1 Peter

[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help me again, I would direct you to the first epistle of Peter chapter 5 verses 6 and 7. The first book of Peter, the fifth chapter, the sixth and seventh verses. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that it may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. 1 Peter, the fifth chapter, the sixth and seventh verses. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

[1:20] We just tried briefly to notice a few things this morning from this sixth verse. And we noticed that the Lord deals with his children and he does humble them. He does deal with their rebelliousness. He does bring them to that place where they are willing to drink the cup that the Lord puts into their hands. And when they are brought there, when they are humbled, the pain is removed. There is a trusting in the Lord. There is a realisation that it is for our good. The rebelliousness is taken away. And my friends, the Lord knows how to do it, how to humble us. Humble thyself under the mighty hand of God. And so, my friends, it is a solemn thing if we don't know anything of it, what it is to be humbled. I know that we know much of the other side. But there will be those times, if we are the Lord's children, when there will be a humbling, when we should be broken down, when we should be made submissive.

[3:44] We have cases in the Word of God of those that were made submissive. And they were stubborn cases. There was Saul on the road to Damascus. He was stopped. He was broken down. He was made willing.

[4:07] He cried unto the Lord, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? He was ready to serve the Lord. But prior to that, he was rebellious. He persecuted the Lord and his people. But the Lord humbled him.

[4:32] What a mercy, my friends. Then there was Jonah. He was rebellious. He was determined he was going to go his own way.

[4:50] And he began to go in that way. He refused to go and preach the Lord's Word. And he took a ship to Tarsus. He found it.

[5:11] My friends, he didn't find his way hedged up, did he? The Lord left him. How solemn it was, though. At first, it seemed all right. There he was in the ship.

[5:32] And he was asleep, unconcerned. Perhaps we might say he had peace of mind. He thought he had.

[5:49] But he didn't last long, did he? No, the Lord came. He was to be humbled. But my friends, if I might speak this honorably to the Lord, he needed a lot of humbling.

[6:11] Some are humbled quicker and easier than others.

[6:22] And I often feel what a mercy it would be if we were like that, humbled easily. For I believe we would be spared of much suffering.

[6:37] But you see, my friends, the Lord will work. He will humble. He will make willing. And there will be chastisement.

[6:52] There will be the rod. There will be one thing upon another until we humble ourselves. You see, in the end, Jonah had to go and preach that word.

[7:06] He couldn't get away from it. And the Lord humbled him. He dealt with him until he humbled him. But look where he had to go.

[7:19] In the belly of hell. Oh, the terrors he must have passed through in that fish's belly.

[7:32] In pitch darkness. But he repented. And the Lord delivered him.

[7:49] Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. This is God's word to you and me. Is there any of us rebellious?

[8:06] Is there any of us objecting to a pathway that we're having to walk in? Is there any of us or any of us that are objecting to the way the Lord is dealing with us or another?

[8:28] Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. My friends, the Lord reigns. Nothing happens by chance.

[8:41] us. And so, we shall be brought there sooner or later if we're the Lord's.

[8:55] Yes. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exhort you in due time.

[9:08] and then we just notice that there is a time and we felt there was two ways to interpret it.

[9:21] There were those times here below when we are tossed, when we are in the darkness, when death is upon us in our spirits.

[9:33] spirits. But there's those times when the Lord will exhort us. He will lift us up.

[9:45] And he will bless us. He will deliver us. And friends, do not some of us, maybe all of us, I know not, but have we not experienced those times?

[10:07] perhaps just one or two, I don't know. They're not frequent. But, have there ever been a time when the dear Lord has raised us up, when he's brought us up out of that horrible pit, and raised us up to a hope in his mercy, blessed us in our soul.

[10:34] We felt his love and mercy was upon us. Sweet, blessed time, my friends. And I would say this, it's a foretaste of heaven, but it comes to an end.

[10:54] this is not our rest. We have some more toiling and rowing to do.

[11:07] We've got a little further to go yet. There's some more darkness to enter into. There's more tribulation to pass through.

[11:22] But the Lord is faithful. He will exalt you in due season. And then we notice secondly that there is finally at the end of this life death.

[11:43] And there will be that exalting. the dear Lord will deliver us. Deliver us from this body of sin and death.

[12:00] He'll bring us to that place. He'll take us to that place that he has gone to prepare for us.

[12:10] yes. Yes. And then we come to this next verse casting all your care upon him for he careth for you.

[12:31] my friends when this is made over to us it is most sacred it is most blessed casting all your care upon him that's the first thing it's in that walk it's in that pathway that we shall prove that he cares for us.

