Chapter 5. And Peter starts out with an
exhortation to elders and preachers. And then he talks about humility.
Clothed with humility. Clothed with humility. And when
he talks about elders, he says, the elders which are among you,
I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ and partakers of the glory that shall be revealed.
Now, when he talks about elders, he's not talking about people
who are old in age. He's talking about people who
have been set aside because they are strong in the faith, they
have grown in the grace of God, and they have an ability and
gifts to speak, to teach the Lord's people. And that's what
God calls them to. And Peter here, though he was
an apostle, he called himself an elder. An elder is a member
of a local assembly, member of a local church. But the apostles,
you know, they were over all the churches. And here he calls
himself an elder. And look what he says about himself.
He says, I'm a witness of the sufferings of Christ. That's
the first thing that anybody who's going to be an elder, to
teach, to preach, to exhort the saints of God. That's what he
has to be a witness of, the sufferings. and the glory of Christ. You
can't have one without the other. Suffering always comes before
glory. And Peter was with the Lord Jesus
Christ all the days of his ministry. And he saw our Lord Jesus Christ
suffer, and then he saw him after his resurrection from the dead,
and he saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration and beheld his
glory there. But look with me over, you keep
this and look in Luke 24 with me for just a moment. You know,
The sufferings of Christ, Luke 24 and verse 25, you know, he
said, and that's what Paul said, he said, I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us. We must talk about the
sufferings of Christ, because He certainly didn't suffer for
Himself. So what was his sufferings about? And he suffered from the
moment he was born. He was acquainted with grief
and sorrow. And he suffered ignominious death at the hands of sinful,
wicked men like ourselves. And yet, he says, before there's
glory, there'll be suffering. And suffering is something no
one enjoys doing. In fact, when our Lord came to
the garden of Gethsemane, and His sweat became as it were great
drops of blood, He says, Father, if it be possible, if it was
possible at all, Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will but thine be done. And that's what I'm talking about.
That's what we have to be witnesses of. And look what he said here
in verse 25 of Luke 24. This is with his disciples on
the Emmaus Road. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
His glory? And that's what Simon Peter's
talking about. That if you're going to be an
elder, that's what you witness and preach about. We witness
and preach of the sufferings and glory of Christ. They saw
Him actually. We see Him by faith. They saw
Him in time. We see Him now by faith. And
so that's what we do. And elders, again, is somebody
that the church sets apart with an ability to teach and preach
the Word of God. That's what they are. And then
look what He said in verse 2. Not only be a witness of the
sufferings, But you feed the flock of God
which is among you. That's what he calls us, sheep. Sheep comes in flocks. And he
said, this flock of God which is among you, take the oversight.
Take care of them, look over them, not by constraint, but
willingly, not their filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. And that's
why we're called to feed the people of God. You remember very
well when our Lord Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon Peter,
lovest thou me? He said, yes, Lord, I do. Simon
Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord, I do. He said, well,
feed my sheep. feed my sheep, and he understood
to feed his sheep, and feed the lambs of God, feed the people
of God. And what we're to feed them is the Word of God. Not
just what we think they want to hear, not just what we think
they need to hear, but we're supposed to preach and use the
Word of God, and be able to go and show from the Scriptures
what we're dealing with. And I want you to look here in
Acts 28, 20-28, just a minute. I'm going to have you look at
a few verses on all these if I can. Acts 20 28 and elders
and preachers are supposed to take the leadership in the church And they're supposed to feed
the people of God feed the children and he didn't say beat him He
didn't say skin him. He didn't say share He didn't
say any of those things. He said feed him feed him And
I tell you what, whether you got one or a dozen cows, whether
you got one dog or a dozen dogs, you go out and feed them every
day. And I tell you whether you got two sheep or a dozen sheep
or a whole house full of sheep, they got to be fed. And feeding
is something that And we use the Word of God. And
look what Paul told the Ephesian elders here in verse 28 of Acts
20. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock.
See, there's that flock again. He said to Noel, feed the flock
of God. Take heed to yourselves and to
all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.
