Now, if you will, take your Bibles
and turn with me back to 1 Peter chapter 5. I'm going to begin
with verse 1 and work my way down to verse 11. I take in from
verse 10 my text or title, the God of all grace. Sooner or later, mostly in the
beginning, in the middle, and at the end, These apostles pressed
men to acknowledge the grace of God. And they acknowledged
Him in their opening addresses, grace and peace be unto you.
And generally, they closed the same way. But I want to begin here in verse
1. Peter begins this chapter with a word to the elders. Now, the word elder appears twice
in this chapter, and it means two different things. It's important
for us to understand that. The word elder here is not referring
to an older man or an older person in the church. An elder here,
he's talking about the pastor. It's obvious by what he continues
to say in these other verses. But it means pastors. And this
is one of several verses that ignorant men use to justify things
that they call the presbytery. A presbytery is the, they were
a group of men chosen to rule over the affairs of the church.
The church was not, didn't have a pastor who had the oversight. They had a group of men. They
had a, the Baptists have adopted that and they had for years what
was called deacon's row. They had a board of deacons that
sat up front. And the deacons is where the
real power of the church rested, not in the pastor. Pastor was
just a figurehead. Kind of like our president is
in this country. He has no real power. The power
relies in the Senate. The power resides in the elected
body. It's not in the one man. But
this is one of several verses that they use to try to prove
that. And actually, the Presbyterian Church has its name because of
its government. composed of a presbytery. They
have a group of men and some of them are ministers, some of
them are not. Some of them are deacons, some of them are not.
Some of them are just older people. But they're people that the church
decided on and took a vote on and gave them this office and
they sit up there and they rule over the affairs of the church
and pastors come and go. But the scriptures teach no such
thing. Elders are just another name
for pastors. A bishop, we're going to run
into that word in the scriptures. Just another name for a pastor,
a bishop. And Peter identifies himself
with these elders by saying that I'm an elder too. I'm a pastor. He pastored the church in Jerusalem.
He's actually over them as an apostle, but here he puts himself
on the same level. And you're going to find that
throughout these writings this morning in this chapter. that
grace is the great leveler. Yes, God has offices. Yes, God
has means that He uses. Yes, God has pastors. But pastors
don't lord their office over the people like dictators. They come down on their level.
We're one of you. I'm one of you. I'm not above
you. I don't want to be looked at
as above you. Peter did certain things as an apostle and the
folks ran up and began to kneel down before him and call on him
and look to him as though they were gods. And he said, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, get up. There's no difference between
us and you. No difference. These things that are being done
by me is of God. And He's just using me the same
as He uses you or He could use a staff or a box or rocks or
anything else. In verses 2 and 3, he exhorts
these pastors to do what God Himself has given them to do.
I want you to think about what I'm getting ready to say. If what we do is just of ourselves,
if it's just of ourselves, if we're just another group of people
gathered together because we disagree with somebody else,
if what we do is just born of the And God has no part in it. If we're just an assembly gathered
here of our own interests and ideas, then we can vote and decide
how we'll be governed. We can make up the rules. We
can lay down the laws. We can have a church covenant.
We can get a church covenant together and we can all discuss
it. We'll have a business meeting. We'll all get together and we'll
discuss what it is we're going to do and what it is we're not
going to do, what we're going to tolerate and what we won't tolerate.
We're going to decide how the body is to be governed and we're
going to make that up and all of these things. Now, if God's
not in it, we can do that. But if this ain't of God, we're
going to have to do it His way. It either is or it's not. You see what I'm saying? You
can't mix them. You can't mix these things. If we believe that
we're God's children, regenerated by His Spirit, called to be saints,
set apart by the wisdom and power of God, then we're not free to
change things to suit ourselves, nor do we desire it. Do you desire
to change things? Boy, I don't. I'm happy with
his government. I'm happy with his rule. I'm
happy with his way. What we do is pray for wisdom
and guidance and government to be given to us. Pastors are to
take this oversight, not by constraint, but willingly, having this thing
laid on their heart of God. Nobody, I'm telling you from
experience, nobody would desire to be a pastor if he'd ever been
one. Now, he wouldn't. By the grace of God, he'll do
it. He'll do it willingly. He'll do it willingly. And he'll
be ready. If you're looking for an advantage,
the pastorate ain't it. If you're looking for money,
this ain't the spot. This ain't the place. Not for
filthy lucre, he said, but of a ready mind, of a willing spirit.
