I plan to bring two, maybe three
more messages to you from 2 John before we move on to 3 John,
but I am strongly inclined of God, I believe, to prepare the
message I prepared today, and I trust it will be blessed of
God to your hearts and others who may hear it. I'm inclined
to bring the message because so many, many friends carry heavy,
heavy burdens and cares. Brother Rex mentioned in his
prayer back there, we know these things are done by God's will. We desire to bow to God's will. But none of the difficulties
through which we are called to go are easy to bear or they wouldn't
be difficulties. correction, chastisement, trial,
affliction, adversity, all of those things are intended by
God to cause pain. I didn't spend a lot of time
spanking my daughter, but when I did, I intended for her to
feel it. I intended for her to know the
pain. And my reason was I wanted her to be what you see now. I
wanted her to grow to be a mature, responsible young lady who would
take care of her own house and her own family and her own husband
as she ought. And I'm thankful that she's such
a lady. But the process, the growing process, requires pain
and discipline, discipline that brings pain. It requires this
for many reasons, but one of the reasons for the pain and
the heartache and the sorrow is to drive us to our Savior's
arms and to our Father's throne. I don't know what God's intention
is for you, your family, but I do know His intention is this,
to drive you to the Savior's arms. I do know that. I do know God's purpose is to
drive us to the throne of grace. I intend to write to Brother
Jim Sick sometime tonight or tomorrow and let him know the
very same thing. Hard to see a four-year-old baby
go and have open heart surgery. That's never easy. But God's
purpose is to drive us to his arms and to his throne. I can
think of no sweeter more comforting, more soul-sustaining words with
which to address God's children whose hearts are heavier than
the last four words of 1 Peter 5 and verse 7. He careth for
you. Did you hear that, my brother?
Did you hear that, my sister? Did you hear that, O my soul? Did you hear that? He careth
for you. That's my subject. He careth
for you. My text is 1 Peter 5, verses
6 and 7. John Newton was a remarkable,
remarkable man. He had remarkable experiences
of God's grace. He had a remarkable life, both
in his rebellion and in his restoration by the hand of God. But my suspicions
are that Mr. Newton endured many, many pains
and heartaches and trials about which he never wrote or spoke. And I draw that conclusion just
from his hymns. Here is one you may have never
heard. Yes, I see, whate'er betide,
all is well, for Christ is mine. He has promised to provide, may
he teach me to resign. When a sense of sin and thrall
forced me to the sinner's friend, he engaged to manage all by the
way and to the end. cast, he said, on me thy care. Tis enough that I am nigh. I
will all thy burdens bear. I will all thy needs supply. Lord, I would indeed submit,
gladly yield my all to thee. What thy wisdom sees most fit
must be surely best for me. Only when the way is rough, and
the coward flesh would start. Let thy promise and thy love
cheer and animate my heart. Have you found our text? First
Peter chapter five, verse six. 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 Specifically God the Holy Spirit here tells
us precisely how we are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand
of God and it is by casting all our care on him who careth for
us and In the last sentence of verse 5, God the Holy Spirit
tells us, God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. What proud, stout-hearted, stubborn
sinners we are by nature. How we fight against God, both
before and after conversion. both before and after experiencing
his grace. But the prophet tells us the
battle is useless. Woe unto him that stiveth with
his maker. If the Almighty should lift so
much as the finger of his wrath against you or me, he would crush
us instantly into hell. And yet, we're so proud, so foolish,
that by nature We lived all the days of our lives with our fist
shoved in God's face, and even since being saved by his grace,
we continually, continually lift our hearts in proud rebellion
to our God. God resisteth the proud. Now notice the next part of the
sentence. The same God who resisteth the
proud, giveth grace to the humble. And notice the conjunction. It
is not but, the word is and. God resisteth the proud. And God, the God of all grace,
as he described in verse 10, the God of all grace who resists
the proud, giveth grace unto the humble. The very same God
who resists the proud, gives grace to the humble. Now, surely
you ask, How can a proud, stout-hearted rebel like me ever hope to have
grace from God if God only gives grace to the humble? Obviously,
obviously, grace must do something for me before I can ever enjoy
the experience of God's grace. I won't attempt to explain the
mystery of God's goodness and His gracious operations in the
souls of men, but I can tell you this. No sinner will ever be broken,
humbled, abased before God until God Almighty breaks, humbles,
and abases that sinner. And that which abases, humbles,
and breaks the center is the revelation of Christ and the
revelation of ourselves in the light of our crucified Redeemer,
who by the sacrifice of himself accomplished redemption for us.