Same thing as oversight. to feed the church of God which
he has purchased with his own blood and that's why he says
you take heed now and you feed God's sheep, you feed his people
and we're taking leadership over the church not by somebody coercing
us or constraining us. Not because our wives, you know,
says, oh, you've got some gifts, or your husband says you got,
or you know, somebody in the church tells you, your mama tells
you, and somebody in the church starts telling you, boy, you've
got some gifts, you need to do this, you need to do that. Not
by that. No, no. But he said, if you do
it, you do it willingly. There's something there in you
that makes you willing to do it. There's something there and
you do it willingly. And you don't do it for praise.
You don't do it for pay. You don't do it for some advantage
that you have. You don't do it for any reason
other than just doing it because the Lord wills for you to do
it. And do it with a happy and cheerful, cheerful spirit. Ready
mind, always ready to do it. Ready to do it. And then look
what he says in verse 3. Now this is, he's still dealing
with these elders, still dealing with us preachers and teachers.
He says, and when you do this, you do this of a ready mind.
Now don't do it as being lords over God's heritage. God's people. You know what a heritage is?
That's something that somebody says that this is mine. It's
a heritage. It's something you inherit. You
claim it to be your own. And he says, they are my heritage.
And he says, don't be lords over them. Don't be bosses over them. Don't be lords over them. Don't
act like you're the one and rule with an iron hand over God's
people. Like you as a king and a lord. But be examples and be
patterns. and do it with love and kindness
and be doctrinally, they must be doctrinally sound if we're
going to lead the church of God. And then he says, be examples.
And I think if there's anything we ought to be, preachers ought
to be example of, is we ought to be doctrinally sound. That's
the first thing. We ought to know what we're talking about.
We ought to know the scriptures. We ought to be doctrinally sound.
We ought not be thinking or supposing it's this way, that way, or another
way. We ought not be toast to or fro because somebody comes
along with something new. That's the first thing he's got
to do. And then the second thing is preach the truth in love.
Not mad at anybody. Not upset with anybody. Not trying
to straighten anybody out. And be kind. Oh, be kind. Because everybody you're preaching
to is no telling what they went through before they got to the
service. What went on before they got in the church? No, what
went on before they sat down to hear the preaching or hear
the teaching? And so be kind and be honest. Be honest in all your dealings
with all men. And so that's the thing. And
I'll tell you something that I despise. I despise this, is
this idea of, they call it clergy and laity. Where the preacher,
the elders are those who rule in the church. They're treated
and lifted up to a great, great big elevation. And they call
everybody like you all lay people. And they make a distinction between
them and the people. But the apostles, all of them
were unconverted men and they were saved and they were called
to be what they were. And when they talked about themselves,
what did Peter say about himself? I'm just an elder too. I'm an apostle, but I'm an elder
like the rest of them. And this idea that the preacher
is something higher and above, and everybody's got to treat
him, and I don't know how to explain it, but like he's supposed
to be elevated to a place that God never meant to be elevated,
and he looks down on everybody. It's me against you. I'm always preaching to you,
never preaching to myself. And the scriptures don't make
that distinction. When Paul called himself an apostle,
he also said, I'm the chief of sinners. Now, how in the world
can you be the chief of sinners and lord it over anybody? That's why I don't know if I
make it Well, maybe you'll figure it
out. Maybe you'll get it. But I tell you what, look what
he says here. And then he says, you do this. You witness to the
sufferings and partakers of this glory of Christ. Feed that flock
of God. Do it willingly of a ready mind,
not for any other reason. Don't be lords over God's heritage.
That God set off for Himself. But you be an example to the
flock. Then, When that chief shepherd shall appear, you shall
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. You know, pastors
and elders and that, they're called shepherds in the scripture.
But there's really only one Shepherd over the sheep, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Good Shepherd that laid
down His life for the sheep. He's the Great Shepherd who was
brought again from the dead, and He's the Chief Shepherd who
shall appear again one of these days. And I tell you what, beloved,
and we're shepherds, but we're just under-shepherds. But Christ
our Lord is that Great Shepherd. And one of these days, He's gonna
appear again. And everything that's been the
foundation's leg which is Christ and how we build on that foundation.