And this man's ready, he's willing, and God gives him the oversight.
Only God can give a man the oversight. You can't find two people when
it comes to this thing of rule. You can't find two people that
can walk together. You can't find a man and a woman
that'll walk together. They'll do battle with each other
back and forth over this rule their whole life. Who's going
to rule and who ain't? How much authority do I have
and how much does she have? Am I smarter than her? Is that
why God put me here? What's the deal? We're going
to argue. We're going to fuss back and
forth. Put two men in partnership in a business. Back and forth,
back and forth. Oh, who's going to rule? Who's
going to do this? Who's going to do that? Now, I don't care if
it's in the world or in the church. The only way that God's rule
can be established is by His own hand and by His own grace.
The only way a pastor can have the oversight of a group of people
is for God to give it to him. When I came down here, I didn't
look and nitpick about who did what and want to know about your
past and everything else. I just tried to look and see
if God would capture your heart by what I preached. And to me,
He did. And that's why I'm here. That's
the only way this oversight can be detected. And that's what
brings us into this obedience. Pastors have the oversight of
their assemblies, not as lords over God's heritage. The church
is His church. This is His heritage, not mine.
It's His. He's the Lord. Pastors are just
undershepherds. And they lead by example. And
then in verse 5, The word elder appears again. And this is not
the same as it was in verse 1. This time it does mean an older
person. And He exhorts the assembly,
those who are under this oversight, those who are under this under-shepherd. He exhorts them to their duties. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
Two things are key to a Christian walk. Two things, love and obedience. Take those two things away and
there is no walk. There is no walk. A Christian
is a man who's made willing in the day of God's power. He's
made willing. That doesn't just mean he's willing
to accept a certain truth. That means he's been made willing
to bow to the authority of God and of God in Christ and all
that's connected with it. Whether it be husband and wife
or job and employer, employee, kings and servants, I don't care
what it is out here. Romans, he tells us what these
things are. They're just the minister of
God. His rule reigns. It doesn't just reign in the
church, it reigns in the world. He rules over men who don't even
know they're being ruled over. And he's made willing. This man
of God is made willing. And that power is the power of
the gospel as it's made known to him and in him by the sovereign
Spirit of God. And when it is, these young men
will submit themselves to the older. They will. You know, as
a young man, I always thought everybody older than me was just
I thought they was from another universe somewhere. What in the
world is he talking about? You're living in the old times,
you know. And I always wanted to, later
on I found out it wasn't like that at all. It wasn't like that
at all. Younger men submit themselves
to the older, more mature in the church, in the congregation.
And then he exhorts us all to be subject one to another. Be
clothed, he said. Put it on like a garment. Clothe
yourself in humility. Why? Because God resisteth the
proud. Now, it's one thing when I resist. It's another thing when he resists.
When I resist, you might get your way anyway. When He resists,
you ain't going to get your way. God resisteth the proud. Now
watch this. Giveth grace to the humble. Well, I want grace, don't you?
I want grace. Verse 6, Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
time. Now we're back to my first statement.
We're here under God's rule and for His purpose, under His direction,
by His means, or else we're just playing church. One or the other,
isn't it? One or the other. To pastor a
church or be pastored requires a work of grace in the heart.
We submit ourselves to His Word. Can you do that? Can you do that? Can you submit
yourself to this book? Just lay apart, lay aside your
traditions, lay aside what you think you know. Lay aside what your dad and mother
told you and what your sisters all believed and your brothers
and your cousins and aunts and uncles and everybody else. Lay
it aside and submit yourself to this book. Can you do it? You can by the grace of God. That's what it means to be saved.
A saved man submits himself to the Word of God. To the Word
of God. Let every man be a liar and God
be true. That's what he says in his heart.
He discovers that his whole life is a lie. He discovers that everything
he thought he knew was ignorance and darkness and blindness. He
discovers that. When he discovers it in him,
he discovers it in everybody else. They're just like I am. Then who has the truth? God has
the truth. God has it. We submit ourselves
to His Word. We submit ourselves to His will.