[13:10] You see friends in real religion there's a pathway to be walked out. In real religion faith is needed.

[13:31] In real religion we have to act. Yes we have to act and it is through the blessed spirit that we act casting all your care upon him all your care.

[13:58] Sometimes friends we are bowed down with twice ten thousand things. We don't know where to begin. There's so many cares.

[14:16] It is beyond us. We feel we cannot manage them. We cannot begin to put them right. All sorts of things.

[14:28] Things in the world, things in the family, things in the church, things in our land. Casting all your care upon him.

[14:43] are my friends, the secret things of our hearts. Their deep cares.

[15:00] us. us. When we are tossed to and throw, when we are in the darkness, when we cannot find him, when we have trials and tribulations and we still cannot find him, when his word mocks us, when the devil mocks us, what are we to do?

[15:25] casting all your care upon him, you say, oh, if only I could. Yes, friends, people will say, you've only got to do it.

[15:43] But the living child of God has to prove, my friends, he has got no free will. He can't do these things. He can't believe.

[15:57] The pathway is real. It's painful. Casting all your care upon him.

[16:09] Oh, my friends, when the Lord gives us just a little glimpse, a little glimpse, that he is God, that he is almighty, when there is a grace given, so that we can venture, venture with our load of sin, venture with our cares and our troubles and our concerns and our crooked things, we can venture, we can tell him, we can go to him, we fairly understand, we feel he knows, we don't know why we have to walk in those paths often, they hurt us, they trouble us, but my friends, casting all your care upon him, oh, isn't it, do we not know something of it, even in a natural way, haven't there been those times, perhaps particularly in our younger days, when we've had some deep care, some deep trouble, some deep concern, some great problem, and we've been able to go to our parents and tell them, and they've been concerned, they've cared, they've shown it, they've given a hearing ear, how much more spiritually, with our heavenly father, casting all your care upon him, yes, he does bow down his ear, he does hear, you look at the psalms, and the many things recorded there, of the experiences of David in particular, of the things he passed through, the things he entered into, how he was tormented, how he was hunted, all many things, he didn't know what to do, he was hunted like a partridge, he felt certain he would perish one day by the hand of Saul, casting all your care upon him, for he caries for you, was there any evidences?

[18:53] Yes, there was, yes, David, did cast his care upon the Lord, he refused his servants to go over and take off the head of Shimei, because he is casting his care upon the Lord, he knew that Shimei could not curse him if the Lord didn't permit him, him, and if I might say it rightly, I believe David wasn't really concerned about the curses of Shimei, he was a man, he had a God, a God that he served, a God that he loved, he had those evidences that the Lord loved him, the Lord had preserved him, he brought him through many battles,

[19:58] I know he had his fears, he was a man, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, ah, my friends, what a wonderful thing it is, to have a God, to have a God that we can go to and tell him of our troubles, I do like that scripture, that account of the John the Baptist's disciples, when John was in the prison, Herod as you know, had put him in prison, and he had ordered his execution, and when

[21:02] John's own disciples heard of it, they went to Jesus, they told him all, they cast their care upon him, upon him, yes, friends, where, what better place could they have gone to, they were full of sorrows, are you, are you, are you, are you, full of sorrows to die, in some particular, cast your care upon him, you might be feeling a bit better, you might be thinking no man careth for your soul, you might feel there isn't one that you can talk to about these things, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, ah, my friends, many have proved this to be true, many have been unable to do it, and it is a word to all the

[22:21] Lord's children, and I believe they will all come there, they will all come there, because they have many, many things that trouble and perplex them, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, that's the secret of it all, friends, that's why they come to the Lord, have you been to the Lord, have you taken your burden to him, have you been there in the past with it, where are you today, you say I'm in the darkness, I can't find him, I'm tormented, I'm troubled, I fear lest I'm a hypocrite, casting all your care upon him, have you taken it there, have you had those things in the past that you took to him, has the

[23:33] Lord changed, has he altered, did you prove then that the Lord carest for you, and now you're saying in your heart, he doesn't, he's left you, he's deserted you, my friends that's the unbelief of the heart, that's the temptations of the devil, the Lord doesn't change, he doesn't begin his work in our poor sinner's heart and then leave it, he doesn't begin the work of grace in the poor sinner's heart and then leave them to go the rest of the way the self, no, he begins the work, true, he does tarry, he does hide his face, it's true, they do have to walk some of the pathway feelingly alone, alone, and yet not alone, because the