If we build out of silver and gold and precious stones and
things of Christ or if we build on wood, hay and stubble. And
Woodhands Stubble is talking about something that can be burned
up. That ain't worth anything. That can rot and pass away. And
anything other than the prayer free grace of God is stubble. Anything don't give all the glory
to Christ in salvation is stubble. Anything that a preacher is trying
to talk anybody into thinking other than trusting Christ and
Christ and His righteousness alone is stubble. Ain't it? And it'll burn up. The foundation's
already been laid. And when that chief shepherd
shall appear, there's going to be a few people in this world
who are going to say, well done. Well done. Well done. You were occupied till I came.
You stayed true. You stayed faithful. You fought
that good fight. And you kept the faith. And now
it's time to finish this thing up. And He says, and when that
Chief Shepherd appears, He's going to give you a crown of
glory. And you know what that crown
of glory will be? And the very fact is that you'll have Christ
to be in the presence of. Christ to enjoy His presence
forever. And every crown, there's only
two crowns that we get, the crown of righteousness and the crown
of life. And I'll tell you something, beloved, and the scriptures tells
us that when, can you imagine us running around heaven with
crowns on? And these crowns of glory, that
just means that God crowns us with the absolute finish in our
work. But I know this, if we do was
to have an actual crown, Brad, I'll tell you one thing it tells
us that we do with them, we take them off and cast every one of them at His feet. If we had actual
crowns, and He's already crowned us with righteousness, we have
the righteousness of Christ. And to be crowned with glory,
to have Christ in His salvation, what glory is that? And to enjoy
Him forever, what glory is that? And if we do have actual crowns,
which I don't think we will, if we do, we're going to throw
them at His feet. What would we do with them? If
we got them and somebody had, you know, if they had, you know,
if you could win three and somebody else could win five and somebody
had one, when you got up there, everybody be walking around with
them crowns, you know. Oh boy, look what I've done.
I tell you, I see right now, you fellas didn't do much. Look
at that little old pin of crown you got on. Look at all these
I've got. And that's the way it'd be. Man would find a way
to glow. And that's what they do here.
They're always trying to make themselves a crown while they're
here. And Christ is on His head are
many crowns. And if we had a crown, we have
to put it where it belongs. At the feet of our blessed Savior. Because anything we have, He's
the one that gave it to us. And all he's going to say, and
I tell you what, it won't ever fade away. It won't fade away. They lock up the king's jewels
in the Tower of London. And somebody's got to have 49
guards to go get them out to make sure somebody don't steal
them. But I want every crown he gives us, it ain't never going
to fade away. It's going to shine on and on
and on and on. And then look what he says. So
likewise you younger, now he talks about being faithful to
Christ, and then he turns back around to this business of elders
in the church. And likewise you younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the
proud and giveth grace to the humble. Oh my, now he's talking
about Showing respect. Younger people in the faith.
Younger folks in the faith. And when God raises up somebody
to use, He says, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.
God's given him wisdom. God's given him grace. God's
taught him a few things. And then not only that, but every
one of you be subject one to another. Be subject one to another. That means don't try to force... Subject one to another is you
watch out for one another. You be careful for one another.
Don't try to put yourself over another person. You give due
respect to spiritual leaders. And be subject one to another. Oh my, I'd rather you have something
as me have something. I'd rather for you to be blessed
than for me to be blessed. I'd rather for God to do something
for you than to do it for me. And to be subject one to another
means that to one another is that when you're talking and
visiting around, don't make yourself above somebody by what you've
done, what you've accomplished, and where you're going, what
you're doing, and all that. Be subject one to another. You wait
and see what the other person wants, what the other person
needs, and then you give that to them if you've got the ability
to. And then look what he says, and be clothed with humility.
Be clothed with humility. Can you imagine? To be clothed,
put all your clothes, be clothed with humility. What in the world
is of all the graces that they say in the Scriptures, Our Lord
honored this more than He did anything other than faith. He
said, humble yourselves. He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted. He that exalts himself shall
be humbled. Humility, humility, humility. And what is humility? It's a
right estimation of yourself. Now let me ask you something.
