The Essential Grace of Humility, Part 3

Recap: Humbling Under God's Mighty Hand (1 Peter 5:6)

0:03 Now let us turn again this evening to 1 Peter and chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter 5, and as we continue the ministry from this morning, I will simply read in your hearing the verses that were the focus of our attention, verses 6 and 7. 1 Peter, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you. Now let us again pray and ask that the God who has given us this book to reveal his heart and mind to us will be present to instruct us as we look to him in faith. Let us pray. Our Father, we know that as surely as a blind man cannot see the glory of the sun, the more soft but revealing glory of the moon and the stars, so we are blind when we come to your

1:20 word unless your Spirit gives us light, and we pray with the Apostle that you would open the eyes of our understanding, that we would be given illumination by the same Spirit who gave this book to us through the various penmen of Scripture. Our Father, we plead again your promise that if we who are evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will you, our Heavenly Father, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask, and we come asking out of a measure of felt sense of need and native darkness and blindness, Lord, come to us and help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

2:15 Now, if you were with us this morning, you know that I intended to open up verses 6 and 7 in 1 Peter 5 in our ongoing consecutive expositions of this entire letter, but I got only as far as verse 6, and since these two verses are an inseparable directive, I think, thought it the part of wisdom to come back to the passage this evening and really in a sense complete the message from this morning. Now for the few of you who are with us tonight who are not with us this morning let me take just a few moments to do two things. Number one to sketch in the larger context of verses 5b through verse 9. In this section of the epistle the apostle Peter turns from specific directives to elders and to church members to give these general directives to all of the people of God. You will notice the language of 5b. Yes all of you gird yourselves and from that part onward to verse 9 he is speaking to all of the people of God regardless of their present state of spiritual growth and development regardless

3:35 of their place in the functioning assembly of God's people. These directives the final expression of Peter's pastoral concerns for these saints in Asia Minor focus upon two major areas of concern. 5b through 7 it is the concern of the necessity for humility. Humility first of all on the horizontal plane they are to 5b through 7 it is the concern of the necessity for humility. Humility first of all on the horizontal plane they are to humble themselves with humility and relationship one to another for God resist the proud but gives grace to the humble and then as we saw this morning humility in the vertical dimension they are to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt them in due time casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. Then the second major area of concern 5b through 7 it is the concern of humility. Humility first of all on the horizontal plane they are to humble themselves with humility and relationship one to another for God resists the proud but gives grace to them. Then the second major area of concern 5b through 7 it is the concern of humility. Humility first of all on the

4:36 horizontal plane they are to humble themselves with humility and relationship one to another for God resists the proud but gives grace to them. Then the second major area of concern 5b through 7 it is the concern of humility. Humility first of all on the horizontal plane they are to humble themselves with humility and relationship one to another for God resists the proud but gives grace to them. Then the second major area of concern 5b through 7 it is the concern of humility. Humility first of all on the horizontal plane they are to humble themselves with humility and relationship one to another for God resists the proud but gives grace to them. Then the third major area of concern 5b through 7 it is the concern of humility. Humility first of all on the horizontal plane they are to humble themselves with humility and relationship one to another for God resists the proud but gives grace to people of God there in Asia Minor the necessity for continued wakefulness and watchfulness. And so in verses 8 and 9, that's the emphasis before he concludes with this marvelous benediction and this brief but again wonderful doxology to this great God who has been set before us in this epistle.

5:08 So that's the first thing I want to do is simply to remind those who were here and apprise those who were not of this larger context of the verse we will look at tonight and then secondly to give a distillation of what we considered together this morning. I call verse 6 a command with a purpose. The command being, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God and the purpose. Cause of purpose in order that he may exalt you in due time.

5:45 The command is that these believers humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. And we noted that this phrase, the hand of God, is language that focuses our attention upon the activity of God in his irresistible power amongst men whether restraining. And subduing his enemies or in the defense and chastisement of his children leading to their ultimate deliverance. And these afflicted saints are under the mighty hand of God.

6:25 All of the things that Peter has described throughout the entire epistle that underscore the various ways in which suffering and trial and difficulty come upon the people of God. Peter. Wants them to view all of these things as being disposed and directed and governed by God's almighty hand. And they are under that hand.

6:49 Not a hand that is against them in anger. But a hand that is upon them in fatherly love and concern. And they are to humble themselves or to be humbled under the mighty hand of God. They are not simply to grin and bear it.

7:08 They are not. They are not to top it out and say God is bigger than I and it's a losing business fighting such a God. But from the very depths of their inner being they are to bow before this God acknowledging that his ways are right and just and holy and good. And they are to do this remembering that this command issues him a distinct purpose.

