Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. I'll pick up reading in verse 5 and read through verse 10. I'm sorry, verse 11. Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. Be sober.

Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Opening Prayer

Well, let us pray. Father, we come now to the Holy Scriptures and we pray for the ministry of Your Spirit. We pray again for the forgiveness for all of our sins and for cleansing in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You for Him.

We thank You that You made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We ask that you would just guide our thoughts now, help us to understand what Peter is encouraging us in. Help us, God, not only to listen and to learn, but to be doers of the word. We know that a man who does not do the word is like that fool who looks into the mirror, walks away and forgets what he looks like.

May that not be the case with us, God. And may you help us and strengthen us to do your holy will. And we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Introduction

Well, many people, no doubt, this week will be planning what their New Year's resolution is. 2011 is going to bring a fresh slate for many, and they will resolve a particular thing. May I suggest that we resolve to pursue humility? I don't suggest this because I've mastered humility. By all means, I am so far from it, it's pathetic.

I was thinking about a guy going for a job interview. Something you never hear when somebody says, what is your greatest strength? The man said, humility. Humility is my greatest strength.

That would undo the very act of humility by its own admission. My buddy in Palmdale and I used to joke about writing a book, humility and how I mastered it. And that just does not sound legit. It is absolutely contrary to the spirit of true humility.

But we need to pursue it. According to Peter, we need to be clothed with humility. We need to understand that this is a very blessed thing within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. One man has well commented at every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian disciples discipleship.

Pride is the greatest enemy and humility. Our greatest friend at every stage of our Christian development. Jonathan Edwards described pride this way. He said, it is the worst viper that is in the heart and the greatest disturber of the soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ.

I don't think that's an underestimation. I think if you are honest with yourselves and with an open Bible, as you search your own heart, you would have to admit and agree that that is the greatest enemy that you face. The greatest disturber of your soul's peace and sweet communion with Christ is pride. So let us look at what Peter says here with reference to humility.

And again, take this to heart. Pray it in. I'm not preaching it because I know of one particular person or several persons. I believe this is true of all of us.

I believe we're all guilty of pride. I believe we're all very selfish, and I believe that Peter's words and exhortation are very fitting to us on the eve of a new year.

Overview of Four Considerations

I want to break up verses 5 to 11 under four considerations. The first is the command stated in verse 5. Secondly, the implication drawn in verse 6. Thirdly, the disposition necessary, verses 7 to 9.

And then, finally, the benediction given, the good word of verses 10 and 11.

The Command: Be Clothed With Humility

But let us look at this command. If you're taking notes, we have three subcategories here.

Scope and Necessity of Submission

Notice the scope. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another. He begins by addressing comment to the young people. Verse five.

Likewise, you younger people submit yourselves to your elders. Submission is taught in the Bible. It's not a bad thing. It is a good thing.

It means to line up under another. It means to submit to them. It means to be reverent toward them. It means to be humble before that.

So he addresses the young people and then he broadens out his exhortation at the end of verse or in the middle of verse five. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another. This is universal for the people of God. And the fact that he is addressing this issue suggests at least two things to us.

First, it suggests that it is necessary in the Christian life. I don't think anyone would argue about that. It is absolutely crucial in the Christian life to be humble, to be submissive. But secondly, the fact that he is addressing it highlights its frequent and unfortunate absence in the Christian life.

I mean, wouldn't it be great if Peter didn't have to tell us to do this? Wouldn't it be great if we were just really humble? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were really like Jesus Christ and didn't exalt ourselves, but rather we became servant to others? Wouldn't it be wonderful if you and I just carried out our Christian life the way that we're supposed to?

But it is frequently and unfortunately absent in our Christian lives. And so Peter must address this particular issue.

Clothed With Humility as a Slave's Apron

Notice the specific details involved in this command. Twofold, be submissive. Be submissive to one another to go back to Ephesians five for just a moment. You see that this is the fruit of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Notice in Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse. See then, that you watch circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? What does it look like to be filled with the Spirit? Does it look like you will speak in strange tongues? Does it look like you will prophesy?

Does it look like you will work wonders and miracles and do mighty things? Not according to Paul in this particular section. Be filled with the Spirit. Notice in verse 19, speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Those filled with the Spirit will speak in a certain manner to their brothers and sisters. They will be a means of edification and encouragement. Notice what he goes on to say, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God, the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Submission is not a bad thing, it's a good thing.

And then he works out concrete illustrations and applications of submission in our life situation. Husbands, love your wives. Wives, submit to your own husbands. He deals with the child-parent relationship.

