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[0:00] We'll speak this evening of the Lord's Heart from the first official of Peter, chapter 5, verses 6 and 7.

[0:12] First official of Peter, chapter 5, verses 6 and 7. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exhort you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

[0:37] You will see at once the connection between this text and the one from which we spoke this morning. The same words, food, experience, compound in both of them, one at a very different stage in the history of the Church than the other.

[0:59] Both of them are very necessary. Same experience, thought to say, like the glow, the humbling work of the Holy Spirit, the necessity for it, the benefit of it.

[1:17] Says David, Lord, my heart is not haunted. Have I exercised myself in matters too high for me? It's just a proud language.

[1:31] It's the essence of humility. And we are exhorted to humility. It is to be set before us as highly desirable and an attainable grace.

[1:47] Just as faith, hope, love, patience, all these places are set before us in that way that we are to exhort one another, or to speak well of them.

[2:05] To exhort anyone, as Paul says in closing the epistles of the Hebrews, suffer the word of exhortation.

[2:18] Bear with it. It's likely to come close. It's likely to be helpful. It's likely to be a word that's the spoken suffering.

[2:30] But don't put it on one side as if it had nothing to do with you. And it is most usual for those times when you need to suffer a word of exhortation to be timed by the Lord.

[2:49] And you're down in spirit, cast down by these cares that the next word speaks of. And how suitable a word that lifts you up is.

[3:05] And this is part of the inheritance of the Lord's people. They're not always on a low grain.

[3:16] They're lifted up. There comes times when the Lord appears to them over the mountains of the darkness. and the ways cast down.

[3:27] And the ways cast down may play. There are times when the word of exhortation proves to be a tonic tool.

[3:38] And so we have the great truth that there is an actual place in due time.

[3:50] I like that. I like that. In due time. Now, this remarkable time of God is his time.

[4:03] Not out. Your time is always ready. It's like an exhortation, a lifting up every day, isn't it?

[4:14] But no. He's an exhortation, says Peter, in due time. And when that time comes, there's no doubt about the reality of the lifting up, isn't it?

[4:29] And how is this accomplished in the lives of truly unworthy sinners who are really convinced and saddened by their unbelieving heart?

[4:44] Who say hard things secretly before God. As if they're asking and really saying, I don't think the Lord will do.

[4:59] They may not go as far as I don't think he can. The man in the gospel did, didn't he? And he came with his ear, if thou canst do anything, He met with a very sharp rebuke, which at the same time was an exhortation.

[5:21] If thou canst relieve me, all things are possible to him that believeth. And that these things are hollowed by an admission, as they were with him.

[5:39] And he cried with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine underings. What a verse, what an experience.

[5:53] You could dwell on it all day to have great in us. The blessedness of that radical change brought in that man's heart, simply by the Lord's kindly but sharp work, if thou canst believe.

[6:13] He answered him in his own language. Oh, it is a part of the gospel to be preached that we are to be exhorted.

[6:26] The first verse of this chapter says, The elders which are among you I exhort. I exhort you. I said this before you as an exhortation.

[6:39] What is it? Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, not of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being an example through the flock.

[7:02] The preacher must bear solemn responsibility, solemn responsibility, because the sheep have got eyes and ears and discernment.

[7:16] The Lord's pride and exercise people are not blind. They can detect and discern. It is therefore incumbent upon the preacher himself that he bear this in mind.

[7:37] And if he were left to himself, nothing to weigh him down, he would be a very poor example. But for the reason that he has to walk the same pathway and often go before the sheep, he has to learn what these things really mean.

[8:03] Therefore, he is washed. The flock was, see. And it is useless for him to build up with his tongue what he kicks over with his feet.

[8:22] That's the matter. It is solemn. And wonders however anyone can choose of themselves to stand upon the walls of Zion.

[8:39] It is no enviable place indeed not. Not to the flesh. In this therefore Peter takes upon himself, and rightly so, to exalt the elders of the flesh.

[8:56] And leads down to this subject which we are dealing with today, of pride and humility.

[9:07] May all of you be subject one to another, be cloned with humility. And what a happy little flock that is, where there is this clothing among us.

[9:22] What a mercy, if it's among us here, the spirit of it. What a mercy, I'm able to speak of it in some degree as God's great favour.