7:33 Do this in order that this very God under whose mighty hand you submit yourselves may exalt you in due time. The due time most likely pointing to the consummation when those who have suffered with Christ will be exalted together with Christ. But also pointing to a principle seen throughout the scriptures that when God's mighty hand is upon a man, a woman to humble him, to humble her. When there is an acquiescence from the heart in that hand.

8:08 That fatherly chastisement often then God brings the humble child of God out into a place of exaltation and of greater usefulness. Archbishop Leighton whose commentary on 1 Peter is considered by almost every other commentator whom I have consulted in the course of these expositions as sort of a benchmark of the older commentators. He focuses upon this second aspect of the purpose for which God calls us to humble ourselves under his mighty hand. Listen to the good old Bishop.

8:45 Again he writes, Mark the necessity his mighty hand. There is no striving. It is a vain thing to flinch and struggle. For he does what he wills.

8:59 And his hand is so mighty that the greatest power of the creature is nothing to it. Yea, it is all derived from him. And therefore cannot do any wit against him. If you will not yield, you must yield.

9:14 If you will not be led, then you shall be pulled down and drawn. Therefore submission is your only course. This is the end why he humbles you. He lays weights upon you that you may be, and he uses the word in a way we would not use it, that you may be depressed.

9:33 In other words, that God may squeeze us to humble us. Now when this end is gained, that you are willingly so, then the weights are taken off and you are lifted up by his gracious hand. Otherwise it is not enough that he has humbled you by his hand unless you humble yourselves under his hand. Many have had great and many pressures, one affliction after another, and been humbled and yet not made humble as they commonly express the difference.

10:05 Humbled by force. Humbled by force in regard of their outward condition, but not humbled in their inward temper. And therefore as soon as the weight is off, like heaps of wool, we would say, as Dr. Tripp did, like a Nerf ball, once the pressure is off, the ball fills up with air again and goes back to its original size.

10:26 He's thinking of someone with a handful of wool, and he says the moment the pressure is off, it goes back to its original size as it's fluffed up with air. They rise up again and grow again as big as they were before their humbling. If we would consider this in our particular trials and aim at this deportment, it were our wisdom. Are they not mad who under any stroke quarrel or struggle against God?

10:55 What gain your children thus at your hands, but more blows? You see what he's saying? The child that fights the spanking gets more spanking. Nor is it so.

11:06 Is it an unseemly and unhappy way, openly to resist, and not only is it unseemly and unhappy to resist and strive, but even secretly to fret and grumble? For God hears the least whispering of the heart, and looks most how the heart behaves itself under his hand. Oh, humble acceptance of his chastisement is our duty and our peace, that which gains most on the heart of our Father. And makes the rod fall soonest out of his hand.

The Attendant Duty: Casting All Anxiety (1 Peter 5:7a)

11:41 When he sees that his hand is doing its work of humbling us from the heart, then God will also often take the humbled saint and bring him to a place of exaltation. Well, that's what we considered this morning, verse 6, under that simple heading of this instruction from the living God. It's about humbling ourselves, this command, with a purpose that he may exalt you. Now we come tonight to verse 7, casting all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you.

12:24 And we'll try to unpack this verse again in terms of a very simple title, the attending duty with a reason. Casting all your anxiety upon him. That's the attending duty. And here is the reason.

12:39 Because he cares for you. Now I've called it an attendant duty because, as I explained this morning, in the grammatical structure, the imperative is found in verse 6a. Humble yourselves.

12:57 Now we have a participial construction, casting all your anxiety. So to get the sense of what Peter had in mind as under the guidance of the Spirit, he wrote these words. Bring together 6a and 7a. Humble yourselves, casting.

13:17 Not humble yourselves by casting, but humble yourselves while casting. So that the humbling has as its attendant duty the casting of all of our anxieties upon him. While God's mighty...

13:38 The mighty hand is upon you, and you are seeking by his grace to be humbled by that hand or to humble yourself under that hand internally to embrace in the deepest recesses of your being the wisdom, the righteousness, the love, the sovereign designs and purpose of God for bringing us under his mighty hand as a concomitant spiritual exercise while submitting, while humbling, we are constantly to be casting all of our anxieties upon him. Now what is it that we are to cast upon him? It is our anxieties. We are not to act as though being under the mighty hand of God does not bring with it anxieties and go around with a plastic grin, a 32-tooth grin all the time to prove to people we're rejoicing. We're rejoicing. We're rejoicing. We're rejoicing.

