Trinity Baptist Church

 

You may recall that in the early verses of I Peter, Peter talks about the Christian life in terms of a journey. In the second chapter, the eleventh verse, it says, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims." 

 

In the first chapter, verse 17, he closes out that verse by saying, "Pass the time of your sojourning," that is, your traveling, your journeying, "here in fear," that is, in respect or reference.

 

Life as a journey is not an unfamiliar picture. In literature it goes all the way back to Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" where life is pictured as a journey, as on the way somewhere. 

 

The Bible tells us that many of the saints of God have recognized the fact that their life was like a journey. . 

 

In Hebrews 11, verse 13, it says, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

 

If you are a child of God, then you are a stranger here. That means that you really don't belong down here. If you are a Christian, the Bible teaches that you are a pilgrim. This is not your home. You are on your way home. That's why, sometimes, that you don't feel completely at ease here. You are aware of the fact that you are on a journey.

I heard about a boy marching in a parade, but he was constantly out of step. Then they discovered that he had an iPod in his pocket and he was marching to a different beat. The Christian is marching to a different beat.

 

Are you familiar with the homing pigeons? You take them and put them out somewhere and they will fly and they will get their bearings, and then they will go directly home.

 

I found it interesting that Jay Leno in his Headlines the other night had this ad:

 

Found: Homing Pigeon, call to claim

 

The Bible says that God has placed the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer and that presence of the Holy Spirit is our homing instinct. The Holy Spirit lets us know that we are on a journey and that we are on our way home.

 

Peter is coming to the end of his letter and he is now turning his eyes homeward. And in these verses he turns his hearer’s eyes, as Christian pilgrims, homeward. We are looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus.

 

In these verses, beginning in verse 5, he tells us first of all about

 

 

verse 5

 

 

He has used the word elder in the earlier verses of the chapter to describe the office of elder or the office of a pastor. 

 

But now he's talking in terms of age. He's saying that you younger believers submit yourselves unto the elder believers. That means to be attentive to the older believers in the congregation. You can learn a great deal.

 

I remember reading about Mark Twain. He said, "When I was 18 I thought my father was the dumbest man I had ever met. But when I was 21 I was amazed at how much he had learned in three short years." 

 

It would do some of our young people good if they would pay a little more attention to some of the wisdom and guidance and direction of the older. 

 

What Peter does here is he expands on the thought of submission and humility to include humility in our relationships with one another and humility in our relationship to the heavenly Father. 

 

In fact, in verse 5 he says that spirit of humility includes everyone. He's saying that in the house of God and among the people of God and in the work of God, humility should be the attitude that should be displayed in our relationships with each other.

 

Humility is like the oil that makes the machinery of the work of the church go smoother. The word humility here, "To be clothed with humility," is a rather interesting word. It literally means to tie the knot. It came to be used of tying the apron that the slave would tie around himself as he began to serve. He's saying to tie on humility as you would tie on a slave's apron.

 

I think Simon Peter's mind must have gone back to when he wrote those words to that experience in the upper room. You will remember that the disciples were in that upper room with Jesus and they were miffed at one another. They had just had a big fuss along the road about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. 

 

The Bible says that Jesus tied on the knot, that is, He tied on the slave's apron and got a basin of water and a towel and began to wash the feet of the disciples. 

 

You and I aren't better than Jesus, are we? The Bible teaches that you and I are to put on the slave's apron; that is, we are to put on humility as a garment and must learn to humble ourselves and to serve one another, and in so doing we become like the Lord Jesus Christ and we become effective in our service to one another.

 

The word there, "And be clothed with humility," was also used of tying on a princess robe.   You are never more noble than when you take the office of humility, and you are never more like the Lord Jesus Christ than you are when you humble yourself and become a servant to other people and live for other people.

 

He says first of all, "Humble yourself." Let that be your attitude toward one another. 

 

 

 

Then he says, "Let that be your attitude toward the heavenly Father." 