And by the sacrifice of himself has entered into glory, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. And as we are enabled by
God the Holy Spirit to set our eyes upon, to look to, and to
see our crucified Redeemer seated in glory, as we are enabled to
do so, then our hearts break before Him, and we bow in contrition
before Him, and we are abased before Him. This is exactly what
we're told in Zechariah 12 and verse 10. This is exactly what
we're told that Isaiah experienced in Isaiah chapter 6. This is
exactly what we're told that Saul of Tarsus experienced on
the Damascus Road. When we see Christ exalted, our
exalted Redeemer, and set our hearts on Him, as God enables
us to look on Christ, our hearts break before Him. Break in submission
and contrition before Him. I'm not talking about a show
of such things. I'm talking about the reality
of such things. Second, I know this. God gives
grace to the humble, and God uses the broken. He saith us
such as be of a contrite heart. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. And when men and women are broken
by our God, that's the kind of people he uses. I remember years
ago, Brother Scott Richardson took as his text that passage
in the latter part of Acts when Paul's company was sailing to
Melita and the ship broke up and they swam to shore on broken
pieces of the ship. The title of Brother Scott's
message was Broken Pieces. God uses broken pieces. And Mark,
he never uses anything else. He never uses anything else.
Broken pieces. and the folks he intends to use,
he brings. Isaiah was his prophet before
we see what's recorded in Isaiah 6. Isaiah was a prophet, and
he was a prophet God Almighty had put where he was. But when
he gets to Isaiah chapter 6, And Uzziah died, that king that
he so admired. His uncle at least, he was a
relative too, a close relative, and he had free access to the
king's throne. This prophet of God who lived
in the king's chambers, this prophet of God who had free access
there, he saw this mighty king lifted up with pride and die. And he was devastated. He was
devastated. And when the king, on whom he
set too much affection and too much care, was taken from him,
he said, I saw the Lord, high and lifted up, and God broke
him. And oh, how God used him. Oh,
how he used him. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne, the earth is my footstool, but to this man will
I look. even to him that is poor and
of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word." Our Savior says, blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Here's the third
thing. All who are humbled by God's
grace humble themselves before God. When God breaks the center, The
sinner humbles himself before God. You have a marvelous picture
of it in Luke chapter 18, that publican in the temple. The God
of all grace gives grace to the humble, saving grace, sanctifying
grace, sustaining grace, sufficient grace, satisfying grace. God gives grace, all grace to
the humble. None to anyone else now, let's
look at these two verses and I want to show you three things
in them Here is a call to contrition Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Here
is a cure for care Casting all your care upon him and third
here is a cause for confidence for he careth for you First,
here is a call to contrition. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time. I take that first to be a word
from God addressed to sinners, to you who are yet without Christ.
If you would know God's grace and God's salvation, you must
humble yourself. I chose my words deliberately.
You must humble yourself before God. When Hezekiah the king was
justly threatened with death, God threatened to kill him because
of his transgressions. He said, well, God never intended
to kill him. I know that, and you know that, but we're reading
from the backside. Hezekiah didn't know that. All
Hezekiah knew was the word from the prophet, you're going to
die. You're going to die. And the Lord God sent the prophet
back after Hezekiah's prayer and told him he would live. So
it is with the sinner. The sinner without Christ, you
who do not yet trust Christ, there is only one word from God
about which you can be sure. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son of God hath not life. And having not life, the wrath
of God abides on you. You can expect nothing but wrath
and judgment. But preacher, God's elect are
going to be saved. I know that. I know that. We'll read it from
the backside. We understand what God's revealed.
