Title: A Fourfold Call
Text: 1 Peter 5: 5-10
Date: June 28, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
1 Peter 5: 5: Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another,…
The key to harmony amongst believers is submission—"Yea,
all of you be subject one to another,…”
True, God given humility loves my brother and prefers my brother to be
honored rather than myself. True love esteems
my brother better than myself--
Romans 12:10: Be
kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one
another;
Philippians 2:3:
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves.
True love and humility say, “Let’s do it
your way; your way is better than mine.” We have to be brought to esteem not only our
brother’s way to be best but God’s Way! If
we believe ourselves to be the chief of sinners this is what we will do. Submission to my brother is first submission
to God—it is the only way I can submit to my brother—it involves reverence,
respect, holy fear for God.
Ephesians 5:21:
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
If we really believe “it is God which
worketh in you both to will and do of his good pleasure” then in that fear of
God we can submit ourselves one to another.
Divisions: 1) A call to humility 2) A call to faith
3) A call to vigilance 4) A call to patience
A CALL TO HUMILITY
1 Peter 5: 5:…and be clothed with humility:
for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6: Humble
yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time: 7: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
“And be clothed with humility”—Peter said,
1 Peter t 3:3: Whose
adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4: But let it be the hidden man
of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
All God’s elect shall be born again of the
Holy Spirit. It is a must that we be
born again in order to make us submit to Christ. God must give a sinner a new heart. When the Spirit of God has created a new
heart then it is not corruptible because we are born-again of incorruptible
seed. God creates “a meek and quiet
spirit.” “Which in the sight of God is
of great price” since God looks on the heart. We are commanded to do what we cannot do
except by the Spirit of God and that is to put on the new man. But by God’s grace, the Spirit of God makes
his people to do so.
Colossians 3:12:
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
“For God resisteth the proud, and giveth
grace to the humble.” We are all proud sinners by nature—proud
of face, race, place and grace. False humility is an external mortification
of the body. Our sinful nature loves to
mortify the body so men can see. And men
see it and call it saintly. But it is a
disguise. It is a look, a posture, a
ceremony, full of self-applause and self-righteousness. If I am conscious of my humility then it
ain’t humility.
Paul spoke of another
counterfeit which Satan makes—"a voluntary humility.” People say things like “I am unworthy to come
to God” or “I am not good enough to be saved” or “I am not worthy to come to
the Lord’s supper” or "Thou shalt never wash my feet." It is making our own worthiness a condition for
salvation when salvation is the free gift of God’s grace.
Pride will not submit—not to Christ and not
to brethren. Pride says, "I
will not have this man reign over me.” Pride
will not confess sins and wrongs; pride will justify self and boast of self; pride
will not bear injury or insult; pride is such a deceitful thing that we can be proud
of our so-called humility. God alone can
bring us down from our pride—he does it by revealing himself in his holy
character.
Isaiah 6: 1: In
the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high
and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2: Above it stood the
seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with
twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3: And one cried unto
another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole
earth is full of his glory. 4: And the posts of the door moved at the
voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5: Then said I, Woe is me! for I am
undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of
a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Acts 9: 1: And
Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord,…3: And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined
round about him a light from heaven: 4: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice
saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5: And he said, Who art
thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is
hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6: And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him,
Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do….8:…they
led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. 9: And he was three
days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
Once God, by grace, has humbled us then
God gives grace to the humble.
Isaiah
57:15: For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose
name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that
is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and
to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Isaiah 66:2…but to this man will I look, even to him that
is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
When God creates in us a humble heart, humility submits to God’s mighty
hand and waits on God to exalt us—"Humble yourselves therefore under
the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” God’s hand is the only mighty hand—mighty to hold the waters in the hollow of his hand; mighty to
establish his own righteousness and save his elect; mighty to bring down the
proud rebels that we are; mighty to provide all provision for his own; mighty
to bring down and destroy all our enemies; mighty to resist his proud children,
and give more grace to the humble.
Mighty to “exalt
you in due time.” “Due time” is God’s time, the right time. God does not operate on
our time table. Pride wants to be
exalted in our time. Pride wants to exalt
self out of our sins, out of the trial, over others, and so on. But when God creates humility then he makes
his child submit under God’s mighty hand and wait on God to exalt us in his
time. It is resignation to God’s will rather our own. God will see to it that “no flesh shall glory in His presence; the Lord alone
shall be exalted in that day.” After God
killed Aaron’s sons for approaching him in their own way we see humility and a
resignation to God’s will in Aaron. The
same is true of Eli.
Leviticus 10: 3:
Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the LORD spake, saying, I
will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will
be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.
1 Samuel 3: 18:
And Samuel told [Eli] every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is
the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.
So in calling us to submission the Spirit
of God first calls us to humility.
A CALL TO FAITH
1 Peter 5: 7: Casting all your care upon
him; for he careth for you.
Be sure to get this. True humility, true submission to God’s hand,
true waiting on God involves faith in Christ. Beholding God’s holiness manifest in Christ
and him crucified we behold our utter sinfulness, our ignorance, our total
insufficiency. With that, God gives us
faith to cast all our care on Christ, trusting that Christ careth for us. We see it in the publican. He would not lift his eyes to heaven but smote
upon his breast and cried, “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.”
It is not only what God brings us to do in
conversion but in every other conversion in every trial. He brings us to see our total insufficiency. God makes us behold his mighty hand. He makes us behold Christ our sovereign
Savior is everything we need. He makes
us cast all our care on him.