He deals with masters and servants. Submission is not a bad thing. It is a bad thing that we don't submit more frequently and more earnestly, first and foremost, to God and then to one another. This is what Peter is saying.

Yes, all of you be submissive to one another. And then he says, and be clothed with humility. It's a beautiful image that the apostle uses here. The verb or the word means to tie or fasten something on oneself.

This whole idea of being clothed. The verb suggests to tie or fasten something on oneself firmly with a clasp, not or a bow. So take humility and fasten it to yourself is what he is saying. He says the word was also used of a slave who tied on an apron.

Then the idea may be that of wearing humility as a slave's apron. I hope your mind is going back to the upper room discourse. Remember when our Lord Jesus, he took that towel and he girded himself with it. And then he went and he washed the feet of the disciples, Peter included.

One wonders and can only believe that Peter had in his mind the very image of our Lord Jesus tying himself with this apron so that he could humbly wash the feet of sinners. So before you say, oh, no, I couldn't do this before you say, oh, no, you don't understand what my situation is like. You don't know how difficult it is. Consider the very son of God himself girding himself about with an apron and going to wash the feet of his disciples.

John 13, 4 says that Jesus rose from supper and laid aside his garments, took a towel, and girded himself. And he commenced to wash the disciples' feet. So just here we need to stop and reflect on this brief command, this brief statement. Are we submissive to one another?

It's not just wives. Are you submissive to your own husbands as to the Lord? The command of Ephesians 5, 21 applies to everybody. applies to each and every one of us. We need to be submissive.

We need to defer to others. Paul says it this way in Philippians 2. We need to esteem others as better than himself. Is that literally or logistically how we conduct ourselves in this world?

Looking out for others and considering them as better than ourselves? What about this whole idea of clothing ourselves with humility? Is that really what characterizes us at the Free Grace Baptist Church? We clothe ourselves, we tie and fasten humility onto us, we use a knot, we gird it about so that we are truly humble to one another?

The Reason: God Resists the Proud

Notice that Peter then goes on to give a reason for this command. He cites Proverbs 3 verse 34. James does the same thing in his epistle when he is calling upon us to be humble. Notice all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility for there's a reason for the command for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Now when you see that God gives grace to the humble, the idea is not go out and be humble. Go out and do certain things and then God will visit you with the gift of grace. He is writing to Christians. The origin of humility in the soul of a man is with God.

It is God who humbles us. It is God who shows us our sin. It is God who shows us His holiness. In fact, Webster's Dictionary defines humility in this very way.

This is the 1828. I don't know if this would be in the current Webster's. Humility consists in lowliness of mind, a deep sense of one's own unworthiness in the sight of God, self-abasement, penitence for sin, and submission to the divine will. Great statement of what humility is.

Let's just get it again so that we're not lost. Humility consists in lowliness of mind, a deep sense of one one's own unworthiness in the sight of God, self abasement, penitence for sin and submission to the divine will. It's a beautiful statement of what humility is all about. Peter is telling us. that God resists the proud.

He does give grace to the humble. We have several examples in the New Testament of this proud spirit. Romans 12, verse 3, I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. Isn't that the essence of pride? thinking more about yourself than is warranted.

He's not saying you got to walk around and hate yourself and beat yourself. It's not saying the monks were right. Get a whip and just, you know, open up your back and have bad food and just live a life of misery. That's not humility.

That's not biblical humility. The idea is, is that we are to think soberly. We are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. Just a personal illustration.

I'm really struggling lately with driving. Not with driving and the act and the mechanics of it. I think I got that down. But with sanctification.

People cutting in front of me. People going really slow. I mean, if you were to hear me, you might go, wow, this guy's got some major issues. What's the bottom line?

What's the underlying current? I think more of me than those people. I think I should be first. I think they should get out of my way.

The very opposite of Romans 12, 3, and I am seeking to deal with it. It's not something I'm proud of. Just giving a personal illustration. This is the rub.

Do you think more highly of yourself than you want to? This works itself out in family relationships. Works itself out between husbands and wives, works itself out between parents and children and children and parents. You know, if we genuinely pursued humility in our homes, there would be a lot less stress and a lot less chaos and a lot less sin and selfishness and wickedness.

We are to pursue this. We are to be clothed with humility. This was the sin in Laodicea, according to Revelation chapter three and verse seventeen. Revelation three, verse seventeen, because you say I am rich, have become wealthy and have need of nothing.

What's that? Pride. They weren't clothed with humility. They weren't being submissive to one another.