14:38 We're rejoicing in the Lord always. No, when God's mighty hand is upon us, and one reads through the Psalms and sees this again and again, there can be a host of anxieties. God does not call upon us to ignore them. God does not call upon us to grin and bear them, to just cut it out and ride it through.

15:02 But he says, while humbling ourselves under his mighty hand, here is the attempt to be to cast all of our anxieties upon him. Now remember the context. This is not a generic statement just picked out of the air. The context is the whole thrust of this letter, that the people of God are in the midst of concentrated affliction and opposition.

15:34 And as John Brown so often hits the nail on the head when he's described, describing these anxieties, listen to his wisdom. While every situation in human life may afford occasion for anxiety, there can be no doubt that the seasons of affliction are particularly calculated to excite painful anxieties. The mind gets into an anxious state. Everything assumes a dark, discouraging, alarming aspect.

16:04 How am I to sustain present evils? Or how am I to...

16:08 How am I to escape from them? How am I to avert apparently coming evils, the fiery trial that is among us? If they cannot be averted, how am I to endure them? These are questions which force themselves on the suffering mind.

16:24 And most sufferers will readily acknowledge that the fruitless attempt to get satisfactory answers to them has often greatly aggravated the pressures of the external calamity. And that the anxieties occasioned by affliction, have been felt to be a more insupportable burden than the affliction itself. Do you answer to that? Is there anything in your heart that says, He knows me.

16:50 He knows what the Christian experience is. The case of affliction which this text naturally brings before the mind is that of a Christian exposed to persecution on account of his religion. And it is one that is calculated to be particularly fertile in harassing cares and perplexing anxieties. Spoiled as I am already, or likely soon to be of my goods, how am I to meet my commitments and provide things honorable in the sight of men?

17:23 What's to become of my family? To provide for whom is one of the most clearly enjoined, strongly enforced of Christian duties? How am I to be enabled to sustain the sufferings to which I'm likely to be exposed, how am I to be enabled distinctly to see my duty in the midst of these pressures? I'm afraid I'll not be able to stand in the evil day.

17:49 I'm afraid my faith will fail. I shall make shipwreck of a good conscience. And what then will be the fearful result? As I deny the cause of truth, how will its enemies exult?

18:03 How will its friends be ashamed? What will be the more fearful result of this? To my own weak and guilty soul, the anguish of an outraged conscience, the frown of an insulted savior, and all this forever? John Brown goes on to say, An anxieties of this kind could not be confined to the individual's own case.

18:26 They naturally extended to the whole brotherhood and to the great cause of the gospel. This directive of this attendant duty has a context. This directive of this attendant duty has a context. And Peter, with his pastoral sensitivity, and with his desire to fulfill his Lord's commission to feed his lambs and tend his sheep and feed his sheep, He says to these believers, As you humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, understand and enjoy and avail yourself of this privileged attendant duty, casting all your anxieties, anxieties upon him. All of those concerns that rise out of a realistic assessment of the consequences of the hand of God being upon you. It is these things that are the object of this duty, our anxieties, and what are we to do with them? The text says, casting all your anxieties upon him. And what is the sense of this verb in its participial form, casting? Well, it's used only one other time in the New Testament. I want you to turn to the only other use in the New Testament.

Understanding the Act of Casting

19:47 In the Gospel of Luke, in the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 19, a lot of people next week will be reading this passage on what is called in the church calendar, Palm Sunday, that Sunday before the Passion Week leading to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And you'll remember that as they draw near to Bethany, that our Lord says to his disciples, go into that village, and there you're going to find a donkey, you're going to find a colt tied, whereon no man ever sat. Loose him, bring him to me. And then the Lord tells them, if anyone asks you, you just say the Lord has need of him. And as a little aside, I always take great comfort in that. Here's a dumb beast, and yet the Lord has need of him. The Lord has need of him. Creator of heaven and earth needs a donkey to fulfill his mission.

20:49 And now we read in verse 33, And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said to them, Why are you loosing the colt? And they said, The Lord has need of him. And they brought him to Jesus, now notice, And they threw their garments upon the colt, and set Jesus thereon. Here's our verb.

21:11 They threw their garments upon the colt. Now they had an outer garment, it would be like perhaps the closest semblance to us would be a heavy outerwear, sweater, or jacket. And as long as those garments were on their back, they weren't on the donkey's back. And the text says they threw their garments upon the colt.

21:37 When they got them off their back, they were totally on the colt. They couldn't be on the colt's back and their back at one and the same time. It's either on their backs or on the colt's back. And the text says they cast them upon the colt.

