Come back to 1 Peter chapter
5. 1 Peter chapter 5. The title of the message, Instructions
to Pastors and to the Flock. Peter now writes to the elders. He's closing out his letter.
and he's going to write some instructions to the elders, which
are pastors, and to the flock, which they are overseers. And
he writes to encourage and instruct them. It's the latter part of
his letter here, which he's been doing all the way through. I
can say this, I'm thankful for your encouragement. It means
a lot. There are many things that come
along to discourage us in the ministry. It's always encouraging,
as you would know, Gary, when somebody gets something out of
the message. When someone comes, and you can tell it's genuine
too, you can tell when they've heard something and they say,
for the first time, I've never heard that before. That's encouraging. Peter says here in 1 Peter 5.1,
"...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." Note the humility of Peter here. You know, the Catholic Church
puts Peter way up here on a pinnacle. But Peter identifies himself
as an elder, not above any of the elders."
Actually, in the Greek it means fellow elder. Fellow elder is
what it means. And he identifies himself here
as just a fellow elder, not above them, but as one of them. Peter
never saw himself above the sheep. Never. There's a danger Henry
warned us about this in the preacher school and over the years. He's
talked to me about it at different times. But there's a danger in
instructing and leading people, people looking to you. There's
a danger in being lifted up with pride. There's a danger in being
lifted up with pride and arrogance. I tell you, by nature, We're prone to that. We're really prone to that. And
God has to keep us down. Especially when you stand in
the pulpit and the Lord's blessing and the church is growing. And
I tell you, the Lord sent Paul a thorn in the flesh for one
reason. To keep him down, to keep him humble because of the
abundance of revelations. It's just in us to be lifted
up with pride. Satan's greatest sin, as well
as man's, is pride, isn't it? Pride of faith, pride of place,
pride of race, even pride of grace. Pride will crop up in
any soil. It's like weeds. It'll grow anywhere. And there's so much of it still
in us, and Satan knows this. He knows my weakness far more
than I know it. It's our Achilles heel, pride. And one of the ways the Lord
kept Peter humble was to let Peter deny him three times. Peter never forgot that. He never
forgot it. Peter knew by experience that
he was not above any of the Lord's people because he knows in the
hour when he could have stood, he'd fail. He'd fail. Now Peter says he was a witness
to the sufferings of Christ. And this is more than just someone
who saw it happen. He did see it happen. But what
he's saying here is that God has kept him, reserved him as
a witness to these things. He's a witness to these things.
He was a witness on the Mount of Transfiguration. And he saw
the Lord's glory there. He was a witness to that. He
heard the voice of God speak from heaven saying, this is my
beloved Son. He was witness to that. And he
saw the Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection. What we are
reading here is one who was witness to these things, and he's now
witnessing to us these things. Then Peter gives the elders instructions
here. And this is good instructions,
but they're weighty. Feed the flock of God which is
among you. This is what the Lord told Peter
to do. when they were sitting there
by the seashore, remember? The Lord had fixed them something
to eat after His resurrection. And he said, Peter, do you love
me? And he said, Lord, you know I
love you. He said, feed my lambs. Second time he said, Peter, lovest
thou me? And he said, Lord, you know that
I love you. He said, feed my sheep. And the
third time he said, Peter, lovest thou me? And one of those times
he said, "'Lovest thou me more than these?' And Peter was grieved
a third time. And he said, "'Feed my sheep.'"
And he finally got the point. And what does Peter say here
to the elders? "'Feed the sheep. Don't get caught
up fighting false religion. Feed the sheep.'" Feed the sheep. That's my responsibility. And
what a privilege, and yet what a responsibility preaching the
Word of God carries with it. It's a heavy responsibility.
If someone takes it seriously, and God's man will, the man whom
God has called will take this responsibility very, very seriously. I'm always handling matters of
life and death. Even now, I'm handling matters
of life and death. When the gospel is preached,
it's a savor of life unto life to some and death unto death
to some. I'm always handling God's glory, God's chief glory. I'm always handling it. And I'm
always handling and leading and instructing God's dear children. You send your children to school,
some of you older ones, you've already sent your children to
school, but you wanted them to have what? The best teachers, didn't you?