They were putting themselves first. I am rich, have become wealthy. I have need of nothing. Jesus says, you do not know that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.

You don't understand. Spiritually, you're missing the boat. You've missed it by a long shot. You're professing that everything is great and good and wonderful.

And all the while, it's filthy. You love that passage that Pastor Cam read in the scripture reading today in Luke chapter 11. Wasn't that amazing how Jesus is indicting and upgrading the Pharisees? And then one of the lawyers whines and he says, Lord, when you say this, you upset us.

What does Jesus say? Well, I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend your delicate sensitivities. You lawyers also.

You are too high in your estimation of yourselves. You are too exalted in your own assessment of who you are under God. And such is the case with many of us. God not only resists the proud, but God also abominates the proud.

That means He hates them. Proverbs 6. These six things Yahweh hates. Ye, seven, are an abomination to Him.

The scriptures are clear on this issue. C.J. Mahaney in his excellent little book on humility, not and how he mastered it. He admits that he has not mastered humility by any stretch of the imagination.

It's a good little book on this issue of humility. He says this, pride takes innumerable forms but has only one end. Listen to this, self-glorification. Isn't that what it's about?

Isn't that what pride is? It's all about the self being glorified. He says that's the motive and ultimate purpose of pride, to rob God of legitimate glory and to pursue self-glorification, contending for supremacy with Him. Robert Leighton, an older commentator on 1 Peter, says God singles it out for His grand enemy and sets Himself in battle array against it.

You ever read through the book of Judges or some of the other historical books in the Old Testament? You see that God was fighting for Judah. God was fighting for Israel. God was the warrior.

David praises God because God taught my hands to war or prepared my hands for war. God is this divine warrior. He doesn't just sort of hang out in heaven and do nothing. He fights for his people.

He contends for his people. He seeks to bless and protect his people. Well, consider this. When you and I are proud, God is in battle array against us.

Kind of an interesting juxtaposition in this particular section of Scripture. We are told later that we need to be sober. We need to be vigilant. Why?

Because the devil roams about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. What's the emphasis? When we're pursuing humility, when we're pursuing submission to God, the devil is our enemy. But conversely, when we are proud, when we are arrogant, when we are independent, God is our enemy.

Choose ye this day. Who do you want for your enemy? You want God most high because of your stinking pride? Or do you want the devil because you are seeking to submit yourself to the Lord and pursue humility?

You can't miss that in the passage, brethren. If we use the imagery of the devil there, seeking whom he may devour. He is our enemy when we are seeking God. But when we are proud, God resists us.

God resists us. He despises. He opposes this. This is unlike Him.

This is contrary. This is not what we are to be about. When He looks upon us, He wants to see the Son of His love. Who was that servant of the Lord?

Who girded Himself about with a towel? Who humbled Himself and washed the feet of sinful men? Peter included. He wants us to be like that servant of the Lord who did not have anywhere to lay his head in his earthly ministry.

Didn't walk around complaining and grumbling and whining and crying because he was gypped and short and he didn't get his due. No. You need to be like Jesus. What would Jesus do?

He would be submissive to one another and he would clothe himself with humility. That's what Jesus has done on our behalf and for God's glory. Notice the reason God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. Humility makes a special luster upon the people of God.

I love the statement of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 66, verse one. Thus says Yahweh. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool.

Where is the house that you will build me? And where is the place of my rest? For all those things my hand has made and all those things exist, says Yahweh. But on this one will I look.

You see the picture thus far? Heaven is God's throne. Isn't that amazing? We've got a big universe that we live in, don't we?

We have no clue as to its size. There's speculation, there's scientific hypotheses, there's all these things, all these ideas proffered with reference to the universe. But when all is said and done, we are very puny men who at best can look up in the sky and say, wow, it's big. Heaven is God's throne.

This earth and all of its massive bigness and its power and its beauty is God's footstool. See what he's saying there? What does he want you to take from this image, this picture? God is massive.

He's huge. He's glorious. He's wondrous. He's infinite.

He's powerful. He's majestic. What also surprises is that he actually does look upon us. That's what surprises the psalmist in Psalm 113.

He says it's a humbling thing for the thrice holy God to look upon the things of the earth. Notice in verse two, but on this one will I look on him who is poor. and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word." It's not a beautiful picture of what we ought to be. A beautiful picture of what we should pursue. Humble, contrite, one who trembles at the word of God.

Doesn't put the word of God under his own scrutiny. Doesn't put the word of God under his own microscope and say, you need to perform the way I decree or else I'm going to cast you off. No, we tremble at the word. We go to passages like Cam reminded us this morning in 2 Samuel 6, where God killed Uzzah.

