1 Peter chapter 3. I want to begin
reading in verse 8. And read down through verse 18. 1 Peter chapter 3. Finally, be ye all of one mind,
having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful,
be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,
but contrary wise. Blessed, knowing that you are
thereto called, that you should inherit a blessing. For he that
will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue
from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him
turn away from evil, assure evil, and do good. Let him seek peace
and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against
them that do evil." Peter says here in verse 8, he exhorts the
believers here in this church to be of one mind, he says. Be of one mind. Be you all. of one mind. Boy, sometimes these
passages are difficult, aren't they? Because look at the difference
between us here and this little congregation. The difference
in cultures, the difference in education, the difference in
opinions, the different light that somehow There's such a vast
difference in believers, aren't there, in children of God. Somebody
said, you know, the Lord wanted all kinds of flowers in His garden. And so He calls all kinds of
people out of all kinds of cultures and backgrounds and puts them
together, brings them together, and then says, be of one mind.
That's almost confusing, ain't it, how we're to do that. I wonder
when the Lord began to save all of those different people in
the Gentile world, can you imagine many Jews were saved? All over
Asia, Jews were saved. And bringing the Jews and Gentiles
together in one congregation and telling them, now listen,
be of one mind. That's amazing. You know only
the Gospel can do that. Only the Gospel can do that.
And we'll see in just a minute how that happens. When all the early church was
gathered together, the cultures and the opinions, what was permissible,
even to eat and drink, that was a debate in the early church.
What should we eat? What kind of meat should we eat?
Should we drink wine or abstain from wine? And this was a controversy
among the church. Paul said this in Romans 14,
him that is weak in the faith, Receive ye, but not to doubtful
disputation, because he is weak in the faith, don't doubt his
conversion. For one believeth that he can
eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. He can't even
eat meat at all, he has to eat herbs. Let not him that eateth
despise him that eateth not, and let him that eateth not judge
him that eateth, for God hath received him. So, be of the same
mind. Yet you had so many different
convictions and different opinions. Corinthians, I think, was the
most difficult people to get along with because you had these
theologians, you know. You had these brilliant Greeks.
And they always sought to tell or hear something new thing.
And they gloried in knowledge. And Paul wrote to them and said,
you know something about knowledge? If you don't have some love and
humility with it, it don't profit you nothing. It puffs you up.
It puffs you up. He said, We know that we all
have knowledge, and knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. If any man thinks he knows anything,
he knows nothing as he ought to know. But if any man love
God, the same is known of him. But here in this text, Peter
gives the remedy. He gives the remedy for keeping
unity. In all of these cultures, in
all these different opinions, in all these different convictions,
He gives the remedy, and here's what He says, Be ye all of one
mind. One mind. We can't be of one
opinion, can we? Yours is as good as mine. And
you know something? We all can have the same degree
of understanding. We'll never agree on every doctrine
of the Scriptures, will we? We agree on the essential things. We must agree on the essential
things. And I'm afraid some has made
everything essential. Don't you? If you disagree with
them, oh, you ain't believing the truth yet. But listen, here
is the way we keep unity. Be of the same mind. Be of one mind. Now what mind would that be?
What mind? What is the one mind that will
help us to keep unity? Well, you can hold that. I want to go back over there.
But look in Philippians chapter 2. Look in Philippians chapter
2. And look in verses 1 and verse
2. Be of one mind. Look in verse
1. Brother Baker has a good study
on this. And I'm sure he'd be willing to make it available
to you if you want a CD of his study on this. But look in verse
1 too. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit,
any bowels in mercy, fulfill you my joy that you be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, of one
mind. One mind. Boy, the scripture
has so much to say about this one mind. One mind. Let me quote before we go any
further. I've got some of them wrote down. Let me quote some
of these scriptures that talk about just one mind. Now, the
God of patience and comfort grants you to be like-minded, one toward
another, according to the Christ Jesus, according to the example
of Christ Jesus. that you may with one mind and
one mouth glorify God, even the Father Jesus Christ." One mind,
glorify God. Listen to this one, "...finally,
brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good conscience,
be of one mind, and live in peace, and the God of love and peace
will be with you." And here's another, "...let your conversation
be as it becomes the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for
the confirmation of the gospel, the proof, the faith of the gospel. And finally, be ye all of one
mind, Peter said, having compassion one of another, love as brother,
And here in chapter 2 of Philippians in verse 3, it tells what kind
of mind that is. Look in verse 3. Be of one mind,
let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. You don't want to keep unity
among us when everybody has got grace in his heart to stay low,
low, low. Let nothing be done through strife. What would cause strife? Pride.