21:51 They threw them over the flanks of the colt. They got rid of them, and when the garments were off them, they were totally on the colt. The weight of them, the warmth of them, whatever else they exuded to this dumb animal, it was all on the colt's back. Now look at our text in 1 Peter.

22:12 Humble yourselves unto the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. Here's your attendant duty and privilege, casting all your anxieties upon Him. Not merely whining about them to Him, but casting them upon Him. Let's look.

22:38 Let's look at one or two Old Testament uses of this in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, Peter's working Bible. In 1 Kings chapter 19 and verse 19, we'll still look at two, but we'll look at this one because, again, it's so vivid, illustrating the sense, the vigor of this word. 1 Kings 19, again familiar, I trust, to many of you, the calling of Elisha under the direction of God. Elijah comes, and we read in verse 19 of 1 Kings 19, So he departed thence, and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth.

23:23 And Elijah passed over unto him, and here's our verb, and cast his mantle upon him. Here was a mantle transferred. As long as that shawl was over the back of the prophet Elijah, it was not resting on the back of Elisha. But when it got on Elisha, it was no longer on Elijah.

23:47 He cast it upon him. There was a total, real, visible, physical transfer of the mantle. Now Peter says, In the midst of the mighty hand of God upon you, here you are clothed with this multicolored, multi-materialed mantle, of your own. Of your anxieties.

24:11 And this is your attendant duty, while humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God, make a transfer of the mantle of your anxieties, casting all your anxieties upon him. And it is most likely that in using that language, which again, from Peter's working Bible, very familiar language, not the same tenses of the words, and same cadence, of the words, but the same language is used. Psalm 55 and verse 22.

24:48 Psalm 55 and verse 22. It's hard to believe that this passage was not in Peter's mind when he writes these words. Here is one of those Psalms of David in which he is feeling anxiety from the mighty hand of God that is upon him. Verse 6, Oh, that I had wings like a dove.

25:10 I would fly away and be at rest. I'd wander far off in logs in the wilderness. Here's a man that wants to get away from it all. The pressures are on him.

25:21 The mighty hand of God is pressing him with enemies, betrayers. He says in verse 12, It was not an enemy that reproached me. I could have borne it. Neither was he that hated me, that magnified himself against me.

25:35 But it was you, a man, my equal, my companion, my companion, my companion, your friend. We took sweet counsel together. This man knows the hand of God upon him in afflicted dispensations, as the old Puritans would call it. A combination of these things.

25:53 But now in the midst of this, notice what he has learned and what he's exhorting others to learn. Verse 22, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you. He will never suffer the righteous. He will never suffer the righteous.

26:10 He will never suffer the righteous. And now having received the counsel of God from his own Word, Peter, under the guidance of the Spirit, says to these saints,

26:22 Casting all your anxiety upon him. That is the attendant duty. Casting it all upon him. But you say, with what hands do I take my mantle of complex and intertwined anxieties and cast them?

26:41 What are the hands that enable me to take it and cast it upon Him? They're the hands of faith and of prayer.

The Reason: Because He Cares for You (1 Peter 5:7b)

26:51 Can you think of a verse? Philippians 4, 6 and 7. Be anxious for no thing. No thing.

27:00 It doesn't say, don't be anxious about the big things.

27:05 Or don't be anxious about the little things. God doesn't make, be anxious for no thing. But, in everything, by what? Prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

27:20 With the acknowledgement that God is hearing your cry. That God welcomes your coming to Him with those things that would cause carking and eroding anxiety. Be anxious for no thing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be answered.

27:41 Be made known unto God and the peace of God that passes all understanding. Now, a military imagery. Shall garrison your heart like a troop of soldiers. And your mind, in virtue of your union with Christ Jesus, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

28:02 This is the attendant duty. No good if detached. It is fruitless to seek. To humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.

28:14 And ignore the things that are causing anxiety. Or just try to cut them out and ride them through. You will not know the release of spirit that God intends you to know. Unless with that gospel duty of humbling, there is the attendant duty of casting all your anxieties upon Him.

28:38 There's the attendant duty now. Second. The reason. Because.

28:43 Because. Why are we to do this? Because of an unchanging reality. Whether you believe it.

28:52 Whether at any given moment you are thinking about it. Whether it's near to your mind or far. This is reality. Because He cares for you.

29:04 Now let me indulge just a little bit of the Greek construction. Not to try to impress you, but to help you. We believe that the Spirit. Of God.