Why? What was Uzzah's crime? For most of us, we're just blown away that the Holy God would actually kill Uzzah. All he did was try to stabilize the ox cart that was holding the Ark of the Covenant.

That puzzles us. But as we were reminded, we're not to come out of 2 Samuel 6 thinking that God is trifling with men. We're to come away thinking that God is holy. God is majestic.

God is commanded in Numbers 4 that you don't touch the Ark of the Covenant. He is upholding his holiness and setting it forth in that passage. Well, the tremblers at his word don't go, oh, that's offensive. Oh, that's horrible.

Oh, that's wicked. No, the tremblers at his word say, I'm offensive. I'm wicked. I'm horrible.

The tremblers at his word are like that man in Luke 18. He doesn't stand and pray thus with himself. I thank you, Lord, that I'm not like other men. No, he pounds his breath.

He doesn't even look up into heaven. And he says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. You see, what Peter is describing here is something that Christians ought to pursue. Yes, I hope you resolve to read more Christian books this year.

Yes, I hope you resolve to read your Bibles and pray. I don't even think those should be resolutions. I think that should be the way you live. By God's grace, pursue humility.

Yet to meet that, not a blight on anybody here, but You know, how often? What are you praying for, brother? I'm praying for promotion. I'm praying for ease.

I'm praying for comfort. Those aren't bad things. I'm praying that God would humble my wretched, proud self. That's good.

That's luster. And again, I'm not saying that if you tell me that, that's a good thing. I am suggesting that we all ought to pursue this mindset. So that's the command.

The Implication: Submit to God First

Notice, secondly, the implication drawn. The implication drawn, verse 6, therefore, this is the sign of an implication. This is the logical outflowing of this particular command. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.

Isn't this amazing? Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. You're to be submissive to one another. You're to clothe yourself with humility.

What's the first logical implication of this? Submit to God. Not go read C.J. Mahaney's book on humility.

As profitable as that may be, not take down your concordance and do a word study on every time the word humility is used. Not even on Sunday morning when you meet somebody at church, instead of telling them about your week, ask them about their week. Notice where he begins when it comes to the practical, concrete application of being clothed with humility. He says, submit to God.

What's the implication? If you don't get it yet, I'll draw it out for you. The idea is that when you're submitting to God, when you're humble before God, it cannot but work itself out toward others. Theology comes first.

Theology comes before practice. You want to be a more humble guy or girl? Submit yourself to God. When you see someone who is proud and who is arrogant, yes, it means they don't really value people around them, to be sure.

But the bigger theological lesson is they don't value God who is over them. Because when you submit yourself to God, you cannot but. Submit yourself to others. You see, when you're filled with the spirit and you are treating God with this proper respect and do it works itself out in the life.

Wives, if you have a problem at home, it may be you need to submit to God. Husbands, if you have a problem at home, it may be that you need to submit. Not it may be. It is.

Children, if you have a problem submitting to your own parents, it means first and foremost, you need to bow before God. You need to confess Jesus as Lord. You need to find salvation in him before you can fix these these relationships that you are involved with. Don't miss that, brethren.

He commands us be submissive, be flow. Therefore, verse six, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. I love the logic. It is simply contrary to the way we often function.

Maybe we've heard today something that has struck us. Well, I really do need to esteem my wife or my husband better than me. I really do need to value my child first. I really do need to show something of servant leadership in my home.

I really do need to listen to my brothers or sisters at church. You ever fall prey to this? People are talking and all you're listening for is for your opportunity so that you can jump in. Yeah, it's great you have this kind of a week, but what's really important is my week.

I mean, maybe I'm the only wretch here. I don't know. I don't think so. I remember reading that book by Simo Relevick.

He's a missionary in a Slovakian place. And he has a book called The Tongue. It's a very tiny book. And in it, he makes that observation, sometimes, We listen only for our opportunity to speak.

So maybe you've heard something of that today and you're going, wow, man, I have been selfish. I have been, you know, just looking at my my own way. I need to change. I need to give place to others.

First, give place to God. That's the emphasis in the passage. Therefore, he says, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

Christians are not to exalt themselves, but to wait upon God. Right. Yeah, we all know that theoretically. We often want to make sure that people recognize it.

People see it. People understand it. Yeah, he is a great guy or she is a fine woman. We try to lead conversations in that particular way.

We can make ourselves look the best all the while making others look the worst. I used to work with a lady like this. I don't know that she's going to be listening on the internet. I really doubt it.