Is there any reason for any member of the human race, especially
one saved by the grace of God, to be proud? That's the most unreasonable
thing for a human being to do, is have to be proud. Do you think about it? What have we got that we didn't
receive? What do we know that we wasn't taught? And so what in the world And
that's what, be clothed with humility. And humility is the
right estimation. What is the right estimation
we have of ourselves in the sight of God and in our own sight,
in the sight of other people? And that's why he says, you put
humility on like you're putting on your clothes. And humility never, never puts
itself forward. Humility is somebody that just
absolutely understands that they are nothing, have nothing, can
do nothing, and that everything they have, everything they do,
and everything they ever will have, it comes from the hand
of God. We have no reason to complain
because He's gave us 10,000 times more than we could ever deserve. No reason for us to be proud
about what we have because we wouldn't have nothing if he didn't
provide it for us. You could be living in one of
them grass huts someplace else instead of living in a four bedroom
house with two baths. You know why you live in a four
bedroom home with two baths? Not because of your efforts.
Though I know you work and I know you have efforts and I know you
ought to do the best you can. But oh, when you lay down in
bed and I say, Lord, I thank you for giving me this wonderful
roof over my head. Everything we got. Now the world
don't think like that. And to think that we would ever
put ourselves up in any way and be clothed. And you know
what? Clothed with humility, that means to be girded with
humility. And I tell you what, if you wait
until God humbles you, it's going to be tough. It's going to be
tough. He'll do you like he did Simon
Peter. He may let you stand by the devil's fire all night, but
when he turns around and looks at you in the morning, You'll
go out here a wee bit and say, what in the world have I done? For God resists the proud. God
has his hand set against the proud. Ain't that what he says
there in verse 5? He resists them. He got his hand
set against them. Huh? He's against the overbearing. He's against the boastful. He's
against the presumptuous. But oh, he turns around and gives
grace, grace, and more grace to that person who humbles himself
and understands that I have nothing but what God gives me. And look
what he says now then in verse 6, and humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God. That right there ought to tell
us something. God's mighty? How much power you got? God's
mighty? How much strength do you have?
Under the mighty, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.
That hand can come down and crush us, or that hand can lift us
up. That hand can reach out and save us, or that hand can push
us away. That hand can embrace us, or
that hand can crush us down to the dust. And he says, so humble
yourself, not in front of everyone, but under the hand of God. And
oh, listen, and you know what He'll do for you? He said He
will exalt you. Exalt you. Humble yourselves.
Be low. Be low. Be patient. Bear every
affliction. Oh, bear your afflictions. Bear
your burdens. Bear your heartaches. Bear your
sorrows. And don't look on your own things
and what you're going through, but look on the welfare of others.
And see about the happiness of others. and work graciously,
kindly, and tenderly for the glory of God and for the good
of the church. And God, one of these days, He'll
reach down and He'll pick you up. He'll pick you up. And He'll hold you up. You know
what our Lord Jesus Christ did? He took off His clothes. And
you know what? He clothed Himself with a towel.
He wrapped a towel around Himself. He had a towel in His hand. Twelve
old sorry men sitting there. Three of them were fishermen,
one of them was a tax collector. One of them was a devil. Always
out of everything. And our Lord Jesus Christ got
down on His knees with a pan of water. He said, let me have your feet.
What? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not me. Oh, Lord, you're not going to
wash my feet. And you know, he was thinking he was being humble.