Truly, believer, always be “Casting all
your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
The two words for “care,” are
different. The first word is “concerns,
worries, anxiety.” It is that load that
is burdening you, wearing you out, making you exhausted. The word used in reference to God is the care
of a watchful Shepherd. Our care of anxiety and God’s care
are two vastly different things. His care causes him no anxiety; he is all
sufficient for the task. But our care threatens to crush us. Cast your care upon the Lord, for He is
sufficient to Shepherd you and to carry you and your load.
Christ took the care of satisfying divine justice
for his people so that he brought in an everlasting righteousness which is pleasing
to God. He accomplished it. Therefore, cast the care of your eternal
justification upon Christ. Christ took
the care of making his people holy.
Therefore, cast the care of your sanctification upon Christ. He took the care of guiding and protecting every
step we take in this world. He is doing
it right now for you believer.
Therefore, cast your guiding, protecting, preserving care on Christ. When it comes to all our care, cast it on Christ: the care for daily bread, the care of all earthly needs for ourselves and our
Families, the care of our businesses, the care of our children,
especially the care of his church and kingdom.
A CALL TO VIGILANCE
1 Peter 5: 8: Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour: 9: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same
afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”
So with the call to humility and the call
to faith the Spirit of God effectually calls his child to vigilance. Once we cast all our care on Christ we are not
to become careless. The Spirit of God
will not permit it in those in whom the Spirit reigns.
The devil is real foe—a roaring lion——none
of us are any match for him. If you
think you are too strong in faith to be beguiled by him then he already has you
tricked into thinking that. But he is God’s
roaring lion. The devil can only devour
them who God gives him permission to devour—“whom he MAY devour.”
But knowing how God used the devil to bring trials and corrections to
his saints, “Be sober, be vigilant, stedfast in the faith.” Lately several us have each expressed the
same desire. We have discussed how we
wish we could always walk in the Spirit.
How we would like to always have that strength and comfort and
encouragement we have when we have just heard the gospel preached and our
hearts are burning with the love of Christ.
That is what the Spirit is referring to in our text. “Be sober” means be serious-minded, not
careless in the world, not carried away by the cares of this world. “Be vigilant” means it takes
effort; strive to keep that frame of mind and heart all the time by burying
yourself in Christ in his written word and in
his preached word. “Be
stedfast in the faith” means that we can
only resist the devil by Christ resisting him on our behalf; Christ is the
object of faith who saves us, not our faith. When the unkind word comes as a fiery dart of Satan
be hidden safe behind the shield of faith with our minds and heart set on
Christ. When the
devil roars through the voice of some angry foe then let us have our ears tuned to the
songs of Zion so that the only thing we hear is a little mosquito buzzing
around our ears. Try to always be looking to
Christ, thinking on Christ, singing of Christ, casting our care on Christ. It is not our faith but the object
of our faith who is the only one who can make us resist the devil. Christ is our
Strength; Christ is our Sufficiency; And
Christ alone!
As you suffer know that your brethren are suffering too—"knowing
that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the
world.” Another form of
deceiving-pride is thinking we are the only one suffering or that our trial is
greater than our brethren. Let us
remember,
1 Corinthians
10:13: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:…
“The same afflictions are ACCOMPLISHED
in your brethren that in the world.” This
trial is not by accident. God appointed
it. When the apostle Paul was cast into
prison he said,
1Thessalonians
3:3: That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that
we are appointed thereunto.
As the apostle Peter declares if we suffer
trials then it is because there is a “need be.”
1 Peter 1:6:
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in
heaviness through manifold temptations:
A CALL TO PATIENCE
1 Peter 5: 10: But the God of all grace who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, 10: But the God of all
grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye
have suffered a while make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you;
11: To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
God is accomplishing our salvation through
the trial. So we must wait on God.
What a name! “The God of all grace!” And it is all grace—even our suffering and
tears are all grace. He has
called us to “eternal glory by Christ Jesus.” It means that we have eternal life. God is not going to allow us to perish under
the trial. This eternal glory is by
Christ Jesus. When he entered covenant
with the Father, Christ took full responsibility to bring you to God his
Father. He obligated himself to not lose
one, that means you believer. He
promises,
John 6: 37: All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in
no wise cast out. 38: For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. 39: And this is the Father’s will which hath sent
me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. 40: And this is the will of him that sent me, that
every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life:
and I will raise him up at the last day.
He
satisfied God. That is our eternal
security. Justice is satisfied. God will not dishonor his Son. He will keep us for Christ’s sake.
But remember he does this in due time—"But
the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after that ye have suffered a while,…” Let
patience have her perfect work that you might be entire, wanting nothing. We do not want to miss out on any of the
suffering. We have to be in the fire for
an appointed time for the dross to be consumed and the gold to be refined. The trial is not forever though it may feel
that way for a time. But it is only “after
that ye have suffered a while.”
What is God accomplishing through the
trial—"But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while make you perfect”—it
means he shall unite us together, make us fit and sound, and fully equipped in and
by Christ and with our brethren. God
will “stablish” his child.
It means God will set us fast, turn us resolutely in a fixed direction, rendering
us constant in Christ. God shall “strengthen”
or make you strong; but remember it is not fleshly strength for “when I am weak then am I strong”; I am strong
only when Christ is my only strength.
God shall “settle you.” All
of this is in Christ, toward Christ, by Christ to make us immovable on Christ
the Rock, our One Foundation.
After the trial, after every trial, and
after all our trials in this world, in our new heart God always brings us to
rejoice saying, “To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
Amen!