But to the sinner outside Christ, there is no word from God except
believe or be damned. There's no other word. No other
word. Hezekiah humbled himself and God spared his life because
he humbled himself. That's precisely what we're told
in 2 Chronicles 32. It is written in the scriptures,
he shall save the humble person. He forgeteth not the cry of the
humble. He giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift
you up. Now, I hope you're asking, Pastor,
what is it to humble myself in the sight of God? How can I bow
to God in humility? Turn to Luke chapter 18, that
passage I referred to a moment ago. Luke chapter 18. I don't pretend to know much about
humility. But I know that if Moses was
the meekest man who ever lived, humility is not what folks think
it is. Humility has to do with my relationship and attitude
with God. And that proper relationship
and attitude with God causes a man or woman to walk before
men with a proper attitude and a proper relationship. It is
not an attitude. whether folks just have no opinion
about anything and they are just doormats and you pretend to act
all beat down all the time. That's just a show of humility.
That's just, that's pride showing itself so that men will be proud
of you. No, humility will cause a man, a woman, to know themselves
as they are and who they are before God. And it will cause
that same person to deal with others because of who they are
and what they are by God's grace. Now look here at this publican.
Verse 9, Luke 18. And he spake this parable, the
Lord Jesus did, unto certain which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous, and they despised others. That's what
self-righteous folks do. They despise others. They don't
care about what they say about you, what they say to you, what
they do to you. They don't give a flip. They don't give a flip.
All they care about is them. That's self-righteousness. Self-righteousness
thinks nothing of the feelings of others or the character of
others or the name of others. They might not slay you in the
streets with a bullet, but they'll slay you quickly with a word.
They might not take your life, but they'll take your name and
your reputation at the drop of a hat, because they can do that
and it'll cost them nothing. They despise others. Read on.
This publican, or these two men, went up into the temple, verse
10, to pray. The one a Pharisee, the self-righteous
fellow, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. God, I sure do thank you I'm
not like other men. I thank thee that I'm not as
other men are. Others are extortioners, and
unjust, and adulterers, or even like this publican. God, I fast
twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, the publican, standing afar off, would not
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. besmirched upon his breast,
saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I tell you, this
man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone
that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself
shall be exalted. Now here are three things about
this publican that are true of all who humble themselves before
God. First, you must acknowledge who
the Lord God is in his infinite, unapproachable, sovereign majesty
and holiness. The publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but beat
on his chest, smote his heart, Recognizing that he has no right
to come to God, no claim on God, no access to God without a mediator. Number two, you must acknowledge
and confess your utter sinfulness. You got to confess your sin,
what you are. what you are. This publican cries,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Quite literally, the definite
article is used in the original text. He says, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. You see, many women who see Christ
in His glory, many women who know the redemptive work of the
Son of God, Many women who recognize what it cost the Redeemer to
redeem them. They recognize themselves to
be the sinner. They understand, for all I know,
for all I see, for all I can experience, there's not another
one in the world like me. There's not another one in the
world like me. Not another one. Brother Gene
Harmon very commonly says, the Church of God is the only tribe
in the world where all are chiefs. All the people of God recognize
themselves the chief of sinners. You see, the believer knows something
of his heart. I'm very capable of impressing
you with my outward behavior. with acts of austerity, with
acts of self-discipline, if I set my mind to it, I can look pretty
good on the outside. But Lindsey Campbell is not anything
I can do to make myself look good on the inside. I know that in me, in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing. And to the extent that I recognize
this continually, I will never ask the question, why me? Why mine? About anything. Why me? Why mine? That's the
response of unbelieving, reprobate folks who don't know God to difficulties. Believers recognize what they
are. If these things happen to others,
other men got what you've had, Bill, got the same troubles you've
had, why not you? You're just like them. Why not
me? I'm just like them. Why should
we be exempted from heartache and trouble that other folks
experience? You will never be saved until you take your place
in the dust before God. Take the ground God gives you.
If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin.
And number three, this humility involves seeing, acknowledging,
and confessing that the only grounds upon which God Almighty
can or will forgive our sin, accept us, and bless us is the
blood and righteousness of Christ, our perpetuatory sacrifice. This
publican prayed, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The word merciful
is propitious. He's saying, God, look on the
mercy seat. Look on the blood of the lamb. where you promised to meet your
people, and where you promised to reveal yourself, and through
the mercy seed, through the blood of the Lamb, through the blood
of your darling Son, God, accept me, be merciful to me. The only way God can look in
your direction or mine favorably is through the blood of his Son.
There's no humility, no humility. without acknowledging God's glorious
being, our sin, and Christ as our only access to God. But this
text is a call to contrition that's addressed specifically
to you and me as believers, to you and I who are the sons and
daughters of God. Whenever the hand of God lays
heavy upon us, we're to humble ourselves under God's hand. At all times, God give me grace
to humble myself under your hand, knowing that in the hollow of
his hand, we're perfectly safe and secure. John Gill said, quietly submit
to his will. patiently bear every affliction
without murmuring or repining or replying against him. Be still
under the rod and despise not the chastening of the Lord. Mourn
over the sin as the cause. Acknowledge your vileness and
unworthiness and stand in awe of his majesty, considering yourselves
as under the mighty hand of God. If we can by God's grace, Obey
this call. We will have little problem with
next part of the text. Humble yourself. Bow to God. That's what humility
is. Bow to God. Bow to God. Here's the second thing. Here
is a cure for care. Casting all your care upon him. I am so very thankful God the
Holy Spirit made certain that Peter included that word all. If he had said, casting your
care upon him, I would presume there's some care I can't rightly
cast on him. But Peter said, casting all your
care upon him. We often sing, take your burden
to the Lord and leave it there. And it's easy enough and pleasant
enough to sing, but it's another thing altogether to do what we
sing. That's a white horse of another
color. I really don't know any of us
who can leave our burdens with the Lord. We should. If we believed
him as we ought, we could. But the fact is we simply don't
believe him as we ought. Still, I'll tell you what we
can do, or you can do, or I can do. As often as a burden presses
upon our hearts, as often as care arises in our souls to trouble
us, we can cast it on the Lord. Notice the tense. He said casting,
casting. Well, I did that this morning.
It came up by me again, casting more. But I did that this afternoon,
it's come to bother me now. Cast it again. I cast my burden
on the Lord this morning, and this afternoon, and tonight,
and here I am in the bed tossing and turning on my pillow. What
do I do now? Cast your burden on the Lord. Cast your care on
Him. All together on Him. We need
to realize and acknowledge that worry, fretfulness, and anxious
care are all just pretty words for sin. I understand that there are many
things that cause worry and anxiety, but the fretful care that disturbs
our relationship with God, His people, and our families, That
fretful care that disrupts our lives is never to be indulged
by us as if we're not responsible for it. This is something more
than weakness of temperament. It's something more than a mental
disorder. Its root, its essence is rebellion
and unbelief. Now, I weighed those words heavily
preparing this message. We live in a day when everybody
wants to blame everything on the brain. I need to take a pill
for this. I've got a bad problem. Well,
you may have a bad problem. You may need to take a pill for
it. But the problem is sin. The problem is sin. Worry, fret,
care, preacher, is an impertinent attempt to
snatch from God's hands the guardianship and rule of providence. Can you call it anything else,
Merle? When I fret about things that God's done, I'm trying to
take from God's hands what rightly belongs in His hands. It's calling into question the
love and faithfulness, veracity and wisdom. Yes, the very Word
of God itself. the love, the care, the veracity,
the wisdom, the word of God who sent his son to redeem me. This morning, I got a note from
Celeste. She had a quotation at the end
of her note. I hadn't seen it in a long time
from Brother Scott Richardson. I'd suggest you write this down
and remember it. I want to. If we had God's power, we would
change everything. If we had God's power, we would
change everything. If we had God's wisdom, we would
change nothing. If we had God's wisdom, we'd
change nothing. Nothing. Threatenful, anxious
care fills the life of the worrier with misery. And once our cares come upon us, and we are pressed
with them. It's a source of weakness, crippling
our usefulness. I want so much to be like Peter.
He was in the fishing business, and the Lord Jesus needed a pulpit
from which to preach to the multitudes, and Peter gave him his boat for
a pulpit. That wasn't real smart as a businessman. He could be
out catching fish. What would become of his fishing
business if the master takes his boat and uses it for a pulpit?
Well, the Lord Jesus took care of that as soon as the sermon
was over. You remember what he said to
Peter? He said, launch out and cast your nets. And Peter caught
more fish in 10 minutes than he'd catch in 10 days. Oh, God, take me and what I am
and use me for your glory. Make His service your delight,
your cares, your wants shall be His care. You see, God's made
a promise. He said, them that honor me,
I will honor. And you can't honor God in any
way like you honor God by believing Him. Our Lord Jesus doesn't mean
for us to be slothful. Negligent, not in any way. He
doesn't mean that we should be careless in our responsibilities. Men ought to work and provide
for their families. And men who say, well, the Lord's
going to provide, I don't need to work. That's just lazy and
it's inexcusable. Men ought to meet their responsibilities. Men and women in every realm
of life ought to meet their own responsibilities. And at the
same time, at the same time, We're to trust our Savior with
all our affairs. Read the sixth chapter of Matthew.
Our Lord said, why do you take thought for what you shall wear? Why do you take thought for what
you should eat or drink? Why do you take thought for tomorrow?
Well, preacher, everybody's got to think about those things.
He's saying, why give anxious care? Why be disturbed? but what you're going to eat,
what you're going to drink, what you're going to wear, where you're
going to sleep, or what's going to happen tomorrow. Tomorrow
will take thought, take care of itself. Your father knows
that you have need of these things. He knows what you need, and he
has already provided for all our needs, and he will supply
our needs continually. Not only is an evil thing worrying
Threat for care is useless Now I can speak from a little experience
Because I've done some I've done some I I paste the floor like
you I bite my nails like you I difficulties coming and I experience
what am I going to do? How's this going to turn out?
And pace the floor and wring my hands and get irritable with
my wife and get crabby to live with and that's what it does. That's what it does. And I tell
you what I've experienced. I've never accomplished one thing
by fretting and worrying. Have you? What did it secure? What did it change? What did
it accomplish? Nothing. Our text calls for us
to cast all our care upon Him. Cast all your spiritual care,
yes. All your sins, past, present,
future. All your coldness of heart and
weakness and unbelief, yes. All your temptations, yes. All
your dangers, yes. All your trials and heartaches,
your immortal soul and eternity. Don't be like Uzzah, who rashly
laid his hand upon the ark of God. And don't be like Uzziah,
who dared to offer sacrifice to the Lord, usurping the priest
office. Those things belong to Christ
alone. What more can he say than to you, he has said, you who
unto Jesus for refuge have fled? He said, fear not, I'm with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will still give thee aid. And
if we cast upon him, truly cast upon him the care for all spiritual
things, and all eternal things, surely, surely, surely we won't
find it too difficult to cast on Him the care of all earthly
things and all carnal things. Now let me say no more than I
know to be true. Let me speak the truth. If I trust Him with my corruption, Why can't I trust Him with my
children? If I trust Him with my transgressions, I ought to be able to trust Him
with my troubles. If I trust the Lord with my wickedness,
surely I ought to be able to trust Him with my welfare. If
I trust Him with my soul, surely I'll trust Him with my body.
If I trust Him for all things in eternity, things that matter,
surely, surely I'm trusting for all things earthly, things that
don't matter. He bids us cast all our care
on Him. And He gives us a reason for
confidence in doing so. That's the third thing. Here
is a cause for confidence, for He careth for you. Oh, what grace! He careth for
you. He careth for you. He careth for you. Did you hear it? Casting all
your care upon him for he careth for you Get hold of this if you
can it'll help you through rough waters This is what those words
mean The Lord God has special love for you You who he is This
is the very heart and essence of all comfort. Jacob have I
loved. God has set his heart upon you. He performs all things for you.
The Lord Jesus says to every disciple, I have prayed for thee
that thy faith fail not. When he comes to you across the
troubled waters, He says, in his eye, be not afraid. Now, let's turn back to a very
familiar text. You can all quote it, but I want
you to read it. Psalm 23. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. That means I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff that comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil.
My cup runneth over. Surely, surely, surely, goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The affairs of this
world are under the dispensation of God's special providence,
God's universal special providence for you. Therefore, the wise
man says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto
thine own understanding, In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and
He shall direct thy paths. Humble yourselves unto the mighty
hand of God, casting all your care upon Him, for He careth
for you. Amen.