[9:39] Not flattery. How you meet God's full care, haven't you? You meet God's cross, in some form or another. That will teach you where it does. Looking at home. Seeking grace for yourself. As well as others. These personal trials bring about this constant need to cast your care.

[9:53] upon him. Whilst occupied with this, priveled, Whilst occupied with this privileged work, there is an aid wrought in the heart, now flowing with that spirit of humility, is keeping others better than themselves. Now I've watched this work, I've seen it work, and it's a wonderful working.

[10:51] Over many years now have I watched this gracious work go on. Due time, that due time can take 10, 20, 30 and 40 years. Not the work of five minutes.

[11:12] And it's ever present with us. I'm watching for it now. Watching to see this precious garment taken out of the heavenly wardrobe.

[11:24] Yeah. It's great for garment to see it put on. I've seen it in the past.

[11:36] Remarkable changes have been wrought and can still be and will still be wrought in Zion. Word of exhortation here therefore that it is a garment worthy to be wrought and wrought as God shall bestow it in due time.

[12:04] So that with the lying low there's a lifting up. And there is no clearer view of this than to see the church of God not standing in her native sin, all native ability, but to see her united in Christ as the great head of the church.

[12:30] And to see that he, first of all, was wrought low. So he was a son. And one night to follow the argument through reasonably supposed that he would be exempted from any suffering, or any low office.

[12:59] Though he was a son, yet worthy obedience by the things which is subtle. My servant shall be exalted and extolled and very high, says Isaiah, in which we were this morning.

[13:15] In the 52nd chapter. Lord Jesus, he was made little lower than the angel. He took a step lower. And though he thus condescended to this lowest tide in this work, and his holy office as the head of the church, and his holy office as the head of the church, and he condescended down to even death.

[13:59] So that this is the secret of the Lord's people exhortation. He descended that he might also ascend, as Paul tells us.

[14:13] And so this lowest state of ours is ransomed from the fall. Guilt, sin removed.

[14:27] That terrible first chapter of Isaiah, setting forth the dreadful lowest state of the ancient Israelites, as they were under the law.

[14:41] So now leads right through, as we were saying this morning, through the exhortation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[14:53] And thus, in him, there is the possibility and the certainty. Every one united through Christ, their head shall be exalted in due time, lifted up.

[15:13] But in this, it is not a matter of terms and expressions. It is a matter of walking it out. This is how the Lord Jesus walked it out.

[15:29] It is not a glossary of that which is likely to happen, or even could happen. But it's actually a history and facts of what he did.

[15:41] So that by these means, we are instructed the benefits of union with the Lord Jesus. Even the most humble member of the body united to the living body.

[15:59] Peter had learned this over a fairly lengthy period. We do not know quite how long, nor does it matter.

[16:10] There was a time previous to the Lord's death that he did many strange things.

[16:22] After Pentecostal blessings were poured out, he became the chief speaker. And was succeeded, or paralleled with the Apostle Paul.

[16:36] The gospel began its fair work and course toward the country of Asia Minor. And from then spread, we do not know.

[16:50] And in this way, the maturity of Peter is clearly seen. We see the dregs of his prejudice in the case of the sheep let down from heaven.

[17:08] And he said, no Lord, I have never touched anything that is common around the... We see the dregs of this when he left the Gentiles hearing that Paul had come.

[17:26] And we're back to the Jews. Paul had occasion to approve them. So, isn't a clean cut like cutting a tree down?

[17:38] It is line upon line. Here a little and there a little in due time. And this is God's way.

[17:50] And a blessed way it is. At the same time, it is accompanied with these times, to quote the psalmist, down-sitting and about rising.

[18:04] And one is surely connected to the other in Christ. And, how he were God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, he married himself with no reputation, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

[18:32] And these soul-comforting truths are found in the pathway of experience.

[18:44] And it is here that the apostle learned his. So that when he says, Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God, what a volume of scripture he had behind him.

[19:02] How the Old Testament, which was all they had, must have opened up to him in its various scriptures, such as we were speaking of this morning.

[19:17] What a delight to think of the blessing the Old Testament was to the disciples and apostles.