Well, I just don't think it ain't for you to think. God plainly tells us what His
will is, don't He? Huh? He tells us what His will
is. And we submit to it. We submit
to His means. We submit to His power. And we
leave all the results to Him. But what about my wife and children? What about my job and my income? What about my reputation in the
community? What about where I live? What
about my fears, my apprehensions and doubts? I'm full of whatabouts,
ain't you? What about all these things?
What about all these things? How can I go down there and pastor
that church? I don't even have an income. There's only seven
or eight people down there. They can't support me. What am
I to do? I can't quit my job. I can't
give up my retirement. I can't do this. What about my
children? My children are going to be here,
and I'm going to be there. What about those of you who come
here and their children go somewhere else? You see what I'm saying?
What about my children? What about the community? What
about my friends? What about my job? My job depends
on my association with these people. They get upset at me,
I'm not going to have an income. Or my influence. What about?
What about? What about? You see this thing of submitting
to His Word and submitting to His rule and submitting to His
will. It takes an act of grace. You can't do it. You might want
to do it, but you can't do it. It takes an act of grace. It
takes a work of grace in the heart to cause you to submit. Now watch this, verse 7, casting
all your cares. All your whatabouts. All your whatabouts. All your
cares on Him. He's talking about anxious cares
here. Anxious cares. What about my children? Cast
them on Him. Huh? What about my friends and
my reputation? Cast all your cares on Him. Why? How can I do that? Because He convinces me that
He careth for me. He cares for me. I'll tell you
when you'll submit to the rule of Christ, when he convinces
you that he cares for you, you'll let go. You'll let go. You'll quit fighting. I'll tell
you when you wives will quit arguing and fussing and fighting
with your husband, when you're convinced that he cares for you,
you'll let go. You'll let go. I tell you when
you'll serve your employer, you'll go out there and you'll do more
than he requires you to do when you're convinced he cares for
you. Now, you'll never be convinced
that your employer cares for you, but you can be convinced
that he does, Christ does. And I'm to go out here and work
as unto the Lord. I'm to give as unto the Lord.
I'm to obey my husband or my wife in the Lord. in the Lord. The believer is a person who
willingly lets go of the world, its principles, its reasoning,
and humbles itself under the mighty hand of God. Gives himself
to His rule, His way, His care, His guidance. Lets go! Can you let go? Can you turn loose? You can't
do it, can you? You can't do it. I'll tell you
what it takes to let go. It takes a new birth. It takes
a new birth. It takes an understanding that
we don't have, and that understanding is in Christ. It takes a convincing,
and that can only be convinced by the Holy Spirit of God. I
was talking to a woman one day. Boy, she had a real problem with
this thing with her husband. I was talking to her about submitting
to her husband, and she said, you don't know my husband. I
said, no, but I know him who cares for me. I know that. I know him who said, submit.
That's enough for me. I don't need to know your husband.
I don't need to know him. I know who rules over your husband. Cast all your anxious cares upon
him. It's his church. He's the Lord
of the body, the church. He purposed her existence. He
appointed the means to redeem her. He called her by His grace.
And He finishes, Paul said, all that He begins. He finishes. The key to this whole thing is
trusting Christ. If I truly trust Him, then I
can cast all my cares on Him. If I truly believe He loved me
and gave Himself for me, then I ought to be able to put all
these lesser things into His hands, shouldn't I? Now watch this, verse 8, Be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom
he may devour. Satan's one purpose in time is
to somehow prevent the man Christ Jesus from receiving all the
glory that God the Father promised to give him before the world
began. You can read about it over in
Isaiah chapter 14. Satan said in his heart, I will
ascend. You're not going to ascend. I'm
going to ascend. A man is not going to sit next
to God. An angel is going to sit next
to him, and I'm the angel. I'm the one. I'll sit upon the
mount of the congregation in the east. I'll do all these things."
God said, No, you won't. Christ will. His purpose, His whole purpose
in time is to somehow thwart that purpose, somehow cause God
to not be able to give that glory in this God-man. He's going to
somehow try to prevent it. The ultimate glory of God. He
tried to destroy him when he was here. He tried to destroy
him by destroying his lineage. He tried to destroy him in the
garden. He tried to destroy him by perverting his promises and
compromising his name and his law and destroying his people.