 

verse 5

 

The word resist is a military word.  It really carries the idea of getting an army together, to make a battle. He's saying that if there is anything that gets God ready to do battle with you it is when you develop the attitude of pride in our life. 

 

Start being proud and God says, "I'll go to war with you." 

 

Somebody said that pride is being stuffed full of yourself. If you decide that you are going to be prideful, if you make up your mind that you are going on an ego trip, it would do you good to get yourself a one-way ticket.

 

I heard about a sister who came to her pastor and she said, "Pastor, I want to confess the sin of pride." The pastor said, "Why do you want to confess the sin of pride?" She said, "I look in the mirror and I think I'm absolutely beautiful." He said, "Sister, that's not pride. That's imagination."

 

God says that when you develop pride, God resists the proud, but it says that He will give grace unto the humble. 

 

verse

 

The verb humble yourselves is passive. It means be humbled. It's like the attitude we have when we go to a skillful surgeon and we submit ourselves to his skillful hands for surgery. 

We allow ourselves to be humbled and to be placed in his care.

 

This is what the Bible is saying that we should do in our relationship to the Lord. We should allow ourselves to be in His care. Humble ourselves. Let Him humble us under His mighty hand.

 

"Under the mighty hand of God." That is one of the great phrases in the Bible, "The mighty hand of God." 

 

The Bible uses this kind of term to try to convey who God is. In the Old Testament we will find this term, "The mighty hand of God," used. Sometimes the mighty hands of God were used in discipline. At other times the mighty hands of God were used in deliverance. 

 

When the children of Israel were delivered out of the land of bondage, in Exodus 32, verse 11, it says, "And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, whom thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?" 

 

With a mighty hand, God brought the children of Israel out of the land of bondage, carried them through the wilderness wanderings and delivered them into the Promised Land. That is the mighty hand of God.

 

If God could take a whole nation of individuals and deliver them out of Egypt and carry them into the Promised Land, don't you think that you and I can put our little measly lives into the mighty hand of God? 

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." 

 

When the time comes, God will exalt you.

 

Then he says what I think are some of the greatest words in all of the Bible. Here's where I have wanted to get. 

 

In verse 7 is one of the great promises in the Bible. I want you to personally lay hold of this promise of God. Commit it to memory.

 

It says in verse 7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you." 

 

The word care really means to be pulled apart. It means to have a distracted mind. Jesus talked about it. He talked about the cares of life.

 

We all have them. We all deal with the cares of life, the distractions of life, those things that pull us apart, those things that disturb us, and those things that trouble us. You came in this morning with your bundle of cares. All of us have our set of cares. Sometimes there are cares that come from the job. At other times they are family-related cares. 

 

Some of you are dealing with inward emotional cares. We have these cares and problems and difficulties. That's the way it is in a pilgrim's life journeying through this old world. This world is a world of care.

 

People do one of three things when the cares of life bear down upon them. Some people just break down. They collapse. They just can't handle it. They just can't go on. The cares of life push down upon them and they just implode.

 

Other people break out. They just react and explode and they blow up. Instead of breaking down or breaking out, let me encourage you this morning to break through.

 

Claim this promise this morning and learn to cast your cares upon the Lord.

 

It says, "Casting all your care upon him." I want to spend a little time on this verse. We must learn to break through and to cast our cares on the Lord.

 

Peter says, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." The tense of the verb is an aorist tense which means once for all cast your burden upon the Lord. 

 

We used to sing an old gospel song "Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there." Have you ever had that experience that if you've got a burden, you go to the Lord? You say, "Lord, I just can't bear this any more. Here it is. I'm giving it to You. I'm leaving this burden to You in Jesus' name." Then you pick it up and carry it right on back with you. Isn't that right? We do that don't we?

 

"Casting all your care upon him." 

 

Then I want you to notice the last part of the verse. "For he careth for you."

 

There are two kinds of care in this verse. 

 

 

There are, first of all, these troubling cares. "Casting all your care." That's the anxious cares.

 

Then it says, "He cares." That's loving kindness care. "He cares for you." 