29:13 Guided the biblical writers to write what they wrote and how they wrote it. And if we were to give a literal rendering of what Peter gives as the reason for this attendant duty. It is this. Casting all your care upon Him.

29:31 Because to Him is care concerning you. And the two pronouns. Cast your care upon Him. For.

29:43 To Him. Are brought in the closest conjunction. And then he uses an impersonal verb. It is care concerning you.

29:52 Why are we to cast all of our anxieties upon Him. As an attendant duty to humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God. It's because everything that causes legitimate anxiety for you. Is of deep concern.

30:13 To Him. And direct proportion in the direct proportion to our confidence of that reason. We will perform the duty who wants to go to a God with anxieties concerning which is indifferent.

30:30 If you were reared in a home where you were taught boys don't cry like men don't eat quiche.

30:38 You wouldn't come and ask your dad to wipe away your tears when you were crying over having your heart broken with some rejection. Among your peers on the playground. You didn't have a mother that was welcoming. As I did.

30:52 You wouldn't come home from the football field. With your little. Carboard helmet and shoulder pads. The first set I got and we were poor.

31:00 And that was the best they could do. And the bigger guys wouldn't let me play. And my mother likes to tell the story of how Sonny came home. I was Sonny till I was 21.

31:08 I wasn't Al or Albert. I was Sonny. And how Sonny came home. Crying his eyeballs out.

31:16 And she just ruffled my hair. And dried my tears. And said well you go back and try again. And they'll let you play.

31:24 And then apparently I came home happy as a clam. You see if you had a mother. And you had a father. Whose heart was against any expressions of the anxieties that disturbed you as a child.

31:34 You're not going to cast your care upon them. And if you have a God. Who is a God with a mighty hand. Sovereign.

31:42 Almighty. All powerful. With all thoughts and wills of men. So he governs all things.

31:50 But if you don't have. Joined to the mighty hand. A large and caring heart. You're not going to.

31:58 Find yourself. Fulfilling this attendant duty. You will be trying desperately. To humble yourselves under the mighty hand.

32:06 But what do you do. With these anxieties. That won't leave. And he's so transcendent.

32:15 And so above me and beyond me. That I can spread before him. And cast upon him. Everything that causes.

32:23 Anxiety to my soul. In these circumstances. You see you've got to believe. That he cares for you.

Distinguishing Anxieties: What to Cast, What to Bear

32:31 Casting all your anxiety upon him. For. To him is care. Concerning.

32:39 You. Peter is saying. As I alluded this morning. That God.

32:47 Which is ordered and directed. All of the things. That are producing the anxiety. That mighty hand.

32:55 Is joined to a large and caring heart. And as you. Humble yourself. Under the hand of God.

33:03 We are to take a fresh gaze. At the large and loving. Heart of God. And say this God.

33:12 Mandates that I shall cast upon him. As the. Hand was cast upon Elisha. As the garments were cast.

33:20 Upon the colt. Cast upon him. All of my anxieties. Now John Brown very perceptively.

33:29 Says there's some anxieties. You can't cast upon him. You need to cast them away. If your anxieties grow out.

33:38 Of carnal ambitions. Regarding your station in life. Your possessions. The circle of influence.

33:46 You think you should have. Anxieties grow out of carnal ambitions. And carnal standards. You don't cast them upon God.

33:54 You cast them away. In repentance. Ask God to nail them to the cross. Of his son.

34:02 There's some things that cause anxieties. We're not to cast upon God. We're to bear them nobly in the strength of Christ. Paul uses this very word.

34:10 Anxiety. When he's describing his responsibilities. And what he bears as an apostle. In 2 Corinthians 11.

34:18 28 he says. Besides all of these things. That which comes upon me daily. Anxiety for all the churches.

34:26 That was not sinful anxiety. That was the burden. Of nobly shouldering. That which God laid upon him.

34:34 Galatians chapter 6. Each man shall bear his own load. And when we are bearing. The load.

34:42 Of the will of God. And feeling something of the weight. Of that responsibility. The father who was in the seminar.

34:50 The last two days. Has felt with renewed pressure. What an awesome. Overwhelming responsibility.

34:58 And privilege it is. To be a father. To shepherd my child's heart. Don't cast that upon the Lord.

35:06 You go to the Lord for strength. To bear it. As God has laid it upon you. So as John Brown very helpfully points out.

35:14 In pastoral wisdom. That have their tap roots. In that which is carnal. Those things need to be cast from us.

35:22 In repentance. Some things need to be borne nobly. In the strength of Christ. But those things over which we have no control.

35:30 Which grow out of God's. Inscrutable dealings with us. When he places us. Under his mighty hand.

