East Cooper Baptist Church
June 9, 2013
Standing with Strength and Diligence (Part 3)
1 Peter 5:5-7
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,7casting all your anxieties on him, becausehe cares for you.
In this passage we are given four incentives regarding humility:
1. God opposes / resists the proud.
2. Grace and favor are lavished on the humble by God.
3. The humble will be exalted/ lifted up by the mighty hand of God.
4. God will use his mighty hand to care for those who look to Him in trust and confidence( v7).
*Pride is self satisfaction which leads to forgetfulness and destruction (Hosea 13:4-6, Deuteronomy 8:11-17).
“But when they had grazed,they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.” Hosea 13:6
“Then your heart be lifted up, and youforget theLordyour God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,15who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness,with its fiery serpents and scorpionsand thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock,16who fed you in the wilderness withmanna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you,to do you good in the end.17Bewarelest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’” Deuteronomy 8:14-17
*Pride disregards God and forfeits the freedom of biblical instruction (Jeremiah 2:11-13; 13:9-10).
*Pride exults in being made much of and takes credit for what God has done (Matthew 23:6, Daniel 4:30-32).
*Pride is anxious about the future.
“Anddo not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear himwho can destroy both soul and body in hell.29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.30Buteven the hairs of your head are all numbered.31Fear not, therefore;you are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:28-31
How to cast your anxiety on the Lord:
1. Casting is not self-talk or auto-hypnosis but an intentional thinking/meditation by the power of the Spirit, filled with the illumined Word of God.
2. We "cast" because God is, He has spoken, and He has revealed himself in triune splendor.
“Long ago, at many times andin many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,2butin these last dayshe has spoken to us byhis Son, whom he appointedthe heir of all things,through whom also he createdthe world.3He is the radiance of the glory of God andthe exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.After making purification for sins,he sat downat the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:1-3
3. Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
Heidelberg Catechism, Question 1
The life of faith is a matter of personal pronouns and the Spirit wrought cry of "Abba Father".
“Foryou did not receivethe spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit ofadoption as sons, by whom we cry,“Abba! Father!”16The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,17and if children, thenheirs— heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
18For I consider that the sufferings of this present timeare not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:15-18
4. When life is over it is not...
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!According to his great mercy,he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4toan inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, andunfading,kept in heaven for you,5who by God's power are being guardedthrough faith for a salvationready to be revealed in the last time.
13 Therefore,preparing your minds for action,andbeing sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 1:3-5, 13
“And whenthe chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.”
1 Peter 5:4
"I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world? Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?"
Letter to Mr. Hasseltine, Adoniram Judson