 

Have you ever gotten to where you think nobody cares? You start thinking, "Nobody cares about me. Nobody is interested in me." Remember that David wrote, "No man cared for my soul." Sometimes we feel like nobody cares. But God cares. He cares about you.

 

I love that song in our books "He careth for you." Does Jesus care? Oh yes He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the day grows weary, the long night dreary, I know My Jesus cares.

 

Of course, He cares. He knows what you are going through this morning and your problems are His problems. Your troubles are His troubles. Your burdens are His burdens. Your heartache is His heartache. 

 

I want you to take this verse and engrave it upon your soul today and walk out of this building. If you don't hear another thing this preacher has to say, walk out of here knowing that God cares for you.

 

That's the pilgrim's attitude. Then we move on and we also learn

 

 

Verse 8

 

 

The word sober you could translate it into today's vernacular "Stay cool." When it says, "Be vigilant," it means stay awake.

 

I guess Simon Peter thought about the time in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus said, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation," and he went off to sleep and he fell into the temptation of the devil not too long after that. 

 

Here we are warned to be on the alert because the pilgrim on the journey has an adversary. You have an adversary. You have an enemy. It pays to know your enemy.

 

They tell me that one of the first essentials in war, in battle, is to know your enemy. One of the great dangers they say in battle is to underestimate your enemy. It's easy to do, to underestimate your enemy.

 

For just a few moments I want to talk to you about your adversary. You have an adversary. He is very, very real. I want you to notice how your adversary is described in these verses. He says, "Your adversary, the devil."

 

The word adversary really means an opponent in a law suit. It is someone who brings up charges against you. You have an adversary, someone who brings up charges against you. When you sin the devil brings up charges against you.

 

In Revelation 12, verse 10, in the last of the verse, it says, "For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night."

 

You have an enemy. He is an adversary. He brings up charges against you. He is the deceptive one.

Not only that, but he is called the devil. The word devil is the word diablo which means the slanderer. He is the one who slanders. He is the one who accuses as I have indicated.

 

The devil accuses men to God. He accuses God to men. He accuses men to one another. You have an enemy out there who is a slanderer, who is an accuser. He is the deceptive one. 

 

It says that the devil is like a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour." He's like an angry grazed animal. It's like a defeated animal who knows he's lost the battle and now he's just roaring, seeking whom he may devour.

 

By the way, did you notice the devil's not in hell? A lot of people think the devil's in hell. The devil's not in hell. He's going to hell. I'm not cussing. I'm just telling you the truth. The devil's going to hell. May he go to hell as far as I'm concerned, and I'm still not cussing. The sooner he goes the better for me.

 

Notice that it says, "The devil, like a roaring lion walks about." He's walking around, "Seeking whom he may devour." 

 

The word devour literally means to gulp down. The devil is on a tear. The devil is trying to rip and it's working. He's doing his job in a lot of places. He's tearing apart homes. He's tearing apart relationships. He's ripping churches. He's tearing up lives. He's like a roaring lion.

 

 

But watch this: Did you know that when Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, He pulled the tooth out of the devil and all the devil can do now is roar? He can't bite. Praise God! 

 

I want you to see how he's defeated. 

 

Verse 9

 

That means to take your stand. It's the picture of an army just taking their stand. In those days they would get in single file and they wouldn't let there be any gaps. They would all take their stand.

 

Take your stand in the faith. You and I can't defeat the devil in ourselves. It troubles me when I hear people talk lightly about the devil. It bothers me when people are so flippant in their attitude toward the devil. 

 

The Bibles says we are to resist him, not in our own strength. It says to resist him in the faith. That is, resist him with the weapons that your faith supplies. When the devil tempted Jesus Christ, He resisted him by the Word of God and prayer. In your faith, in your relationship to God, God has given you the Bible and God has given you prayer. That's why you need to study your Bible. That's why you need to memorize scripture so when the devil comes and attacks you, you will be able to resist him steadfast in the faith. That's our adversary.

 

Others have gone through the same thing. Verse 9 says, "Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." 