You wanted them to have the best teachers. Am I to be any less? No. No, no, no. Listen to what Paul said in Acts
20 and 26-28, "...Wherefore I take you to record this day, that
I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to
declare unto you all the counsel of God." Paul never took the
edge off the gospel. Paul never took the offense out
of the gospel. He never took it out in order
to gain the people's confidence and their approval. He preached
it just as it is, the Word of God. And he says here to the
elders in Acts, Paul's talking here in verse 28, "'Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, Be careful. Take heed to yourself.
Be in the study. Study the Word of God. Be like
Solomon said, the preacher sought out acceptable words, right words. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers in truth and reality. You didn't make me the pastor
here. God did. If I'm the pastor here, God made
me an overseer. The Holy Spirit made me an overseer
of the flock of God for which He died. Listen, to feed the
church of God which He hath purchased, God hath purchased with His own
blood. That's heavy responsibility.
That's a great privilege. That's heavy responsibility. Now what makes God a burden?
Well, first of all, this is one of the things that makes it a
burden. It's God's Word and not man's that I'm handling. I'm
not reading to you some novel up here that someone wrote. I'm
reading to you the Word of God, the inerrant Word of God. Listen
to what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2. Study to show
thyself approved unto God, not unto the church,
not unto men. Show yourself approved as a workman
unto God. A workman that needeth not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing, rightly dividing. How important
is this? That I stand here and rightly divide the Word of Truth. comparing Scripture with Scripture.
Scripture interprets Scripture. I don't. We don't interpret Scripture. The Word of God interprets itself. And it's my responsibility to
be in the study and to compare Scripture with Scripture. You
know, I think that's one of the ways that you can tell that a
man is called of God to preach. is his ability to take scripture
and compare it with scripture and let it just say what it says. Not trying to interpret it himself.
I'm not trying to put a spin on it. That's what Satan did. Listen, then also the thing that
makes it a burden is the glory of it. Paul said to Timothy again. Boy, he wrote to Timothy some
real good instructions. But he wrote this in 1 Timothy
1.11, According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which
was committed to my trust. It says chief glory. God's chief
glory is not creation. We've been looking at Genesis
and how glorious is God's creation. We see it every day, but God's
chief glory is the gospel. It's the redemption of sinners,
of sinners. And then another thing that makes
it a burden is the care of it. It's been committed to my trust.
It's a deposit. It's been deposited to my trust. If you walked up and gave me
$1,000 and you said, here, I want you to keep this, I'll be back. You deposited that to me to keep. You entrusted it to me. And then
the subject of it, the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we're not preaching
do's and don'ts, how you live, and what you're supposed to do,
what you're not supposed to do. No, it's a person. It's God. We are preaching God. The glory
of His person, the God-man. What a mysterious person. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh. And His work, oh, His glorious
work. It's hard to put that into words.
What He has done for us. What He has done for us. That's
what the Lord said to that demoniac. Go tell them what great things
the Lord has done for you. And then I have been sent here
as a watchman over this flock. God has sent me here as a watchman
over this flock. This has been a sobering study
for me. Ezekiel 33, But if the watchman see the sword come,
and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, if
the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is
taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the
watchman's hand." So thou, O son of man, I have sent thee a watchman
unto the house of Israel. Therefore thou shalt hear the
word at my mouth, and warn them from me." I've been sent here
as a watchman. And I'm to do this, Peter says,
taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly.
I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to be here. I believe
it's the Lord's will. I believe it's His will. And I'm glad to
preach the gospel. I don't say, man, it's Thursday
night, I've got to preach. I said one time, years ago, Paul
Mahan got me on this one. But years ago, I said something,
I said, I've got to go preach some place I'm supposed to go
travel to. And I said, I've got to go preach a certain place. Paul
goes, no, you get to go preach. I said, okay, I got it. I got you. Sometimes you just gotta get
some of them old clothes off. But ready and willing to feed
the Lord's sheep. Ready to do this. Ready to feed
the flock. God's man has to give himself
to study and prayer that he may feed the flock of God. God's man does not preach for
the sake of money. It says here, not for filthy
lucre. Notice what he calls money. What he calls money. Filthy lucre. God's man is not a hireling.
If he was a hireling, then I would say, what do you all want to
hear tonight? I put out fillers. See what the majority... That's
what politicians do. See which way the wind's blowing.
That's politicians. God's man's not a hireling. He's
God's man. He's a servant of God and not
men. But be of a ready mind. That means a submissive mind.
If it's the Lord's will, it's like coming down here to preach.