She had a problem with everybody on our shift and then tried to blame everybody on the shift. We all got along fine with each other. It was her. And one of her modus operandi, one of her M.O.' 's was to always cut someone else down while exalting herself.

You think, oh, you know, that's confined to pagan workplaces. No, it isn't. It isn't. How many times have we listened to something?

How many times have we just waited for that opportune time to promote ourselves? I'm not trying to hurt anybody. I'm not trying to destroy anybody. I'm trying to get us to realize how insidious this sin is.

I used the illustration of bad breath several weeks ago. One man, Mark Sarver, a preacher in New York, said that pride is just like bad breath. Everybody knows you have it except you. You spray this breath on people and they're like, whoa, mint, gum, please, take something.

No, I'm good, man, I just brushed my teeth. Oh, wow, you smell like a sepulcher. I hope we're not that vicious. Here I am saying, let's not promote our...

My breath, on the other hand, is like a floral arrangement every single moment of the day. Pride is like that breath. Everybody else knows we've got it, but us. This is why this is so important.

You know, as I thought through what to preach on as we enter into a new year gospel, yes, we should make much of Christ. We should exalt the Lord Jesus. We should be about the gospel of Christ always, constantly. I hope you know me enough to realize that I affirm that reference with reference to this whole idea of Christian living humility.

Humility. Submission to God that he may exalt you in due time. Notice it is due time. That means God's time.

It is not your time. You cannot say, Lord, I've humbled myself for 15 days now. What are you going to do for me? It's the wrong attitude.

You're not really humble. You're not really submissive. If you are simply going through a formula in order to get a blessing, you misread Peter. A humble man realizes it's in God's time.

The humble man realizes that the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth knows what's best for me. The humble man realizes that God will work all things for good to those who love Him, to the called according to His purpose. The humble man doesn't try to ascend to the throne room and say, God, I've got some good ideas for You. I've got some encouragement for You.

You know, I've watched, I've surveyed the way that You operate, and You're doing a bang-up job. Except in this one area. You might step it up in my case a little bit more. No, that's not the humble man.

That's not being submissive to the Lord God. That's not being a trembler at his word. That is not humility and contrition, the one upon whom God looks. This is what Peter is telling us in order to flesh out and work out in our own church.

To work out in our own family lives. To work out in our own interpersonal relationships. To work out in our workplace. To work out in our society.

This whole idea of being submissive to one another. Of being clothed with humility. First and foremost, it is a God thing. We need to submit to the Lord Most High.

The Disposition: Cast Your Care on God

Notice thirdly, the disposition that is necessary. Verse 7. Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. You wonder how that fits in.

Well, here's how I think it fits in. What is the essence of pride? I come first. So if I'm taking Peter seriously and I'm asking or he's telling me, look, you need to submit to God, you need to submit to others and you need to be clothed with humility.

What's the nagging question in the back of my head? I doubt it's just my nagging question. It might be yours also. You might wonder, well, who's going to watch out for me then?

Right? If I'm this others-minded person, if I'm esteeming others as better than myself, if I am laboring to submit myself unto God and unto His people, if I am girding myself with that apron of humility, is there anything for me? Casting all your care upon God, for He cares for you. You don't need to worry about, will everybody notice my wonderful humility?

You don't need to worry about, will anyone notice that I esteem them better than myself? You don't need to worry about that. God has your back. God is watching you.

Court His favor. Cast your burden upon Him. If you feel like you're getting shorted, if you feel like you're getting jet, rest in this fact that God actually cares for you, that your labor is not in vain. You may be married to a man who doesn't commend you when you cook well, or when you clean well, or when you do things well.

You may be married to a woman who doesn't show you honor. She doesn't respect you. She doesn't say thank you for bringing home a paycheck. You may be rearing children that are ingrates, that are unthankful, that think that electricity and water and all those things are free.

And no, I'm not picking on my children here. You may be in such a situation and you may be tempted to throw up your hands in despair. But what Peter is saying is that God cares for you. If the rest of the world doesn't, and they do, don't adopt that mentality.

Oh, everybody hates me. Don't do that. God cares for you. Isn't that what he is saying there?

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Casting. Throw it over. Roll it upon him.

This is obviously from the psalm. Psalm 55, 22. Cast your burden on Yahweh and he shall sustain you. He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

Cast that care upon him. Why? Because he cares for you. You don't labor in vain.

You're not pursuing humility in vain. God loves you. God watches you. And maybe no one will ever say, attaboy, good job.