But there was no humility in that. It was a false humility. He said, Oh, Lord, you know,
you're too great to humble yourself to come down here. That's a false
humility. And the Lord Jesus finally told
him, He said, If I don't worship, You're not going to have no part
of me. Simon Peter stuck him feet out there. And I mean, he
got humble real quick. And that's what, if our Lord
did that, he says, you call me master, you call me Lord. And
so I am. But as you've seen me do, so
also do you. Can you humble yourself and get
down to somebody else's feet? Worry about their walk, their
talk, their lives, and that's what he's talking about. And
oh, if he would do that, oh how thankful we ought to be to be
able to do anything in the church for anybody. And oh, and listen
to what he says now. Then turn around and you have
these cares, this humility and these troubles and this And whatever
goes on, He said, cast all your care upon Him. Oh, cast all your worries, all
your troubles, all your fears, all your doubts, all your anxieties,
all your concerns, all your children, your grandchildren, your father,
your mother, and your babies, and children that ain't been
born yet. Say, Oh Lord, bring them and
cast them, cast them on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you,
just call Him the mighty God so He's got the ability to carry
it. And this is what I love about
it more than anything else. He cares for you. You wouldn't cast your cares
on somebody who don't care. Would you? You ain't even gonna
tell anybody what goes on if they don't care. And he said,
oh, you cast all your care on him. Cause he really does care
for you. You know how much he cares for
you? Counselor Harris on your head. He said, see that little
old sparrow go down there and get that seed? He said, my father
put him down there. And oh, if he does that for a
sparrow, what's he going to do for you? And oh, he cared for us before
we were. He cared for us when we were
born. He cares for us enough to go to the cross for us and
bear our sins. He cared enough for us to come
and shed His blood for us. He cared enough for us to come
and call us. He cared enough for us to come
and call us and bring us to Himself and keep us day in and day out.
He cares! He cares! He really... Oh, I can't... He cares! And
when it says for you, That's for you, personally. And then
He says, and so you turn around now, cast all your cares on Him,
because I tell you what, you're going to have enough to deal
with if you don't do that, because He says in verse 5, 8, Be sober,
be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour. Oh my. I tell you what, that
word be sober and be vigilant, that word sober means serious. Pay attention. Be vigilant. Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch.
Some of you fellas, you're hunters, you like to go out and hunt.
And when you're hunting, you're vigilant. You know, just looking,
looking, looking, looking, looking, looking. See if you can see anything. See if anything's moving. You
just look and look. And that's why he says, you be
vigilant. And you be sober. You be serious minded. Don't
make no jokes about the devil. Don't make no jokes about his
power. Don't say, well, the devil made
me do it. Don't make no jokes about it, because this is serious
business. He says, you be sober. You be serious. You be upright.
You act like you got some sense. And you be very, very watchful.
Be vigilant. Because I tell you what, you
don't know if he's going to come from the rear, if you don't know
if he's going to come from the side. You don't know which direction
he's going to come. But he's going to come. And he
says, you watch for him. Your adversary. I mean, he's
a deadly, deadly enemy. I mean, he's overthrew some awful,
awful good men. And if Christ hadn't prayed for
Simon Peter, he'd have assisted him. He'd have had him. And I
tell you, there's been some men that just failed because they
wasn't vigilant. And your adversary, the devil,
has a roaring lion, a ravenous lion, a lion looking for something
to eat, a lion looking for something to choke down on. He walks about. And He ain't just wanting to
bite you. He ain't wanting just to torment you. He ain't wanting
just to trouble you. What does it say there? That He may devour
you. Devour you. Take you down to nothing. And that's who He's looking for.
And I'll tell you what, He did... None of us is a match for Him.
I learned this years and years and years ago. I am not a match
for the devil, and if Christ hadn't have defeated him, if
Christ hadn't have conquered him, you just imagine trying
to live in this world, and trying to be a free willer, and trying
to be a works person, and trying to fight off the devil. Somebody
tell you how much power the devil's got over you, and how much power
the devil's got, and you need to do this and that to fight
the devil. And I tell you what, he said, you just be sober, and
you just keep watching. And when you hear this great
roar, This noise that comes, and it's
coming after you, and it scares you. He said, that's your adversary. And he's looking to devour you.
So that's why you've got to be watching all the time. And then
look what he said, I love this verse 9 here. And he said, whom? He said, steadfast in the faith. How are you going to resist him?
Not by your subjective faith, but because of the faith that
you've been taught, the truths that you've been taught. Whom
resisted the faith, he's talking about is what we believe, what
we've been taught, what we've been instructed by. Not our personal faith, but whom
you resisted fast in the faith. And what is our faith? Man's utterly and absolutely
lost. Had not God chosen some in Christ, none would have been
saved. Had not Christ died for those some that God gave to Him
in the covenant of grace, none of us would have been saved.