What cause vainglory? Knowledge that puffeth up. Don't
let anything be done through strife or vainglory but lowliness
of mind, lowliness of mind. Let each... I tell you, if you
start looking for a lowly mind in you, you'll not find it. This
is a mystery, but when you quit looking for it, and it's there. If you go around bragging about
how humble you are, you're not of a lowly mind. But when you're
a lowly mind, I tell you what will happen. Other people will
see it. And here's the evidence about it. You'll start looking
on everybody else instead of yourself. It won't be me first
then. It won't be my opinions, my way
or the highway then. How can I help you? You'll set
Him first and her first. You'll esteem others better than
yourself. That's the mind, isn't it? That's
the mind. Be of one mind, Peter said. Let this mind. And notice
now, here we have an example of this. Look in verse 5. Here it is. Let this mind be
in you which was also in Christ Jesus." Here's the mind. The
mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you. You
know the Bible says we have the mind of Christ. We think like
He thinks, don't we? We think about His grace. We
think about the Father. We think about ourselves. We
have the mind of Christ. I start talking to some of you
fellows and it's not long until you start quoting the words of
Christ to me. And I think to myself, well, you're just like
your Master. You have the mind of your Master.
And what an example He is to us. Notice what He said. What
example? Let this mind be in you. Look
at this, which was also in Christ Jesus. Look at this now. Who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He was in the
form of God. The farm of God. What is God's
farm? Well, let me say it this way.
It's His nature. It's His Spirit. God is a Spirit. He's an eternal, holy Spirit
of light, in whom is no darkness, neither shadow of turning. Christ,
before He came to this earth, was in that farm. He was in the
form of God. But listen, when He came to this
earth, He was still in that form. He was still in that form. It
was concealed in this flesh. But you know something? He was
no less God when He came in the flesh as He was before He left
heaven. If He had laid this flesh open,
you would have seen God. The Bible says He is the brightness
of God's glory and the expressed image of His person. If you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. Boy, I tell you what, sometimes,
sometimes His deity shone through too, didn't it? When He was out
on that ship and there was the waves and He was sleeping and
He got up, and spoke to that wave and said, be still. And
he looked up at the wind and said, be quiet. And there was
a silence. There was a sea of glass. And
they said, what manner of man is this? This is the God-man,
isn't it? This is the God-man. You know,
He was as much God when He was here upon this earth as if He
was no man. He was still in the firm of God,
wasn't He? And you know He wouldn't have had to submit to anything
if He hadn't wanted to. When He fasted for 40 days, He
could have turned those stones to bread. Could He not? Why,
sure! How could He have done it? He's
God! He's God! And when Satan come to Him to
tempt Him, He could have threw Him into the pit of hell. He's
God! He's God! Why didn't He do all
of that? Why did He submit Himself to
hunger and thirst and to be tempted? Why did He suffer? Well, this is the kind of mind
we need. This is the kind of mind we need. Look here what
He says. Look here what He says in verse
7. He being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God? He was equal
with God. He was God. But, He made Himself
of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant. That's the very same word. He
was in the form of God, took upon Him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death,
even the death of the cross. Because he was found in fashion
as a man. And God has highly exalted him
and given him a name that is above every name. At the name
of Jesus, every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going
to swear that he is Lord. This is the mind that you and
I have to have. He's our example, isn't He? Remember what He said His heart
was like? He said, take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for
I am meek and lowly in your heart. And He said, when you take this
yoke and learn of Me, you'll find rest for your soul. What
is that yoke? You know what it is? Meekness.
and lowliness. One of the most restful persons
in all of this world is a person who has the very lowliness and
meekness of his master about him. A proud fellow is not happy. He's not happy. He's not. He's too busy propping up his
pride, making sure everybody thinks well of him. But a meek
and lowly guy, he's a restful fellow. Take My yoke upon you,
and learn of Me, and you shall find rest for your soul." Let
this mind be. Be of one mind. What is that?
That's the mind of Christ. It's His whole attitude, whole
thinking. Now look back over at our text.
In 1 Peter chapter 3, and look here in verses 8. He mentions
four things here. He begins with Telling us, let
this mind be in you. Brothers and sisters, that's
what we ought to be concerned more about than anything. Be
of one mind. One mind. Be like Christ our
Lord. And then he says, having compassion,
one of another. He mentions these four things.