God will. What are we told that on the day of judgment we're going to hear from our Lord? Well done, good and faithful servant. That can only be true because we're vitally connected to Jesus by faith.

That we know for sure. But God does see. God does understand. God knows what people go through.

It's one of the things I was taken up with as I was going through Revelation chapters 2 and 3, working through some commentary on those particular verses, or those particular letters for the seven churches in Asia Minor. We're often tempted to think that we suffer alone. Nobody knows what we're going through. Use the illustration of an old Bugs Bunny cartoon.

They used to sing that song, nobody knows the trouble I've seen. I'm sure that song didn't originate in the Bugs Bunny franchise. They brought it into and used it. But the idea was the suffering cartoon character saying nobody knows the trouble I've seen.

Isn't that the way we often live? Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. Nobody knows the difficulties I have to deal with. Nobody knows the way I've had to slug through this.

Brethren, the whole of the Bible tells us this. God knows. God cares. God is concerned.

God is kind. God is merciful. God is there. You're anxious for something?

Roll it upon God. The idea really, brethren, is the idea of a beast of burden. You've got this big burden, so what do you do? You go get an ox.

Not so you can carry the burden and then pull the ox along. You take that burden and you put it in the cart so that the ox can bear it. I don't want to sound cheeky. I don't want to sound bad.

But the imagery that Peter and that the psalmist are using is that you take that burden, you roll it upon our God because he cares for you. That's what he wants us to get here. So when you're thinking through the implications of this passage, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. Due time may be a while.

It might be a while. You know, any preacher that says you do this for five months and then everything's going to be great. That's crazy. Some people have to deal with trials for an awfully long time.

It's one of the most grieving things to see as a pastor when somebody is hurting and they're suffering and you wish you could take it away from them. You might know somebody physically that is suffering and you would say, I would gladly take that in myself so that you could be healthy. But there is no magic pill like that in the scripture. The reality is that in his time, he will exalt you.

In the meantime, however, take that burden and care, roll it over onto him and realize that he cares for you. That he is concerned for you. That he loves you, he's kind to you, that he's got your best interests in view. You may not see how it works itself out for your best, but God does.

And you know what? He doesn't just see it. He works it. It's one of the problems we get in any non-Calvinistic scheme of things.

This idea that God is sort of reacting. God has decreed every detail. That's why we need a great big dose of the Westminster Catechism. What are God's works of providence?

God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures. and all their actions. How can He do that unless He has decreed everything? How can God know the end from the beginning unless He has decreed it? Far from Calvinism or Reformed theology, casting any sort of aspersion upon God, making it difficult, this is the foundation for comfort, for rest, for peace.

You can roll it over upon your God because you know that He cares for you and He will carry it out. in your best interests. Beautiful, beautiful passage of Holy Scripture.

Sobriety and Resisting the Devil

Notice, he gives not only an encouragement, but he gives a caution. Be sober, he says. Verse 8, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The cause of submission to God does not mean laziness or idleness.

The call to submission to God does not mean I'm going to go live in a hut somewhere and not be bothered with life so that I can really submit to God. No. Submission means that in your daily life and your work life and your family life and everything you do, you're submitting to God. And all the while you're being sober, you're being vigilant, you're being watchful.

You realize that you have a real adversary. He roams about like a roaring lion seeking to devour you. His individual attacks on people have not ceased. They have not desisted.

They have not ended. But notice the exhortation that Peter gives here. It says, resist him rather. Steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

Resist him. That is what the Bible says with reference to devilish attack. Resist him. Not cast him out.

Not cast spells. Not by 15 books on demon possession and how to get rid of it. Resist him. What does James promise in a parallel passage?

Resist him and what he will flee from you. Isn't that that could save the Christian world a whole lot of money, how do we deal with the devil? Well, you've got to buy my book, you've got to go to my seminar, you've got to listen to my tapes, you've got to buy my DVD series, get part 1, part 2, and part 3, and everything will be good for you. James is a lot cheaper.

Peter is a lot cheaper. Resist him, and he will flee from you. That's what the Bible says. Resist him, and he will flee from you.

Not resist him and he'll keep coming. Resist him and buy more tapes. Resist him and go to another seminar. Resist him and he will flee from you.

We've made it a lot more difficult than it needs to be. We are sensationalized with the latest tactics on how to deal with the devil. When James and Peter, with their small, still voices, are telling us, resist him. What part of resist him don't you get?

You don't have to know the Greek. You don't have to know the Hebrew. You don't have to know the parallel passages. You don't have to go pray in the woods for 40 days and 40 nights.