[24:46] Lord's eye is upon them, because he cares for you, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, him, I suppose this is one of the most well-known texts there are, we've heard of it so many times, we've seen many texts printed and framed and hung on the wall, but my friends, to walk this out is a deep work, a deep work of experience, because a poor sinner doesn't come into this place of his own carnal heart, he comes here under pressure, he comes under the influence of the spirit, he is as it were dragged through these things, through the necessity of them, through the weight of them, they come to the

[25:56] Lord, it's just the same as I've already said about Jonah, they come to that place where they can't go any further, it's too heavy, the weight is too heavy, the concern is too great, death is too, so real, and so my friends, there's a coming to the Lord, casting all your care upon him, give me Christ, or else I die, and for he careth for you, for he careth for you, all the blessedness of it, the sacredness of it, my friends, my friends, but you know, friends, we're all the same, it seems we're all the same, we have these blessed times, these blessed spots, where we come into that place where we are unable to cast our burdens upon him, all our care upon him, we're enabled, enabled to tell him all, he has drawn near, he has blessed us, he has shed his love abroad in our hearts, and then as we journey along, we come into these places, trials, afflictions, darkness, we go backward and forward and we cannot find him, we hate ourselves, we see ourselves as lost, ruined sinners, where are we, why, we fear, we fear lest we've been mistaken, lest we've been deceived, lest we are a hypocrite, ah my friends, but the law doesn't change, our old friend in the adjoining house, the aged deacon, that's where he is now friends, talking to him in the interval, it's light he wants, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, but you see, my friends, we find it so hard to believe that he cares for us, because of the darkness, because of the trials, because of the waiting, because of the affliction, and the weeks and the months go by, and sometimes the years go by, but my friends, he's faithful, oh he's faithful, you have now therefore sorrow, but I'll see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and as our dear friend quoted to me in the interval, up the road, he reminded me of that word, where the dear Lord says,

[29:35] I've gone to prepare a place for you, and if I've gone to prepare a place for you, I shall come again and receive you unto myself, my friends, that's what his children are waiting for, that's what they're longing for, is that your care, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, he careth for you, for you, and it doesn't matter friends, whether we're in the hospital bed, it doesn't matter my friends, whether we have affliction of body, or whether we have affliction of mind, it will not alter it, no it won't alter it, the love of Christ is eternally the same, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, ah, you say, but how will I ever do that if

[30:42] I lose the faculties of my mind, my friends, oh, the Lord sees his children, he remembers, he knows how they have called upon him, he knows how they have waited upon him, how they have cried unto him, and my friends, even in the midst of the affliction, when the faculties of the mind are lost, there are those spots, there are those moments when they are as clear as crystal, that the Lord reigns within them, and they know him, and they know his voice, yet you and me, they don't know.

[31:32] Ah, they're sacred things, blessed things, friends, it proves to us that nothing can separate us from the love of God, no, not even death itself, no, it cannot.

[31:55] Casting all your care upon him, for he carers for you. Have you got a pathway before you?

[32:15] Are you afraid to go forward into it? are you tossed to and fro whether you should go forward in that pathway?

[32:32] Are you wondering whether it's right or whether it's wrong? My friends, the heart, when it is exercised, it gets very tossed, very concerned.

[32:50] It wants to do that which is right. It's afraid of doing that which is wrong. what are we to do?

[33:02] Perhaps there's a, as we might say naturally, there's a time limit. We have to give an answer. Casting all your care upon him, for he carers for you.

[33:19] You say, but I've told him, I've done it, I haven't got an answer. Casting all your care upon him, for he carers for you.

[33:34] And my friends, we turn around sometimes and we feel, we think, well, these things mock us. I've gone to the Lord, I've told him, I've spread it before him, he hasn't given me an answer, and here I am, I've got to make a decision.

[33:50] But my friend, have you begged of the Lord, if his presence go not with you, to carry you not up hence, can you not go forward with that?

[34:06] If it's wrong, my friends, he'll hedge up your way, he'll bring it to nothing. I believe he will, I know he will, I have proved he does.

[34:17] if we take it to the Lord, if we cast our care upon him, if we're willing to go either way according to his will and purpose, and that's what matters, because our old flesh is determined, left to itself to go in one particular pathway.

[34:41] It doesn't want the other pathway, but grace in exercise will make us willing to go either way.

[34:53] You see, we come back to the beginning of the text, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and if we're to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, my friends, we'll be willing to go either way.

[35:11] Abraham was. You remember Abraham a lot. Abraham said to Lot, you choose the way, you go which way you want. Abraham was prepared to go the other way, whichever way it was.

