In Conclusion

HBI - We can glorify our God who cares for us as we go through trials by being humble, being on Guard and having Hope.

Intro

Towns used to have watchmen that where supposed to keep an eye out on the streets for toruble makers. Their presence was meant to be a deterrent to criminals. Their role also involved calling out the weather and the time as well as helping drunkards get home.How effective were Watchmen? Watchmen were paid little for their job, and therefore many were reluctant to put in a lot of effort. Many were found asleep in pubs and many of them were old people, making them less effective. After 1663 when Charles II set up a force of paid Watchmen to patrol the streets in all towns and cities. Charlies became objects of fun, and children would attempt to bait them. In Georgian times, Charlies increasingly used watch-boxes and these were an easy target.

Though not really doing what they where supposed to do, there role was to keep an eye out for trouble. Towns used to have people on the walls that would look out on to the roads and alert the towns for trouble ahead. and what we are going to look into now in the conclusion to 1 Peter is that we also need to stay watchful.

We come to the end of our series on the book of 1 Peter. Our goal for this series was to see How God’s Living Hope in our lives can be seen in the hope of heaven and how that should affect our lives. We have had many warnings and exhortations. Peter tends to jump around a little bit when he writes letters. But Here we have the conclusion to the letter, what He wanted to leave the church with.

Because of our fiery ordeals, because of all that we are going to face how is it that we can live in this Living Hope that we have? We are to have a certain attitude as we are on the watch for the trials and evil that comes our way. three attitudes we are going to look at.

6-7 - Stay Humble

1 Peter 5:6 (CSB) 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time,

Therefore, based on what we have learned, based on our fiery ordeals there is a certain thing that is called for. Humble yourselves we are told. Humility is an interesting concept that we have troubles with. We often have such a problem with humility, thinking of others as better then ourselves about putting others first, we have troubles giving up ourselves and our wants and desires to glorify God.

We are told we need to have an attitude of humility in the fiery ordeals that we face in the world around us. Jesus tells us in the book of Luke that to exalt oneself means that we will be humbled at some point. But those who live a life of Humility will one day be exalted. It is the humility that we live by that will mean we will one day be exalted.

Humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand. Another thing that we may have trouble understanding. this concept is deeply rooted in the OT.

It is the mighty hand of God we are told that led and guided the people out of Egypt. The scripture in the Pentateuch shows us that God’s mighty hand leads and guides and protects and avenges. Showing the sovereignty of the Lord God over all things.

It is by the mighty hand of the Lord God that we see all the miracles in the NT where preformed. It is the means for accomplishing some end, which we know to be the power and the glory of God. It is by the mighty hand of God that this happens and it is under the powerful hand of God that we are to humble ourselves.

and again as we learn as we humble ourselves we will one day be exalted. That is not the reason for which we do this but yet it is a reward that is promised to those that live their lives under the mighty hand of God. We will receive glory for our humiliation. we will receive exaltation instead of the fiery ordeals. God knows what is going on and will be there for us.

1 Peter 5:7 (CSB 7 casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you.

there is an old hymn that i sued to sing that really meant a lot to me as a teen. Does Jesus care when I tried and failed to resist some temptation strong, when for my deep grief I find no relief though the tears flow all the night long. Oh yes He cares, I know He cares his heart is touched with my grief. Though the days are weary the long nights dreary I know my savior cares.

Our attitude of humility comes from the fact as well that we can know for sure our God cares for us. Humble ourselves by casting all of our cares and concerns and anxieties on God. We come to kneel at the feet of Jesus and as we do that He says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Cast all your burdens on me we are told.

so hard is it sometimes to cast any cares upon the Lord God as we go through the fiery ordeals as we think our own problems to vast for anyone to handle. But Jesus tells us cast your cares on me as you humble yourself under me. I will give you strength and wisdom. I love you and care for you. God is still behind our suffering.

8-9 - stay Watchful

Stay Humble we are told, place yourself under the sovereign hand of the lord our God for He cares for us. He is still on the throne and in control even through our fiery ordeals. One reason we have cares and concerns and anxieties is because we have an enemy who would seek our destruction, and know it is not the government.

2 Corinthians 11:3 (CSB) 3 But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Satan is going to try and seduce us from following Jesus. You see the best lies that we fall to are the ones that contain some truth to them but are twisted just enough to not be truth anymore but look close enough and enticing enough we can be easily led astray. That is why the next attitude is so important.