You resist him and he will flee from you. That beautiful statement. Resist him. Isn't it beautiful as well?

Resist him. Steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. It's good for us to read prayer letters concerning the persecuted church. It's good for us to understand what people in other places have.

It's good for us when we want to murmur and complain about a stubbed toe to hear about somebody who's losing their head for the cause of Jesus. It's good for us to realize that our brotherhood, not only in this century, but throughout the centuries, are suffering for the cause of God and truth. This is not new. This is not something fresh.

This is not something novel. First Peter was written at a time of escalating persecution for the churches. This is why earlier in first Peter four, he says, don't think of a strange thing when you go through these trials. It's history, tradition.

It's the way it is. When a man of God lives for God in a world opposed to God, he's going to suffer.

The Benediction: Suffering and Eternal Glory

And then notice how he treats this, moving on fourthly and finally to the benediction. Look at this benediction in verse 10. But may the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. It's incidental, isn't it?

After you have suffered a while. That's not the theme. That's not the point. That's not what he's addressing.

Brethren, I want you to learn something. You're going to live in this world and there's going to be hard times. There's going to be struggles. There's going to be opposition.

No, this is incidental. This is just an, oh, yeah, sort of a statement. I don't want to berate the word of God, but it is not the primary theme. This is not what the accent falls on.

It is the pronouncement of God's blessing upon us. May the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you. And notice the stark contrast there.

You see this, you've suffered a while. Well, what's he calling you to? Anyone, anyone with me? Eternal glory.

So with the Texas right here, you can't miss the contrast, but may the God of all grace who called us to what his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, the while is small, the eternal glory is big. The while is temporary. The eternal glory is eternal. The while may be hard, it may be difficult, but it will end.

This is why Paul can speak in 2 Corinthians. He speaks in terms of a comparison. This momentary light affliction is nothing in comparison with this eternal weight of glory. Those who are tried, those who have issues, those who are having difficulties need to come to passages like that and realize this is for a season and then it ends.

These rainy days will end. We will enter into the presence of God, the Lord, we will enter into the presence of a place where it says in the scripture that God himself will wipe away our tears. Is that a beautiful image? How many of us at times can't be bothered with the suffering of our children?

Ah, suck it up. You're only bleeding a little bit. Just don't get any on the carpet. We just have the carpet clean.

I don't care about that gash in your knee. What's God's deal? He wipes the tears from our eyes. Oh, let me get that.

Let me take care of that. The God of infinite glory and majesty has a hanky to wipe away the tears from the eyes of his people. You see what Peter is saying? Think about him.

It's easy to get bogged down in the trials of his life. It's easy to say, oh, woe is me. Nothing ever good happens. All bad things are mine.

Nobody knows what I'm going through. Oh, yeah. God does. And there's brethren in this world that are suffering, too.

You need to be thinking about them. There's a benediction given, a good word pronounced, and then he ends with doxology. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Application: Cultivating Humility

There is a command, an implication, a disposition that we need to imbibe. We need to understand that God is for us. We can summarize the section. It would be submission, selflessness, surrender and sobriety.

We learn from this the evil of pride. God resists the proud. That should be argument number one for us to pursue humility. If God arrays himself or clothes himself in Babel array, we ought to resist pride in its uprisings.

We ought to resist the temptation to put ourselves first, to only ever be talking about ourselves, to be those who cannot stop but thinking about themselves. It's one of the things I've often thought when we have issues or when we have troubles and we get tied down to our own thing. That's when we need to get a good dose of what's going on in the world around us, especially here in North America. I imagine, I'm not there, but I imagine that some people in Haiti would gladly deal with the sufferings that we go through.

Traffic, people cutting them off. What would you rather have, cholera, earthquake, devastation, or somebody cutting you off on Yale Road? I'll take the cutting off on Yale Road, thank you very much. It's important, brethren, to broaden your perspective.

It's important to read biography. It's important to see what men have gone through in the history of the church. It's important that you understand that the world does not terminate with you and your existence. It's another quote I've often appreciated.

This is not a Christian man, not that I know of. He has said, when they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it. We function a lot like that as well. This passage teaches us the blessing of humility.

There's an old saying it says in things essential unity and non-essential liberty in all things charity. That's a good maxim for the Church of Jesus Christ with reference to its pursuit of humility with one another in things essential unity in non-essential liberty and all things charity. And then if we were to consider how we could cultivate a humble, gentle spirit, I'm just going to run through a list of things. I've preached these before.

I just want to remind us on these issues. The first is we must be born again. There's no genuine humility without genuine conversion. It's like trying to make a cat humble.