 

 

You're not the only one that's had the battle. All believers have had these same afflictions. All believers have battled these same oppositions that you and I have faced.

 

You need to understand the pilgrim's attitude. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God." He cares for you. You need to understand, secondly, the pilgrim's adversary. You have an adversary the devil. Number three, you need to understand

 

 

In verses 10 and following Simon Peter now turns his attention heavenward. He is now coming to the end of his letter and his eyes are on homeland. His eyes are on glory land. 

 

Just as Simon Peter is coming to the end of the letter, one of these days you're going to come to the end of the journey. Your health is gone. You're not able to come to church like you once did. You may be coming down to the end of the journey and you can't go out and visit and witness for the Lord like you used to because you can't walk anymore. 

 

I may speak to someone whose eyes are growing dim and you don't see quite as good physically now, but the eyes of your faith are keener and keener as you anticipate the day when you will see the Lord Jesus.

 

Simon Peter talks a little bit about the Christian's arrival.

 

 

What’s left when you come down to the end of the journey and when you are not as strong as you used to be and when the problems of life seem to be getting more and more complex and more perplexing, what do you have? What's ahead?

 

I want you to notice what he says in verse 10. 

 

You've got God and He is the God of all grace.

 

The great evangelist, Jess Hendley, when his wife Louise, became ill, he would read her the scriptures at night before they would go to bed. He said that one night he had read the Bible to her, and he was walking up the steps to his bedroom and as he walked up the steps he said that he prayed to the Lord and he said, "Lord, I don't have anything left but Jesus and the Bible." 

 

The Lord seemed to speak to him and said, "Jess, that's all you need, Jesus and the Bible." He is the God of all grace.

 

If God is the God of all grace then that means that He's got the monopoly on grace. There are some things that you can only get at God's store and one of those things is grace. He's the God of all grace. 

 

The same God who gives you grace to be saved, the grace of God that sought you and the grace of God that bestowed loving favor, unmerited favor upon you, is the God that gives grace to sustain you every day. 

 

"Tis grace has brought us safe thus far. Grace will lead us home." " But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory."

We've got the God of grace. We've got the God of glory. Everything which begins in grace will ultimately end in glory. You receive the Lord Jesus Christ and experience His saving grace, and then God has guaranteed that one of these days your journey is going to end in glory. "The God of all grace and glory." 

 

Here's Simon Peter. He comes to the end of his letter and there is glory in his soul. Glory is not only a person. Jesus is the Lord of glory. But Glory is a place. The Bibles says that one of these days we are going to Glory. 

 

He says in verse 11, "To him be glory." He is the God of glory and to Him be glory.

 

So here is Simon Peter anticipating the pilgrim's arrival when we will come by grace into Glory and there we'll be in the presence of the God of glory and we'll give Him glory.

 

One of my favorite books is the immortal "Pilgrim's Progress." What a great book is "Pilgrim's Progress." In that book John Bunyan depicts Pilgrim as he is entering into Glory. As he draws near to the city he sees that it is built of pearls and precious stones and the streets paved with gold.

 

By reason of the natural glory of the place it says, "That he with desire felt sick, and he crossed the river of death and two shining ones met Pilgrim, and they began to talk with him about the glory of the place to which he had come. They told him that the beauty and the glory of the place were inexpressible. 

 

 

Pilgrim said, "What do you do in glory?" The shining ones said, "You must there receive the comfort of all your toil and have joy for all your sorrow. Ye shall serve Him continually with praise, with shouting and thanksgiving."

 

Then about that the time the king's trumpeters began and they saluted him with a ten thousanded welcomes and angels compassed every side and bells began to ring "Welcome." 

 

As he entered he was transfigured and his raiment became like gold. In his hands there were harps of gold and on his head crowns of gold and he was told, "Enter into the joy land." And the gates were opened and the city shown like a sun and the streets were paved with gold and in them walked those with crowns on their heads, palms in their hands, golden harps to sing praises with all. They said, "Welcome home, Pilgrim."

 

That is your destiny and mine in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Let's bow our heads in prayer.