1 Peter 5:8 (CSB) 8 Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.

Stay watchful! How do we have hope through our fiery trials? we need to stand guard and be on the watch for dangers that come our way. Have you ever seen a prowling lion seeking to devour something. I was watching a video of a lion sneaking up on a little buffalo. To watch it quietly crouch down and crawl through the long grass from behind the animals. He knows enough to come upwind if he can so the animal cant smell Him. Before the little buffalo knew what was happening it was to late, the lion was ready to pounce. But you watch a lion try to sneak up on a herd of buffalo that are on guard and ready and waiting for danger then it becomes a lot harder. Often the lion knows better then to do that.

Satan is like that lion we are told, sneaking around seeking who is an easy target for Him to devour and tempt away from God. We must be on guard and watch out so as to not make an easy target. We must together stand guard under the mighty hand of God we must be alert for there are many things out there, many false teachers that would lead us away from God.

1 Peter 5:9 (CSB) 9 Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.

As for Satan resist Him, by standing firm in the faith. As we watch out we need to stand firm in the faith.

We need to remember to not treat Satan flippantly but understand that He is dangerous. Not to give powers to Him that he does not have but know that he is a dangerous enemy. There is a reason why the imagery of a prowling lion is used. he attacks when we don't expect, when our guard is down. But it is also important not to see Satan and demons behind every bush and rock. I read a book like this that the guy would blame satan for every thing that went wrong.

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. - CS Lewis - I heard of a lady that phoned a pastor blaming Him for making her shrink 7.5 inches.

With this in mind though we must submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God in humility and trust in His strength. We must stand firm in our faith as we stand guard and watch out for the temptations and snares of the devil. We need to trust that it is God who is in control and be on the watch for anything that might lead us astray.

10-14 - Have Hope

and lastly we get back to hope and how we can trust in Jesus our living Hope.

1 Peter 5:10–14 (CSB) 10 The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while. 11 To him be dominion forever. Amen. 12 Through Silvanus, a faithful brother (as I consider him), I have written to you briefly in order to encourage you and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it! 13 She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, as does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

This is our hope that we have, this is the reason for our living hope. Why we can continue to stand firm in the faith and find joy as we go through Fiery ordeals as we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Peter closes on a positive note that this attitudes and lifestyles we put on come from our living Hope in Jesus. We could do with more reasons to have hope. I was watching some videos from a channel on Facebook where people tell unfiltered stories of the horrible things they went through growing up and sometimes it can seem kind of Hopeless.

The first reason we can have to have hope is We have God’s Grace. Goodwill freely handed out by God especially to to the benefit of us the recipient. Grace is also a force of power or an acting of God that works in us to change our capacities for work, suffering and obedience. We are told to boldly approach the throne of the Grace of God. That is undeserved favor on our behalf and also the power that we get from God to act on his behalf in spit of the suffering we may deal with.

God has called us to His eternal glory through Jesus. Our hope comes from God’s undeserved favor in our lives and God’s power at work within us but also because we now have access to the glory of God in which we will live one day. This calling is in Christ and through what He has done for us. No matter what sufferings and fiery ordeals we face now as His children they will end in the glory of God.

Our hope in the glory of God comes also from our being perfected. Restore, establish and strengthen. We may suffer for a little while but soon we will be perfected. Any miracles and healings we may face in this life time point to these things. our hope in glory and and being perfected when we will receive glorified bodies and there will be no more pain or suffering. Our trials are perfecting us and building character so we can become more and more like God.

So What?

In the end I want you guys to remember something as we go through these hard times and difficult trials. We have a living hope that is alive and well and at work within us. Though we may right now suffer through various trials and sufferings. We have Hope, we can have joy and peace in the Lord Jesus through all that we face. We need to remember this. Peter has given us a precious letter of encouragement in the midst of trying times Throughout the centuries Satan has tried to bring down the church through various fiery ordeals but the church has only grown. Through all that goes on we need to remember a few attitudes that will help us in finding this living Hope.

Humble yourselves

We need to put ourselves under the powerful hand of our Mighty God. we have anxieties and problems and we are told to not worry about that but to cast all our anxieties on God for He cares for us with an everlasting love. Completely humble yourself under God’s sovereign care because He cares for you. He cared for you enough to send Jesus to die for your sin. You can trust Him and His care. The bible tells us that He knows all of the hairs that are on our head, He knows our thoughts before we do ourselves. He knew us before we where born. This is why we can hope in our humility, because we have a God that cares for us.

Be watchful.

Like a great lion the devil wanders around seeking who he may devour. Temptations will come our way so we must stand strong and we must stand together. We are not meant to be an island on our own but a hear seeking God together watching out for each other. Be watchful together for the things that lead us away are often disguised as truth that is twisted to be wrong and lead people away from God. Be watchful but be watchful together as the body of Christ.

Have Hope.

Through the grace of God that comes from the eternal glory that is due to our children we look to when we will be perfected. All these things to encourage us to have hope, all is not lost, Jesus cares for us! Whatever may come your way be Hopeful together!