And today he's walking about on the prowl. That's what Peter
said. He's on the prowl. Have you ever seen movies of
lions? They don't really get in a hurry.
They just kind of prowl. They just kind of walk around.
When they find something, they don't have to intimidate it. They just take it down, whatever
it is. They're king. They're powerful. That's what Satan, he's on the
prowl. He's on the prowl. So be vigilant. He's walking
about on the prowl, seeking whom he may devour. Be alert. Be aware of his presence. Now
listen to me, Satan's power is not a physical power. He doesn't
overwhelm a man. I understand and I see and acknowledge
demon possession, but I'm talking about in a general rule. This
is not how Satan rules. He doesn't come in and possess
a man with devils and overcome him and drag him down here to
the pit. That's not how it happens. That's not how he works. He perverts
the truth. His power is in his subtlety.
It's in his craftiness, in his lies. He twists things. Twists them. That's what lawyers
do. They take the plain things that
was set apart in our Constitution and they twist them. They pervert
them. They turn them. They make them
say things that was never intended to say. That's what happens when you
get into court, too, isn't it? They twist things, pervert things.
He perverts the truth, twists things. He appears as an angel
of light, but in truth he's the father of lies. His ministers,
they appear as ministers of righteousness, but they're of their father the
devil, and the lusts of their father they will do. And we're
all bawling in our nature. He said, there's none that understandeth.
None that seeketh after God. No fear of God before our eyes. There's nothing in us to resist
His power, His subtlety. It's not in us. We can't do it.
I've read to you that passage often in the Scriptures here
in the New Testament where Paul says he takes you captive at
his will. How can he do that? Because there's
nothing in you to resist him. There's none that understandeth.
The only way you can resist him is through an understanding.
There's nothing in us to discern who he is. We're over here calling brother,
brother so-and-so. Well, I can tell you from my
past experience, old brother so-and-so was the son of Satan. That's what he was. He didn't know it and I didn't
know it. Nothing in us to discern who
He is, who these people are. Nothing in us to know right from
wrong as to spiritual matters. Natural man finds no distinction
in religion. He cannot discern the Antichrist. He can't see the Antichrist.
He's taken captive at Satan's will. Some he draws away into A life
of pleasure. I'm not talking about sexual
things now. All those old things may be included in it, but I'm
just talking about pleasure. I'm talking about the pleasure
of riches, the pleasure of fame, just pleasures. If I could make
a million, think what I could do. If I could make 10 million,
think what I could do. What would you do? You'd buy
a yacht, buy a plane, huh? Pleasures, pleasures, pleasures.
That's all we ever think about. He draws away to a life of pleasure,
sums to a life of religion. They find satisfaction in religion,
so he gives it to them. And they're happy in it, satisfied.
Want to stay there, have no thoughts at least. Some he champs for success, reputation,
and fame. And then some to an idea that
there's hypocrisy in everything. But there's evil in the world,
so they draw back into, I guess, this little place they call neutral
country. They draw back into themselves,
and they're just happy here. They just live as good and honest
a life as they can, and occasionally they'll indulge in religion or
they'll indulge in the world, but they don't move far from
right here. They're complete in themselves.
They're just over here in this little place by themselves. Be
a hypocrite. They don't want to go down there
with the hypocrite, but they don't want to go into the world
either. So we just stay right here in this little neutral country. Satan's power is in thoughts.
It's in affections. It's in the heart. He knows what
appeals to the flesh, and he provides it. He sets it out before
you like a fine meal. Here it is. Look where He tempted
Christ. He took Him up on the pinnacle
of that temple. And He said, look out here as
far as you can see, all these kingdoms, He said, I'll give
them to you. You want them? Here they are. Here they are. I warn you, as did this apostle
and all the other apostles, the only way to know and resist the
devil is by faith. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
5. This is what this whole chapter here is about. Peter is writing
to these strangers, these men and women called out of heathen
idolatry. Here they were, they were scattered
abroad, all over, strangers. They weren't raised Jews. They
didn't know anything about the law. They didn't know anything
about circumcision. They didn't have all these things.
The only thing they knew was what was preached to them. And
Peter and Paul, all they had was the Old Testament. There
was no New Testament. They were writing the New Testament.