35:38 All of those anxieties. Without exception. Are to be cast upon him. In the confidence.

35:46 That to him. Is care. Concerning you. Not in some abstract way.

Evidences of God's Care

35:54 But in terms of the very specific anxieties. That grow out. Of God's mighty hand upon you. But then you ask.

36:02 How do I know. He cares for us. Well it should be enough that the word of God says it. Should it not?

36:12 But God does not just tell us. That he cares for us. He's made it abundantly clear. Think of the glorious purposes.

36:20 He has framed with respect to us. His people. Ephesians 1 3. He has chosen us in Christ.

36:29 Before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy. And without blemish before him. In love.

36:37 Having predestinated us unto adoption. As sons through Jesus Christ. To himself. That we should be to the praise.

36:45 Of his glory. He cares for us. Where if I may say it reverently. Was stirred.

36:53 In the unfathomable. Unfathomable mysterious. Abyss and depths of eternity. Think of it.

37:02 In Christ chosen. Before the foundation of the world. Purpose that we should have the status. Of sons.

37:10 And not only the status of sons. But Romans 8 29. Whom he foreknew. He also predestinated to be actually conformed.

37:18 To the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn. Among many brethren. Before God spoke the worlds.

37:26 Into being out of the womb of nothing. He envisioned his son. With his family all around him. Sharing perfectly.

37:34 The family likeness. And he chose us in Christ. Predestinating us. That we should not only have the status.

37:42 Of sons. But then when God is done with us. We shall be perfectly conformed. To the image of his son.

37:51 With the stain of sin. Left in our spirits. Not one milligram. One millionth of a milligram.

37:59 Of the effects of sin. In our glorified bodies. He cares for you. When you doubt it.

38:07 Look back. And say no. He does care. He cared.

38:15 Before the foundation of the world. Think of his care. For the amazing things. He has done for us.

38:23 And to us. Not only did he purpose. But what he has done for us. God so loved the world.

38:32 That he gave his only begotten son. He that spared. Not his own son. But delivered him up for us all.

38:41 How shall he not with him also. Freely give us. All things. He has given his son.

38:49 That is not a thing. He has given the spirit. To indwell us. To attest to our status.

38:57 His sons. Enabling us to cry. Abba. Father.

39:05 Think of the things he has done. For us. He has blotted out the record. All of which pointed to us.

39:14 As guilt. For our sins. For our sins. For our sins.

39:22 For our sins. For our sins. For our sins. He said.

39:30 I have blotted out their sins. As a thick cloud. I have buried them in the depths of the sea. Never to be remembered against them.

39:38 I love to think of that promise of the new covenant. Their sins and iniquities. I'll remember no more. I like to think of it as God's self-imposed.

39:47 Point of amnesia. Self-imposed point of amnesia. You come to God with sins. cleansed in the blood.

39:55 I say it reverently. God says, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't remember those. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

40:05 Isn't that what it says? And then we doubt that He cares for us. When He's done that for us, He has done marvelous things to us. He's taken out the heart of stone, given us the heart of flesh, written His law upon our hearts, given us an internal disposition to love Him, to obey Him, to commune with Him, to fellowship with Him.

40:30 He cares for you. Child of God, this is not just pious froth. This is biblical reality. He cares for you.

40:38 Think of His glorious purposes framed with respect to you. Think of the amazing things He's done for you and to you. And then think of the peculiar relationship in which He stands to you. Peter reminded them of this in the early chapter.

40:54 If you call on Him as what? Father. When you pray, say, Our Father. Sinclair Ferguson waxes bold in his very helpful little commentary on the Sermon on the Mount and says, in essence, the whole end of Jesus' instruction in the Sermon on the Mount, particularly in chapter 6, is to persuade His followers that the great glory and privilege of Christ being manifested in the flesh is the glory of Christ.

41:25 And that's what we're going to do. We're going to do it. We're going to do it. We're going to do it.

41:25 Is to establish in the minds of His people that God is now their Father. He is now their Father. He cares for you. If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, if in common grace we do that which is contrary to the baseline disposition and nature of what we are, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him?

41:55 He is all holiness, all love, all purity, all wisdom.

42:00 How much more? How much more? Child of God, if the devil can get you to doubt, he cares for you. To some degree, you believe the ancient lie that he started right in the dark.

42:13 God has given you that no-no because He doesn't care for you. He wants to keep you under His thumb.

42:20 He knows in the day you eat, you shall be as God's. He doesn't really care. Oh yes, all around you are the apparent indications He cares within you as you look out at your wife and as the wife looks at the husband. There are all these undeniable indications, but here's the inside track.