Compassion. Having compassion. If you're not lowly, you won't
truly have compassion. Have compassion. The word means
sympathizing. To enter into another's feelings. Have compassion one of another. Paul said, Rejoice with them
that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same
mind one towards another. If you're in trouble, I'm in
trouble. Because we're in the same body, and whether one member
suffer, all the members suffer with it, and one member is honored,
then all the members are honored. We're of one mind, and we have
compassion. We feel one with another. We
rejoice when others rejoice. We weep when others weep. I came here a few weeks ago,
and Joe bought her a new truck. And you would have thought you
folks just got a new truck. Mr. Baker come out to look at
the truck and he grabbed me and hugged my neck. He was so happy.
You'd have thought it was his truck. And sometimes when I tell you
my heart burdens, my struggles, I see a tear in your eye. What
is that? Compassion. Rejoicing with them
that rejoice and weeping with them that weep. Be of this mind
that you're able, that you have the capacity to have compassion
on people. Isn't it wonderful to be in a
little group where there's no jealousy? Isn't it just wonderful,
isn't it? When somebody gets something,
it just makes you so happy you can't hardly sleep. Then when
somebody's heart's full of sorrows, you can't sleep for praying for
them and begging God to be pitiful to them, be gracious. Compassion.
Compassion. He says something else here,
not only compassion, but love as brethren. Not just love, but
love as brethren. We have a biological family and
we love them, don't we? Some of you here have families
and you're very close to. Get together for birthdays. Call
each other all hours of the night. You're biological. But I bet
you if you're here and you're a child of God, no matter how
much you love your biological family, I bet you're closer to
God's children. I tell you, when you're bought
by blood, that makes you closer, doesn't it? We're all in the
family. The family. The Bible talks about
the family in heaven and the family on earth. We have a family
in heaven. And we're anxious to see them,
aren't we? And I bet you they're somewhat anxious that we come.
Who is my brother? Who is my sister? Who's my... You are. You are. You know when
it comes down, when it comes for me to die, I hope my... I've got some precious sisters.
They're precious to me and I hope they're there. But you know who
I want there. If anybody is going to be around
my dying bed, you know who I want to be there. Those who know the
Lord. Those who have prayed with me and worshiped with me and
served the Lord with me. Love as brethren. You are going
to spend eternity with God's children, aren't you? We are
going to try to get along before we get there. Love one another. They are our family. And I love
this, what Peter says here. Be pitiful. Be pitiful. Somebody said, I don't want you
to pity. Boy, I do. I do. I want you to pity me. We ought to pity one another,
shouldn't we? Boy, look at us. Look at us. We merit one another's pity,
don't we? I'm watching you folks age. I'm
amazed that you're aging like you're aging. I see it. I see
it in you. I've watched Wanda age. Not much,
Wanda, but I've watched you age. I've known Wanda since she was
a little thing and I've seen her age. I tell you what, I want
your pity. We're surrounded by devils. We're
in a world of sin. We're in a weak flesh. We can
fall. We can break shame. What will
some of us do this coming week? What do we have the capacity
to do? Oh, I need your pity. I want your pity and I sure want
God's pity. He pitieth them as a father pitieth
his children. Because He knows our frame, He
remembers that we're just dust. Oh, pity me. I pity you. Be pitiful. Be pitiful. And look
at this. This is so simple, but I tell
you it's so neglected. Be courteous. That has to do
with manners, doesn't it? Be courteous, please, and thank
you. And you're welcome. We don't
think of that much, do we? Around the house. Thank you,
wife. You're welcome, husband. Thank
you, children. You're welcome, mom. Please,
thank you. You're welcome. Be courteous.
Be courteous. And then he goes on to verse
9. Look at this. Boy, this is so important. "...not
rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrarywise
blessing." We have two things here. We have evil deeds that
we're warned against doing evil, and evil words railing for railing. Evil deeds and evil words. Oh,
Peter said, don't do it. Don't do it. He did this to me. I'm going to pay him back. He
acted like this towards me. I'll show him. I'll show him. I'll get even with him. I know
what he said about me. Let me tell you some things about
him. Railing for railing. That's a mob mentality. You kill
one of ours, we'll kill two of you. That's an awful attitude,
ain't it? Isn't it sad that we have to
be warned against this? Look at our example. Look over
in chapter 2 of 1 Peter. It comes right back. I tell you,
you cannot improve on Jesus Christ as a motivating force for anything,
can you? I mean, He's our example in everything. And look what he says here about
him in chapter 2, and look in verse 20. For what glory is it, if, when
you be buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently? But if,
when you do well and suffer for it, and take it patiently? This
is acceptable to God, with God. For even year and two were you
called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us in an example
that we should follow His steps." Look at this, "...who did no
sin," He's not like us, "...no guile in His mouth, who when
He was reviled," what did He do? Revile not again. When they said awful things about
Him that weren't even true, He never reviled back. He never
said, you're saying this about me. I know something on you.