[19:29] No one would ever say that the Old Testament is out of God, could they? Couldn't. Couldn't possibly be.

[19:41] Those who criticize and pull to pieces the word of God have little understanding of the value of the Old Testament. Those ancient rocks upon which the waves have broken time and time again.

[19:59] They're still there. Still there. And Alice can more nobly as the years go on. Surely it is true to say this with the Old Testament.

[20:13] That marvelous beauty that there is in those rocks that have stood the test of time. So Peter has the Old Testament behind him and this revealed work of God and purpose of God that he will bring down and lift up.

[20:38] And he does it in individual cases. It is the word to Jeremiah, isn't it? That he should go down into the potter's house.

[20:51] There he should hear words. A very common thing to Jeremiah was a potter. What a lesson he learned there.

[21:03] God's authority, ability not only to do it with individuals but nations. This was very important for Jeremiah who was in the midst of seeing his own beloved country brought down to nothing.

[21:18] And so in the Gospel, how beautiful it is, the Apostle says, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was committed unto him.

[21:33] And so in the Bible is that mold. The martyr says, you mothers know what to mold, don't you? Well the children do too. Fill their buckets up with sand on the beach and turn them upside down.

[21:48] And there's their mold. And there's their mold. That's what God does with his people. He boils them into the mold of divine truth.

[22:00] They take that shape. Oh, how blessed is the word of exhortation therefore to covet and bigot.

[22:11] It's almost reversed, isn't it? To exhort and to humble. One is to go up, another is to go down. And yet here in Christ, opposite me.

[22:25] And this is his working grace. He lifted up the poor of the downhill. Oh, heaven be my throne, says the 57th of Isaiah.

[22:40] Knoth my footstool yet to this man when I look, that is poor, with contrite spirit, trembling at my words, at exhortation.

[22:55] Though we are exhorted to covet earnestly the best gifts and truly this is one of them. Though we've got to be put in love with humility.

[23:09] We don't want to wear a garment out of which we've fallen foul, do we? Our natures will not want this garment.

[23:20] We shall not want to walk among one another, humbly and tenderly. We'll not want to go to the prayer meeting, the proud spirit, shall we?

[23:33] No competition in a prayer meeting where men are brought low in spirit, is it? No, I don't compete one with the other.

[23:48] The heroes don't say, well, so-and-so's was a better prayer than so-and-so's, do they? No. A messy thing, isn't it real?

[23:59] There is no competition in the household of faith except to be the lowest. The lowest place, therefore, is to be earnestly desired.

[24:14] Humble yourself. Now this means, first of all, before God. So it must be there. It must be according to divine word and will.

[24:27] One of the well-known ways that the Lord empties his people is by repentance.

[24:38] The spirit of repentance poured into your bath, emptying you in such a way that you won't be able to sit low enough.

[24:49] You can't pass it on to others, what it is really, only exhort them to covet it, and not to dread it merely.

[25:01] I believe I know what it was and has been to sink into nothing, under a spirit of a godly sorrow, under a clear view of my own wickedness.

[25:21] And I've been unthankful to the Lord that there is sweetness in it, sweetness in it. The reality in it, the blessedness that cannot be put into work.

[25:36] And this humility is not self-made, is it? These tears are not imitations. No.

[25:47] Covet this. Humble yourself. Humble yourself. Now, in what way? By casting all your care upon it.

[25:59] But only under the mighty hand of God. We must not think that we can produce this of ourselves.

[26:12] The mighty hand of God will do this. And mighty it is. We see rebels. We've been rebels ourselves. We've said, no, I'll never do that.

[26:26] I'll never believe that. I'll never walk that pathway. There are those who've said, I'll never do that. When the time comes, the due time, for them to be exalted, this exaltation consists in making them willing to do the very thing they secretly resolve they'll never do.

[26:53] And thus pride is broken down. Thus they are humbled in the dust and empty. And this could go on and they not be able to say what's going on until the issue, and they conceive plainly.

[27:13] Look how the prodigal was humble. Look how tenderly goes back to his father. See how divine wisdom speaks a parable so full of meaning.

[27:30] And hinges it upon this when he came to himself. He hadn't been himself before. No, indeed he hadn't.

[27:41] He hadn't seen which way he was going and what a rod he was mounting for his own path. And he came to himself.