If it's the Lord's will, Lord, Thy will be done. Thy will be
done. It's a submissive mind. And it's
an energized mind. Paul said this in Romans 1.15, So as much as in me is, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. He
was anxious to preach the gospel right in the belly of the beast,
right there in the city of Nero. He was ready to preach the gospel.
He wasn't afraid to. He wasn't going to go back down. It's a submissive mind. It's
an energized mind. Ready to do it. Ready to do it.
And God's pastors, though, are not lords or taskmasters over
God's heritage. They're not taskmasters. They're
not to abuse the sheep, but they are to feed the sheep. feed the
sheep." Ezekiel, listen to this in Ezekiel 34, "'Son of man,
prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds, Woe be to
the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves, should not
the shepherds feed the flocks, That's my business. That's the
shepherd's business. Feed the flock. Take care of
the flock. Look after the flock. Look after
the well-being of the flock, the spiritual well-being of the
flock. Know the state of the flock.
That's what a shepherd does. That's what he does. And always
keeping this before us. The ones we are shepherds over,
under-shepherds over, They are God's heritage. Not my inheritance. They are God's heritage. They
are the redeemed, the blood-bought children of God. That's who you are. That's who
you are. I have the responsibility as
a shepherd, but I also have the privilege of feeding the sheep. It makes a difference the way
you view going into the study. You're going in there to fix
some sheep food. That's what you're doing, going in there
to fix some sheep food. I'm not going in there just to prepare notes
and an outline and come down here and give it to you because
Thursday night is sheep food. That's what I'm doing. And when
the chief shepherd shall appear..." You know, the Word of God is
very clear on the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? I am more aware of
this as I get older, of the Lord's return. He's coming. He's coming. I find myself talking about that.
I find myself meditating upon that more and more. The Lord's coming. I like to
think of it like this. He's on His way. He's on His
way. And He shall appear, and He's
going to appear in power and great glory. My, what we are
going to see. What we are going to see. There's
a song we sing, what a day that shall be, when my Jesus I shall
see. When I look upon His face, what
a day, I tell you, what a day that's going to be. When faith
gives way to sight. And if He doesn't come and put
an end to this, we're going to go anyway, aren't
we? One by one, He's going to come and take them home. He said,
if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again and receive
you to Myself. that where I am, there you may
be also." So I know, I know He has a set time on the calendar
and on the clock that He's coming for me. And what a glorious day. We ought
to anticipate that so much. It would be like having our bags
packed waiting at the front door. Really. And when He does, and
when that happens, you shall receive a crown of glory that
fades not away. And he's making reference here,
what the reference he's making here when he says a crown of
glory that fades not away, it's those athletic games that they
had back in those Roman days, and the winner would receive
a wreath, and they'd put it on their head, and they'd wear it
around, but you know, after a while, it faded. They put a garland
on there and they put some flowers in it. And when a woman was going
to be married, they'd have a garland and they would put flowers in
it. But after a while, those flowers faded. And she'd have to take it off
her head. But He said, this crown, this
crown is a crown of life. It's a crown of righteousness.
It's a crown of joy. And that will not ever, ever
fade. It'll only grow. It'll only grow. Paul said to Timothy again in
2 Timothy 4.8, "...Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his appearing." Crowned with
righteousness. Now Peter's going to turn in
verse 5 and he's going to speak to the sheep. Now, likewise,
in the same manner, you that are younger, not just in age,
but also in grace, submit yourselves to God's pastor. That's what
he's saying. They are God's authority figure
in the church. He has set God as the God of
order, and He has set the pastor up in the church as the under-shepherd,
and He holds Him responsible. And He's saying here, now you
all, He said, you submit to the elder or the pastor of the church. Heed, listen, He's saying, heed
their counsel. If God's given you or these other
churches, if He's given them a pastor, He's giving that man
wisdom. He's giving him understanding. That man studies and he prays
and seeks the Lord. And he's saying, here, take heed. Heed his counsel. And I tell
you what, I counsel you every time I preach. Every time I preach. If you're listening, If you're
listening, you're being counseled by the Word of God. That's how
I counsel. I counsel every time I preach
the Gospel. Every time I stand here and we've
been going verse by verse. You can't get better counsel
than that. Unless somebody's twisting it, then you're in trouble.