Let me expose you. And when he suffered awful deeds
done to him, yet he threatened not. But what did he do? He blessed. Did he not bless? Don't render
relling for relling and evil deed for evil deed. But bless
and bless. I want to show you two examples
of how our Lord did this. We have two examples of how He
blessed. Look over here in John chapter
13 and look in verse 34. John chapter 13 and verse 34. Here's our example. Look in verse 34. Here the Lord
Jesus had told them, I'm going away. And they were so confused
and upset. In verse 34 of John 13, a new
commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as
I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall
all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one
for another. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord,
whither goest thou? Jesus answered, Whither I go
thou cannot follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
And Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow you now?
I will lay down my life for your sake. And Jesus answered him,
Will you lay down your life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say
unto you, the cock, the rooster shall not crow till you have
denied me three times. And you know when he denied Him? At our Lord's hour when He needed
comfort, when He needed friends, when He said, I looked for some
to give comfort and I found none. When the Lord Jesus stood before
the Sanhedrin and they were slapping Him and accusing Him of blasphemy,
Peter said, I don't know the man. And he cussed and swore,
I don't know him. And the Lord Jesus heard him
and turned and looked at him. He looked at him. Don't you know
that hurt our Master? Like we said this morning, He
had more feelings and keener feelings and deeper feelings
than we have. And when Peter denied Him, you
know that hurt Him. But what did He say? What did
He say to Peter? Look in chapter 14 in verse 1.
He says in the last verse of 13, You shall deny me three times,
let not your heart be troubled. Isn't that amazing? You are going
to deny me three times, Peter. Don't be troubled, Peter. Don't
be troubled. Boy, isn't that wonderful? Isn't
that a blessing? And when He raised from the dead and sent
those women back to His apostles to say, I'll meet you up in Galilee,
remember what He said, be sure and tell Peter. Tell the apostles
and tell Peter. Why does He want to make sure
they tell Peter? Because He knows Peter's of a
broken heart. Peter's probably thinking, He'll
never have anything else to do with me. I denied Him, I railed
on Him with my lips, I cussed, I swore, He'll never have anything
to do with me. Peter, He's not that way. He's
not that way. He doesn't render relling for
relling. But He turns right around and
blesses the reller. That's what He said for us to
do, isn't it? Don't render relling for relling. Evil deed for evil
deed. But contrary wise of blessing.
Let me show you another example. Look over here at Luke chapter
24. I love this. Luke chapter 24, the Lord was
saying goodbye to His apostles. He was going back up to heaven.
He gave them this instruction. Look in Luke chapter 24 and verse
45. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, And thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sins, forgiveness of sins, should be preached in
His name for His sake among all nations." And look at this, beginning
at Jerusalem. Now this is amazing. When Peter
got all of those people together on the day of Pentecost, He said,
you by your wicked hands, you crucified and slew the Lord of
glory. And then you know what He did?
He preached through this name the forgiveness of those sins. Blessing for their cursings. Blessing for their relling. Blessing
for their evil deeds. I wonder if some of these apostles
weren't looking for that soldier that stuck that spear up in the
master's side. Wouldn't you love to run into
him and tell him, you know, there's forgiveness through his name?
No, no, ain't no way he'd forgive me. I was looking at him right
in the eyes when I stuck that up in his side. I saw his limp
body. There's no further. Why, man,
the same fountain that you opened up with that Spirit will wash
your sin away. Beginning at Jerusalem. How could
that be? Because He's not like us. He
doesn't render evil for evil, but bless Him. Oh, what an example. If we just follow Him, we just
follow Him. Look back over in our text again.