42:38 He really doesn't care. And with a few words, He undoes our first parents. Child of God, don't believe Him. He hates God.

42:49 He's the slanderer who'll slander God in the theater of your own mind and understanding when His hand is heavy upon you and you're struggling to submit, to embrace, to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Remember, all the anxieties attendant upon that heavy, mighty hand of God, He says, cast them upon me. I care for you. I care for you.

43:17 You may not be able to fit together how I care with what I'm doing, but I care for you. Remember, something that's unaffected by what you perceive of my dealings with you, I chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world. With an immutable purpose, I determined to make you like my Son. I sent my Son to die for you.

43:41 I sent the Holy Spirit to bear witness to my Son and to show you your need of Him. I've taken out your heart of stone. I've given you a heart of flesh. I've given you the status of sonship.

43:54 I care. I care. Don't read God's heart in the mystery of His present hand. Read it in His purposes declared in the Scripture.

44:09 Read it in His saving acts once for all in Christ and His saving acts to you. Read it in the relationship He sustains to you as your Father. He cares for you.

The Folly of Doubting God's Care

44:25 I want us to look at an example in the Gospels of what happens when we don't believe that and the silly things we do and say. Mark chapter 8. Chapter 8. Now remember, this incident is an incident in which Jesus is with His disciples, those who have seen His mighty works.

44:52 Mark plunges right in to the ministry of John the Baptist and then the ministry of our Lord Jesus. We see Him casting out demons and doing mighty works right from chapter 1 of the Gospel of Mark and the calling of His apostles, His disciples, that intimate circle. This is the group that has seen the mighty works of their Savior. They've seen His heart displayed in compassionate concern for the sick, for the maimed, for the halt, for the ignorant.

45:24 They know the heart of God revealed in Jesus Christ. And yet we come to this incident here. Mark chapter 8 and verse 23. And when He was entered into a boat, His disciples followed Him.

45:40 And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves, that He was asleep. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, Save, Lord, we are perishing. And He said unto them, Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? And He arose and rebuked the winds and the waves.

46:01 It's the parallel passage I want that has the word Do you not care? So the parallel passage is found in Mark chapter 4. Now let's try Mark 4. Mark chapter 4.

46:12 Ah, there it is. Okay. Mark chapter 4 and verse 38. We'll back up to 35.

46:27 So it was Mark chapter 4. And on that day when even was come, He said to them, Let us go over to the other side. And leaving the multitude, they take Him with them, even as He was in the boat. And the other boats were with Him.

46:40 And there arises a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the boat, insomuch that the boat was now filling. And He Himself was in the stern, asleep, on the cushion. And they awake Him and say unto Him, Teacher, don't you care that we perish? Don't you care?

46:59 We're perishing. And you're here sound asleep. Don't you care? Of all the things they could have said.

47:06 Do you see how foolish? If it weren't so tragic, it would be humorous. If they said, Lord, we know you're tired. And we know if only you were awake, surely you would care and do something about this.

47:20 And we wouldn't have faulted them for that. That would have been a gracious thing to do. To assume the best. The Lord asleep is the one whose heart has been shown to them.

47:30 Shown in so many ways to men in their need. They should have looked at Him astern in the ship and said, there's our caring Savior. There's our caring Master. Now if only we can awaken Him, surely His care will be manifested in seeing our plight in danger.

47:50 And coming to our rescue. But instead, what do they do? They think the worst about it. Don't you even care?

47:57 We're perishing. Nothing about Him. Son of God, Savior of the world, down to Davy Jones' locker.

48:04 It's laughable. Don't you care that we perish?

48:11 Ah, but dear child of God, don't we do that?

48:15 No matter how many times the Lord has displayed the care of His heart to us, the enemy seeks to inject into our minds the fruit of His heart. The fruit of His heart. The fruit of His heart. The fruit of His heart.

48:24 The fruit of His heart. The fruit of His heart. The fruit of His heart. The fruit of His heart.

48:25 The fruit of His heart. We thought that He doesn't care. And in those circumstances, we need to take our stand on the Word of God and say, no, my Bible says He cares for me. It is a care to Him.

48:43 To Him it is a care concerning me. Yes, little me, with all of my peculiarities and idiosyncrasies and all of my remaining sins and all the rest. He cares. He cares for me.

48:57 I refuse to think hard thoughts of my God. I refuse to do it. And refusing to think hard thoughts of my God, I'm going to cast all my anxieties upon Him. And I'm not going to rest until the garment is all on His back.