We have a little intramural debate going on in our home right now. We have a dog and a cat. And one of the people in our family says, oh, the cat's the best pet. Some of us are saying, no, the dog is the best pet.

I think dog and cat represent something about pride and humility. I heard a preacher once say, when you pet a cat, or when you pet a dog, rather, the dog is just so happy. And he's thinking to himself, wow, this is great. This person must be a god.

You pet the cat. The cat says, wow, this is great. I must be a god. I think that typifies something of the human situation as well.

Cats and dogs, different approach to how they respond to things. Well, trying to teach or trying to be humble without first coming to know Christ is like trying to humble a cat. I know that sounds weird and wacky and all that, but it's like trying to teach a hippopotamus to fly. Or to take an eagle and say, I want you to swim.

You just can't do it. You take man and Adam, he cannot be humble. He must be saved first. You can't just go out of here and say, wow, I need to be humble.

No, you need to be saved. You need to believe the gospel. You need to come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That's the first step.

Then secondly, meditate upon the cross of Christ. One man is well said, far from offering us flattery, not as if the cross says, wow, you're so awesome. As it's unfortunately depicted today, far from offering us flattery, the cross undermines our self-righteousness and we can stand before it only with a bowed head and a broken spirit. What did Watts write and what do we sing?

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and do what? Pour contempt on all my pride. So we must be saved. We must come to Christ and we must continue to meditate upon the cross.

We must continue to look to our Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, we need to acknowledge our dependence upon God. If the essence of pride is contending for supremacy with God, we need to acknowledge that we are helpless, hopeless, and completely in need of Him. Fourthly, we need to express thankfulness to God.

Thankfulness. It's hard to be proud when you're thanking somebody, isn't it? You say, well, I don't know. I'm still pretty good at it.

It shouldn't be. Easy to be proud when we're thanking God. Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow. Ramsey said Mahaney says an ungrateful person is a proud person.

If I am ungrateful, I'm arrogant. And if I'm arrogant, I need to remember God doesn't sympathize with me in that arrogance. He is opposed to the proud. So be thankful.

Another helpful means is to identify grace in others. Look at others and esteem them as better than you. Acknowledge the fact that they are growing. Acknowledge the fact that they are thriving.

Get the focus off of self. Look at someone other than you. And then finally, give thanks and glory to God at the end of each day. It's a great thing.

Again, Mahaney brings this out. When you're laying in bed at night, think about what God has done in your life for that day. Acknowledge that. Thank Him.

Praise Him. Give Him glory. Honor Him. Sleep is a wonderful means of acknowledging our creatureliness and our dependence.

God alone is the one who neither faints nor is weary. Mahaney calls it cosmic plagiarism if we do not transfer to God the glory that is due to Him. What better time? Don't make big plans about your future.

We all try to take on way too much at night when we're tired and weary and worn out. Now that's the time to praise and bless and honor God. Just return Thanksgiving to him.

Closing Exhortation

Well, brethren, that's my encouragement. Again, I'm not going to check with you in six months and say, did you write down that you have pursued humility for your New Year's resolution? I do hope that some of these things have been a help and an encouragement and be encouraged. The text itself is there to encourage.

Yes, the command is there. Be submissive to one another. Be clothed with humility. And then the rest of the passage is geared with giving you incentive and invitation to pursue God, to pursue his grace, to pursue his mercy so that you can live with others in the way that he has called us to do.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Father, thank you for your word and thank you for this passage in 1 Peter 5. We just pray that you would help us to realize that you resist the proud and that you give grace to the humble. Help us to realize, Lord God, that we can cast all of our care upon you and to know that you do care for us.

God, these things are truly amazing and we give you praise and glory and honor for your truth. We ask now that you would go with us. We pray for any and all who have not come to know Christ as Lord and Savior. We know that humility begins at the cross.

Humility is sustained at the cross and humility ultimately is finished with the cross. And we pray that you would just bless sinners and draw them unto yourself for your glory sake and for the good of their souls. And we pray in Christ's holy name. Amen.

Scripture References

• Numbers 4
• 2 Samuel 6
• Psalm 55:22; 113:6
• Proverbs 3:34; 6:16-19
• Isaiah 66:1-2
• Luke 11; 18:13
• John 13:4
• Romans 12:3
• 2 Corinthians 4:17
• Ephesians 5:15-21
• Philippians 2:3
• Revelation 2-3; 3:17
• 1 Peter 4:12; 5:5-11
• James 4:7
• Psalms 55:22; 113:6