Look in verse 10 of our text. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 10. For he that will love life and
see good days. I love that, don't you? Let him
refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak
no God. He that will love life There are certain aspects of
my life that I not only don't love, but I hate. And there is
yours too. I hate. I hate my unbelief. I hate this indwelling sin in
me. I say with Paul, O wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me? That's not a life I love. If any man hate His life, He'll
keep it until life eternal. There's an aspect of our life
that we hate. But I tell you, there's another
aspect of life we love. I give unto them eternal life. You love that life, don't you?
That's a life above this life. That's a spiritual life. And
you know something? Christ is your life. When Christ
who is your life shall appear, then shall you appear with Him
in glory. I love that life, don't you? There's no corruption in
that life, boy. There's no burden in that life.
That's a free life, a pure life, a spiritual life, and an eternal
life that never can be lost or corrupted. His life in us. Man, I love that. I love that. He that will love life. Paul
said, the life I now live in this flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God. That's the life we love, isn't
it? He that will love life. And look at this, and see good
days. See good days. Boy, there's some
good days. You had a good day? Sometimes
we don't have good days, but we have some good days. We love
the good days. Here's the days we love. Let
goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life. But
when I know that goodness and mercy is following me, that's
a good day. Be thou in the fear of the Lord
all the day long. That's a good day, isn't it?
When He leads us beside the still water, When He causes us to lie
down in green pastures, when He prepares a table before us
in the presence of our enemies, that's some good days, isn't
it? When you go all day long, and that night you sat on your
couch or on your bed, and you remember this, all day long,
my sovereign God has caused everything to work together for my good. That's a good day. I love good
days, don't you? Good days. When we walk with
Him and talk with Him and He opens our hearts to the Scriptures
and makes our hearts burn within us, we say, man, that's a good
day. What a good day. But listen,
if we're going to love this life and we're going to see these
days and rejoice in them, these good days, We're going to have
to be careful. Going to have to be careful. Let him refrain his tongue from
evil and his lips that they speak no God. Boy, there's nothing,
there's nothing, brothers and sisters, that can hinder the enjoyment
of this new life. and turned so many good days
into bad days. That's this old floppy tongue. How many wars has this tongue
started? How many households have been
separated? How many friends have been divided
by this old tongue? Here's what James said, The tongue
is a little member, but it can sure boast some great things.
Behold how great a matter a little fire killeth. I got a huge brush
pile down in the edge of my field that I'm going to burn just any
day now. And man, it'll be a fire like crazy. It's huge. And you
know what will start that big fire? One little match. One little
match. will set that whole brush fire
on fire. One little tongue can kindle
a great fire in ourselves and in others. The tongue is a fire,
a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members
that it defileth the whole body and sets on fire the course of
nature and is set on fire of hell. Every beast and bird and
serpent and things in the sea has been tamed, but the tongue
can no man tame." It is an unruly evil, and the only thing we can do
is put a bridle on it. Look what he says in verse 11. Let him turn away from evil and
do good. Let him seek peace and pursue
it. Boy, here's what we're always
doing in the Christian life, in the believing life. We're
always turning from things. You'll never quit turning from
things. On your deathbed, you'll probably be turning from something.
And you're always pursuing. That's what makes up the Christian
life, doesn't it? Laying aside every weight. and the sin which do so easily
beset us. And running with patience, the
race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher
of our faith. Listen, if you're going to enjoy
this life, if you're going to love this life, if you're going
to see these good days, if you're concerned about that, then you've
got to watch your tongue. You've got to watch your tongue. And you've got to turn away from
evil. It's so easy to fall into evil. Then you're going along
and you're realizing, man, I'm just not enjoying the Lord like
I used to. Man, I'm not having very many
good days. And you start thinking about why. Then it comes to your
mind. What about all of this? Look
at your life. Look what you're carelessly doing. Boy, I thought about some things,
but I better not go there. In fact, we haven't got time
to go there, but something just came to my mind. Be careful,
brothers and sisters. Be careful. If we're going to
enjoy the Lord, you better watch sin in your life. You better
watch sin. Always turn from evil. Eschew
it. Hate it. Pray against it. And seek peace. Seek the peace
of God. Seek Christ's peace, a deeper
peace. Seek peace with His people. Seek
it. Seek it. And in verse 12, look at this.
For the eyes of the Lord, here, boy, here's a precious promise
to the humble, those who are of one mind. Let this mind be
in you. For here is a precious promise
to those poor, humble people. For the eyes of the Lord are
over the righteous. That's the first one. His eyes
are opened. His eyes are over the righteous.
The children of Israel were going to the promised land, and here's
the way Moses described the promised land. He says it's a land which
the Lord your God careth for. His eyes are always upon it. from the beginning of the year
until the end of the year. That's His church, isn't it?