[27:52] How many of us have come to this place? On more than one occasion we've come to ourselves. The publican, indeed, didn't he? Spoke upon his breath the beautiful terms of the Lord Jesus, isn't he?

[28:08] I wonder how many of us have ever gone as far as that under a sense of sound of us. As we were speaking last Sabbath of Job, the ultimate issue, which God pictured him again and again.

[28:27] I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, that now mine eyes seeeth thee. Therefore I have called myself and repent in dust and ashes.

[28:42] so that these things cast it to you, the ground for the exhortation. And one could go on if they were helped, so to do, casting all your care upon it.

[28:59] Now this means what it says. A complete resignation of all. Not part, but all.

[29:12] So this is an extremity. This is where the light falls and is thrown in the flesh. You have tried to get rid of it.

[29:25] You've sought the Lord to take it away. You have thrice sought removal. No.

[29:36] That's not the way. The answer which the Lord gave him was such a remedy to his trouble, such a knife to his eyes, that he is exhorted to a very blessed place which is indeed heaven upon earth.

[29:58] Most gladly therefore, and I rather glory in my infirmity, the Spirit of Christ, may rest upon you, the Spirit of Christ.

[30:14] We do much of this Spirit of Christ. We preach much, broke much of the Spirit of Christ. Spirit of nevertheless, not my will, thine did that.

[30:30] The Spirit of Christ in his condescension. In the deep agonizing sufferings through which he passed.

[30:43] The Spirit of Christ, the uncomplaining spirit. So, we must not be surprised that cares, and anxieties will press upon us.

[30:58] Now just to think of these for a moment, how person they are. Take your mind back twelve months.

[31:09] And think if you can't of, some of the things that were a care to you then. Where are they at?

[31:22] Have you been delivered from there? Have they gone? You say, well no, not in a short twelve months they haven't.

[31:33] Well go back ten years then. Or whatever time you like. Look at these cares. Some of them are taken away overnight.

[31:51] They seem as if they were going to last for a lifetime. Yet how one care follows another.

[32:03] If we put it like this, we should be better understood perhaps. And that is, that we've always got care.

[32:14] And nature would gladly be rid of them, wouldn't it? Has there ever been a time when you've not been without a care?

[32:27] You look back then. Back over life's path. Those cares that are now gone forever.

[32:38] Yes. What did you do with them? Brings me back to what I said this morning. Where do you take your cares? How good it is therefore to be able to take your cares to the right place.

[32:55] Not to man, please. He from man whose breath is in his nostrils. For wherein shall he be accounted of?

[33:06] But for the turn of grace. And look at the peculiar nature of these cares. They're not things that you've brought on yourself, holy and alone.

[33:20] They're brought into your life. The scriptures speak of two kinds of cares. And one that Joe mentions, He has set darkness in my path.

[33:32] Suddenly they have come to the cross. You had no hand in it. You didn't ask for it. The least of all did you expect it.

[33:43] You can't. You can't. The other kind of care is that you bring in your own life. Through your own folly. Ah, these are different aren't they?

[33:56] These bring with them the sting of conscience, don't they? You feel with regard to these cares, oh, if only I hadn't done that. Poor David and others like him.

[34:10] Endure the sting of a gifted conscience. In the darkness that came into their path. Yours may be the same.

[34:21] It's a new cast, yes. You say, I wish I could. Well, that's something to be able to say that.

[34:34] And yet you see there are those who heap trouble upon their heads and know nothing about the relief of the throne of Christ.

[34:46] We're not prying into any other life than our own, are we? You look at those things, and we were speaking of idols this morning, that you can't pray about.

[34:59] Commit to the Lord. If you've got any of these, they'll be very troublesome, dangerous. And if so be, through the Lord's mercy to you, you can cast your cares, all of them, upon him.

[35:21] You'll be a weakling. And yet you'll be relieved. You will feel that this is fully in accordance with the will and word of God.

[35:36] The enemy won't be able to come in and say, whatever you've proven such a weakling for, can't you manage these things yourself? Can't you bear a little trouble and carry a little fraud?

[35:50] But here you come. Casting all your care upon him. Now this all-embracing word then, care, is so comprehensive that there's no loophole.