But if you're the Lord's sheep, you'll catch it. You'll catch
it. He says this, "...Yea, all of
you be subject one to another." Not just to the pastor, but keep
this mind of submission. Nothing keeps down strife in
the home as well as in the church like a submissive spirit. Nothing keeps that down like
that. "...And be clothed with humility." When you got dressed to come
here to worship this evening, did you put on humility? Did you put that on first before
you put anything else on? Did you wrap yourself up in the
blanket of humility? That's the essence of what he's
saying. You wrap yourself up like a blanket in humility. You
know what humility is? You write this down. It's a just estimate of oneself
before God and men. That's what it is. It's a just
estimate of oneself before God and men. Now why is it so important
that we wrap ourselves up in this spirit of humility? For
God resisteth the proud. I don't want God to resist me. He resists the proud. You know,
seven things it's written over in Proverbs that God hates. You
know what the first one is? A proud look. That's the first
one. A proud look. David said, who
am I and what is my house? This was Satan's chief sin. He was lifted up with pride. God, it teaches us, gives grace
to the humble. And we have every reason to be
humble. If you answer this question honestly,
what do you have that you did not receive? What do you have
that God did not give you? That's like the Lord said to
those Pharisees when they asked Him about paying tribute to Caesar. He said, well, I'll tell you
what you do. You give to Caesar that which is Caesar, and then
you give to God that which is God's, which means absolutely
everything is God's. Everything belongs to Him. And that being so, humble yourselves
therefore unto the mighty, mighty hand of God. God's hand is mighty. His hand can carry us through
all trouble. It can subdue all our enemies. And it will carry
us home to glory. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God. Don't ever think at any time
that you can do anything of yourselves. We can't. We can't. We need the
mighty hand of God all the way. It's written in Deuteronomy 6,
Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in
Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Mighty hand. I tell you, they
were always instructed how and what to teach their children. You always teach your children
this. About the Passover, you teach your children. That He may listen. That He may
exalt you in due time. Lift you up in time. His time. His time. Which is the best time. Because it's always for His glory
and our good. And I'm going to close with verse
7. casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you." And the meaning is, He continually cares
for you. He's continually watching. And
I know we can't comprehend this or grab a hold of this, but He
is continually watching over you as if you were the only one
that existed. Cast all your care upon Him. Cast all your daily care. Cast
all the care of your home upon Him. Lord bless, bless my home. Help me to be an example, listen,
first now, in my home. Help me to be an example of your
grace in my home. in my neighborhood, in the body
of Christ. Cast all your care upon Him concerning
your family, your children." You know, all of our children
were born lost. I was. You were somebody's child. You
were born lost. God saved you, but He can sure
save mine too. Cast that up on Him. Your job. Your job. I lost three jobs. I told you this before. They
went out of business. Not my fault, at least I don't
think it was, but they went out of business and I lost my job
three times and I tell you what, it was tough. It was tough. I remember saying to Vicki one
time, I said, why does God make, and I was just a young man, I
said, why does He make it so hard to hear the Gospel? I said, all I want to do is just
go hear the Gospel. Try your faith. Try your faith. Your job May
be a tough job. I worked for a couple guys. I'm
glad they didn't go out of business. I probably should have said that.
But they were tough, to say the least. They were tough. And then cast all your care on
Him for eternal matters. We are going to go out into eternity. And it gets closer every day.
You know that? Every day brings me one day closer to that time
when I go out into eternity. And I cast all my care on Him
to take care of that. Paul said, I know whom I believe.
Persuade Him that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day. And then cast all your care of
anxiety, anxiousness, Oh, if the Lord could just give
me the ability not to be anxious over much, that's what he says,
over much. To be tore up. Cash that health. What about
your health? I used to, when I was a young
man, I never thought one time about my health. I mean, it was
full bore all the way. But as I get older, You know,
and I see people my age in nursing homes and stuff. I mean, I don't
worry about it, but I think about it. I think about it. I told
someone the other day, I said, you know, we're getting close
to the dying age. Three, four years and 10. I got a few more
years, but cast that on him. My health. You know, it's of
the Lord. It's of the Lord. And death. Death. You know, I don't feel like I'm
dying right now, so I'm not struggling with it. And I believe God will
give dying grace, but you know, there have been saints that have
struggled with it. And I believe there have been
saints. But you know, sometimes the Lord
just lets that happen. But my death is in His hands. Our times are in His hands. Can you think of any better hands
for it to be in? We'd have messed that up a long time ago. So go to sleep tonight with this.
He careth for you. He proved that when He sent His
sons to the world. God proved that when He became
a man, suffered the justice of His own law, died on Calvary's
tree. God proved His love. God proved
He cares for us. He careth for you.