That's you. That's you. Poor, humble Christian
that fills your need to follow Him and look to Him and give
up yourself to Him and serve Him. You know something? He's just looking to you all
the time. All the time. The eyes of the
Lord run to and fro through the whole earth to show Himself strong
in behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards Him. His
eyes are upon them. Eyes. You ever wonder if you
are going through some things He does not know about, He does
not see? It will never happen. It will never happen. And here's
another promise. His ears are open unto their
prayers. The Lord is far from the wicked,
but He hears the prayer of the righteous. His ears are open. I've reached the point in my
life when a bunch of racket's going on around me, I can tune
it out. And sometimes I come to myself and somebody's been
asking me something and they've had to raise their voice. Poppy! Grandpa! Grandpa! I just chewed
them out. I don't give them an ear. But
the Lord's ear is open. He even hears the groanings and
the sighs, doesn't He? He sent His Son down from heaven
to teach us that we should always pray and not to faint because
His ears are open. One last Scripture. Look here,
1 Peter chapter 5. Here's another promise to the
humble. Look at this. 1 Peter chapter 5. In verse 5, 1 Peter 5 and verse
5, "...Likewise ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, yea,
all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with
humility. For God resisteth the proud,
and gives grace to the humble." You know the kingdom of heaven
is full of people. And here is the kind of people
they are, humble people. The Lord Jesus tells us that.
When they were arguing about who was the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven, the Lord took a little child and set him down in the
middle of heaven. He said, right here is your great
one. Here is the greatest one in the kingdom of heaven. Humble
yourselves and become as little children, for such is the kingdom
of heaven. When we get up to heaven, everybody
up there is going to be dressed just alike. They are all going
to be clothed in humility. And look in verse 6. Humble yourselves
therefore, since He gives grace to the humble, humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you
in due time, casting all your care on Him, for He careth for
you. Have you ever wondered why Peter
used this word, the mighty hand of God? I can see him saying,
humble yourself under the gracious hand of God. The merciful hand
of God? Humble yourself unto the loving,
but He said the mighty hand of God. You know why He said that?
We want His loving hand and His merciful hand. But you know sometimes
it's His mighty hand that we need to lift us up and exalt
us and protect us. When those three Hebrew children
told Nebuchadnezzar, ìWeíre not going to bow to your idols,î
it wasnít just a merciful hand they needed. They were facing
the mightiest king on earth. They needed a mighty hand, didnít
they? And when they threw them into that fiery furnace, they
needed a mighty hand to protect them. Peter said, ìThis is the
mighty hand.î And though Nebuchadnezzar looked in, he said, Boy, something's
going on in that fire. I see four people in there and
I know I just threw three in there. Who's that with him? He looks like the Son of God.
That's who He was. The mighty hand of God protecting
them. They told Daniel, You better
not pray anymore. We better not see you with that open window
towards the east praying towards the temple. We're going to put
you in a den of lions. He just humbled himself, didn't
he, under the mighty hand of God. for His protection. They threw Him in a den of lions.
Where's your God now, Daniel? Boy, the king came the next morning
trying to get the hood open for that lion's den. And he hollered
down in there, Daniel, is the God you serve able to deliver
you? And he said, He's able, O king.
He's a mighty God. And he sent his angel and locked
the mouths of these lions. Sometimes it's a mighty hand,
isn't it? We want to see His mighty hand at work. Humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God. There's no more mighty than He.
And then He will exalt you. He's able. Those who walk in
pride, He's able to abase them. Those who walk in humility before
Him, He's able to exalt them. And nobody can stop Him from
either one. Because He has a mighty hand.
And Peter says this. Peter sums our text up with this.
His ears are open unto their prayers, but the face of the
Lord is against them that do evil. Those who love evil, live
in evil, the face of God is against them.
Man, I sometimes Your faces, when I look at your faces, if
I see some disapproval, it almost jars me. You ever see somebody
that you respect and they look at you and they've got a frown
on their face? You say, man, that hurts. That hurts. Can you
imagine God frowning at you? Can you imagine God's face being
against you? Man, the heaven and the earth
are going to flee away from His face. What will a man feel like? What will a man do? How will
he swivel and wibble when God looks at him with a disapproving
face? Man! Oh, I want to see his smiling
face, don't you? Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. And that's where you're apt to
see His smiling face. Let's pray.