[36:10] It means a terrible surrender. Top might is experience. Nothing in my hands I bring.

[36:22] And the outcome of it is nothing in my hands I hold. It's all under-traceful. It's a very interesting car, you see.

[36:35] But when you think of the meaning of these words, to which we're so used, how suitable they are, under-traceful.

[36:46] Oh, there's something beautiful about the everlasting arms being underneath. Underneath.

[36:58] And this is where they're needed. And this is where they are. So that this casting is greatest work.

[37:09] Secret work. This is where the garment comes in of humility. Okay? What are the other garments than this?

[37:20] Do you know what this last thing is? This will be your satisfaction. But the next point is this.

[37:31] The question that arises is as to the ability or willingness of the Lord to help you with. Now who better qualified than Peter to say this, for he care is for you.

[37:51] He had experienced the Lord's care. He disregarded it among one occasion. The Lord had given him plain warning that Satan had desired to have him.

[38:05] But he didn't take any notice. You may have had very plain warning of what's to come, but like Peter, you'd not take any notice.

[38:18] You thought that wouldn't be your... Satan desired to have you. He goes about like a roaring lion, says Peter. He was wise after the event.

[38:32] But oh, the time came when he knew what that sin was. Satan had desired to have you. He didn't cast that care on the Lord, did he?

[38:45] No. All this awful pride, you see, that we're all subject to. We mustn't look at this. I mustn't look at it.

[38:56] As if it's something that I'm immune from. I'm not. The perils of pride are terrible. The dangers of this are great.

[39:10] The heart uplifts with God's own gift. Makes him gracious. His maker tremble.

[39:22] Casting this care, many others like him, upon him. For he careth for it. Words from a man of experience, then, who had at one time said, Oh, all men forsake thee, yet will not I.

[39:42] You can rest assured, Lord Jesus, that I shall leave you and forsake you. You can put your trust in me, Lord, I shall be alright.

[39:56] Doesn't ring, does it? Hold down the up and I shall be saved. That rings, doesn't it? That's got a ring of the gospel in it.

[40:09] But it is this that brings anxiety and care. Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you.

[40:24] And it is a gospel on its own, or a sermon on its own, really. What provision is made, isn't it? God's care. The Old Scripture and Now and the Old and New Testament.

[40:41] The remarkable provision in the work of the Holy Spirit. The remarkable provision in the ministration of angels.

[40:53] Set forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. The ministration, can a woman forget her sucking child?

[41:04] She's that. Yet will not I forget this. The care. As a father pitieth his children.

[41:16] Oh, the Lord pitieth those that fear them. There is a distinction to be made between a mother's love and a father's love. All floating upon the plain end and point, but different in their administration.

[41:36] So with the work of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. That poor, wretched sin who hated me.

[41:49] Though I saw Nile in his blood by the roadside. That guilty rebel who said, Never, never.

[42:02] That one who's enmity was strong against that one. I saw thee, says the Lord, his uncle of his people.

[42:14] Nedley says, how do you think? He saw me wooing. I did. In the fall. That love may not withstand it all, he saved me, from my lostest care.

[42:30] Love and kindness. Oh, how humble you are so. Therefore, Ah, you will be sent home tonight, and Have a great task.

[42:46] Point is this. Through desire in your heart, Is this your earnest desire? This care that's before you.

[42:59] Here's the coming move. The same time. Beautiful, isn't it? To be exhorted, to cast it. Not on man who's breathed in his nostrils. Not to put your trust in the, an arm of flesh. And so well, I hope it will be alright. To take it to the Lord. And leave it to the Lord. The hymright who says, Well, when at his feet they grow, Yet bring their wants away.

[43:23] In every state. To be exhorted. And to be exhorted. To be exhorted. And to be exhorted. To be exhorted. they grow yet bring their wants away. Yes, in every state secure, kept as Githubas I. Tis well with them while night endure, and well when called to die. Cast in all your care of God. See, she's a man who breathes in his nostrils. And in closing, let me say this, that I started the day, or yesterday, or Friday, with these two scriptures. It's very often. There they are, married up together, to the best of the help the Lord has given them. May you and I have been able to put it into practice, being sure of this, and always the work of this nature for us to do. Amen.