And had not God come and affectionately called us to Himself, we wouldn't
have come. And if God hadn't promised to
keep us and never leave us and forsake us, we would have fell
away long ago. And the faith is that Christ
gave us a free, full, and complete salvation. His righteousness,
His work, His person. That's the faith we're talking
about here. And I tell you, and He says,
now listen here, you resist Him knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren in the world. Oh, I tell you,
that means that all your brethren all over the world, whatever
goes on through them, He said, they're going to watch you going
through it. You're not nothing. There's nothing new. He said,
you're going through it over here. There's somebody over in
Mexico going through it. There's somebody down in Brazil
going through it. There's somebody in China going
through it. There's somebody in Canada going through it. You're
over here on the East Coast. There's somebody in California
going through it. There's somebody in Oregon going through it. Nothing
such as, I mean, the Lord's people go through this wherever they're
at. And I tell you, in our Lord Jesus Christ, bless His name,
oh, make us sober. And then look at this, and I
hope I'm not taking too long here, but look what it says,
but the God of all grace. The God of all grace. There ain't no grace but what
God has. Ain't no grace but what God gives.
And look what it says, who hath called us The God of all grace
called us. It wasn't just anybody, it was
God called us. The God of grace called us. What
did He call us to? Eternal glory. How? By our Lord Jesus Christ. He
called us. Oh, He's gracious. And unto and
unto. He predestinated us to be like
His Son. And one of these days we're going
to enter into His presence just like His Son. And then look what
He said. That after you've suffered a
while, oh, you ain't going to get to glory. You're not going
to get in that eternal glory until you suffer a while. And
that's all it is. It's just a while. It's just
a while. Ever how long it is, it's just
a while. And while it's going on, it seems like it's awful
long, but it's just a little while. It's just a while. And then He'll make you perfect.
He'll make you strong. He'll make you mature. And He
will establish you after you've done these things. He'll strengthen
you and He'll settle you down. And you'll be calm and you'll
be able to deal with things in this world. And then he says,
to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Amen. To him be glory for all
things. And then Peter says here, he
said, I wrote this letter to you by Silvanus. And Silvanus
is Silas, the man in Hebrews chapter 13. I mean, not Hebrews
13, but all through the book of Acts, who traveled with Paul. Silvanus is Silas. This is his
Roman name. And he said, I've written briefly
and exhorting and testifying you that this is the true grace
of God for you. See, there's a true grace. And
if it's grace, it means that it can't be anything else. You
can't bring nothing else in. If anybody brings anything other
than grace, Paul said, let him be accursed. And we stand in
this grace. And then he says to the church,
the local body that sits at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes
you. Say, hello, how are you? And
so doeth Marcus my son. This is John Mark. And he called
him his son after the faith. And he says, Greet ye one another
with a kiss of charity. A kiss of love is an expression
of true, true affection for your brethren. And peace be with all
you that are aware in Christ Jesus. Now that's the place to
be. Be in Christ. Be in Christ. Our Father, in the blessed name
of our Savior, thank you for allowing us to gather here this
evening, for looking into your Word. And oh Lord, there's so
much for us to learn, so much for us to know, And Lord, we'll just wait and
study and look to you and you'll teach us and you'll instruct
us and you'll correct us and cause you care for us. And so,
Lord, we cast our cares tonight, our worries and fears and troubles
tonight. We cast them on you. And Lord,
by your blessed grace, help us to leave them there, to really
take it to the Lord and leave it there. Thank you for these
dear saints of God. And I pray for them that your
blessed grace and mercy would abound in their lives and that
Christ would become more precious to all of us. And I pray for
Marlene, I pray for others among us who are burdened, who are
weak, who are tried. God bless, strengthen and encourage.
Let Marlene's body heal up. Thank You for what You've done
for her and for all of us. When You spare one, You spare
us all. And when one suffers, we all suffer. And Lord, that's
because You made us all one. And we thank You for it in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen.