Now, if you would just turn with
me in your Bibles to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. Normally I'm not much in titling
messages. But if I was to entitle this
message, I suppose I would call it, Experienced Salvation or
Salvation Experienced. Now I want you to listen to me
for a moment before we get into this passage of scripture that
God has laid upon my heart this morning. There are many people
in this world that attribute their salvation to an experience. We live in a make them feel good
generation of preaching. Make them feel good. People would
rather participate for an hour in singing, musical concerts,
and hear a little 10-minute sermonette than to hear the gospel preaching
of the Word of God. It's sad but true. People would
rather hear men and women's personal testimonies than preaching. because they believe that their
experiences are what saves them. And it's clearly evident that
we have much religion in our day, but little authentic Christianity. People talk about joining the
church. People talk about being baptized,
being saved by some preacher, some other unscriptural experience,
but Christ is never mentioned. No repentance has shown and no
lives have been changed. May God help us. And this is why we endeavor here
to preach the Bible, the truth according to God's word. And
we have, and we'll see men according to his grace, see men and women
transformed by the power of God. and the message of the gospel
of Christ. And some people seem to think
that salvation comes to them like joining the PTA, or the
Lions Club, or some other organization. They attend a few meetings, they
give some money, they fill out information on a card, and hocus
pocus, they're saved. Now they have fire insurance
from hell. Doesn't matter how they live
from that point on, they think. And I tell you, you listen to
me, preachers are going to be held accountable for what they
preach. And whether or not they tell
people the gospel truth, so they better take heed. This is serious
business. And by the grace of God, I'm
going to tell you week after week that your only hope of salvation
is to trust in Christ alone for the putting away of your sin.
That's the only hope that any of us have. Salvation is not
by an experience. Salvation comes by hearing the
Word of God preached. And if you truly, truly care
for your soul, you'll come and hear the Gospel preached as often
as you possibly can. We do not work hearing the Gospel
around our lives. We work our lives around hearing
the Gospel. God's people do. And the saved
soul will never be satisfied with anything less. That's all
they want to hear. Tell me again that wondrous story
how God Himself became a man. Lived. and died and rose again
according to the Scriptures. And that my sin is put away in
Him and Him alone. That's all I want to hear. Well,
what about the deeper things of God, brother? Is there anything
deeper than that? That your name is written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. God's words clear. You don't
have to turn here if you don't like 1 Corinthians 1.21. You know the passage well. For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. You can't know God by the world's
wisdom. It pleased God. Oh my, get a hold of those three
words. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's how God saves
men and women. Through the preaching of His
gospel. And I ask you plainly this morning, I know you know,
how does faith come? How does faith in God come to
us? Paul said in Romans 10, faith
cometh by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God. So now what a disjustice I would
do to you if we had 55-60 minutes of singing and special music
and get up here and say a few little cute things and then dismiss
you. What good would that do for your
soul? Salvation in Christ is not an experience. But hear me
well on this matter. Hear me when I say to you that
when a sinner finds grace in the eyes of the Lord, they will
experience God's grace. Men cannot truly tell what they
have not truly experienced. Every true believer experiences
and feels remorse for sin and conviction, and at the same time
they experience love and joy and peace found only in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We experience it. We know it
to be so. Our heart bears witness. What
evidence, let me ask you, do you have that you are a child
of God? Does your heart go back to when
you walked an aisle? When you made a decision? When
you said a sinner's prayer? Maybe it goes back to when you
got into the baptismal water. Or do you say with the Apostle
Paul, with conviction, I know whom I abode. And I'm persuaded,
I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is able, able,
able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that
day. I hear men preaching God today that's not able. He's willing,
but He's not able. You've got to give Him your heart. You've got to let Him do this
and let Him do that. That's not the God I read to
you a few moments ago, is it? He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy. The man that preaches to the
heart is the one who stands before men and women and with clarity
declares, this I know. This I know. I know whom I believe. I know that and persuaded he's
able. Oh, we use the illustration so
many times of that leper that came before the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was a leper. I mean, he was dying. There was
no cure for it. And your body parts don't mean
to be graphic, but I need to be because leprosy is a beautiful
picture of our sin before a thrice holy God. body parts begin to
rot and fall off. And here he comes to the crowd.
Not supposed to be there. You know, they had leper colonies.
And if they went into a place where other people were, they
had to cry, unclean, unclean. I can see him. I just picture
him in my mind's eye. Here he comes to that crowd.
Our Lord never went anywhere that there didn't seem to be
a throng of people there, a multitude of people. And He walks before
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Scriptures say He worshipped
Him. He bowed at His feet. And He
didn't say, Lord, I deserve to be healed. He said, Lord, if
You will, if You will, You can make me clean. He said, if You
will. I know You can. You can make
me clean. Oh, this is what God's servants
preach. This I know. And that's what
Peter did here in 1 Peter chapter 5. If you'll turn there with
me. He proclaimed what he had experienced. by the grace of God. In verse
1 of chapter 5, he says, the elders which are among you, I
exhort. And that word simply means urge
and courage. I appeal to, I appeal to you,
who am also an elder and a, now notice that word, witness of
the sufferings of Christ. and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed." Peter says, let me tell you what I've
witnessed, what I've seen, what I've experienced. Peter was a
witness of the sufferings of Christ. He was with Him in the
garden. He was there with Him in the palace of the high priest
where they condemned Him to death on the cross. And he was very
likely a spectator of Christ's suffering upon the cross. He
said in Acts 3.15, he said, You killed the Prince of life, whom
God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. Peter
said, I witnessed His sufferings and His death, and I've witnessed
His resurrection, and I'm a partaker of His glory. He spoke from experience. Friends, I hope that you understand
first that suffering will always come before glory. That's the
order in which God has ordained. Christ suffered before He entered
into glory. And it'll be the same for us
if we're one of His chosen and elect people. That's what our
Lord told those two men that He joined that day on that walk
to Emmaus. You remember that story well
in Luke chapter 24. And our Lord said, O fools and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered. Should he not have suffered these
things and to enter into His glory? Suffering comes before
glory. And beginning in Moses and all
the prophets, He expounded unto them. He showed them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself. What's this book about? Is this a book about how to live?
Let me tell you something. You fall in love with Christ,
you live right. You live right. I had a man ask
me one time, he said, how do believers live? And my answer
shocked him. I said, like they want to. I
said, God changes the want to. Oh, our Lord suffered and so
must we. But then we will also partake
of His glory. John said, oh, when I see Him
face to face, I'll be like Him. I'll be like Him. perfect now
in the eyes of God because of His shed blood. But when that
glorious day comes, when I see Him face to face, I'll be like
Him, friends. No sin, no suffering, no tears,
only glorious and endless delight. Can you imagine? Peter said in
1 Peter 4, if you want to turn back a page, Verse 12, he said,
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which
is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. Peter's saying expect it. Expect
it. Don't think it to be strange.
You're going to suffer some things in this life, it's believed,
before you ever enter into glory. And Christ being our example,
did He suffer? Our sufferings are compared and
called light afflictions compared to His. So, in verse 1 of chapter
5, Peter speaks from experience on this matter of suffering and
glory. Have you experienced some suffering
since you've come to believe? I suspect you have. Suffering
comes before and it prepares us for the glory we will receive. back in chapter 5 verse 2. Now
Peter, he's addressed the elders in verse 1 and he goes on to
exhort God's preachers and elders and teachers and he tells them
in verse 2 to feed the flock of God which is among you. Peter
had learned this from experience. Let me tell you. After denying
the Lord three times, he was so discouraged from the work
that Christ had called and ordained him to do, so much so that he
went back to his old occupation of fishing. He said, I'm going
fishing. That's what I know to do. But God had said, you are
going to be a fisher of men. But he went back to fishing.
And you know what? When our Lord came to them, the
resurrected Lord, they fished all night and caught nothing.
He was destined to fail because that wasn't His calling. Let
me tell you something. After our Lord's resurrection,
He appeared to the disciples on that seashore. He asked Peter
three times. Peter denied him three times.
And three times he said, Peter, do you love me? Lovest thou me? He asked. And Peter answered
and said, Yes, Lord. You know that I love you. You
know everything. So you know that I love you.
And what did our Lord say? If you love me, then feed my
sheep. Feed my sheep. I wonder if many
preachers ever read this passage. Feed my sheep. And let me say again what you
hear me say often. Salvation is in a person in whom
we have redemption. It's not how much you know about
God. It's knowing God. It's not how much you know about
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's knowing the Lord Jesus Christ
and the fellowship of His sufferings. Feed the flock of God, verse
2, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by
constraint, but willing, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready
mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being
ensamples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away."
Now, Peter had walked with the Lord Jesus Christ for three,
three and a half years. He's speaking here from experience.
He walked with the greatest preacher that ever was. He had experienced
the true way of the preacher's life. He says, be shepherds of
God's flock that's under your care. Serve as overseers. Not because you must, but because
you're willing, as God wants you to be. Don't be greedy for
money. I was thinking the other day,
and I am so thankful for you folks, because we've never once
preached a message on giving money. You know why? Because
when God saves a man's heart and soul, He saves the pocketbook.
Men give. God loves a cheerful giver. We're
not going to be people on the head to give. If we've got a
need, we may say we have a need, pray about this. God will always
provide. God never begged for money, not
greedy for money, eager to serve. They don't lord over those entrusted
to them, but they strive to be an example to God's flock. And that's where my heart breaks
the most, because I sure wish I was a better example. When
the chief shepherd comes again, and he's coming, you'll receive
the crown of glory that will never fade away. Okay, now verse
5, notice that Peter begins to talk about pride and humility. Oh my. Oh my. Verse 5, Yea, all of you be subject
one to another, and be clothed with humility. In other words,
wear humility, like you would a coat. Wear it. For God resisteth
the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time. Let me tell you something. This
was something Peter had experienced. Oh, pride rose its ugly head
in Peter that day when the Lord of glory began to tell his disciples
in Matthew chapter 16. He said, listen, I must go into
Jerusalem and I'm going to suffer many things. The chief priests
and the elders and the scribes, they're going to take me, they're
going to accuse me, they're going to hire false witness against
me, and they're going to kill me. They're going to nail me
on the cross and I'll be raised again the third day. And upon
hearing this, Peter, now imagine this, Peter with great pride
took our Lord aside, the Lord of glory, God in the flesh, and
began to rebuke Him. Can you imagine a man rebuking
God? Only pride would cause a man to do that. Peter said, Be it
far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. You know what
he was saying? Let me put it in plain English
for you. This is what he was saying. No way. No way, Lord. I will not allow it. There's
no way possible I'll let this happen. That's what he was saying. Men do the same today. Men do
the exact same today. In the name of religion, men
say that God cannot save apart from the sinner's will. What
we read a while ago, it's not of him that willeth, it's not
of him that runneth, but of God. Common phrases like, let God
have his way, won't you let Jesus into your heart, they're nothing
less than sinful man's attempt to dethrone God of his ordained
means and purpose of redemption, which is by substitution in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all it is. No way, Lord. I'm not going to allow this to
happen. And when men put the emphasis of redemption on what
they do, they might as well say, this shall not be. No way, Lord. I'm not going to allow this to
happen. Your sovereign purpose for salvation? No way. Do you remember the words
that our Lord said to Peter after He said that? Do you remember
what He told him? He said, Get thee behind Me,
Satan. He said, Thou art an offense
to me, for Thou savorest not the things that be of God, but
those that be of men. You don't know what you're saying,
our Lord is telling him. You don't understand the things
of God concerning me and what I'm about to do. You're only
thinking of yourself like all men by nature do. And what an
offense Peter's pride was to our Lord. Another time in the
26th chapter of Matthew, our Lord said, When the shepherd's
smitten, all you will be offended and scattered like scared sheep.
You know what Peter said? He said, Though all men might
be offended because of these, yet not I. I'll never be offended. In other words, all these others
may leave you, they may forsake you, they may deny you, but not
me. Oh, that pride which goeth before
destruction. Oh, that haughty spirit that
goes before fall. Proverbs 16, 18. Oh, Peter. Our Lord. Oh, Peter. before the cock crows, you'll
deny me three times." Oh, the pride that goes before a fall. These six things the Lord hateth,
yea, even seven. The first one listed, proud luck. And you know what? Peter did
deny the Lord. When accused of being one of
the Lord's disciples, he cursed and he swore and he said, I know
not the man. If you really want to put it
in true perspective, he said, I don't know the blankety-blank
man. And immediately the cock crowed. And Peter remembered. This is word from word for the
Scripture. And Peter remembered the word
of Jesus which said unto him before the cock crowed, Thou
shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly. Peter was humbled under the mighty
hand of God and he wept bitterly. Have you experienced that? Oh,
we're so full of pride, aren't we? We're so full of pride. Has
God humbled you? He will. If you want to hear
this, He will. He'll teach you. He'll bring
you down. He brings us down to raise us up. That's the way God
does things. He takes the beggar from the
dunghill and sets him among princes. That's the way God does it. So
proud by nature, yet humbled under God's mighty hand are His
people. Okay, and now in verse 7, I'm
almost done. Peter says, casting all your
care upon Him, for He careth for you. That's something Peter
had experienced. I got to thinking about this.
Peter knew something about casting. You know something about casting.
You fishermen do. The word casting means to throw
upon. He who once cast his nets on
the sea, now from experience casts his carap on Christ the
solid rock. That's something he experienced.
By experience, Peter knew that it was to cast all his care upon
the One that so lovingly cared for him. And friends, I'm learning
by experience to cast my care on Him who cares for me. And
we've said this, and I say it again, He don't just care about
me, He cares for me. He takes care of me day in and
day out. For He careth for you. Have you experienced the gracious
care that the Lord has for you? I know you have. Then we must
continue to cast. Let's just keep casting. Boy,
I'll cast it and look and there it is again. Cast it again. Get
rid of it. Cast your care on Him. God's
shoulders are broad. They're broad enough to carry
all the cares of all His people. Okay, verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant,
because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion. Walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. Have you experienced the craftiness
of your adversary the devil? I can assure you that Peter had.
In Luke chapter 22, our Lord said to Peter, Simon, Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat. But the beautiful
thing about that passage is our Lord said, but I pray for thee
that thy faith fail not. Our adversary the devil is seeking
to devour you, dear believer. He'll do everything he can to
keep you from trusting in Christ alone. He'll get you sidetracked. Beware! He's as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour. He desires to sift you as wheat. He'll try to separate you from
Christ like the chaff is separated from the wheat. There are some
of our number that are experiencing this right now. breaks my heart. He's devouring some of those
that we love and they don't even know it. He will, with all his
evil intentions, try to keep you away from the spiritual food
that gives you life. You must eat from that bread.
that falls from heaven, which is Christ our Lord. You must
drink from that water that will cause you to never thirst again.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Your only hope is that Christ
has prayed that your faith does not fail you. And this is for
certain. Peter knew this by grace. He
knew it to be a fact from experience that if Christ prays for your
faith and prays that it does not fail, it won't. It won't fail. I warn those of
you that find it easy to disregard the preaching of God's Word,
you're on dangerous ground. You're on dangerous ground. Sometimes
God will give men what they want. That's the worst thing that could
happen. Okay, verse 9, and I'm done. Whom resists steadfast
in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished
in your brethren that are in the world? Now this is something
that I've experienced. I know you have too. I've known
many who professed love in Christ, who were faithful for so long. Even pastors, preachers, who
did not resist their adversary. And somewhere along the way,
they lost their way. But notice here that Peter is
speaking of brethren. These afflictions are common
among all believers. Resist Satan. Stand firm in the
faith. Because you know that your brothers
throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering. Pray
for me. I pray for you. We encourage
one another. That's the reason Paul said,
don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. It's
so that we can encourage one another, fellowship with one
another. That's how we make it. We lean
on one another. We're in this world, beloved,
but we're not of this world. And we must by faith set our
affection on things above and not things on the earth. We must
hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firm
until the end. But look at verse 10 with me.
But the God of all graves, He's the God of all graves, who hath
called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye
have suffered a while, make you perfect. establish, strengthen,
and settle you. That's something Peter learned
by experience. I think I'm learning it. I think
God's teaching me that. I hope so. I hope so. I pray He does.