49:16 And then you get up from your knees. Get up from wherever you're doing this. You don't need to be on your knees. You don't need to be in formal prayer.

49:25 You walk away and not a thing has changed in the eternal circumstance. But you're a different man, a different woman. Why? Because you've done what God says.

49:36 You've humbled yourself under the mighty hand of God, casting all your anxiety upon Him. Because you know that He cares for you. Now that's the privilege of the child of God. That's the gracious gospel duty of every one of us as believers.

A Call to Unbelievers

50:00 And I hope that does something for those of you sitting here tonight who are not believers. I hope it makes you jealous.

50:08 Say, wouldn't it be wonderful to have the kind of relationship to God that no matter what I face in my life, I know there is a God who is my Father. A God who has sent His Son to die for the likes of me. The God who has assured me of the pardon of my sins, the acceptance of my person in His Son, Jesus Christ, places His Spirit with me. Doesn't that make you jealous?

50:35 Jealous to want to be a Christian? Why in the world would you remain an unconverted man or woman, boy or girl? Give me one good reason.

50:46 You see, it's irrational. It's stupid. And it's also fatal.

50:53 It's also fatal.

50:56 To go on having hard thoughts of God that keep you at a distance from Him is to believe and embrace the lie of the enemy of your soul. He comes not, Jesus said, but for to steal, that's the first step, to destroy, second step, and to kill.

51:18 Steal, destroy, kill.

51:23 I am come that they, my sheep, might have life and have it more abundantly. Not life exempt from seasons when the mighty hand of God is upon us, when He allows various agents and agencies, people and influences to become to us a fiery trial, manifold trials, wagging tongues, raised eyebrows,

51:51 in the midst of all of it to know He cares for me. My unconverted friend, we don't envy you for a moment. If you sat here with a legal title to a thousand exotic islands and you owned ten Lear jets and you had ten pilots at your beck and call, we wouldn't envy you for a moment. You sit here impoverished, but you don't need to be impoverished.

52:19 All that is ours in this reality is ours in Christ. And that initial humbling that we looked at this morning, Luke chapter 18, by God's grace, we've stood with that publican. We've looked up into the face of the God who made us, whose law touches the deepest springs of the heart and the motives and the desires and the impulses of the Spirit. And we've said, Oh God, we stand condemned and guilty before your sight.

52:50 Be propitious to us. Be merciful to us, the sinners.

52:58 And in the naked, stripped, humbled state of self-confessed guilt and hell-deservingness, we've thrown ourselves upon the mercy of God. And we found the promise true. Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

53:21 My dear, unconverted friend, as you've heard the word of God through the Apostle Peter to those believers in Asia Minor 2,000 years ago and what it says to us in our circumstances today, this command, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God with this perspective that He may exalt you in due season, the attendant duty casting all your anxiety upon Him and the reason, for He cares for you. May God grant that some of you will say, why in the world should I remain on the outside of all of those delights that God gives to His people? Oh God, I want to be one of them. May God grant it will make you jealous with a jealousy that will find no satisfaction till you rest in Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Holy Word. We thank You for this portion in which You love us.

54:31 You lay bare Your heart of loving, tender concern for us, Your people. And we are ashamed that so often like Your disciples we've thought the worst of You. And we do repent of it, our God and our Savior. We ask You to forgive us for listening to the whisperings of that One who hates You and hates us and whom we will see in our subsequent studies is like a roaring lion going about seeking whom He may gulp down.

55:02 Oh Lord, help us to resist Him steadfastly in the faith, in the faith that You do care for us, that You are the God whose heart is large toward us as Your people. May we not, as it were, cringe off at the fringes of all the lavishness of Your grace. But may we know what it is to swim in that ocean of the plenitude of Your mercy and grace and kindness to us. We do pray for those boys and girls, men and women who sit here tonight whose hearts know nothing of the soul's satisfying, ravishing sense of delight that we, Your people, know when we contemplate these things. We ask, oh God, that they too may taste and see that You are good and that blessed is the man, the boy, the girl, the woman who trusts in You. Oh Lord, would You not seal Your word by causing some this very night in this place where they sit to say, oh God, I'm tired of fighting. It's all over.

56:14 Lord, I capitulate. I cast myself into Your hands. Oh God, may that be true of some in this place tonight. Give to Your Son the reward of His sufferings and receive our praises for Your goodness to us this day.

56:31 May Your blessing rest upon us and may we by grace live out in the days to come the things we have grasped from Your hand this day. Hear us, receive our praise and answer our prayers for Jesus' sake. Amen.