place of God's absolute acceptance, approval, and blessing and authority. And from that position, he rules
the whole universe. And he cares for you. He cares for you. I'm just emphasizing
different words. He cares for you. God and human
flesh. Amazing. He cares for you. Now we all have various levels
of what is called self-esteem. Some of us, in the human sense
of the word, too little and some too much. But Because of what we think
about ourselves, we're prone to anxieties about whether others
accept us and care about us as we truly are. And for that reason,
and this is probably a good thing, we hide a lot about ourselves
because we figure if they knew everything about me, they wouldn't
have anything to do with me. And you very well may be right.
I feel that way. But you know something? God does
know everything about me. He knows all the things about
my nature that break my heart. And he knows all the things about
my nature that should break my heart, but don't. He knows all the things that
I have done, which I can hardly believe it, And he knows all the things that
I've done and it had no effect on me at all. And he cares for me. Why should I ever worry about
anything if the God who controls everything and knows everything
about me has declared through the gospel, his love and care
for me. Can anything happen without his
involvement? And if he's involved, can any
harm come to me from it? He cares about us. He cares what happens to us. just like you care what happens
to those you love. Let's face it, we look on the
news and we hear of a tsunami that killed 100,000 people over
somewhere on the other side of the world. We go, oh, that's
awful. Is our show on yet? That's how
far it goes. And then there's our children. Pity the dog that bites them.
Pity the bee that stings them. Pity the kid at school that bullies
them. Why? We care. A tsunami wipes out many, and
we're not touched. And I know we're touched some,
but we can't care about everybody. We've got a limit to the amount
of care we can have. And therefore, we put it upon
those that are closest to us. And there can hardly be any greater
closeness than that between husband and wife and parents and children. Even when we lose our parents,
we loved them, dearly did, but it does not have the effect on
us if we lose a child or a spouse. Because we care. God cares about his people with
a care that we can't understand. Where are you right now? What
has God brought into your life? What various things are tearing
you apart? Know this, God cares. And here's his word to you, quit
caring about so many things. You've only got one thing to
care about, and that's me, he says. Remember Martha and Mary? Martha, divided, torn apart by
all the responsibilities she felt she had. Well, officially,
Mary had the same responsibility. You know what she did? Not today. There's him. That's the only thing I must
have. I can do without the rest. And we're never going to get
to the point we won't want stuff. Nothing wrong with wanting. Something
wrong with wanting to the point that we feel we can't live without
what we want. Something wrong with wanting
things and so much that they tear us up and the possibility
that we won't achieve it. undermines our peace. That's
not right. And what it's saying is we're
not humbling ourselves under God's mighty hand. What does
it say? James said, don't say tomorrow
I'm going to go here and do such and such. Say tomorrow the Lord
willing, that's what I'm going to do. Because brethren, that's
how it is. Fine to make plans, but humble yourself and your
plans under God's mighty hand. He might say, no, you're not
going there tomorrow. Or yeah, I'll let you go there,
but it's going to be a total failure. You aren't going to
achieve anything you wanted. You've got cares of health. You
want to get better. I don't blame you. But that may
not be part of God's plan. He may think it's better for
you to be sick. And you say, but I don't know
why that be. Well, I don't either. But that's what trust and humility
is about. It's submitting to God knowing
that he knows what he's doing and why he's doing it. A week from Tuesday, I'll be
68. It's getting too hard to act
like I'm young anymore. I can't say, well, this is the
29th anniversary of my 39th birthday. I'm done with that. I'm 68. Nearly old. Maybe I'm already
there. Remember I said I'm getting too
old for long-term plans? And you know that bothers me. Because it's kind of fun to plan
things, isn't it? To see something on the horizon. Well, I see something
on the horizon. It's not what I've been planning. I wish I had the strength of
my youth. And unfortunately, I make plans like I still have
that strength. It's not there. And I could grumble and grouse
about it. I could get mad. Or I could say, well, this is
the Lord's doing. He blessed me with this much life, but that
meant I got old while it was happening. And it's OK. And in much less years than I've
already lived, I'll die. And that's okay. Now I'm saying
that objectively. I'm not saying nothing, yeah,
I don't care if I die tomorrow. Sure I do. But I know this, if
I die tomorrow, it'll be okay. I have children I love dearly. I don't know what God's planned
for them. I know what I hope for them and for their children. Will it happen? It's yet to be
determined. Well, not it's already determined,
but it's yet to happen. But I know this, whatever it
is, it'll be good for me. And in as much as they profess
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it'll be good for them too. It's
tough to watch your kids go through hardship, isn't it? It's tough to watch him take
the wrong path. It's hard to humble yourself under God's mighty
hand as he deals with the things and people you love. And to say,
even so, God, that seems good in your eyes. But know this, as you see the
things that bring you down to tears, he cares for you. He knows what's
happening because he's the one that's making it happen. And in the end, you will say,
it was good for me to be afflicted. God knew what he was doing. He
was caring for me better than he would have been if he'd have
let me avoid that, if he'd have let me have my way. I would be
in much more shape than I am now. See if you can't carry that in
your heart for a little while anyway. He cares for you. Be assured of it in your heart. And if he cares for you, believe
this, nothing harmful can happen to you ever. because he's God and he can't
fail. Father, as much as we can, we've
tried to lay out the wonder of this simple phrase that you care
for your people. Forgive us that our interests
are so divided. Forgive us that we allow our
will and our way to guide us much more. than your way. Forgive us that we complain under
your providence as though you have not been faithful, as though
you don't care. We know you do. Bless us now
as we observe your table. In the name of Christ, we pray
it. Amen. We're going to observe the Lord's
table, and the Lord's table is open to all who trust the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord said, I need a room
so I can celebrate the Passover with my disciples. And that was
the last Passover and the first Lord's table. And who is it for?
The Lord and his disciples. Well, you're not the Lord, but
if you're one of those disciples, feel free. Scott and James.