And they went out and preached Christ to these people and established
churches. And he's writing to them about
them. And he tells them, resist steadfast
in the faith, he says. Now, watch this over here in
1 John 5, verse 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world. That man born of God, filled
with light, connected into the vine, grafted in, he overcomes
the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. That's what sets you in distinction
from the rest of this world, is faith. And that faith fashions
itself on Christ. That's what faith is. Watch this. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
That's where his faith is. It's in Christ. He fashions it
on Him. And fashioned it on Him, he sees
all the deceits of Satan exposed. You can read about it over in
Colossians. Paul said, you're complete in
Him, who's the head of all principality and power. Don't move. As you
have received Christ Jesus, the Lord so walk in Him, rooted,
build up in Him, established in the faith. That's what faith
is. Faith is a view to Christ. It never turns. It locks in on
Christ and it stays right there. It never moves. And it sees in
Him and just keeps seeing deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper
and deeper. Turn your head, and you're back
in shallow water again. Look to Him, and you see all
things, yea, even the deep things of God. That's what the Scripture
says. Faith exposes the ways and snares
of the devil. It has no strength of itself,
but it lays hold on Him who is mighty. It lays hold on Him who
is omnipotent. and exposes his ways. It discerns
the difference between Christ and Antichrist. Faith has eyes
and ears given of God. God's pastors have the wisdom
of God in a mystery. That's what Paul said he had.
That we preach the wisdom of God in a mystery. Hidden from
the princes of this world. Billy Graham didn't understand
it, did he? He was a prince. The wisdom of God in a mystery,
and God the Holy Spirit demonstrates, Paul said, that wisdom by opening
the Scriptures to the hearts and minds of God's elect. And the believer hears the Gospel.
He's raised from his spiritual death with Christ by what Paul
called the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the
dead. That's how he said it. Faith
of the operation of God. Satan twists and perverts the
law and our perception of it. Makes folks think they can obtain
favor by keeping it. Makes folks think they can be
saved by being reformed to it. Find peace in their own goodness.
Reconciled by their own decisions to be a better person. I heard
a man say one time, the man's not rich because he says he is.
He's rich if he possesses it. The only way you can possess
it is to possess Him. Believers brought into the light
of Christ to see the law in its true light, to see that in all
of its pureness and holiness and all of its righteous demands
and all of its just decrees, all of its moral teaching being
contrary to us. It's so contrary to us. opposite
from our nature, against us, stands as a witness. Did you
know that the law stands as a witness against you outside of Christ? All it does is say, he's guilty.
He's guilty. It points its finger at you.
Every time you try to keep it, every time you try to observe
it, every time you try to preach it, it's got its finger right
there. Guilty, guilty, guilty. poses our inabilities and unwillingness. And the law forbids things. And it's contrary to us in its
nature. And it irritates. I'm going to
tell you something. Nothing irritates a rebel worse
than telling him, don't do that. You don't think your children
are rebels, do you? Put them in that empty room. Tell them
they can have everything in the room, but don't go in that door. You know where they're going
to go, don't you? Why is that? Because it irritates the rebel.
Rebel can't stand being told, don't you do this. Don't you
do that. That's the first thing they'll
do. First thing they'll do. Faith single in its vision. It
looks to Christ. Christ came. That's what the
Holy Spirit said. He came. In the volume of the
book it's written of Him, to do Thy will, O God. Front to
back it cries over and over, I come to do Thy will. Hebrews
chapter 10 verse 7. In verse 8 it said, When He said,
Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin,
thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein. And then He
said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He took away the first
to establish the second. By the witch will, the doing
of it, the coming, the doing. By the witch will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
God purposed our salvation in Christ, appointed him to his
several offices to accomplish it, prophet, priest, and king. And then we come here to verse
10 in 1 Peter chapter 5. Now listen to what he's saying.
Does this shed a little light on what he's saying here? But
the God of all grace. This whole thing was grace. It
was grace from eternity. Grace. It was grace when you
didn't know Christ. It was grace. What protected
you? What kept you from falling? What
kept you from being drug off into this or drug off into that?