[35:26] And what happened? Why? Lot nearly lost his life. His wife did lose her life, but Abraham was blessed.

[35:38] Christ. Ah, friends, how we need grace. How we need grace that we might be humbled, that we might be made willing to walk in that pathway that the Lord has appointed for us, that his will might be done, not our will, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

[36:13] Ah, my friends, you may say, well, when I can feel the Lord loves me and cares for me, I can commit everything in his hands.

[36:31] yes, I know, it's easy then, isn't it? It's easy then. But my friends, think of the love of God, think of his faithfulness.

[36:46] Do you think he's going to shut out your prayer because you are in darkness, because you cannot find him, because you cannot hear his voice?

[36:57] Do you think he's going to take no notice when you cast your care upon him, when all the time he does care for you? No, the unbelief, my friends, of our flesh and the temptations of the devil will do all it can to keep us from going to the Lord and casting our care upon him.

[37:20] It says you're wasting your time. But the poor sinner that's burdened, my friends, is pressurized, yes, is pressurized and he has to come to the Lord and he has to cast his care upon him.

[37:44] Ah, my friends, we have to prove this and I'm sure you've had to prove that some of our mountains are mole-ills to the world.

[38:01] They don't mean nothing to them. They laugh and snigger at us because they become mountains. But the Lord doesn't forbid us, my friends, to go to him with them.

[38:16] He says casting all your care, everything, whether it's small or whether it's great. It's your cares. it's the things that trouble you, it's the things that perplex you, it's the things that torment you, it's the things you fear over.

[38:39] Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Oh, my friends, I would that we might know more of this blessed relationship.

[38:57] The unity of the Spirit, the Lord and his children are one. Oh, we seem to set ourselves aside so often.

[39:13] I know it's the sin that we feel within us that separates us, that drives us away. all my friends, to come a little closer, to come into the sweet realisation of this blessed union, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

[39:42] If only faith would rise up in our hearts, if only we could look beyond the clouds, look beyond the mountains, look beyond the impossibilities to our God.

[40:03] God, I believe I've been there once, I know I've been there once, friends, when by faith I looked beyond the world and the clouds in the skies, right to where the Lord was.

[40:27] love, and my friends, it was there I found love, it was there I found mercy and compassion and forgiveness.

[40:47] He careth for you, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Ah, what a wonder it is, what a mercy it is.

[40:59] The Lord, so far away in eternity in heaven, and yet, he sees us here below, and yea, my friends, he dwells within us.

[41:12] If we're his children, he dwells within us. I would that we could experience it and feel it more in our hearts hearts.

[41:24] So often, it's so different with us, isn't it? So often we cry out, can ever God dwell here in such a heart as mine?

[41:39] But he does. He does, my friends. If he's quickened us into life, if he's opened our blind eyes, if he's caused us to know his voice, do you know his voice?

[41:55] Do you know when he doesn't come in the services of God's house? Do you know when it's all dry and barren? Do you know what it is when it's deadness and darkness and there's no love felt in your heart and you can't call upon him, you can't cast your care upon him?

[42:14] I believe these are evidences, my friends, that the Lord dwells within you. Yes, I do. Because he is enlightened.

[42:27] He's caused us to hear his voice and know it. And these are the ones that will come to him and they'll cast all their care upon him.

[42:41] They will and they'll find sweet relief. because he careth for you. That's the secret of it.

[42:55] Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. My friends, that is not only for the present, it's for the future.

[43:12] Isn't it often the future that is so painful to us? Isn't it often the future that presents so many questions, so many impossible things?

[43:28] How shall we do? How shall we do? Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you?

[43:40] My friends, when we are so enabled, then there will be a trusting in him, there will be a committing of the way unto him, there will be, the burden will be lightened, the issue will be left in his hands.

[44:02] God's grace. God's grace. God's grace. My friends, some of us have proved this, and I hope there will be others yet that will prove it.

[44:15] When we have gone before the church, regarding the ordinances of God's house, oh, there was a casting of our care upon him.

[44:32] There was a leaving of the future in his hands. The flesh and the devil said they'll never receive you. You haven't got enough experience.

[44:46] You haven't got the grace. You lack casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you, and he'll deal with it, friends.

[44:58] He has the hearts of all men in his hands. He shows, he opens the eyes. Oh, my friends, how good it is when we are enabled to leave it in his hands and go forward, leaving the issue in his hands.

[45:23] My friends, it's in these things that we shall prove that all things work together for good to them that love God, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

[45:47] May the Lord enable us each so to walk humbly before him, to trust in him, even unto the end.

[45:58] Amen.