What preserved you? What kept you? What prepared
your heart? What put those desires in there? Grace. You see what
Peter is saying? The God of all grace. He is the
God of all grace. He is the Father of grace who
purposes it. How did He say that? He has saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace. Talking about
the Father. God the Son in His accomplishments
of grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. And God the Holy Spirit in His
convincing of grace. Read about that over in Zechariah.
He's called the Spirit of Grace. The Spirit of Grace. Oh, there's so much that we have
that we're not even aware of. There's the purpose of grace,
and then there's the promise of grace. You know, before the
sun... He said, let not the sun go down
on your wrath. You know, before the sun went
down on the wrath of God, He came to Adam in the garden, didn't
He? before the Son went down on His wrath and He gave to Him
the promise of the coming Redeemer. And then the Bible is filled
with pictures of grace from the Garden through the Gospels. Nothing
in the world but a gallery of grace. Allegories, patterns of
things in the heavens, shadows of good things to come, figures
for the time then present. The priesthood and the sacrifices
and the mercy seat, the tabernacle, the holy place, the ark, the
pens, the cords that bound it down. Once your eyes are open
to Christ, you see Christ in everything. You see Him in the
covering, in the badger skins on the outside, playing. It wasn't
recognized. That tent looked like every other
tent in Israel until you got inside. Inside is where the distinction
is. Our Lord appeared to those poor
disciples on the road in their ignorance and in their worries and anxious fears. And
He came to them, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets,
He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. He took them through the gallery
and showed them the pictures. And then when He left, they said,
Boy, didn't our hearts burn within us? We walked along the way and
He opened to us the Scripture. Huh? Doesn't your heart burn
sometimes on Wednesday night when those pictures unfold? Those
pictures are brought out before you. I see it! I see it! And your heart starts to burn. Those are pictures of grace. And we have manifestations of
grace. God was great is the mystery
of God. God was manifest in the flesh. Grace accomplished in Christ.
And we have interceding grace. That old high priest of Israel,
he went in beyond that veil, and he had the blood, and he
had this incense. And he come up there, and he
went beyond that veil. Hittites, they wasn't even interested
in it, was they? Didn't mean nothing to them. Those Amorites, that priest going
beyond that veil had just another silly ceremony to them. Oh, folks, you are superstitious.
Watch that priest go in there. It didn't mean nothing to him.
But that man out there whose heart was disturbed, who brought
that sacrifice that God commanded, handed it to that priest, he
watched intently as that priest went beyond that veil, and he
stared at that veil, waiting for him to appear the second
time without sin, that is, without that sacrifice. without sin unto
salvation. Oh, he watched for that priest
to come back out. Interceding grace. Preaching
grace. The Ethiopian eunuch went down
to Jerusalem and saw the high priest. He saw the ceremony. He saw that high priest go beyond
the veil. He saw him take the blood. He
saw him come back out. He saw the whole thing and went
away empty. Didn't know any more than he
did when he went down there. He didn't have anybody to show
him the picture. Phillip went out and he was reading over here
in Isaiah. Phillip went out and he said, you understand what
you're reading. How can I except somebody tell me what it means?
He said, scoot over. Let me tell you. Preaching grace. Hearing grace. Huh? Oh, I heard grace preached a
long time before I ever heard it. You know the difference. You know the difference. I was
watching old John Wayne Western one time, and had this little
old snake out there. And this guy, when he pointed
it out to him, he jumped about three feet up off the ground.
He said, wait a minute. He said, that ain't poison. He
said, this looks like a rattler. That ain't a rattler. Well, he
said, how will you know the difference? He said, see your first rattlesnake,
you'll know the difference. Hear your first time, you'll
know the difference. I won't have to explain it to
you. You know. You know when God speaks and
when I speak. You know. He speaks to the heart. He convinces. He convinces. And when he does, I'll know because
you'll let go. You let go. That's what He's
saying in this chapter. Humble yourselves, He said. Humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God, because He's the God
of all grace. Grace is in His hands to give
or withhold. So humble yourselves. Humble
yourselves under His hand. Father, I pray that You bless
the day today. Take these things and apply them
to our hearts. I have no desire to stand up
here and rehearse doctrine, and they have no desire to hear me
do it. But oh, if we could just have
those desires put in our hearts by grace to feed on these things,
to enter into these things, to let go, rest in these things
and rejoice in them. Help us to do that very thing
today for Christ's sake. Amen.